Matthew Poole and continuators on Exodus 8:19

19 Then the Magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God . And Pharaohs heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them , as the LORD had said.

Which is either Synecdochically for the hand, as it is Exod. 31. 18. Psal. 8. 3. and 144. 1. or metaphorically for the power or vertue, as Luk. 11. 20. compared with Mat. 12. 28.

Of that supreme God, whom both the Egyptians and other heathen idolaters, acknowledged as superiour to all men and Idols and Devils. This they said, lest they should be thought inferiour to Moses and Aaron in magical art. But hereby they own the soveraign God to be on Israels side, and yet, like the Devils, they proceed to fight against him.

Either to his Magicians, of whom he last spake: or rather to Moses and Aaron, as the following words shew. For relatives oft belong to the remoter antecedents, as Gen. 19. 13. 1 Sam. 7. 17. Mark 2. 13.

Marginal references: 1 Sam. 6. 9.