Day Four: Plague 1 - Blood

It is time to take a look at the 10 Plagues in your Anticipation Devos. It would be great if you could talk about one plague per day leading up to your Simple Seder. Prepare your family for this special time now so that they will begin to look forward to the days ahead. Let them know that you will have A.D. (Anticipation Devo) time each day so that they can plan for this in their own personal schedules. If you are not in the habit of having family devotions, this would be a great time to start. The devotion time should be simple, but must be a time set aside to read through the Bible and subject for the day. I will be excited to hear about your journey! Enjoy the study, encourage each other in prayer, and rejoice in singing – you will make memories that will last forever in the hearts of your children. May the Lord bless you as you lead your family in this special time.


When your family wakes up on the morning of the plague of blood, there should be red water everywhere – in the toilets, sinks, drinking water. The water had all turned to blood so that even the fish they worshipped were dead. Sprinkle Swedish fish all around your table and maybe have some in the water as a reminder that what they worshiped could not satisfy and their idols were now dead.

Play dough would be a great way to teach the difference between a soft and hard heart. As time went on, Pharaoh’s allowed his heart to harden to the point where God hardened his heart and had to bring judgment. Have your children form a heart out of play dough. As they form the heart, discuss the texture of the soft play dough. The potter can form the clay into any shape he wants just as God desires to form us into the person He created us to be. Allow the clay hearts to sit out in the open air during the days to come so that the process of a hard heart may be observed.

It is a sin to have a hard heart:

Isaiah 45:9 "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker-- An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'?
Isaiah 64: 8 “But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.”

You are beginning a ten day journey through the rememberance of the ten plagues. God’s power was displayed through these different judgments so that we would KNOW who the one true God is, and so that we would TELL others the story of His might.

Judgment: a misfortune regarded as inflicted by divine sentence, as for sin. Dictionary.com

Your children might understand judgment in terms of consequence. If one misbehaves, then the consequence will be discipline.

Consequence: The effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier: The accident was the consequence of reckless driving. Dictionary.com

Pharaoh (The king of Egypt) had hardened his heart before God hardened his heart. It is important that we keep a soft heart before God. Obedience is very important when it comes to having a soft heart.



Obedience: The act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance: Military service demands obedience from its members. Dictionary.com



Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”



Read the TRUE STORY from Exodus 7: (God’s words are in red. The special emphasis, colors and highlights are mine).

Exodus 7:3 "But I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. "When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. "The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst."

So Moses and Aaron did it; as the LORD commanded them, thus they did. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Exodus 7:8-13 “Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Work a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.' "So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents.”

But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. 

Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.



Exodus 7:15-18 "Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.

"You shall say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now."

'Thus says the LORD, "By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood.

"The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.'""