Texts in Conversation
Exodus 7 echoes Genesis through rare language describing gathered waters, linking the Nile’s transformation in Egypt to the formation of the seas. This frames the plague not only as a disruption of natural order but as a reversal of creation.
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Genesis 1:10
Hebrew Bible
9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good. 11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds and trees on the land bearing fruit with seed in it, according to their kinds.” It was so.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Exodus 7:19
Hebrew Bible
19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt’s waters—over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their gathered waters43—so that it becomes blood.’ There will be blood everywhere in the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.” 20 Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord had commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile right before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... “accumulation of water, reservoir” + “water” (Genesis 1:10; Leviticus 11:36). The noun הוקמ is rare, appearing only nine times in the Old Testament. Moreover, הוקמ in a construct chain with םימ occurs on only three occasions. In Genesis 1:10, םימה הוקמ refers to the gathered waters that God names “seas.” In Exodus 7:19 the syntactical combination is used when God turns to blood “all their [i.e., the Egyptians’] pools of water”. In Leviticus 11:36, םימ־הוקמ appears in apposition to רוב and thus seems to further define the “pit” as being one containing water, that is, a well, cistern, or ritual washing site. Interestingly, the Mishnah (m. Miqvaot 5:4) suggests that the sea can serve as a ritual הוקמ based on the link to Genesis 1:10 ..."
Harper, G. Geoffrey
"I Will Walk among You": The Rhetorical Function of Allusion to Genesis 1-3 in the Book of Leviticus
(p. 183) Eisenbrauns, 2018
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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