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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:3. _I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH'S HEART_] I will permit his stubbornness and obstinacy still to remain, that I may have the greater opportunity to multiply my wonders in the land, that the Egyptians may know that I only am Jehovah, the self-existent God. Exodus 4:21, Exodus 4:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:5. _AND BRING OUT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL_] Pharaoh's obstinacy was either caused or permitted in mercy to the Egyptians, that he and his magicians being suffered to oppose Moses and Aaron to the uttermost of their power, the Israelites might be brought out of Egypt in so signal a mann... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:7. _MOSES WAS FOURSCORE YEARS OLD_] He was _forty_ years old when he went to Midian, and he had tarried _forty_ years in Midian; (see Exodus 2:11, and Acts 7:30); and from this verse it appears that Aaron was three years older than Moses. We have already seen that Miriam their sister... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:9. _SHOW A MIRACLE FOR YOU_] A miracle, מופת _mopheth_, signifies an effect produced in nature which is opposed to its laws, or such as its powers are inadequate to produce. As Moses and Aaron professed to have a Divine mission, and to come to Pharaoh on the most extraordinary occasio... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:10. _IT BECAME A SERPENT._] תנין _tannin_. What kind of a serpent is here intended, learned men are not agreed. From the manner in which the original word is used in Psalms 74:13; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 51:9; Job 7:12; some very large creature, either aquatic or amphibious, is probably... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:11. _PHARAOH - CALLED THE WISE MEN_] חכמים _chacamim_, the men of learning. _Sorcerers_, כשפים cashshephim, those who _reveal_ hidden things; probably from the Arabic root [Arabic] _kashafa_, to _reveal, uncover_, c., signifying _diviners_, or those who pretended to _reveal_ what was... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:12. _AARON'S ROD SWALLOWED UP THEIR RODS._] As Egypt was remarkably addicted to magic, sorcery, c., it was necessary that God should permit Pharaoh's wise men to act to the utmost of their skill in order to imitate the work of God, that his superiority might be clearly seen, and his... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:13. _AND HE HARDENED PHARAOH'S HEART_] ויחזק לב פרעה _vaiyechezah leb Paroh_, "And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened," the identical words which in Exodus 7:22 are thus translated, and which should have been rendered in the same way here, lest the _hardening_, which was evidently the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:14. _PHARAOH'S HEART IS HARDENED_] כבד _cabed_, is become _heavy_ or _stupid_; he receives no conviction, notwithstanding the clearness of the light which shines upon him. We well know the power of _prejudice_: where persons are determined to think and act after a predetermined plan,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:15. _LO, HE GOETH OUT UNTO THE WATER_] Probably for the purpose of bathing, or of performing some religious ablution. Some suppose he went out to pay adoration to the river Nile, which was an object of religious worship among the ancient Egyptians. "For," says Plutarch, De Iside., ουδ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:17. _BEHOLD, I WILL SMITE_] Here commences the account of the TEN _plagues_ which were inflicted on the Egyptians by Moses and Aaron, by the command and through the power of God. According to Archbishop Usher these ten plagues took place in the course of one month, and in the followin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:18. _THE EGYPTIANS SHALL LOATHE TO DRINK OF THE WATER_] The force of this expression cannot be well felt without taking into consideration the peculiar pleasantness and great salubrity of the waters of the Nile. "The water of Egypt," says the Abbe Mascrier, "is so delicious, that one... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:19. _THAT THERE MAY BE BLOOD - BOTH IN_ VESSELS OF _WOOD, AND_ _IN_ VESSELS OF _STONE._] Not only the Nile itself was to be thus changed into blood in all its branches, and the canals issuing from it, but all the water of _lakes, ponds_, and _reservoirs_, was to undergo a similar cha... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE_ FIRST _PLAGUE_. _THE_ WATERS _TURNED INTO_ BLOOD Verse Exodus 7:20. _ALL THE WATERS - WERE TURNED TO BLOOD._] Not merely in appearance, but in reality; for these changed waters became corrupt and insalubrious, so that even the fish that were in the river died; and the smell became highly offe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:22. _AND THE MAGICIANS - DID SO_] But if all the water in Egypt was turned into blood by Moses, where did the magicians get the water which _they_ changed into blood? This question is answered in Exodus 7:24. The Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink, and it seems... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 7:25. _AND SEVEN DAYS WERE FULFILLED_] So we learn that this plague continued at least a whole week. THE contention between Moses and Aaron and the magicians of Egypt has become famous throughout the world. Tradition in various countries has preserved not only the account, but also th... [ Continue Reading ]