Exodus 7 commentary

God glorifies himself. He makes people know that he is Jehovah. Israel is made to know it by the performance of his promises to them, and the Egyptians by the pouring out of his wrath upon them. Moses, as the ambassador of Jehovah, speaking in his name, laid commands upon Pharaoh, denounced threatenings against him, and called for judgments upon him. Pharaoh, proud and great as he was, could not resist. Moses stood not in awe of Pharaoh, but made him tremble. This seems to be meant in the words, Thou shalt be a god unto Pharaoh. At length Moses is delivered from his fears. He makes no more objections, but, being strengthened in faith, goes about his work with courage, and proceeds in it with perseverance.

What men dislike, because it opposes their pride and lusts, they will not be convinced of; but it is easy to cause them to believe things they wish to be true. God always sends with his word full proofs of its Divine authority; but when men are bent to disobey, and willing to object, he often permits a snare to be laid wherein they are entangled. The magicians were cheats, trying to copy the real miracles of Moses by secret sleights or jugglings, which to a small extent they succeeded in doing, so as to deceive the bystanders, but they were at length obliged to confess they could not any longer imitate the effects of Divine power. None assist more in the destruction of sinners, than such as resist the truth by amusing men with a counterfeit resemblance of it. Satan is most to be dreaded when transformed into an angel of light.

Here is the first of the ten plagues, the turning of the water into blood. It was a dreadful plague. The sight of such vast rolling streams of blood could not but strike horror. Nothing is more common than water: so wisely has Providence ordered it, and so kindly, that what is so needful and serviceable to the comfort of human life, should be cheap and almost every where to be had; but now the Egyptians must either drink blood, or die for thirst. Egypt was a pleasant land, but the dead fish and blood now rendered it very unpleasant. It was a righteous plague, and justly sent upon the Egyptians; for Nile, the river of Egypt, was their idol. That creature which we idolize, God justly takes from us, or makes bitter to us. They had stained the river with the blood of the Hebrews' children, and now God made that river all blood. Never any thirsted after blood, but sooner or later they had enough of it. It was a significant plague; Egypt had great dependence upon their river, Zec 14:18; so that in smiting the river, they were warned of the destruction of all the produce of their country. The love of Christ to his disciples changes all their common mercies into spiritual blessings; the anger of God towards his enemies, renders their most valued advantages a curse and a misery to them. Aaron is to summon the plague by smiting the river with his rod. It was done in the sight of Pharaoh and his attendants, for God's true miracles were not performed as Satan's lying wonders; truth seeks no corners. See the almighty power of God. Every creature is that to us which he makes it to be water or blood. See what changes we may meet with in the things of this world; what is always vain, may soon become vexatious. See what mischievous work sin makes. If the things that have been our comforts prove our crosses, we must thank ourselves. It is sin that turns our waters into blood. The plague continued seven days; and in all that time Pharaoh's proud heart would not let him desire Moses to pray for the removal of it. Thus the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath. No wonder that God's anger is not turned away, but that his hand is stretched out still.

1. And the Lord said unto Moses. Moses again repeats, that consolation was afforded him in his anxiety, and a remedy given for his want of faith; since he was both armed himself with divine authority, and Aaron was appointed as his companion and assistant. For that he was “made a god to Pharaoh,” means that he was furnished with supreme authority and power, whereby he should cast down the tyrant’s pride. “The word Elohim, as the Hebrews remark, whether applied to God, or to men, or to angels, signifies judicial power.” — Grotius in ­Pol. Syn. Nor did God take away anything from Himself in order to transfer it to Moses; since He so communicates to His servants what is peculiar to Himself as to remain Himself in His completeness. Nay, whenever He seems to resign a part of His glory to His ministers, He only teaches that the virtue and efficacy of His Spirit will be joined with their labors, that they may not be fruitless. Moses, therefore, was a god to Pharaoh; because in him God exerted His power, that he should be superior to the greatness of the king. It is a common figure of the Hebrews, to give the title of God to all things excellent, since He alone reigns over heaven and earth, and exalts or casts down angels, as well as men, according to His will. By this consolation, as I have said, the weakness of Moses was supported, so that, relying on God’s authority, he might fearlessly despise the fierceness of the king. A reinforcement is also given him in the person of his brother, lest his stammering should be any hinderance to him. It has been already remarked, that it was brought about by the ingratitude of Moses, that half the honor should be transferred to his brother; although God, in giving him as his companion, so far lessened his dignity as to put the younger before the first-born. The name of “Prophet” is here used for an interpreter; because the prophetical office proceeds from God alone. But, because God delivered through one to the other what He wished to be said or done, Aaron is made subject to Moses, just as if he had been God; since it is fit that they should be listened to without contradiction who are the representatives of God. And this is made clearer in the second verse, where God restricts the power given to Moses, and circumscribes it within its proper bounds; for, when He directs him to speak whatever He commands, He ranks him as His minister, and confines him under authority, without departing from His own rights.

3. And I will harden. As the expression is somewhat harsh, many commentators, as I have before said, take pains to soften it. Hence it is that some take the words in connection, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart by multiplying my signs;” as if God were pointing out the external cause of his obstinacy. But Moses has already declared, and will hereafter repeat it, that the king’s mind was hardened by God in other ways besides His working miracles. As to the meaning of the words, I have no doubt that, by the first clause, God armed the heart of His servant with firmness, to resist boldly the perversity of the tyrant; and then reminds him that he has the remedy in his hand. Thus, then, I think this passage must be translated, “I indeed will harden Pharaoh’s heart, but I will multiply my signs;” as though He had said, his hardness will be no obstacle to you, for the miracles will be sufficient to overcome it. In the same sense, He adds immediately afterwards, “Although Pharaoh should not hear you, still I will lay on my hand;” for thus, in my opinion, the conjunctions should be resolved adversatively I do not altogether reject the interpretation of others; “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may multiply my signs;” and, “He It is thus translated in A.V. will not hearken unto you, that I may lay on my hand.” And, in fact, God willed that Pharaoh should pertinaciously resist Moses, in order that the deliverance of the people might be more conspicuous. There is, however, no need of discussing at length the manner in which God hardens reprobates, as often as this expression occurs. Let us hold fast to what I have already observed, that they are but poor speculators who refer it to a mere bare permission; because if God, by blinding their minds, or hardening their hearts, inflicts deserved punishment upon the reprobate, He not only permits them to do what they themselves please, but actually executes a judgment which He knows to be just. Whence also it follows, that He not only withdraws the grace of His Spirit, but delivers to Satan those whom he knows to be deserving of blindness of mind and obstinacy of heart. Meanwhile, I admit that the blame of either evil rests with the men themselves, who willfully blind themselves, and with a willfulness which is like madness, are driven, or rather rush, into sin. I have also briefly shewn what foul calumniators are they, who for the sake of awakening ill-will against us, pretend that God is thus made to be the author of sin; since it would be an act of too great absurdity to estimate His secret and incomprehensible judgments by the little measure of our own apprehension. The opponents of this doctrine foolishly and inconsiderately mix together two different things, since the hardness of heart is the sin of man, but the hardening of the heart is the judgment of God. He again propounds in this place His great judgments, in order that the Israelites may expect with anxious and attentive minds His magnificent and wonderful mode of operation.

5. And the Egyptians shall know. This is a species of irony, viz., that the Egyptians, subdued by the plagues, should at last begin to feel that their contention was against God. The object, however, of God was to encourage Moses, lest he should fail before the madness and fury of his enemies. Therefore, although the Egyptians might be stupid n their rage, still God declares that in the end they would know that they had fought to their own destruction when they waged war against heaven; for there is an implied antithesis between their tardy acknowledgment of this and their present slowness of heart, which was at length forcibly removed when God thundered openly against them from heaven. For we know how unconcernedly the wicked oppose their “Leur fierte, comme un bouclier de fer;” their pride like an iron buckler. — Fr. iron obstinacy to the Divine threatenings, until they are forced into a state of alarm by violence; not because they are humbled beneath the hand of God, but because they see that by all their raging and turbulence they cannot escape from punishment; just as drunkards, awakened from their intoxication, would willingly drown their senses in eternal sleep, and even in annihilation; yet, whether they will or not, they must bear the pains of their intemperance. Moreover, this acknowledgment which was to be extorted from the unwilling, admonished Moses and others Les autres fideles. — Fr. to attribute just praise to the power of God, before they were experimentally convinced of it. It is true, indeed, that the sincere worshippers of God also are sometimes instructed by punishments, (to which reference is made, Isaiah 26:9, “when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness;”) but a kind of “knowledge” is here pointed out which so prostrates the reprobate that they cease not to lift up their horns, as it were, against God; and thus it casts them down without amending them. There was also an experimental knowledge for the elect people, of which mention has been already made, (Isaiah 6:7,)

“ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, after that I shall have brought you out from the land of Egypt;”

but this (properly speaking) is nothing more than a confirmation of the faith which, before the event takes place, is content with the simple word. Or, God certainly, by the event itself, reproves the dullness of His people when He sees that their confidence in His own word is not sufficiently strong. But the wicked so know God, that, lost in shame and fear, they see not what they do see.

6. And Moses and Aaron did. It is not for the sake of boasting that Moses reports his own obedience; but after having ingenuously confessed his hesitation, he now relates that he and his brother were in better courage for the performance of their office. In the meantime he shows that he, as well as his brother, was God’s minister, and that he brought no industry, nor talent, nor counsel, nor dexterity himself, but simply obeyed God. Still from their example we must learn, that as we may not set about anything except what God prescribes, so we ought obediently and without objection to pursue whatever He commands. What follows as to their age is meant in amplification; since it was no common case, considering the natural coldness and heaviness of old age, that two octogenarians should have actively engaged in so difficult a charge. For I do not assent to the opinion of those who think that their dignity was enhanced by their age. I admit that age is venerable; but Moses had far different views, namely, that, excluding all human means, he might celebrate God’s glory, who performed so mighty a work by men who were failing and decrepit with age. For although their vigor was as yet unabated, their old age might have made them timid, and might have also affected the people with anxiety, when they beheld their leaders to be not only of advanced age, but even naturally not far from the grave.

Exodus 7:8-13

8. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

8. Et dixit Jehova ad Mosen et Aharon, dicendo.

9. When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

9. Si loquutus fuerit ad vos Pharao, dicendo, Statuite vobis prodigium: tunc dices ad Aharon, Tolle virgam tuam, et projice coram Pharaone, et fiet in serpentem.

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.

10. Venit ergo Moses et Aharon ad Pharaonem, et ita fecerunt ut praeceperat Iehova. Et projecit Aharon virgam suam coram Pharaone et coram servis ejus, et fuit in serpentem.

11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

11. Tunc vocavit etiam Pharao sapientes et incantatores, et fecerunt etiam ipsi magi Aegyptiorum hoc modo suis incantationibus.

12. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

12. Projecerunt enim singuli virgas suas, quae fuerunt in dracones. Devoravit tamen virga Aharon virgas illorum.

13. And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.

13. Et obduravit cor Pharaonis, neque audivit illos, sicuti loquutus erat Jehova.

8. And the Lord spake. No wonder that Moses often repeats the same thing, because he wrote for persons of rude and dull minds. But it behooves us, lest we should be disgusted by his simple and popular style, diligently to examine how little we are inclined to be acute and earnest in our consideration of the works of God. No doubt there is here related what we have already heard respecting the change of the rod into a serpent, except that he now tells us that the miracle which had before been performed in the wilderness of Midian, and afterwards in Egypt, in the sight of the people, was likewise performed once more before Pharaoh. Moreover, we gather from hence that at the request of Pharaoh the servants of God had proved and testified their vocation; and therefore that his pertinacity was the less excusable, since he despised the power of God so manifestly shewn forth. For this is usual with unbelievers, to demand proofs of God’s power, which they may still discredit, — not that they professedly scorn God, but because their secret impiety urges them to seek after subterfuges. The message is disagreeable and full of what is annoying to the proud king; and because he does not dare directly to refuse God, he invents a plausible pretext for his refusal, by asking for a miracle; and when this is performed, he seeks still deeper lurking places, as we shall very soon perceive. Since, therefore, it was certain that he would not pay a willing obedience to the divine command, and would not yield before he had been miraculously convinced, God furnishes His servants with a notable and sure testimony of His power. Moreover, the change of the crook, or shepherd’s staff, into a serpent had this object, namely, that the mean and rustic guise of Moses should not be despised. For (since kings are wont to exalt themselves very highly) Pharaoh might have laughed at the audacity of Moses and Aaron, who, forgetful, as it seemed, of their condition, put themselves into conflict with the whole power of Egypt; but Pharaoh knew, although they were not to be dreaded for their splendid appearance, and had nothing magnificent about them, that they were still not destitute of sure and strong help, when he saw the serpent come forth from the rod. In a word, God bore witness that His power is hidden beneath the infirmity of His servants, so that at every season He might render formidable to the greatest monarchs those who otherwise are like earthen vessels. It is not clear to me why Aaron was commanded to cast down the rod rather than Moses, unless, perhaps, because God would designedly humble the pride of the arrogant king, when He did not deign to exert His power by the hand of His superior servant, but only employed the inferior one. Therefore, with reference to this ministration, the rod of God and of Moses is now called the rod of Aaron. Thus Paul boasts of his gospel, the office of preaching which he knew to be committed to him. (Romans 16:25, and 2 Timothy 2:8.)

10. And Moses and Aaron went in. Although they were now fully conscious of their vocation; and knew that they were endued with divine power for working miracles, yet would they never have dared to approach the fierce and cruel tyrant, unless the inward inspiration of the Spirit had armed them to persevere. Hence, then, arose their magnanimity to overcome all terrors; because God raised them by faith above everything that is lofty on earth, and sustained them by this support. Therefore do they come to the conflict with invincible strength, and confirm by a miracle their most hateful mission. But as to the question which is ordinarily raised here, whether the change of the rods was true and substantial, as they call it; with respect to that of Moses, I am confidently persuaded that it was so; for there is no more difficulty with God to change the forms of things, than there was to create heaven and earth out of nothing. Philosophers are not ignorant of the great variety of transmutations which occur in nature, nay, it is patent even to the uninstructed; but, because the rod was changed into a serpent in an extraordinary manner, and contrary to the course of nature, we must form the same judgment of it as of the change of Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt; except that the rod soon after returned into its original nature. (Genesis 19:26.) There is more reason for doubt respecting the rods of the magicians, since it is probable that the eyes of the wicked king were deceived by their illusions. But there would be nothing absurd in our saying, that such liberty was conceded to them by God, not that they should create one body out of another, but that they should set forth the work of God as being their own. For assuredly the potency of error far surpasses the bounds of our comprehension. This Paul affirms to be given to Satan for the punishment of unbelievers, “that they should believe a lie,” because they will not obey the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:11.) He says, indeed, that the coming of Antichrist shall be with signs and lying wonders, but by adding the word “power,” he shews that the deception or illusion shall not consist so much in the external form of things, as in the perverse abuse of signs. Calvin’s own comment on 2 Thessalonians 2:9, may explain this somewhat obscure passage, “He gives the names of miracles of falsehood (lying wonders) not merely to such as are falsely and deceptively contrived by cunning men with a view to impose upon the simple — but takes falsehood as consisting in this, that Satan draws to a contrary end works which otherwise are truly works of God, and abuses miracles so as to obscure God’s glory. In the meantime, however, there can be no doubt that he deceives by means of enchantments, an example of which we have in Pharaoh’s magicians. (Exodus 7:11).” Calvin Soc. Edition, p. 337. Therefore Christ absolutely pronounces that “false prophets shall shew great signs and wonders.” (Matthew 24:24.) It might be, then, that God in just vengeance might choose the rods of the magicians to be changed into serpents; as we shall hereafter see that the waters were changed by their enchantments into blood, that the earth was covered with frogs and lice, that the fields were smitten with hail, and the atmosphere darkened. It does not appear that the magicians performed the two latter miracles. Still we must be assured, that not even a fly can be created except by God only; but that Satan lays hold, for the purpose of his impostures, of things which are done by the secret judgment of God.

11. Then Pharaoh also called. The impiety of the tyrant, which had before lain hid in the recesses of his heart, now breaks forth; when he does not hesitate to enter into the lists with God. For he was sufficiently instructed in the wonderful power of God, had not his iniquity urged him onwards into desperate madness. In asking for a sign, he thought (as I before said) that he should have had just cause for despising Moses; as the wicked trust that they may do anything with impunity, unless God should openly appear from heaven to prohibit them; but, because inflexible perversity altogether has possession of their hearts, they do not hesitate to resist the manifest power of God. Thus the wickedness of Pharaoh blinded his eyes, that, seeing the light, he saw it not; but, though convinced, still he sought for darkness to hide the sight of the light from him. He received, therefore, the just reward of such impious and diabolical arrogance, when he was deceived by the juggles of his own magicians. This is an example of great use, and well worthy to be noted; by which we are, first of all, taught, that the wicked, whatever disposition to be taught they may assume, still remain inwardly rebellious and stubborn; and, moreover, that they are not only inclined to error, but are eagerly borne towards it with all their heart. This vice is not always conspicuous in every individual; but when God brings His light nearer to them, it is easily detected, and betrays itself. How many, now-a-days, among the Papists are followers of wicked superstitions under the pretext of simplicity? As long as, under the garb of ignorance, they deceive themselves and others, they seem to be worthy of pity; but, as soon as the truth shines forth, they demonstrate their love for the impostures by which they perish, and their delight in falsehoods. Assuredly (as Paul says) they have “received not the love of the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10.) Are we surprised at Pharaoh calling for the magicians, in order to repel from himself his sense of God’s power? As if there were not many at this time, who hire for themselves certain impious brawlers, Des caphars, et causeurs effrontez, — Fr. by whose fascinating and fair words they may become besotted in their errors. It is remarkable, that they are honourably called “wise men” by courtesy, although they were but inventors of deceit, and destitute of sound learning. For although astronomy flourished among them, and the study of liberal arts was cultivated, it yet appears from the context that they were devoted to many foolish imaginations, nay, that all their degenerate science was but vanity. For מכשפים, The explanation of those words must be understood to be rather conjectural than gathered from any knowledge of their etymology. In Daniel 2, the same words are employed to designate the sorcerers and magicians of Babylon. — W. makshephim, and חרתמים, chartumim, are the names of superstitious arts; the former signifying jugglers, or those who deceive the eyes and the senses by their enchantments; but the latter is used for those who cast nativities, telling people’s fortunes by the horoscope, and prognosticating by the aspect of the stars. Therefore, although the Egyptian magicians had departed from genuine philosophy, they still retained the name of “wise men,” that they might obtain credit for their delusions: as the devil, in order to appropriate God’s glory, or to change himself into an angel of light, is wont to conceal his falsehoods by specious titles. Doubtless Pharaoh sought, as in a case of perplexity, to examine it more certainly by comparison; but yet for no other reason than to conceal his impiety under a fresh covering. The word להט, להט, C. has here said that each of two different significations is the proper one. As a verb, להט, is to burn with a flame; as a substantive it is a flame or flash; and hence the flashing of a sword; and sometimes that rapid crossing of the fingers which confuses the eye. But in ver. 22, and in 8:3-14, the same word occurs with the omission of the middle letter; and this omission will justify its being regarded as belonging to the root לוט, which signifies hiding, involving in obscurity, practising deceitful arts. — W lahat, although properly signifying the blade of a sword, is here used for enchantment. I think, however, that they mistake, who assign the reason for this to be, that they exercised their sorceries by a sword, or some similar weapon. It rather designates metaphorically the versatile motion, by which the magicians exhibit one thing for another; for it properly signifies “a flame.” This severe and terrible vengeance upon Pharaoh ought to inspire us with terror, lest, in our hatred of truth, we should seek after deceptions. For this is intolerable profaneness, if designedly we desire to pervert the distinction between truth and falsehood. Therefore it is not to be wondered at, if God plunges into the deepest darkness of error, those who shut their eyes against the light presented to them; and if He hands those over to be the disciples of Satan, who refuse to listen to Him as their master.

12. For they cast down every man. The number of the magicians is not expressed; and although Paul names two, Jannes and Jambres, C. has Mambres, the reading of the Vulgate. (2 Timothy 3:8,) it is probable that they were not the only ones, but the chief, and, as it were, the ringleaders. But I will not dispute this questionable point. The admonition of Paul is more to the purpose, that “as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses,” so also there should always be false teachers, who would oppose Christ’s true ministers, and indeed should “wax worse and worse.” (Verse 13.) It is an awful fact that the reins were so given to these magicians, that they contended with Moses in almost an equal contest. But the ingratitude of the world is worthy of bearing the same punishment of blindness. God elsewhere testifies that when He permits false prophets to work miracles to deceive, it is to prove men’s hearts. (Deuteronomy 13:3.) And truly, unless our own hypocrisy were like a veil to take away the distinction between black and white, Satan would avail nothing by such arts and deceptions; but we ourselves, as if devoted to destruction, willingly cast ourselves into his nets; but especially against the reprobate, who obstinately seek for occasions of error, God casts this last thunderbolt, namely, He gives efficacy to the delusion, and so deprives them of their senses at the same time, that they do not guard themselves from manifest destruction. Many indeed would excuse Pharaoh, because, being deceived by his magicians, he did not disentangle himself from the error which he could not escape; for what could he do when he saw the contest equally maintained? But it must be thoroughly understood that none are so hurried away except those whom God would resist; especially the spirit of confusion and mental blindness seizes on those who have been obstinate in their wickedness. Nor must the mark of distinction be overlooked, that the rod of Moses swallowed up the rods of the magicians. How then was it that Pharaoh did not perceive Moses to be victorious? how was it that he rather turned aside to his own impostors? how was it, in fine, that he did not acknowledge God’s servant who had been superior in the contest, except that the wicked maliciously close their eyes against the manifested power of God? Whosoever will aim at the right mark shall certainly never be destitute of God as his guide. Therefore blame is justly thrown upon Pharaoh, because through the hardness of his heart he would not attend. Too frivolous is that cavil which the Papists advance, that the serpent is called the rod of Moses, as the bread transubstantiated into the body of Christ retains the name of bread; “This is a metonymy,” says Corn. a Lapide in loco, “for things are often called by the name of what they were, or of that into which they are changed. So Philo, St. Augustine, etc. For a similar or better reason, (however Calvin may here rail,) the flesh of Christ in the holy Sacrament is called bread, (1 Corinthians 11:26, and John 6:31;) for the Jews call all sorts of food, and even flesh, by the name of bread, especially since in the Eucharist the accidents of bread and wine remain, and are seen; thus, judging as men by their eyesight and senses, they rightly call it bread, because they see and touch the species of bread.”

The subject is somewhat more fully discussed by C. himself — Institutes, Book 4., ch. 17. 15. — C. Soc. Transl., Vol. 3, pp. 402, 403. for they unskillfully confound two altogether different things; because, in the mystery of the Lord’s Supper, the analogy between the sign and the thing signified always remains; in this miracle the case is entirely otherwise. Again, because the change was only temporary, Moses properly called that a rod to which its previous form was presently to be restored. Besides, in comparing the true serpent with the fictitious ones, he was unwilling to make a difference in names. But, to pass all this over, the Papists will prevail nothing, until they have shewn that the bread is transubstantiated into the body. This clause is inverted in the Fr., “Que le corps est transubstantie au pain.” Nay, what they foolishly wrest against us, we may retort upon them, namely, that the bread is called the body of Christ although it remains bread, just as the serpent which then appeared is called the rod.

Exodus 7:14-25

14. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

14. Tunc dixit Jehova ad Mosen, Aggravatum est cor Pharaonis ne dimittat populum.

15. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning: lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.

15. Vade ad Pharaonem mane: ecce, egreditur ad aquas, et stes in occursum ejus super ripam fluminis: et virgam quae versa fuit in serpentem tolles in manum tuam.

16. And thou shalt say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.

16. Et dices ad eum, Jehova Deus Hebraeorum misit me ad te, dicens, Dimitte populum meum ut serviat mihi in deserto: et ecce, non audisti huc usque.

17. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

17. Sic dixit Jehova, In hoc scies quod ego sum Jehova: ecce, ego percurtaim virga quae in manu mea est aquam quae est in flumine, et vertetur in sanguinem.

18. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.

18. Pisces vero qui sunt in flumine morientur: et foetebit flumen, et molestia afficientur Aegyptii, bibendo aquas ex flumine.

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.

19. Et dixit Jehova ad Mosen, Dic ad Aharon, Tolle virgam tuam, et extende manum tuam super aquas ­Aegypti, super flumina eorum, super rivos et stagna eorum, et super omnem collectionem aquarum ipsorum: et fient sanguis, eritque sanguis per totam terram Aegypti in vasis ligneis et lapideis.

20. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded: and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

20. Et ita fecerunt Moses et Aharon sicuti praeceperat Jehova. Et elevans baculum, percussit aquas quae erant in flumine, coram oculis Pharaonis, et coram oculis servorum ejus. Et versae sunt aqmaae omnes quae erant in flumine, in sanguinem.

21. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river: and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

21. Pisces etiam qui erant in flumine mortui sunt: et computruit flumen, ut non possent Aegyptii bibere aquas ex flumine: fuitque sanguis per totam terram ­Aegypti.

22. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the Lord had said.

22. Sic etiam fecerunt praestigiatores Aegypti incantationibus suis: et obduruit cor Pharaonis, sicut loquutus fuerat Jehova.

23. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.

23. Et revertens Pharao venit in domum suara: neque adjecit cor suum etiam ad hoc.

24. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

24. Foderunt autem omnes Aegyp tii per circuitum fluminis, ut aquas biberent, quia non poterant bibere ex aquis fluminis.

25. And seven days were fulfilled, after that the Lord had smitten the river.

25. Et completi sunt septem dies ex quo percussit Jehova fluvium.

14. And the Lord said unto Moses. Moses now begins to relate the two plagues which were inflicted upon Egypt before Pharaoh was induced to obey; and although there was something prodigious in the madness which strove against God’s hand so powerfully constraining him, yet in the person of this single reprobate, the picture of human pride and rebellion, when it is not controlled by a spirit of tractableness, is presented to our view. Let the faithful then be admonished by this narrative diligently to beware, lest, by wantonly rebelling against God, they provoke a similar vengeance upon themselves. For the same Being who hardened Pharaoh’s heart is the constant avenger of impiety, and, smiting His enemies with a spirit of confusion, renders them as furious as they are senseless. Moreover, lest Moses, stumbling against this obstacle, should desist from the course he had begun, God encourages him to the combat, as much as to say, that he had to contend with a very hard stone until it should be broken. Hearing that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, he might begin to waver, unless a hope of victory were shewn him from elsewhere. But since the obstinacy of this beast is indomitable, God arms His servant with new weapons, as much as to say, that he must be worn down though he could not be broken. But although to some the analogy may appear far-fetched, between the ten plagues and the ten precepts of the law, yet, in my opinion, it is probable, and agreeable to reason, that before God promulgated the law the wicked were smitten with as many plagues as He was about to give precepts to His people, that in this way He might confirm their authority. First, however, He commands Moses to take up the rod, and reminds him of the recent miracle that he may gird himself to the new conflict with greater confidence. Then, after the Hebrew manner, He more fully lays open what He had briefly touched upon; for, at first, no mention is made of Aaron, but God only announces to Moses what He would have done; then He explains that the hand of Aaron was to be interposed. Where God reminds them that the rod was lately turned into a serpent, He shews that we profit but little by His works, unless our faith gathers strength from them. Besides, when God denounces to Pharaoh what He is going to do, He renders him more inexcusable, because he is not awakened by threats to repentance. God indeed knew that this would be without success; but although he knows the disease to be incurable, He still ceases not to apply the remedies — not indeed such as will restore health, but such as will draw out the secret poison from the mind. Many are here at issue (litigant) with God, because He not only speaks to the deaf, but even, by admonishing or chastising them in vain, exasperates their malice more and more. But it is for us, when any appearance of unreasonableness perplexes us, reverently to adore the secret judgments of God and to be soberly wise. Meanwhile the event shews that God’s threatenings do not fall ineffectually, but that the contempt of them doubles both the crime and the punishment.

19. And the Lord spake unto Moses. This is the more extended narrative of which I spoke; for Moses mentions nothing different from what went before, but explains more distinctly his mode of action in the performance of the miracle, namely, that what God had commanded was completed by the instrumentality of Aaron. There was a reason for commencing with this miracle, that the Egyptians might know that there was no safeguard for them in the resources upon which they prided themselves the most. We know what great wealth, defense, and conveniences arose to them from the Nile; thence came their abundant fisheries, thence the fertility of their whole country, which it irrigated in its inundation, a thing that, in other lands is injurious; its navigation was most advantageous for their merchants, it was also a strong fortification to a good part of the kingdom. Therefore, in order to cast down the Egyptians from their principal dependence, He turns its waters into blood. Besides, because water is one of the two elements of which man’s life consists, in depriving the Egyptians of one part of their life, He used the best and shortest method of humiliating their haughtiness, had they not been altogether intractable. He might, indeed, by a single breath, have dried up all the sources of water, and overwhelmed the whole nation by drought; but this would have been commonly believed to have happened by chance, or naturally, and therefore would have been a less apparent prodigy, whilst it would have shut up the way for others. It would, then, have been sufficient, by the terror of death it awakened, to turn them to the fear of God, unless their madness had been desperate. Moses enumerates, besides the river, the streams, and ponds, and pools of water; because, in different parts of the country, as well artificially as naturally, the Nile was so diffused, that scarcely any other country is provided in all directions with such an abundance of water; as though God should say, “It shall avail you nothing to possess such an immense supply of water; because you shall thirst as much as if the Nile were dry.” He adds, “both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone;” meaning, that in whatever kind of vessel they came to draw, they would find nothing but blood.

20. And Moses and Aaron did so. He repeats that what God threatened as to the death of the fish, and the stinking of the Nile, actually took place; that he may aggravate the sin of the king, who was unaffected by the manifold power of God. Still he immediately adds that his counsellors witnessed it also. Hence we may conjecture, that the same infatuation had pervaded the whole court. It was also proper that so memorable a circumstance should not only be known generally, but that its author should be seen by many eyes. But it was a sign of the reprobation of the whole nation, that there was none of all that multitude who labored to correct the folly of the king. Whence also it appears that God confounds the wisdom of the world; for there was no nation which gloried more in its universal knowledge; even as Isaiah reproaches them of their boast. (Isaiah 19:11.) But we see in how shameful a manner, on the one hand proud, and on the other amazed, they betrayed not a single spark of sound intelligence.

22. And the magicians of Egypt did so. A question arises as to how the magicians could imitate Moses, when the material to work upon no longer remained; for, if there were no water left in Egypt, its transmutation was impossible. But I have no doubt but that, for the purpose of their illusion, pure and clear waters appeared for a little while, and then were changed into blood. For, since the season for concluding the contests was not yet arrived, doubtless God opened a way for Himself, until they reached their end. The supposition of Augustine Tom. 3., pars prima, p. 428; Quaestiones in Exodum, 23; and tom. 2., p. 463; Ep. 143., in Marcellum, where he offers another explanation also, viz., that their miracle might have been wrought upon salt water. is a forced one, that the magicians took the water, which remained pure and unaltered among the habitations of the Israelites. I should more willingly accept what he says, that, perhaps the waters were smitten by them at the same instant, so that in one place the power of God shone forth, in another their deception prevailed — although the solution I have given is very sufficient. Whether the change were true or imaginary, I dare not decide; except that it is more in accordance with the delusions of Satan, that the eyes of the wicked were deceived. Nor is there any necessity to philosophize more subtilely with Augustine, Vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 427, quaes. 21. “Insunt enim corporeis rebus per omnia elementa mundi quaedam occultae seminariae rationes, quibus, eum data fuerit opportunitas temporalis, atque causalis, prorumpunt in species debitas suis modis, et finibus.” that there is a seminal principle infused into all created things, so that one species may generate another. We may rather take our stand on the teaching of Paul, that God sends strong delusion to ensnare the unbelievers with lies, because they refuse to embrace the truth, (2 Thessalonians 2:11;) and I have already shewn from another passage of Moses, that, by the just judgment of God, false prophets perform signs and wonders. Moses, however, seems to hint that it was only an illusion, where he adds, “the magicians did so with their enchantments;” as if the flashes, as of lightning, dazzled the eyes of the spectators; for this I have shewn to be the meaning of the word. Yet I do not question but that God altogether preserved His people from this calamity, so that these guests and strangers were supplied with the water of Egypt, whilst not a drop was left for the natives of the land. Thus was the king convicted of obstinacy, because he was not more attentive to observe this distinction; nay, he must have been doubly mad and foolish, to the destruction of himself and his kingdom, to set the delusion of the magicians against the power of God. But this often happens to the reprobate, that they rush eagerly as it were to their own destruction, whilst they are borne away by satanic impulse in opposition to God. Yet this was no slight temptation to God’s servants, to see the ministers of Satan almost rivaling themselves. For, if God chose to bear witness to their deliverance by miracles, — when they saw their enemies endued with a similar power, how could their own vocation be ratified and sure? And indeed it is probable that their faith was shaken by these machinations; yet I count it certain that it did not yield and give way; for, if Moses had been overcome by doubt, he would have confessed it, as it was his custom to do. But God opened their eyes, so that they should regard with contempt the tricks and deceptions of the magicians; besides, the divine vision had shone upon them together with the word, so that it was no marvel that, thus supported, they should repel, or sustain, every assault with firmness.

23. And Pharaoh turned. In this word Moses teaches us that the hardness of heart, to which God had devote Pharaoh, was voluntary; so that the sin rested in himself, nor did the secret appointment of God avail anything to lessen his culpability, for his folly is condemned, because he did not “set his heart to this also.” Whence it follows that he was the author of his own obstinacy, because, being blinded by pride and contempt, he took no account of the glory of God. Thus the wicked, although as being vessels of wrath, they are cast of God into a reprobate mind, still harden themselves, because wittingly and willfully they run against God, and thus their security, audacity, and perverseness take away from them the excuse of ignorance or error. Wherefore this example warns us not to slumber when God arouses us, but attentively to consider His works, which may instruct us to reverence and fear Him. The statement that the Egyptians dug wells for themselves increases the certainty of the miracle, as does also what is added as to the seven days; for if the corruption of the water had only been momentary, some suspicion of delusion might have crept in, which was removed both by the continued taste and appearance. Therefore it was said before, that the Egyptians would suffer inconvenience and pain He seems to allude to verse 18, which he translates “et molestia afficientur Aegyptii, bibendo aquas ex flumine.” from the want of water; for thus I explain it, that they should be sorrowful and afflicted, viz., because they had nothing to drink.

EXODUS 8

Exodus 8:1-7

1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

1. Dixit autem Jehova ad Mosen, Vade ad Pharaonem, et dic ad eum, Sic dicit Jehova, Dimitte populum meum ut serviant mihi.

2. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

2. Quod si tu renuis dimittere, ecce, ego percutio omnes terminos tuos ranis.

3. And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up, and come into thine house, and into thy bed-chamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs:

3. Et scatebit flumen ranis, quae ascendent, et intrabunt domum tuam, et conclave cubilis tui, et super lectum tuum, et in domum servorum tuorum, et in populum tuum, et in furnos tuos, et in panaria tua. (Heb. farinas tuas.)

4. And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.

4. Itaque in te, et in populum tuum, et in omnes servos ascendent ranae.

5. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.

5. Et ait Jehova ad Mosen, Dic ad Aharon, Extende manum tuam cum virga tua super fluvios, super rivos, et super stagna, ut adducas ranas super terram Aegypti.

6. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

6. Et extendit Aharon manum suam super aquas Aegypti, et ascenderunt ranae, operueruntque terram Aegypti.

7. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.

7. Et sic fecerunt magi incantationibus suis: nempe adducendo ranas super terram Aegypti.

CHAPTER 7

Ex 7:1-25. Second Interview with Pharaoh.

1. the Lord said unto Moses--He is here encouraged to wait again on the king--not, however, as formerly, in the attitude of a humble suppliant, but now armed with credentials as God's ambassador, and to make his demand in a tone and manner which no earthly monarch or court ever witnessed.

I have made thee a god--"made," that is, set, appointed; "a god"; that is, he was to act in this business as God's representative, to act and speak in His name and to perform things beyond the ordinary course of nature. The Orientals familiarly say of a man who is eminently great or wise, "he is a god" among men.

Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet--that is, "interpreter" or "spokesman." The one was to be the vicegerent of God, and the other must be considered the speaker throughout all the ensuing scenes, even though his name is not expressly mentioned.

3. I will harden Pharaoh's heart--This would be the result. But the divine message would be the occasion, not the cause of the king's impenitent obduracy.

4-5. I may lay mine hand upon Egypt, &c.--The succession of terrible judgments with which the country was about to be scourged would fully demonstrate the supremacy of Israel's God.

7. Moses was fourscore years old--This advanced age was a pledge that they had not been readily betrayed into a rash or hazardous enterprise, and that under its attendant infirmities they could not have carried through the work on which they were entering had they not been supported by a divine hand.

9. When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, &c.--The king would naturally demand some evidence of their having been sent from God; and as he would expect the ministers of his own gods to do the same works, the contest, in the nature of the case, would be one of miracles. Notice has already been taken of the rod of Moses (Ex 4:2), but rods were carried also by all nobles and official persons in the court of Pharaoh. It was an Egyptian custom, and the rods were symbols of authority or rank. Hence God commanded His servants to use a rod.

10. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, &c.--It is to be presumed that Pharaoh had demanded a proof of their divine mission.

11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, &c.--His object in calling them was to ascertain whether this doing of Aaron's was really a work of divine power or merely a feat of magical art. The magicians of Egypt in modern times have been long celebrated adepts in charming serpents, and particularly by pressing the nape of the neck, they throw them into a kind of catalepsy, which renders them stiff and immovable--thus seeming to change them into a rod. They conceal the serpent about their persons, and by acts of legerdemain produce it from their dress, stiff and straight as a rod. Just the same trick was played off by their ancient predecessors, the most renowned of whom, Jannes and Jambres (2Ti 3:8), were called in on this occasion. They had time after the summons to make suitable preparations--and so it appears they succeeded by their "enchantments" in practising an illusion on the senses.

12. but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods--This was what they could not be prepared for, and the discomfiture appeared in the loss of their rods, which were probably real serpents.

14. Pharaoh's heart is hardened--Whatever might have been his first impressions, they were soon dispelled; and when he found his magicians making similar attempts, he concluded that Aaron's affair was a magical deception, the secret of which was not known to his wise men.

15. Get thee unto Pharaoh--Now began those appalling miracles of judgment by which the God of Israel, through His ambassadors, proved His sole and unchallengeable supremacy over all the gods of Egypt, and which were the natural phenomena of Egypt, at an unusual season, and in a miraculous degree of intensity. The court of Egypt, whether held at Rameses, or Memphis, or Tanis in the field of Zoan (Psa 78:12), was the scene of those extraordinary transactions, and Moses must have resided during that terrible period in the immediate neighborhood.

in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water--for the purpose of ablutions or devotions perhaps; for the Nile was an object of superstitious reverence, the patron deity of the country. It might be that Moses had been denied admission into the palace; but be that as it may, the river was to be the subject of the first plague, and therefore, he was ordered to repair to its banks with the miracle-working rod, now to be raised, not in demonstration, but in judgment, if the refractory spirit of the king should still refuse consent to Israel's departure for their sacred rites.

17-21. Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their favorite beverage became a nauseous draught, and the fish, which formed so large an article of food, were destroyed. [See on Nu 11:5.] The immense scale on which the plague was inflicted is seen by its extending to "the streams," or branches of the Nile--to the "rivers," the canals, the "ponds" and "pools," that which is left after an overflow, the reservoirs, and the many domestic vessels in which the Nile water was kept to filter. And accordingly the sufferings of the people from thirst must have been severe. Nothing could more humble the pride of Egypt than this dishonor brought on their national god.

22. And the magicians ... did so with their enchantments, &c.--Little or no pure water could be procured, and therefore their imitation must have been on a small scale--the only drinkable water available being dug among the sands. It must have been on a sample or specimen of water dyed red with some coloring matter. But it was sufficient to serve as a pretext or command for the king to turn unmoved and go to his house.

I have made thee a god - At thy word every plague shall come, and at thy command each shall be removed. Thus Moses must have appeared as a god to Pharaoh.

Shall be thy prophet - Shall receive the word from thy mouth, and communicate it to the Egyptian king, Exo 7:2.

I will harden Pharaoh's heart - I will permit his stubbornness and obstinacy still to remain, that I may have the greater opportunity to multiply my wonders in the land, that the Egyptians may know that I only am Jehovah, the self-existent God. See Clarke's note on Exo 4:21.

And bring out the children of Israel - Pharaoh's obstinacy was either caused or permitted in mercy to the Egyptians, that he and his magicians being suffered to oppose Moses and Aaron to the uttermost of their power, the Israelites might be brought out of Egypt in so signal a manner, in spite of all the opposition of the Egyptians, their king, and their gods, that Jehovah might appear to be All-mighty and All-sufficient.

Moses was fourscore years old - He was forty years old when he went to Midian, and he had tarried forty years in Midian; (see Exo 2:11, and Act 7:30); and from this verse it appears that Aaron was three years older than Moses. We have already seen that Miriam their sister was older than either, Exo 2:4.

Show a miracle for you - A miracle, מופת mopheth, signifies an effect produced in nature which is opposed to its laws, or such as its powers are inadequate to produce. As Moses and Aaron professed to have a Divine mission, and to come to Pharaoh on the most extraordinary occasion, making a most singular and unprecedented demand, it was natural to suppose, if Pharaoh should even give them an audience, that he would require them to give him some proof by an extraordinary sign that their pretensions to such a Divine mission were well founded and incontestable. For it appears to have ever been the sense of mankind, that he who has a Divine mission to effect some extraordinary purpose can give a supernatural proof that he has got this extraordinary commission.

Take thy rod - This rod, whether a common staff, an ensign of office, or a shepherd's crook, was now consecrated for the purpose of working miracles; and is indifferently called the rod of God, the rod of Moses, and the rod of Aaron. God gave it the miraculous power, and Moses and Aaron used it indifferently.

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 Psa 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 Exo 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, Gen 1:21.

As נחש nachash seems to be a term restricted to no one particular meaning, as has already been shown on Genesis 3; See Clarke's note on Gen 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; Psa 44:19; Isa 13:22; Isa 34:13; Isa 35:7; Isa 43:20; Jer 9:11, etc., etc.; and also a dragon, serpent, or whale, Job 7:12; Psa 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, Lam 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.

Pharaoh - called the wise men - חכמים chacamim, the men of learning. Sorcerers, כשפים cashshephim, those who reveal hidden things; probably from the Arabic root kashafa, to reveal, uncover, etc., signifying diviners, or those who pretended to reveal what was in futurity, to discover things lost, to find hidden treasures, etc. Magicians, חרטמי chartummey, decipherers of abstruse writings. See Clarke's note on Gen 41:8.

They also did in like manner with their enchantments - The word להתים lahatim, comes from להט mor lahat, to burn, to set on fire; and probably signifies such incantations as required lustral fires, sacrifices, fumigations, burning of incense, aromatic and odoriferous drugs, etc., as the means of evoking departed spirits or assistant demons, by whose ministry, it is probable, the magicians in question wrought some of their deceptive miracles: for as the term miracle signifies properly something which exceeds the powers of nature or art to produce, (see Exo 7:9), hence there could be no miracle in this case but those wrought, through the power of God, by the ministry of Moses and Aaron. There can be no doubt that real serpents were produced by the magicians. On this subject there are two opinions:

1. That the serpents were such as they, either by juggling or sleight of hand, had brought to the place, and had secreted till the time of exhibition, as our common conjurers do in the public fairs, etc.

2. That the serpents were brought by the ministry of a familiar spirit, which, by the magic flames already referred to, they had evoked for the purpose.

Both these opinions admit the serpents to be real, and no illusion of the sight, as some have supposed. The first opinion appears to me insufficient to account for the phenomena of the case referred to. If the magicians threw down their rods, and they became serpents after they were thrown down, as the text expressly says, Exo 7:12, juggling or sleight of hand had nothing farther to do in the business, as the rods were then out of their hands. If Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods, their sleight of hand was no longer concerned. A man, by dexterity of hand, may so far impose on his spectators as to appear to eat a rod; but for rods lying on the ground to become serpents, and one of these to devour all the rest so that it alone remained, required something more than juggling. How much more rational at once to allow that these magicians had familiar spirits who could assume all shapes, change the appearances of the subjects on which they operated, or suddenly convey one thing away and substitute another in its place! Nature has no such power, and art no such influence as to produce the effects attributed here and in the succeeding chapters to the Egyptian magicians.

Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods - As Egypt was remarkably addicted to magic, sorcery, etc., it was necessary that God should permit Pharaoh's wise men to act to the utmost of their skill in order to imitate the work of God, that his superiority might be clearly seen, and his powerful working incontestably ascertained; and this was fully done when Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. We have already seen that the names of two of the chief of these magicians were Jannes and Jambres; see Clarke on Exo 2:10 (note), and 2Tim 3:8 (note). Many traditions and fables concerning these may be seen in the eastern writers.

And he hardened Pharaoh's heart - ויחזק לב פרעה vaiyechezak leb Paroh, "And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened," the identical words which in Exo 7:22 are thus translated, and which should have been rendered in the same way here, lest the hardening, which was evidently the effect of his own obstinate shutting of his eyes against the truth, should be attributed to God. See Clarke's note on Exo 4:21.

Pharaoh's heart is hardened - כבד cabed, is become heavy or stupid; he receives no conviction, notwithstanding the clearness of the light which shines upon him. We well know the power of prejudice: where persons are determined to think and act after a predetermined plan, arguments, demonstrations, and even miracles themselves, are lost on them, as in the case of Pharaoh here, and that of the obstinate Jews in the days of our Lord and his apostles.

Lo, he goeth out unto the water - Probably for the purpose of bathing, or of performing some religious ablution. Some suppose he went out to pay adoration to the river Nile, which was an object of religious worship among the ancient Egyptians. "For," says Plutarch, De Iside., ουδεν οὑτω τιμη Αιγυπτιοις ὡς ὁ Νειλος "nothing is in greater honor among the Egyptians than the river Nile." Some of the ancient Jews supposed that Pharaoh himself was a magician, and that he walked by the river early each morning for the purpose of preparing magical rites, etc.

Behold, I will smite - Here commences the account of the Ten plagues which were inflicted on the Egyptians by Moses and Aaron, by the command and through the power of God. According to Archbishop Usher these ten plagues took place in the course of one month, and in the following order: -

The first, the Waters turned into Blood, took place, he supposes, the 18th day of the sixth month; Exo 7:20.

The second, the plague of Frogs, on the 25th day of the sixth month; Exo 8:2.

The third, the plague of Lice, on the 27th day of the sixth month; Exo 8:16.

The fourth, grievous Swarms of Flies, on the 29th day of the sixth month; Exo 8:24.

The fifth, the grievous Murrain, on the 2d day of the seventh month; Exo 9:3.

The sixth, the plague of Boils and Blains, on the 3d day of the seventh month; Exo 9:10.

The seventh, the grievous Hail, on the 5th day of the seventh month; Exo 9:18.

The eighth, the plague of Locusts, on the 8th day of the seventh month; Exo 10:12.

The ninth, the Thick Darkness, on the 10th day of Abib, (April 30), now become the first month of the Jewish year; Exo 10:22. See Clarke's note on Exo 12:2.

The tenth, the Slaying the First-Born, on the 15th of Abib; Exo 12:29. But most of these dates are destitute of proof.

The Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water - The force of this expression cannot be well felt without taking into consideration the peculiar pleasantness and great salubrity of the waters of the Nile. "The water of Egypt," says the Abbe Mascrier, "is so delicious, that one would not wish the heat to be less, or to be delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisite that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating salt. It is a common saying among them, that if Mohammed had drank of it he would have besought God that he might never die, in order to have had this continual gratification. When the Egyptians undertake the pilgrimage of Mecca, or go out of their country on any other account, they speak of nothing but the pleasure they shall have at their return in drinking of the waters of the Nile. There is no gratification to be compared to this; it surpasses, in their esteem, that of seeing their relations and families. All those who have tasted of this water allow that they never met with the like in any other place. When a person drinks of it for the first time he can scarcely be persuaded that it is not a water prepared by art; for it has something in it inexpressibly agreeable and pleasing to the taste; and it should have the same rank among waters that champaign has among wines. But its most valuable quality is, that it is exceedingly salutary. It never incommodes, let it be drank in what quantity it may: this is so true that it is no uncommon thing to see some persons drink three buckets of it in a day without the least inconvenience! When I pass such encomiums on the water of Egypt it is right to observe that I speak only of that of the Nile, which indeed is the only water drinkable, for their well water is detestable and unwholesome. Fountains are so rare that they are a kind of prodigy in that country; and as to rain water, that is out of the question, as scarcely any falls in Egypt." "A person," says Mr. Harmer, "who never before heard of the deliciousness of the Nile water, and of the large quantities which on that account are drank of it, will, I am sure, find an energy in those words of Moses to Pharaoh, The Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river, which he never observed before. They will loathe to drink of that water which they used to prefer to all the waters of the universe; loathe to drink of that for which they had been accustomed to long, and will rather choose to drink of well water, which in their country is detestable!" - Observations, vol. iii., p. 564.

That there may be blood - both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone - Not only the Nile itself was to be thus changed into blood in all its branches, and the canals issuing from it, but all the water of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, was to undergo a similar change. And this was to extend even to the water already brought into their houses for culinary and other domestic purposes. As the water of the Nile is known to be very thick and muddy, and the Egyptians are obliged to filter it through pots of a kind of white earth, and sometimes through a paste made of almonds, Mr. Harmer supposes that the vessels of wood and stone mentioned above may refer to the process of filtration, which no doubt has been practiced among them from the remotest period. The meaning given above I think to be more natural.

All the waters - were turned to blood - Not merely in appearance, but in reality; for these changed waters became corrupt and insalubrious, so that even the fish that were in the river died; and the smell became highly offensive, so that the waters could not be drank; Exo 7:21.

And the magicians - did so - But if all the water in Egypt was turned into blood by Moses, where did the magicians get the water which they changed into blood? This question is answered in Exo 7:24. The Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink, and it seems that the water obtained by this means was not bloody like that in the river: on this water therefore the magicians might operate. Again, though a general commission was given to Moses, not only to turn the waters of the river (Nile) into blood, but also those of their streams, rivers, ponds, and pools; yet it seems pretty clear from Exo 7:20 that he did not proceed thus far, at least in the first instance; for it is there stated that only the waters of the river were turned into blood. Afterwards the plague doubtless became general. At the commencement therefore of this plague, the magicians might obtain other water to imitate the miracle; and it would not be difficult for them, by juggling tricks or the assistance of a familiar spirit, (for we must not abandon the possibility of this use), to give it a bloody appearance, a fetid smell, and a bad taste. On either of these grounds there is no contradiction in the Mosaic account, though some have been very studious to find one.

The plague of the bloody waters may be considered as a display of retributive justice against the Egyptians, for the murderous decree which enacted that all the male children of the Israelites should be drowned in that river, the waters of which, so necessary to their support and life, were now rendered not only insalubrious but deadly, by being turned into blood. As it is well known that the Nile was a chief object of Egyptian idolatry, (See Clarke's note on Exo 7:15), and that annually they sacrificed a girl, or as others say, both a boy and a girl, to this river, in gratitude for the benefits received from it, (Universal Hist., vol. i., p. 178, fol. edit)., God might have designed this plague as a punishment for such cruelty: and the contempt poured upon this object of their adoration, by turning its waters into blood, and rendering them fetid and corrupt, must have had a direct tendency to correct their idolatrous notions, and lead them to acknowledge the power and authority of the true God.

And seven days were fulfilled - So we learn that this plague continued at least a whole week.

The contention between Moses and Aaron and the magicians of Egypt has become famous throughout the world. Tradition in various countries has preserved not only the account, but also the names of the chief persons concerned in the opposition made by the Egyptians to these messengers of God. Though their names are not mentioned in the sacred text, yet tradition had preserved them in the Jewish records, from which St. Paul undoubtedly quotes 2Tim 3:8, where, speaking of the enemies of the Gospel, he compares them to Jannes and Jambres, who withstood Moses. That these names existed in the ancient Jewish records, their own writings show. In the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel on this place they are called יניס וימבריס Janis and Jambris; and in the Babylonian Talmud they are named Joanne and Mambre, and are represented as chiefs of the sorcerers of Egypt, and as having ridiculed Moses and Aaron for pretending to equal them in magical arts. And Rabbi Tanchum, in his Commentary, names them Jonos and Jombrus. If we allow the readings of the ancient editions of Pliny to be correct, he refers, in Hist. Nat., l. xxx., c. 2, to the same persons, the names being a little changed: Est et alia magices factio, a Mose et Jamne et Jotape Judaeis pendens, sed multis millibus annorum post Zoroastrem; "There is also another faction of magicians which took its origin from the Jews, Moses, Jamnes, and Jotapes, many thousands of years after Zoroaster;" where he confounds Moses with the Egyptian magicians; for the heathens, having no just notion of the power of God, attributed all miracles to the influence of magic. Pliny also calls the Egyptian magicians Jews; but this is not the only mistake in his history; and as he adds, sed multis millibus annorum post Zoroastrem, he is supposed by some to refer to the Christians, and particularly the apostles, who wrought many miracles, and whom he considers to be a magical sect derived from Moses and the Jews, because they were Jews by nation, and quoted Moses and the prophets in proof of the truth of the doctrines of Christianity, and of the Divine mission of Christ.

Numenius, a Pythagorean philosopher, mentioned by Eusebius, names these magicians, Jamnes and Jambres, and mentions their opposition to Moses; and we have already seen that there was a tradition among the Asiatics that Pharaoh's daughter had Moses instructed by the wise men Jannes and Jambres; see Abul Faraje, edit. Pococ., p. 26. Here then is a very remarkable fact, the principal circumstances of which, and the chief actors in them, have been preserved by a sort of universal tradition. See Ainsworth.

When all the circumstances of the preceding case are considered, it seems strange that God should enter into any contest with such persons as the Egyptian magicians; but a little reflection will show the absolute necessity of this. Mr. Psalmanazar, who wrote the Account of the Jews in the first volume of the Universal History, gives the following judicious reasons for this: "If it be asked," says he, "why God did suffer the Egyptian magicians to borrow power from the devil to invalidate, if possible, those miracles which his servant wrought by his Divine power, the following reasons may be given for it:

1. It was necessary that these magicians should be suffered to exert the utmost of their power against Moses, in order to clear him from the imputation of magic or sorcery; for as the notion of such an extraordinary art was very rife, not only among the Egyptians, but all other nations, if they had not entered into this strenuous competition with him, and been at length overcome by him, both the Hebrews and the Egyptians would have been apter to have attributed all his miracles to his skill in magic, than to the Divine power. "2. It was necessary, in order to confirm the faith of the wavering and desponding Israelites, by making them see the difference between Moses acting by the power of God, and the sorcerers by that of Satan. "3. It was necessary, in order to preserve them afterwards from being seduced by any false miracles from the true worship of God."

To these a fourth reason may be added: God permitted this in mercy to the Egyptians, that they might see that the gods in whom they trusted were utterly incapable of saving them; that they could not undo or counteract one of the plagues sent on them by the power of Jehovah; the whole of their influence extending only to some superficial imitations of the genuine miracles wrought by Moses in the name of the true God. By these means it is natural to conclude that many of the Egyptians, and perhaps several of the servants of Pharaoh, were cured of their idolatry; though the king himself hardened his heart against the evidences which God brought before his eyes. Thus God is known by his judgments: for in every operation of his hand his design is to enlighten the minds of men, to bring them from false dependencies to trust in himself alone; that, being saved from error and sin, they may become wise, holy, and happy. When his judgments are abroad in the earth, the inhabitants learn righteousness. (See Clarke's note on Exo 4:21).

I have made thee a god to Pharaoh - That is, my representative in this affair, as magistrates are called gods, because they are God's vicegerents. He was authorized to speak and act in God's name, and endued with a divine power, to do that which is above the ordinary course of nature. And Aaron shall be thy prophet - That is, he shall speak from thee to Pharaoh, as prophets do from God to the children of men. Thou shalt as a god inflict and remove the plagues, and Aaron as a prophet shall denounce them.

Moses was fourscore years old - Joseph, who was to be only a servant to Pharaoh, was preferred at thirty years old; but Moses, who was to be a god to Pharaoh, was not so dignified till he was eighty years old. It is fit he should long wait for such an honour, and be long in preparing for such a service.

Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod - This Moses ordinarily held in his hand, and delivered it to Aaron upon occasion, for the execution of his commands.

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.

Moses had been originally instructed in the learning of the Egyptians, and was suspected to have improved in magical arts in his long retirement. The magicians are therefore sent for to vie with him. The two chief of them were Jannes and Jambres. Their rods became serpents; probably by the power of evil angels artfully substituting serpents in the room of the rods, God permitting the delusion to be wrought for wise and holy ends. But the serpent which Aaron's rod was turned into, swallowed up the others, which was sufficient to have convinced Pharaoh on which side the right lay.

And he harden'd Pharaoh's heart - That is, permitted it to be hardened.

The waters that were in the river were turned into blood - This was a plague justly inflicted upon the Egyptians; for Nilus the river of Egypt was their idol; they and their land had so much benefit by that creature, that they served and worshipped it more than the creator. Also they had stained the river with the blood of the Hebrew children, and now God made that river all bloody; thus he gave them blood to drink, for they were worthy, Rev 16:6. See the power of God. Every creature is that to us which he makes it to be, water or blood. See the mutability of all things under the sun, and what changes we may meet with in them. That which is water to day may be blood to morrow; what is always vain may soon become vexatious. And see what mischievous work sin makes! It is sin that turns our waters into blood.

And the magicians did so - By God's permission with their enchantments; and this served Pharaoh for an excuse not to set his heart to this also, (Ex 7:23,) and a poor excuse it was. Could they have turned the river of blood into water again, it had been something; then they had proved their power, and Pharaoh had been obliged to them as his benefactors.

Seven days were fulfilled - Before this plague was removed.

1 AND the LORD said unto Moses, See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh , and Aaron thy brother shall be thy Prophet .

To represent my person, to act like God, by requiring his obedience to thy commands, and by punishing his disobedience with such punishments as none but God can inflict, to which end thou shalt have my omnipotent assistance.

(i. e.) Thy Interpreter, or spokesman, as chap. 4. 16. to deliver thy commands to Pharaoh.

2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children out of his land.

Heb. and he will send or dismiss, to wit, at last, being forced to it. Success shall attend your endeavours.

6 And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they .

An emphatical repetition to shew their courage in attempting to say and do such things to so great a Monarch in his own dominions, and their fidelity in the execution of all Gods commands.

7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spoke unto Pharaoh .

The ages of Moses and Aaron here, as of Levi and Kohath chap. 6. 16, 18. and before them of Iacob and Ioseph, are so exactly set down, that thence we may understand the accomplishment of Gods prediction, Gen. 15. 13. and the time of Israels being in Egypt.

9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron , Take thy rod , and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent .

By whose hands this and other miracles were to be done, and not by Moses immediately, partly to take off the suspition that these miracles were wrought by some magical artifice of Moses; and partly for the greater honour of Moses, that he might be, what God had said, ver. 1. a God to Pharaoh, who not onely could work wonders himself, but also give power to others to do so.

The same rod is called the rod of God, and of Moses, and of Aaron, here and ver. 12. because it was appointed and as it were consecrated by God, and used both by Moses and Aaron in their great works. And this rod Moses ordinarily held in his hand, and delivered it to Aaron upon occasion, for the execution of his commands.

Heb. A dragon, which is a great serpent: Others, a Crocodile, to whose jaws he had exposed the Israelitish Infants.

Marginal references: chap. 4. 2, 17.

11 Then Pharaoh also called the wisemen , and the sorcerers: now the Magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their inchantments.

Under which general title 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.

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 Iannes and Iambres, 2 Tim. 3. 8.

In shew and appearance, which was not difficult for the devil to do either by altering the air and the spectatours 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 chap. 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.

12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents : but Aarons rod swallowed up their rods .

Either 1. in appearance. For the Scripture oft speaks of things otherwise then they are, because they seem to be so. And therefore as the Devil appearing to Saul in the likeness of Samuel is called Samuel, so may these rods upon the same account be called Serpents, because through Diabolical illusion they seemed to be so. Or 2. really, in manner expressed, ver. 11.

By which it was evident, either that Aarons rod was turned into a real serpent, because it had the real properties and effects of a serpent, viz. to devour; or, at least, that the God of Israel was infinitely more powerful then the Egyptian Idols or Devils.

13 And he hardened Pharaohs heart that he hearkened not unto them, as the LORD had said.

The Lord, to whom this act of hardening is frequently ascribed both in this book and elsewhere.

Marginal references: chap. 4. 21.

14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaohs heart is hardened : he refuseth to let the people go.

Is obstinate and resolved in his way, so as neither my word nor works can make any impression upon him.

Marginal references: chap. 8. 15. & [illegible: 1 word]. 1, 20, 27.

15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning, lo he goeth out unto the water , and thou shalt stand by the rivers brink, against he come: and the rod which was turned to a serpent, shalt thou take into thine hand.

(i. e.) Nilus, whither he went at that time, either for his recreation: or to pay his morning-worship to that river, which the Egyptians had in great veneration, as Plutarch testifies.

17 Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD : behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand, upon the waters which are in the river , and they shall be turned to blood .

Because th[illegible: 1+ letters] saidst, [illegible: 1 word] is the Lord? and, I know not the lord, chap. 5. 2. thou [illegible: 1 word] know him experimentally and to thy cost.

viz. by Aarons hand, who shall do it by my command and direction. Thus Pilate is said to give Christs body to Ioseph, Mark 15. 45. because he commanded it to be delivered by others to him. The same action is ascribed to the principal and instrumental cause.

Nilus, which was one of their principal Gods; and therefore it was inexcusable in them, that they would not renounce those [illegible: 1+ letters]eeble Gods which were unable to help not onely their worshippers, but even themselves, nor embrace the service and commands of that God whose almighty power they saw and felt.

Which was a very grievous Plague to them; both because it was an eternal dishonour to their Religion, and because from hence they had both their drink, Deut. 11. 10, 11. Ier. 2. 18. and their meat, Numb. 11. 5. for greater and lesser cattel they would not eat, Exod. 8. 26. And it was a very proper punishment for them, who had made that river an instrument for the execution of their bloody design against the Israelitish infants, Exod. 1. 22.

Marginal references: chap. 4. 9.; Rev. 16. 6.

18 And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall loath to drink of the water of the river.

Therefore the Israelites were free from this plague, and those branches of Nilus which they used were uncorrupted, when all others were turned into bloud.

Or, shall weary themselves, in running hither and thither in hopes of finding water in some parts or branches of the river.

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 pooles 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.

Not that he was to go to every pool to use this ceremony there, but he stretched his hand and rod over some of them in the name of all the rest, which he might signifie either by his words, or by the various motions of his rod several ways.

Marginal references: Heb. gathering of their waters.

22 And the Magicians of Egypt did so with their inchantments : and Pharaohs heart was hardened: neither did he hearken unto them, as the LORD had said.

It was not difficult for the Devil to convey bloud speedily and unperceivably and that in great quantity: which might suffice to infect with a bloody colour those small parcels of water which were left for them to shew their art in. Qu. Whence could they have water, when all their waters were turned into blood? Ans. 1. It might be had, either 1. by rain, which at that time God was pleased to send down either for this purpose, or to mitigate the extremity of the plague, or for other reasons known to him though not to us. For that rain sometimes falls in Egypt, though not much, nor often, is affirmed by antient writers, and late travellers. Or 2. from Goshen, which was not far from the Court, or from some houses of the Israelites, who dwelt amongst the Egyptians, as appears from many places of this history, and who were free from these Plagues. See Exod. 8. 22. and 9. 26. and 10. 23. and 12. 13. &c. Or 3. from the pits which they digged. ver. 24. Or 4. from some branch of Nilus, or some vessels in their houses, whose waters were not yet changed: For this change might be wrought not suddenly (which is not affirmed in this relation) but by degrees, which God might so order for this very end, that the Magicians might have matter for the trial of their experiment.

Marginal references: Wisd. 17. [illegible: 1+ letters].

23 And Pharaoh turned, and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.

He did not seriously consider it, nor the causes or cure of this plague, and was not much affected with it, because he saw this fact exceeded not the power of his Magitians.

24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink : for they could not drink of the water of the river.

It is not much material to us, whether they lost their labour, and found onely blood there, as Iosephus affirms; or whether they succeeded and found water there, which seems more probable, because these come not within the compass of Moses his commission, ver. 17, 19, 20. or whether they found the water something purified and less bloody, though mixed with blood. But it is observable, that though the Devil could do something which might increase the plague, or imitate it, yet he could do nothing to remove it.

25 And seven dayes were fulfilled after that the LORD had smitten the river.

Ere all the waters of Egypt were perfectly free from this infection. Quest. How could the Egyptians subsist so long without water! Ans. 1. Philo tells us, that many of them died of this plague. 2. As the plague might come on, so it might go off by degrees, and so the water, though mixed with blood, might give them some relief. 3. The juyces of herbs, and other liquors, which were untouched with this plague, might refresh them. 4. They might have some water, either from their pits, or by rain from heaven, as was said before; or from Goshen: for though it be said, that the blood was in all their vessels, ver. 19. yet it is not said, that all that should afterwards be put into them, should be turned into blood.

Exo 7:1-3

Moses’ last difficulty (Exo 6:12, repeated in Exo 6:30) was removed by God with the words: “See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet” (Exo 7:1). According to Exo 4:16, Moses was to be a god to Aaron; and in harmony with that, Aaron is here called the prophet of Moses, as being the person who would announce to Pharaoh the revelations of Moses. At the same time Moses was also made a god to Pharaoh; i.e., he was promised divine authority and power over Pharaoh, so that henceforth there was no more necessity for him to be afraid of the king of Egypt, but the latter, notwithstanding all resistance, would eventually bow before him. Moses was a god to Aaron as the revealer of the divine will, and to Pharaoh as the executor of that will. - In Exo 7:2-5 God repeats in a still more emphatic form His assurance, that notwithstanding the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, He would bring His people Israel out of Egypt. ושׁלּח (Exo 7:2) does not mean ut dimittat or mittat (Vulg. Ros.; “that he send,” Eng. ver.); but ו is vav consec. perf., “and so he will send.” On Exo 7:3 cf. Exo 4:21.

Exo 7:4-7 את־ידי ונתתּי: “I will lay My hand on Egypt,” i.e., smite Egypt, “and bring out My armies, My people, the children of Israel.” צבאות (armies) is used of Israel, with reference to its leaving Egypt equipped (Exo 13:18) and organized as an army according to the tribes (cf. Exo 6:26 and Exo 12:51 with Num 1 and 2), to contend for the cause of the Lord, and fight the battles of Jehovah. In this respect the Israelites were called the hosts of Jehovah. The calling of Moses and Aaron was now concluded. Exo 7:6 and Exo 7:7 pave the way for the account of their performance of the duties consequent upon their call.

Exo 7:8-13

The negotiations of Moses and Aaron as messengers of Jehovah with the king of Egypt, concerning the departure of Israel from his land, commenced with a sign, by which the messengers of God attested their divine mission in the presence of Pharaoh (Exo 7:8-13), and concluded with the announcement of the last blow that God would inflict upon the hardened king (Exo 11:1-10). The centre of these negotiations, or rather the main point of this lengthened section, which is closely connected throughout, and formally rounded off by Exo 11:9-10 into an inward unity, is found in the nine plagues which the messengers of Jehovah brought upon Pharaoh and his kingdom at the command of Jehovah, to bend the defiant spirit of the king, and induce him to let Israel go out of the land and serve their God. If we carefully examine the account of these nine penal miracles, we shall find that they are arranged in three groups of three plagues each. For the first and second, the fourth and fifth, and the seventh and eighth were announced beforehand by Moses to the king (Exo 7:15; Exo 8:1, Exo 8:20; Exo 9:1, Exo 9:13; Exo 10:1), whilst the third, sixth, and ninth were sent without any such announcement (Exo 8:16; Exo 9:8; Exo 10:21). Again, the first, fourth, and seventh were announced to Pharaoh in the morning, and the first and fourth by the side of the Nile (Exo 7:15; Exo 8:20), both of them being connected with the overflowing of the river; whilst the place of announcement is not mentioned in the case of the seventh (the hail, Exo 9:13), because hail, as coming from heaven, was not connected with any particular locality. This grouping is not a merely external arrangement, adopted by the writer for the sake of greater distinctness, but is founded in the facts themselves, and the effect which God intended the plagues to produce, as we may gather from these circumstances - that the Egyptian magicians, who had imitated the first plagues, were put to shame with their arts by the third, and were compelled to see in it the finger of God (Exo 8:19), - that they were smitten themselves by the sixth, and were unable to stand before Moses (Exo 9:11), - and that after the ninth, Pharaoh broke off all further negotiation with Moses and Aaron (Exo 10:28-29). The last plague, commonly known as the tenth, which Moses also announced to the king before his departure (Exo 11:4.), differed from the nine former ones both in purpose and form. It was the first beginning of the judgment that was coming upon the hardened king, and was inflicted directly by God Himself, for Jehovah “went out through the midst of Egypt, and smote the first-born of the Egyptians both of man and beast” (Exo 11:4; Exo 12:29); whereas seven of the previous plagues were brought by Moses and Aaron, and of the two that are not expressly said to have been brought by them, one, that of the dog-flies, was simply sent by Jehovah (Exo 8:21, Exo 8:24), and the other, the murrain of beasts, simply came from His hand (Exo 9:3, Exo 9:6). The last blow (נגע Exo 11:1), which brought about the release of Israel, was also distinguished from the nine plagues, as the direct judgment of God, by the fact that it was not effected through the medium of any natural occurrence, as was the case with all the others, which were based upon the natural phenomena of Egypt, and became signs and wonders through their vast excess above the natural measure of such natural occurrences and their supernatural accumulation, blow after blow following one another in less than a year, and also through the peculiar circumstances under which they were brought about. In this respect also the triple division is unmistakeable. The first three plagues covered the whole land, and fell upon the Israelites as well as the Egyptians; with the fourth the separation commenced between Egyptians and Israelites, so that only the Egyptians suffered from the last six, the Israelites in Goshen being entirely exempted. The last three, again, were distinguished from the others by the fact, that they were far more dreadful than any of the previous ones, and bore visible marks of being the forerunners of the judgment which would inevitably fall upon Pharaoh, if he continued his opposition to the will of the Almighty God.

In this graduated series of plagues, the judgment of hardening was inflicted upon Pharaoh in the manner explained above. In the first three plagues God showed him, that He, the God of Israel, was Jehovah (Exo 7:17), i.e., that He ruled as Lord and King over the occurrences and powers of nature, which the Egyptians for the most part honoured as divine; and before His power the magicians of Egypt with their secret arts were put to shame. These three wonders made no impression upon the king. The plague of frogs, indeed, became so troublesome to him, that he begged Moses and Aaron to intercede with their God to deliver him from them, and promised to let the people go (Exo 8:8). But as soon as they were taken away, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to the messengers of God. Of the three following plagues, the first (i.e., the fourth in the entire series), viz., the plague of swarming creatures or dog-flies, with which the distinction between the Egyptians and Israelites commenced, proving to Pharaoh that the God of Israel was Jehovah in the midst of the land (Exo 8:22), made such an impression upon the hardened king, that he promised to allow the Israelites to sacrifice to their God, first of all in the land, and when Moses refused this condition, even outside the land, if they would not go far away, and Moses and Aaron would pray to God for him, that this plague might be taken away by God from him and from his people (Exo 8:25.). But this concession was only forced out of him by suffering; so that as soon as the plague ceased he withdrew it again, and his hard heart was not changed by the two following plagues. Hence still heavier plagues were sent, and he had to learn from the last three that there was no god in the whole earth like Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews (Heb 9:14). The terrible character of these last plagues so affected the proud heart of Pharaoh, that twice he acknowledged he had sinned (Exo 9:27; Exo 10:16), and gave a promise that he would let the Israelites go, restricting his promise first of all to the men, and then including their families also (Exo 10:11, Exo 10:24). But when this plague was withdrawn, he resumed his old sinful defiance once more (Exo 9:34-35; Exo 10:20), and finally was altogether hardened, and so enraged at Moses persisting in his demand that they should take their flocks as well, that he drove away the messengers of Jehovah and broke off all further negotiations, with the threat that he would kill them if ever they came into his presence again (Exo 10:28-29). Exo 7:8-13

Attestation of the Divine Mission of Moses and Aaron. - By Jehovah's directions Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and proved by a miracle (מופת Exo 4:21) that they were the messengers of the God of the Hebrews. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh, and it became a serpent. Aaron’s staff as no other than the wondrous staff of Moses (Exo 4:2-4). This is perfectly obvious from a comparison of Exo 7:15 and Exo 7:17 with Exo 7:19 and Exo 7:20. If Moses was directed, according to Exo 7:15., to go before Pharaoh with his rod which had been turned into a serpent, and to announce to him that he would smite the water of the Nile with the staff in his hand and turn it into blood, and then, according to Exo 7:19., this miracle was carried out by Aaron taking his staff and stretching out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the staff which Aaron held over the water cannot have been any other than the staff of Moses which had been turned into a serpent. Consequently we must also understand by the staff of Aaron, which was thrown down before Pharaoh and became a serpent, the same wondrous staff of Moses, and attribute the expression “thy (i.e., Aaron’s) staff” to the brevity of the account, i.e., to the fact that the writer restricted himself to the leading facts, and passed over such subordinate incidents as that Moses gave his staff to Aaron for him to work the miracle. For the same reason he has not even mentioned that Moses spoke to Pharaoh by Aaron, or what he said, although in Exo 7:13 he states that Pharaoh did not hearken unto them, i.e., to their message or their words. The serpent, into which the staff was changed, is not called נחשׁ here, as in Exo 7:15 and Exo 4:3, but תּנּיּן (lxx δράκων, dragon), a general term for snake-like animals. This difference does not show that there were two distinct records, but may be explained on the ground that the miracle performed before Pharaoh had a different signification from that which attested the divine mission of Moses in the presence of his people. The miraculous sign mentioned here is distinctly related to the art of snake-charming, which was carried to such an extent by the Psylli in ancient Egypt (cf. Bochart, and Hengstenberg, Egypt and Moses, pp. 98ff. transl.). It is probable that the Israelites in Egypt gave the name תּנּיּן (Eng. ver. dragon), which occurs in Deu 32:33 and Psa 91:13 as a parallel to פּתן (Eng. ver. asp), to the snake with which the Egyptian charmers generally performed their tricks, the Hayeh of the Arabs. What the magi and conjurers of Egypt boasted that they could perform by their secret or magical arts, Moses was to effect in reality in Pharaoh’s presence, and thus manifest himself to the king as Elohim (Exo 7:1), i.e., as endowed with divine authority and power. All that is related of the Psylli of modern times is, that they understand the art of turning snakes into sticks, or of compelling them to become rigid and apparently dead (for examples see Hengstenberg); but who can tell what the ancient Psylli may have been able to effect, or may have pretended to effect, at a time when the demoniacal power of heathenism existed in its unbroken force? The magicians summoned by Pharaoh also turned their sticks into snakes (Exo 7:12); a fact which naturally excites the suspicion that the sticks themselves were only rigid snakes, though, with our very limited acquaintance with the dark domain of heathen conjuring, the possibility of their working “lying wonders after the working of Satan,” i.e., supernatural things (2Th 2:9), cannot be absolutely denied. The words, “They also, the chartummim of Egypt, did in like manner with their enchantments,” are undoubtedly based upon the assumption, that the conjurers of Egypt not only pretended to possess the art of turning snakes into sticks, but of turning sticks into snakes as well, so that in the persons of the conjurers Pharaoh summoned the might of the gods of Egypt to oppose the might of Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews. For these magicians, whom the Apostle Paul calls Jannes and Jambres, according to the Jewish tradition (2Ti 3:8), were not common jugglers, but חכמים “wise men,” men educated in human and divine wisdom, and חרטתּים, ἱερογραμματεῖς, belonging to the priestly caste (Gen 41:8); so that the power of their gods was manifested in their secret arts (להטים from להט to conceal, to act secretly, like לטים in Exo 7:22 from לוּט), and in the defeat of their enchantments by Moses the gods of Egypt were overcome by Jehovah (Exo 12:12). The supremacy of Jehovah over the demoniacal powers of Egypt manifested itself in the very first miraculous sign, in the fact that Aaron’s staff swallowed those of the magicians; though this miracle made no impression upon Pharaoh (Exo 7:13).

When Pharaoh hardened his heart against the first sign, notwithstanding the fact that it displayed the supremacy of the messengers of Jehovah over the might of the Egyptian conjurers and their gods, and refused to let the people of Israel go; Moses and Aaron were empowered by God to force the release of Israel from the obdurate king by a series of penal miracles. These מפתים were not purely supernatural wonders, or altogether unknown to the Egyptians, but were land-plagues with which Egypt was occasionally visited, and were raised into miraculous deeds of the Almighty God, by the fact that they burst upon the land one after another at an unusual time of the year, in unwonted force, and in close succession. These plagues were selected by God as miraculous signs, because He intended to prove thereby to the king and his servants, that He, Jehovah, was the Lord in the land, and ruled over the powers of nature with unrestricted freedom and omnipotence. For this reason God not only caused them to burst suddenly upon the land according to His word, and then as suddenly to disappear according to His omnipotent will, but caused them to be produced by Moses and Aaron and disappear again at their word and prayer, that Pharaoh might learn that these men were appointed by Him as His messengers, and were endowed by Him with divine power for the accomplishment of His will.

Exo 7:14-21

The Water of the Nile Turned into Blood. - In the morning, when Pharaoh went to the Nile, Moses took his staff at the command of God; went up to him on the bank of the river, with the demand of Jehovah that he would let His people Israel go; and because hitherto (עד־כּה) he had not obeyed, announced this first plague, which Aaron immediately brought to pass. Both time and place are of significance here. Pharaoh went out in the morning to the Nile (Exo 7:15; Exo 8:20), not merely to take a refreshing walk, or to bathe in the river, or to see how high the water had risen, but without doubt to present his daily worship to the Nile, which was honoured by the Egyptians as their supreme deity (vid., Exo 2:5). At this very moment the will of God with regard to Israel was declared to him; and for his refusal to comply with the will of the Lord as thus revealed to him, the smiting of the Nile with the staff made known to him the fact, that the God of the Hebrews was the true God, and possessed the power to turn the fertilizing water of this object of their highest worship into blood. The changing of the water into blood is to be interpreted in the same sense as in Joe 3:4, where the moon is said to be turned into blood; that is to say, not as a chemical change into real blood, but as a change in the colour, which caused it to assume the appearance of blood (2Ki 3:22). According to the statements of many travellers, the Nile water changes its colour when the water is lowest, assumes first of all a greenish hue and is almost undrinkable, and then, while it is rising, becomes as red as ochre, when it is more wholesome again. The causes of this change have not been sufficiently investigated. The reddening of the water is attributed by many to the red earth, which the river brings down from Sennaar (cf. Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, pp. 104ff. transl.; Laborde, comment. p. 28); but Ehrenberg came to the conclusion, after microscopical examinations, that it was caused by cryptogamic plants and infusoria. This natural phenomenon was here intensified into a miracle, not only by the fact that the change took place immediately in all the branches of the river at Moses’ word and through the smiting of the Nile, but even more by a chemical change in the water, which caused the fishes to die, the stream to stink, and, what seems to indicate putrefaction, the water to become undrinkable; whereas, according to the accounts of travellers, which certainly do not quite agree with one another, and are not entirely trustworthy, the Nile water becomes more drinkable as soon as the natural reddening beings. The change in the water extended to “the streams,” or different arms of the Nile; “the rivers,” or Nile canals; “the ponds,” or large standing lakes formed by the Nile; and all “the pools of water,” lit., every collection of their waters, i.e., all the other standing lakes and ponds, left by the overflowings of the Nile, with the water of which those who lived at a distance from the river had to content themselves. “So that there was blood in all the land of Egypt, both in the wood and in the stone;” i.e., in the vessels of wood and stone, in which the water taken from the Nile and its branches was kept for daily use. The reference is not merely to the earthen vessels used for filtering and cleansing the water, but to every vessel into which water had been put. The “stone” vessels were the stone reservoirs built up at the corners of the streets and in other places, where fresh water was kept for the poor (cf. Oedmann’s verm. Samml. p. 133). The meaning of this supplementary clause is not that even the water which was in these vessels previous to the smiting of the river was turned into blood, in which Kurtz perceives “the most miraculous part of the whole miracle;” for in that case the “wood and stone” would have been mentioned immediately after the “gatherings of the waters;” but simply that there was no more water to put into these vessels that was not changed into blood. The death of the fishes was a sign, that the smiting had taken away from the river its life-sustaining power, and that its red hue was intended to depict before the eyes of the Egyptians all the terrors of death; but we are not to suppose that there was any reference to the innocent blood which the Egyptians had poured into the river through the drowning of the Hebrew boys, or to their own guilty blood which was afterwards to be shed.

Exo 7:22-25

This miracle was also imitated by the magicians. The question, where they got any water that was still unchanged, is not answered in the biblical text. Kurtz is of opinion that they took spring water for the purpose; but he has overlooked the fact, that if spring water was still to be had, there would be no necessity for the Egyptians to dig wells for the purpose of finding drinkable water. The supposition that the magicians did not try their arts till the miracle wrought by Aaron had passed away, is hardly reconcilable with the text, which places the return of Pharaoh to his house after the work of the magicians. For it can neither be assumed, that the miracle wrought by the messengers of Jehovah lasted only a few hours, so that Pharaoh was able to wait by the Nile till it was over, since in that case the Egyptians would not have thought it necessary to dig wells; nor can it be regarded as probable, that after the miracle was over, and the plague had ceased, the magicians began to imitate it for the purpose of showing the king that they could do the same, and that it was after this that the king went to his house without paying any need to the miracle. We must therefore follow the analogy of Exo 9:25 as compared with Exo 10:5, and not press the expression, “every collection of water” (Exo 7:19), so as to infer that there was no Nile water at all, not even what had been taken away before the smiting of the river, that was not changed, but rather conclude that the magicians tried their arts upon water that was already drawn, for the purpose of neutralizing the effect of the plague as soon as it had been produced. The fact that the clause, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,” is linked with the previous clause, “the magicians did so, etc.,” by a vav consecutive, unquestionably implies that the imitation of the miracle by the magicians contributed to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The expression, “to this also,” in Exo 7:23, points back to the first miraculous sign in Exo 7:10. This plague was keenly felt by the Egyptians; for the Nile contains the only good drinking water, and its excellence is unanimously attested by both ancient and modern writers (Hengstenberg ut sup. pp. 108, 109, transl.). As they could not drink of the water of the river from their loathing at its stench (Exo 7:18), they were obliged to dig round about the river for water to drink (Exo 7:24). From this it is evident that the plague lasted a considerable time; according to Exo 7:25, apparently seven days. At least this is the most natural interpretation of the words, “and seven days were fulfilled after that Jehovah had smitten the river.” It is true, there is still the possibility that this verse may be connected with the following one, “when seven days were fulfilled...Jehovah said to Moses.” But this is not probable; for the time which intervened between the plagues is not stated anywhere else, nor is the expression, “Jehovah said,” with which the plagues are introduced, connected in any other instance with what precedes. The narrative leaves it quite undecided how rapidly the plagues succeeded one another. On the supposition that the changing of the Nile water took place at the time when the river began to rise, and when the reddening generally occurs, many expositors fix upon the month of June or July for the commencement of the plague; in which case all the plagues down to the death of the first-born, which occurred in the night of the 14th Abib, i.e., about the middle of April, would be confined to the space of about nine months. But this conjecture is a very uncertain one, and all that is tolerably sure is, that the seventh plague (the hail) occurred in February (vid., Exo 9:31-32), and there were (not three weeks, but) eight weeks therefore, or about two months, between the seventh and tenth plagues; so that between each of the last three there would be an interval of fourteen or twenty days. And if we suppose that there was a similar interval in the case of all the others, the first plague would take place in September or October-that is to say, after the yearly overflow of the Nile, which lasts from June to September.

Moses Receives a Fresh Commission. (b. c. 1491.)

1 And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. 3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord , when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. 6 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they. 7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

Here, I. God encourages Moses to go to Pharaoh, and at last silences all his discouragements. 1. He clothes him with great power and authority (v. 1): I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; that is, my representative in this affair, as magistrates are called gods, because they are God's vicegerents. He was authorized to speak and act in God's name and stead, and, under the divine direction, was endued with a divine power to do that which is above the ordinary power of nature, and invested with a divine authority to demand obedience from a sovereign prince and punish disobedience. Moses was a god, but he was only a made god, not essentially one by nature; he was no god but by commission. He was a god, but he was a god only to Pharaoh; the living and true God is a God to all the world. It is an instance of God's condescension, and an evidence that his thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace, that when he treats with men he treats by men, whose terror shall not make us afraid. 2. He again nominates him an assistant, his brother Aaron, who was not a man of uncircumcised lips, but a notable spokesman: "He shall be thy prophet," that is, "he shall speak from thee to Pharaoh, as prophets do from God to the children of men. Thou shalt, as a god, inflict and remove the plagues, and Aaron, as a prophet, shall denounce them, and threaten Pharaoh with them." 3. He tells him the worst of it, that Pharaoh would not hearken to him, and yet the work should be done at last, Israel should be delivered and God therein would be glorified, v. 4, 5. The Egyptians, who would not know the Lord, should be made to know him. Note, It is, and ought to be, satisfaction enough to God's messengers that, whatever contradiction and opposition may be given them, thus far they shall gain their point, that God will be glorified in the success of their embassy, and all his chosen Israel will be saved, and then they have no reason to say that they have laboured in vain. See here, (1.) How God glorifies himself; he makes people know that he is Jehovah. Israel is made to know it by the performance of his promises to them (ch. vi. 3), and the Egyptians are made to know it by the pouring out of his wrath upon them. Thus God's name is exalted both in those that are saved and in those that perish. (2.) What method he takes to do this: he humbles the proud, and exalts the poor, Luke i. 51, 52. If God stretch out his hand to sinners in vain, he will at last stretch out his hand upon them; and who can bear the weight of it?

II. Moses and Aaron apply themselves to their work without further objection: They did as the Lord commanded them, v. 6. Their obedience, all things considered, was well worthy to be celebrated, as it is by the Psalmist (Ps. cv. 28), They rebelled not against his word, namely, Moses and Aaron, whom he mentions, v. 26. Thus Jonah, though at first he was very averse, at length went to Nineveh. Notice is taken of the age of Moses and Aaron when they undertook this glorious service. Aaron the elder (and yet the inferior in office) was eighty-three, Moses was eighty; both of them men of great gravity and experience, whose age was venerable, and whose years might teach wisdom, v. 7. Joseph, who was to be only a servant to Pharaoh, was preferred at thirty years old; but Moses, who was to be a god to Pharaoh, was not so dignified until he was eighty years old. It was fit that he should long wait for such an honour, and be long in preparing for such a service.

Magicians of Egypt. (b. c. 1491.)

8 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. 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. 11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. 13 And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.

The first time that Moses made his application to Pharaoh, he produced his instructions only; now he is directed to produce his credentials, and does accordingly. 1. It is taken for granted that Pharaoh would challenge these demandants to work a miracle, that, by a performance evidently above the power of nature, they might prove their commission from the God of nature. Pharaoh will say, Show a miracle; not with any desire to be convinced, but with the hope that none will be wrought, and then he would have some colour for his infidelity. 2. Orders are therefore given to turn the rod into a serpent, according to the instructions, ch. iv. 3. The same rod that was to give the signal of the other miracles is now itself the subject of a miracle, to put a reputation upon it. Aaron cast his rod to the ground, and instantly it became a serpent, v. 10. This was proper, not only to affect Pharaoh with wonder, but to strike a terror upon him. Serpents are hurtful dreadful animals; the very sight of one, thus miraculously produced, might have softened his heart into a fear of that God by whose power it was produced. 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. 3. This miracle, though too plain to be denied, is enervated, and the conviction of it taken off, by the magicians' imitation of it, v. 11, 12. Moses had been originally instructed in the learning of the Egyptians, and was suspected to have improved himself in magical arts in his long retirement; the magicians are therefore sent for, to vie with him. And some think those of that profession had a particular spite against the Hebrews ever since Joseph put them all to shame, by interpreting a dream which they could make nothing of, in remembrance of which slur put on their predecessors these magicians withstood Moses, as it is explained, 2 Tim. iii. 8. Their rods became serpents, real serpents; some think, by the power of God, beyond their intention or expectation, for the hardening of Pharaoh's heart; others think, by the power of evil angels, artfully substituting serpents in the room of the rods, God permitting the delusion to be wrought for wise and holy ends, that those might believe a lie who received not the truth: and herein the Lord was righteous. Yet this might have helped to frighten Pharaoh into a compliance with the demands of Moses, that he might be freed from these dreadful unaccountable phenomena, with which he saw himself on all sides surrounded. But to the seed of the serpent these serpents were no amazement. Note, God suffers the lying spirit to do strange things, that the faith of some may be tried and manifested (Deut. xiii. 3; 1 Cor. xi. 19), that the infidelity of others may be confirmed, and that he who is filthy may be filthy still, 2 Cor. iv. 4. 4. Yet, in this contest, Moses plainly gains the victory. The serpent which Aaron's rod was turned into swallowed up the others, which was sufficient to have convinced Pharaoh on which side the right lay. Note, Great is the truth, and will prevail. The cause of God will undoubtedly triumph at last over all competition and contradiction, and will reign alone, Dan. ii. 44. But Pharaoh was not wrought upon by this. The magicians having produced serpents, he had this to say, that the case between them and Moses was disputable; and the very appearance of an opposition to truth, and the least head made against it, serve those for a justification of their infidelity who are prejudiced against the light and love of it.

The Plagues of Egypt. (b. c. 1491.)

14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. 15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. 16 And thou shalt say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. 17 Thus saith the Lord , In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord : behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 18 And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. 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. 20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21 And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 22 And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the Lord had said. 23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. 24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. 25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that the Lord had smitten the river.

Here is the first of the ten plagues, the turning of the water into blood, which was, 1. A dreadful plague, and very grievous. The very sight of such vast rolling streams of blood, pure blood no doubt, florid and high-colored, could not but strike a horror upon people: much more afflictive were the consequences of it. Nothing more common than water: so wisely has Providence ordered it, and so kindly, that that which is so needful and serviceable to the comfort of human life should be cheap, and almost everywhere to be had; but now the Egyptians must either drink blood, or die for thirst. Fish was much of their food (Num. xi. 5), but the changing of the waters was the death of the fish; it was a pestilence in that element (v. 21): The fish died. In the general deluge they escaped, because perhaps they had not then contributed so much to the luxury of man as they have since; but in this particular judgment they perished (Ps. cv. 29): He slew their fish; and when another destruction of Egypt, long afterwards, is threatened, the disappointment of those that make sluices and ponds for fish is particularly noticed, Isa. xix. 10. Egypt was a pleasant land, but the noisome stench of dead fish and blood, which by degrees would grow putrid, now rendered it very unpleasant. 2. It was a righteous plague, and justly inflicted upon the Egyptians. For, (1.) Nilus, the river of Egypt, was their idol; they and their land derived so much benefit from it that they served and worshipped it more than the Creator. The true fountain of the Nile being unknown to them, they paid all their devotions to its streams: here therefore God punished them, and turned that into blood which they had turned into a god. Note, That creature which we idolize God justly removes from us, or embitters to us. He makes that a scourge to us which we make a competitor with him. (2.) They had stained the river with the blood of the Hebrews' children, and now God made that river all bloody. Thus he gave them blood to drink, for they were worthy, Rev. xvi. 6. Note, Never any thirsted after blood, but, sooner or later, they had enough of it. 3. It was a significant plague. Egypt had a great dependence upon their river (Zech. xiv. 18), so that in smiting the river they were warned of the destruction of all the productions of their country, till it came at last to their firstborn; and this red river proved a direful omen of the ruin of Pharaoh and all his forces in the Red Sea. This plague of Egypt is alluded to in the prediction of the ruin of the enemies of the New-Testament church, Rev. xvi. 3, 4. But there the sea, as well as the rivers and fountains of water, is turned into blood; for spiritual judgments reach further, and strike deeper, than temporal judgments do. And, lastly, let me observe in general concerning this plague that one of the first miracles Moses wrought was turning water into blood, but one of the first miracles our Lord Jesus wrought was turning water into wine; for the law was given by Moses, and it was a dispensation of death and terror; but grace and truth, which, like wine, make glad the heart, came by Jesus Christ. Observe,

I. Moses is directed to give Pharaoh warning of this plague. "Pharaoh's heart is hardened (v. 14), therefore go and try what this will do to soften it," v. 15. Moses perhaps may not be admitted into Pharaoh's presence-chamber, or the room of state where he used to give audience to ambassadors; and therefore he is directed to meet him by the river's brink, whither God foresaw he would come in the morning, either for the pleasure of a morning's walk or to pay his morning devotions to the river: for thus all people will walk, every one in the name of his god; they will not fail to worship their god every morning. There Moses must be ready to give him a new summons to surrender, and, in case of a refusal, to tell him of the judgment that was coming upon that very river on the banks of which they were now standing. Notice is thus given him of it beforehand, that they might have no colour to say it was a chance, or to attribute it to any other cause, but that it might appear to be done by the power of the God of the Hebrews, and as a punishment upon him for his obstinacy. Moses is expressly ordered to take the rod with him, that Pharaoh might be alarmed at the sight of that rod which had so lately triumphed over the rods of the magicians. Now learn hence, 1. That the judgments of God are all known to himself beforehand. He knows what he will do in wrath as well as in mercy. Every consumption is a consumption determined, Isa. x. 23. 2. That men cannot escape the alarms of God's wrath, because they cannot go out of the hearing of their own consciences: he that made their hearts can make his sword to approach them. 3. That God warns before he wounds; for he is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

II. Aaron (who carried the mace) is directed to summon the plague by smiting the river with his rod, v. 19, 20. It was done in the sight of Pharaoh and his attendants; for God's true miracles were not performed, as Satan's lying wonders were, by those that peeped and muttered: truth seeks no corners. An amazing change was immediately wrought; all the waters, not only in the rivers but in all their ponds, were turned into blood. 1. See here the almighty power of God. Every creature is that to us which he makes it to be, water or blood. 2. See the mutability of all things under the sun, and what changes we may meet with in them. That which is water to-day may be blood to-morrow; what is always vain may soon become vexatious. A river, at the best, is transient; but divine justice can quickly make it malignant. 3. See what mischievous work sin makes. if the things that have been our comforts prove our crosses, we must thank ourselves: it is sin that turns our waters into blood.

III. Pharaoh endeavours to confront the miracle, because he resolves not to humble himself under the plague. He sends for the magicians, and, by God's permission, they ape the miracle with their enchantments (v. 22), and this serves Pharaoh for an excuse not to set his heart to this also (v. 23), and a pitiful excuse it was. Could they have turned the river of blood into water again, this would have been something to the purpose; then they would have proved their power, and Pharaoh would have been obliged to them as his benefactors. But for them, when there was such scarcity of water, to turn more of it into blood, only to show their art, plainly intimates that the design of the devil is only to delude his devotees and amuse them, not to do them any real kindness, but to keep them from doing a real kindness to themselves by repenting and returning to their God.

IV. The Egyptians, in the meantime, are seeking for relief against the plague, digging round about the river for water to drink, v. 24. Probably they found some, with much ado, God remembering mercy in the midst of wrath; for he is full of compassion, and would not let the subjects smart too much for the obstinacy of their prince.

V. The plague continued seven days (v. 25), and, in all that time, Pharaoh's proud heart would not let him so much as desire Moses to intercede for the removal of it. Thus the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath; they cry not when he binds them (Job xxxvi. 13); and then no wonder that his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

CHAP. VII.

AND Iehovah said unto Moses; See, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall bee thy Prophet. Thou shalt speake all that I command thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speake unto Pharaoh, that he send the sonnes of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaohs heart; and will multiply my signes and my wonders in the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and wil bring forth mine armies, my people the sonnes of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, by great judgements. And the Egyptians shall know that I am Iehovah, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt: and I will bring out the sonnes of Israel from among them. And Moses and Aaron did as Iehovah commanded them, so did they. And Moses was fourscore yeeres old, and Aaron fourescore and three yeeres old, when they spake unto Pharaoh. And Iehovah sayd unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying; When Pharaoh shall speake unto you saying, Give a wonder for you, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, it shall be (turned) to a dragon. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as Iehovah had commanded: and Aaron cast his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it was (turned) to a dragon. And Pharaoh also called the wise men, and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did with their inchantments so. And they cast down every man his rod, and they were turned to dragons: and Aarons rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaohs heart waxed strong, and hee hearkened not unto them, as Iehovah had spoken. And Iehovah said unto Moses; Pharaohs heart is heavy; he refuseth to send away the people. Go unto Pharaoh in the morning; loe, he goeth out unto the waters, and thou shalt stand to meet him by the rivers brinke: and the rodde which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand. And thou shalt say unto him; Iehovah the God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Send away my people, that they may serve mee in the wildernesse: and behold thou hast not heard hitherto. Thus saith Iehovah; in this thou shalt know that I am Iehovah: behold, I smite with the rod which is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, & they shall bee turned into blood. And the fish which is in the river, shall dye, and the river shall stinke, and the Egyptians shall bee wearied to drinke the waters of the river. And Iehovah said unto Moses; Say unto Aaron, take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streames, upon their rivers and upon their ponds, and upon every gathering together of their waters, and they shall be bloud; and there shall be blood in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did as Iehovah commanded; and he lift up the rodde, and smote the waters which were in the river, in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, and all the waters which were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish which was in the river dyed, and the river stanke, and the Egyptians could not drinke the waters of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so by their inchantments: and the heart of Pharaoh waxed strong, and hee hearkned not vnto them, as Iehovah had said. And Pharaoh turned, and went into his house; and hee set not his heart to this neither. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for waters to drinke, for they could not drinke of the waters of the river. And seven daies were fulfilled, after that Iehovah had smitten the river.

Annotations. MAde] or, given thee for a God: that is, one to whom the word of God shall come, and by whom it shall be made knowne unto Aaron, and so to Pharaoh. This reason Christ rendreth of the like speech, Ioh. 10. 35. The Chaldee, for God, translateth a master: see Exod. 4. 16. Prophet] to speake for thee, (as the next verse manifesteth) the Chaldee saith, thy interpreter: before, God called him his mouth, Exod. 4. 16. A Prophet hath the name of speaking or interpreting Gods word: see the notes on Gen. 20. 7. Thus God confirmes Moses, against his feares, Exod 6. 12. 30. Ver. 2. speake] the Greeke addeth, to him, meaning Aaron, as Exod. 4. 15. Vers. 3. harden] as before he said, he would make strong: Exod. 4. 21. wonders] or, perswadingmiracles, for to draw men to beleeve and obey, as Deut. 13. 1. 2. Ioh. 4. 48. Rom. 15. 18. 19. By such God beareth witnesse to his word preached, Heb 2. 4. and they portend, either good, 2 Chron. 32. 24. or evill, Deut. 6. 22. and 28. 46. yet can they not perswade any without the speciall grace of God, Deut. 29. 2. 3. 4. Vers. 4. lay] Hebrew, give my hand; which the Chaldee expoundeth, lay my powerfull plague: so verse 5. armies] or hosts: see Exod. 6. 26. The Greeke translateth, with my power. Ver. 7. old] Hebrew some of 80 yeere: of which phrase see Gen. 5. 32. By this it appeareth Moses had beene 40. yeeres in the land of Madian: as Stephen avoucheth, Act 7. 30. See Exod. 2. 23. Ver. 9. a wonder] or, perswading miracle, that I may know ye are sent of God: see verse 3. The Greeke addeth, a signe or a wonder. thy rod] because Aaron now used it: before it was Moses rod and Gods: Exod. 4. 2. 20. a dragon] that is a great serpent: and therefore in ver. 15. it is called a serpent; as also before in Exod. 4. 3. So the Devill is called the dragon the old serpent. Rev. 20. 2. And Pharaoh himselfe, with his Egyptians, are called dragons, Ezek. 29. 3. Psal. 74. 13. But this wonder was a signe of their destruction, if they obeyed not: for the desolation of a Countrey is signified, by the dwelling of dragons there, Mal. 1. 3. Esay 13. [illegible: 1 letter]0. 22. Psal. 44. 20. See also the notes on Exodus 4. 3. Vers. 11. wise men] Philosophers: of these see Genesis 41. 8. sorcerers,] or; witches: such as do bewiteh the senses and minds of men, by changing the formes of things to another hue. And from the Hebrew Cashaph, (which hath the signification of changing or turning) the Greekes have formed their word Bascaino, and the Latines Fascino, which is to bewitch: & it is used for unlawfull devillish Arts and Artizens, such as Gods Law condemneth, and punisheth with death, Deut. 18. 10. Exod. 22. 18. and applyed to false teachers, and their crafts, Gal. 3. 1. Rev. 18. 23. & these Egyptian sorcerers, were types of seducers, who resist the truth, as Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses, here 2 Tim. 3. 8. where Paul setteth downe the names of the chiefe of these sorcerers, as they were kept in the Iewes private records. For so to this day, in their Babylonian Thalmud, tract. Menachoth, chap. 9. they shew how Iohanne and Mamre, chiefe of the sorcerers of Egypt, withstood and mocked Moses, saying, thou bringest straw into Aphraim, (as water into the sea;) for they thought, he did his miracles by sorcerie, whereas the land of Egypt was full of sorcerers. This Mamre, was also an Amoritish name, Gen. 13. 18. called in Greeke Mambree; and by Paul Iambres, in 2 Tim. 3. 8. where the Syriacke writeth Ianbres: for letters are often changed euen in the same tongue, as Merodach, Esay 39. 1. or Barodach, 2 King. 20. 12. Nemuel, 1 Chro. 4. 24. or, Iemuel, Exod. 6. 15. and many the like. And that not Paul onely, but the Iewes commonly so named them, appeareth also by a Chaldee paraphrase of the law that goeth under the name of Ionathan; there upon this place of Exodus, their names are written Ianis and Iambres: and in another Hebrew commentarie on the Law, called Thanchuma, in fol. 40. they are named Ionos and Iombros. Among the heathens also, their memorie continued, though corrupted; for Plinie in nat. hist. lib. 30. cap. 1. speaketh of Moses and Iamnes, and Cabala (or as some read it Iotape,) whom he calleth Iewes, by whom Magicke was used. And Origen against Celsus, lib. 4. sheweth how Numenius a Pythagorean Philosopher speaketh of Moses miracles in Egypt, and his resistance by Iannes and Mambres magicians: Apuleius also a Latine Philosopher (in his second Apologie) mentioneth one Ioannes, among the chiefe Magicians: that their names as it seemeth were renowmed over all. magicians see the notes on Gen. 41. 8. inchantments] or, secret sleights, jugglings. A word not used in this sense, save here, and in verse 22. and it hath the signification; of secret and close conveyance or, of glistering like the flame of a fire or sword, as Gen. 3. 24. where with mens eyes are dazled. And by this word, God putteth difference betweene Moses miracles which were done in truth; and theirs done by flieght or sorcery: which were also figures of the signes and lying wonders, that Antichrist worketh, 2 Thessal. 2. 9. whose Church is called Egypt, Revel. 11. 8. their rods] that is, their dragons made of rods: or, if they were all turned to rods againe, it was the greater miracle. But by comparison with Exod. 4. 4. it is most likely it was a serpent till Aaron tooke it into his hand againe. And here Moses and Aaron doe overcome Iannos and Iambres at the first, in that wherin they most excelled: so they that are of God, overcome Antichrist; for greater is he that is in them, than he that is in the world, 1 Ioh. 4, 3. 4. Vers. 13. waxed strong] or hard; both by his own impenitency, Rom. 2. 5. and Gods just worke in him, Exod. 4. 21. Vers. 14. heavy] by reason of the hardnesse of it: and so unfit to bee lifted up unto the obedience of my word. This heauinesse when it is spoken of eies, eares, hands, heart, or the like; signifieth the dulnesse and unfitnesse to do that which men ought: Gen 48. 10. Zach. 7. 11. Exod. 17. 12. Luk. 21. 34. And this in Pharaoh is after said, both to bee done of himselfe, Exod. 8. 32. and of God, Exod. 10. 1. Vers. 17. I smite:] Aaron it was that smote, vers. 19. but God by Moses commanded it: therefore he principally smote, and the rod is said to bee in his hand. The Scripture somtime explaineth this; as, he called, Matt. 20. 32. that is, he commanded to be called, Mar. 10. 49. and he gave, Mar. 15. 45. that is, he commanded to be given, Matt. 27. 58. See also the notes on Gen. 39. 22. and 48. 22. And God fore-telleth the plague before hee brings it, to wame him in mercie: but useth the time present, I smite, (or, am smiting:) to signifie judgement to bee at hand. So Exod. 8. 2. Ver. 18. be wearied:] both by digging round about the river for waters, as vers. 24. and being grieved and loathing the waters turned to blood, which they shall not be able to drinke; as in vers. 21. and so the Greek here translateth, they shall not bee able to drinke. And this plague being threatned to the Egyptians onely: it is to be thought, the Israelites in Gosen were free frō this, as from other plagues following, Exod. 8. 22. and 9. 26. and 10. 23. And so the Hebrew Doctors say, the plague of blood, was blood to the Egyptians, and water to the Israelites: R. Elias in Sepher reshith chocmah, treat. of Love, ch. 7. Here God proceedeth in his worke, from signes and wonders, to plagues and punishments: tenne whereof he bringeth upon Egypt before the Israelites were let goe out of their bondage, (as there are seven plagues, wherewith the spirituall Egypt of Antichrists church is smitten, in Revelat. 16.) These ten plagues, the Hebrew Doctors summe up in tenne letters, the first of all their names, [non-Latin text not transcribed] whereby they meane, Blood: Frogs: and Lice: a Mixed swarme: Murraine that beasts annoyd: Boyles: Haile: and Locusts: Darknesse thicke: and First-borne all destroy'd. Vers. 19. gathering together] that is, place of gathering, as the Chaldee expounds it: the word which is used in Gen. 1. 10. and implieth lakes, peoples, pits, ditches, and vessels: as after is explained in the end of this verse. See also Levit. 11. 36. vessels] this word is expressed in the Chaldee, and is necessarily implyed in the Hebr. as a thousand, 2 Sam. 8. 4. for a thousand charrets, 1 Chron. 18. 4. the first, Mat. 26. 17. for, the first day, Mar. 14. 12. and many the like. Vers. 20. he lift up] the Greeke explaineth it, Aaron lift up his rod. to blood:] as the Egyptians had shed the blood of the children of Israel, drowning them in the river, Exod. 1. 22. so in this first plague, God rewardeth that, by turning their waters into blood, which R. Menachem, (on this place) saith, signified mercy turned unto them to judgement. So upon the spiritually Egyptians, (by whose sinne, the third part of the sea became blood, and of other waters, became wormewood: Revel. 8. 8. 11.) there be the like plagues, from the phials (or cups) of Gods Angels, as are here by the rod of Gods messengers: their sea, rivers, and fountaines becomming blood: they having shed the blood of Saints and Prophets, and God giving them blood to drinke, for they are worthy: Revel. 16. 3. 6. Of this plague the Psalmist also speaketh, Psal. 78. 44. and 105. 29. Contrariwise, God blesseth his people, by turning for them, the rockes to rivers and fountaines of waters, Psal. 78. 15. 16. and 114. 8. and giving them the water of life to drinke, Ioh. 4. 10. 14. Rev. 22. 1. 17. Vers. 21. died:] so in Antichrists sea, every living soule dyeth, Revel. 16. 3. as by their impietie, they had caused the third part of such to dye before, Revel. 8. 9. Contrariwise, in the holy land, corrupt waters are healed, the creatures in them live, and fish are multiplied, Ezek. 47. 8. 9. stunke] whereas the waters of Egypt served them for drinke, Ierm. 2. 18. (there being no raine in the Countrey, Deut. 11. 10. 11.) God turning them to stinking blood, and killing the fish: the plague was the more grievous. For fishes were their common food, Numb. 11. 5. the flesh of many beasts, they through superstition would not eate of, Exodus 8. 26. so that which the Prophet after threatneth, was now upon them; The fishers mourned, and all they that cast angle into the brookes lamented: and they that spread nets upon waters languished, Esay 19. 8. Vers. 22. did so] as before in verse 11. They could by inchantments increase their owne plagues; but not ease themselves: see Exodus 8. 7. 8. But where had they water to turne into blood? either they found some by digging about the river, verse 24. or they had some fetched from another place, as Gosen; see the notes on v. 18. wexed strongs] the Greeke saith, was hardened: see verse 13. Vers. 23. set not] that is, regarded not, nor cared for this wondrous plague: so the setting of the heart signifieth carefull regard, Exod. 9. 21. Prov. 22. 17. 2 Sam. 18. 3.