Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 7:10
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Verse 10. It became a serpent.] tannin. What kind of a serpent is here intended, learned men are not agreed. From the manner in which the original word is used in Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9; Job 7:12; some very large creature, either aquatic or amphibious, is probably meant; some have thought that the crocodile, a well-known Egyptian animal, is here intended. In Ex 4:3 it is said that this rod was changed into a serpent, but the original word there is nachash, and here tannin, the same word which we translate whale, Ge 1:21.
As nachash seems to be a term restricted to no one particular meaning, as has already been shown on Gen. iii.; See Clarke on Ge 3:1. So the words tannin, tanninim, tannim, and tannoth, are used to signify different kinds of animals in the Scriptures. The word is supposed to signify the jackal in Job 30:29; Ps 44:19; Isa 13:22; Isa 34:13; Isa 35:7; Isa 43:20; Jer 9:11, c., c. and also a dragon, serpent, or whale, Job 7:12; Ps 91:13; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9; Jer 51:34; Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; and is termed, in our translation, a sea-monster, La 4:3. As it was a rod or staff that was changed into the tannim in the cases mentioned here, it has been supposed that an ordinary serpent is what is intended by the word, because the size of both might be then pretty nearly equal: but as a miracle was wrought on the occasion, this circumstance is of no weight; it was as easy for God to change the rod into a crocodile, or any other creature, as to change it into an adder or common snake.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
10. Aaron cast down his rod beforePharaoh, &c.It is to be presumed that Pharaoh had demandeda proof of their divine mission.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh,…. Into the palace of Pharaoh boldly, and with intrepidity, clothed with such power and authority, and assured of success;
and they did as the Lord had commanded; they demanded in his name the dismission of the children of Israel, and upon his requiring a miracle to confirm their mission, wrought one as follows:
and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and it became a serpent: or a “dragon”, as the Septuagint version; this word is sometimes used of great whales, Ge 1:21 and of the crocodile, Eze 29:3 and it is very likely the crocodile is meant here, as Dr. Lightfoot q thinks; since this was frequent in the Nile, the river of Egypt, where the Hebrew infants had been cast, and into whose devouring jaws they fell, and which also was an Egyptian deity r. Though no mention is made of Pharaoh’s demanding a miracle, yet no doubt he did, as the Lord had intimated he would, and without which it can hardly be thought it would be done; and Artapanus s, an Heathen writer, expressly asserts it; for he says,
“when the king required of Moses to do some sign or wonder, the rod which he had he cast down, and it became a serpent, to the amazement of all, and then took it by its tail and it be came a rod again;”
which is a testimony from an Heathen of the truth of this miracle.
q Works, vol. 1. p. 702. r Crocodylen adorat, Juvenal, Sat. 15. s Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 435.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10. And Moses and Aaron went in. Although they were now fully conscious of their vocation; and knew that they were endued with divine power for working miracles, yet would they never have dared to approach the fierce and cruel tyrant, unless the inward inspiration of the Spirit had armed them to persevere. Hence, then, arose their magnanimity to overcome all terrors; because God raised them by faith above everything that is lofty on earth, and sustained them by this support. Therefore do they come to the conflict with invincible strength, and confirm by a miracle their most hateful mission. But as to the question which is ordinarily raised here, whether the change of the rods was true and substantial, as they call it; with respect to that of Moses, I am confidently persuaded that it was so; for there is no more difficulty with God to change the forms of things, than there was to create heaven and earth out of nothing. Philosophers are not ignorant of the great variety of transmutations which occur in nature, nay, it is patent even to the uninstructed; but, because the rod was changed into a serpent in an extraordinary manner, and contrary to the course of nature, we must form the same judgment of it as of the change of Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt; except that the rod soon after returned into its original nature. (Gen 19:26.) There is more reason for doubt respecting the rods of the magicians, since it is probable that the eyes of the wicked king were deceived by their illusions. But there would be nothing absurd in our saying, that such liberty was conceded to them by God, not that they should create one body out of another, but that they should set forth the work of God as being their own. For assuredly the potency of error far surpasses the bounds of our comprehension. This Paul affirms to be given to Satan for the punishment of unbelievers, “that they should believe a lie,” because they will not obey the truth. (2Th 2:11.) He says, indeed, that the coming of Antichrist shall be with signs and lying wonders, but by adding the word “power,” he shews that the deception or illusion shall not consist so much in the external form of things, as in the perverse abuse of signs. (81) Therefore Christ absolutely pronounces that “false prophets shall shew great signs and wonders.” (Mat 24:24.) It might be, then, that God in just vengeance might choose the rods of the magicians to be changed into serpents; as we shall hereafter see that the waters were changed by their enchantments into blood, that the earth was covered with frogs and lice, that the fields were smitten with hail, and the atmosphere darkened. (82) Still we must be assured, that not even a fly can be created except by God only; but that Satan lays hold, for the purpose of his impostures, of things which are done by the secret judgment of God.
(81) Calvin’s own comment on 2Th 2:9, may explain this somewhat obscure passage, “He gives the names of miracles of falsehood (lying wonders) not merely to such as are falsely and deceptively contrived by cunning men with a view to impose upon the simple — but takes falsehood as consisting in this, that Satan draws to a contrary end works which otherwise are truly works of God, and abuses miracles so as to obscure God’s glory. In the meantime, however, there can be no doubt that he deceives by means of enchantments, an example of which we have in Pharaoh’s magicians. (Exo 7:11).” Calvin Soc. Edition, p. 337.
(82) It does not appear that the magicians performed the two latter miracles.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
OPENING CONTEST WITH THE MAGICIANS, Exo 7:10-13.
10. And Aaron cast down his rod and it became a serpent , a dragon or crocodile, not the serpent ( ) into which the rod was changed when Moses came before the elders of Israel . Exo 4:3. The shepherd’s staff is changed into the monster of the Nile . Pharaoh is thus warned, by a symbol clear to the Egyptian mind, that the shepherd race of Israel is to be miraculously transformed into a formidable nation, comparable in might with Egypt . The crocodile’s tail is the hieroglyphic symbol of Egypt .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
EXPOSITION
THE FIRST SIGN, AND ITS FAILURE TO CONVINCE. Obeying the command given them (Exo 7:2, Exo 7:9), Moses and Aaron went to the court a second time, and entering into the royal presence, probably repeated their demandas from Godthat the king would let the Children of Israel go (Exo 6:11), when Pharaoh objected that they had no authority to speak to him in God’s name, and required an evidence of their authority, either in the actual words of Exo 7:9 (“Shew a miracle for you”), or in some equivalent ones. Aaron hereupon cast down on the ground the rod which Moses had brought from Midian, and it became a serpent (Exo 7:10). Possibly Pharaoh may have been prepared for this. He may have been told that this was one among the signs which had been done in the sight of the elders and people of Israel when the two brothers first came back from Midian (Exo 4:30). If he knew of it, no doubt the “magicians” knew of it, and had prepared themselves. Pharaoh summoned them, as was natural, to his presence, and consulted them with respect to the portent, whereupon they too cast down the rods which they were carrying in their hands, and they “became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods” (Exo 7:12). (For the explanation of those facts, see the comment below). Pharaoh was to some extent impressed by the miracle, but not so as to yield. His heart remained hard, and he refused to let the people go.
Exo 7:10
Aaron cast down his rod. The rod is called indifferently “Aaron’s rod” and “Moses’ rod,” because, though properly the rod of Moses (Exo 4:2), yet ordinarily it was placed in the hands of Aaron (Exo 7:19, Exo 7:20; Exo 8:5, Exo 8:17, etc.) It became a serpent. The word for “serpent” is not the same as was used before (Exo 4:3); but it is not clear that a different species is meant. More probably it is regarded by the writer as a synonym.
Exo 7:11
Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. That magic was an object of much attention and study in Egypt is abundantly evident from “The tale of Setnau”, “The Magic Papyrus”, and many other writings. It consisted, to a large extent, in charms, which were thought to have power over men and beasts, especially over reptiles. What amount of skill and power the Egyptian magicians possessed may perhaps be doubted. Many commentators believe them to have been in actual communication With the unseen world, and to have worked their wonders by the assistance of evil spirits. Others, who reject this explanation, believe that they themselves were in possession of certain supernatural gifts. But the commonest view at the present day regards them as simply persons who had a knowledge of many secrets of nature which were generally unknown, and who used this knowledge to impress men with a belief in their supernatural power. The words used to express “magicians” and “enchantments” support this view. The magicians are called khakamim, “wise men,” “men educated in human and divine wisdom” (Keil and Delitzsch); mekashshephim, “charmers,” “mutterers of magic words” (Gesenius); and khartummim, which is thought to mean either “sacred scribes” or “bearers of sacred words” (Cook). The word translated “enchantments” is lehatim, which means “secret” or “hidden arts” (Gesenius). On the whole, we regard it as most probable that the Egyptian “magicians” of this time were jugglers of a high class, well skilled in serpent-charming and other kindred arts, but not possessed of any supernatural powers. The magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments. The magicians, aware of the wonder which would probably be wrought, had prepared themselves; they had brought serpents, charmed and stiffened so as to look like rods in their hands; and when Aaron’s rod became a serpent, they threw their stiffened snakes upon the ground, and disenchanted them, so that they were seen to be what they wereshakos, and not really rods.
Exo 7:12
But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. Aaron’s serpent turned upon its rivals and devoured them, thus exhibiting a marked superiority.
Exo 7:13
And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Rather, “But Pharaoh’s heart was hard.“ The verb employed is not active, but neuter; and “his heart” is not the accusative, but the nominative. Pharaoh’s heart was too hard for the sign to make much impression on it. He did not see that Moses had done much more than his own magicians could do. As the Lord had said. See Exo 7:4.
HOMILETICS
Exo 7:10-12
False imitations of things Divine not difficult of detection.
It is Satan’s wont, in all ages and on all possible occasions, to set up counterfeits of things Divine, in order to confuse men’s minds, and make them mistake the false for the true. Aaron no sooner works a true miracle, a real proof that he is a prophet of God (Exo 7:1), than Satan’s instruments, the magicians of Egypt, are ready with an imitation of the miracle, on which they base a claim that Pharaoh is not to listen to Aaron, but to them. “Curious arts” (Act 19:19) and “lying wonders” (2Th 2:9) were employed to discredit the genuine miracles of the Apostles. False Christs rose up in various places, soon after the lifetime of our Lord, claiming to be the Messiah spoken of by the prophets, who “showed great signs and wonders,” capable of deceiving, if it had been possible, even “the very elect” (Mat 24:24). Apocryphal gospels were put out by the side of the true ones. A new and mystic philosophy was set up as the real “knowledge” which the Son of God had come to reveal, and new religions, like Gnosticism and Manichaeism, disputed with real Christianity the right to be viewed as the actual religion of Jesus. Fanatics, at the time of the Reformation, parodied the Reformed religion, and established “Churches of the True Saints,” which while affecting extreme purity fell practically into fearful excesses. Even at the present day rivals are set up to the revelation of God given us in the Bibleand the religious books of the Egyptians, or the Hindoos, or the Persians, or the Buddhists, or the Mahometans, are declared to be just as good, just as much from God, just as deserving of our attention, as the Old and New Testaments. But, if men are honest and do not wish to be deceived, it is easy, with a little patience, to detect each spurious imitation. Aaron’s rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians. It remainedthey ceased to exist altogether. The “curious arts” and “lying wonders” of those who opposed the Apostles, if examined into, would have been found either mere tricks, or weak devices of Satan, with none of the power, the dignity, the awfulness, of a true miracle. And time brought them to noughtthey built up nothingeffected nothing. So with the “false Christs,” and the apocryphal gospels, and the religions of Gnosticism and Manichaeism, and the fanatical sects of the Reformation period: they took no hold on the worldthe truth “swallowed them up”they vanished away. With the spurious “revelations,” if the case is not the same, it is nearly the sameif they have not, all of them, vanished, they are all of them, vanishing. Brought into contact with the truthplaced side by side with itthey cannot maintain themselvesthey are “swallowed up” after a while. The ancient pantheism of Egypt perished in the fourth century; the religion of Zoroaster is almost non-existent; that of the Vedas is now crumbling to decay in the schools of Calcutta and Benares. Mahometanism shows signs of breaking up. When Thibet and China are freely opened to Christian missions, the last day of Buddhism will not be far off. The Divine sweeps away the humanAaron’s rod swallows up its rivals.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Exo 7:8-14
The rod turned into a serpent.
On this sign, notice
I. ITS SIGNIFICANCE.
1. Its distinctness from the similar sign wrought for the conviction of the Israelites. On the meaning of the latter, see Exo 4:1-6. There the serpent into which the rod was turned seemed to denote the power of the monarchthe royal and divine power of Egyptof which the serpent was an Egyptian emblem. However threatening the aspect of this power to Moses and the Israelites, the sign taught them not to fear it, and promised victory over -it. Here, on the contrary, the serpent is a menace to Pharaoh. It speaks to him in his own language, and tells him of a royal and Divine power opposed to his which he will do well not to provoke. The sign was harmless in itself, but menacing in its import.
2. Its relation to Egyptian magic. On this, see the exposition. The magicians produced an imitation of the miracle, but this very circumstance was turned into an occasion of greater humiliation to them. “Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.” The truth taught was the impotence of magic arts as opposed to the power of Jehovah. Royalty, divinity, magic, all are represented as overthrown in this significant marvel. NoteGod seldom destroys a sinner without first warning him. The warnings are such that, if taken in time, worse consequences may be escaped. Conscience warns, the Spirit warns, providence warns. Red danger-signals stand at the opening of every path of crime, if the deluded transgressor would but take heed to them.
II. ITS EVIDENTIAL VALUE. It was ordered to be wrought in answer to Pharaoh’s demand for a miracle (Exo 4:9). Presumably, Pharaoh made the request, then the wonder was performed. Note here
1. The human mind naturally craves for miracle as an evidence of revelation. The evidence of outward miracle is not the highest, but neither’ should it be disparaged. It is the kind of evidence which minds at an inferior stage of development are most capable of appreciating, while, in connection with other circumstances, it is a powerful confirmation to the faith even of those who might possibly dispense with it. Christ’s repeated refusal of a sign was not based upon the principle that signs were unnecessary, but upon the fact that a superabundance of signs had already been given. A faith resting merely on miracles (Joh 2:23, Joh 2:24) may be destitute of moral worth, but miracles had their value in certifying the source of the message, as well as in arousing attention, and they were themselves vehicles of moral teaching.
2. God satisfies this craving of the mind by granting the evidence required. It does not lessen, but greatly enhances, the value of this evidence that most of the miracles of Scripture are not merely credentials of the revelation, but constitutive parts of it. See this truth wrought out in the chapter on “The Function of Miracle in Revelation’ in Dr. Alex. Bruce’s book, ‘The Chief End of Revelation.’ This able writer, however, is unnecessarily vehement in his polemic against the view that miracles are also wrought in proof of revelation; especially as in the latter part of his discussion he really admits all that the advocates of the so-called “traditional” view would think worth contending for. “Take away miracle from a revelation of grace, and the revelation can hardly be known for what it is With the miracles retained as an essential part of the story, a gracious purpose towards a chosen people is indubitable; without them, it is very doubtful indeed Retain the miracles, and the gracious purpose is stringently proved, and the contrary opinion excluded as untenable. The miracles and the purpose thus stand or fall together. To certify, beyond all doubt, a gracious purpose, miracle is necessary.. In the case before us, the evidential function must be allowed to be the leading one.
3. Pharaoh‘s request for the miracle. It is a significant circumstance that whereas on the previous occasion (Exo 5:1-5) Pharaoh made no request for a sign, he asks for one at this second interview. The unexpected reappearance of these two men, renewing their former demand, and doing so with even more emphasis and decision than at first, must have produced a startling effect upon him. Truth, to a certain extent, carries its own credentials with it. There must have been that in the manner and speech of these grave and aged men (verse 7) which repelled the hypothesis that they were impostors. Probably Pharaoh had never been quite sure that their mission was mere pretence. A secret fear of the God whose worshippers he knew he was maltreating may have mingled with his thoughts, and kept him in vague uneasiness. He may thus have been more disturbed by the former demand than he cared to allow, and now thought it prudent to satisfy himself further. Professed disbelief in the Bible is in the same way often accompanied by a lurking suspicion that there is more in its teaching than is admitted.
III. ITS EFFECT UPON THE MONARCH.
1. He permitted himself to be imposed on by the counterfeit of the magicians. Their imitation of the miracle furnished him with a plausible excuse for ascribing the work to magic. It gave him a pretext for unbelief. He wished one, and he got it. He ignored the strong points in the evidence, and fixed on the partial resemblance to the miracle in the feats of his tricksters. There were at least three circumstances which should have made him pause, and, if not convinced, ask for further proof.
(1) The miracle of Moses and Aaron was not done by enchantments.
(2) The men who did the wonder themselves asserted that it was wrought by Divine power.
(3) The superiority of their power to that of the magicians was evinced by Aaron’s rod swallowing up the rods of the others. And seeing that the miracle of God’s messengers was real, while that of the magicians was (so far as we can judge) but a juggler’s trick, there were probably numerous other circumstances of difference between them, on which, had Pharaoh been anxious to ascertain the truth, his mind would naturally have rested. But Pharaoh’s mind was not honest. He wished to disbelieve, and he did it.
2. He refused the request. He hardened himself, i.e. the unwillingness of his heart to look at the truth, now that it had got something to stay itself upon, solidified into a fixed, hard determination to resist the demand made upon him. Note
(1) God tries men’s dispositions by furnishing them with evidence which, while abundantly sufficient to convince minds that are honest, leaves numerous loopholes of escape to those indisposed to receive it.
(2) It is the easiest thing in the world, if one wants to do it, to find pretexts for unbelief. We are far from asserting that all doubt is dishonest, but it is unquestionable that under the cloak of honest intellectual inquiry a great dean that is not honest is frequently concealed. To a mind unwilling to be convinced, there is nothing easier than to evade evidence. Specious counter-arguments are never far to seek. Any specious reply to Christian books, any naturalistic hypothesis, any flimsy parallel, will serve the purpose. The text directs attention to the method of false parallelsa favourite one with modem sceptics. Parallels are hunted up between Christianity and the ethnic religions. Superficial resemblances in ethics, doctrine and ritual, are laid hold upon and magnified. Christ is compared with Buddha and Confucius, or his miracles are put in comparison with the ecclesiastical miracles of the middle ages. And thus his religion is supposed to be reduced to the naturalistic level. The defeat of all such attempts is shadowed forth in the miracle before us.J.O.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART
Exo 7:8-13
The credentials of God’s ambassadors to the froward.
I. THE DEMANDS OF GOD, THOUGH REJECTED, CANNOT BE BANISHED. The rod which Pharaoh refuses to be shepherded by, cast down before him, springs into life. To those who refuse obedience to God’s Word, that Word will cling and become a living thing. Israel thought to have done with God and to be like the heathen: it was a vain dream. Pharaoh would shake off care, and become like one of whom God had asked nothing: the dream was equally vain. We may deny God, but his words will live and pursue us.
II. THE REJECTED GUIDANCE WILL BE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FROWARD. The rod cast from the hand becomes a serpent. The vain demand for righteousness will at last become the sentence of condemnation, and the sin that is clung to, the sting of death.
III. THE WARNING BECOMES THE LOUDER, THE GREATER THE EFFORT TO DEADEN ITS EFFECT. The rods of the magicians were swallowed up and the rod of God left more terrible than it was before. The Divine retribution will swallow up every comfort and stay which the sinful may summon to sustain them.U.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Exo 7:8-13
The first sign to Pharaoh: the rod becomes a serpent.
I. NOTICE THE REMARKABLE REQUEST WHICH JEHOVAH INDICATES THAT PHARAOH MAY MAKE. Perhaps we might even say, will make. “When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you.” This is a great change from his former attitude, that he should be capable of stooping to such a request. But men who have despotic power sometimes do strange and contradictory things. The freaks of tyrants in the way of a seeming liberality and kindliness are among the curiosities of history. Pharaoh may have said to himself, “It will be rare sport to give this monomaniActs full scope; let him with his own failure expose the delusion under which he is suffering; it may be the shortest way out of the difficulty.” On the other hand, it is not at all improbable that some news of the signs wrought before Israel had percolated through all the barriers which stand between a palace and the life of the common people; and Pharaoh may have wished to discover how far the rumour was founded in reality. Though when we have said all by way of suggesting secondary causes for the request, we must come in the end to this feeling, that the only sufficient way of accounting for it is to treat it as an impulse from Jehovah himself. Certainly his providence must have much to do with gaining access to Pharaoh and keeping up the communications of Moses with him. God can lead Pharaoh, even when he knows not that he is led. Men are walking in the way of God’s providence and serving his purposes, even when quite satisfied in the ignorance of their hearts that they are walking in their own way.
II. NOTICE THE MIRACLE ITSELF. Doubtless the rod in question was the same which had been a serpent twice already; so that by this time Moses must have looked upon it with great serenity of confidence. It is now impossible for us to say why the Lord began his manifestations of power to Pharaoh with this rather than with some other sign. Reasons discernible at the time are not discernible now; the light which would have revealed them has long since died away. We can but see that there was much in the miracle which would have taught valuable lessons to Pharaoh, if only he had received it in the simplicity of one who is really looking for truth and guidance. He would have learned not to despise the absence of promise in the external appearance of things. He would have learned that a thing is not ridiculous because it is laughed at. He would have felt, too, that as the innocent and unimposing rod became suddenly a dangerous serpent, so this Moseshumble, unsustained and impotent as he seemedmight also become all at once a destroying force utterly beyond resistance by any Egyptian defence. Nor must we forget that the choice of this particular sign. may have been influenced by the fact that the magicians had a favourite and imposing trick of their art which, to the uninstructed eye, resembled it. They seemed to do, by their magic, what Moses really did by Divine power, and so their skill, while it had for one result a renewed defiance of Jehovah on the part of Pharaoh, had another result in this, that it led up to a strengthening of the faith of Moses. He might not be able to explain how the magicians did their wonders; but he knew very well that he was no magician himself, and that his rod had been Divinely changed, whatever cause had been at work to change the others. And then, at last, whatever perplexity remained in his mind was swept away when he saw the power of God rising supreme over mere trickery, and the serpent from his rod swallowing up the serpents from the other rods.
III. NOTICE THE THOROUGH WICKEDNESS OF THESE MAGICIANS. They know that their wonders are lying wonders. Powers great by nature, trained and increased with the utmost ingenuity, and which were intended to be and might have been for the good of their fellow-men, they turn without any compunction into instruments for the promotion of their selfish glory. They know that, whatever their pretences may be, they are not acting in a straightforward and humble service of supernatural power. They know that when Pharaoh puts confidence in them, he is putting confidence in a lie. Furthermore, they must have known that there was something in the transformation of Moses’ rod which wanted accounting for. Magicians understand each other’s tricks quite well, and it must have been evident to them that Moses was no magician. They know in their consciences that he is greater than themselves; but what can they say? Committed to lies, they must go on with them. They must pretend to have as much power as Moses, even if they have it not; and thus the induced necessities of their dark and secret arts compel them to hide the truth from Pharaoh. Nor was it any real excuse that Pharaoh was willing to be deceived. His destruction ultimately came from his own perversity; but he also presents the melancholy spectacle of being surrounded by those who, if only they had been truthful, might have interposed some obstacles in his downward way.
IV. NOTICE THE STATE IN WHICH PHARAOH WAS LEFT, EVEN AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE MIRACLE. When Aaron’s rod had swallowed up the others, he still remained unimpressed. It seems as if he had allowed his attention to be fixed on one part of the miracle, while another he regarded but carelessly. When his magicians seemed to produce serpents from rods, this was just according to his inclinations, and he made much of it. Moses could do nothing more than the magicians could do. But when their serpents were swallowed upwell, it was not a very encouraging sightbut still it might be accounted for. And so we are in danger of depreciating the significance of God’s works by not looking at them in every part. Every part is to be regarded, if we are to get the full impression of the whole. If the magicians did what Moses did, it was equally evident that Moses did what the magicians did. A child could see that his power was at least equal to theirs. If Pharaoh had not been blinded by vanity and by traditional reliance on his magicians, he would have demanded that these magicians should do something more than Moses had done. What an illustration we have here, of how, when a man gets away from right thoughts of God, he soon comes to call evil good and good evil (Isa 5:20). Pharaoh believes his lying magicians, though he will not believe the truthful servant of a true God. He has no discriminating power to find the difference between things, which, however they may resemble each other outwardly, are yet inwardly quite opposed. He thinks that he has power enough with his gods to meet whatever power has yet been brought against him. It has been already made evident that there is no sense of pity or justice in him; and it is now made plain that he is not to be reached by the exhibition before him of a significant symbol of pain and destruction. Pharaoh must be touched more closely stillmust be made to suffer, and suffer most dreadfully, before he will consent to let Israel go.Y.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
The Reader for the proper apprehension of this and the following verse, would do well to consider that God sometimes in his providence permits events, which are not within the power or the province of the human mind to account for: whether the magicians did actually do what is here said, or whether they possessed the art to make the spectators think so, is not easy to determine. I think it is more than probable, that the Lord over-ruled those circumstances in order that his sovereignty might, by and by, the more fully appear. See very strikingly to this effect, Exo 8:19 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 7:10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Ver. 10. And it became a serpent. ] Or a dragon, in token of desolation, if they disobeyed; and that their country should become a den of dragons. Isa 13:22
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
as = according as.
Pharaoh. Hebrew “the face of Pharaoh”. Figure of speech Pleonasm. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
as the Lord: Exo 7:9
it became: Exo 4:3, Amo 9:3, Mar 16:18, Luk 10:19
Reciprocal: Exo 6:27 – spake Exo 7:6 – General Exo 7:15 – the rod Num 12:2 – Hath the Lord 1Ki 13:3 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 7:10. It became a serpent This was proper, not only to affect Pharaoh with wonder, but to strike a terror upon him. This first miracle, though it was not a plague, yet amounted to the threatening of a plague; if it made not Pharaoh feel, it made him fear; and this is Gods method of dealing with sinners; he comes upon them gradually.