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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 7:1

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And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

1. a god ] Cf. the parallel in J, Exo 4:16. Moses is to be as it were a god unto Aaron; and Aaron, like a prophet (Deu 18:18, Jer 1:9), to speak the words which his god puts into his mouth.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1, 2. As Moses is unable to speak fluently, Aaron is appointed to be his spokesman with Pharaoh, just as in J (Exo 4:15 f.) he was appointed to be his spokesman with the people.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

With this chapter begins the series of miracles performed in Egypt. They are progressive. The first miracle is performed to accredit the mission of the brothers; it is simply credential, and unaccompanied by any infliction. Then come signs which show that the powers of nature are subject to the will of Yahweh, each plague being attended with grave consequences to the Egyptians, yet not inflicting severe loss or suffering; then in rapid succession come ruinous and devastating plagues, murrain, boils, hail and lightning, locusts, darkness, and lastly, the death of the firstborn. Each of the inflictions has a demonstrable connection with Egyptian customs and phenomena; each is directly aimed at some Egyptian superstition; all are marvelous, not, for the most part, as reversing, but as developing forces inherent in nature, and directing them to a special end. The effects correspond with these characteristics; the first miracles are neglected; the following plagues first alarm, and then for a season, subdue, the king, who does not give way until his firstborn is struck. Even that blow leaves him capable of a last effort, which completes his ruin, and the deliverance of the Israelites.

I have made thee a god – Or appointed thee. See the margin reference. Moses will stand in this special relation to Pharaoh, that God will address him by a prophet, i. e. by one appointed to speak in His name. The passage is an important one as illustrating the primary and essential characteristic of a prophet, he is the declarer of Gods will and purpose.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Exo 7:1-2

I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.

The moral position in which some men stand to others

God made Moses to be a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron to be a prophet. There are many good and noble men in the world to-day, who are gods, the instructors and rulers, of their fellow-creatures.

I. This exalted moral position is the result of divine allotment. And the Lord said unto Moses, see, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.

II. This exalted moral position involves arduous work and terrible responsibility.

1. The true gods of society have something more to do than to amuse it. The bearing of their efforts has reference to souls, to mans life in its relation to the Infinite. A man whose highest aim is to excite the merriment of society, is too far removed from divinity to be mistaken for a god.

2. The true gods of society find their employment in communicating to men the messages of God. They come to teach us; to awaken us; to enable us to fulfil the will of God. Hence their work is arduous and responsible.

III. This exalted moral position is most efficiently employed in seeking the freedom of men. But for the slavery of Israel Moses would not have been a god unto Pharaoh. The position is the outcome of a condition of things it ought to remove. It is not for self-aggrandizement. It is to give men the freedom of a Divine salvation. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER VII

The dignified mission of Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh-the one to be

as God, the other as a prophet of the Most High, 1, 2.

The prediction that Pharaoh’s heart should be hardened, that God

might multiply his signs and wonders in Egypt, that the inhabitants

might know he alone was the true God, 3-4.

The age of Moses and Aaron, 7.

God gives them directions how they should act before Pharaoh, 5, 9.

Moses turns his rod into a serpent, 10.

The magicians imitate this miracle, and Pharaoh’s heart is hardened,

11-13.

Moses is commanded to wait upon Pharaoh next morning when he should

come to the river, and threaten to turn the waters into blood if he

did not let the people go, 14-18.

The waters in all the land of Egypt are turned into blood, 19, 20.

The fish die, 21.

The magicians imitate this, and Pharaoh’s heart is again hardened,

22, 23.

The Egyptians sorely distressed because of the bloody waters, 24.

This plague endures seven days, 25.

NOTES ON CHAP. VII

Verse 1. 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, Ex 7:2.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

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 Exo 4:16, to deliver thy commands to Pharaoh.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. the Lord said unto MosesHeis here encouraged to wait again on the kingnot, however, asformerly, in the attitude of a humble suppliant, but now armed withcredentials as God’s ambassador, and to make his demand in a tone andmanner which no earthly monarch or court ever witnessed.

I have made thee agod“made,” that is, set, appointed; “a god”;that is, he was to act in this business as God’s representative, toact and speak in His name and to perform things beyond the ordinarycourse of nature. The Orientals familiarly say of a man who iseminently great or wise, “he is a god” among men.

Aaron thy brother shall bethy prophetthat is, “interpreter” or “spokesman.”The one was to be the vicegerent of God, and the other must beconsidered the speaker throughout all the ensuing scenes, even thoughhis name is not expressly mentioned.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the Lord said unto Moses,…. In answer to his objection, taken from his own meanness, and the majesty of Pharaoh, and from his want of readiness and freedom of expression:

see; take notice of, observe what I am about to say:

I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; not a god by nature, but made so; he was so by commission and office, clothed with power and authority from God to act under him in all things he should direct; not for ever, as angels are gods, but for a time; not in an ordinary way, as magistrates are gods, but in an extraordinary manner; and not to any other but to Pharaoh, being an ambassador of God to him, and as in his room and stead to, rule over him, though so great a monarch; to command him what he should do, and control him when he did wrong, and punish him for his disobedience, and inflict such plagues upon him, and do such miracles before him, as no mere man of himself, and none but God can do; and even exercise the power of life and death, as in the slaying of the firstborn, that Pharaoh should stand in as much fear of him, as if he was a deity, and apply to him to remove the plagues upon him, as if he was one:

and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet; to declare the will of God revealed to him by Moses from the Lord; so that this seems to be more than to be the mouth and spokesman of Moses and interpreter and explainer of his words, or to be acting the part of an orator for him; for Moses in this affair being God’s viceregent, and furnished with a knowledge of the mind and will of God respecting it, as well as with power to work miracles, and inflict plagues, was made a god to both Pharaoh and Aaron; see Ex 4:6 to Pharaoh in the sense before explained, and to Aaron, he being his prophet, to whom he communicated the secrets of God, and his will and pleasure, in order to make the same known to Pharaoh. Thus highly honoured was Moses to be a god to a sovereign prince, and to have Aaron to be his prophet.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

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. (Exo 7:2) does not mean ut dimittat or mittat ( Vulg. Ros.; “ that he send, ” Eng. ver.); but is vav consec. perf., “ and so he will send.” On Exo 7:3 cf. Exo 4:21.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

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, Exo 7:4; Exo 7:5. 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, Luk 1:51; Luk 1:52. 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.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

EXODUS – CHAPTER SEVEN

Verses 1-7:

“I have made thee a god to Pharaoh,” verse 1. The Egyptians were polytheists. They had no difficulty accepting the supernatural power Moses demonstrated as being that of a deity. This is why Moses once more readily gained audience with Pharaoh, after being so brusquely rejected at first. The problem with Pharaoh and the Egyptians was that they refused to acknowledge Jehovah as the one True God.

“I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,” verse 3. “Harden” qashah, is “make sharp or hard; to make insensible.” Paul quotes this verse in Ro 9:17, 18, and uses the word Break word skleruno, “to make hard, to render obstinate, stubborn.” This is the word used in the Septuagint. Two other Hebrew words are translated “harden” in the KJV:

Chazaq, “to make firm or stiff, so as to be immovable”.

Kabad, “to make hard or insensible”: Ex 8:15, 32; 9:34; 10:1.

Twenty times in the Scripture narrative the expression “hardening” occurs with regard to Pharaoh:

Pharaoh, as the agent who hardens his own heart, (10 times): Ex 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35; 13:15.

God, as the Agent who hardens Pharaoh’s heart, (10 times): Ex 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17.

In this text, God is the Agent who hardens Pharaoh’s heart. But the event is yet future. God here announces this to Moses as a prophecy of what was to come.

It is essential to note the order of events in which the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart occurred. Before the ten plagues began, at the confirmation of Jehovah’s message in turning Aaron’s rod into a serpent, and likewise after each of the first five plaques, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. It was only after resisting the evidence of the sixth plague that “Jehovah made firm the heart of Pharaoh” (Ex 9:12). Even after the seventh plague, Pharaoh had space for repentance, for in Ex 9:34 we read, “Pharaoh made heavy his heart.” From thenceforth, following the other plagues, Jehovah hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

The Scripture narrative shows the grace and mercy of God, in giving Pharaoh repeated opportunities to repent and acknowledge Jehovah as the true God. But Pharaoh chose to reject the Word of God and the evidence of His power and grace. Paul paints a vivid picture of this, Ro 9:15-24. Both Moses and Pharaoh were sinners, both were witnesses of God’s glory; but Moses was chosen for glory, and Pharaoh was a vessel “fitted” for wrath. “Fitted” is middle voice, indicating that the subject acts upon itself. The meaning: “fitted himself.” Thus, Pharaoh “fitted himself” for wrath, by his rejection of God’s Word.

God knew beforehand what Pharaoh would do; yet, He extended grace and “space for repentance” (2Pe 3:9; Ro 2:4, 5). God’s foreknowledge did not determine Pharaoh’s actions. Pharaoh made his own choice. But when the choice was irrevocably made by Pharaoh, then God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and demonstrated His power and glory in Pharaoh’s judgment.

Pharaoh and the Egyptians did not acknowledge Jehovah Elohe as the one and only true God. In the mighty wonders which God performed in Egypt, He demonstrated His superiority over the gods of Egypt, and gave convincing evidence that He was the true God.

Moses was eighty years old at the time he stood before Pharaoh. Aaron was eighty-three years old.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

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. (77) 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.

(77) “The word Elohim, as the Hebrews remark, whether applied to God, or to men, or to angels, signifies judicial power.” — Grotius in Pol. Syn.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

ISRAELS BONDAGE. MOSES AND THE EXODUS

Exo 1:1 to Exo 15:21.

DR. J. M. Grays five rules for Bible reading: Read the Book, Read the Book Continuously, Read the Book Repeatedly, Read the Book Independently, Read the Book Prayerfully, are all excellent; but the one upon which I would lay emphasis in this study of Exodus is the second of those rules, or, Read the Book Continuously. It is doubtful if there is any Book in the Bible which comes so nearly containing an outline, at least, of all revelation, as does the Book of Exodus. There is scarcely a doctrine in the New Testament, or a truth in the Old, which may not be traced in fair delineation in these forty chapters.

God speaks in this Book out of the burning bush. Sin, with its baneful effects, has a prominent place in its pages; and Salvation, for all them that trust in Him, with judgment for their opposers, is a conspicuous doctrine in this Old Testament document. God, Sin, Salvation, and Judgmentthese are great words! The Book that reveals each of them in fair outline is a great Book indeed, and its study will well repay the man of serious mind.

Exodus is a Book of bold outlines also! Its author, like a certain school of modern painters, draws his picture quickly and with but few strokes, and yet the product of his work approaches perfection. How much of time and history is put into these three verses:

And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the Children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them (Exo 1:5-7).

These three verses contain 215 years of time, and all the events that crowded into that period would, if they were recorded, fill volumes without end. And, while there are instances of delineation in detail in the Book of Exodus, the greater part of the volume is given to the bolder outlines which sweep much history into single sentences.

In looking into these fifteen chapters, I have been engaged with the question of such arrangement as would best meet the demands of memory, and thereby make the lesson of this hour a permanent article in our mental furniture. Possibly, to do that, we must seize upon a few of the greater subjects that characterize these chapters, and so phrase them as to provide mental promontories from which to survey the field of our present study. Surely, The Bondage of Israel, The Rise of Moses, and the Exodus from Egypt, are such fundamentals.

THE BONDAGE OF ISRAEL.

The bondage of Israel, like her growth, requires but a few sentences for its expression.

Now, there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the Children of Israel are more and mightier than we; Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pit horn and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the Children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the Children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour (Exo 1:8-22).

There are several features in Egypts conduct in effecting the bondage of Israel which characterize the conduct of all imperial nations.

The bondage began with injustice. Israel was in Egypt by invitation. When they came, Pharaoh welcomed them, and set apart for their use the fat of the land. The record is,

Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Raamses, as Pharaoh had commanded (Gen 47:11).

There they flourished until a king arose which knew not Joseph. Then a tax was laid upon them; eventually taskmasters were set over them, and those who came in response to Pharaohs invitation, Come unto me and I will give you the good of the, land of Egypt, and ye shall eat of the fat of the land, were compelled by his successors to take the place of slaves. It seems as difficult for a nation as it is for an individual to refrain from the abuse of power. A writer says, Revolution is caused by seeking to substitute expediency for justice, and that is exactly what the King of Egypt and his confederates attempted in the instance of these Israelites. It would seem that the result of that endeavor ought to be a lesson to the times in which we live, and to the nations entrusted with power. Injustice toward a supposedly weaker people is one of those offences against God which do not go unpunished, and its very practice always provokes a rebellion which converts a profitable people into powerful enemies.

It ought never to be forgotten either that injustice easily leads to oppression. We may suppose the tax at first imposed upon this people was comparatively slight, and honorable Egyptians found for it a satisfactory excuse, hardly expecting that the time would ever come when the Israelites should be regarded chattel-slaves. But he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. It is doubtful if there is any wrong in mans moral relations which blinds him so quickly and so effectually as the exercise of power against weakness.

Joseph Parker, in speaking of the combat between Moses and the Egyptian, says, Every honorable-minded man is a trustee of social justice and common fair play. We have nothing to do with the petty quarrels that fret society, but we certainly have to do with every controversysocial, imperial, or internationalwhich violates human right and impairs the claims of Divine honor. We must all fight for the right. We feel safer by so much if we know there are amongst us men who will not be silent in the presence of wrong, and will lift up a testimony in the name of righteousness, though there be none to cheer them with one word of encouragement.

It is only a step from enslaving to slaughter. That step was speedily taken, for Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river (Exo 1:22). Unquestionably there is a two-fold thought in this fact. Primarily this, whom the tyrant cannot control to his profit, he will slay to his pleasure; and then, in its deeper and more spiritual significance, it is Satans effort to bring an end to the people of God. The same serpent that effected the downfall of Adam and Eve whispered into Cains ear, Murder Abel; and into the ears of the Patriarchs, Put Joseph out of the way; and to Herod, Throttle all the male children of the land; and to the Pharisee and Roman soldier, Crucify Jesus of Nazareth. It remains for us of more modern times to learn that the slaughter of the weak may be accomplished in other ways than by the knife, the Nile, or the Cross. It was no worse to send a sword against a feeble people, than, for the sake of filthy lucre, to plant among them the accursed saloon. Benjamin Harrison, in a notable address before the Ecumenical Missionary Conference held in the City of New York years ago, said, The men who, like Paul, have gone to heathen lands with the message, We seek not yours but you, have been hindered by those who, coming after, have reversed the message. Rum and other corrupting agencies come in with our boasted civilization, and the feeble races wither before the breath of the white mans vices.

Egypt sought to take away from Israel the physical life which Egypt feared; but God has forewarned us against a greater enemy when He said, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. * * Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him. If in this hour of almost universal disturbance the sword cannot be sheathed, let us praise God that our Congress and Senate have removed the saloona slaughter-house from the midst of our soldiers, and our amended Constitution has swept it from the land.

THE RISE OF MOSES.

I do not know whether you have ever been impressed in studying this Book of Exodus with what is so evidently a Divine ordering of events. It is when the slaughter is on that we expect the Saviour to come. And that God who sits beside the dying sparrow never overlooks the affliction of His people. When an edict goes forth against them, then it is that He brings their deliverer to the birth; hence we read, And there went a man of the house of Levi and took to wife a daughter of the house of Levi, and the woman conceived and bare a son (Exo 2:1-2),

That is Moses; that is Gods man! It is no chance element that brings him to the kingdom at such a time as this. It is no mere happening that he is bred in Pharaohs house, and instructed by Jochebed. It is no accident that he is taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. It is all in perfect consequence of the fact that God is looking upon the Children of Israel, and is having respect unto them.

Against Pharaohs injustice He sets Moses keen sense of right. When Moses sees an Egyptian slay an oppressed Israelite, he cannot withhold his hand. And, when after forty years in the wilderness he comes back to behold afresh the affliction of his people, he chooses to suffer with them rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. God never does a better thing for a nation than when He raises up in it such a man. We have heard a great deal of Socrates wisdom, but it is not in the science of philosophy alone that that ancient shines; for when Athens was governed by thirty tyrants, who one day summoned him to the Senate House, and ordered him to go with others named to seize Leon, a man of rank and fortune, whose life was to be sacrificed that these rulers might enjoy his estate, the great philosopher flatly refused, saying, I will not willingly assist in an unjust act. Thereupon Chericles sharply asked, Dost thou think, Socrates, to talk in this high tone and not to suffer? Far from it, replied the philosopher, I expect to suffer a thousand ills, but none so great as to do unjustly. That day Socrates was a statesman of the very sort that would have saved Athens had his ideas of righteousness obtained.

Against Pharaohs oppression He sets Moses Divine appointment. There were many times when Moses was tempted to falter, but Gods commission constrained his service. When Moses said, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh? God answered, Surely I will be with thee. When Moses feared his own people who would not believe in his commission, God answered, Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel, I AM hath sent you. When Moses feared that the Israelites would doubt his Divine appointment, God turned the rod in his hand into a worker of wonders. And, when Moses excused himself on the ground of no eloquence, God replied, Go, and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say. With any man, a conviction of Divine appointment is a power, but for him who would be a saviour of his fellows, it is an absolute essential.

Pastor Stalker, speaking to the subject of a Divine call to the service of soul-winning, said, Enthusiasm for humanity is a noble passion and sheds a beautiful glow over the first efforts of an unselfish life, but it is hardly stern enough for the uses of the world. There come hours of despair when men seem hardly worth our devotion. * * Worse still is the sickening consciousness that we have but little to give; perhaps we have mistaken our vocation; it is a world out of joint, but were we born to put it right? This is where a sterner motive is needed than love for men. Our retreating zeal requires to be rallied by the command of God. It is His work; these souls are His; He has committed them to our care, and at the judgment-seat He will demand an account of them. All Prophets and Apostles who have dealt with men for God have been driven on by this impulse which has recovered them in hours of weakness and enabled them to face the opposition of the world. * * This command came to Moses in the wilderness and drove him into public life in spite of strong resistance; and it bore him through the unparalleled trials of his subsequent career. How many times he would have surrendered the battle and left his fellows to suffer under Pharaohs heels, but for the sound of that voice which Joan of Arc heard, saying to him as it said to her, Go on! Go on!

Against Pharaohs slaughter God set up Moses as a Saviour. History has recorded the salvation of his people to many a man, who, either by his counsels in the time of peace or his valor in the time of war, has brought abiding victory. But where in annals, secular or sacred, can you find a philosopher who had such grave difficulties to deal with as Moses met in lifting his people from chattel slaves to a ruling nation? And where so many enemies to be fought as Moses faced in his journey from the place of the Pyramids to Pisgahs Heights?

Titus Flaminius freed the Grecians from the bondage with which they had long been oppressed. When the herald proclaimed the Articles of Peace, and the Greeks understood perfectly what Flaminius had accomplished for them, they cried out for joy, A Saviour! a Saviour! till the Heavens rang with their acclamations.

But Moses was worthy of greater honor because his was a more difficult deed. I dont know, but I suppose one reason why Moses name is coupled with that of the Lamb in the Oratorio of the Heavens, is because he saved Israel out of a bondage which was a mighty symbol of Satans power, and led them by a journey, which is the best type of the pilgrims wanderings in this world, and brought them at last to the borders of Canaan, which has always been regarded as representative of the rest that remaineth for the people of God.

THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT

involves some items of the deepest interest.

The ten plagues prepare for it. The river is turned into blood; frogs literally cover the land; the dust is changed to lice; flies swarm until all the houses are filled; the beasts are smitten with murrain; boils and blains, hail, locusts and darkness do their worst, and the death of the first-born furnishes the climax of Egyptian affliction, and compels the haughty Pharaoh to bow in humility and grief before the will of the Most High God (chaps. 7-12).

There is one feature of these plagues that ought never to be forgotten. Without exception, they spake in thunder tones against Egyptian idolatry. The Nile River had long been an object of their adoration. In a long poem dedicated to the Nile, these lines are found:

Oh, Nile, hymns are sung to thee on the harp,

Offerings are made to thee: oxen are slain to thee;

Great festivals are kept for thee;

Fowls are sacrificed to thee.

But when the waters of that river were turned to blood, the Egyptians supposed Typhon, the God of Evil, with whom blood had always been associated, had conquered over their bountiful and beautiful Osiristhe name under which the Nile was worshiped.

The second plague was no less a stroke at their hope of a resurrection, for a frog had long symbolized to them the subject of life coming out of death. The soil also they had worshiped, and now to see the dust of it turned suddenly into living pests, was to suffer under the very power from which they had hoped to receive greatest success. The flies that came in clouds were not all of one kind, but their countless myriads, according to the Hebrew word used, included winged pests of every sort, even the scarabaeus, or sacred beetle. Heretofore, it had been to them the emblem of the creative principle; but now God makes it the instrument of destruction instead. When the murrain came upon the beasts, the sacred cow and the sacred ox-Apis were humbled. And ~when the ashes from the furnace smote the skin of the Egyptians, they could not forget that they had often sprinkled ashes toward Heaven, believing that thus to throw the ashes of their sacrifices into the wind would be to avert evil from every part of the land whither they were blown. Geikie says that the seventh plague brought these devout worshipers of false gods to see that the waters, the earth and the air, the growth of the fields, the cattle, and even their own persons, all under the care of a host of divinities, were yet in succession smitten by a power against which these protectors were impotent. When the clouds of locusts had devoured the land, there remained another stroke to their idolatry more severe still, and that was to see the Sun, the supreme god of Egypt, veil his face and leave his worshipers in total darkness. It is no wonder that Pharaoh then called to Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; but it is an amazing thing that even yet his greed of gain goads him on to claim their flocks and their herds as an indemnity against the exodus of the people. There remained nothing, therefore, for God to do but lift His hand again, and lo, death succeeded darkness, and Pharaoh himself became the subject of suffering, and the greatest idol of the nation was humbled to the dust, for the king was the supreme object of worship.

He is a foolish man who sets himself up to oppose the Almighty God. And that is a foolish people who think to afflict Gods faithful ones without feeling the mighty hand of that Father who never forgets His own.

One day I was talking with a woman whose husband formerly followed the habit of gambling. By this means he had amassed considerable wealth, and when she was converted and desired to unite with the church, he employed every power to prevent it, and even denied her the privilege of church attendance. One morning he awoke to find that he was a defeated man; his money had fled in the night, and in the humiliation of his losses, he begged his wifes pardon for ever having opposed her spirit of devotion. Since that time, though living in comparative poverty, she has been privileged to serve God as she pleased; and, as she said to me, finds in that service a daily joy such as she at one time feared she would never feel again. Gods plagues are always preparing the way for an exodus on the part of Gods oppressed.

The Passover interpreted this exodus. That greatest of all Jewish feasts stands as a memorial of Israels flight from Egypt as a symbol of Gods salvation for His own, and as an illustration of the saving power of the Blood of the Lamb.

The opponents of the exodus perished. Our study concludes with Israels Song of Deliverance, beginning, The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation, and concluding in the words of Miriam, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. See Exo 15:1-21. Such will ever be the end of those who oppress Gods people and oppose the Divine will.

When one studies the symbolism in all of this, and sees how Israel typifies Gods present-day people, and Moses, their deliverer, Jesus our Saviour, and defeated Pharaoh, the enemy of our souls, destined to be overthrown, he feels like joining in the same song of deliverance, changing the words only so far as to ascribe the greater praise to Him who gave His life a deliverance for all men; and with James Montgomery sing:

Hail to the Lords Anointed

Great Davids greater Son

Who, in the time appointed,

His reign on earth begun.

He comes to break oppression,

To set the captive free,

To take away transgression,

And rule in equity.

He comes, with succor speedy,

To those who suffer wrong;

To help the poor and needy,

And bid the weak be strong;

To give them songs for sighing,

Their darkness turn to light,

Whose souls, condemned and dying.

Were precious in His sight.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 7:1-2

THE MORAL POSITION IN WHICH SOME MEN STAND TO OTHERS

God made Moses to be a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron to be a prophet. There are many good and noble men in the world to-day, who are the gods, the instructors and rulers, of their fellow-creatures.

I. This exalted moral position is the result of Divine allotment. And the Lord said unto Moses, see, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.

1. Men are not to place themselves in this moral position to others. A man is not to make himself a god unto his fellows. Some ambitious spirits do this, and in the attempt become as Satans to their comrades. They become imperious. They make unjust demands on those they rule. The man divinely appointed to this position, will never usurp social influence, though he will always yield it, because it will be the natural accompaniment of his holy life. He will not pander to popular sentiment. He will speak to humanity the messages of God.

2. Men are not to be placed in this moral position merely by the suffrages of their fellow-creatures. The Israelites did not call Moses to the work of their freedom. Pharaoh did not place Moses and Aaron in these relations to himself. The appointment was of God. Society determines its own mental and social gods, and inshrines its men of wealth and genius as deities, but the moral gods of the universe are of Divine appointment. Society would make a wrong selection of gods, if left to its own choice. It would prefer the morally indulgent to the heroic and the true. It would be in danger of making a mistake and of crowning the ambitious rather than the lowly. Hence the selection must be Divine.

II. This exalted moral position involves arduous work and terrible responsibility.

1. The true gods of society have something more to do than amuse it. The visit of Moses to Pharaoh would be no great source of amusement to either party. The gods of humanity are comparatively withdrawn from the vulgar and secular matters of life, the bearing of their efforts is eminently moral. It has reference to souls, to mans life in its relation to the Infinite. A man whose highest aim is to excite the merriment of society, is too far removed from divinity to be mistaken for a God.

2. The true gods of society find their employment in communicating to men the messages of God. Moses and Aaron were to communicate Gods message to Pharaoh. God frequently has distinct messages for individual men in reference to their moral conduct. These are carried by the divinely-appointed prophets of society. They come to teach us. To awaken us. To enable us to fulfil the will of God. Hence their work is arduous and responsible.

III. This exalted moral position is the most efficiently employed in seeking the freedom of men. But for the slavery of Israel Moses would not have been a god unto Pharaoh. The position is the outcome of a condition of things it ought to remove. It is not for self-aggrandizement. It is to give men the freedom of a divine salvation.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Exo. 7:1-2. In the Hebrew Scriptures, magistrates, as representing a portion of the jurisdiction of God, are called gods. The expression was very commonly applied to those who were possessed of dignity or official power, Ye are gods; and in this sense Moses is said to have been made a god unto Pharaoh; and Aaron his brother was to be his prophet. You are already aware of the reason of this distinction between the two brethren. Moses complained that he had no power of eloquence, or was of uncircumcised lip; and Gods reply to that was, You, Moses, shall be the oracle or depository of truth; and Aaron, who has the gift of eloquence, shall unfold and express it. God did not alter their constitutional characteristics; but he made use of their existing constitutional peculiarities to do his great work. So, still, when God employs men to execute His purposes, He does not re-create them, but He sanctifies them, He uses them as they are. Any body reading the New Testament, will see that each writer has a style of his own; so much so, that if you were to read a few verses from one or the other of the writers,. I should be able to say whether they were written by Matthew, or Paul, or Peter. God did not destroy the idiosyncracies of the sacred penman, but he retained their variety of style, and consecrated that variety to be the more elegant vehicle of important and precious truth. So, when God sent Moses and Aaron to do his work in Egypt, He did not make Moses eloquent, which he was not, nor did he make Aaron learned, which he was not; but he made Aaron the eloquent man, draw upon the stores of Moses, the learned man, and thus each did efficiently and naturally the work that God had assigned them. So, at the era of the Reformation, Luthers eloquence and energy would have been extremely defective, if he could not have fallen back upon the rich stores of Melancthons learning. So in the Acts of the Apostles, the energy and boldness of Peter were shown in his speaking; and the love, patience, and piety of John, were shown in his keeping silence. God thus takes different men of different constitutional peculiarities for different purposes.(Dr. Cumming.)

Great is Gods goodness and patience to reason with, and encourage His backward servants.
Men judging themselves as uncircumcised, may be made by Jehovah as gods.
Prophets are merely Gods mouth and lips to His Church.
God orders one instrument from another to utter His mind to worldly powers.
At Gods word poor despicable creatures command oppressing powers to release the oppressed, and it shall be done in time.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON

Divine Favour! Exo. 7:2. If we saved, remarks Faber, the life of the queens child, we would not easily forget the grateful look of the royal mothers face. It would be long before her burning words of thanks died away in our earsa sovereigns tears, and those tears of joy, are not things to be readily forgotten. But what a very unimportant thing this is compared with being allowed to please God by obedience to His commands. There need therefore be no reluctance on our part. Let us not be backward servants. Well may we adopt as our own the dying prayer of Usher, O Lord, forgive me my sins, especially my sins of omission.By such omission we become the loserswe lose the sweet approving smile of God.

Im sure it makes a happy day,
When I can please Him any way.

Hewitt.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

THE TEXT OF EXODUS
TRANSLATION

7 And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses. See, I have made thee as God to Pha-raoh; and Aar-on thy brother shall be thy prophet. (2) Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and Aar-on thy brother shall speak unto Pha-raoh, that he let the children of Is-ra-el go out of his land. (3) And I will harden Pha-raohs heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of E-gypt. (4) But Pha-raoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon E-gypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people the children of Is-ra-el, out of the land of E-gypt by great judgments. (5) And the E-gyp-tians shall know that I am Je-ho-vah, when I stretch forth my hand upon E-gypt, and bring out the children of Is-ra-el from among them. (6) And Mo-ses and Aar-on did so; as Je-ho-vah commanded them, so did they. (7) And Mo-ses was fourscore years old, and Aar-on fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pha-raoh.

A Herd in the Old Kingdom, Fording a Canal. (From J. H. Breasted, A History of Egypt, p. 93.)

(8) And Je-ho-vah spake unto Mo-ses and unto Aar-on, saying, (9) When Pha-raoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aar-on, Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pha-raoh, that it become a serpent. (10) And Mo-ses and Aar-on went in unto Pha-raoh, and they did so, as Je-ho-vah had commanded: and Aar-on cast down his rod before Pha-raoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. (11) Then Pha-raoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and they also, the magicians of E-gypt, did in like manner with their enchantments. (12) For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aar-ons rod swallowed up their rods. (13) And Pha-raohs heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as Je-ho-vah had spoken.
(14) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Pha-raohs heart is stubborn, he refuseth to let the people go. (15) Get thee unto Pha-raoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the rivers brink to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand. (16) And thou shalt say unto him, Je-ho-vah, the 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 hast not hearkened. (17) Thus saith Je-ho-vah, In this thou shalt know that I am Je-ho-vah: 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. (18) And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the E-gyp-tians shall loathe to drink water from the river. (19) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Say unto Aar-on, Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the waters of E-gypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of E-gypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.
(20) And Mo-ses and Aar-on did so, as Je-ho-vah commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pha-raoh, 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 were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the E-gyp-tains could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of E-gypt. (22) And the magicians of E-gypt did in like manner with their enchantments: and Pha-raohs heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as Je-ho-vah had spoken. (23) And Pha-raoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart. (24) And all the E-gyp-tians 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 Je-ho-vah had smitten the river.

EXPLORING EXODUS: CHAPTER SEVEN
QUESTIONS ANSWERABLE FROM THE BIBLE

After careful reading, propose a brief topic or theme for the entire chapter.

Which chapters in Exodus deal with the ten plagues?

What had God made Moses unto Pharaoh? (Exo. 7:1)

What position did Aaron bear unto Moses? (Exo. 7:1)

What demand were Moses and Aaron to make unto Phaaoh? (Exo. 7:2)

What would God do to Pharaoh? (Exo. 7:3)

What would God multiply in the land of Egypt? (Exo. 7:3)

What was God going to lay upon Egypt? For what purpose? (Exo. 7:4)

By what terms are the Israelites described in Exo. 7:4?

10.

What would the Egyptians learn to know about God? What would cause them to know this? (Exo. 7:5)

11.

How old were Moses and Aaron when they spake unto Pharaoh? (Exo. 7:7)

12.

What miracle were Moses and Aaron to do? (Exo. 7:9-10)

13.

What did the magicians of Egypt do after Moses rod became a serpent? (Exo. 7:11-12)

14.

What miracles did the magicians of Egypt duplicate? (Exo. 7:11-12; Exo. 7:22; Exo. 8:7; Exo. 8:18)

15.

Name the Egyptian magicians. (2Ti. 3:8)

16.

What effect upon Pharaohs heart did the rod-to-serpent miracle have? (Exo. 7:13)

17.

At what place was Moses told to go to meet Pharaoh? (Exo. 7:15)

18.

What was Moses to take with him when he met Pharaoh? (Exo. 7:15)

19.

How would Pharaoh come to know that God was the LORD (Jehovah)? (Exo. 7:17)

20.

What results would occur because of the change in the Nile waters? (Exo. 7:18; Exo. 7:21)

21.

What waters would be affected? (Exo. 7:19)

22.

Did Pharaoh witness the changing of the waters? (Exo. 7:20)

23.

How far-reaching in area was the change in the waters? (Exo. 7:21)

24.

Who duplicated the water miracle? (Exo. 7:22)

25.

What was the condition of Pharaohs heart after the water was changed? (Exo. 7:22)

26.

Where did Pharaoh go after this miracle? (Exo. 7:23)

27.

How did the Egyptians try to obtain good water? (Exo. 7:24)

28.

How long did the Nile-to-blood plague last? (Exo. 7:25)

EXODUS SEVEN: THE CONFLICT BEGINS!

The command; Exo. 7:1-7.

II.

The confrontation; Exo. 7:8-13.

III.

The calamity; Exo. 7:14-21.

IV.

The counterattack; Exo. 7:22-25.

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG MEN (Exo. 7:1-2)

Relationships are assigned by God; Exo. 7:1.

Relationships are needed to serve mankind; Exo. 7:2.

PHARAOH: THE TYPE OF STUBBORN SINNERS (Exo. 7:3-5)

Rejects the divine command; (Exo. 7:3-4)

II.

Receives the divine punishments; (Exo. 7:4)

III.

Ruins others by his wickedness; (Exo. 7:5)

THE COUNTERFEITS OF SATAN (Exo. 7:8-12; Exo. 7:22-23)

(Anything you can do, I can do better!)

Imitations of Gods works; (Exo. 7:8-10; Exo. 7:22)

II.

Inferior to Gods works; (Exo. 7:11-12)

III.

Inspire evil men to more evil; (Exo. 7:13; Exo. 7:22)

MANS RICHEST RESOURCES RUINED! (Exo. 7:14-25)

Ruin caused by stubbornness; (Exo. 7:14)

II.

Ruin comes to the mightiest; (Exo. 7:15-16)

III.

Ruin contains Gods lesson; (Exo. 7:16-17)

IV.

Ruin crunches our resources; (Exo. 7:18-21; Exo. 7:24)

Ruin cannot always bring repentance; (Exo. 7:23)

EXPLORING EXODUS: NOTES ON CHAPTER SEVEN

What is in Exodus chapter seven?

The conclusion of Gods charge to Moses to go back to Pharaoh extends to Exo. 7:7. It started back at Exo. 6:28.

The story of Moses and Aarons second encounter with Pharaoh is in Exo. 7:8-13. At this encounter the miracle of the rod changing to a serpent (or crocodile) was displayed.

The story of the first plague, the river-to-blood disaster, is in Exo. 7:14-25.

We entitle this chapter The Conflict (or contest) Begins! The conflict we refer to is the battle between God and Pharaoh. The battle consisted of the ten plagues, and Jehovah God won the conflict. The stories of the ten plagues are found in Exodus chapters 712.

What relationship would Moses have toward Pharaoh? (Exo. 7:1)

He would be as God to Pharaoh, with divine power and authority over him. He could barge into Pharaohs throne room without an appointment and not be arrested. He would work miracles, like God, He would speak the divine message.

Moses had been fearful of confronting Pharaoh (Exo. 6:30), but he had no cause for fear.

What relationship would Aaron be to Moses? (Exo. 7:1)

He would be Moses prophet, or spokesman. As the prophets spoke Gods message, so Aaron would speak Moses message. Note Exo. 4:16, where we are told that Moses would be as God to Aaron.

What was Moses to say unto Aaron? (Exo. 7:2)

All that I (Jehovah) command thee. It is necessary that Gods men speak the whole counsel of God (Acts 20-27). Our leaving out some of Gods words may be worse than our saying some wrong things.

What would God do when Aaron spoke to Pharaoh? (Exo. 7:3)

Two things: (1) he would harden Pharaohs heart; and (2) multiply his signs (miracles with a meaning) and wonders in the land of Egypt. Compare Exo. 11:9. It is simply a wrong view of Gods nature to think that He is so loving and indulgent that he will never rub it in to those who defy Him.

Also it is a wrong view of God to think that He is not jealous of His own honor. Jehovah was determined to teach Pharaoh the truth about Jehovah; and this He would do by inflicting the plague-wonders on Egypt.

What are the great judgments by which God would bring Israel out? (Exo. 7:4)

They are the ten plagues of Exodus 7-12. The word judgments here refers to acts of punishment. Compare Exo. 6:6. These judgments redeemed Israel and punished Egypt.

Ramm correctly asserts that modern man seeks to omit real judgment on the part of God, while still preserving the love of God.[147] But love in that case ceases to be holy love, and disappears into sentiment and sentimentality. We add further that it is a false analysis of Gods real nature.

[147] Bernard L. Ramm, His Way Out (Glendale, Calif.: Regal, 1974), p. 54.

With what organization would Israel leave Egypt? (Exo. 7:4)

As hosts, or armies. Israel left Egypt organized as an army, with its tribes as different divisions (Exo. 12:51; Numbers 1, 2). Their organization was not very strong; nor were they well-equipped. But they were not without some force.

What would Egypt learn by Israels deliverance? (Exo. 7:5)

That God was Jehovah! See notes on Exo. 6:2-3. The statement I am Jehovah carries with it a depth of meaning that few modern readers grasp. The Egyptians would learn that Jehovah is the existing one, the eternal, the ultimate causer. They would learn that their bag of gods was a fiction! See Exo. 7:17; Exo. 8:10; Exo. 8:22; Exo. 14:4; Exo. 14:18.

What were Moses and Aarons ages at this momentous time? (Exo. 7:7)

MOSES, EIGHTY; AARON, EIGHTY-THREE. MOSES HAD BEEN ABOUT FORTY WHEN HE WENT OUT TO HELP ISRAEL (Act. 7:23). HE WAS 120 AT HIS DEATH (Deu. 31:2). THUS MOSES LIFE IS DIVIDED INTO THREE NEARLY EQUAL PARTS:

(1)

40 yrs. in Egypt as a prince (thinking he was somebody);

(2)

40 yrs. in Midian as a shepherd (finding out he was a nobody);

(3)

40 yrs. in the desert as leader of Israel (learning what God can do with a somebody who realized he was a nobody).[148]

[148] Attributed to D. L. Moody. Quoted in Ramm, Ibid.

10.

What miracle was Moses to do in Pharaohs presence? (Exo. 7:8-9)

Change his rod to become a serpent. Of the three miracles given to Moses to do (in Exo. 4:1-9), only the rod-to-serpent miracle was done before Pharaoh. The water-to-blood sign became the first of the ten plagues. The leprosy sign is not referred to after it was shown to Moses. Certainly Moses miracles set him forth as God to Pharaoh.

The serpent referred to in Exo. 7:9 is (in Hebrew) a tannin, meaning a large reptile, sea or river monster. Jewish commentators rendered it as crocodile. The Hebrew word for serpent in Exo. 4:3 is nahash, meaning a serpent or snake.

We have no strong reasons for doubting that Aarons rod became a crocodile in the presence of Pharaoh, rather than a serpent. Certainly that would be an even more impressive miracle than changing it to a serpent. The only real objection to this idea is that it differs from the previous rod-to-serpent miracle shown to the Israelites (Exo. 4:30). However, that miracle was specially designated to be shown to the Israelites; Pharaoh is not mentioned in reference to it. Another objection is that the Greek LXX renders both Exo. 4:3 and Exo. 7:9 as drakon, meaning dragon or (in later times) serpent.

Some critics made an issue of whether the rod is said to be Aarons rod or Moses rod, arguing that references to the rod as Aarons are in sections by a different author from those referring to the rod as Moses rod.[149] Keil and Delitzsch correctly insist that there was only one rod.[150] Aaron threw down the rod in Exo. 7:8; Exo. 7:10. The same rod was later used by Moses at the rivers edge (Exo. 7:15). Even there Aaron actually wielded the rod (Exo. 7:19). Obviously the one rod was passed back and forth between Aaron and Moses.

[149] Martin Noth, Exodus (Philadelphia: Westminister, 1962), pp. 71, 73.

[150] Keil and Delitzsch, Commentaries on the O. T., Vol. II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968), pp. 475476.

11.

What means did Pharaoh use to belittle Moses miracle? (Exo. 7:11)

He called in his wise men and sorcerers and magicians, who (seemingly) duplicated Moses miracle. Pharaoh was NOT convinced that Moses miracle proved that Moses had any powers that differed from those the Egyptian magicians and sorcerers possessed. Their performance confirmed his unbelief.

Back of Pharaohs act lay a total unwillingness to accept any suggestion that he, Pharaoh, and the other gods of Egypt were not supreme. King Amenhotep II (probable Pharaoh of the exodus) entitled himself the son of the sun god Re, . . . Amen-hotep-the-god-Ruler-of-Heliopolis, given life forever; the good god, likeness of Re, . . . .[151] To him Moses miracle was a fifteen-cent stunt that was not about to make him relinquish his lofty views of his own omnipotence!

[151] From The Asiatic Campaigning of Amenhotep II, translated by John A. Wilson, in Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 1955), p. 245. Used by permission.

12.

How did Pharaohs magicians duplicate the miracle? (Exo. 7:11-12)

In truth, we do not know. We only know that the effect produced was similar enough to Moses miracle to satisfy Pharaoh. Davis[152] lists four suggestions as to how they may have done it:

[152] Op. cit., pp. 8284.

(1)

An optical illusion, produced in the minds of the viewers by Satan or evil spirits.

(2)

Effective sleight-of-hand, possibly aided by Satan.

(3)

Charming of serpents to become rigid like sticks. Some writers report that Egyptian magicians have been renowned for doing this. By pressing the nape of the neck, they partially paralyze the snake in such a way that they become stiff and unmovable, thus seeming to change them into rods.[153] (This would be MUCH more difficult if the rods were changed into crocodiles!)

[153] Jamison, Faussett, Brown, Commentary on Old and New Testament, Vol. I (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1945), p. 295.

(4)

Supernatural feats, by demonic assistance, lying wonders (2Th. 2:9; Rev. 13:13-14; Deu. 13:1-3). Such powers are real. We lean to this interpretation, since the text says they did their act by their enchantments. Compare Rev. 16:14.

The great inferiority of the magicians enchantments to Moses powers was shown when Aarons crocodile ate up the magicians crocodiles. Their folly became obvious to all except the wilfully blind (2Ti. 3:8-9).

13.

Who were these magicians? (Exo. 7:11-12)

The apostle Paul gives their names as Jannes and Jambres (2Ti. 3:8), names also found in the Jerusalem Targum (a second-century A.D. Jewish writing).[154] Magicians were very important in the bureaucracy of the ancient Egyptian government. They were a professional class, and held high government positions as advisers and diviners. Pharaoh called upon them to interpret his dreams (Gen. 44:8).

[154] Alan Cole, Exodus (Downers Grove, Ill., 1973), p. 89.

14.

Did Pharaoh function as God planned. (Exo. 7:13)

Exactly so! God had said Pharaoh would not hearken, and he didnt. According to the predicted plan of God, Pharaoh set himself up to become the victim of the signs and wonders (the ten plagues) that were now poised to strike his land.

15.

Who hardened Pharaohs heart? (Exo. 7:14; Exo. 7:3)

The wording of Exo. 7:13-14 does not actually indicate whether Pharaoh hardened his own heart or God hardened it. However, the prediction in Exo. 7:3 indicates that God did it on this occasion. But do not forget that Pharaoh had already committed himself NOT to let Israel go (Exo. 5:2). See notes on Exo. 4:21 ff. for a discussion about who hardened Pharaohs heart.

16.

How do skeptical critics regard Exo. 7:14 ff?

They regard it as the start of a different section, mostly by a tenth century B.C. author called J (for Jehovist, or Yahwist). The previous material (Exo. 6:2 to Exo. 7:13) is attributed to a P (Priestly) author of the fifth century B.C. Some brief segments of Exo. 7:14 to Exo. 8:4 are attributed to P or to another source called E (Elohist). We simply cannot accept this theory (and that is all it is, a theory). It denies the Mosaic authorship of the book, something that Christ affirmed. Those who hold this view have many differences in their analyses as to which source certain segments are to be ascribed to (though they all deny it to Moses!). This lack of unity casts strong doubt on the whole system. In Exo. 7:15 we have a clear allusion back to Exo. 7:8-9. This supports the fact that both sections are by the same author.

17.

Where did Moses go to encounter Pharaoh before the first plague? (Exo. 7:15)

To the Nile river brink. We gain the impression that Pharaoh went there regularly, perhaps every morning (Exo. 8:20; Compare Exo. 2:15). We suppose it was an act of worship to the Nile, for the Egyptians honored the Nile as a god. They even had a Hymn to the Nile:

When the NILE floods, offering is made to thee, oxen are sacrificed to thee, great oblations are made to thee, birds are fattened for thee, lions are hunted for thee in the desert, fire is provided for thee, and offering is made to every (other) god, as is done for the Nile, with prime incense, oxen, cattle, birds, and flame.[155]

[155] From Hymn to the Nile, translated by John A. Wilson, in Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 1955), p. 373. Used by permission.

Note the curiously antiquated wording against he come in the King James version of Exo. 7:15. A.S.V. gives to meet him, and R. S. V. to wait for him.

18.

What demand did Moses remind Pharaoh about? (Exo. 7:16)

The demand of God, that Pharaoh let Israel go out of his land, so Israel could serve Him in the wilderness (the desert of Sinai).

19.

What would the water-to-blood miracle make Pharaoh know? (Exo. 7:17)

That Jehovah was Jehovah (the Eternal one)! This idea is repeated so many times in Exodus that we need to pay special heed to it. See notes on Exo. 7:5; Exo. 6:2; Exo. 6:6-7. Pharaoh had brazenly said, I know not the Lord. He is about to get to know the Lord extremely well!

20.

Was the blood really blood? (Exo. 7:17)

Most commentators assume that any thick red fluid would correspond to the description of the river as blood.[156] Keil and Delitzsch say that the changing of the water to blood was not a chemical change into real blood, but a change in color which caused it to assume the appearance of blood; and that we should compare this miracle to Joe. 3:4, where the moon is said to turn into blood.[157]

[156] Cole, op. cit., p. 90.

[157] Op. cit., p. 478.

We are hardly willing to say that this blood was so exactly like body blood that it might have been used for transfusions. But we do not like the practice of assuming that we know a great deal more than what the scripture says. We assume that the river-blood was so much like body blood that it ought to be called blood, just as the scripture speaks of it.
Many interpreters seek to explain this miracle as an unusual intensification of the annual pollution of the Nile at its lowest annual level, just before the spring rise begins in June.[158] At this time the river is stagnant and sometimes red as ochre from microscopic organisms. But the Nile river is not unhealthful to fish at that stage,[159] as it became when Moses changed it.

[158] K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament (Chicago: Inter-Varsity, 1966), p. 93. Gabriel Hebert, When Israel Came Out of Egypt (Richmond: John Knox, 1961), p. 69.

[159] Keil and Delitzsch, op. cit., p. 479.

Furthermore, if Moses act of reddening the river were just the usual annual reddening of the Nile, why would it have had any effect on Pharaoh?
The liberal critic Martin Noth, while not accepting the literal truth of the plague stories, nevertheless says that the Nile-to-blood miracle is not a representation of regular annual Nile pollution, but is presented as a unique divine wonder.[160] In this he speaks truth.

[160] Op. cit., p. 74.

Others seek to explain the reddening of the river as being associated with some volcanic explosion.[161] But this is mostly guesswork. These explanations also require us to believe some colossal coincidences occurred, such as that the volcanic eruptions occurred on the days just after Moses made predictions of disasters, and that the affected areas ended just where the Israelites began.

[161] Phythian-Adams, The Call of Israel (1934), pp. 13772. Readers Digest, Nov. 1967, has an article The Explosion that Changed the World, which suggests that the explosion of the Greek island of Santorini about 1400 B.C. may have been a factor in causing the ten plagues in Egypt. The article admits that this theory stands on shaky ground.

21.

What effects did the changed water produce? (Exo. 7:18; Exo. 7:21)

The fish died. The river stank. (That is exactly the meaning of the statement.) The water became loathesome and undrinkable. Such a pollution of the Nile would have had religious implications to thoughtful Egyptians.

22.

What places were affected by the change in the water? (Exo. 7:19)

The river branches of the Nile delta. The canals. (Canals had been dug all over the delta region for irrigation.) The pools (or reservoirs). And in wood and stone.
The usual interpretation is that the wood and stone refer to vessels of wood and stone. Probably this is correct. Certainly the greatness of the miracle was demonstrated when water already in containers also changed to blood at the same time the river did. To us, it seems that the text says this very thing happened. Keil and Delitzsch say that this is NOT indicated by the text, but only that no more water was put into these vessels that was not changed to blood. This argument could be true only if several hours or days were required for the water to change to blood, allowing time for people to dip up water after the reddening started, but before all of it changed. The scripture does not really indicate any such time lag.

Some interpreters think that the blood so penetrated underground that trees and plants of wood picked it up with their roots, so that the plants would ooze red sap if plucked. There was blood in stone, because the springs that flowed out from fissures in the stone ran with red liquid.

This explanation about the wood and stone seems unlikely to us, since apparently the Egyptians were able to obtain drinkable water by digging in the ground (Exo. 7:24).

23.

Did Pharaoh himself witness the change? (Exo. 7:20)

Certainly he saw Moses and Aaron smite the water, and it appears that he saw the change occur. Exo. 7:23 indicates that Pharaoh went to his house only after the water had changed and the magicians had performed their enchantments to change water to blood. Therefore, we assume Pharaoh saw the change occur.

The Nile river is a huge river. The delta of the Nile is nearly 150 miles wide and 125 long. The enormity of this miracle is staggering, The blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.
It was powerfully appropriate that the first plague be directed at the Nile. Because the Nile affects all of Egypt, the plague got the attention of all Egypt. The Israelites would see Gods power on a massive scale, and so would the Egyptians. It is still a picture of Gods power to us.

24.

How did the magicians get into the act of changing water to blood? (Exo. 7:22)

We do not know. Maybe they were accompanying Pharaoh as he came out to the water. Maybe he summoned them, as he did before (Exo. 7:11).

How were they able to change water to blood? Presumably by the same tricks or powers by which they changed rods to serpents (see notes on Exo. 7:11-12).

Where did they get water to change to blood if all water was almost immediately transformed by Moses? We suppose they got it from the water obtained by digging holes (Exo. 7:24). The rabbi Ibn Ezra said they took rain [which is rare in Egypt], or they obtained water from Goshen, or they digged for it.[162]

[162] J. H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (London; Soncino Press, 1969), p. 238.

One would think that the magicians would have shown more power (and certainly more usefulness!) if they could have changed the blood back to good water. But this they had no power to do.
Furthermore, the magicians probably only changed a few drops of water. Compared to Moses massive miracle, this was nothing. But it was enough to satisfy Pharaoh. His wicked heart found all the justification he felt necessary in the magicians act. He now felt that Moses miracle did not prove that he needed to change his thinking or his deeds. So he did not even consider it seriously, or lay it to his heart (Exo. 7:23).

25.

Did the Israelites have good water?

The scripture does not tell us definitely one way or the other. In later plagues a distinction between the treatment of the Israelites and of the Egyptians definitely occurred. No such differentiation is stated in Exo. 7:20-21, although that does not prove it did not occur. Josephus (in Antiquities II, xiv, 1) has an account that seems fanciful to us: Such [bloody] was the river to the Egyptians, but it was sweet and fit for drinking to the Hebrews, and in no way different from what it naturally used to be.

26.

Did the Egyptians succeed in obtaining water by digging? (Exo. 7:24)

It appear that they did. Note that all the Egyptians digged round about the river. If the first few test holes that were dug had produced only the same blood that was in the river, surely digging would not have been employed on so wide a scale.

27.

To what period does the seven days of Exo. 7:25 refer?

Probably it refers to the duration of the water-to-blood plague. Others suggest that it was the interval of time between the first and second plague (the frogs). We assume that after seven days the flow of fresh water from the upper Nile cleansed the river in lower Egypt (the delta). If this was the case, it is one more evidence that this change in the river water was not the usual annual discoloration, because that continues about twenty days.[163]

[163] F. C. Cook, editor, The Bible Commentary. Exodus-Ruth (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1964), p. 22.

28.

How long a time-span did the plagues occupy?

The last plague (death of the firstborn) occurred in March. The seventh plague (the hail, which beat down the flax and barley, but did not destroy the wheat) occurred sometime in January. The interval between January and March averages out to nearly three weeks between plagues. If we assume that the other plagues were approximately the same time apart, the whole series would have required about six months; and the first plague would have occurred during early autumn (Sept.-Oct.). This is admittedly mostly guesswork.

SPECIAL STUDY: THE TEN PLAGUES

Facts about the Plagues:

List of the plagues:

(1)

River to blood,

(6)

Boils.

(2)

Frogs.

(7)

Hail.

(3)

Lice (gnats).

(8)

Locusts.

(4)

Flies.

(9)

Darkness.

(5)

Death of livestock.

(10)

Death of firstborn.

Meaning of the word plague:

A plague is not just a disease or epidemic, but any event or thing that afflicts, smites, troubles, or harasses.

The plagues are frequently called signs and wonders. See Exo. 7:3; Exo. 8:23; Exo. 10:1; Deu. 4:34; Deu. 6:22; Psa. 105:27. A sign is a miracle with a message. The plagues were to teach something, as well as to punish.

The plagues are also called judgments, a term which refers to punishments. (Exo. 6:4; Exo. 12:12)

The English word plague is a translation of several Hebrew words in Exodus. Plague in Exo. 9:14 (and Num. 14:37) is from maggephah, meaning a slaughter (as in 1Sa. 4:17), or pestilential and fatal disorder. Plague in Exo. 11:1 is from nega, meaning a blow, or stroke. Plague in Exo. 12:13 is from negeph, meaning a stumbling, or smiting, or plague. A verb form of this word is in Jos. 24:5.

II.

Purposes of the plagues:

To force Pharaoh to let Israel go. Exo. 3:20 : I will put forth my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. See also Exo. 7:4.

To show that God was the LORD, JEHOVAH. This was to be demonstrated both to the Egyptians (Exo. 7:5; Exo. 7:17; Exo. 8:22; Exo. 9:14; Exo. 14:4; Exo. 14:18), and to the Israelites (Exo. 6:7; Exo. 10:2; Exo. 15:11).

To show Gods power. Exo. 9:16. The Egyptians would learn that the LORD was high above all gods (Exo. 9:14).

To punish Pharaoh and the Egyptians for their treatment of Israel. The word judgments in Exo. 6:6 carries the idea of punishments. God cast upon them the fierceness of his anger (Psa. 78:49-50). God made sport of the Egyptians and mocked them (Exo. 10:12).

To execute judgment upon the gods of Egypt (Exo. 12:12; Num. 33:4). Several of the gods of Egypt seem to have been specific targets of various plagues. See the following article and the notes on the various plagues.

To show that God made a distinction between His people Israel and those not His people. See Exo. 8:23; Exo. 11:7. One-half of the plagues are specifically said to have not touched the Israelites. Indeed, the Hebrews may have been exempt from all the plagues.

To cause Gods name and fame to be spread abroad through the earth (Exo. 9:16; Exo. 10:2). Even today we still tell and retell the stories of Gods acts in the plagues.

To produce fear in the surrounding nations that God would defeat them (Jos. 2:9-10; Jos. 9:9; 1Sa. 4:8). The nations would learn that God would curse those who cursed the Israelites (Gen. 12:3).

To be signs to strengthen Israels faith. The Israelites should have had courage to invade and conquer Canaan after they had seen what God did to the Egyptians (Deu. 7:18-19; Psa. 78:42-43).

Sadly, Israel did not understand the wonders in Egypt (Psa. 106:6-7; Psa. 106:21-22), and they soon forgot Gods acts in Egypt.

10.

To cause Israel (and us!) to keep the statutes of God (Deu. 6:20-24).

11.

To serve as tests (or temptations) to Israel (Deu. 4:33; Deu. 7:19). How would Israel respond to Gods help? Would they have steadfast faith, or would they fail the test? Would the demonstrations of Gods power in the plagues give Israel faith at other times when God did not choose to show His power so immediately and dramatically?

III.

Moral significance of the plagues.

The plagues show God means business. We better do what He says.

The plagues show that God is certainly going to win in His conflict with Satan and with Satans followers, Those who oppose God are going to lose and lose utterly.

The plagues show that God will surely PUNISH those who defy Him and refuse to receive His truth.

The plagues show that God will HARDEN those who set themselves to defy Him, and then punish them doubly. Other examples of this truth can be seen in the cases of (1) the Canaanites (Deu. 2:30);Hophni and Phinehas (1Sa. 2:25); (3) King Rehoboam (1Ki. 12:15); King Amaziah (2Ch. 25:15-16); and (5) those who receive not the love of the truth (2Th. 2:10-12).

The plagues show Gods determination to keep His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. God was determined to bless Abraham and his descendants and give them the land of Canaan (Gen. 15:14; Psa. 105:8-9; Psa. 105:27-36).

The plagues were types of Christs victory over Satan. Moses was a type, or likeness, of Christ who was to come. At the outset of Moses ministry, he defeated Pharaoh in the plagues. At the outset of Christs ministry he defeated Satans temptations in the wilderness. And finally Christ despoiled the principalities and the powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it (the cross) (Col. 2:15).

We certainly agree with Bernard Ramms statement that unless there is a deeper typology in Exodus, the story is trivial. That which raises the story in Exodus above all other stories of struggle and survival in human history is its deeper typology. Ramm adds that it is at this point that Jewish commentaries and critical Protestant commentaries fail, because in both instances they fail to grasp the deeper struggle behind the events.[164] How true!

[164] Bernard L. Ramm. His Way Out (Glendale, Calif.: Regal, 1974), pp. 5859.

Since the experiences of the Israelites are examples, or types, of our spiritual experiences as Christians (1Co. 10:11), the plagues appear to be illustrations of the way Christ will destroy all the enemies of His church. He shall smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron (Rev. 19:15).

Thus the plagues are types of Gods subsequent judgments upon the nations. The plagues of Egypt resemble the seven last plagues of Rev. 15:5 to Rev. 16:21. Both involve sores, or boils (Rev. 16:2; Rev. 16:11), water to blood (Rev. 16:3-4), frogs (Rev. 16:13), and hail (Rev. 16:21). In both the plagues in Egypt and those described in Revelation, men are unwilling to repent (Rev. 16:9; Rev. 16:11; Rev. 16:21), even in the face of total ruination.

IV.

Arrangement of the ten plagues.

The plagues grew generally more severe as they progressed. The plagues of the locusts and the darkness were particularly severe. The darkness was severe in that it exposed the greatest god of Egypt, its sun-god, Re, as being nothing. The plagues increased to a climax of terror at the death of Egypts firstborn.

Commentators frequently have expressed the idea that the first nine plagues are grouped into three groups of three (12-3, 45-6, 78-9). We feel that this triple-triad arrangement is a man-made analysis, and is not really very significant. A case could be made for grouping the plagues into two groups of five, since plague number five (death of livestock) and plague ten (death of the firstborn) both involved death. Still these groupings seem accidental and unintentional. Certainly they were not obvious during the course of the plagues.

Nevertheless, we feel we should list here some of the reasons why many interpreters feel that the first nine plagues are arranged into three groups of three.

Plagues one and two in each group (12, 45, 78) are announced to Pharaoh in advance, while the third plague of each group is inflicted without previous warning.

The first series (12-3) was wrought with the rod of Aaron. No rod is mentioned in the second series (45-6). The rod is in the hand of Moses in the third series (78-9).

In the second series a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians is mentioned. See Exo. 8:22; Exo. 9:4. However, this distinction is also mentioned in connection with plague seven (the hail; Exo. 9:26).

Keil and Delitzsch commentary adopts the view that the three-fold grouping is real and noteworthy. However, they add the very necessary caution that this arrangement is NOT a merely external arrangement adopted by the writer for the sake of greater literary effect, but is in fact founded upon the facts themselves.[165]

[165] Op. cit., p. 473.

Views held about the plagues.

Bible-believers regard the plagues as miracles. While the plagues involved familiar natural phenomena like frogs, lice, hail, locusts, etc., there were miraculous features about their coming and going.

Joseph Free lists five respects in which the plagues had a miraculous nature: 1. Intensification frogs, insects, etc. were intensified far beyond any ordinary occurrence ever; 2. Prediction the time of their appearance (like tomorrow) and disappearance was predicted before several plagues. Even modern weather forecasters cannot predict exactly when and where it will hail. 3. Discrimination In the area where the Israelites lived, there were no flies (Exo. 8:22), no hail (Exo. 9:26), etc. 4. Orderliness the severity of the plagues gradually increased. 5. Moral purpose the plagues were not just freaks of nature, but carried a moral purpose in several ways.[166]

[166] Joseph P. Free, Archaeology and Bible History (Wheaton, III.: Scripture Press, 1972), p. 95.

Other interpreters who are more skeptical view the ten plagues as purely natural events. They consider that the original events have grown larger and more marvelous as they have been told and retold. They feel that the plague stories are derived from living oral tradition of the mighty acts of God.[167] Of course, to hold such a view we must deny that Moses wrote down the record of events to which he was an eyewitness. Even more harmful is the presupposition lying behind these views, that God has never intervened in history by miraculous acts.

[167] Martin Noth, Exodus (Philadelphia: Westminister, 1962), p. 71.

The interpreters who regard the plague stories as corrupted accounts of natural events do not agree among themselves as to what those natural events may have been. One Prof. Mahler thought that the plague of darkness was a total eclipse of the sun in 1335 B.C.[168] Of course, 1335 is not the date of the exodus; and a solar eclipse lasts about three minutes, not three days. Others have thought that the plagues were effects of volcanic explosions, like those that blasted Mont Pelee in Martinique in 1902, or Krakatoa in the East Indies in 1883. Those produced terrific tidal waves, torrential rains, muddy cataracts of black and poisonous water, so that many fish died; and dark clouds of volcanic dust covered the sky.[169] This explanation also is set forth as the explanation for the drying up of the Red Sea waters, the pillar of cloud and fire, and the descent of Jehovah in the cloud on Mt. Sinai.

[168] J. H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (London: Soncino, 1969), p. 231.

[169] See The Explosion that Changed the World, in Readers Digest, Nov. 1967, pp. 122127. Also W. I. Phythian-Adams, The Call of Israel (1934), 137172.

The volcanic theory cannot explain how Moses could have predicted the coming and departure of these plagues at such precise times. Nor can it explain how the plagues were so selective about their victims. By common consent the theory is admitted to stand on shaky ground.
Others have thought that the plagues were only natural events in Egypt, which happened to an unusual degree. Sir Flinders Petrie wrote:

The order of the plagues was the natural order of such troubles on a lesser scale in the Egyptian seasons,. . . . The river turning to blood with the fish dying, was the unwholesome stagnant Nile just at the lowest [emphasis by author] before the inundations, when it is red and swarming with organisms. The Egyptians have to resort to wells and cisterns at this time,. . . . The frogs abound after the inundation has come in July. The plagues of insects, murrain and boils belong to the hot summer and damp unwholesome autumn. The hail and rain come in January. . . . The locusts come in the spring, over the green crops about February. The sandstorms bring a thick darkness that may be felt, in March. . . .[170]

[170] Egypt and Israel (1911), pp. 3536.

The inadequacy of such an explanation may be perceived by suggestions by Greta Hort.[171] She argues that the first nine plagues began with an unusually high [emphasis by the author] inundation, which may have brought microcosms known as flagellates, which would redden the river and kill the fish. Decomposing fish drove the frogs ashore, having also infected them with Bacillus Anthracis. . . . The cattle disease of the fifth plague would be anthrax contracted from the dead frogs, etc.

[171] Quoted in K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament (Chicago: Inter-Varsity, 1966), pp. 4859.

For our part we place our faith in the record given in the Bible, and not in the contradictory guesswork of those without deep faith in God.

JEHOVAH VS.THE GODS OF EGYPT[172]

[172] The drawings of the gods of Egypt are from E. A. Wallis Budge, The Dwellers on the Nile (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1888); and from E. A. Wallis Budge, The Mummy (New York: Collier Macmillian, 1972). Used by permission.

The ten plagues were Jehovahs judgment against all the gods of Egypt (Exo. 12:12; Num. 33:4). All of the plagues showed the utter inability of Egypts gods to protect the Egyptians. Several of the plagues appear to have been pointed directly against specific Egyptian gods. Here are some of the gods of Egypt which seem to have been special targets of specific plagues:

Hapi, god of the Nile. Sculpture at Kora Ombo temple, upper Egypt.

Hathor, cow goddess of love. Statue at Memphis.

Hapi, the god of the Nile, was often depicted as holding a table or altar on which are vases for libations, and lotus flowers, and fruits, He is thus represented as if he were presenting the rich products of the Niles productivity. He was discredited in the first plague, when the river water turned to blood.

Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis, was called the second life of Ptah, (the creater god). Apis was disgraced in the fifth plague, the murrain (or death) of cattle.

The Apis Butt

I-em-hetep.

Hathor, the cow-headed goddess, was identified with the sky, and was the goddess of beauty, love and joy. She assisted the souls of the dead. The plagues of murrain of cattle and of hail discredited her.

Imhotep was originally an architect, wise-man, and chief ritualist in the Old Kingdom of Egypt. (In Egypt magic and medicine were inseparably related.) Imhotep became a demigod after his death, and eventually was deified as the god of medicine. But he couldnt prevent the plague of boils from scourging all Egyptians.

Amen R

Two sun-gods of Egypt were discredited by the plague of darkness. Amon (or Amon-Ra), the city god of the capital city of Thebes, was a sun-god. To the Egyptians he was the ONE and ONLY ONE, the maker of gods, and lord of eternity. Ra (or Re) was the great sun-god. He was the great god of Heliopolis, the city of the sun. He was second only to Ptah, the chief god.

The Celestial Cow

Various divine beings support her limbs, while in the middle, Shu, the god of the atmosphere upholds her. (Shu couldnt prevent the plague of hail!) Along her belly, which forms the heavens, and bears the stars, moves the celestial boat of the sun-god, who wears the sun-disk on his head. Pictures like this one show that the plagues attacked Egyptian gods.[173]

[173] From J. H. Breasted, A History of Egypt (New York: Scribners, 1924),s p. 55.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

VII.

(1) See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh . . . This is Gods answer to the objection of Moses that his lips were uncircumcised (Exo. 6:12), and probably followed it immediately. The force of it would seem to be: Thou art not called on to speak, but to act. In action thou wilt be to Pharaoh as a godpowerful, wonder-working, irresistible; it is Aaron who will have to speak to him, and he is eloquent (Exo. 4:14).

Thy prophet.Or spokesmanthe declarer of thy mind, which is the primary sense of prophet.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. I have made thee a god to Pharaoh No more was he to come to Pharaoh as a suppliant, but now he was invested with divine authority . To Aaron, Moses was a revealer of God’s will, (Exo 4:16,) but to Pharaoh he was now to appear clothed with God’s power . Hitherto he had been an advocate, a mediator, and in that position had painfully felt the embarrassment of his slowness of speech; but now his deeds were to speak, and, armed with Jehovah’s thunders, he was to smite down the gods of Egypt. Thus, then, the Lord replies to Moses’s despairing plea “See, I have made thee a god!” Pharaoh had refused to glorify God by obedience to Moses as a messenger of his mercy; now shall he glorify him by submitting to Moses as a messenger of his wrath. The results of these threatened judgments are now predicted.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

RESUMPTION OF THE NARRATIVE AND RECAPITULATION, Exo 6:28 to Exo 7:7.

The foregoing genealogical digression may be regarded as an expansion of Exo 6:13, giving a brief, clear family history of “that Aaron and Moses” who now undertake this weighty charge. The narrative now returns to the incident of Exo 6:12, and repeats the circumstances under which Moses again plead that he was of uncircumcised lips. In Exo 4:10, he urged this as a reason why he was disqualified to go to his brethren; now he feels it a sore hinderance when bid to go to Pharaoh .

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Yahweh Encourages Moses To Go Forward ( Exo 7:1-13 ).

a Yahweh tells Moses that He has made him as a God to Pharaoh, with Aaron as his prophet (Exo 7:1).

b Moses is therefore to say all that Yahweh commands, and Aaron must communicate it in diplomatic style to Pharaoh, with the aim of him letting the children of Israel leave the land (Exo 7:2).

c Yahweh promises that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart (make it firm and strong in the wrong direction) and will as a result multiply signs and wonders in Egypt The result is that Pharaoh will not listen to them. Yahweh will then lay His hand on Egypt and bring forth His ‘hosts’, that is His people the children of Israel, and He will do it by great judgments (Exo 7:3-4).

c Then the Egyptians will know that He is Yahweh, when He stretches out His hand on Egypt, and bring the children of Israel out from among the Egyptians (Exo 7:5).

b And Moses and Aaron did what Yahweh commanded. That is what they did (Exo 7:6).

a And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh (Exo 7:7).

Note that in ‘a’ Yahweh tells them that He has made him as a God to Pharaoh, with Aaron as his prophet, while in the parallel their ages are given. This suggests that we are to see a significance in their ages. This may lie in the fact that eight intensified is the indication of a new beginning and thus Moses is to be seen as the Deliverer while Aaron is eight intensified plus three, the one who makes the deliverer complete. See the commentary in respect of this. In ‘b’ Moses is to say all that Yahweh commands, and Aaron must communicate it in diplomatic style to Pharaoh, with the aim of him letting the children of Israel leave the land, and in the parallel they do what they are commanded. In ‘c’ Yahweh promises that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart and will as a result multiply signs and wonders in Egypt (make known that He is Yahweh). The result is that Pharaoh will not listen to them. Yahweh will then lay His hand on Egypt and bring forth His ‘hosts’, that is His people the children of Israel, and He will do it by great judgments

Exo 7:1

‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Look, I have made you a god to Pharaoh and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. You will speak all that I command you and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.” ’

In Exo 4:16 Yahweh had said that Moses would be ‘as a god’ to Aaron, and Aaron would be his ‘mouth’. Now he is to ‘be a god’ to Pharaoh with Aaron as his prophet. The idea would seem therefore to be that he will stand aloof and Aaron will speak on his behalf and perform wonders (Exo 4:17). Moses would not only stand as God’s representative but would have the mystique that goes with divinity, and be seen as a god and to be at war with the gods of Egypt, and especially the god Pharaoh. He would be the voice, but Aaron would be the mouth.

Elohim is used here, not in the Hebrew sense of God, but as a faithful rendering of the Egyptian title, neter, “god”, which was one of the attributes of Pharaoh. It applied to the living as well as to the dead Pharaoh. Thus he could be called “the glorious god” or “the god without equal”. In many cases the Pharaohs were also described as “the good god” (neter nefer), or “the great god” (neter ar). In our passage, the use of Elohim is thus putting Moses on a parallel position to Pharaoh, suggesting with the word an ironical reference to Pharaoh’s pretensions.

We probably do not appreciate how powerful Pharaoh felt in being divine but now when he saw Moses he would see someone whom he would soon regard as his equal. Moses was to be the ‘Pharaoh’ of the children of Israel, and Aaron would, in his turn, be his prophet, his “mouth”. These names given to Moses and Aaron were a guarantee of the signs and wonders that were about to be revealed. These alone could have made Pharaoh see Moses as a God.

Exo 7:3-5

“And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring forth my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”

The plan is now laid bare. God will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he refuses to let the children of Israel go into the wilderness to worship their God, and this will result in the pouring out of God’s mighty judgments in signs and wonders until at last they will be able to go altogether and Egypt will be left glad to see them go and knowing that Yahweh is indeed ‘the One Who is there to act’, greater than all the gods of Egypt. By it the Egyptians will know that He is ‘Yahweh’.

It should, however be noted that the gods of Egypt are only mentioned once in the whole Exodus account (Exo 12:12). From his own point of view Moses was dealing with the living Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt were nothing. He did not see himself as battling with gods in which he did not believe. It was Pharaoh, basking in his own divinity, who would see him as a god.

“My signs and my wonders.” An indication that what was to come would be so outstanding and unique that they would be beyond the expectation of everyone. ‘Signs’, that is something that demonstrates Who and What He is. ‘Wonders’, that is something to fill men with awe.

“Bring forth my hosts.” The word ‘hosts’ is used of armies (Gen 21:22 and often), of ‘the host of heaven’ meaning the sun, moon and stars (Deu 4:19; Neh 9:6: Psa 33:6; Psa 148:2; Isa 34:4; Isa 45:12; Jer 33:22), of the panoply of gods represented by them ( Deu 4:19 ; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:5; Jer 8:2; Dan 8:10; Zep 1:5), and of the heavenly hosts of God’s armies (Gen 32:2) so that God can later be known as ‘Yahweh of hosts’ (first found in 1Sa 1:3), and of all things in creation (Gen 2:1). The thought here may be that they are being brought forth as His hosts, as His army to bring His judgment on Canaan. But it may just represent them as His numerous people whom he would mobilise (‘number’) for the advance on Canaan (see Exo 12:37; Numbers 1-2; Num 26:1-51).

“And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” Knowing that He is Yahweh involves seeing Him in action. His successful actions will reveal what He is and the meaning of His name.

The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was so that he would not compromise and thus so ameliorate the position that Israel would have no reason for leaving. But Yahweh was not here intending to harden the heart of a compassionate man. He was ensuring that a cruel, arrogant and evil despot did not for the sake of expediency compromise. What was at stake here was the whole future of Israel.

It must be remembered that humanly speaking Pharaoh had Israel under a slave contract. This would put them in the wrong if they simply disappeared. Yahweh would not encourage the breaking of treaties. Thus it was important that Pharaoh by his own choice insisted that they leave. Of course, once he sent his army after them having first made an agreement with them which he was then intending to break, he had put himself in the wrong and himself broken the contract. Thus Israel was no longer bound by it.

Exo 7:6

‘And Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them so they did.’

This is to let us know immediately that Moses and Aaron did do what Yahweh commanded. They were obedient. We have seen similar brief comments previously. They were typical of Israel’s ancient writings. Part of what is in mind here is found in Exo 7:2.

Exo 7:7

‘And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.’

“Eighty years old.” It could be that we are to see in this not a literal number but ‘two generations’, with forty years representing a generation. The first being seen as ended when he fled from Egypt as ‘grown up’ (Exo 2:11), the second covered his life in Midian and has brought him to this stage. The third stage, that of old age will take him up to his death (Deu 31:2; Deu 34:7), The ‘eighty three’ of Aaron would then simply be this ‘eighty’ with the three years of completeness representing that he was a little older than Moses.

But the parallel with verse 1 suggests that these descriptions in some way tied up with the fact that Moses had been made a God to Pharaoh and Aaron his prophet. Eight is the number of deliverance. There were eight people who were delivered in the ark (Gen 7:7 compare 1Pe 3:20). Circumcision which brought men into the covenant with Abraham and delivered them from the world into the covenant community was carried out on the eighth day (Gen 17:12; Php 3:5). It was the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles, the day that signalled the end of the agricultural year, on which deliverance was proclaimed (later citing Isa 12:3). It was on the eighth day that God would accept His people when the new altar of Ezekiel was built, following seven days of atonement, when the new deliverance began (Eze 43:27). It was on the eighth day that Aaron and his sons began their priestly ministry of deliverance and atonement (Lev 9:1). The cleansing and deliverance of the one time skin diseased man was accomplished on the eighth day (Lev 14:10; Lev 14:23). It is probable that the eight hundred years of the early patriarchs (Gen 5:4-19 – each conjoined there with another significant number), indicated their long triumph over death (although it came in the end). Here then the eighty years was probably intended to indicate that these two were God’s appointed deliverers.

Moses and Aaron Perform Their First Wonder in Pharaoh’s Presence ( Exo 7:8-13 ).

a Yahweh tells Moses and Aaron that when Pharaoh asks them to prove themselves by a wonder they are to cast down the staff that it become a large snake (Exo 7:8-9).

b They did as He commanded and it became a snake in front of Pharaoh and his servants (Exo 7:10).

b Pharaoh then called forth his wise men, sorcerers and magicians and they did the same (Exo 7:11).

a When they did so Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staves, thus revealing a further wonder. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen to their words just as Yahweh had declared 12-(Exo 7:13).

Thus in ‘a’ they perform a wonder by their staff turning into a large snake, while in the parallel there is another wonder as their staff eats up the staves of the magicians. In ‘b’ their turning their staff into a snake is paralleled by the Egyptians doing the same.

Exo 7:8-10

‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a wonder in your support.’ Then you will say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh so that it becomes a large snake (tannin).’ ” And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and they did just as Yahweh had commanded them, and Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants and it became a large snake.’

Moses and Aaron again approached Pharaoh and his high officials (his servants). He was now aware that they came in the name of Yahweh so he challenged them. ‘Support your case with a show of divine power, a ‘wonder’.’ So they did so. Aaron threw down the staff and it became a large snake.

The word for snake here is ‘tannin’, different from that in Exo 4:13 and Exo 7:15 below. It possibly refers to a larger snake. It was also the word used for sea creatures and large reptiles such as crocodiles, including mythical monsters. But it may just be used for variation here and so that the reader will link it with the ideas of demi-gods, seeing the snake as a symbol of them.

The staff Aaron threw down was probably that of Moses which he now carried as a symbol of Moses’ authority and status (he certainly used it in Exo 4:30). It may, however, have been his own It is called Aaron’s staff (Exo 7:12) but that is not necessarily significant. It could mean only that he was the bearer of it. But it matters little. God was not limited in His use of staves.

Pharaoh was probably not impressed. He had seen things like this before. ‘Signs and wonders’ on a minuscule scale were the forte of magicians around the world, and especially in Egypt where they proliferated. They were like the prominent conjurors of today.

Exo 7:11-12 a

‘Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers and they also, the magicians of Egypt did just the same with their enchantments, for they threw down, every man, his staff, and they became snakes.’

The wise men and magicians were also able to do what appeared to be a similar thing. Their staves also became snakes. It would in fact appear that the Egyptian cobra can be rendered immobile if pressure is applied to the muscles at the nape of the neck after it has been charmed. This procedure is pictured on several ancient Egyptian scarab-amulets and was presumably the technique employed here. Alternately this may have been done by conjuring.

The wise men and the sorcerers’. These would have had long training in sacred writings, rituals and spells in temple schools. They were not averse to using conjuring and performing ‘wonders’ in order to impress the uninitiated. Egypt’s greatest magicians were the hry-tp (compare Hebrew hartom – magician), the chief lector-priests.

Exo 7:12 b

“But Aaron” s staff swallowed up their staves.’

It is significant that it says ‘staff’ and not ‘snake’. The staff was the symbol of authority and status. Thus we have here Moses’ and Aaron’s authority and status revealed as greater than that of the magicians. This should have given Pharaoh pause for thought, especially as the snake had significance in Egyptian mythology as a semi-divine creature and Pharaoh himself often bore the symbol of the uraeus-snake on his head for protection when he went into battle. The power of Moses was thereby revealed. Pharaoh’s protective snake will do him no good. It will be eaten up.

This incident should have brought home to Pharaoh that the serpents of Egypt with all their significance, stood no chance against Yahweh. He was Lord over all, and could swallow everything whole whether earthly or heavenly.

Exo 7:13

‘And Pharaoh’s heart was strong and he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had said.’

In Exo 4:21 Yahweh had said that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart. Yahweh was seen by His people as, and revealed Himself as, sovereign over all. Everything that took place was therefore seen to be as a result of His activity. So in one sense if men hardened their hearts it was because Yahweh had done it. But the use of the passive tense lets us realise that here the action was indirect rather than direct. Pharaoh had taken up such an attitude that he was engaged in hardening his own heart. Yahweh did not make a good man evil, He allowed an evil man full sway in his evil. Pharaoh was not an innocent tool, but totally blameworthy.

We note here that God was gradually revealing His power to Pharaoh. He began with lesser wonders which could partly be duplicated but through which He demonstrated His superiority, and would then move on to greater. Had Pharaoh been discerning there would have been no problem and no plagues. And God is like this with all men. He does not force Himself on them but gives them indications of His power and presence. Then it depends on their response whether they receive more. Yet at the same time He works His sovereign will.

Note for Christians.

Moses had been a shepherd, but now, because he had obeyed God, he had become as ‘a god’. Each of us can be ‘gods’ in the place where He has put us. For if we are Christians it is not only we who are there but within us is the living God. Christ lives through us. And as we allow Him to do so day by day so will God be present in all the situations around us. For we are the main means by which God seeks to break through into the world. If we fail to reveal Him the world will never know Him.

Being a god would not be easy for Moses. Things lay ahead that he had never dreamed of. But he learned here from the beginning through the sign of the snake that whatever Satan threw against him God could gobble it up. Thus did he have nothing to fear. If you are a Christian people may multiply snakes against you. But do not be afraid, for if you look to Him, God will gobble them up. He will ‘bruise Satan under your feet shortly’ (Rom 16:20).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Exo 7:1 Comments Moses was made like God to Pharaoh in the sense that he will perform divine miracles before the king’s eyes.

Exo 7:4 “But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt” – Comments – God also hardened the heart of Sihon, king of Heshbon (Deu 2:30).

Deu 2:30, “But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.”

Exo 7:4 “and bring forth mine armies” – Comments The children of Israel are called the Lord’s armies three times in the book of Exodus. This description is used perhaps within the context of God’s confrontation with Pharaoh, since the Israelites will play a key role in spoiling the Egyptians. God fights the battles and Israel receives the benefits and blessings.

Exo 12:17, “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.”

Exo 12:51, “And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.”

God is called the Lord of the Armies (Sabaoth) in the book of James.

Jas 5:4, “Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth .”

Exo 7:4-5 Comments The Ten Plagues Exo 7:4-5 states that the Lord will bring the children of Israel out by great judgments so that the Egyptians will know that He is the Lord. This statement indicates that the ten plagues will be directed towards the gods of the Egyptians. Further evidence is seen immediately within the narrative when Moses’ rod becomes a serpent before Pharaoh’s court and swallows those of the magicians, which is a testimony of the greater power of Moses’ God.

Exo 7:9 “When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you” – Comments – Pharaoh asks for a sign; and when the sign is given by Moses, Pharaoh still did not believe. The scribes and Pharisees sought a sign from Jesus (Mat 12:38-39). The rich man wanted to send Lazarus back from the dead as a sign to his brothers (Luk 16:31).

Mat 12:38-39, “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:”

: Luk 16:31, “And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

Exo 7:11 Comments – Satan attempts to mimic the things of God. Ancient writings tell us that the names of the two magicians who stood before Pharaoh were Jannes and Jambres. 2Ti 3:8 tells us that there will be deceivers in the last days working miracles and operating in witchcraft just as these two magicians did during the time of Moses. In what manner did they withstand Moses? Ancient Jewish tradition tells us that Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses copying the miracles of his in (1) turning their rods into serpents (Exo 7:11), (2) turning water into blood (Exo 7:22), and (3) causing frogs to come up on the land (Exo 8:7).

2Ti 3:8, “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.”

Exo 7:11, “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.”

Exo 7:22, “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.”

Exo 8:7, “And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.”

The only place in the Old or New Testaments where the names Jannes and Jambres are used is found in 2Ti 3:8. We know from the context that this refers to the magicians that stood before Moses, when he appeared before Pharaoh (seeExo 7:11).

Exo 7:11, “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.”

These two names originated in ancient Jewish writings outside the Sacred Scriptures, being found in the tradition of the Talmudists and Rabbis. F. F. Bruce tells us that these two names are mentioned in The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the Pentateuch (seeExo 1:15; Exo 7:11, Num 22:22) as well as in the Babylonian Talmud ( Menachoth 85a) and in other rabbinical literature, which identifies them as Balaam’s two sons. Bruce goes on to tell us that one of the documents discovered with the Dead Sea Scrolls, called “the Zadokite Work, a Qumran document of about 100 B.C., speaks of ‘Jannes and his brother’ as being raised up by Belial when Moses and Aaron were raised up by the ‘Prince of Lights’.” [24] The TWOT gives additional references where these two names appear in Jewish literature. [25]

[24] F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963), 257-8.

[25] See The Babylonian Talmud, Tract Menachoth, 85a; Ex. r., 7 on 7:11; Tract Menachoth, 85a; Ex. r., 9 on 7:12, Yalkut Shim’oni on Exodus 2:15, No. 168, Yalkut Shim’oni on Exodus 14:24, No. 235, Midrash , loc. cit.; Tanch. , 15 on Exodus 32. See Kittel, Gerhard, G. W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vols. 5-9 edited by Gerhard Friedrich, vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin, (electronic ed.) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1964-c1976), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), 3:193.

“And Pharoh told that he, being asleep, had seen in his dream, and, behold, all the land of Mizraim was placed in one scale of a balance, and a lamb, the young of a sheep, was ill the other scale; and the scale with the lamb in it overweighed. Forthwith he sent and called all the magicians of Mizraim, and imparted to them his dream. Immediately Jannis and Jambres, the chief of the magicians, opened their mouth and answered Pharoh? A certain child is about to be born in the congregation of Israel, by whose hand will be destruction to all the land of Mizraim.” ( Targum of Jonathan, on Exo 1:15) [26]

[26] J. W. Etheridge, ed., The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee, (London: Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1862).

( ) ( Targum of Jonathan, on Exo 7:11) [27]

[27] Stephen A Kaufman, ed., Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to the Pentateuch (Jerusalem: Hebrew Union College, 2005), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), Exodus 7:11.

“And Bileam, arose in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. [JERUSALEM. And Bileam arose in the morning, and made ready his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.] But the anger of the Lord was provoked, because he would go (that he might) curse them; and the angel of the Lord stood in the way to be an adversary to him. But he sat upon his ass, and his two young men, Jannes and Jambres, were with him.” ( Targum of Jonathan, on Num 22:22) [28]

[28] J. W. Etheridge, ed., The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee, (London: Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1862).

“All [offerings] must be offered from the choicest produce, etc. Johana and Mamre said to Moshe, ‘Wouldst thou carry straw to Hafaraim?’ He answered them, ‘There is a common saying. “Bring herbs to Herbtown.”’” ( Talmud, Tract Menachoth, 85a) [29]

[29] Greg, Killian, The Oral Law (Lacey, Washington: The Watchman) [on-line]; accessed 25 February 2009; available from http://www.betemunah.org/orallaw.html; Internet.

These two names are found in other ancient books as well. In his writing The Defense of Apuleius, Lucius Apuleius (A.D. 123-170) makes a reference to Moses and Jannes.

“Although I might, with the greatest justice, make use of these arguments, still, I spare you them; nor do I deem it enough to have abundantly proved my innocence on all the points on which you accuse me, and to have never allowed the slightest suspicion even of the practice of magic to attach to me. Only consider what a degree of confidence in my own innocence I display, and what supreme contempt of you [my accusers], when I say that if even the slightest ground shall appear why I should have coveted this match with Pudentilla for the sake of any advantage to myself, if you shall prove the most trifling gain to me thereby, then may I be held to be a Phrynondas, a Damigeron, a Moses, a Jannes, an Apollonius, or even Dardanus himself, or any one else, who, since the days of Zoroaster and Ostanes, has been celebrated among magicians.” [30]

[30] Mary Tighe and Hudson Gurney, The Defense of Apuleius, in The Works of Apuleius (London: William Clowes and Sons, 1878), 336-7.

Origen (A.D. 185-254), in his commentary onMat 27:9, states that there was an apocryphal book–not yet rediscovered–called “The Book of Jannes and Jambres.” Origen says that Paul is quoting from this lost book here in 2Ti 3:8. [31] Origen also mentions these two individuals in his work Against Celsus.

[31] “Orig. on Matthew 27:9 (only in the Lat. translation: Item quod ait: “Sicut Iamnes et Mambres restiterunt Moysi,” non invenitur in publicis Iibris, sed in libro secreto qui suprascribitur liber lamnes et Mambres).” Kittel, Gerhard, G. W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vols. 5-9 edited by Gerhard Friedrich, vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin, (electronic ed.) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1964-c1976), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), 3:193.

“He [Celsus] relates also the account respecting Moses, and Jannes, and Jambres.” (Origen, Against Celsus 4.51) [32]

[32] Origen, Against Celsus, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4, eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Buffalo, New York: The Christian Literature Publishing Company, 1885), 521.

The TWOT says, “Pope Gelasius [d. 496] in his Decretum De Libris Recipiendis et Non Recipiendis also mentions an apocryphal Book of Jannes and Jambres ( Iiber qui appellatur Paenitentia Jamne et Mambre apocryphus)” [Line 303, ed. E. v. Dobschtz, TU, 3. Reihe, 8, 4 (1912), 12] [33]

[33] Kittel, Gerhard, G. W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vols. 5-9 edited by Gerhard Friedrich, vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin, (electronic ed.) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1964-c1976), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), 3:193.

Exo 7:12 Comments – In nature, when snakes swallow other snakes, the process takes a little time. In the world of nature, no snake could swallow several snakes in a row. The snake strikes out with a wounding bite, gets a firm grip and manoeuvres his grip towards the struggling snake’s head until he swallows the head and all. Thus, it was miraculous that one snake could eat two in a row.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Israel’s Justification ( Exo 1:1 to Exo 15:21 ) The emphasis of Exo 1:1 to Exo 18:27 is Israel’s justification before God through the sacrificial atonement of the Mosaic Law. The Passover was the time when God cut a covenant with the children of Israel, and the Exodus testifies to His response of delivering His people as a part of His covenant promise of redemption. Israel’s justification was fulfilled in their deliverance from the bondages of Egypt. Heb 11:23-29 highlights these events in order to demonstrate the faith of Moses in fulfilling his divine commission. These events serve as an allegory of the Church’s covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ and our subsequent deliverance from the bondages and sins of this world.

The Exodus Out of Egypt Exo 1:1 to Exo 18:27 describes God’s judgment upon Egypt and Israel’s exodus from bondage. In comparing the two Pharaoh’s discussed in this section of the book it is important to note that the pharaoh who blessed the people of Israel during Joseph’s life was himself blessed along with his nation. In stark contrast, the Pharaoh who cursed God’s people was himself cursed with the death of his own first born, as well as his entire nation. God watches over His people and blesses those who bless them and He curses those who curse them (Gen 12:3).

Gen 12:3, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Exo 7:1 to Exo 12:30 The Ten Plagues Exo 7:1 to Exo 12:30 records the story of the ten plagues of Egypt. Here is a summary of the Ten Plagues:

Aaron turns rod to a serpent (Exo 7:10) Magicians copy (Exo 7:11) 1. Water turned to blood (throughout land) Magicians copy (Exo 7:22) 2. Frogs (covered land of Egypt) (Exo 7:6) Magicians copy (Exo 8:7) 3. Lice or flies (covered land) (Exo 8:17) Magicians could not (Exo 8:18) 4. Swarms (division of Goshen) (Exo 8:24; Exo 8:23) 5. Murrain (cattle disease) (Exo 9:3) 6. Boils (Exo 9:10) 7. Hail (division of Goshen) (Exo 9:23; Exo 9:26) 8. Locusts (Exo 10:13) 9. Darkness (division of Goshen) (Exo 10:22) 10.Death of first-born (Israel covered up blood) (Exo 12:29, Exo 11:7) The Ten Plagues upon Egypt were delivered by God in progressive intensity until it ended with the death of the firstborn. These plagues were a means of judgment upon the people of Egypt in order to bring them to repentance an to an acknowledgment of the God of Israel as the true and living God. This is why many of the plagues were orchestrated to demonstrate that the God of Israel was more powerful than particular gods of Egyptian mythology.

The wise men, sorcerers and magicians were able to copy the first three signs of the rod turning into a serpent (Exo 7:11), the water turning into blood (Exo 7:22), and the plague of frogs (Exo 8:7). After this, these enchanters began to see that God was working thru Moses and Aaron.

Exo 7:11, “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.”

Exo 7:22, “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.”

Exo 8:7, “And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Moses as God’s Ambassador to Pharaoh

v. 1. And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, He had given him authority as His ambassador, with power to carry out His judgments; and Aaron, thy brother, shall be thy prophet, by acting as spokesman of the revelations given to Moses.

v. 2. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, communicate the commands and the revelations of God to Aaron; and Aaron, thy brother, shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. That aim Aaron was always to keep in mind, to induce the king of Egypt to permit the emigration of Israel.

v. 3. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Because Pharaoh would harden his heart in the first place, the Lord intended to punish him by leaving him in this sin of obduracy. In this way the glory of the Lord would be increased by the many miracles which were to be performed before Pharaoh.

v. 4. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, on account of his condition of hard-heartedness, that I may lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth Mine armies, the hosts that were to wage the Lord’s battles, and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. The Lord would judge, condemn, and punish the entire land of Egypt because the people consented to the sins of their king.

v. 5. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth Mine hand upon Egypt, in avenging justice and in almighty power, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

v. 6. And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they. They accepted the commission given them.

v. 7. And Moses was fourscore years old and Aaron fourscore and three years old when they spake unto Pharaoh. This concludes the narrative of the call of Moses and Aaron. Both of them now willingly placed themselves under the direction of the Lord, just as all true servants of God perform His will whenever He commands.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Exo 7:1-9

Once more God made allowance for the weakness and self-distrust of Moses, severely tried as he had been by his former failure to persuade Pharaoh (Exo 5:1-5) and his recent rejection by the people of Israel (Exo 6:9). He made allowance, and raised his courage and his spirits by fresh promises, and by a call upon him for immediate action. The process of deliverance, God assured him, was just about to begin. Miracles would be wrought until Pharaoh’s stubbornness was overcome. He was himself to begin the series at once by casting his rod upon the ground, that it might become a serpent (Exo 7:9). From this point Moses’ diffidence wholly disappears. Once launched upon his Heaven-directed course, assured of his miraculous powers, committed to a struggle with the powerful Egyptian king, he persevered without blenching or wavering until success crowned his efforts.

Exo 7:1

I have made thee a god to Pharaoh. Moses was diffident of appearing a second time before Pharaoh, who was so much his worldly superior. God reminds him that he is in truth very much Pharaoh’s superior. If Pharaoh has earthly, he has unearthly power. He is to Pharaoh “as a god,” with a right to command his obedience, and with strength to enforce his commands. Aaron shall be thy prophet, i.e. “thy spokesman”the interpreter of thy will to others. Compare Exo 4:16.

Exo 7:2

Thou shalt speak. The Septuagint and the Vulgate have, “Thou shalt speak to him,” which undoubtedly gives the true sense. Moses was to speak to Aaron, Aaron to Pharaoh. (See Exo 4:15, Exo 4:16.)

Exo 7:3

I will harden Pharaoh’s heart. See the comment on Exo 4:21. And multiply my signs and my wonders. The idea of a long series of miracles is here, for the first time, distinctly introduced. Three signs had been given (Exo 4:3-9); one further miracle had been mentioned (Exo 4:23). Now a multiplication of signs and wonders is promised. Compare Exo 3:20, and Exo 6:6, which, however, are not so explicit as the present passage.

Exo 7:4

That I may lay my hand on Egypt. Pharaoh’s obstinacy was foreseen and foreknown. He was allowed to set his will against God’s, in order that there might be a great display of Almighty power, such as would attract the attention both of the Egyptians generally and of all the surrounding nations. God’s glory would be thereby promoted, and there would be a general dread of interfering with his people. (See Exo 15:14-16; Deu 2:25; Deu 11:25, etc.) Bring forth my armies. See the comment on Exo 6:26. Great judgments. See above, Exo 6:6.

Exo 7:5

The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. Rather, “that I am Jehovah”i.e. that I answer to my Namethat I am the only God who is truly existent, other so-called gods being nonentities. They will know this and feel this when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, as I am about to stretch it forth.

Exo 7:6

Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them. This statement is general, and anticipative of the entire series of interviews beginning here (Exo 7:10), and terminating (Exo 10:29) with the words, “I will see thy face no more.” The obedience of Moses and Aaron was perfect and continuous from this time forward until Egypt was quitted.

Exo 7:7

Fourscore years old. This age is confirmed by the statement (in Deu 31:2; Deu 34:7) that Moses was a hundred and twenty at his death. It is also accepted as exact by St. Stephen (Act 7:23, Act 7:30). Moderns are surprised that at such an age a man could undertake and carry through a difficult and dangerous enterprise; but in Egypt one hundred and ten years was not considered a very exceptionally long life, and men frequently retained their full vigour till seventy or eighty.

Exo 7:9

When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Shew a miracle. It is obvious that there would have been an impropriety in Moses and Aaron offering a sign to Pharaoh until he asked for one. They claimed to be ambassadors of Jehovah, and to speak in his name (Exo 5:1). Unless they were misdoubted, it was not for them to produce their credentials. Hence they worked no miracle at their former interview. Now, however, the time was come when their credentials would be demanded, and an express command was given them to exhibit the first “sign.”

HOMILETICS

Exo 7:1, Exo 7:2

God assigns to each man his intellectual grade.

Three different intellectual grades are here set before usthat of the thinker, that of the expounder, and that of the mere recipient. Pharaoh, notwithstanding his exalted earthly rank, occupies the lowest position. He is to hang on the words of Aaron, who is to be to him as a prophet of the Most High. Aaron himself is to hang on the words of Moses, and to be simply his mouthpiece. Moses is to stand to both (compare Exo 4:16) as God. And here note, that the positions are not self-assumedGod assigns them. So there are leaders of thought in all ages, to whom God has given their intellectual gifts, whom he has marked out for intellectual pre-eminency, and whom he makes to stand to the rest of men as gods. Sometimes they are their own prophetsthey combine, that is, the power of utterance with the power of thought. But very often they need an interpreter. Their lips are uncircumcised. They lack eloquence; or they even lack the power of putting their thoughts into words, and require a “prophet,” to publish their views to the world. The “prophet-interpreter” occupies a position very much below theirs, but still one requiring important and peculiar gifts, such as God alone can give. He must have the intelligence to catch the true bearing, connection, and force of the ideas presented to him, often in rude and uncouth language, like statues rough-hewn. He must be able to work up the rough material into presentable form. He must have a gift of language, if not a gift of speech. The great mass of men occupy a lower rank than either of these; they can neither originate, nor skilfully interpret; it remains that they be content to receive. God has given to them their humble position, as he has given to the others their loftier ones. They should cultivate their receptivity. They should be satisfied to listen and learn. They should remember that if, on the one hand, on the other, } ka)kei=noj o$j eu) ei)po&nti pi&qhtai

Exo 7:3-5

The fierceness of man turns to God’s praise.

The most signal triumphs of Divine power are those in which the resistance to it is the most determined. The greatest of all victories was probably that which was gained whenafter “war in heaven”Satan was seen, like lightning, falling from heaven to earth. Since then, great triumphs, tending to God’s praise, occur whenever the right and the truth succeed against seemingly insuperable opposition. When the boy shepherd with his sling and stone smites to the earth the gigantic Philistinewhen the proud Sennacherib after all his boasts has to leave Jerusalem unhurt and fly to Ninevehwhen Epiphanes is defied and baffled by a handful of Jewish mountaineerswhen victory is finally gained by “Athanasius contra mundum,” God’s might is seen and recognised, as it would not have been, unless overwhelming strength had seemed to be arrayed against comparative weakness. When the “heathen rage,” and the “kings of the earth and rulers” are on their side, and the cry of defiance goes forth: “Let us break God’s bands asunder, and cast away his cords from us”then God is most apt to show his mightto “refrain the spirit of princes,” and make it manifest that he “is wonderful among the kings of the earth.” The longer and fiercer the opposition, the more conspicuously is God’s praise shown forth. Blow follows blow until the opposing power is shattered, smitten to the ground, laid prostrate. Then is the time for the song of triumph: “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the right way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed arc all they that put their trust in him!” (Psa 51:10-12).

Exo 7:9

Miracles the credentials of an ambassador from God.

It is not easy to see any way in which God could authenticate a message as coming from him, except by giving the messenger supernatural powers. Conceivably, he might proclaim his will from heaven directly, in terms of human speech. But even then doubts would be raised as to the words uttered; men’s recollections of them would differ; some would question whether words were used at all, and would hold that it had “thundered” (Joh 12:29). If, to avoid such results, he speaks to man through man, how is he to make it clear that his prophet has indeed been sent by him? He cannot make his messenger impeccable, if he is still to be man. He cannot give him irresistible eloquence, for eloquence is at once suspected; the reason rises up against it and resists it. What other course is there, but to impart to his messenger a portion of his own command over naturein other words, to give him the power of working miracles? The light of nature seems to have taught Pharaoh to ask for this proof. The same light taught Nicodemus to accept it”No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (Joh 3:2). So it will ever be with simple men in simple times. It is only when men have become sophisticated, when they have darkened the light that is in them by “foolish questionings” and “oppositions of science falsely so called,” that they begin to see specious objections to miracles, and regard them as “difficulties in the way of receiving a revelation” rather than as convincing evidences of it. We may properly call upon an opponent to tell us what evidence of a Divine mission he would accept, if he rejects miracles as an evidence, and wait for his answer. We shall probably find that (“he who destroys this basis of belief will not discover a surer one”).Aristotle.

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Exo 7:1-8

A god to Pharaoh.

Moses was in the trying position of being sent out anew upon a mission in which hitherto he had not had the slightest particle of success. His discouragement was natural. Pharaoh, on a previous occasion, had repulsed him. He had lost the ear even of his own people. The situation, since his former interview with the monarch, had altered for the worse. To proceed further was like rowing against wind and tide, with little prospect of ever reaching shore. Discouragement wrought in the usual way. It led him to magnify difficulties. He brought up again his old objection of his deficiencies of speech. Even with Aaron as an intermediary, he felt how awkward it would be to appear in the presence of Pharaoh, and not be able to deliver his own message. His inability of speech would certainly, he thought, expose him to contempt. Yet observe, God forebore with him. His reluctance was not without sin, but God, who knows our frame, does not expect to find in us all at once the perfection of angels, and is compassionate of our weakness. We have here, therefore

I. A DISHEARTENED SERVANT SUITABLY ENCOURAGED. God told Moses

1. That he would clothe him with an authority which even Pharaoh would be compelled to respect. “See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh” (Exo 7:1). It was not with words only that Moses was sent to Pharaoh. Powers would be given him to enforce his words with deeds. The judgments he would bring upon the land would clothe him with a supernatural terrormake him a superhuman and almost a divine personin the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants. (Cf. Exo 12:3.) So God gives attestation to his servants still, making it evident by the power of the Holy Ghost upon them, that they come in his name, and speak with his authority. He accompanies their word with Divine power, giving it efficacy to arrest, convict, and convert, and compelling the haughtiest of the earth to acknowledge the source of their message. So Felix trembled before Paul (Act 24:25). Paul’s Gospel came to the Thessalonians, “not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1Th 1:5).

2. That the work of deliverance would be no longer delayed. This also was implied in what God said to Moses: the time had come for speech to be exchanged for action. Everything indicated that the “charge” with which Moses was now entrusted was to be the final one. It should encourage desponding servants to reflect that God has his “set time” for the fulfilment of every promise; and that, when this period arrives, all their mourning will be turned into joy.

II. THE COURSE OF ISRAEL‘S DELIVERANCE FORETOLD.

1. Foretold because foreseen. It is God’s prerogative that he knows the end from the beginning (Isa 42:9). Nothing can take him by surprise. He knows all the way his purposes are to travel. The whole future lies mapped out, as in a clear-drawn chart, before him.

2. Foreseen because pre-ordained. God, like Christ in the miracle of the loaves, knew in himself what he would do (Joh 6:6). Nothing was left to chance in his arrangements. The steps in his plan were fixed beforehand. What would be done would be according to God’s “determinate counsel and foreknowledge” (Act 2:23)would be “whatsoever (his) hand and (his) counsel determined before to be done” (Act 4:28). The deliverance was arranged in such a way as most to glorify the power and greatness of the Deliverer, and demonstrate his superiority to heathen idols. This in no wise implies that violence was in the very least done to human freedom, though it suggests that God can so interweave the volitions of men, in the situations in which he places them, into his purposes, as to leave not one of them outside his settled plan. The chief difficulty is in the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, here (Exo 7:3) represented as an ordained link in the chain of God’s designs. But if this hardening simply means that God will place Pharaoh, already a bad man, in circumstances which he knows infallibly will harden his heart, and if this is done justly, and in punishment of former sins, the hardening taking effect through unalterable laws of the moral nature, which also are of God’s ordainment, it is difficult to see what righteous objection can be taken to it.

3. Foretold for wise ends. Similar predictions of the course of the deliverance had been made at earlier stages (cf. Exo 3:19-22; Exo 4:21-24; Exo 6:1-9). They are here repeated

(1) For the instruction of Moses, that he might be prepared for all that was to happenthat he might understand and cooperate with God in the execution of his designs.

(2) For the re-invigoration of Moses’ faith.

(3) That it might be evidenced by the working-out of this fore-announced plan, that the God of Israel was indeed Jehovah, a free, personal Being, working in history for the accomplishment of gracious purposes. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him” (Psa 25:14). God takes Moses into his counsel, and discovers to him something of his plan of operation. So he does in the Scriptures with his Church (Rev 1:1).

II. A GLIMPSE OF GOD‘S END IN PROVIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT (Exo 7:3, Exo 7:4). The end is twofold

1. The manifestation of the utterly free and unconstrained character of his grace and mercy in the salvation of man; and

2. What is the necessary counterpart of this, the manifestation of his power and justice in the infliction of judgments upon his enemies. Even evil is thus made to contribute indirectly to the ultimate and eternal establishment of the righteousness of God.J.O.

Exo 7:3

Heart-hardening.

On this subject, see above, and on Exo 4:21. The present seems an appropriate place for a somewhat fuller treatment.

I. HARDENING AS PROCEEDING FROM GOD. “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” This, assuredly, is more than simple permission. God hardens the heart

1. Through the operation of the laws of our moral constitution, These laws, of which God is the author, and through which he operates in the soul, ordain hardening as the penalty of evil conduct, of resistance to truth, and of all misimprovement and abuse of privilege.

2. Through his providenceas when God, in the execution of his judgments, places a wicked man in situations which he knows can only have a hardening effect upon him. He does this in righteousness. “God, having permitted evil to exist, must thereafter of necessity permit it also to run its whole course in the way of showing itself to be what it really is, as that which aims at the defeat of the Divine purpose, and the consequent dissolution of the universe.” This involves hardening.

3. Through a direct judgment in the soul of the individual, God smiting him with a spirit of blindness and infatuation in punishment of obstinate resistance to the truth. This is the most difficult of all aspects of hardening, but it only cuts the knot, does not untie it, to put superficial meanings upon the scriptures which allege the reality of the judgment (e.g. Deu 28:28; 2Th 2:11). It is to be viewed as connected with what may be called the internal providence of God in the workings of the human mind; his government of the mind in the wide and obscure regions of its involuntary activities. The direction taken by these activities, seeing that they do not spring from man’s own will, must be as truly under the regulation of Providence, and be determined in quite as special a manner, as are the outward circumstances of our lot, or those so-called fortuities concerning which we are assured: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” (Mat 10:29). It is a significant fact that, as sin advances, the sinner becomes less and less a free agent, falls increasingly under the dominion of necessity. The involuntary activities of the soul gain ground upon the voluntary. The hardening may be conceived of, partly as the result of a withdrawal of light and restraining grace; partly as a giving of the sou] up to the delusions of the adversary, “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph 2:2), whose will gradually occupies the region in the moral life vacated by the human will, and asserts there a correspondingly greater power of control; and partly as the result of a direct Divine ordering of the course of thought, feeling, and imagination. Hengstenberg acutely remarks: “It appears to proceed from design, that the hardening at the beginning of the plagues is attributed, in a preponderating degree, to Pharaoh, and towards the end to God. The higher the plagues rise, so much the more does Pharaoh’s hardening assume a supernatural character, so much the more obvious is it to refer it to its supernatural causality.”

II. HARDENING IN ITSELF CONSIDERED. The heart is the centre of personality, the source of moral life, the seat of the will, the conscience, and the affections (Pro 4:23; Mat 15:18). The hardening of the heart may be viewed under two aspects:

1. More generally as the result of growth in sin, with consequent loss of moral and religious susceptibility; and

2. As hardening against God, the author of its moral life. We have but to put these two things togetherthe heart, the seat of moral life, hardening itself against the Author of its moral lifeto see that such hardening is of necessity fatal, an act of moral suicide. It may elucidate the subject to remark that in every process of hardening there is something which the heart parts with, something which it resists, and something which it becomes. There is, in other words

(1) That which the heart hardens itself in, viz. some evil quality, say injustice, cruelty, lust, hate, secret enmity to God, which quality gradually becomes a fixed element in character;

(2) that which the heart hardens itself against, viz. the influences of truth, love, and righteousness, in whatever ways these are brought to bear upon it, whether in the promptings of conscience, the movements of natural sensibility, the remonstrances of parents and friends, the Word of God, the internal strivings of the Spirit; and

(3) that which the heart parts with in hardening, viz. with its original susceptibility to truth, with its sensitiveness to moral influences, with its religious feeling, with its natural generosity, etc. The result is blindness, callousness, lostness to the feeling of right, to the sense of shame, to the authority of God, to the voice of truth, even to true self-interest. All hardening is thus double-sided; hardening in hate, e.g; being at the same time hardening against love, with a loss of the capacity of love; hardening in injustice being a hardening against justice, with a loss of the capacity for moral discernment; hardening in cruelty being a hardening against kindliness, with a corresponding destruction of the benevolent sensibilities; hardening against God being at the same time hardening in self-hood, in egoism, with a loss of the capacity of faith. We hence conclude:

1. All evil hardens, and all hardening in moral evil is in principle hardening against God. The hardening may begin at the circumference of the moral nature, and involve the centre, or it may begin at the centre, and work out to the circumference. Men may be enemies to God in their mind by wicked works (Col 1:21), they may have “the understanding darkened,” and be “alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness (marg. hardness) of their hearts,” and being “past feeling” may give “themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Eph 4:17-19), and yet be strangers to God’s revealed truth. All sin, all resistance to light, all disobedience to conscience, has this hardening effect (cf. Rom 1:19-32). But it is a will which has broken from God which is thus in various ways hardening itself, and enmity to God is latent in the process. The moment the truth of God is brought to bear on such a nature, this latent enmity is made manifest, and, as in the case of Pharaoh, further hardening is the result. Conversely,

2. Hardening against God is hardening in moral evil. The hardening may begin at the centre, in resistance to God’s known will, and to the strivings of his Spirit, and thence spread through the whole moral nature. This is the deepest and fundamental hardening, and of itself gives a character to the being. A heart hardened in its interior against its Maker would be entitled to be called hard, no matter what superficial qualities of a pleasant kind remained to it, and no matter how correct the moral conduct.

3. Hardening results in a very special degree from resistance to the Word of God, to Divine revelation. This is the type of hardening which is chiefly spoken of in Scripture, and which gives rise to what it specially calls “the hard and impenitent heart” (Rom 2:5). All revelation of God, especially his revelation in Christ, has a testing power, and if resisted produces a hardness which speedily becomes obduracy. God may be resisted in his Word, his Spirit, his servants, his chastisements, and in the testimony to his existence and authority written on the soul itself. But the highest form of resistancethe worst and deadliestis resistance to the Spirit drawing to Christ.

III. THE HARDENING OF PHARAOH COMPARED WITH HARDENING UNDER THE GOSPEL. Pharaoh stands out in Scripture as the typical instance of hardening of the heart.

1. He and Jehovah stood in direct opposition to each other.

2. God’s will was made known to him in a way he could not mistake. He pretended at first to doubt, but doubt soon became impossible.

3. He resisted to the last. And the longer he resisted, his heart grew harder.

4. His resistance was his ruin.

In considering the case of this monarch, however, and comparing it with our own, we have to remember

1. That Pharaoh was a heathen king. He was naturally prejudiced in favour of the gods of Egypt. He had at first no knowledge of Jehovah. But we have had from infancy the advantage of a knowledge of the true God, of his existence, his attributes, and his demands.

2. Pharaoh had a heathen upbringing. His moral training was vastly inferior to that which most have enjoyed who hear the Gospel.

3. The influences he resisted were outward influencesstrokes of judgment. The hardening produced by resistance to the inward influences of Christianity, strivings of the Spirit, etc; is necessarily of a deeper kind.

4. What was demanded of Pharaoh was the liberation of a nation of slavesin our case it is required that we part with sins, and yield up heart and will to the Creator and Redeemer. Outward compliance would have sufficed in his case; in ours, the Compliance must be inward and spiritual. Here, again, inasmuch as the demand goes deeper, the hardening produced by resistance is of necessity deeper also. There is now possible to man the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Mat 12:32; Heb 6:4 6).

5. The motives in the two eases are not comparable. In the one case, God revealed in judgments; in the other, in transcendent love and mercy.

Conclusion:”To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Heb 3:7, Heb 3:8, Heb 3:13, Heb 3:15, Heb 4:7). Beware, in Connection with this hardening, of “the deceitfulness of sin,” The heart has many ways of disguising from itself the fact that it is resisting God, and hardening itself in opposition to him. One form is procrastination. Not yeta more convenient season. A second is compromise. We shall find attempts at this with Pharaoh. By Conceding part of what is asked-giving up some sin to which the heart is less attachedwe hide from ourselves the fact that we are resisting the chief demand. Herod observed John the Baptist, and “when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly’ (Mar 6:20). The forms of godliness, as in the Pharisees, may Conceal from the heart its denial of the power thereof. Conscience is quieted by church-membership, by a religious profession. There is disguised resistance in all insincere repentance. This is seen in Pharaoh’s relentings. Even when the resistance becomes more avowed, there are ways of partially disguising the fact that it is indeed God we are resisting. Possibly the heart tries to wriggle out of the duty of submission by cavilling at the evidence of revelation. Or, objection is perhaps taken to something in the manner or form in which the truth has been presented; some alleged defect of taste, or infelicity of illustration, or rashness of statement, or blunder in science, or possibly a slip in grammar. Any straw will serve which admits of being clutched at. So conviction is pushed off, decision is delayed, resistance is kept up, and all the while the heart is getting harderless sensible of the truth, more ensnared in error. It is well also to remember that even failure to profit by the word, without active resistance to it (if such a thing is possible)simple want of care in the cherishing of good impressions, and too rash an exposure to the influences which tend to dissipate and destroy themwill result in their disappearance, and in a consequent hardening of the heart. The impressions will not readily return with the same vividness. To-day, then, and now, hear and obey the voice of God.J.O.

HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART

Chap. 6:28-7:7

God still glorified amid human weakness and sin.

I. MOSES‘ WEAKNESS (Exo 6:1-30. Exo 6:28-30). The command was”Speak thou unto Pharaoh.” Moses in his despondency is overpowered by the sense of his infirmity. He fears the ridicule of the Egyptian court. There are times when the sense of our unfitness for speaking God’s words crushes us. Let us take heed lest lowly self-judgment pass into unbelief and disobedience. The loss of faith in ourselves is no reason why we should cease to trust God.

II. GOD‘S REMEDY (Exo 7:1-25. Exo 7:1, Exo 7:2). Moses’ slowness of speech is veiled by unthought-of glory. He that feared the derision of Pharaoh is surrounded with dreadful majesty and made as God to him. To obedient faith, felt incompetency for the task God calls us to, will only be the occasion of his bestowing upon us more abundant honour. Our very defects can be transformed into power. A man’s very awkwardness often disarms criticism and appeals to the heart as the most faultless elegance can never do.

III. JEHOVAH WILL BE GLORIFIED IN PHARAOH‘S UNBELIEF (Exo 7:3-5).

1. They are forewarned of Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal. We are not sent on God’s errand with False expectations.

2. God’s purpose will be accomplished, not defeated, by that opposition. His defiance will only call forth the revelation of God’s terribleness. Where sin has sought to dwell and to reign, the terrors of God’s judgment will alone be remembered.

3. Egypt will also know that God is Jehovahthe faithful One. God’s name will be written in their punishment as well as in Israel’s redemption.

IV. THE VERY AGE OF GOD‘S SERVANTS WILL PRAISE HIM (Exo 7:7). The childhood of Samuel, the youth of Daniel, the old age of Moses and Aaron are arguments of unconquerable strength for the feeble and despised to trust and toil.

1. There is a place for all.

2. No man’s day is over if he will only yield to God. The dying thief who believed in his dying agonies has been among the mightiest preachers of God’s infinite grace.U.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Exo 7:1. I have made thee a god See the note on ch. Exo 4:16.; see also Joh 10:34.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

D.Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh. The seemingly mischievouas effect of their divine message, and the discouragment of the people and the messengers themselves. God reverses this effect nu solemnly promising deliverance, revealing his name Jehovah, summoning the heads of the tribes to unite with Moses and Aaron, raising Moses faith above Pharaohs defiance, and declaring the glorious object and issue of Pharaohs obduracy

Exo 5:1 to Exo 7:7

1And afterward Moses and Aaron went in [came] and told [said unto] Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, God [the God] of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 2And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will I [and moreoverI will not] let Israel go. 3And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with [met] us: let us go, we pray thee, three days1 journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto Jehovah our God, lest he fall upon us with the pestilence, or with the sword. 4And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let 5[release] the people from their works? get you unto your burdens [tasks]. And Pharaoh said. Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens [tasks]. 6And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers [overseers], saying, 7Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8And the tale of the bricks which they did make [have been making] heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish aught thereof: for they be [are] idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. 9Let there more work be laid upon the men [let the work be heavy for2 the men], that they may labor therein [be busied with it];3 and let them not regard vain [lying] words. 10 And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers [overseers], and they spake unto the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. 11Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it; yet [for] not aught 12of your work shall be diminished. So [And] the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of [for] straw. 13And the taskmasters hasted [urged] them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. 14And the officers [overseers] of the children of Israel, which [whom] Pharaoh had set over them, were beaten, and demanded [were asked], Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday 15and to-day as heretofore? Then [And] the officers [overseers] of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? 16There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say unto us, Make brick;4 and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people 17[thy people are in fault]. But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle [Ide are ye, idle]; therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice [and sacrifice] to Jehovah. 18Go therefore now [And now go], and work; for [and] there shall no straw be given you; yet shall ye [and ye shall] deliver the tale of bricks. 19And the officers [overseers] of the children of Israel did see that they were in [saw themselves in] evil case [trouble], after it was said, Ye shall not minish [diminish] aught from your bricks of [bricks,] your daily task. 20And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way [who were standing to meet them], as they came forth from Pharaoh: 21And they said unto them, Jehovah look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. 22And Moses returned unto Jehovah, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated [thou done evil to] this people? why is it that thou hast [why hast thou] sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.

Chap. Exo 6:1 Then [And] Jehovah said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with [through]5 a strong hand shall he let them go, and with 2[through] a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah. 3And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of [as]6 God Almighty, but by7 my name Jehovah was I not known to them. 4And I have also [I also] established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage 5[sojourn], wherein they were strangers [sojourners]. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. 6Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid [deliver] you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. 7And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, which 8[who] bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which [the land which] I did swear to give it [to give] to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage [a possession]: I am Jehovah. 9And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish [vexation] of spirit and 10for cruel bondage. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 11Go in, speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. 12And Moses spake before Jehovah, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then [and how] shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised 13lips [uncircumcised of lips]? And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel and unto Pharaoh king 14of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. These be [are] the heads of their fathers houses (their ancestral houses): The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these be [are] the families of Reuben. 15And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Thad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a [the] Canaanitish woman; these are16the families of Simeon. And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations [genealogies]; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an [a] hundred thirty and seven years. 17The sons of Gershon: Libni, and Shimi, according to their families. 18And the sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were an [a] hundred thirty and three years. 19And the sons of Merari: Mahali, and Mushi: These are the families of Levi according to their generations [genealogies].20And Amram took him Jochebed his fathers sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an [a] hundred and thirty and seven years. 21And the sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nephez, and Zichri. 22And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri [Sithri]. 23And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24And the sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites. 25And Eleazar, Aarons son, took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites 26according to their families. These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom Jehovah said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their 27armies [hosts]. These are they which [who] spake unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron. 28And it came to pass on the day when Jehovah spake unto Moses in the land of 29Egypt, That Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, I am Jehovah: speak thou unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say unto thee. 30And Moses said before Jehovah, Behold I am of uncircumcised lips [uncircumcised of lips], and how shall [will] Pharaoh hearken unto me?

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

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[Exo 5:3. This expression is the same as the one in Exo 3:18 (on which Bee the note), except that here we have , instead of . But the interchange of these forms is so frequent that it is most natural to understand the two words as equivalent in sense.Tr.]

[Exo 5:9. Literally upon, the work being represented as a burden imposed upon the Israelites.Tr.]

[Exo 5:9. Literally, do in it, i.e. have enough to do in the work given.Tr.]

[Exo 5:16. If we retain the order of the words as they stand in the original, we get a much more forcible translation of the first part of this verse: Straw, none is given to thy servants; and Brick, they say to us, make ye. This brings out forcibly the antithesis between straw and brick.Tr.]

[Chap. 6. Exo 6:1. I.e. by virtue, or in consequence, of Jehovahs strong hand, not Pharaohs, as one might imagine.Tr.]

[Exo 6:3. Literally, I appeared in God Almightya case of essential, meaning in the capacity of. Vid Ewald, Ausf. Gr. 299, b; Ges. Heb. Gr. 154, 3 a (y).Tr.]

[Exo 6:3. The original has no preposition. Literally: My name Jehovah, I was not known.Tr.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Exo 5:1. Afterward Moses and Aaron went.Their message is quite in accordance with the philosophical notions of the ancients, and especially with the Israelitish faith. Having accepted the message from Horeb, Israel became Jehovahs people, Jehovah Israels God; and as Israels God, He through His ambassadors meets Pharaoh, and demands that the people be released, in order to render Him service in a religious festival. The message accords with the situation. Jehovah, the God of Israel, may seem to Pharaoh chiefly the national deity of Israel; but there is an intimation in the words that He is also the Lord of Pharaoh, of Egypt, and of its worship. Under the petition for a furlough lurks the command to set free; under the recognition of the power of Pharaoh over the people, the declaration that Israel is Jehovahs free people; under the duty of celebrating a feast of Jehovah in the wilderness, the thought of separating from Egypt and of celebrating the Exodus. The words seemed like a petition which had an echo like a thunder-tone. Perhaps the instinct of the tyrant detected something of this thunder-tone. But even if not, the modest petition was enough to enrage him.

Exo 5:2.Who is Jehovah?As the heathen had the notion that the gods governed territorially, the Jews seemed to fall under the dominion of the Egyptian gods. They had no land, had moreover in Pharaohs eyes no right to be called a nation; therefore, even if they had a deity, it must have been, in his opinion, an anonymous one. This seemed to him to be proved by the new name, Jehovah (which therefore could not have been of Egyptian origin). But even disregard of a known foreign deity was impiety; still more, disregard of the unknown God who, as such, was the very object towards which all his higher aspirations and conscientious compunctions pointed.8 Thus his obduracy began with an act of impiety, which was at the same time inhumanity, inasmuch as he denied to the people freedom of worship. He was the prototype of all religious tyrants.

Exo 5:3. He is glorified by us.[This is Langes translation of ].9 The correction : He hath met us (), weakens the force of a significant word. They appeal to the fact that Jehovah from of old has been their fathers God; and also in their calling themselves Hebrews is disclosed the recollection of ancient dignities and the love of freedom growing out of it.Three days journey.Keil says: In Egypt offerings may be made to the gods of Egypt, but not to the God of the Hebrews. But see Exo 8:26. In the three days journey also is expressed the hope of freedom.With the pestilence.A reference to the power of Jehovah, as able to inflict pestilence and war, and to His jealousy, as able so severely to punish the neglect of the worship due Him. Not without truth, but also not without subtileness, did they say, lest He fall upon us; in the background was the thought: lest He fall upon thee. Clericus remarks that, according to the belief of the heathen, the gods punish the neglect of their worship.

Exo 5:4. Wherefore, Moses and Aaron.He thus declares their allegation about a message from Jehovah to be fictitious. He conceives himself to have to do only with two serfs.Release the people.And so introduce anarchy and barbarism. The same objection has been made against propositions to introduce freedom of evangelical religion.Get you to your burdens.To all the other traits of the tyrant this trait of ignorance must also be added. As he thinks that Moses and Aaron belong among the serfs, so he also thinks that servile labor is the proper employment of the people.

Exo 5:5.The people of the land (peasants). The simple notion of countrymen can, according to the parallel passages, Jer 52:25 and Eze 7:27, denote neither bondmen nor Egyptian countrymen as a caste, although both ideas are alluded to in the expression, a people of peasants, who as such must be kept at work, especially as there are becoming too many of them. The perfect sense, Ye have made them rest, is to be ascribed to the fancy of the tyrant.

Exo 5:6.The same day.Restlessness of the persecuting spirit. The , or the drivers over them, are the Egyptian overseers who were appointed over them; the , or the scribes belonging to them, were taken from the Jewish people, officers subordinate to the others, in themselves leaders of the people.

Exo 5:7. The bricks in the old monuments of Egypt, also in many pyramids, are not burnt, but only dried in the sun, as Herodotus (II. 136) mentions of a pyramid (Keil). The bricks were made firm by means of the chopped straw, generally gathered from the stubble of the harvested fields, which was mixed with the clay. This too is confirmed by ancient monuments. Hengstenberg, Egypt, etc., p. 80 sq.Heretofore.Heb.: yesterday and the day before yesterday. The usual Hebrew method of designating past time.

Exo 5:9. Regard lying words. .Thus he calls the words of Moses concerning Jehovahs revelation.

Exo 5:10. Even the Jewish scribes yield without opposition. They have become slavish tools of the foreign heathen despotism.

Exo 5:16. Thy people is in fault (orsinneth).According to Knobel, the phrase thy people refers to Israel; according to Keil, to the Egyptians. The latter view is preferable; it is an indirect complaint concerning the conduct of the king himself, against whom they do not dare to make direct reproaches. is a rare feminine form for (see on Gen 33:11) and is construed as feminine, as in Jdg 18:7; Jer 8:5 (Keil).10

Exo 5:21. Ye have made our savor to be abhorred (Heb. to stink) in the eyes.The strong figurativeness of the expression is seen in the incongruity between odor and eyes. The meaning is: ye have brought us into ill-repute.

Exo 5:22. Augustines interpretation: Hc non contumacyi verba sunt, vel indignationis sed inquisitionis et orationis, is not a sufficient explanation of the mood in which Moses speaks. It is the mark of the genuineness of the personal relation between the believers and Jehovah, that they may give expression even to their vexation in view of Jehovahs unsearchable dealings. Expressions of this sort run through the book of Job, the Psalms, and the Prophets, and over into the New Testament, and prove that the ideal religion is not that in which souls stand related to God as selfless creatures to an absolute destiny.

Exo 6:1-3. Knobel finds here a new account of the call of Moses, and that, by the Elohist. A correct understanding of the connection destroys this hypothesis. Moses is in need of new encouragement. Therefore Jehovah, first, repeats His promise, by vigorous measures to compel Pharaoh to release Israel, in a stronger form (comp. Exo 3:19; Exo 4:21); and then follows the declaration that this result is pledged in the name Jehovah, that the name Jehovah, in its significance as the source of promise, surpasses even the name God Almighty. If the fathers, in the experience of His miraculous help, have become acquainted with Him as God Almighty, they are now to get a true knowledge of Him as the God of helpful covenant faithfulness. This is the reason why he recurs to the name Jehohovah. Comp. Keil, p. 467.11

Exo 6:4. Vid. the promises, Gen 17:7-8; Gen 26:3; Gen 35:11-12.

Exo 6:6.I am Jehovah. With this name He begins and ends (Exo 6:8) His promise. With the name Jehovah, then, He pledges Himself to the threefold promise: (1) To deliver the people from bondage; (2) to adopt them as His people; (3) to lead them to Canaan, their future possession.With a stretched-out arm. A stronger expression than . Comp. Deu 4:34; Deu 5:15; Deu 7:19.

Exo 6:9.For vexation of spirit. Gesenius: Impatience. Keil: Shortness of breath, i.e., anguish, distress.

Exo 6:10-11. While Moses courage quite gives way, Jehovah intensifies the language descriptive of his mission.

Exo 6:12. On the other hand, Moses intensifies the expression with which he made (Exo 4:10) his want of eloquence an excuse for declining the commission.Of uncircumcised lips. Since circumcision was symbolic of renewal or regeneration, this expression involved a new phase of thought. If he was of uncircumcised or unclean lips (Isa 6:5), then even Aarons eloquence could not help him, because in that case Moses could not transmit in its purity the pure word of God. In his strict conscientiousness he sincerely assumes that there must be a moral hinderance in his manner of speaking itself.

Exo 6:13. This time Jehovah answers with an express command to Moses and Aaron together, and to the children of Israel and Pharaoh together. This comprehensive command alone can beat down Moses last feeling of hesitation.

Exo 6:14-27. But as a sign that the mission of Moses is now determined, that Moses and Aaron, therefore, are constituted these prominent men of God, their genealogy is now inserted, the form of which shows that it is to be regarded as an extract from a genealogy of the twelve tribes, since the genealogy begins with Reuben, but does not go beyond Levi.

Exo 6:14. . Father-houses, not father-house [Keil]. The compound form has become a simple word. See Keil, p. 469. The father-houses are the ramifications of the tribes. The tribes branch off first into families, or clans, or heads of the father-houses; these again branch off into the father-houses themselves. The Amram of Exo 6:20 is to be distinguished from the Amram of Exo 6:18. See the proof of this in Tiele, Chronologie des A. T.; Keil, p. 469.12 The text, to be sure, does not clearly indicate the distinction. The enumeration of only four generationsLevi, Kohath, Amram, Mosespoints unmistakably to Gen 15:16 (Keil).

Exo 6:20.His fathers sisterThat was before the giving of the law in Lev 18:12. The LXX. and Vulg. understand the word of the daughter of the fathers brother. According to Exo 7:7, Aaron was three years older than Moses; that Miriam was older than either is seen from the history.

Exo 6:23. Aarons wife was from the tribe of Judah. Vid. Num 2:3.

Exo 6:25. . Abbreviation of [heads of the father-houses].

Exo 6:26.These are that Aaron and Moses.Thus the reason is given for inserting this piece of genealogy in this place.

Exo 6:28. Resumption of the narrative interrupted at Exo 6:12. What is there said is here and afterward repeated more fully. In the land of Egypt.This addition is not a sign of another account, but only gives emphasis to the fact that Jehovah represented Himself in the very midst of Egypt as the Lord of the country, and gave Moses, for the furtherance of his aim, a sort of divine dominion, namely, a theocratic dominion over Pharaoh.

Exo 7:1. What Moses at first was to be for Aaron as the inspiring Spirit of God, that he is now to be for Aaron as representative of God in His almighty miraculous sway. So far Aarons position also is raised. It must not be overlooked that, with this word of divine revelation, Moses growing feeling of lofty confidence and assurance of victory corresponds; it was developed in Egypt itself, and from out of his feeling of inability. For Aaron Moses is God as the revealer, for Pharaoh as the executor, of the divine will (Keil).

Exo 7:2.That he send.Keils translation, and so he will let go, does not accord with the following verse.

Exo 7:4.My hosts.Israel becomes a host of Jehovah. Vid. Exo 13:18, and the book of Numbers. This is the first definite germ of the later name, God, or Jehovah, of hosts; although the name in that form chiefly refers to heavenly hosts; these under another name have been mentioned in Gen 32:2.

Footnotes:

[1][Exo 5:3. This expression is the same as the one in Exo 3:18 (on which Bee the note), except that here we have , instead of . But the interchange of these forms is so frequent that it is most natural to understand the two words as equivalent in sense.Tr.]

[2][Exo 5:9. Literally upon, the work being represented as a burden imposed upon the Israelites.Tr.]

[3][Exo 5:9. Literally, do in it, i.e. have enough to do in the work given.Tr.]

[4][Exo 5:16. If we retain the order of the words as they stand in the original, we get a much more forcible translation of the first part of this verse: Straw, none is given to thy servants; and Brick, they say to us, make ye. This brings out forcibly the antithesis between straw and brick.Tr.]

[5][Chap. 6. Exo 6:1. I.e. by virtue, or in consequence, of Jehovahs strong hand, not Pharaohs, as one might imagine.Tr.]

[6][Exo 6:3. Literally, I appeared in God Almightya case of essential, meaning in the capacity of. Vid Ewald, Ausf. Gr. 299, b; Ges. Heb. Gr. 154, 3 a (y).Tr.]

[7][Exo 6:3. The original has no preposition. Literally: My name Jehovah, I was not known.Tr.]

[8][This is putting a rather fine point on Pharaohs wickedness. A bad man cannot, as such, be required to have aspirations towards any hitherto unknown god of whom he may chance to hear, and to have such aspirations just because he has never before heard of him. It is enough to say that, as a polytheist, ho ought to have respected the religion of the Hebrews.Tr.]

[9][See under Textual and Grammatical. It is true that would be the usual form for the meaning has met; but on the other hand it is certain that sometimes is = , and the analogy of Exo 3:18 points almost unmistakably to such a use. Moreover, even if this were not the case, it is hard to see how the Hebrew can be rendered: He is glorified by us. For does not mean is glorified, and does not mean by us. If the verb is to be taken in its ordinary sense, the whole expression would read: He is called upon us, i.e. we bear his name, though even this would be only imperfectly expressed.Tr.]

[10][The opinion of Knobel, here rejected, is held also by Glaire, Arnheim, Frst and others. The meaning, according to this, is: Thy people (i.e. the Israelites) are treated as if guilty. The LXX. understood as a verb in the second person, and rendered , thou doest wrong to thy people. Still other explanations have been resorted to; but the one given by Lange is the most natural, and is quite satisfactory.Tr.]

[11][Notice should be taken of the fact that from Exo 6:3 it has been inferred by many that the name Jehovah had actually (or, at least, in the opinion of the writer of this passage) never been known or used before this time; consequently that wherever the name occurs in Genesis or Exodus 1-5, it is a proof that the passage containing it was written after the time here indicated. This is an important element in the theories concerning the authorship of the Pentateuch. Certainly if we press the literal meaning of the last clause of Exo 6:3, it would seem to follow that the name Jehovah (Yahveh) was now for the first time made known. But, to say nothing of the fact that the name Jehovah is not only familiarly used by the author of the book of Genesis, but is also put into the mouths of the earliest patriarchs (all which might be regarded as a proleptic use of the word, or a careless anachronism), it is perhaps sufficient to reply, that such an inference from the passage before us betrays a very superficial view of the significance of the word name, as used in the Bible, and especially in the Hebrew Scriptures. The name of a person was conceived as representing his character, his personality. When Jacobs name was changed, it was said: Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; and the reason given for the change is that he has now entered into a new relation with God. Yet, notwithstanding the new appellation, the name Jacob continued to be used, and even more frequently than Israel. In the case before us, then, the statement respecting the names amounts simply to this, that God had not been understood in the character represented by the name Jehovah. The use of the phrase my name instead of the name, itself points to the previous use of the name.Tr.]

[12][The proof, as given by Tiele, is this: According to Num 3:27 sq., the Kohathites were divided (at the time of Moses) into the four branches: Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites; these together constituted 8,600 men and boys (women and girls not being reckoned). Of these the Amramites would include about one fourth, or 2,150. Moses himself, according to Exo 18:3-4, had only two sons. If, therefore, Amram, the son of Kohath, the ancestor of the Amramites, were identical with Amram the father of Moses, then Moses must have had 2,147 brothers and brothers sons (the brothers daughters, the sisters and sisters children not being reckoned). But this being quite an impossible supposition, it must be conceded that it is demonstrated that Amram the son of Kohath is not Moses father, but that between the former and his descendant of the same name an indefinitely long list of generations has fallen out.Tr.].

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The Lord having now by his grace over-ruled all the objections of Moses, the man of God with Aaron his brother proceeds without further delay in the execution of their commission. This Chapter relates to us the event of Moses’ second embassy unto Pharaoh. Moses demands, in the Lord’s name, the freedom of Israel for the purpose of divine worship. Pharaoh again refuses. Moses, at the command of God, works a miracle by way of confirmation of the authority by which he acted. This proving ineffectual to subdue the heart of Pharaoh, Moses at God’s command begins to chasten Egypt with plagues. He turns the waters of the river into blood, which is the first of the ten plagues with which the Lord visited Egypt, before the Israelites: deliverance is accomplished.

Exo 7:1

Concerning this expression, I have made thee a god; consult Psa 82:6-7 . A plain proof this, in what a subordinate sense to that of the one true God this expression is intended. See Joh 10:34-36 . The sense therefore is, I have endued thee with power as a magistrate, a prince, etc. Jer 1:10 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 7:1-2

The literature of France has been to ours what Aaron was to Moses, the expositor of great truths which would else have perished for want of a voice to utter them with distinctness. The relation which existed between Mr. Bentham and M. Dumont is an exact illustration of the intellectual relation in which the two countries stand to each other. The great discoveries in physics, in metaphysics, in political science, are ours. But scarcely any foreign nation except France has received them from us by direct communication. Isolated by our situation, isolated by our manners, we found truth, but we did not impart it. France has been the interpreter between England and mankind.

Macaulay on Walpole’s Letters.

References. VII. 3, 4. E. L. Hull, Sermons Preached at King’s Lynn (3rd Series), p. 94.

Exo 7:11

We cannot close such a review of our five writers without melancholy reflections. That cause which will raise all its zealous friends to a sublime eminence on the last and most solemn day the world has yet to behold, and will make them great for ever, presented its claims full in sight of each of these authors in his time. The very lowest of these claims could not be less than a conscientious solicitude to beware of everything that could in any point injure the sacred cause. This claim has been slighted by so many as have lent attraction to an order of moral sentiments greatly discordant with its principles. And so, many are gone into eternity under the charge of having employed their genius, as the magicians employed their enchantments against Moses, to counteract the Saviour of the World.

John Foster on The Aversion of Men of Taste to Evangelical Religion (ix.).

Exo 7:12

Love, a myrtle wand, is transformed by the Aaron touch of jealousy into a serpent so vast as to swallow up every other stinging awe, and makes us mourn the exchange.

Coleridge.

Reference. VII. 12. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix. No. 521.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart

Exo 7:3

We have already remarked upon the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart; let us now look at some of the broader aspects of that supposed mystery. We must never consent to have God charged with injustice. Stand at what distance he may from our reason, he must never separate himself from our conscience. If God could first harden a man’s heart, and then punish the man because his heart was hard, he would act a part which the sense of justice would instantly and indignantly condemn; therefore, he could not act that part. Whenever there is on the one hand a verbal difficulty, and on the other hand a moral difficulty, the verbal difficulty must give way. It is a rule of interpretation we must fearlessly apply. Let me re-state it. If ever there should be a battle between language and the instinct or sense of justice, the language must go down; the Judge of all the earth must be held to do right. The key of the whole difficulty is in the very first chapter of the Book of Exodus; in the eighth verse of that chapter we read: “Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” That is the beginning of the mischief. That is the explanation of all the hardening of heart What is the full translation or paraphrase of that verse? It is this: Now there arose a new king, who knew not the history of his own country; a Pharaoh who remembered not that Egypt had been saved by one of the very Israelites who had become to him objects of fear; a king guilty either of ignorance or of ingratitude; for if he knew the history of his own country and acted in this way he was ungrateful, and therefore hardened his own heart; and if he did not know the history of his own country, he was ignorant of the one thing which every king ought to know, and therefore he was unfit to be king. The explanation of all that follows is in this ignorant or ungrateful Pharaoh, not in the wisdom or grace of the providence of God. Whether this particular Pharaoh came immediately after Joseph, or five centuries after him is of no consequence, since we are dealing with a moral progeny a bad hereditary and not with a merely physical descent. The point to be kept steadily in view is that Pharaoh had hardened his own heart in the first instance, had forgotten or ignored the history of his country, and was ruling his whole course by obduracy and selfishness. That is the Pharaoh with whom God had to deal. Not some young and pliable Pharaoh, who was willing to be either right or wrong, as anybody might be pleased to lead him; an immature and inexperienced Pharaoh, who was simply looking round for a policy, and might as easily have been led upwards as led downwards a very gentle, genial, beautiful soul; but a man who had made up his mind to forget the saviour of his country, and to bend every consideration to the impulse of a narrow and cruel policy. In this criticism Pharaoh must be to us something more than an Egyptian term. We must know the man before we can even partially understand the providence. What is the material with which God has to deal? That is the vital inquiry. God may be reverently represented as speaking thus: This man, having hardened his heart, has shown clearly the specialty of his moral and mental constitution; he must be made, therefore, to see what hardness of heart really means; for his own sake, I will treat him as he has treated himself, and through him I will show the ages that to harden the heart is the most terrible of all crimes, is indeed the beginning and pledge of the unpardonable sin, and can only be punished by the destruction of the body and soul in hell. There is no other way of dealing with the world. Men supply the conditions with which Providence has to work.

The case now begins to lift itself out of the narrow limits of a historical puzzle and to assume the grandeur of an illustration of Divine methods and purposes; in other words, it is no longer an instance of the sovereignty of force, but an example of the sovereignty of love, and though the example is unavoidably costly in its individual suffering it is infinitely precious as an eternal doctrine. God is to us what we are to God. He begins where we begin. One might imagine that the Lord treated Pharaoh arbitrarily, that is to say, did just what he pleased with that particular man or class of man. Nothing can be further from the truth. There is nothing arbitrary in the eternal government. It is begun with justice, in the whole process justice, in the whole issue justice. What other elements may come in will appear as the case is evolved and consummated. The Lord hardened the hearts of the Israelites just as certainly as he hardened the heart of Pharaon, and in the very same way and for the very same reason. Do not imagine that God has some partiality for one man at the expense of another. God deals with each man according to each man’s peculiarity of constitution and purpose. See how the Lord treated the Israelites: “So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.” The marginal reading is still more vivid: “I gave them up unto the hardness of their hearts.” That is to say, the Divine Teacher must at certain points say, in effect: You have made your determination, you must work it out; no reasoning, even on my part, would dissuade you; you must for yourselves, in bitterness and agony of experience, see what this condition of mind really means “So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels” not as an act of sovereignty, arbitrariness, and determination that could not be set aside because of the Divinity of its origin; but I, the Living God, was for their sakes necessitated to let them see what a certain course of conduct must logically and morally end in. The Apostle puts the same truth in very striking language: “They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” “My Spirit shall not always strive with man,” I will, at a certain point, stand back and let you see what you are really at; doctrine would be lost upon you; exposition, appeal, would be abortive; I am necessitated, therefore, though the Living God and Father, to let you have your own way, that you may really see that it was an angel that was stopping you, it was mercy that would have prevented your downward rush.

This is the secret of all Biblical providence, and rule, and education. From the very beginning, the first man started up with a disobedient heart. For some reason or other, he said he would pursue a policy of disobedience. The Lord allowed him to do so, and the result was death. He was told that death would be the result, but the telling had no effect upon him: he said, “I will try.” If our narrow suggestion of reasoning, and persuading, and pleading, were correct and profound in its moral conception, and absolute in its philosophical wisdom, Adam would not have incurred God’s prediction, but instantly have fallen back from the tree forbidden, and on no account would have touched it; but philosophy is lost, appeal is a voice in the air that brings back no great heart-cry of allegiance and consent. Every man must touch hell for himself. Another man started life upon a different policy. He said he would rule by violence; nothing should stand in his way; resistance on the part of others, or aggravation on the side of others, would simply elicit from him an answer of violence and destruction. Said he, in effect, “I will not reason, I will smite; I will not pray, I will destroy.” The Lord said in effect: “It must be so; you must see the result of this violence; that disposition never can be got out of you but by exhaustion; argument would be lost on a fiery spirit like yours; it would be in vain to interpose gentle persuasion or entreating prayer between a nature like yours and the end which it contemplates. Take your own course, and the end of violence is to be Cain for ever, to be branded externally, to be a lesson to the ages that violence only slays itself, and is a wickedness, a crime, in a universe of order.” Another man arose, who said he abhorred violence. Issues which the soul wished were accomplished must be secured by other and wiser and deeper means. Said he, “I will try deception, I will tell falsehoods, I will answer inquiries lyingly; there shall be no noise, no tumult, no sign of violence or passion; but I will answer with mental reservations, I will play a false part, and thus pass smoothly through life.” The man was of a false heart. He did not tell lies: he was a lie. The Lord had but one alternative. Though he be omnipotent in strength, he is limited when he deals with the creatures which he has made in his own image. So said he, in effect, “If it must be so, it must be so; your policy you have adopted attempt it.” The man attempted it, and was laid in the dust a dead, blighted victim of his own sin. The universe will not have the liar in it. It may find room for his body to rot in, but it will not suffer him to live. All through and through history, therefore, the same thing is again and again demonstrated. We cannot account for personal constitution, for singularities of mind; in this profound problem there are metaphysics not to be penetrated by human reason, and the expositor, how careful and anxious soever he may be, can only begin where the facts themselves begin. What lies beyond his ken also lies beyond his criticism. The solemn and awful fact is, that every man has a constitution of his own, a peculiarity and specialty which makes him an individual and separates him from all other men, giving him an accent and a signature incommunicably his own, and that God deals with every man according to the conditions which the man himself supplies.

But a narrow criticism would tempt us to say that mercy will prevail where hardening will utterly want success; gentleness, tears, compassion they will succeed. If God had, to speak figuratively, fallen upon the neck of Pharaoh, and wept over him, and persuaded him with gentle words, Pharaoh would have been a different man. That criticism is profanity; that criticism is historically false: hear the Apostolic argument: “For he [God] saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth,” perfectly easy words, if taken from the right point of view, and constructed in harmony with the broad method of Divine providence, even as that method is known amongst ourselves. The Lord has in this way, which is the only way, shown that the exercise of mercy is as useless as the process of hardening. We have foolishly imagined that mercy has succeeded, and hardening has failed: whereas all history shows us, and all experience confirms the verdict of history, that mercy is utterly useless. We ourselves are living examples that all God’s tears cannot soften the obduracy of our heart. This interpretation clears away all difficulty from this Pauline passage, enabling us to read it in this way: God has, in the exercise of his sovereign wisdom, tried different methods with different minds. In some instances he has demonstrated the inevitable issue of hardness of heart; in other instances he has shown the utter uselessness of mere mercy; he has had mercy on whom he would have mercy, and whom he would he has hardened, or on them tried a hardening process; in other words, he has let both of them work out the bent of their own mind, fulfil their own line of constitution, and see what it ends in, and the consequence is this: letting men have their own way has failed, pitying their weaknesses has failed, terror has accomplished nothing, and mere mercy has only wrung its own tender heart; the rod and the tears have both failed. Let us wait before we come to the final conclusion. We are now in the midst of a process and must not force the issue by impatience.

So then it is unrighteous to blame God for showing men what hardness of heart really means, as if by adopting a contrary course he could have saved them; for he has again and again, in his providence, shown that his goodness has been no more effectual than his sovereignty. This is the other side of the great problem. We pitied Pharaoh, saying, “If the Lord would but try the effect of mercy upon him, Pharaoh would be pliant.” The Lord says: “No; I know Pharaoh better than you do; but to show you what mercy will do or will not do, I will try it upon other men.” And we have stood by, and seen God cry rivers of tears, we have seen him thrill with compassion; we have seen him make himself pliable in the hands of his own children, as if they might do with him what they pleased; and they have in reply to his mercy smitten him in the face.

The seventy-eighth Psalm is an elaborate historical argument establishing this very point, and is the more striking that it deals with the very people whom Pharaoh refused to liberate. The whole case is thus focalised for us; we see the double action at one view. If you want to see what hardening can do, look at Pharaoh; if you want to see what mercy can do, look at Israel; in both instances you see utter failure. God had compassion on whom he would have compassion, and on whom he would he tried the giving up of men to the hardness of their own hearts, and in both cases the issue was disappointment and grief on the part of God. So our little narrow theory that mercy would have succeeded has been contradicted by the unanimous verdict of the ages. Can language be tenderer than that of the Psalmist? “Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.” What is the upshot? They all prayed, they all loved God, they all responded to the magic of mercy? “And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness.” “But he, being full of compassion” this is the very theory you wanted to have tried “forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.” How did they answer him? By love? by allegiance? by covenants of loyalty? Read the history: “How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand: nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.” There mercy stands back, and says, “I have failed.” Seeing that both severity and mercy have failed, what was to be done with the race? Says God: “I have had compassion on these; I have hardened the hearts of these or, in other words, have allowed them to see what the hardening of their own hearts really means; I have thus created a great human history, and the result is failure, failure. The law has failed, sentiment has failed, the sword I put back as a failure, my tears I dry as a failure what is to be done?” Now comes the sublimity of the evangelical philosophy, the glory of the gospel as it is known in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness and mercy must meet together, justice and pity must hold their interview; God must be just, and yet must himself find means by which he can be the Justifier of the ungodly. This reconciliation has been effected. We, as evangelical thinkers, believe in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and if that fail there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

THE TEN PLAGUES, OR THE GREAT DUEL

Exodus 5:18-13:36

The present chapter will be upon the great duel (as Dr. Sampey is pleased to call it) between Moses and Pharaoh, or in other words, the ten plagues. I have mapped out, as usual, some important questions.

What is the scope of the lesson? From Exo 5:15-12:37 . What is the theme of the lesson? The ten plagues, or God’s answer to Pharaoh’s question: “Who is the Lord?” What is the central text? Exo 12:12 : “Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.” What was the purpose of these plagues? Generally, as expressed in Exo 9:16 : “That my name may be declared throughout all the earth,” i.e., to show that Jehovah was the one and only God. The second object was to show to Israel that Jehovah was a covenant keeping God. The first object touched outsiders. As it touched Moses it was to show that God would fully accredit him as the leader. How was Moses accredited? By the power to work miracles. Let the reader understand, if you never knew it before, that Moses is the first man mentioned in the Bible who worked a miracle, though God had worked some miracles directly before this. But Moses was God’s first agent to work miracles, duly commissioned to bear a message to other men.

On the general subject of miracles, I wish to offer the remark, that there are three great groups of miracles, viz.: The Plagues of Egypt, the miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha, and the miracles wrought by Christ and the apostles. And from the time of Moses, every now and then to the time of Christ, some prophet was enabled to work a miracle. These are the groups. But what is a miracle? When we come to the New Testament we find four words employed, all expressed in Greek. One word expresses the effect of the miracle on the beholder, a “wonder.” Another expresses the purpose, a “sign.” Another expresses the energy, or “power,” while still another expresses the “work”‘, i.e., “wonders, signs, powers, works.”

As we have come to miracles for the first time, it would be a good thing for every reader to read the introductory part of Trench, or some other author Trench is the best. We come back to our question, What is a miracle? Take this for a definition: (1) “An extraordinary event.” That is the first idea. If it is an ordinary event you cannot call it wonderful. It is not a miracle that the sun should rise in the east. It would be a miracle for it to be seen rising in the west. (2) This extraordinary event is discernible to the senses. (3) It apparently violates natural laws and probabilities. I say, “apparently,” because we do not know that it actually does. (4) It is inexplicable by natural laws alone. (5) It is produced by the agency of God, and is sometimes produced immediately. (6) For religious purposes; usually to accredit a messenger or attest God’s revelation to him.

I am going to call your attention to some definitions that are either imperfect or altogether wrong. Thomas Aquinas, a learned doctor of the Middle Ages, says that miracles are events wrought by divine power apart from the order generally observed in nature. That is simply an imperfect definition; good as far as it goes. Hume and Spinoza, a Jew, say, “A miracle is a violation of a natural law; therefore,” says Spinoza, “impossible”; “therefore,” says Hume, “incredible.” It is not necessarily a violation of natural laws: for instance, if I turn a knife loose, the law of gravitation would make it fall, but if a wind should come in between, stronger than the law, of gravitation, and this natural law should hold the knife up, it would not be a violation of the natural law; simply one

natural law overcoming another. Therefore, it is wrong to say that a miracle is a violation of natural law. Jean Paul, a noted critical skeptic, says, “Miracles of earth are the laws of heaven.” Renan says: “Miracles are the inexplicable.” Schleiermacher says, “Miracles are relative, that is, the worker of them only anticipates later knowledge.” Dr. Paulus says, “The account of miracles is historical, but the history must signify simply the natural means.” Wolsey says, “The text that tells us about miracles is authentic, but the miracles are allegories, not facts.” Now, I have given you what I conceive to be a correct definition of a miracle and some definitions that are either imperfect or altogether faulty.

When may miracles be naturally expected? When God makes new revelations; as, in the three epochs of miracles.

To what classes of people are miracles incredible? Atheists, pantheists, and deists. Deists recognize a God of physical order. Pantheists make no distinction between spirit and matter. Atheists deny God altogether.

What are counterfeit miracles? We are going to strike some soon, and we have to put an explanation on them. In 2Th 2 they are said to be “lying wonders,” or deeds. They are called “lying” not because they are lies, but because their object is to teach a lie, or accredit a lie. Unquestionably, Satan has the power to do supernatural things, so far as we understand the laws of nature, and when the antichrist comes he is to be endowed with power to work miracles that will deceive everybody in the world but the elect. It is not worth while, therefore, to take the position that the devil and his agents cannot, by permission of God, work miracles. When may we naturally expect counterfeit miracles? When the real miracles are produced the counterfeit will appear as an offset. Whenever a religious imposture of any kind is attempted, or any false doctrine is preached, they will claim that they can attest it. For example, on the streets of our cities are those, whatever you call them, who claim that Mar 16 is fulfilled in our midst today. What then, does the counterfeit miracle prove? The reality and necessity of the true. Thieves do not counterfeit the money of a “busted” bank. How may you usually detect counterfeit miracles? This is important: (1) By the immoral character of the producer. That is not altogether satisfactory, but it is presumptive evidence. (2) If the doctrine it supports or teaches is contradictory to truth already revealed and established. (3) The evil motive or the end in view. God would not work a lot of miracles just for show. When Herod said to Christ, “Work me a miracle,” Christ refused. Miracles are not to gratify curiosity. (4) Its eternal characteristic of emptiness or extravagance. (5) Its lack of substantial evidence. In the spirit-rapping miracles they need too many conditions put out the light, join hands, etc. It is one of the rules of composition as old as the classics, never to introduce a god unless there be a necessity for a god; and when one is introduced, let what he says and does correspond to the dignity and nature of a god. If that is a rule of composition in dealing with miracles it shows that God, as being wise, would not intervene foolishly.

Now, is a miracle a greater manifestation of God’s power than is ordinarily displayed by the Lord? No. He shows just as much power in producing an almond tree from a germ, and that almond tree in the course of nature producing buds and blossoms, by regulating the order of things, as he does to turn rods to serpents. But while the power is no greater, the impression is more vivid, and that is the object of a miracle.

There are, certainly, distinctions in miracles, and you will need to know the distinction when you discuss the miracles wrought by Moses more than any other set of miracles in the Bible. There are two kinds of miracles, the absolute and the providential, or circumstantial, e.g., the conversion of water into blood is an absolute miracle; the bringing of frogs out of the water is a providential or circumstantial miracle. Keep that distinction in your mind. The plague of darkness and the death of the firstborn are also absolute miracles. The providential or circumstantial miracles get their miraculous nature from their intensity, their connection with the word of Moses, the trial of Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods, with the deliverance of Israel, and their being so timely as to strengthen the faith of God’s people, and to overcome the skepticism of God’s enemies.

I will give a further idea about a providential miracle. Suppose I were to say that on a certain day at one o’clock the sun would be veiled. If that is the time for an eclipse there is nothing miraculous in it. But suppose a dense cloud should shut off the light of the sun, there is a miraculous element because there is no way of calculating clouds as you would calculate eclipses. Now, the orderly workings of nature, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork,” reveal the glory of God to a mind in harmony with God, and they hide the glory from the eyes of an alienated man who will not see God in the sun, moon, and stars. They will turn away from the glory of God in these regular events and worship the creature more than the creator.

Does a miracle considered by itself prove the truth of the doctrine or the divine mission’ of him who produces it? Not absolutely. The Egyptians imitated the first two miracles. Other things must be considered. The doctrine must commend itself to the conscience as being good. All revelation presupposes in a man power to recognize the truth, arising from the fact that man is made in the image of God, and has a conscience, and that “Jesus Christ lighteth every man coming into the world.” The powers of darkness are permitted to perform wonders of a startling nature. The character of the performer, the end in view, the doctrine to be attested in itself, BS related to previously revealed truth, must all be considered. In Deu 13:1-5 , the people are expressly warned against the acceptance of any sign or wonder, wrought by any prophet or dreamer, used to attest a falsehood. In Mat 24:24 , the Saviour expressly forewarns that antichrists and false prophets shall come with lying signs and wonders, and Paul says so in several passages.

How are miracles helpful, since the simple, unlearned are exposed to the danger of accepting the false and rejecting the true? This difficulty is more apparent than real. The unlearned and poor are exposed to no more danger than the intellectual. Those who love previously revealed truth and have no pleasure in unrighteousness are able to discriminate, whether they are wise folks or simple folks. The trouble of investigation is no greater here than in any other moral problem. Therefore, the apostle John says, “Beloved, try every spirit.” A man comes to you and says he is baptized of the Holy Spirit. John says, “Try him, because there are many false prophets,” and “Every spirit that refuses to confess that God was manifested in the flesh,” turn him down at once. Once Waco was swept away by the Spiritualists. I preached a series of sermons on Spiritualism. Once in making calls I came upon some strangers, and happened to meet a Spiritualist lady who came up to me and said, “I am so glad to meet you. We belong to the same crowd. We are both a spiritual people. Let me see your hand.” I held it out and she commenced talking on it. She says, “I believe the Bible as much as you do.” I said, “No, you don’t. I can make you abuse the Bible in two minutes.” “Well, I would like to see you try.” I read that passage in Isaiah where a woe is pronounced upon those who are necromancers and magicians. “Yes, and I despise any such statements,” she said. “Of course,” I replied; “that is what I expected you to say.”

The conflict in Egypt was between Jehovah on the one hand and the gods of Egypt, representing the powers of darkness, on the other. Note these scriptures: Exo 12:12 ; Exo 15:11 ; Num 33:4 . The devil is the author of idolatry in all its forms The battle was between God and the devil, the latter

working through Pharaoh and his hosts, and God working through Moses.

Water turned into blood. I want to look at the first miracle A question that every reader should note is: State in order the ten miracles. First, the conversion of the waters of the Nile into blood. Egypt is the child of the Nile. If you were up in a balloon and looked down upon that land you would see a long green ribbon, the Nile Valley and its fertile banks. Therefore they worship the Nile. There has been a great deal written to show that at certain seasons of the year the waters of the Nile are filled with insect life of the animalcule order, so infinitesimal in form as to be invisible, even with a microscope, yet so multitudinous in number that they make the water look like blood. It would be perfectly natural if it only came that way. I will tell you why I do not think it came that way. This miracle applied to the water which had already been drawn up) and was in the water buckets in their homes. That makes it a genuine miracle.

The second miracle was the miracle of the frogs. I quote something about that miracle from the Epic of Moses , by Dr. W. G. Wilkinson:

Then Aaron, at his brother’s bidding, raised His rod and with it smote the river. Straight .Forth from the water at that pregnant stroke Innumerably teeming issued frogs, Prodigious progeny I in number such As if each vesicle of blood in all The volume of the flood that rolled between The banks of Nile and overfilled his bound And overflowed, had quickened to a frog, And the midsummer tide poured endless down, Not water and not blood, but now instead One mass of monstrous and colluctant life! The streams irriguous over all the realm, A vast reticulation of canals Drawn from the river like the river, these Also were smitten with that potent rod, And they were choked with tangled struggling frogs. Each several frog was full of lusty youth, And each, according to his nature, wished More room wherein to stretch himself, and leap, Amphibious, if he might not swim. So all Made for the shore and occupied the land. Rank following rank, in serried order, they Resistless by their multitude and urged, Each rank advancing, by each rank behind An insupportable invasion, fed With reinforcement inexhaustible From the great river rolling down in frogs I Spread everywhere and blotted out the earth. As when the shouldering billows of the sea, Drawn by the tide and by the tempest driven, Importunately press against the shore Intent to find each inlet to the land, So now this infestation foul explored The coasts of Egypt seeking place and space.

With impudent intrusion, leap by leap Advancing, those amphibious cohorts pushed Into the houses of the people, found Entrance into the chambers where they slept, And took possession of their very beds. The kneading-troughs wherein their bread was made, The subterranean ovens where were baked The loaves, the Egyptians with despair beheld Become the haunts of this loathed tenantry. The palace, nay, the person, of the king Was not exempt. His stately halls he saw Furnished to overflowing with strange guests Unbidden whose quaint manners lacked the grace Of well-instructed courtliness; who moved About the rooms with unconventional ease And freedom, in incalculable starts Of movement and direction that surprised. They leaped upon the couches and divans; They settled on the tops of statutes; pumped Their breathing organs on each jutting edge Of frieze or cornice round about the walls; In thronging councils on the tables sat; From unimaginable perches leered. The summit of procacity, they made The sacred person of the king himself, He sitting or reclining as might chance, The target of their saltatory aim, And place of poise and pause for purposed rest.

Nor yet has been set forth the worst; the plague Was also a dire plague of noise. The night Incessantly resounded with the croaks, In replication multitudinous, Of frogs on every side, whether in mass Crowded together in the open field, Or single and recluse within the house. The dismal ululation, every night And all night long, assaulted every ear; Nor did the blatant clamour so forsake The day, that from some unfrequented place Might not be heard a loud, lugubrious, Reiterant chorus from batrachian throats. Epic of Moses I think that is one of the finest descriptions I ever read. They worshiped frogs. Now they were surfeited with their gods. I have space only to refer to the next plague of lice. I give Dr. Wilkinson’s description of it: They were like immigrants and pioneers Looking for habitations in new lands; They camped and colonized upon a man And made him quarry for their meat and drink. They ranged about his person, still in search Of better, even better, settlement; Each man was to each insect parasite A new-found continent to be explored. Which was the closer torment, those small fangs Infixed, and steady suction from the blood, Or the continuous crawl of tiny feet Banging the conscious and resentful skin In choice of where to sink a shaft for food Which of these two distresses sorer was, Were question; save that evermore The one that moment pressing sorer seemed.

Epic of Moses

What was the power of that plague? The Egyptians more than any other people that ever lived upon the earth believed in ceremonial cleanliness, particularly for their priesthood. They were not only spotless white, but defilement by an unclean thing was to them like a dip into hell itself.

QUESTIONS

1. What the scope of the next great topic in Exodus?

2. The theme?

3. The central text?

4. Purpose of the plagues?

5. How was Moses accredited?

6. What three great groups of miracles in the Bible?

7. In the New Testament what four words describe miracles? Give both Greek and English words, showing signification of each.

8. What, then, is a miracle?

9. Cite some faulty definitions.

10 When may they be naturally expected?

11. What are counterfeit or lying miracles, and may they be real miracles in the sense of being wrought by superhuman power, and whose in such case is the power, and what the purpose of its exercise?

12. To what classes of people are miracles incredible, and why?

13. Cite Satan’s first miracle, its purpose and result. Answer: (1) Accrediting the serpent with the power of speech; (2) To get Eve to receive him as an angel of light; (3) That Eve did thus receive him, and was beguiled.

14. On this point what says the Mew Testament about the last manifestation of the antichrist?

15. When may counterfeit miracles be expected?

16. Admitting many impostures to be explained naturally, could such impostures as idolatries, Mohammedanism, Mormonism, Spiritualism, witchcraft, necromancy, etc., obtain permanent hold on the minds of many peoples without some superhuman power?

17. What do counterfeit miracles prove?

18. How may they be detected?

19. What says a great poet about the priority of introducing a god into a story, who was he and where may the classic be found? Answer: (1) See chapter; (2) Horace; (3) In Horace’s Ars Poetica .

20. Distinguish between the ordinary powers of God working in nature and a miracle, e.g., the budding of Aaron’s rod and the budding of an almond tree.

21. What two kinds of miracles? Cite one of each kind from the ten plagues.

22. Of which kind are most of the ten plagues?

23. Does a miracle in itself prove the truth of the doctrine it is wrought to attest? If not, what things are to be considered?

24. Cite both Old Testament and New Testament proof that some doctrines attested by miracles are to be rejected.

25. If Satan works some miracles, and if the doctrines attested by some miracles are to be rejected, how are miracles helpful, especially to the ignorant, without powers of discrimination?

26. Who were the real antagonists in this great Egyptian duel?

27. Give substance and result of the first interview between Pharaoh and Moses?

28. Name in their order of occurrence the ten plagues.

29. First Plague: State the significance of this plague.

30. How have some sought to account for it naturally, and your reasons for the inadequacy of this explanation?

31. Second Plague: Recite Dr. Wilkinson’s fine description of the plague in his Epic of Moses.

32. The significance of the plague?

33. Third Plague: His description of the third plague and its significance.

VII

THE TEN PLAGUES, OR THE GREAT DUEL (Continued)

Every plague was intended to strike in some way at some deity worship in Egypt. I begin this chapter by quoting from Dr. Wilkinson’s Epic of Moses language which he puts in the mouth of Pharaoh’s daughter, the reputed mother of Moses, who is trying to persuade the king to let the people go: We blindly worship as a god the Nile; The true God turns his water into blood. Therein the fishes and the crocodiles, Fondly held sacred, welter till they die. Then the god Heki is invoked in vain To save us from the frogs supposed his care. The fly-god is condemned to mockery, Unable to deliver us from flies. Epic of Moses

We have discussed three of the plagues, and in Exo 8:20-32 , we consider the plague of flies. Flies, or rather beetles, were also sacred. In multitudes of forms their images were worn as ornaments, amulets, and charms. But at a word from Moses these annoying pests swarmed by millions until every sacred image was made hateful by the living realities.

The plague of Murrain, Exo 9:1-7 . Cattle were sacred animals with the Egyptians. Cows were sacred to Isis. Their chief god, Apis, was a bull, stalled in a place, fed on perfumed oats, served on golden plates to the sound of music. But at a word from Moses the murrain seized the stock. Apis himself died. Think of a god dying with the murrain I

Boils, Exo 9:8-12 . Egyptian priests were physicians. Religious ceremonies were medicines. But when Moses sprinkled ashes toward heaven grievous and incurable boils broke out on

the bodies of the Egyptians. King, priests, and magicians were specially afflicted; could not even stand before Moses.

Hail, Exo 9:13-35 . The control of rain and hail was vested in feminine deities Isis, Sate, and Neith. But at Moses’ word rain and hail out of season and in horrible intensity swept over Egypt, beating down their barley and the miserable remnant of their stock, and beating down exposed men, women, and children. In vain they might cry, “O Isis, O Sate, O Neith, help us! We perish; call off this blinding, choking rain! Rebuke this hurtling, pitiless storm of hail I” But the Sphinx was not more deaf and silent than Egypt’s goddesses.

Locusts, Exo 10:1-20 . The Egyptians worshiped many deities whose charge was to mature and protect vegetables. But at Moses’ word locusts came in interminable clouds, with strident swishing wings and devouring teeth. Before them a garden, behind them a desert. See in prophetic imagery the description of their terrible power, Joe 2:2 ; Rev 9:2-11 .

Darkness, Exodus 10-11:3. Ra, the male correlative of Isis, was the Egyptian god of light. A triune god, Amun Ra, the father of divine life, Kheeper Ra, of animal life, Kneph Ra, of human life. But at Moses’ word came seventy-two consecutive hours of solid, palpable darkness. In that inky plutonian blackness where was Ra? He could not flush the horizon with dawn, nor silver the Sphinx with moonbeams, nor even twinkle as a little star. Even the pyramids were invisible. That ocean of supernatural darkness was peopled by but one inhabitant, one unspoken, one throbbing conviction: “Jehovah, he is God.”

Death of the First-born, Exo 11:4-8 ; Exo 12:29-35 . This crowning and convincing miracle struck down at one time every god in Egypt, as lightning gores a black cloud or rives an oak, or a cyclone prostrates a forest. See the effect of this last miracle. The victory was complete. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise up, and get you forth, from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And against the children of Israel not a dog moved his tongue against man or beast; so the Lord put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel” (Exo 11:7 ; Exo 12:31-35 ).

Give the names of the magicians who withstood Moses and Aaron and what New Testament lesson is derived from their resistance? Paul warns Timothy of perilous times in the last days, in which men having the form of godliness but denying the power thereof were ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, and thus concludes, “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” That is the time which I have so frequently emphasized when Paul’s man of sin shall appear and be like Jannes and Jambres, who withstood Moses and Aaron.

Give in their order the methods of Pharaoh’s oppositions to God’s people: (1) Persecution; (2) Imitation of their miracles; (3) Propositions of compromise. State what miracles they imitated. They changed their rods to serpents and imitated to some extent the first two plagues. But the rod of Aaron swallowed up theirs and they could not remove any plague nor imitate the last eight. State the several propositions of compromise; show the danger of each, and give the reply of Moses. I am more anxious that you should remember these compromises than the plagues.

COMPROMISES PROPOSED “Sacrifice in the land of Egypt,” i.e., do not separate from us, Exo 8:25 . This stratagem was to place Jehovah on a mere level with the gods of Egypt, thus recognizing the equality of the two religions. Moses showed the impracticableness of this, since the Hebrews sacrificed to their God animals numbered among the Egyptian divinities, which would be to them an abomination.

“I will let you go only not very far away” (Exo 8:28 ), that is, if you will separate let it be only a little separation. If you will draw a line of demarcation, let it be a dim one. Or, if you will so put it that your religion is light and ours darkness, do not make the distinction so sharp and invidious; be content with twilight, neither night nor day. This compromise catches many simple ones today. Cf. 2Pe 2:18-22 .

“I will let you men go, but leave with us your wives and children” (Exo 10:11 ). This compromise when translated simply means, “You may separate from us, but leave your hearts behind.” It is an old dodge of the devil. Serve whom ye will, but let us educate your children. Before the flood the stratagem succeeded: “Be sons of God if you will, but let your wives be daughters of men.” The mothers will carry the children with them. In modern days it says, “Let grown people go to church if they must, but do not worry the children with Sunday schools.”

“Go ye, serve the Lord; let your little ones go with you; only let your flocks and herds be stayed”; i.e., acknowledge God’s authority over your persons; but not over your property. This compromise suits all the stingy, avaricious professors who try to serve both God and mammon; their proverb is: “Religion is religion, but business is business.” Which means that God shall not rule over the maxims and methods of trade, nor in their counting houses, nor over their purses, nor over the six workdays, but simply be their God on Sunday at church. Well did Moses reply, “Our cattle shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind.”

These compromises mean anything in the world rather than a man should put himself and his wife and his children and his property, his everything on earth, on the altar of God. Was it proper for the representatives of the Christian religion to unite in the Chicago World’s Fair Parliament of Religions, including this very Egyptian religion rebuked by the ten plagues? All these religions came together and published a book setting forth the world’s religions comparatively.

My answer is that it was a disgraceful and treasonable surrender of all the advantages gained by Moses, Elijah, Jesus Christ, and Paul. “If Baal be God, follow him; but if Jehovah be God, follow him.” If neither be God, follow neither. Jesus Christ refused a welcome among the gods of Greece and Rome. The Romans would have been very glad to make Jesus a deity. But he would have no niche in the Pantheon. That Chicago meeting was also a Pantheon. The doctrine of Christ expresses: “Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2Co 6:14-18 ). “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have communion with demons. We cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons; ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” (1Co 10:20-22 ).

The supreme fight made in Egypt was to show that Jehovah alone is God. He was not fighting for a place among the deities of the world, but he was claiming absolute supremacy. When we come to the giving of the law we find: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and “you shall make no graven image, even of me, to bow down to worship it.” It took from the days of Moses to the days of the Babylonian captivity to establish in the Jewish mind the unity of God. All the time they were lapsing into idolatry. The prophets fought over the same battles that Moses fought. But when God was through with those people they were forever settled in this conviction, viz.: There is no other God but Jehovah. From that day till this no man has been able to find a Jewish idolater. Now then it takes from the birth of Christ to the beginning of the millennium to establish in the Jewish mind that Jesus of Nazareth is that Jehovah. Some Jews accept it of course, but the majority of them do not. When the Jews are converted that introduces the millennium, as Peter said to those who had crucified the Lord of glory, “Repent ye: in order that he may send back Jesus whom the heavens must retain until the time of the restitution of all things.”

One matter has been deferred for separate discussion until this time. I will be sure to call for twenty passages on the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. Paul has an explanation of them in Rom 9:17-23 , and our good Methodist commentator, Adam Clarke, devotes a great deal of space in his commentary to weakening what Paul said. There are two kinds of hardening: (1) According to a natural law when a good influence is not acted upon, it has less force next time, and ultimately no force. A certain lady wanted to get up each morning at exactly six o’clock, so she bought an alarm clock, and the first morning when the alarm turned loose it nearly made her jump out of bed. So she got up and dressed on time. But after awhile when she heard the alarm she would not go to sleep, but she just lay there a little while. (Sometimes you see a boy stop still in putting on his left sock and sit there before the fire). The next time this lady heard the alarm clock the result was that it did not sound so horrible, and she kept lingering until finally she went to sleep. Later the alarm would no longer awaken her. There is a very tender, susceptible hardening of a young person under religious impressions that brings a tear to the eye. How easy it is to follow that first impression, but you put it off and say no, and after awhile the sound of warning becomes to you like the beat of the little drummer’s drumstick when Napoleon was crossing the Alps. The little fellow slipped and fell into a crevasse filled with snow, but the brave boy kept beating his drum and they could hear it fainter and fainter, until it was an echo and then it died away.

(2) The other kind of hardening is what is called judicial hardening, where God deals with a man and he resists, adopting this or that substitute until God says, “Now you have shut your eyes to the truth; I will make you judicially blind and send you a delusion that you may believe a lie and be damned.” Paul says, “Blindness in part hath happened unto Israel because they turned away from Jesus; because they would not hear his voice, nor the voice of their own prophets; because they persecuted those who believed in Jesus. There is a veil over their eyes when they read the scripture which cannot be taken away until they turn to the Lord and say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

Now the last thought: When the first three plagues were sent they fell on all Egypt alike. After that, in order to intensify the miracle and make it more evidently a miracle, in the rest of the plagues God put a difference between Egypt and Goshen, where the Israelites lived. The line of demarcation was drawn in the fourth plague. In the fifth plague it fell on Egypt, not Goshen; the most stupendous distinction was when the darkness came, just as if an ocean of palpable blackness had in it an oasis of the most brilliant light, and that darkness stood up like a wall at the border line between Egypt and Goshen, bringing out that sharp difference that God put between Egypt and Israel.

I will close with the last reference to the difference in the night of that darkness, a difference of blood sprinkled upon the portals of every Jewish house. The houses might be just alike, but no Egyptian house had the blood upon its portals. Wherever the angel of death saw the blood he passed over the house and the mother held her babe safe in her arms. But in Egypt all the first-born died.

When I was a young preacher and a little fervid, I was preaching a sermon to sinners on the necessity of having the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, and in my fancy I drew this picture: A father, gathering all his family around him, says: “The angel of death is going to pass over tonight. Wife and Children, death is coming tonight; death is coming tonight.” “Well, Husband,” says the wife, “is there no way of escaping death?” “There is this: if we take a lamb and sprinkle its blood on the portals, the angel will see that blood and we will escape.” Then the children said, “Oh, Father, go and get the lamb; and be sure to get the right kind. Don’t make a mistake. Carry out every detail; let it be without blemish; kill exactly at the time God said; catch the blood in a basin, dip the bush in the blood and sprinkle the blood on the door that the angel of death may not enter our house.” Then I applied that to the unconverted, showing the necessity of getting under the shadow of the blood of the Lamb. I was a young preacher then, but I do not know that, being old, I have improved on the thought.

QUESTIONS

1. Name the ten plagues in the order of their occurrence.

2. Show in each case the blow against some one or more gods of Egypt.

3. What is the most plausible explanation of the first six in their relation to each other?

4. How explain the hail and locusts?

5. What modern poet in matchless English and in true interpretation gives an account of these plagues?

6. How does he state the natural explanation?

7. How does he express the several strokes at Egypt’s gods?

8. What of the differentiating circumstances of these plagues?

9. State the progress of the case as it affected the magicians.

10. State the progress of the case as it affected the people.

11. State the progress of the case as it affected Pharaoh himself.

12. Give in order Pharaoh’s methods of opposition.

13. State in order Pharaoh’s proposed compromises and the replies of Moses.

14. State some of the evils of religious compromise.

15. What about the World’s Fair Parliament of Religions?

l6. What about the Inter-Denominational Laymen’s Movement? And the money of the rich for colleges?

17. Show how each miracle after the third was intensified by putting a difference between Egypt and Israel, as in the case of the last plague, and illustrate.

18. Explain the two kinds of hardening, and cite the twenty uses of the word in Pharaoh’s case.

19. How does Paul use Exo 9:16 , in Rom 9 and how do you reply to Adam Clarke’s explanation of it?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Exo 7:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

Ver. 1. And the Lord said unto Moses. ] In answer to his last exception, which yet he had answered before. Exo 4:16 God bears with our infirmities.

A god to Pharaoh. ] Armed with mine authority; a vice-god.

Shall be thy prophet, ] i.e., Thy spokesman, and interpreter. Aben-Ezra saith that Aaron, as he was Moses’s eldest brother, so he prophesied to the people before Moses showed himself; and hence he is sometimes set before Moses.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

the LORD (Hebrew. Jehovah. said. See note on Exo 3:7, and compare note on Exo 6:10.

made = given (as in Eph 4:11) as such.

god. i.e. in God’s stead. Elohim = one appointed by oath. Elohim is thus used of those so given and appointed. Psa 82:1, Psa 82:6. Joh 10:34, Joh 10:35.

prophet. See on Exo 4:16.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 7

And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 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. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt ( Exo 7:1-2 ).

Now it is important that we point out to you at this point that we are going to be reading now, here God says, “I’m gonna harden the heart of Pharaoh.” On cases we’re gonna read, “And God hardened the heart of Pharaoh.” Then God cracks his skull for having a hard heart. Now is that fair that God would harden a man’s heart, and harden a man’s heart and then wipe him out because he has a hard heart? So if we don’t understand a little bit of the Hebrew language, we could come into real difficulty here in the understanding of God and the ways of God. Is God really fair?

Now to me that would be very unfair to harden a guy’s heart, and then to whip him because he has a hard heart. There are two Hebrew words that are employed now in our text, but they are both translated “hardened”. As we go through, you’re gonna read in the text where “Pharaoh hardened his heart”, and then where “God hardened the heart of Pharaoh”. But there are two different Hebrew words employed. It’s important that you know that. Because this word here in verse four, three, literally means “will make stiff” or “stiffen the heart of Pharaoh,” where the other Hebrew word means “hardened” in the sense of hardened as we think of it. So Pharaoh hardened his heart, and God strengthened Pharaoh in that position.

Now God will let you set your course. Oftentimes He’ll strengthen you in that course that you have set. This He did with Pharaoh. Pharaoh hardened his heart against God. God strengthened his position. “All right, you want to harden your heart against Me? All right, I’ll strengthen your position, in order that I might magnify My power throughout the whole earth.” But Pharaoh had that free choice to begin with. He exercised that choice in hardening his heart against God, and then God firmed up his decision.

It’s a tragic thing when God firms up our decisions. Many times, unless the decision is the right decision, and then it’s great that God firms up our decision. But God so often works this way, making firm your decision. That’s a blessing to me, because I was so weak when I first made my right decisions for the Lord, but the Lord strengthened my decision. God made me strong in my position. God, in a sense, hardened my heart; that is, He made strong or stiffened the position that I made in committing my life to Him, strengthened my resolve. Even as God will strengthen yours as you submit your life to Him, He’ll give you that strength for commitment. But if you exercise your will against God, and if you harden your heart against God, then it would be a tragic thing for God to stiffen you in that position. But that’s what He did for the Pharaoh. Pharaoh hardened his heart. God made stiff, or strengthened the position that Pharaoh had taken.

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 ( Exo 7:4 ).

Now you see God is speaking by foreknowledge. He knew what Pharaoh was going to do. He knew the decision that Pharaoh was going to make. God strengthened the Pharaoh in his position. Actually it would almost have to because of all this guy went through, and still he is saying, “No, you can’t go”. Man, he had to be the most stubborn, foolish person in history. Allowed Egypt to be wiped out because God stiffened his heart, made it strong in the position he has taken against God, and against the people of God.

But God knew that the Pharaoh wasn’t gonna let them go. But that’s just foreknowledge. You can’t blame God for that; you can’t fault God for that. If He knows what’s gonna happen you can’t say, “Oh well, God isn’t fair because He knows what’s gonna happen. He can’t help it. He knows it. He’s just God. So God deals from this advantage of foreknowledge, but it would be stupid to have foreknowledge and not to use it to your advantage.

Think of what you could do if you had foreknowledge like God has. Now if you went to the racetrack and you had foreknowledge of which horse is gonna win, wouldn’t it be sort of stupid to bet on the losing horse? That’s dumb. If you had the foreknowledge of knowing which horse is gonna win, you’re naturally gonna bet on the winning horse. Now God having foreknowledge, knowing who’s gonna win, wouldn’t it be sort of foolish for God to invest in the losers? Of course it would. You can’t blame God because He knows in advance what it’s gonna be. The beautiful thing to me is that God has invested in me. He’s invested in you. What does it mean? It means you’re a winner. The fact that God is working in your life, He knows what He has planned for you, and it means you’re on the winning side. God has chosen you. That shouldn’t scare you; that should cause your heart to rejoice.

So here with the Pharaoh, God knew what he was gonna-He said, “He’s gonna harden. He’s not gonna listen to you. He’s not gonna hearken to what you have to say, in order that I might really lay My hand upon them and bring My people out.

And the Egyptians shall know [This is the purpose, in order that the Egyptians, and later on that all the world may know, but that the Egyptians may know,] that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among you. And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded them, and so they did. And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three years old, [so Moses was the kid brother] when they spake unto Pharaoh. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 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 will become a serpent ( Exo 7:5-9 ).

So when you’re standing before Pharaoh and he says, “Oh then show me a miracle”, just have Aaron throw the rod down and it’ll become a serpent.

So Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast his rod before Pharaoh, and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: [but God got the best of it for,] Aaron’s rod swallowed up the other rods. And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said ( Exo 7:10-13 ).

Now it is interesting to me that the magicians of Pharaoh were able to duplicate the feat of Aaron and Moses. There are powers of darkness that are able to counterfeit the work of God. Satan is a great counterfeiter. Just because a particular situation has sort of an aura of, miraculous; I can’t understand it, does not ensure that that is actually a legitimate work of God. Satan is able to counterfeit much of God’s work, and often does counterfeit much of God’s work. One of the things that is to mark the Antichrist is the tremendous ability that he’ll have to work miracles and signs and wonders in the eyes of the people. He’ll be able to do miraculous feats.

Now we are told concerning Satan that he is able to transform himself into an “angel of light” in order to deceive ( 2Co 11:14 ). He is able to counterfeit the work of God in order to deceive people. Now because Satan is able to counterfeit the work of God, should we then just say, “Well, I want nothing to do with miracles because Satan can counterfeit miracles.” Notice that a counterfeit never disproves the genuine, but only the opposite. You cannot have a counterfeit unless there is a genuine. It’s got to be a counterfeit of something; it’s a counterfeit of the genuine article. The counterfeit then never disproves the genuine, only affirms the genuine to exist.

So if people tell you, “Well, there are counterfeit gifts.” Yes, that is no doubt true. But that doesn’t disprove the genuine gifts of God; it only affirms the genuine gifts of God. “But how do I know whether I’m gonna get a counterfeit gift or a genuine gift from God?” Well, if that is a concern to you, then you first of all need to just get your relationship with God right and your concepts of God right. For if you think when you have your heart open to God, and you’re really seeking God with all your heart, He’s gonna lay some counterfeit gift on you, then you do not know nor are you serving the same God that I know and serve.

You think that your Father is going to give you a stone when you ask for bread? “Lord I’m hungry I need a fish.” “Well here try this scorpion on.” What kind of a Father is that? That’s not my loving, heavenly Father. Even so if I come to Him with an open heart and say, “Oh God I need You and I desire Your fullness in my life.” It would be blasphemous to think that God would allow Satan to move in with some kind of a counterfeit experience when my heart is genuinely, sincerely open to God. What kind of a Father would He be? So Jesus said, “How much more will Your Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask of Him”( Luk 11:13 ). Oh your blessed, loving Father will give you the genuine; you’ll never need to worry about that. He would never allow anything else.

We are aware that counterfeit does exist. We are aware that there is power in those areas of darkness. They’re able to perform magical feats and miraculous feats that we cannot understand or explain. They were able to throw down their rods and they became serpents too. Thus, when you get into books of magic, which you should never do, you’ll find that the deeper you get involved in those kind of books, the more they have-the book of Moses, and the book of the magic of Egypt, and so forth. Because they definitely were tuned into the counterfeit world of darkness and were able to perform uncanny feats through the works of Satan, the counterfeit of the work of God.

“And they cast down every man his rod: and they became serpents: Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.”

And he hardened [or made stiff] Pharaoh’s heart that he hearkened not to them as the Lord had said that he wouldn’t. The Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he is going out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink where he’s coming; and the rod which was turned into a serpent take it in your hand. 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 you would not let them or hear. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with a rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood ( Exo 7:13-16 ).

Now you remember when Moses first went before Pharaoh and said, “The Lord has sent me to tell you to let His people go.” He said, “Who is the Lord? I don’t know Him.” Well, the purpose of this whole little episode here is that he might get acquainted with Him and find out who He is. So Moses said, verse seventeen,

In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: [“You want to know who I am? You’ll find out. Behold, I’ll smite with a rod that is in my hand on the waters in the river, they’ll be turned to blood.”] And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Say to 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 the vessels of wood, and in the vessels of stone. 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 the servants; and all of the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that were in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; for there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments ( Exo 7:17-22 ),

Again we find here a counterfeit once more. But you know, they’re sort of dumb. I mean what does that help the Pharaoh? They’re adding to the plagues now. It would be better if they would smite them and turn them back to pure water rather than going around and further polluting the water systems.

And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. And the Egyptians digged around about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. And seven days were fulfilled, after that the Lord had smitten the river ( Exo 7:23-25 ).

Now there is a book called “Worlds in Collision”, written by Immanuel Velikovsky, in which he tries to give an explanation for the waters turning to blood, as a near approach to the planet Venus. He has a very interesting book. He has a lot of conjecture in it. The methods by which God did these things, we are not told. I prefer to just think it was miraculous and let it go at that. I have no problems with God working miracles. He’s, you know, He’s able to do many things. If He can turn water to wine, surely He could turn water to blood. Thus this doesn’t-I don’t need to help God out in my own concepts of God, because He’s great enough to do any of these things. In fact, it’d be nothing at all. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

We have here the record of God’s answer to Moses’ difficulty. He reaffirmed Himself and charged His servant to speak to Pharaoh the things commanded. Moreover, He foretold the result of the delivery of the message.

Here begins the story of the conflict between Jehovah and Pharaoh. Throughout this entire story two different words are employed, the distinction between which has a vital bearing on the story itself. The first word suggests the idea of giving fixity, or, in the realm of the will, strength. ‘The second indicates willful stubbornness. The condition of Pharaoh on the first visit of Moses and Aaron is described by the first of these words. The Authorized renders it, “He hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” This should be rendered, He made strong the heart of Pharaoh. Immediately following, Pharaoh’s attitude from his own standpoint is revealed. Then the word is “hardened,” in the sense of calloused. This distinction must be maintained throughout.

The plagues that fell on Pharaoh came in three sections of three each, followed by a fourth, with only one plague, which was final. The first of the first three is recorded here. Before it fell, Pharaoh was warned in the morning. In this and the two following, terrible discomfort was produced but neither pain nor death.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Pharaoh Stubborn against Israels Release

Exo 6:28-30; Exo 7:1-13

How often we say in a similar tone, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? Forty years in the wilderness, in absolute solitude, had robbed Moses of the eloquence with which Stephen credits him in earlier life. Like Jeremiah, he felt himself a child and unable to speak.

It is an awful moment when the human will sets itself in antagonism to the divine. If it will not bend, it must break. For once the scion of an imperial race had met his superior. It were better for the potsherd to strive with the potsherds of the earth! But God is not unreasonable. At the outset He endeavored to prove to Pharaoh who and what He was. One of the chief reasons for the plagues, as well as of these miracles, was to establish the fact that the Jehovah of the Hebrews was the great Being who lives behind the whole apparatus of nature.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Exo 7:3-4.

The text brings before us the two great results which God forewarned Moses would rise from the struggle between His will and that of the king. On the one hand, the tyranny was to be gradually overthrown by the sublime manifestations of the power of the Lord; on the other, the heart of Pharaoh himself was to be gradually hardened in the conflict with the Lord. Here two questions arise for consideration.

I. Why was the overthrow of Pharaoh’s tyranny through the miracles of Moses so gradual? Why did not God, by one overwhelming miracle, crush for ever the power of the king? (1) It was not God’s purpose to terrify Pharaoh into submission. He treats men as voluntary creatures, and endeavours by appealing to all that is highest in their natures to lead them into submission. (2) In his determination to keep Israel in slavery Pharaoh had two supports-his confidence in his own power, and the flatteries of the magicians. Through both these sources the miracles appealed to the very heart of the man. (3) The miracles appealed to Pharaoh through the noblest thing he had left, his own sense of religion. When the sacred river became blood, and the light turned to darkness, and the lightning gleamed before him, he must have felt that the hidden God of nature was speaking to him. Not until he had been warned and appealed to in the most powerful manner did the final judgment come.

II. We are told that the heart of Pharaoh was hardened by the miracles which overthrew his purpose. What does this mean? One of the most terrible facts in the world is the battle between God’s will and man’s will. In the case of Pharaoh we see an iron will manifesting itself in tremendous resistance, the results of which were the hardening and the overthrow. There are three possible explanations of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. (1) It may be attributed entirely to the Divine Sovereignty. But this explanation is opposed to the letter of Scripture. We read that Pharaoh hardened his heart. (2) We may attribute it wholly to Pharaoh himself. But the Bible says distinctly, “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” (3) We may combine the two statements, and thus we shall get at the truth. It is true that the Lord hardened Pharaoh, and true also that Pharaoh hardened himself.

E. L. Hull, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 94.

References: Exo 7:3.-Parker, vol. ii., p. 50. 7:8-10:29, 30.-W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 77. Exo 7:9.-Parker, vol. ii., p. 311. Exo 7:12.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., No. 521, and Evening by Evening, p. 181.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

See: Exo 16:29, Gen 19:21, 1Ki 17:23, 2Ki 6:32, Ecc 1:10

a god: Exo 4:15, Exo 4:16, Psa 82:6, Jer 1:10, Joh 10:35, Joh 10:36

Reciprocal: Gen 15:14 – that Gen 20:7 – a prophet Exo 3:19 – General Exo 6:11 – General Exo 18:1 – done Exo 19:4 – seen Num 12:6 – a prophet Deu 1:30 – according Deu 6:22 – showed Deu 7:18 – remember Jos 24:5 – plagued Neh 9:10 – showedst Psa 78:12 – Marvellous Psa 89:10 – Thou hast Psa 105:26 – Aaron Psa 105:27 – They Psa 135:9 – sent tokens Jer 1:7 – for thou shalt Joh 10:34 – gods Act 7:7 – the nation Act 7:36 – after

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Faith as Exemplified in Moses

Selections from Exo 3:1-22; Exo 6:1-30; Exo 7:1-25; Exo 8:1-32; Exo 14:1-31; Exo 15:1-27

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

The Children of Israel had been captive in Egypt for several hundred years. During that time another Pharaoh had arisen who knew not Joseph. As the sons of Jacob multiplied, the king of Egypt became more and more afraid of their possible ascendancy in his empire. Therefore, moved with fear, he began to persecute them, and to force them to work as common slaves. Thus, God heard the groanings of His people under the iron hand of Pharaoh.

1. The birth of a deliverer. Finally an edict of Pharaoh was given forth that every male child should be killed. There were two, however, who were not afraid of the king’s commandment, and when a goodly child was born unto them, they hid him in an ark of bulrushes at the river’s brink, where the daughter of Pharaoh came to bathe. This little child was rescued by royalty and nursed by his own mother. Thus it was that God Himself brought up the deliverer in the home of the persecutor. A child who was under a sentence of death, became the giver of life to the people of God.

2. The deliverer’s attempt in the flesh. When the baby Moses had grown into a man of forty years of age, he spurned everything that the pleasures and the wealth of Egypt could give him. He turned his back on Pharaoh’s palace, and, with a heart aching because of the straits of his own people, he went down, bent upon delivering them, but forty years passed before God undertook to deliver Israel through Moses.

3. Hiding away. During the forty years that Moses was in Midian he married the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian. At the end of the forty years God came to Moses and spoke to him.

During the years that Moses was hid away with God he could meditate and think upon the glory of Jehovah.

4. A wonderful sight. God appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moses stopped and looked, and, “behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” Immediately he said, “I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” It was at that moment that the Lord called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses, Moses.” And he said, “Here am I.” God told Moses to put off his shoes from off his feet, because the place on which he stood was holy ground.

Then it was that he said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Immediately God told Moses that He had surely seen the affliction of His people in Egypt; that He had heard their cry, and that He would send forth Moses to their deliverance.

5. A complaining, doubting spirit. We are amazed when we think of the man whom God had called to deliver His people, saying to the Lord, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the Children of Israel out of Egypt?” The Lord, however, gave him promises that He would be with him.

The story is familiar to all of us: we remember how the Lord gave him His Name, saying, “I Am that I Am.” When Moses still demurred, God wrought the miracle of the turning of a rod which Moses held in his hand into a serpent.

God furthermore commanded Moses to put his hand into bis bosom, and when he took it out, it was as leprous as snow. Then He told Moses to put his hand back into his bosom. This time, when he took it out, it was turned again as his other flesh.

Moses still demurred, and said, “I am not eloquent.” This time, God took away from him a wonderful privilege and gave it unto Aaron, the brother of Moses, telling him that he should be the spokesman of Moses, and that he should be to Moses instead of a mouth, and that Moses should be to him instead of God.

6. A few conclusions. As we think of what we have just set before you, let us weigh our own experience in its light. Have we not had a call from God? Have we not often warred in the flesh? Have we not often demurred, and hesitated to undertake the work to which we are called? Perhaps God has even given us a vision of His mighty power and work. Before we complain about Moses, and condemn him, let us ask if we have been faithful, and ready to launch out the moment that some Divine order came to us; perhaps Moses far outshines us in our obedience. Let us be careful, lest we miss God’s very best in service and spiritual attainments.

I. FAITH IN TRAINING (Exo 3:12-14)

When we feel that our faith is weak, we know of no better way to strengthen it than to study the dealings of the God in whom we are asked to believe, with men in the past. Listen to some of the things that God said to Moses:

1.In Exo 3:8 He said, “I am come down to deliver.”

2.In Exo 3:10 He said, “I will send thee unto Pharaoh.”

3.In Exo 3:12 He said, “Certainly I will be with thee.”

4.In Exo 3:14 He said, “I AM hath sent me unto you.”

5.In Exo 3:17 He said, “I will bring you up.”

6.In Exo 3:20 He said, “I will stretch out My hand.”

7.In Exo 3:21 He said, “I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians.”

When we look at the seven statements above, we see, in every instance, a definite promise from the Almighty. Why should Moses be afraid when God kept saying, “I will, I will; and I will”? When God promises to do it, it will surely be done. What God undertakes He is able to accomplish; if we are sent by Him; we are panoplied by Him.

If He is with us, we are armed with all power in Heaven and upon earth. If He is going to bring us through, we need not fear the terrors by the way; if He has said, “I will stretch out My hand,” we need not care how weak our hands may be.

There was one other thing that God did to encourage Moses. He said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, * * of Isaac, and * * of Jacob.” In other words, He said to Moses, “You are familiar with the wonderful dealings I had with your forefathers; and I was their God, and now I will be thine.” If the Lord comes with us, are we afraid to go? Do the silver and the gold not belong to Him? Does He not have all authority, in every realm?

Suppose Jesus Christ stood by us today, telling us to go; and then He said, “I have met the powers of Satan and have vanquished them; I was dead, and I am alive again, and I hold in My hand the keys of death and of hell; I have ascended up through principalities and powers, and am seated on the right hand of God, clothed with all authority.” When Christ says such things to us, shall we be weak in faith and afraid to obey His voice?

II. FAITH WARNED (Exo 3:19)

We often speak of the faith of Moses, and indeed it was a remarkable faith. Let none of us criticize him in his faith until we can do the things he did; let none of us enlarge upon his unbelief until our unbelief is less than his.

1. The warning. Exo 3:19 says, God speaking: “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.” The Lord never promises us that which we are not to receive; He never encourages us in giving us a false hope; He never tries to increase our faith by belittling the obstacles which will beset us by the way.

God very plainly and positively assured Moses that the Children of Israel would resist him, and that Pharaoh would not let the people go. However, God went on to tell him that He would do His wonders in Egypt, and “after that he will let you go.” He even told Moses that the Children of Israel should not go out empty, but they should go out with their hands filled with jewels of silver and gold and raiment, and with the spoil of the Egyptians.

2. The refusal. In the 5th chapter, and 1st verse, Moses said unto Pharaoh, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness.” Pharaoh did not hesitate a moment to reply, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”

A man of little faith would certainly have stumbled here. To be sure, God had told him that Pharaoh would not let Israel go; however, it was not easy for Moses and Aaron to be repulsed with such terrific onslaughts of unbelief.

Sometimes as we go forth in the service of God everything seems to fail which we had hoped would come to pass. Our prayers seem unanswered, our attempts seem futile, and our service seems in-vain.

We should remember that it is not always that our God delivers instantly. If we get our victories too easily, we might begin to think that our own hand had gotten us the victory, and that we had accomplished things by our own efforts and prowess.

3. The direct results. In the 4th verse of the 5th chapter, the king of Egypt said unto Moses and Aaron, “Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.” That same day the king commanded the taskmasters to cease giving straw to the Children of Israel. They were to get their own straw, and yet the same quantity of brick was required from them daily.

This caused a tremendous bitterness in the Children of Israel. They complained, and when they met Moses and Aaron as they came forth from Pharaoh, they said, “Ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.”

This was about all that Moses could bear, and he cried unto the Lord, “Why is it that Thou hast sent me?” He also said, “Neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all.” When the enemy seems to have every advantage, and is pressing us on every side, do we sometimes murmur and complain at the Lord? It is not easy to be condemned by the populace; it is not easy to see our leadership seemingly broken.

III. FAITH ASSURED (Exo 6:1-6)

When Moses talked with God, the Lord told him several things.

1. “Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh.” Defeat does not disturb the Almighty-He can see the end from the beginning. He knew that Pharaoh would rebel again and again, but God also knew that Pharaoh would be willing-yea, more than willing: he would be glad to have Israel go, before God had finished His judgments upon him.

2. Other things God said unto Moses.

1.”I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham * * by the Name of God Almighty.”

2.”I have also established My Covenant with them.”

3.”I have remembered My Covenant.”

4.”I will bring you out * * I will rid you out of their bondage.”

5.”I will redeem you with a stretched out arm.”

6.”I will take you to Me * * I will be to you a God.”

7.”I will bring you in unto the land.”

Three times in this passage, concluding at Exo 6:8, the Lord says, “I am the Lord.” Let every one of us write over every power of darkness the same word-“I am the Lord.” If God be for us, who can be against us?

3. Moses’ plea. It must have been a wonderful thing to have the privilege of speaking to the Lord face to face, as did Moses, God addressing him as we would an intimate friend. Moses said, “Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto Me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me?” He meant, If my own people, Thine own children, have not heard me, how shall I expect Pharaoh to hear me?

Sometimes we, too, get to the place where we want to give up. We hasten to belittle our successes and the possibility of our efforts. Beloved, we need, today, to get a fresh hold on God.

IV. Faith Encouraged (Exo 7:1-6)

The skies are brightening as far as Moses is concerned. While so far he has met nothing but rebuff and setback and disappointment; yet he has been learning, step by step to trust God. Now the Lord is speaking unto Moses, and He tells him one thing that, so far as we know, has never been repeated.

1. “I have made thee a God to Pharaoh.” In other words, God is saying unto Moses that he should go before Him in the power and might of Deity Himself. He was to speak everything that God commanded him; he was to do mighty works, even the works that only God could do.

God still warned Moses that Pharaoh would harden his heart, but He said that He would multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. The fact of the business was that every time Pharaoh refused Moses, it gave God an opportunity to magnify His own Name and power in the midst of the Egyptians, and to prove that God was Lord; and that the Children of Israel were His people.

2. “And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them.” They went forth and faced Pharaoh time and time again; with Pharaoh’s every refusal they were spurred to further attacks against the cruel king of the Egyptians. They both obeyed the voice of God implicitly; they obeyed, no matter what happened, how dark the skies, how rugged the way, how steep the road. They were learning that God is able to bring down every high thing, and every proud thing that exalts itself against the Lord. They were learning that the weapons of their warfare were mighty, through God, to the breaking down of strongholds.

V. FAITH WORKING (Exo 8:1-4)

The story of the ten plagues which were brought upon Egypt by the words of Moses, is nothing less than the story of faith at work.

1. The first three plagues. As Moses threw down his rod it became a serpent. How was it then, if this was a miracle, that the magicians threw down their rods, and they became serpents? The second great miracle of Moses was the turning of the water of Egypt into blood; this the magicians of Egypt also did.

The third was the miracle of the frogs; once again the magicians of Egypt did the same with their enchantments.

Moses, perhaps, was dumfounded when he saw that the magicians could duplicate, thus far, whatever he did. However, they could not get rid of the frogs; they could bring the curse, but could not relieve it. Perhaps God Himself permitted all of this, to make Moses lean the harder upon Him; and also to bring a deeper curse upon Pharaoh, because of his rebellion. One thing we know, that step by step, Moses was “as God” in moving God and nature to obey his voice.

2. Is the day of miracles past? My God is a God that still works miracles. If He did not, how could I trust Him in the many places where He commands me to travel and to labor? I have seen with mine own eyes the Lord our God doing the impossible.

When we think of the Apostles, and of Paul, we think of men who knew how to believe God, and to do things which could not be accounted for on any natural lines. In these days, when the modernist is seeking to discount every miracle that God has ever wrought, it is absolutely necessary for us to prove that our God is still the God who wrought the miracles of the Old Testament. We must do the same things as were done then.

VI. THE FINAL TRIUMPH (Exo 14:13-16)

We are passing very rapidly over many remarkable things that occurred, and now we come to the final great test.

1. Hemmed in on every side. When Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, he led them as he was directed, down by the way of the Red Sea. The news was taken to Pharaoh that Moses with his million and one half of people were entangled in the wilderness; then Pharaoh immediately started out to pursue them.

When the Children of Israel saw the hosts of the Egyptians approaching, they were filled with fear, and they said unto Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?” Here was a real trial to faith.

Moses, however, did not waver: he said, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” He added, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

After Moses had told this unto the people, he sought the face of his God, and cried unto Him. Then the Lord said to him, “Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the Children of Israel, that they go forward.” How could they go forward?

They certainly could not go back; they certainly could not go to the left, or to the right, for, on the one hand were the fastnesses of the mountains and the hills, and on the other hand Pharaoh’s hosts. Before them was the impassable sea. It was under such circumstances that God said, “Go forward,” and forward they went.

Moses lifted up his rod, and God opened before them sufficient dry land that they might march in through the midst of the sea, and straight across to the other side.

VII. FAITH REJOICING (Exo 15:1-6)

1. The thrill of victory. It must have been a wonderful thing to the Children of Israel, as they marched up on the other side of the sea. Surely they knew that there was a God in Israel! If their joy, for the moment, was darkened by the approach of the hosts of the Egyptians who were marching upon the same path through the sea which God had prepared for them, their fear was quickly allayed when they saw that the armies of Pharaoh were having great trouble in passing, because their chariot wheels would come off, and because they were blinded in their route by a cloud of darkness.

Then, after the last one of Israel had passed over, how they must have rejoiced when Moses stretched forth his rod over the sea, and the waters returned to their strength, overthrowing the Egyptians in the midst thereof! Pharaoh’s army and chariots and horsemen were altogether overthrown, and there remained not so much as one.

2. The song of victory. Chapter 15 says, “Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this song.” Have you ever accomplished something by faith which caused you to sing? You have read of faith’s miracles: Have you ever wrought them? You have heard of Daniel in the lions’ den: have you ever had any experience that even shadowed that? You have heard of the experience of the three Hebrew children in the burning fiery furnace: have you ever done or seen anything like that in your life?

Yes, every day there are things just as marvelous, but how few there are who know them, or see them, or believe them! Now when there is victory, there is song. After Moses had finished his rejoicing with the Children of Israel, then Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her, with timbrels and dances.

3. Experiences in the wilderness. After this wonderful miracle one would have thought that the Children of Israel would never again doubt God. They had seen everything that God had wrought by the hand of Moses; all of the miraculous plagues, all of their wonderful deliverances, and yet they were scarcely over the Red Sea and in the wilderness, until, as they journeyed, they struck a place where there was no water. Then they began to chide with Moses. One of the crowning acts of faith in the life of Moses was when he went out and struck the rock at the command of God. There is no water in a rock, and yet the smitten rock sent forth a stream. Beloved, let us never doubt God again, but rather let us believe that it will be even as He has spoken.

AN ILLUSTRATION

“Ask ye of the Lord rain” (Zec 10:1).

In the following lines we wish to relate something of the Lord’s goodness as suggested by the above text.

There had been many months of drought, very dry and hot weather. The previous N.E. monsoon had failed, resulting in only half the normal rainfall. Tanks and ponds had been dry for weeks. Many wells had failed in their supply of water. Droves of cattle were being driven miles to obtain a drink of water. Men and women, on returning late in the evening from work, had to go off in search of water before attempting to cook the food. One evening, two messengers, one following the other, came along to say our well was empty. We knew of only one resource at such a time. There were some clouds above. “Ask ye of the Lord rain.” Two of us knelt that evening and asked our Heavenly Father to command the clouds and to send the rain. We retired, believing our God would care for us. On rising next morning we looked but to see “floods on the dry ground.” Two and a quarter inches of rain had fallen!

“O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.”

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

PLAGUES OF EGYPT

IMPORT OF THE EVENT

Murphy reminds us that:

To understand the import of this conflict we need to recall that for the first time since the dispersion of the nations (Genesis 11) the opposition between God and Satan in the history of mankind is coming out into broad daylight.

This nation for the time being represents all heathendom, which is the kingdom of the prince of darkness, and the battle to be fought is the model and type of all future warfare between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Hence it rises to a transcendent importance in the ways of God with man, and holds a place even in the preface to the Ten Commandments (Exo 20:2).

THE ROD AND THE SERPENT

There are at least three ways to account for what these sorcerers are said to have done, and the suggestions apply similarly to their later performances with the water and the frogs:

1.One may deny they did it, for the Hebrew will allow this rendering in Exo 7:12 : They cast down every man his rod that they might become serpents, but Aarons rod swallowed up their rods. In other words, their rods were not changed at all, and were lost into the bargain.

2.One may say that by some feat of juggling an optical illusion was affected by which it appeared that their rods were changed.

One may accept the text on its face and say that they actually did the things by the power of Satan. This is the simplest view, harmonizing with the deep import to Satan of the whole transaction and with what we subsequently learn of his interference in the affairs of men and nations and the lying wonders he enables the former to perform (2Th 2:9).

In this last case, the superiority of Gods power over Satan is seen in that Moses rod swallowed up those of the magicians, and hence Pharaoh was in so far inexcusable in not acknowledging his omnipotence.

HARDENING OF PHARAOHS HEART

In the story the hardening of Pharaohs heart is spoken of nineteen times, in eleven of which God is said to have done the hardening, in three Pharaoh is said to have done it, and in five it is simply announced as being done.

From this it is plain that no inscrutable omnipotence bore down on Pharaoh to make him go against his will, but that without such constraint he freely resisted Gods command.

Bates Alleged Discrepancies, from which the above paragraph is taken, explains that Pharaoh by his conduct put himself under the operation of that law according to which a mans heart becomes harder the longer he resists divine mercy. Inasmuch as Pharaoh himself resisted he hardened his own heart, but inasmuch as God ordained the law it may be said that God hardened it.

But while thus seeking to explain this awful circumstance, let us not try to eliminate divine sovereignty from it, nor neutralize the inspired interpretation of Rom 9:14-22.

God did not say, Go to now, I will by a personal impact on Pharaohs mind and subjugating control of his faculties, harden him. Nevertheless, Pharaoh did not hold out against God because God could not subdue him, but because He had great ends to accomplish in permitting him to prolong his obstinacy.

The story, and especially Pauls inspired comment on it, should have a strong effect in bringing any sober-minded sinner to his knees before God.

THE ORDER AND PROGRESS OF THE PLAGUES

There were ten plagues in all, and it will be found that there was a kind of order and progress in their arrangement, going from the external to the internal and from the mediate to the immediate hand of God.

Divided first into nine and one, the one standing out from the others in the awful loss of the first born, the nine again are arranged in threes. This arrangement is marked by the way, the place and the time in which they are announced to the king, or the abruptness of their coming without announcement; by their effect on him, and on the magicians, and in other ways, leading to the conclusion that there was a deeper order of nature and reason out of which they sprung.

Speaking of their effect, it will be seen that at the third the magicians acknowledge the finger of God, at the sixth they can no longer stand before Moses, and at the ninth Pharaoh refuses to see his face further.

Finally, the first three fall alike on the Hebrews and the Egyptians, but the last seven are reserved for the latter alone.

Examine 2Ti 3:8-9, and observe that the two names mentioned there may be those of the leaders of the magicians, traditional names probably, and preserved in documents since lost. They represented Satan much as Moses represented God, and their defeat was an impressive demonstration of the supremacy of the God of the Hebrews.

THE MIRACULOUS IN THE PLAGUES

There are two kinds of miracles, absolute and providential, the latter those which are not so miraculous in themselves as in the circumstances of their performance. Such were these plagues, for in their character they were the natural phenomena of the land, only that in these instances they came at an unusual season, in an unusual degree, and in immediate response to Moses command.

Also they were particularly humiliating to the Egyptians because they reflected on the power and dignity of their gods. The Nile was their patron god, and to have its waters turned into blood and become a torment to them was dishonoring to that divinity. Another of their gods was represented by a frogs head. They also worshipped flies, reared temples in honor of the ox and the cow, and idolized the sun which was turned into darkness to them. How strange that they should not have been awakened by these things!

QUESTIONS

1.What gives great significance to the events of this lesson and those immediately following?

2.In what three ways may we account for the acts of the sorcerers?

3.How would you explain the hardening of Pharaohs heart?

4.Discriminate between the two classes of miracles.

5.Why were the plagues peculiarly humiliating to Egypt?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Exo 7:1. A god to Pharaoh That is, my representative in this affair, as magistrates are called gods, because they are Gods vicegerents. He was authorized to speak and act in Gods 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.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exo 7:1. I have made thee a god. Elohim. The Chaldaic renders it Thou shalt be to him for a prince. The divine sense of the word is, I have invested thee with Godlike powers to save and to destroy; yea, in the ten plagues about to follow, to move nature at thy command. The title of Elohim is in several places given to supreme magistrates; and Moses on this occasion was Gods vicegerent.

Exo 7:3. I will harden Pharaohs heart, or allow him to remain in full revolt, that the nation may know my name in all the chastenings of my rod.We have had painful disputes about the doctrines of grace. Tirinus, the jesuit, has a rough note here. Not harden his heart by willing, intending, or acting, much less by impelling or compelling, as Calvin impiously blasphemes, and other heretics of our own age; but only indirectly causing, and not hindering him. Here Pharaoh was less wicked than Calvin, who ascribes the evils, not to God, but to himself, saying to Moses and Aaron, I have sinned against the Lord, and against you.

Exo 10:16. Such was the harsh language of divines in those uncouth and darker times. Vide Calv. in Exo 4:21.

Exo 7:12. And they became serpents. Josephus says, that they had but the appearance of serpents. Among those magicians who withstood Moses, it would seem, were Jannes and Jambres, 2Ti 3:8. They were prompted by the worst of motives to mimic the miracles of Moses.

Exo 7:13. He hardened Pharaohs heart. At the twenty second verse of this chapter the same words are translated, And Pharaohs heart was hardened, or stout.

Exo 7:17. Thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Pharaoh had stained the waters with the blood of infants, now they are changed into blood for his punishment. He had proudly said, Who is the Lord that I should obey him? Now the Lord acquaints him with his name by his judgments.

Exo 7:19. Stretch out thy hand upon the watersthat they may become blood. In those waters they drowned the male children of the Hebrews, and now they must drink of the bloody streams and pools!

Exo 7:22. The Magicians of Egypt did so. They sunk wells for water, as in Exo 7:24, and by some trick changed the colour of the water. But the Lords miracle continued seven days, till it destroyed the fish and became offensive, giving admonition to the people and time for sober inquiry.

REFLECTIONS.

Moses and Aaron, addressing Pharaoh in a divine mission, produced the seal of divine works. The rod was changed to a serpent to inspire the people with terror, and the waters were changed to blood to remind them of their sin. So God will still counsel and aid his servants; he will enable them, in the course of their meditations and preaching, to acquire proper ideas and language, to impress and strike with awe the unbelieving crowd; and their ministry shall be attended with an unction to prove that they are sent of God.

In Pharaohs suspicion, that these miracles were the effect of magic, we have an awful instance of the nature and consequences of unbelief. Awful still is the state of that man who by books, vice and bad company, has at length established his heart in the sentiments of infidelity. He allows in general that there is a God, but denies that he has any intercourse with mortals, either by revelation or any particular providence. Whatever calamities befal him, there is not the least connection between his sufferings and his sins. His sickness proceeded from a cold, the fall from his horse was occasioned by an accident, and the aspersions of his character resulted from the malice of his enemies. These calamities are all common to the best of men. So God who made the world has no share in its government; chance, luck and accident, are the only gods which trouble the wicked. Alas, alas! This poor man, with all his superiority of views above the vulgar, is completely blind to this grand point, that the same fire of affliction about to consume his flesh, and plunge his soul in the abyss, will elevate the purified soul of a saint, as in the chariot of Elijah, to the empire of everlasting repose.

The magicians, instead of investigating these prodigies with a philosophical scrutiny, and with proper deference to so divine a stroke, accommodated themselves to the passion of the king, and confirmed the obduracy of his heart.

The higher shepherds also, the accommodating pastors of the christian church, have acted a part not less injurious to the cause of religion. Men in the higher walks of life fix their eyes on these dignitaries; they are almost the only books in which they study christianity. And where do they see a God-like zeal for the conversion of the age? Thank God the poor have pastors; but where do they see ministers, whose duty it peculiarly is in a time of general distress, making every effort to reform and convert the rich, the great, the multitudes who dash away in the circles of gaiety and dissipation. Where are the men animated with the spirit of the Hebrew prophets, labouring with all their might, and ready to wear out life in efforts to save their country from the sure ruin attendant on the prevalence of vice? The eyes of the world are fixed on these pastors, and they see no divine zeal, no self-denial, no fervent charity, nor energy of soul which should distinguish the first servants of God. On the contrary, they see an accommodating spirit, the more decent vices flattered, and self-interest pursued. And the most dissipated sinners having yet a conscience, having yet reflection, and seeing those pastors captivated with passions similar to their own, first despise the minister, next the ministry, and at length revelation is discarded, as productive of imposture and hypocrisy. Oh that God would aid us by his power, and clothe his faithful servants with glory and salvation.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exodus 7 – 11

These five chapters form one distinct section, the contents of which may be distributed into the three following divisions, namely, the ten judgements from the hand of Jehovah; the resistance of “Jannes and Jambres;” and the four objections of Pharaoh.

The whole land of Egypt was made to tremble beneath the successive strokes of the rod of God. All from the monarch on his throne to the menial at the mill, were made to feel the terrible weight of that rod. “He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen. They showed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. !heir land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings. He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts. He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. He smote their vines: also, and their fig-trees; and brake the trees of their coasts. He spake, and their locusts came, and the caterpillars, and that without number, and did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. (Ps. 105: 26-36)

Here the inspired Psalmist has given a condensed view of those appalling afflictions which the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart brought upon his land and upon his people. This haughty monarch had set himself to resist the sovereign will and course of the Most High God; and, as a just consequence, he was given over to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken unto Moses. And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh: and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name. may be declared throughout all the earth.” (Ex. 9: 12-16)

In contemplating Pharaoh and his actings, the mind is carried forward to the stirring scenes of the Book of Revelation, in which we find the last proud oppressor of the people of God bringing down upon his kingdom and upon himself the seven vials of the wrath of the Almighty. It is God’s purpose that Israel shall be pre-eminent in the earth; and, therefore, every one who presumes to stand in the way of that pre-eminence must be set aside. Divine grace must find its object; and every one who would act as a barrier in the way of that grace must be taken out of the way. Whether it be Egypt, Babylon, or “the beast that was, is not, and shall be present,” it matters not. Divine power will clear the channel for divine grace to flow, and eternal woe be to all who stand in the way. They shall taste, throughout the everlasting course of ages, the bitter fruit of having exalted themselves against “the Lord God of the Hebrews.” He has said to His people, “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper,” and His infallible faithfulness will assuredly make good what His infinite grace hath promised.

Thus, in Pharaoh’s case, when he persisted in holding, with an iron grasp, the Israel of God, the vials of divine wrath were poured forth upon him; and the land of Egypt was covered, throughout its entire length and breadth, with darkness, disease, and desolation. So will it be, by and by, when the last great oppressor shall emerge from the bottomless pit, armed with Satanic power, to crush beneath his “foot of pride” the favoured objects of Jehovah’s choice. His throne shall be overturned, his kingdom devastated by the seven last plagues, and, finally, he himself plunged, not in the Red Sea, but “in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.” (Comp. Rev. 17: 8; Rev. 20: 10)

Not one jot or one tittle of what God has promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, shall fail. He will accomplish all. Notwithstanding all that has been said and done to the contrary, God remembers His promises, and He will fulfil them. They are all “yea and amen in Christ Jesus.” Dynasties have risen and acted on the stage of this world; thrones have been erected on the apparent ruins of Jerusalem’s ancient glory; empires have flourished for a time, and then fallen to decay; ambitious potentates have contended for the possession of “the land of promise” – all these things have taken place; but Jehovah has said concerning Palestine,” the land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine.” (Lev. 25: 23) No one, therefore, shall ever finally possess that land but Jehovah Himself, and He will inherit it through the seed of Abraham. One plain passage of scripture is quite sufficient to establish the mind in reference to this or any other subject. The land of Canaan is for the seed of Abraham, and the seed of Abraham for the land of Canaan; nor can any power of earth or hell ever reverse this divine order. The eternal God has pledged His word, and the blood of the everlasting covenant has flowed to ratify that word. Who, then, shall make it void? “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but that word shall never pass away.” Truly, “there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.” (Deut. 33: 46-29)

We shall now consider, in the second place, the opposition of “Jannes and Jambres,” the magicians of Egypt. We should not have known the names of these ancient opposers of the truth of God, had they not been recorded by the Holy Ghost, in connection with “the perilous times” of which the Apostle Paul warns his son Timothy. It is important that the Christian reader should clearly understand the real nature of the opposition given to Moses by those magicians, and in order that he may have the subject fully before him, I shall quote the entire passage from St. Paul’s Epistle to Timothy. It is one of deep and awful solemnity.

“This know, also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all, as theirs also was.” (2 Tim. 3: 1-9)

Now, it is peculiarly solemn to mark the nature of this resistance to the truth. The mode in which “Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses” was simply by imitating, so far as they were able, whatever he did. We do not find that they attributed his actings to a false or evil energy, but rather that they sought to neutralise their power upon the conscience, by doing the same things. What Moses did they could do, so that, after all there was no great difference. One was as good as the other. A miracle is a miracle. If Moses wrought miracles to get the people out of Egypt, they could work miracles to keep them in; so where was the difference?

From all this we learn the solemn truth that the most Satanic resistance to God’s testimony, in the world, is offered by those who, though they imitate the effects of the truth, have but “the form of godliness,” and “deny the power thereof.” Persons of this class can do the same things, adopt the same habits and forms, use the same phraseology, profess the same opinions as others. If the true Christian, constrained by the love of Christ, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, visits the sick, circulates the scriptures, distributes tracts, supports the gospel, engages in prayer, sings praise, preaches the gospel, the formalist can do every one of these things; and this, be it observed, is the special character of the resistance offered to the truth ” in the last days” – this is the spirit of ” Jannes and Jambres.” How needful to understand this! How important to remember that, “as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do” those self-loving, world-seeking, pleasure-hunting professors, “resist the truth!” They would not be without “a form of godliness;” but, while adopting “the form,” because it is customary, they hate “the power,” because it involves self-denial. “The power” of godliness involves the recognition of God’s claims, the implanting of His kingdom in the heart, and the consequent exhibition thereof in the whole life and character; but the formalist knows nothing of this. “The power” of godliness could never comport with any one of those hideous features set forth in the foregoing quotation; but” the form,” while it covers them over, leaves them wholly unsubdued; and this the formalist likes. He does not want his lusts subdued, his pleasures interfered with, his passions curbed, his affections governed, his heart purified. He wants just as much religion as will enable him “to make the best of both worlds.” He knows nothing of giving up the world that is, because of having; found “the world to come.”

In marking the forms of Satan’s opposition to the truth of God, we find that his method has ever been, first, to oppose it by open violence; and then, if that did not succeed, to corrupt it by producing a counterfeit. Hence, he first sought to slay Moses, (Ex. 2: 15), and having failed to accomplish his purpose, he sought to imitate his works.

Thus, too, has it been in reference to the truth committed to the Church of God. Satan’s early efforts showed themselves in connection with the wrath of the chief priests and elders, the judgement-seat, the prison, and the sword. But, in the passage just quoted from 2 Timothy, we find no reference to any such agency. Often violence has made way for the far more wily and dangerous instrumentality of a powerless form, an empty profession, a human counterfeit. The enemy, instead of appearing with the sword of persecution in his hand, walks about with the cloak of profession on his shoulders. He professes and imitates that which he once opposed and persecuted; and, by so doing, gains most appalling advantages, for the time being. The fearful forms of moral evil which, from age to age, have stained the page of human history, instead of being found only where we might naturally look for them, amid the dens and caves of human darkness, are to be found carefully arranged beneath the drapery of a cold, powerless, uninfluential profession; and this is one of Satan’s grand masterpieces.

That man, as a fallen, corrupt creature, should love himself, be covetous, boastful, proud, and the like, is natural; but that he should be all these, beneath the fair covering of “a form of godliness,” marks the special energy of Satan in his resistance to the truth in “the last days.” That man should stand forth in the bold exhibition of those hideous vices, lusts, and passions, which are the necessary results of departure from the source of infinite holiness and purity, is only what might be expected, for man will be what he is to the end of the chapter. But on the other hand, when we find the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ connected with man’s wickedness and deadly evil – when we find holy principles connected with unholy practices – when we find all the characteristics of Gentile corruption, referred to in the first chapter of Romans, associated with “a form of godliness,” then, truly, we may say, these are the terrible features of “the last days” – this is the resistance of “Jannes and Jambres.”

However, there were only three things in which the magicians of Egypt were able to imitate the servants of the true and living God, namely, in turning their rods into serpents, (Ex. 7: 12) turning the water into blood, (Ex. 7: 29) and bringing up the frogs; (Ex. 8: 7) but, in the fourth, which involved the exhibition of life, in connection with the display of nature’s humiliation, they were totally confounded, and obliged to own, ” this is the finger of God.” (Ex. 8: 16-19) Thus it is also with the latter-day resisters of the truth. All that they do is by the direct energy of Satan, and lies within the range of his power. Moreover, its specific object is to “resist the truth.”

The three things which “Jannes and Jambres” were able to accomplish were characterised by Satanic energy, death, and uncleanness; that is to say, the serpents, the blood, and the frogs. Thus it was they “withstood Moses;” and “so do these also resist the truth,” and hinder its moral weight and action upon the conscience. There is nothing which so tends to deaden the power of truth us the fact that persons who are not under its influence at all, do the self-same things as those who are. This is Satan’s agency just now. He seeks to have all regarded as Christians. He would fain make us believe ourselves surrounded by “a Christian world;” but it is counterfeit Christianity, which, so far from being a testimony to the truth, is designed by the enemy of the truth, to withstand its purifying and elevating influence.

In short, the servant of Christ and the witness for the truth is surrounded, on all sides, by the spirit of “Jannes and Jambres;” and it is well for him to remember this – to know thoroughly the evil with which he has to grapple – to bear in mind that it is Satan’s imitation of God’s reality, produced, not by the wand of an openly-wicked magician, but by the actings of false professors, who have “a form of godliness, hut deny the power thereof,” who do things apparently right and good, but who have neither the life of Christ in their souls, the love of God in their hearts, nor the power of the word in their consciences.

“But,” adds the inspired apostle, “they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifested unto all, as theirs also was.” Truly the “folly” of “Jannes and Jambres” was manifest unto all, when they not only failed to imitate the further actings of Moses and Aaron, but actually became involved in the judgements of God. This is a solemn point. The folly of all who are merely possessed of the form will, in like manner, be made manifest. They will not only be quite unable to imitate the full and proper effects of divine life and power, but they will themselves become the subjects of those judgements which will result from the rejection of that truth which they have resisted.

Will any one say that all this has no voice for a day of powerless profession? Assuredly, it has. It should speak to each conscience in living power; it should tell on each heart, in accents of impressive solemnity. It should lead each one to enquire seriously whether he is testifying for the truth, by walking in the power of godliness, or hindering it, and neutralising its action, by having only the form. The effect of the power of godliness will be seen by our” continuing in the things which we have learned.” None will continue, save those who are taught of God; those, by the power of the Spirit of God, have drunk in divine principle, at the pure fountain of inspiration.

Blessed be God, there are many such throughout the various sections of the professing Church. There are many, here and there, whose consciences have been bathed in the atoning blood of “the Lamb of God,” whose hearts beat high with genuine attachment to His Person, and whose spirits are cheered by “that blessed hope” of seeing Him as He is, and of being eternally conformed to His image. It is encouraging to think of such. It is an unspeakable mercy to have fellowship with those who can give a reason of the hope that is in them, and for the position which they occupy. May the Lord add to their number daily. May the power of godliness spread far and wide in these last days, so that a bright and well-sustained testimony may be raised to the name of Him who is worthy.

The third point in our section yet remains to be considered, namely, Pharaoh’s four subtle objections to the full deliverance and complete separation of God’s people from the land of Egypt. The first of these we have in Ex. 8: 25. “And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.” It is needless to remark here, that whether the magicians withstood, or Pharaoh objected, it was in reality, Satan that stood behind the scenes; and his manifest object, in this proposal of Pharaoh, was to hinder the testimony to the Lord’s name – a testimony connected with the thorough separation of His people from Egypt. There could, evidently, be no such testimony had they remained in Egypt, even though they were to sacrifice to Him. They would have taken common ground with the uncircumcised Egyptians, and put Jehovah on a level with the gods of Egypt. In this case an Egyptian could have said to an Israelite, “I see no difference between us; you have your worship and we have ours; it is all alike.”

As a matter of course, men think it quite right for every one to have a religion, let it be what it may. Provided we are sincere, and do not interfere with our neighbour’s creed, it does not matter what shape our religion may happen to wear. Such are the thoughts of men in reference to what they call religion; but it is very obvious that the glory of the name of Jesus finds no place in all this. The demand for separation is that which the enemy will ever oppose, and which the heart of man cannot understand. The heart may crave religiousness because conscience testifies that all is not right; but it craves the world as well. It would like to “sacrifice to God in the land;” and Satan’s object is gained when people accept of a worldly religion, and refuse to “come out and be separate.” (2 Cor. 6) His unvarying purpose, from the beginning, has been to hinder the testimony to God’s name on the earth. Such was the dark tendency of the proposal, “Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.” What a complete damper to the testimony, had this proposal been acceded to! God’s people in Egypt and God Himself linked with the idols of Egypt! Terrible blasphemy!

Reader, we should deeply ponder this. The effort to induce Israel to worship God in Egypt reveals a far deeper principle than we might, at first sight, imagine. The enemy would rejoice, at any time, by any means, or under any circumstances, to get even the semblance of divine sanction for the world’s religion. He has no objection to such religion. He gains his end as effectually by what is termed “the religious world” as by any other agency; and, hence, when he can succeed in getting a true Christian to accredit the religion of the day, he gains a grand point. As a matter of actual fact, one knows that nothing elicits such intense indignation as the divine principle of separation from this present evil world. You may hold the same opinions, preach the same doctrines, do the same work; but if you only attempt, in ever so feeble a manner, to act upon the divine commands, ” from such turn away,” (2 Tim. 3: 5) and “come out from among them,” (2 Cor. 6: 17) you may reckon assuredly upon the most vigorous opposition. Now how is this to be accounted for? Mainly by the fact that Christians, in separation from this world’s hollow religiousness, bear a testimony for Christ which they never can bear while connected with it.

There is a very wide difference between human religion and Christ. A poor, benighted Hindu might talk to you of his religion, but he knows nothing of Christ. The apostle does not say, “if there be any consolation in religion;” though, doubtless, the votaries of each kind of religion find what they deem consolation therein. Paul, on the other hand, found his consolation in Christ, having fully proved the worthlessness of religion, and that too, in its fairest and most imposing form. (Comp. Gal. 1: 13, 14; Phil. 3: 4-11)

True, the Spirit of God speaks to us of “pure religion and undefiled;” but the unregenerate man cannot, by any means, participate therein; for how could he possibly take part in ought that is “pure and undefiled?” This religion is from heaven, the source of all that is pure and lovely; it is exclusively before the eye of “God and the Father:” it is for the exercise of the functions of that new name, with which all are endowed who believe on the name of the Son of God. (John 1: 12, 13; James 1: 18; 1 Peter 1: 23; 1 John 5: 1) Finally, it ranges itself under the two comprehensive heads of active benevolence and personal holiness; “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1: 27)

Now if you go through the entire catalogue of the genuine fruits of Christianity, you will find them all classed under these two heads; and it is deeply interesting to observe that, whether we turn to the eighth of Exodus or to the first of James, we find separation from the world put forward as an indispensable quality in the true service of God, Nothing could be acceptable before God – nothing could receive from His hand the stamp of “pure and undefiled,” which was polluted by contact with an “evil world.” “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor. 6: 17, 18)

There was no meeting-place for Jehovah and His redeemed in Egypt; yes, with them, redemption and separation from Egypt were one and the same thing. God had said, “I am come down to deliver them,” and nothing short of this could either satisfy or glorify Him. A salvation which would have left them still in Egypt, could not possibly be God’s salvation. Moreover, we must bear in mind that Jehovah’s purpose, in the salvation of Israel, as well as in the destruction of Pharaoh, was, that “His name might be declared throughout all the earth;” and what declaration could there be of that name or character, were His people to attempt to worship Him in Egypt? Either none whatever or an utterly false one. Wherefore, it was essentially necessary, in order to the full and faithful declaration of God’s character, that His people should be wholly delivered and completely separated from Egypt, and it is as essentially necessary now, in order to a clear and unequivocal testimony for the Son of God, that all who are really His should be separated from this present world. Such is the will of God; and for this end Christ gave Himself. “Grace unto you, and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”(Gal. 1: 3-5)

The Galatians were beginning to accredit a carnal and worldly religion – a religion of ordinances – a religion of “days, and months, and times, and years;” and the apostle commences his epistle by telling them that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for the purpose of delivering His people from that very thing. God’s people must be separate, not, by any means, on the ground of their superior personal sanctity, but because they are His people, and in order that they may rightly and intelligently answer His gracious end in taking them into connection with Himself, and attaching His name to them. A people, still amid the defilements and abominations of Egypt, could not have been a witness for the Holy One; nor can any one, now, while mixed up with the defilements of a corrupt worldly religion, possibly be a bright and steady witness for a crucified and risen Christ.

The answer given by Moses to Pharaoh’s first objection was a truly memorable one. “And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God; lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We mill go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us.” (Ex. 8: 26, 27) Here is true separation from Egypt – “three days journey.” Nothing less than this could satisfy faith. The Israel of God must be separated from the land of death and darkness, in the power of resurrection. The waters of the Red Sea must roll between God’s redeemed and Egypt, ere they can properly sacrifice to Jehovah. Had they remained in Egypt, they would have to sacrifice to the Lord the very objects of Egypt’s abominable worship.* This would never do. There could be no tabernacle, no temple, no altar, in Egypt. It had no site, throughout its entire limits, for ought of that kind. In point of fact, as we shall see further on, Israel never presented so much as a single note of praise, until the whole congregation stood, in the full power of an accomplished redemption, on Canaan’s side of the Red Sea. Exactly so is it now. The believer must know where the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ have, for ever, set him, ere he can be an intelligent worshipper, an acceptable servant, or an effectual witness.

{*The word “abominations” has reference to that which the Egyptians worshipped.}

It is not a question of being a child of God, and, as such, a saved person. Many of the children of God are very far from knowing the full results, as regards themselves, of the death and resurrection of Christ. They do not apprehend the precious truth, that the death of Christ has made an end of their sins for ever, and that they are the happy partakers of His resurrection life, with which sin can have nothing whatever to do. Christ became a curse for us, not, as some would teach us, by being born under the curse of a broken law, but by hanging on a tree. (Compare attentively Deut. 21: 23; Gal. 3: 13) We were under the curse, because we had not kept the law; but Christ, the perfect Man, having magnified the law and made it honourable, by the very fact of His obeying it perfectly, became a curse for us, by hanging on the tree. Thus, in His life He magnified God’s law; and in His death He bore our curse. There is, therefore, now, no guilt, no curse, no wrath, no condemnation for the believer; and, albeit, he must be manifested before the judgement-seat of Christ, he will find that judgement-seat every hit as friendly by and by, as the mercy-seat is now. It will make manifest the truth of his condition, namely, that there is nothing against him; what he is, it is God “that hath wrought him.” He is God’s workmanship. He was taken up in a state of death and condemnation, and made just what God would have him to be. The Judge Himself has put away all his sins, and is his righteousness, so that the judgement-seat cannot but be friendly to him; yea, it will be the full, public, authoritative declaration to heaven, earth, and hell, that the one who is washed from his sins in the blood of the Lamb, is as clean as God can make him. (See John 5: 24; Rom. 8: 1; 2 Cor. 5: 5, 10, 11; Eph. 2: 10.) All that had to be done, God Himself has done it. He surely will not condemn His own work. The righteousness that was required, God Himself has provided it. He, surely, will not find any flaw therein. The light of the judgement seat will be bright enough to disperse every mist and cloud which might tend to obscure the matchless glories and eternal virtues which belong to the cross, and to show that the believer is “clean every whit.” (John 13: 10; John 15: 3; Eph. 5: 27)

It is because these foundation-truths are not laid hold of in the simplicity of faith that many of the children of God complain of their lack of settled peace – the constant variation in their spiritual condition – the continual ups and downs in their experience. Every doubt in the heart of a Christian is a dishonour done to the word of God and the sacrifice of Christ. It is because he does not, even now, bask in the light which shall shine from the judgement-seat, that he is ever afflicted with a doubt or a fear. And yet those things which so many have to deplore – those fluctuation’s and waverings are but trifling consequences, comparatively, inasmuch as they merely affect their experience. The effect produced upon their worship, their service, and their testimony, is far more serious, inasmuch as the Lord’s honour is concerned. But, alas ! this latter is but little thought of, generally speaking, simply because personal salvation is the grand object – the aim and end, with the majority of professing Christians. We are prone to look upon everything that affects ourselves as essential; whereas, all that merely affects the glory of Christ in and by us is counted non-essential.

However, it is well to see with distinctness, that the same truth which gives the soul settled peace, puts it also into the position of intelligent worship, acceptable service, and effectual testimony. In the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, the apostle sets forth the death and resurrection of Christ as the grand foundation of everything. “Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” (Ver. 1-4) Here is the gospel, in one brief and comprehensive statement. A dead and risen Christ is the ground-work of salvation. “He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.” (Rom. 4: 25) To see Jesus, by the eye of faith, nailed to the cross, and seated on the throne, must give solid peace to the conscience and perfect liberty to the heart. We can look into the tomb and see it empty; we can look up to the throne, and see it occupied, and go on our way rejoicing. The Lord Jesus settled everything on the cross on behalf of His people; and the proof of this settlement is that He is now at the right hand of God. A risen Christ is the eternal proof of an accomplished redemption; and if redemption is an accomplished fact, the believer’s peace is a settled reality. We did not make peace and never could make it; indeed, any effort on our part to make peace could only tend more fully to manifest us as peace breakers. But Christ, having made peace by the blood of His cross, has taken His scat on high, triumphant over every enemy. By Him God preaches peace. The Lord of the gospel conveys this peace; and the soul that believes the gospel has peace – settled peace before God, for Christ is his peace. (See Acts 10: 36; Rom. 5: 1; Eph. 2: 14; Col. 1: 20.) In this way, God has not only satisfied His own claims, but, in so doing, He has found out a divinely-righteous vent through which His boundless affections may flow down to the guiltiest of Adam’s guilty progeny.

Then, as to the practical result of all this. The cross of Christ has not only put away the believer’s sins, but also dissolved for ever His connection with the world; and, on the ground of this, he is privileged to regard the world as a crucified thing, and to be regarded by it as a crucified one. Thus it stands with the believer and the world. It is crucified to him and he to it. This is the real, dignified position of every true Christian. The world’s judgement about Christ was expressed in the position in which it deliberately placed Him. It got its choice as to whether it would have a murderer or Christ. It allowed the murderer to go free, but nailed Christ to the cross, between two thieves. Now, if the believer walks in the footprints of Christ – if he drinks into, and manifests, His spirit, he will occupy the very same place in the world’s estimation; and, in this way, he will not merely know that, as to standing before God, he is crucified with Christ, but be led to realise it in his walk and experience every day.

But while the cross has thus effectually cut the connection between the believer and the world, the resurrection has brought him into the power of new ties and associations. If, in the cross, we see the world’s judgement about Christ, in resurrection we see God’s judgement. The world crucified Him; but “God hath highly exalted him.” Man gave Him the very lowest, God the very highest, place; and, inasmuch as the believer is called into full fellowship with God, in his thoughts about Christ, he is enabled to turn the tables upon the world, and look upon it as a crucified thing. If, therefore, the believer is on one cross and the world on another, the moral distance between the two is vast indeed. And if it is vast in principle, so should it be in practice. The world and the Christian should have absolutely nothing in common; nor will they, except so far as he denies his Lord and Master. The believer proves himself false to Christ, to the very same degree that he has fellowship with the world.

All this is plain enough; but, my beloved Christian reader, where does it put us as regards this world? Truly, it puts us outside and that completely. We are dead to the world and alive with Christ. We are at once partakers of His rejection by earth and His acceptance in heaven; and the joy of the latter makes us count as nothing the trial connected with the former. To be cast out of earth, without knowing that I have a place and a portion on high, would be intolerable; but when the glories of heaven fill the soul’s vision, a little of earth goes a great way.

But some may feel led to ask, “What is the world?” It would be difficult to find a term more inaccurately defined than “world,” or “worldliness;” for we are generally disposed to make worldliness begin a point or two above where we are ourselves. The Word of God, however, has, with perfect precision, defined what” the world” is, when it marks it as that which is “not of the Father.” Hence, the deeper my fellowship with the Father, the keener will be my sense of what is worldly. This is the divine way of teaching. The more you delight in the Father’s love, the more you reject the world. But who reveals the Father The Son. How? By the power of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, the more I am enabled, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, to drink in the Son’s revelation of the Father, the more accurate does my judgement become as to what is of the world. It is as the limits of God’s kingdom expand in the heart, that the judgement as to worldliness becomes refined. You can hardly attempt to define worldliness. It is, as some one has said, “shaded off gradually from white to jet black.” This is most true. You cannot place a bound and say, “here is where worldliness begins;” but the keen and exquisite sensibilities of the divine nature recoil from it; and all we need is, to walk in the power of that nature, in order to keep aloof from every form of worldliness. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.” Walk with God, and ye shall not walk with the world. Cold distinctions and rigid rules will avail nothing. The power of the divine life is what we want. We want to understand the meaning and spiritual application of the “three days’ journey into the wilderness” whereby we are separated for ever, not only from Egypt’s brick-kilns and taskmasters, but also from its temples and altars.

Pharaoh’s second objection partook very much of the character and tendency of the first. “And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away.” (Ex. 8: 28) If he could not keep them in Egypt, he would at least seek to keep them near it, so that he might act upon them by its varied influences. In this way, they might be brought back again. and the testimony more effectually quashed than if they had never left Egypt at all. There is always much more serious damage done to the cause of Christ by persons seeming to give up the world and returning to it again, than if they had remained entirely of it; for they virtually confess that, having tried heavenly things, they have discovered that earthly things are better and more satisfying.

Nor is this all. The moral effect of truth upon the conscience of unconverted people is sadly interfered with, by the example of professors going back again into those things which they seemed to have left. Not that such cases afford the slightest warrant to any one for the rejection of God’s truth, inasmuch as each one is personally responsible and will have to give account of himself to God. Still, however, the effect in this, as well as in everything else, is bad. ” For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to hare known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.(2 Peter 2: 20, 21.)

Wherefore, if people do not “go very far away,” they had better not go at all. The enemy knew this well; and hence his second objection. The maintenance of a border position suits his purpose amazingly. Those who occupy this ground are neither one thing nor the other; and, in point of fact, whatever influence they possess, tells entirely in the wrong direction.

It is deeply important to see that Satan’s design, in all these objections, was to hinder that testimony to the name of the God of Israel, which could only be rendered by a “three days’ journey into the wilderness.” This was, in good truth, going “very far away.” It was much farther than Pharaoh could form any idea of, or than he could follow them. And oh! how happy it would be if all who profess to set out from Egypt would really, in the spirit of their minds and in the tone of their character, go thus far away from it I if they would intelligently recognise the cross and grave of Christ as forming the boundary between them and the world! No man, in the mere energy of nature, can take this ground. The Psalmist could say,” Enter not into judgement with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” (Ps. 143: 2) So also is it with regard to true and effectual separation from the world. “No man living” can enter into it. It is only as “dead with Christ,” and “risen again with him, through faith of the operation of God,” that any one can either be “justified” before God, or separated from the world This is what we may all going ” very far away. May all who profess and call themselves Christians go thus far! Then will their lamp yield a steady light. Then would their trumpet give a certain sound. Their path would be elevated; their experience deep and rich. Their peace would flow as a river; their affections would be heavenly and their garments unspotted. And, far above all, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would be magnified in them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, according to the will of God their Father.

The third objection demands our most special attention. “And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, go, serve the Lord your God; but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, will we go: for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so; go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.” (Ex. 10: 8-11) Here again we have the enemy aiming a deadly blow at the testimony to the name of the God of Israel. Parents in the wilderness and their children in Egypt! Terrible anomaly! This would only have been a half deliverance, at once useless to Israel and dishonouring to Israel’s God. This could not be. If the children remained in Egypt, the parents could not possibly be said to have left it, inasmuch as their children were part of themselves. The most that could be said in such a case was, that in part they were serving Jehovah, and in part Pharaoh. But Jehovah could have no part with Pharaoh. He should either have all or nothing. This is a weighty principle for Christian parents. May we lay it deeply to heart! It is our happy privilege to count on God for our children, and to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph. 6) We should not be satisfied with any other portion for” Our little ones” than that which we ourselves enjoy.

Pharaoh’s fourth and last objection had reference to the flocks and herds. “And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.” (Ex. 10: 24.) With what perseverance did Satan dispute every inch of Israel’s way out of the land of Egypt! He first sought to keep them in the land, then to keep them near the land, next to keep part of themselves in the land, and, finally, when he could not succeed in any of these three, he sought to send them forth without any ability to serve the Lord. If he could not keep the servants, he would seek to keep their ability to serve, which would answer much the same end. If he could not induce them to sacrifice in the land, he would send them out of the land without sacrifices.

In Moses’ reply to this last objection, we are furnished with a fine statement of the Lord’s paramount claim upon His people and all pertaining to them. “And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind: for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come. thither.” (Ver. 25, 26) It is only when the people of God take their stand, in simple Childlike faith, upon that elevated ground, on which death and resurrection set them, that they can have anything like an adequate sense of His claims upon them. “We know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither.” That is, they had no knowledge of the divine claim or their responsibility, until they had gone “three days’ journey.” These things could not be known amid the dense and polluted atmosphere of Egypt. Redemption must be known as an accomplished fact, ere: there can be any just or full perception of responsibility. All this is perfect and beautiful. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” I must be up out of Egypt, in the power of death and resurrection, and then, but not until then, shall I know what the Lord’s service really is. It is when we take our stand, by faith, in that “large room,” that wealthy place into which the precious blood of Christ introduces us; when we look around us and survey the rich, rare, and manifold results of redeeming love; when we gaze upon the Person of Him who has brought us into this place, and endowed us with these riches, then we are constrained to say, in the language of one of our own poets,

“Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were an offering far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my heart, my life, my all.”

“There shall not an hoof be left behind.” Noble words! Egypt is not the place for ought that pertains to God’s redeemed. He is worthy of all, “body, soul, and spirit;” all we are and all we have belongs to Him. “We are not our own, we are bought with a price;” and it is our happy privilege to consecrate ourselves and all that we possess to Him whose we are, and whom we are called to serve. There is nought of a legal spirit in this. The words, “until we come thither,” furnish a divine guard against this horrible evil. We have travelled the “three days’ journey,” ere a word concerning sacrifice can be heard or understood. We are put in full and undisputed possession of resurrection life and eternal righteousness. We have left that land of death and darkness; we have been brought to God Himself, so that we may enjoy Him, in the energy of that life with which we are endowed, and in the sphere of righteousness in which we are placed: thus it is our joy to serve. There is not an affection in the heart of which He is not worthy; there is not a sacrifice in all the flock too costly for His altar. The more closely we walk with Him, the more we shall esteem it to be our meat and drink to do His blessed will. The believer counts it his highest privilege to serve the Lord. He delights in every exercise and every manifestation of the divine nature. He does not move up and down with a grievous yoke upon his neck, or an intolerable weight upon his shoulder. The yoke is broken “because of the anointing,” the burden has been for ever removed, by the blood of the cross, while he himself walks abroad, “redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled,” in pursuance of those soul-stirring words, “LET MY PEOPLE GO.”

NOTE. – We shall consider the contents of Ex. 11 in connection with the security of Israel, under the shelter of the blood of the paschal lamb.

Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch

GOD’S ANSWER TO MOSES

(vs.1-7)

Though Moses had protested that he was of uncircumcised lips, God assured him that He was making Moses a god to Pharaoh, therefore that Pharaoh would not be able to totally ignore Moses. Aaron was to be Moses’ prophet and would speak all that Moses communicated to him as the command of God, the only object being to demand that Pharaoh release the children of Israel. Again He tells Moses that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart and will use Pharaoh’s stubbornness as a cause of multiplying His signs and wonders in Egypt (v.3). There was no reason for Moses and Aaron to be discouraged by Pharaoh’s refusals, for God was in perfect control of this. Egypt would only incur the greater judgment by their defiance, and would find by painful experience that God is absolutely Lord (v.5).

At this time (v.6) we are told that Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, and no mention is made of any further complaints on their part. Their age is told us, — Moses 80 years and Aaron 83. We may wonder at their physical energy at that age, but even when Moses was 120 years “his eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished” (Deu 34:7). It is Moses who wrote Psa 90:1-17, which tells us “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away” (v.10). But God made Moses himself a striking exception!

AARON’S ROD BECOMES A SERPENT

(vs.8-13)

The first sign with which Pharaoh was to be faced was that of Aaron’s rod being thrown on the ground and turning into a serpent (vs.9-10). This is typical of God’s using even Satan as a rod of His authority to accomplish His purposes in this way. It would tell Pharaoh that even his power (moved by Satan) was under the control of God. However, Pharaoh had seen apparent miracles wrought by magicians, and he brings such men in to imitate what Aaron had done. Using magic arts, they were able to have their rods turned to serpents when thrown down. In this way falsehood always resists the truth (2Ti 3:8). But Aaron’s rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians. Yet Pharaoh remained obdurate: he would not give in.

PLAGUE NO.1 — WATERS TURNED TO BLOOD

(vs.14-25)

The first plague God sent was announced beforehand to Pharaoh. God told Moses that Pharaoh would go out in the morning to the river. Moses was told to stand there with the rod that had before become a serpent, and repeat God’s message demanding that Pharaoh let Israel go. Then he announced to Pharaoh that he would strike the waters of the river that they might become blood (v.17), that the fish would die, the river would stink and the people would find it loathsome to try to drink of the river. The announcement evidently had no effect on Pharaoh, and the Lord commanded Moses to do just what he had warned (v.19). When he did this, the result was just as he had said (v.21).

The magicians used their enchantments to do the same thing. God had sent the trouble; and Satan shows he can bring trouble too, but he cannot take it away. Pharaoh regards the whole matter as if it was only a matter of magic, and with no apparent concern, went back into his house (v.23). Yet he ought to have realized that this was a most significant matter. The Nile was Egypt’s god: they gave it the name “Osiris,” which represented all that was good. Another god, “Typhon,” represented all that was evil, and regarded as blood-red. All Egypt would recognize that to turn water to blood was to make evil triumph over good.

The Egyptians were thus given the work of digging wells in the vicinity of the river so as to find water to drink. This continued for seven days (v.25), evidently being relaxed at the end of this.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

7:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a {a} god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

(a) I have given you power and authority to speak in my name and to execute my judgments on him.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Moses was "as God" to Pharaoh in that he was the person who revealed God’s will (Exo 7:1). Pharaoh was to be the executor of that will. Aaron would be Moses’ prophet as he stood between Moses and Pharaoh and communicated Moses and God’s will to the king. Exo 7:1 helps us identify the essential meaning of the Hebrew word nabhi (prophet; cf. Exo 4:10-16; Deu 18:15-22; Isa 6:9; Jer 1:7; Eze 2:3-4; Amo 7:12-16). This word occurs almost 300 times in the Old Testament and "in its fullest significance meant ’to speak fervently for God’" [Note: Leon J. Wood, The Prophets of Israel, p. 63. (]

"The pith of Hebrew prophecy is not prediction or social reform but the declaration of divine will" [Note: Norman Gottwald, A Light to the Nations, p. 277. See also Edward J. Young, My Servants the Prophets, ch. III: "The Terminology of Prophetism," for discussion of how the Old Testament used the Hebrew words for prophets.]

God referred to the miracles Moses would do as signs (i.e., miracles with special significance) and wonders (miracles producing wonder or awe in those who witnessed them, Exo 7:3). [Note: See Ken L. Sarles, "An Appraisal of the Signs and Wonders Movement," Bibliotheca Sacra 145:577 (January-March 1988):57-82.] The text usually calls them "plagues," but clearly they were "signs," miracles that signified God’s sovereignty.

The ultimate purpose of God’s actions was His own glory (Exo 7:5). The glory of God was at stake. The Egyptians would acknowledge God’s faithfulness and sovereign power in delivering the Israelites from their bondage and fulfilling their holy calling. God’s intention was to bless the Egyptians through Israel (Gen 12:3), but Pharaoh would make that impossible by his stubborn refusal to honor God. Nevertheless the Egyptians would acknowledge Yahweh’s sovereignty.

The writer included the ages of Moses and Aaron (80 and 83 respectively) as part of God’s formal certification of His messengers (Exo 7:7). [Note: See G. Herbert Livingston, "A Case Study of the Call of Moses," Asbury Theological Journal 42:2 (Fall 1987):89-113.]

"It is a common feature of biblical narratives for the age of their heroes to be stated at the time when some momentous event befalls them . . ." [Note: Cassuto, pp. 90-91.]

"D. L. Moody wittily said that Moses spent forty years in Pharaoh’s court thinking he was somebody; forty years in the desert learning he was nobody; and forty years showing what God can do with somebody who found out he was nobody." [Note: Bernard Ramm, His Way Out, p. 54.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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