What does Exodus 7:24 mean?

Generations before Moses, Egypt enslaved the Hebrew people (Exodus 1:11–14). Israelite children were murdered at the Nile river (Exodus 1:22). When the Lord demanded that Israel be freed (Exodus 5:1–4), Pharoah retaliated with even harsher labor (Exodus 5:6–9). He made the slaves scavenge for straw, which used to be provided to them (Exodus 5:15–19). God's first plague, meant to prove His power and free Israel (Exodus 3:19–20), has turned all the surface waters of Egypt into blood (Exodus 7:17–20). The Egyptians are now experiencing their own evils (Proverbs 5:22; Psalm 7:14–16). The blood of slaughtered children symbolically returns. The Egyptians must grope around for something they once took for granted.

The meaning of this plague deepens when considering Egyptian religion. Deities such as Hapi and Khnum were associated with the Nile. Yet they have no power here. Heqet, connected to fertility and midwives, cannot stop the Lord from avenging the deaths of countless Hebrew children (Exodus 1:15–17, 22). The next plague will further discredit Heqet, who was depicted as a frog (Exodus 8:3).