Was the Nile turned to actual blood or just blood red?

visionary · Aug 7, 2019

Exodus 4:9
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

April 3, 2016 Just as it is fast approaching Passover that year, the Nile and surrounding desert areas of northern Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East, turned from its normal blue to bright, blood-red.

The Nile filled with alga and turned red .Animals got sick and the fish died in the toxic water. Plague turned up because of fleas and flies on all the dead animals and the rodents get a bit too energetic with all the food for them to eat. Many people think the plagues were out of cycle with natural events, but I do not. As to the idea that it was actual blood that turned the water red, I disagree. It was blooming alga.

visionary · Aug 7, 2019

There are three possible reasons for why water turns blood red. The first is natural, the second is man-caused, and the third is supernatural. Blood-red water attributed to natural causes. When a body of water suddenly turns blood-red, it is often the result of a rare natural phenomenon called an algal bloom or a red tide.

If it truly was blood, it would stink, but the Nile did not stink until the fish died.
Exodus 7:18
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.

Sabertooth · Aug 7, 2019

Weren't the Israelites able to to drink the water normally, or was that just in the movie?

visionary · Aug 7, 2019

Sabertooth said:
Weren't the Israelites able to to drink the water normally, or was that just in the movie?

Now that is where God stepped in.

miamited · Aug 7, 2019

Hi visionary,

I'm going with actual blood, as the Scriptures often use metaphors, and this isn't written as a metaphor.

However, what you are doing is what many 'christians' attempt to do. That is to come up with natural explanations to explain away the work of God. Some will tell us that the flood was just a local flood. Ascribing the 'whole earth' to being just the 'whole earth' that they could see. Of course, this belies who one thinks the author of the Scriptures is. Written by men of men. My take is that the Scriptures are what they claim to be. That is God's thoughts, ideas, and knowledge handed down through men by His Holy Spirit. If my understanding is correct, then it's God who is telling us that the 'whole earth' was covered and I'm pretty sure that God sees all of the earth.

Some will tell us that the parted sea was merely some place called the reed sea which wasn't really particularly deep. However, this wouldn't fit with the narrative that when the water came back, the Egyptian army drowned. Nor, do I believe, would a 3-5 feet deep low water area filled with reeds fit the description of forming a wall on the left and right side of the Israelites as they passed through.

Many will just say that most of the miracles didn't really happen in real time, real life. That they were literary tales to make some sort of spiritual point.

Each is free to believe as they will, but for me, I'm going with the plain reading of the text and understanding that God did do all the things that He attributes to Himself in His own word that He did. He did do these things in real time, real life upon the face of the earth to serve His purpose. As God told Moses, He was doing these things that His people would know the power and authority of their God. Tales that didn't really happen would be no different than the tales of the Greek and Roman gods. Look where they ended up.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

chunkofcoal · Aug 7, 2019

It turned to actual blood.

In the verse you quoted, the water he took out of the river became blood.

It's written:
Exo 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

There was blood throughout the land of Egypt, so wouldn't that mean the land of Egypt was unclean? Wouldn't that be a great judgment? Kind of like here:

Rev 16:4-7 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. (5) And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. (6) For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. (7) And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

A Realist · Aug 7, 2019

visionary said:
April 3, 2016 Just as it is fast approaching Passover that year, the Nile and surrounding desert areas of northern Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East, turned from its normal blue to bright, blood-red.

The Nile did not turn red on April 3, 2016.

From the article that you linked to:
"This time, there is a scientific explanation for the red color seen in the satellite photo: the river is rendered crimson by the vegetation surrounding the Nile, combined with the type of imaging used by the satellite. The satellite’s radiometer measures energy radiating from the Earth’s surface, and the heat emanating from the vegetation expresses in the infrared spectrum – resulting in the color red."

"While the image of the blood-red Nile is certainly startling to the Bible-minded eye, it seems in this case that the color change is not the result of a heavenly mandate but a man-made camera orbiting the heavens."

Rubiks · Aug 7, 2019

Joel 2:31 (NRSV) The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

The Bible says it; that settles it! The moon turned to literal blood held together by gravity.

Mathetes66 · Aug 7, 2019

"Exodus 4:9 And it shall come to pass, IF THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE also these 2 signs, neither HEARKEN unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river & pour it upon the dry land & the water which thou takest OUT OF THE RIVER shall become blood UPON THE DRY LAND.

April 3, 2016 Just as it is fast approaching Passover that year, the Nile & surrounding desert areas of northern Africa, Egypt & the Middle East, turned from its normal blue to bright, blood-red. The Nile filled with alga & turned red. Animals got sick & the fish died in the toxic water. Plague turned up because of fleas & flies on all the dead animals & the rodents get a bit too energetic with all the food for them to eat. Many people think the plagues were out of cycle with natural events, but I do not. As to the idea that it was actual blood that turned the water red, I DISAGREE. It was blooming alga."

Thank you for debunking the blooming alga theory, A Realist. I was going to check out the article for actual factual information myself but you already did that & quoted FROM the article itself what really caused the red color.

It never ceases to amaze me on this site & in real life the unbelief shown in not believing the Scriptures nor even reading the verse correctly nor showing the actual context!

So many want to attribute the supernatural signs & wonders of God to non-creative naturalistic explanations, denying the Creator who made them & not giving Him thanks for the amazing miracles of deliverance of the people of Israel out of bondage in the land of Egypt.

Here is the actual Scripture, IN CONTEXT, so one gets the full understanding of what is being said here.

Exodus 4:1-9 Then Moses answered, “What if they refuse to believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

2And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. “Throw it on the ground,” said the Lord. So Moses threw it on the ground & it became a snake, & he ran from it.

4“Stretch out your hand & grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses. So he reached out his hand & caught the snake & it turned back into a staff in his hand. “THIS IS SO, SO THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac & the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

6Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak. ” So he put his hand inside his cloak & when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow. “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD. So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak & when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.

8And the LORD said, “If they REFUSE TO BELIEVE YOU or heed the witness of the 1st sign, they MAY believe that of the 2nd. But if they do not believe EVEN these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile & pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take FROM the Nile will become blood ON the GROUIND.”

If one does not believe the third sign or miracle from God, it becomes evident they didn't believe in the first two signs. No third sign would be needed if they had believed in the first one or two.

Did the staff actually turn into a snake? The normal language used to describe a snake & a staff shows them both to be literal & not figurative. The same is true for what happened to Moses' hand. Why would someone not believe the third to be just as literal as the first two?

Jesus & the apostles said because of the hardness of a person's heart & their dull ears, turning aside from the truth & believing a lie.

Did the water in the washing pots used for purification actually turn from water & into the best wine by this, the FIRST SIGN of Jesus? Of course!

John 2:11 Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus REVEALED HIS GLORY & His disciples BELIEVED IN HIM.

The purpose of the three signs was to demonstrate the God of miracles & the God who promised that He would indeed deliver Israel out of bondage from Egypt & take them to the Promised Land--that Abraham, Isaac & Jacob communicated to Israel in the Abrahamic covenant.

The verses above verify this very thing, that God does what He says He will do. He says what He means & means what He says.

Also the text says that this THIRD sign FROM God was water TAKEN OUT OF the Nile River & poured onto the dry ground. Only the water poured out actually changed into & became blood on the ground, not the rive itself.

And lest we further divorce the whole context, isolating a few verses, here is what Moses, with Aaron did BEFORE the elders of Israel, in the same chapter.

Exodus 4:29-31 Then Moses & Aaron went & assembled all the elders of the Israelites & Aaron relayed everything that the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses PERFORMED THE SIGNS before the people & THEY BELIEVED. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites & had SEEN THEIR AFFLICTION, THEY BOWED DOWN & WORSHIPED.

Moses showed these three signs to the elders, the leaders of the Israelites, BEFORE showing them to Pharaoh! And they believed them to be literal & real.

pinacled · Aug 7, 2019

Mathetes66 said:
Thank you for debunking the blooming alga theory, A Realist. I was going to check out the article for actual factual information myself but you already did that & quoted FROM the article itself what really caused the red color.

It never ceases to amaze me on this site & in real life the unbelief shown in not believing the Scriptures nor even reading the verse correctly nor showing the actual context!

So many want to attribute the supernatural signs & wonders of God to non-creative naturalistic explanations, denying the Creator who made them & not giving Him thanks for the amazing miracles of deliverance of the people of Israel out of bondage in the land of Egypt.

Here is the actual Scripture, IN CONTEXT, so one gets the full understanding of what is being said here.

Exodus 4:1-9 Then Moses answered, “What if they refuse to believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

2And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. “Throw it on the ground,” said the Lord. So Moses threw it on the ground & it became a snake, & he ran from it.

4“Stretch out your hand & grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses. So he reached out his hand & caught the snake & it turned back into a staff in his hand. “THIS IS SO, SO THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac & the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

6Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak. ” So he put his hand inside his cloak & when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow. “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD. So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak & when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.

8And the LORD said, “If they REFUSE TO BELIEVE YOU or heed the witness of the 1st sign, they MAY believe that of the 2nd. But if they do not believe EVEN these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile & pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take FROM the Nile will become blood ON the GROUIND.”

If one does not believe the third sign or miracle from God, it becomes evident they didn't believe in the first two signs. No third sign would be needed if they had believed in the first one or two.

Did the staff actually turn into a snake? The normal language used to describe a snake & a staff shows them both to be literal & not figurative. The same is true for what happened to Moses' hand. Why would someone not believe the third to be just as literal as the first two?

Jesus & the apostles said because of the hardness of a person's heart & their dull ears, turning aside from the truth & believing a lie.

Did the water in the washing pots used for purification actually turn from water & into the best wine by this, the FIRST SIGN of Jesus? Of course!

John 2:11 Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus REVEALED HIS GLORY & His disciples BELIEVED IN HIM.

The purpose of the three signs was to demonstrate the God of miracles & the God who promised that He would indeed deliver Israel out of bondage from Egypt & take them to the Promised Land--that Abraham, Isaac & Jacob communicated to Israel in the Abrahamic covenant.

The verses above verify this very thing, that God does what He says He will do. He says what He means & means what He says.

Also the text says that this THIRD sign FROM God was water TAKEN OUT OF the Nile River & poured onto the dry ground. Only the water poured out actually changed into & became blood on the ground, not the rive itself.

And lest we further divorce the whole context, isolating a few verses, here is what Moses, with Aaron did BEFORE the elders of Israel, in the same chapter.

Exodus 4:29-31 Then Moses & Aaron went & assembled all the elders of the Israelites & Aaron relayed everything that the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses PERFORMED THE SIGNS before the people & THEY BELIEVED. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites & had SEEN THEIR AFFLICTION, THEY BOWED DOWN & WORSHIPED.

Moses showed these three signs to the elders, the leaders of the Israelites, BEFORE showing them to Pharaoh! And they believed them to be literal & real.

Amen
Water into Wine and back to Water again.

Blessed be The Holy One

visionary · Aug 7, 2019

Yet no comment about the stench of blood, until the fish started rotting and then the stench of fish went up. While algae bloom doesn't smell, it does turn the waters red, and instantly appear and disappear. Blood on the other hand does smell and a river full would be a horrid stench worse than a slaughter house at full bore...

When I didn't give it much consideration but read it as is, I too believed it was real blood. I am not sure anymore. The recent increases of blooming red algae waters in the rivers around the world lends itself to consider the Revelation implications.

pinacled · Aug 7, 2019

visionary said:
Yet no comment about the stench of blood, until the fish started rotting and then the stench of fish went up. While algae bloom doesn't smell, it does turn the waters red, and instantly appear and disappear. Blood on the other hand does smell and a river full would be a horrid stench worse than a slaughter house at full bore...

When I didn't give it much consideration but read it as is, I too believed it was real blood. I am not sure anymore. The recent increases of blooming red algae waters in the rivers around the world lends itself to consider the Revelation implications.

Violence is a stench like burning hair.
And blood upon ones head seals the two fold children of destruction.

pinacled · Aug 7, 2019

pinacled said:
Amen
Water into Wine and back to Water again.

Blessed be The Holy One

"A fisher of men..."
I wonder if wild olives are worthy of blessings.

[ I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout, And his beauty will be like the olive tree And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon ]

chunkofcoal · Aug 7, 2019

visionary said:
Yet no comment about the stench of blood, until the fish started rotting and then the stench of fish went up. While algae bloom doesn't smell, it does turn the waters red, and instantly appear and disappear. Blood on the other hand does smell and a river full would be a horrid stench worse than a slaughter house at full bore...

When I didn't give it much consideration but read it as is, I too believed it was real blood. I am not sure anymore. The recent increases of blooming red algae waters in the rivers around the world lends itself to consider the Revelation implications.

The waters were turned to blood which caused the fish to die and the river stank. The river would've smelled like blood and dead fish.

Plus how would algae bloom have gotten into vessels?
Exo 7:19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

pinacled · Aug 7, 2019

chunkofcoal said:
The waters were turned to blood which caused the fish to die and the river stank. The river would've smelled like blood and dead fish.

Yet the staunch warning was unheeded by a man who sat for 6 days and thought himself king. Same goes for a queen and her offspring.
Transgression is measured by the hardness of the heart.

Laureate · Aug 8, 2019

visionary said:
Exodus 4:9
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

April 3, 2016 Just as it is fast approaching Passover that year, the Nile and surrounding desert areas of northern Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East, turned from its normal blue to bright, blood-red.

The Nile filled with alga and turned red .Animals got sick and the fish died in the toxic water. Plague turned up because of fleas and flies on all the dead animals and the rodents get a bit too energetic with all the food for them to eat. Many people think the plagues were out of cycle with natural events, but I do not. As to the idea that it was actual blood that turned the water red, I disagree. It was blooming alga.

Further investigation will show that the Plagues (including this one) were all prompted by Volcanic activity, to include the parting of the sea.

miamited · Aug 8, 2019

Laureate said:
Further investigation will show that the Plagues (including this one) were all prompted by Volcanic activity, to include the parting of the sea.

Hi laureate,

I'm curious to hear how you would explain such a causal effect actually happening in real life. Especially as regards the parting of the sea. Maybe you'd be good enough to share a deeper understanding of 'how' volcanic activity would have done this, keeping in mind the account as given in the Scriptures.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

A Realist · Aug 8, 2019

miamited said:
Hi laureate,

I'm curious to hear how you would explain such a causal effect actually happening in real life. Especially as regards the parting of the sea. Maybe you'd be good enough to share a deeper understanding of 'how' volcanic activity would have done this, keeping in mind the account as given in the Scriptures.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. It seems to me like some folks are making stuff up (prompted by the spirit, of course) as they go along.

miamited · Aug 8, 2019

A Realist said:
I'm kind of wondering the same thing. It seems to me like some folks are making stuff up (prompted by the spirit, of course) as they go along.

Hi realist,

Well, we'll hopefully get an answer to our curiosity if laureate responds.

I know I've heard people say that it was likely a might hurricane, since the Scriptures mention God sending a strong wind to drive the waters back. The problem with that is that a hurricane strong enough to do the job wouldn't allow people to just walk through the chasm that it created. We've had a lot of strong hurricanes and I used to live in Miami-Dade county. I was there when hurricane Andrew came ashore. Even though Biscayne Bay is a fairly shallow body of water, hurricane Andrew didn't create any sort of pathway that people could have walked through. Hurricane Andrew was arguably teetering on the edge of a cat 5 hurricane, so one would have to wonder how strong a hurricane it would take to open up a chasm in a sea. Then one would have to wonder how that chasm would stay open in one place where people are walking through and how in the world people would just walk along as a wind, certainly in excess of 200mph was roaring all around them. People couldn't stand as the strongest winds of hurricane Andrew passed by even at 160mph.

So, needless to say, I'm not much convinced that some mighty hurricane parted the sea as the Israelites made their way across on dry ground.

Then others say that it may have been a tornado. Again, one has to understand how powerful a tornado would have to be to part a sea, and we've never experienced one that may have parted a lake or some other good sized body of water. Secondly, the footprint of most tornadoes is relatively small, maybe a few hundred feet or so and they are fairly fast moving. None of which would allow people to walk while the sea was parted. The sea would also have closed up, even if such a thing could happen, just as quickly as the tornado passed by. Even if we allow that the tornado somehow stood in place, which is fairly impossible for a tornado as the swirling foot keeps it from standing still, people couldn't walk through such a strong wind as would be required to open a chasm in the sea.

Again, my understanding of the physical properties of any tornado we've seen would preclude that being the explanation for the event.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

miamited · Aug 8, 2019

A Realist said:
The Nile did not turn red on April 3, 2016.

From the article that you linked to:
"This time, there is a scientific explanation for the red color seen in the satellite photo: the river is rendered crimson by the vegetation surrounding the Nile, combined with the type of imaging used by the satellite. The satellite’s radiometer measures energy radiating from the Earth’s surface, and the heat emanating from the vegetation expresses in the infrared spectrum – resulting in the color red."

"While the image of the blood-red Nile is certainly startling to the Bible-minded eye, it seems in this case that the color change is not the result of a heavenly mandate but a man-made camera orbiting the heavens."

Hi realist,

Thanks for your explanation. I can actually see that what you're saying is true. In the picture, off to the right, in the middle of the desert, there are apparently some oasis locations that are also showing as red in the picture. Understanding that the surrounding banks of the Nile are likely covered with vegetation, that would explain why we see the fairly bold red around the Nile as opposed to just the smaller red spots in the oasis locations. However, you seem to be correct that it is actually the vegetation that we are seeing as red and not the river.

Finally, if one looks at the mouth of the Nile on GoogleEarth or Mapquest satellite image, it's easy to see that the mouth of the Nile is nowhere as big as the red area shown in this image. However, there are farms all around the mouth of the Nile where there are bound to be acres and acres of plants. So, what we are seeing is all of those plants showing red and not actually the mouth of the Nile being a wide delta as it seems to appear if we believe that it is the water that is red.

Good catch!

God bless,
In Christ, ted

Was the Nile turned to actual blood or just blood red?

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