Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments. For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
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Exodus 7:10-12 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments. For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.
Parallel Translations
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Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.
For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
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And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
Show all 3 translations
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And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so, as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before 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 in like manner with their secret arts.
For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (30)
- Exodus 7:22 (v11) The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh…
- Exodus 8:7 (v11) The magicians did the same thing with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 8:18 (v11) The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal.
- 2 Timothy 3:8 (v11) Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith are rejected.
- 1 John 4:4 (v12) You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
Show all 30 cross-references
- Genesis 41:8 (v11) In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams,…
- Daniel 2:2 (v11) Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be called to tell the king his dreams. So they…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9 (v11) even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
- Exodus 4:3 (v10) He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.
- Daniel 5:7 (v11) The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon,…
- Ephesians 4:14 (v11) that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in…
- Genesis 41:38-39 (v11) Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God…
- Exodus 8:18-19 (v12) The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal. Then the magicians…
- Exodus 9:11 (v12) The magicians couldn’t stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
- Deuteronomy 13:1-3 (v11) If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of…
- Isaiah 19:11-12 (v11) The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, “I…
- Isaiah 47:12-13 (v11) “Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might…
- Daniel 2:27 (v11) Daniel answered before the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded can’t be shown to the king by wise men, enchanters,…
- Daniel 4:7-9 (v11) Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in; and I told the dream before them; but they didn’t make…
- Daniel 5:11 (v11) There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom,…
- Amos 9:3 (v10) Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the…
- Matthew 24:24 (v11) For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even…
- Mark 16:18 (v10) they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will…
- Luke 10:19 (v10) Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.
- Galatians 3:1 (v11) Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified?
- Revelation 13:11-15 (v11) I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon. He exercises all the authority of…
- Acts 8:9-13 (v12) But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out…
- Acts 13:8-11 (v12) But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul,…
- Acts 19:19-20 (v12) Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted their price, and…
- Revelation 19:20 (v11) The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v11 It seemeth that these were Jannes and Jambres: read…
It seemeth that these were Jannes and Jambres: read 2 Tim. 3:8, so ever the wicked maliciously resist the truth of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Exo 7:10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto…
Exo 7:10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Ver. 10. And it became a serpent.] Or a dragon, in token of desolation, if they disobeyed; and that their country should become a den of dragons. {Isa 13:22}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Under the general title of
Under the general title of
wise men he seems to comprehend all who were most eminent in any sort of wisdom, either natural, or civil, or divine, who were all called to give their opinion and advice in these matters.
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The magicians, the same now called
sorcerers, who acted by the power of the devil, whom by certain rites and ceremonies they engaged to their assistance. Of these the two chief were Jannes and Jambres, 2Ti 3:8.
They also did in like manner, in show and appearance, which was not difficult for the devil to do, either by altering the air and the spectators’ sight, and by causing their rods both to look and move like serpents; or by a sudden and secret conveyance of real serpents thither, and removing the rods. Nor is it strange that God permitted those delusions, partly because it was a just punishment upon the Egyptians for their horrid and manifold idolatry, and barbarous cruelty towards the Israelites, and their other wickedness; and partly because there was a sufficient difference made between their impostures, and the real miracles wrought by Moses and Aaron, as appears from the next verse, and from Exo 8:18, and from other passages. And this is a great evidence of the truth of Scripture story, and that it was not written by fiction and design. For if Moses had written these books to deceive the world, and to advance his own reputation, (as some have impudently said,) it is ridiculous to think that he would have put in this, and many other passages, which might seem so much to eclipse his honour, and the glory of his works.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–12 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh,.... Into…
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh,.... Into the palace of Pharaoh boldly, and with intrepidity, clothed with such power and authority, and assured of success:
and they did as the Lord had commanded; they demanded in his name the dismission of the children of Israel, and upon his requiring a miracle to confirm their mission, wrought one as follows:
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and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and it became a serpent: or a "dragon", as the Septuagint version; this word is sometimes used of great whales, Gen 1:21 and of the crocodile, Eze 29:3 and it is very likely the crocodile is meant here, as Dr. Lightfoot (q) thinks; since this was frequent in the Nile, the river of Egypt, where the Hebrew infants had been cast, and into whose devouring jaws they fell, and which also was an Egyptian deity (r). Though no mention is made of Pharaoh's demanding a miracle, yet no doubt he did, as the Lord had intimated he would, and without which it can hardly be thought it would be done; and Artapanus (s), an Heathen writer, expressly asserts it; for he says,"when the king required of Moses to do some sign or wonder, the rod which he had he cast down, and it became a serpent, to the amazement of all, and then took it by its tail and it be came a rod again;''which is a testimony from an Heathen of the truth of this miracle.
(q) Works, vol. 1. p. 702. (r) Crocodylen adorat, Juvenal, Sat. 15. (s) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 435.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–11 And Aaron cast his rod down, and it became…
And Aaron cast his rod down, and it became a serpent - This was proper not only to affect Pharaoh with wonder, but to strike a terror upon him. This first miracle, though it was not a plague, yet amounted to the threatening of a plague; if it made not Pharaoh feel, it made him fear; this is God's method of dealing with sinners he comes upon them gradually.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Verse 10. It became a serpent.] תנין tannin. What…
Verse 10. It became a serpent.] תנין tannin. What kind of a serpent is here intended, learned men are not agreed. From the manner in which the original word is used in Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9; Job 7:12; some very large creature, either aquatic or amphibious, is probably meant; some have thought that the crocodile, a well-known Egyptian animal, is here intended. In Ex 4:3 it is said that this rod was changed into a serpent, but the original word there is נחש nachash, and here תנין tannin, the same word which we translate whale, Ge 1:21.
As נחש nachash seems to be a term restricted to no one particular meaning, as has already been shown on Gen. iii.; See Clarke on Ge 3:1. So the words תנין tannin, תנינים tanninim, תנים tannim, and תנות tannoth, are used to signify different kinds of animals in the Scriptures. The word is supposed to signify the jackal in Job 30:29; Ps 44:19; Isa 13:22; Isa 34:13; Isa 35:7; Isa 43:20; Jer 9:11, c., c. and also a dragon, serpent, or whale, Job 7:12; Ps 91:13; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9; Jer 51:34; Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; and is termed, in our translation, a sea-monster, La 4:3. As it was a rod or staff that was changed into the tannim in the cases mentioned here, it has been supposed that an ordinary serpent is what is intended by the word, because the size of both might be then pretty nearly equal: but as a miracle was wrought on the occasion, this circumstance is of no weight; it was as easy for God to change the rod into a crocodile, or any other creature, as to change it into an adder or common snake.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Exo 7:10. It became a serpent — This was…
Exo 7:10. It became a serpent — This was proper, not only to affect Pharaoh with wonder, but to strike a terror upon him. This first miracle, though it was not a plague, yet amounted to the threatening of a plague; if it made not Pharaoh feel, it made him fear; and this is God’s method of dealing with sinners; he comes upon them gradually.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v11 Three names for the magicians of Egypt are given…
Three names for the magicians of Egypt are given in this verse. The “wise men” are men who know occult arts. The “sorcerers” are they who “mutter magic formulae,” especially when driving away crocodiles, snakes, asps, etc. It was natural that Pharaoh should have sent for such persons. The “magicians” are the “bearers of sacred words,” scribes and interpreters of hieroglyphic writings. Books containing magic formulae belonged exclusively to the king; no one was permitted to consult them but the priests and wise men, who formed a council or college, and were called in by the Pharaoh on all occasions of difficulty.
The names of the two principal magicians, Jannes and Jambres, who “withstood Moses,” are preserved by Paul, 2Ti 3:8. Both names are Egyptian.
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Enchantments - The original expression implies a deceptive appearance, an illusion, a juggler’s trick, not an actual putting forth of magic power. Pharaoh may or may not have believed in a real transformation; but in either case he would naturally consider that if the portent performed by Aaron differed from that of the magicians, it was a difference of degree only, implying merely superiority in a common art. The miracle which followed Exo 7:12 was sufficient to convince him had he been open to conviction. It was a miracle which showed the truth and power of Yahweh in contrast with that of others.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Took, or "threw down," as the Hebrew and Septuagint…
Took, or "threw down," as the Hebrew and Septuagint read.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, &c.--It is…
Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, &c.--It is to be presumed that Pharaoh had demanded a proof of their divine mission.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–12 OPENING CONTEST WITH THE MAGICIANS, Exo_7:10-13.
OPENING CONTEST WITH THE MAGICIANS, Exo_7:10-13.
10. And Aaron cast down his rod… and it became a serpent — תנין, a dragon or crocodile, not the serpent (נחשׁ) into which the rod was changed when Moses came before the elders of Israel. Exo_4:3. The shepherd’s staff is changed into the monster of the Nile. Pharaoh is thus warned, by a symbol clear to the Egyptian mind, that the shepherd race of Israel is to be miraculously transformed into a formidable nation, comparable in might with Egypt. The crocodile’s tail is the hieroglyphic symbol of Egypt.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–12 11. wise men] cf. Gen_41:8, Isa_19:11-12.
11. wise men] cf. Gen_41:8, Isa_19:11-12.
magicians] Heb. ḥarṭummim, a word of unknown etymology, but found only in connexion with Egypt (Gen_41:8; Gen_41:24, Exo_7:11; Exo_7:22; Exo_8:7; Exo_8:18-19; Exo_9:11), and (borrowed from Gen.) in Daniel (Exo_1:20, Exo_2:2; Exo_2:10, &c.). RVm. in Genesis sacred scribes: and probably the word did in fact correspond to the Greek ἱερογραμματεῖς,—the term applied by Numenius to Jannes and Jambres. Magic flourished in ancient Egypt; and many magical formulae are known to us from the inscriptions: see Erman, pp. 289, 308, 353 ff., 373.
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with their secret arts (RVm.)] i.e. with their usual mystic words or movements. So v. 22, Exo_8:7; Exo_8:18 (not elsewhere in this sense).
The Jerus. Targ., both here and on Exo_1:15, following a Jewish tradition gives the names of the magicians whom Pharaoh called as Jannes and Jambres (cf. 2Ti_3:8): the same two names are also given elsewhere, as Evang. Nicod. 5; Numenius, the Pythagorean philosopher the 2nd cent. a.d., as cited in Eus. Praep. Ev. ix. 8; see also Buxtorf, s.v. יוֹחַנָּא, or Levy, Chald. Wörterb. s.v. יַנִּים; and Schürer, § 32 (ed 3, iii. 292 ff.), with the references.
11, 12. The Egyptian magicians do the same. The art of serpent-charming is indigenous in the East: there are allusions to it in Psa_58:5, Jer_8:17, Ecc_10:11; and it is practised in Egypt to the present day. Modern Egyptian serpent-charmers possess an extraordinary power over serpents, drawing them forth, for instance, by noises made with the lips, from their hiding-places, and by pressure applied to the neck throwing them into such a state of hypnotic rigidity that they can be held as rods by the tip of the tail (Lane, Mod. Eg., ch. 20, in ed. 1871, ii. 93 f.; DB. iii. 889a; EB. iv. 4394: see further references in Di.). The serpent commonly used for the purpose is a species of cobra. As Di., however, remarks, we hear elsewhere only of serpents becoming rods, not of rods becoming serpents: the latter, a also the swallowing up of the magicians’ rods by Aaron’s rod, is ‘peculiar to the Hebrew story (Sage).’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v11 (11) The magicians of Egypt.—These persons are called indifferently…
(11) The magicians of Egypt.—These persons are called indifferently khàkâmim, “wise men,” më-kashshëphim, “mutterers of charms,” and khartum-mim, “scribes,” perhaps “writers of charms.” Magic was very widely practised in Egypt, and consisted mainly in the composition and employment of charms, which were believed to exert a powerful effect, both over man and over the brute creation. A large part of the “Ritual of the Dead” consists of charms, which were to be uttered by the soul in Hades, in order to enable it to pass the various monsters which it would encounter there. Charms were also regarded as potent in this life to produce or remove disease, and avert the attacks of noxious animals. Some Egyptian works are mere collections of magical receipts, and supply strange prescriptions which are to be used, and mystic words which are to be uttered. A Jewish tradition, accepted by the Apostle Paul (2Ti_3:6), spoke of two magicians as the special opponents of Moses, and called them “Jannes and Jambres.” (See the Tar-gums of Jerusalem and of Jonathan, and comp. Numen, ap. Euseb. Prœp. eν. ix. 8.) The former of these, Jannes, obtained fame as a magician among the classical writers, and is mentioned by Pliny (H. N. xxx. 1) and Apuleius (Apolog. p. 108). It has been supposed by some that the magicians were really in possession of supernatural powers, obtained by a connection with evil spirits; but, on the whole, it is perhaps most probable that they were merely persons acquainted with many secrets of nature not generally known, and trained in tricks of sleight-of-hand and conjuring.
They also did in like manner.—The magicians had entered into the royal presence with, apparently, rods in their hands, such as almost all Egyptians carried. These they cast down upon the ground, when they were seen to be serpents. This was, perhaps, the mere exhibition of a trick, well known to Egyptian serpent-charmers in all ages (Description de l’Egypte, vol. i. p. 159), by which a charmed serpent is made to look like a stick for a time, and then disenchanted. Or it may have been effected by sleight-of-hand, which seems to be the true meaning of the word lĕhâtim, translated “enchantments.” (Rosenmüller, Scholia in Exodum, p. 110.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Vers. 10-13. THE FIRST SIGN, AND ITS FAILURE TO…
Vers. 10-13. THE FIRST SIGN, AND ITS FAILURE TO CONVINCE. Obeying the command given them (vers. 2, 9), Moses and Aaron went to the court a second time, and entering into the royal presence, probably repeated their demand as from God that the king would let the Children of Israel go, (Exo_6:11) when Pharaoh objected that they had no authority to speak to him in God"s name, and required an evidence of their authority, either in the actual words of verse 9 ("Shew a miracle for you"), or in some equivalent ones. Aaron hereupon cast down on the ground the rod which Moses had brought from Midian, and it became a serpent (ver. 10). Possibly Pharaoh may have been prepared for this. He may have been told that this was one among the signs which had been done in the sight of the elders and people of Israel when the two brothers first came back from Midian. (Exo_4:30) If he knew of it, no doubt the "magicians" knew of it, and had prepared themselves. Pharaoh summoned them, as was natural, to his presence, and consulted them with respect to the portent, whereupon they too cast down the rods which they were carrying in their hands, and they "became serpents; but Aaron"s rod swallowed up their rods" (ver. 12). (For the explanation of those facts, see the comment below). Pharaoh was to some extent impressed by the miracle, but not so as to yield. His heart remained hard, and he refused to let the people go.
Aaron cast down his rod. The rod is called indifferently "Aaron"s rod" and "Moses" rod," because, though properly the rod of, (Exo_4:2) yet ordinarily it was placed in the hands of Aaron. (vers. 19, 20; Exo_8:5, Exo_8:17, etc.) It became a serpent. The word for "serpent" is not the same as was used before; (Exo_4:3) but it is not clear that a different species is meant. More probably it is regarded by the writer as a synonym.
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Vers. 10-12. False imitations of things Divine not difficult of detection. It is Satan"s wont, in all ages and on all possible occasions, to set up counterfeits of things Divine, in order to confuse men"s minds, and make them mistake the false for the true. Aaron no sooner works a true miracle, a real proof that he is a prophet of God (verse 1), than Satan"s instruments, the magicians of Egypt, are ready with an imitation of the miracle, on which they base a claim that Pharaoh is not to listen to Aaron, but to them. "Curious arts" (Act_19:19) and "lying wonders" (2Th_2:9) were employed to discredit the genuine miracles of the Apostles. False Christs rose up in various places, soon after the lifetime of our Lord, claiming to be the Messiah spoken of by the prophets, who "showed great signs and wonders," capable of deceiving, if it had been possible, even "the very elect" ( . ( Mat_24:24) Apocryphal gospels were put out by the side of the true ones. A new and mystic philosophy was set up as the real "knowledge" which the Son of God had come to reveal, and new religions, like Gnosticism and Manichaeism, disputed with real Christianity the right to be viewed as the actual religion of Jesus. Fanatics, at the time of the Reformation, parodied the Reformed religion, and established "Churches of the True Saints," which while affecting extreme purity fell practically into fearful excesses. Even at the present day rivals are set up to the revelation of God given us in the Bible and the religious books of the Egyptians, or the Hindoos, or the Persians, or the Buddhists, or the Mahometans, are declared to be just as good, just as much from God, just as deserving of our attention, as the Old and New Testaments. But, if men are honest and do not wish to be deceived, it is easy, with a little patience, to detect each spurious imitation. Aaron"s rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians. It remained they ceased to exist altogether. The "curious arts" and "lying wonders" of those who opposed the Apostles, if examined into, would have been found either mere tricks, or weak devices of Satan, with none of the power, the dignity, the awfulness, of a true miracle. And time brought them to nought they built up nothing effected nothing. So with the "false Christs," and the apocryphal gospels, and the religions of Gnosticism and Manichaeism, and the fanatical sects of the Reformation period: they took no hold on the world the truth "swallowed them up they vanished away. With the spurious "revelations," if the case is not the same, it is nearly the same if they have not, all of them, vanished, they are all of them, vanishing. Brought into contact with the truth placed side by side with it they cannot maintain themselves they are "swallowed up" after a while. The ancient pantheism of Egypt perished in the fourth century; the religion of Zoroaster is almost non-existent; that of the Vedas is now crumbling to decay in the schools of Calcutta and Benares. Mahometanism shows signs of breaking up. When Thibet and China are freely opened to Christian missions, the last day of Buddhism will not be far off. The Divine sweeps away the human Aaron"s rod swallows up its rivals.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v11 They also did in like manner with their enchantments.
Exo_7:11-12
They also did in like manner with their enchantments.
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Moses and the magicians
I. Moses divinely warned of Pharaohs demand for a supernatural credential. When men profess to bring a message from God, they should be prepared to substantiate it by satisfactory evidence.
II. Moses divinely sustained in meeting the demand.
1. God will never forsake those who go forth to implicitly work His will.
2. God often permits His enemies to temporarily triumph.
III. Moses commanded to appeal again to Pharaoh (Exo_7:14-17).
1. Gods knowledge of the human heart.
2. Gods knowledge of the purposes and plans of men.
3. Gods recognition of free agency, and its correlative responsibility.
4. God deals with men on the basis of their moral freedom, and according to their constitutional nature.
Lessons:
1. Here we have a type of the conflict of ages.
(1) In its spirit.
(2) In its aims.
(3) In its result.
2. The side to which we lean, and for which we fight, shows the party to which we really belong. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Lessons
1. Miracles from God will not persuade wicked hearts to believe.
2. Unbelieving sinners are apt to call in all instruments of Satan to gainsay God.
3. Providence hath of old suffered wisdom to be abused to sorcery and pernicious acts (Exo_7:11).
4. God hath suffered creatures by Satans help to do some like things to His miracles.
5. Under Gods permission Satan may work strange changes in creatures, but no miracles.
6. Gods true miracles devour all lying wonders of Satan (Exo_7:12).
7. Wicked hearts harden themselves by lying wonders against God, and therefore are hardened by Him.
8. The fruit of such hardening is rebellion against Gods word and will.
9. Gods word is made good in all the disobedience of the wicked foretold (Exo_7:13). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Mans effort to repudiate the message of God by an imitation of its miraculous credentials
I. That man has a right to expect that any special revelation from God should be accompanied by infallible and unimpeachable credentials. (Exo_7:9).
1. We require these credentials to vindicate the authority of the speaker. The Bible contains the evidences of its Divine origin on its own pages, for on every page we see the miracle repeated, the rod is turned into a serpent. And the miracles which the book contains, and the miracle which it is in itself, are sufficient token to the honest mind that it comes from God. This evidence is equal to the case. It leaves disobedience without excuse.
2. We require these credentials to vindicate the credibility of the speaker. God would never give men power to work a miracle to authenticate a lie. The miracle not only demonstrated the authority of these men, but also the unimpeachable honesty and verity of their statements. And so men take the Bible to-day; they perhaps say that in general terms the hook has come from God, and has His authority, and yet how many question the verity of its corn tents. They call one part of the message a myth, another part a fable, until, indeed, there is very little remaining as true.
3. That God anticipates these requests on the part of man, and provides His messengers with the needed credentials. Any one who rejects the claims of the Bible, rejects the highest proof, the most reliable evidence; hence his condemnation will be awful as that of the rebellious king.
4. The spirit in which these credentials should be investigated and received--
(1) Thoughtfully.
(2) Devoutly.
(3) Never sceptically.
(4) Remember that the messengers of God can only offer the credentials divinely permitted to them.
II. That men have recourse to many devices to weaken and nullify the credentials which are presented to them in token and support of a Divine message and claim. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
1. We find that men in the investigation of a Divine message are not satisfied with the evidence they themselves propose. A sceptical mind will not yield even when it has attained evidence for the truth of its own seeking. It is most criminal in its unbelief.
2. We find that men in the investigation of a Divine message often seek others to supply them with sceptical arguments they are not clever enough to produce themselves.
3. We find that men endeavour to confirm their comrades in scepticism by imitating the credentials of the messengers of God. But in vain. The truth-seeker can distinguish between the productions of the two; he never mistakes the enchantment of the Egyptian for the miracle of Moses.
4. That the men who endeavour to confirm their comrades in scepticism respecting the Divine credentials are subject to the truth. The rods of the Egyptian magicians were swallowed up by Aarons rod.
III. That the men who reject the credentials of Divine messengers commence a conflict which will be productive of great woe and of final overthrow to them. And He hardened Pharaohs heart that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said. Lessons:
1. That the messengers of God can always produce Divine credentials.
2. That Divine credentials are often rejected by men of high social position.
3. That a continued rejection of Divine credentials will end in destruction.
4. That the servants of God are often perplexed by the conduct of men in rejecting Divine claims. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Imitation of the good
The mode in which the magicians withstood Moses (see 2Ti_3:1-9) was simply by imitating, so far as they were able, whatever he did. From this we learn the solemn truth that the most Satanic resistance to Gods testimony in the world is offered by those who, though they imitate the effects of the truth, have but the form of godliness, and deny the power thereof. Persons of this class can do the same things, adopt the same habits and forms, use the same phraseology, profess the same opinions, as others. How needful to understand this! How important to remember that as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do those self-loving, world-seeking, pleasure-hunting professors resist the truth! They would not be without a form of godliness; but while adopting the form, because it is customary, they hate the power, because it involves self-denial. The power of godliness involves the recognition of Gods claims, the implanting of His kingdom in the heart, and the consequent exhibition thereof in the whole life and character; but the formalist knows nothing of this, nor does he desire to know it. He does not want his lusts subdued, his pleasures interfered with, his passions curbed, his affections governed, his heart purified. He wants just as much religion as will enable him to make the best of both worlds. (A. Nevin, D. D.)
Egyptian magicians
They must have possessed a knowledge of nature beyond that of their countrymen, who had sufficient experience of the utility of such knowledge to reverence teachers endued with any rare portion of it. The magicians must have considered this knowledge as Divine; and have come more and more to regard the different powers of nature and the different objects in which these powers were exhibited, as themselves Divine. They will have been politicians as well as naturalists, ready to employ their lore and the mastery which it gave them over the things of the earth, to uphold the authority of the monarch, or to promote his plans. They will therefore have fallen into a scheme of trick and dissimulation, which would have been ineffectual and impossible if there had not been some truths lying at the root of it; and some real assurance in their own minds both of those truths and of their own capacities. It is this mixture of faith with insincerity--of actual knowledge with the assumption of knowledge, of genuine power with the desire to make the power felt and worshipped, a readiness therefore to abuse it to low grovelling purposes--which we have to recognize in the impostures of all subsequent ages, and to which we are here introduced in one of its primitive manifestations. It was most natural for a politic monarch to wish that a body of strangers, who were doing little good in a certain portion of his land, should be made slaves, and so become agents in carrying out what seemed to him magnificent projects. It was most natural that a body of politic priests--disliking these strangers, for the traditions and customs which separated them from their influence--should readily co-operate with him in that plan, or should be the first suggesters of it. It is equally natural that his Egyptian subjects should sympathize with the design, and should feel that they were raised in the degradation of another race. But it was impossible that king, priests, and people, should effect this seemingly sage and national purpose, without forging new chains for themselves, without losing some perceptions of a moral order in the world and a moral Ruler of it, which had been implied in their government and worship, and which Josephs arrangements had drawn out; it was impossible but that with the loss of this feeling, they should sink further and further into natural and animal worship. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)
Aarons rod swallowed up their rods.
The power of Aarons rod
I. Let us turn aside to see this great sight--the Divine triumphant over the diabolical: the spiritual subduing the natural--Aarons rod swallowing all its rivals.
1. Let us take the case of the awakened sinner. That man was, a few days ago, as worldly, as carnal, as stolid, as he well could be. If any one should propose to make that man heavenly-minded, the common observer would say, Impossible! As in old Roman walls, the cement has become so strong, that the stone is no longer a separate piece, but has become a part of the wall itself--so this man is cemented to the world, he cannot lie separated from it. You must break him in pieces with the hammer of death; you cannot separate him in any other way from the cares of life. Ah, but Aarons rod shall swallow up this rod. The man listens to the Word; the truth comes with power into his soul; the Holy Ghost has entered him; and the next day, though he goes to his business, he finds no true contentment in it, for he pants after the living God. Now, his spirit pleads its needs, and outstrips the body in the contest for its warmest love. He spurns the trifles of a day: he seeks the jewels of eternity. Grace has won the day, and the worldling seeks the world to come.
2. The same fact, with equal distinctness, is to be observed in the individual when he becomes a believer in Jesus Christ; his faith destroys all other confidences.
3. The same fact is very manifest after faith in all who truly love the Saviour. They who love Christ aright, love no one in comparison with Him.
4. You will notice this in the man who makes his delight in the Lord Jesus. He who makes his delight in Christ after a true sort, will discover that this delight swallows up all other delights.
5. Yet more is it so in a man who is devoted to Gods service. The service of God swallows up everything else when the man is truly Gods servant. When a man gets fully possessed with an enthusiastic love for Jesus, difficulties to him become only things to be surmounted, dangers become honours, sacrifices pleasures, sufferings delights, weariness rest.
II. We now draw an inference. If it be so, that wherever true religion--the finger of God--comes into a man, it becomes a consuming passion, till the zeal of Gods house eats the man up. Then there are many persons who profess religion, who cannot have found the right thing. Those who are mean, miserly, and miserable in the cause of Christ, whose only expenditure is upon self, and whose main object is gain, what can we say of them? Why, that they look upon religion as some great farmers do upon their little off-hand farms. They think it is well to have a little religion; they can turn to it for amusement sometimes, just to ease them a little of their cares; besides, it may be very well, after having had all in this world, to try to get something in the next. They are moral and decent in all ways; they can pray very nicely in prayer-meetings, yet they never dream of consecrating their secular employments unto God. Aarons rod, in their case, has never swallowed up their rods.
III. Now, I will give some reasons why i put the service of God so prominent, and think that Aarons rod ought to swallow up all other rods. What does the great gospel revelation discover to us? Does it not show us an awful danger, and one only way of escape from it? Does not our religion also reveal to us the joyous reward of another world? It opens to us yonder pearly gates, and bids us gaze on angels and glorified spirits. By hell, and by heaven, therefore, I do entreat you, let Aarons rod swallow up all other rods; and let love and faith in Jesus be the master passion of your soul. Moreover, do we not learn in our holy faith of a love unexampled? Where was there love such as that which brought the Prince of Glory down to the gates of death, and made Him pass the portals amid shame and scoffing? Shall such love as this have half our hearts? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv11–12 like CF. 2Ti 3:8; Exo 8:18
like CF. 2Ti 3:8; Exo 8:18
Neither Satan nor his tools can create life: Rev 13:15 will be a "lying wonder": 2Th 2:9
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 swallowed up
swallowed up
"ate up" or "devoured"
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Pharaoh's heart was hardened
Here "heart" refers to Pharaoh. His stubborn attitude is spoken of as if his heart was hard. AT: "Pharaoh became more defiant" (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
translationWords
Pharaoh
wise
sorcerer
magic
staff
heart
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 7:11 these Egyptian magicians did the same thing (see…
7:11 these Egyptian magicians did the same thing (see also 7:22; 8:7): While demonic power might have been involved, it is also possible that some sleight of hand was being practiced. When they could not reproduce the plague of gnats, they declared that it was “the finger of God” (8:19), indicating that their own actions were not a manifestation of divine power. While the Egyptian magicians are not identified by name, tradition gives their names as Jannes and Jambres (see 2 Tim 3:8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.