Exodus 7:12

_FOR THEY CAST DOWN EVERY MAN HIS ROD, AND THEY BECAME SERPENTS: BUT AARON'S ROD SWALLOWED UP THEIR RODS._ But Aaron's rod ... This was what they could not be prepared for, and the discomfiture appeared in the loss of their rods, which were probably real serpents....

12._For they cast down every man. _The number of the magicians is not expressed; and although Paul names two, Jannes and Jambres, (86) (2 Timothy 3:8,) it is probable that they were not the only ones, but the chief, and, as it were, the ringleaders. But I will not dispute this questionable point. The admonition of Paul is more to the purpose, that “as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses,” so also there should always be false teachers, who would oppose Christ’s true ministers, and indeed should “wax worse and worse.” (Verse 13.) It is an awful fact that the reins were so given to these magicians, that they contended with Moses in almost an equal contest. But the ingratitude of the world is worthy of bearing the same punishment of blindness. God elsewhere testifies that when He permits false prophets to work miracles to deceive, it is to prove men’s hea

8-13 What men dislike, because it opposes their pride and lusts, they will not be convinced of; but it is easy to cause them to believe things they wish to be true. God always sends with his word full proofs of its Divine authority; but when men are bent to disobey, and willing to object, he often permits a snare to be laid wherein they are entangled. The magicians were cheats, trying to copy the real miracles of Moses by secret sleights or jugglings, which to a small extent they succeeded in doing, so as to deceive the bystanders, but they were at length obliged to confess they could not any longer imitate the effects of Divine power. None assist more in the destruction of sinners, than such as resist the truth by amusing men with a counterfeit resemblance of it. Satan is most to be dreaded when transformed into an angel of light....

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 powerful working incontestably ascertained and this was fully done when _Aaron's rod swallowed up_ _their rods_. We have already seen that the names of two of the chief of these magicians were _Jannes_ and _Jambres_; Exodus 2:10, Exodus 2:10, and 2 Timothy 3:8. Many traditions and fables concerning thes...

EXPOSITION THE FIRST SIGN, AND ITS FAILURE TO CONVINCE. Obeying the command given them (Exodus 7:2, Exodus 7:9), Moses and Aaron went to the court a second time, and entering into the royal presence, probably repeated their demand—as from God—that the king would let the Children of Israel go (Exodus 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 Exodus 7:9 ("Shew a miracle for you"), or in some equiva

FOR THEY CAST DOWN EVERY MAN HIS ROD, AND THEY BECAME SERPENTS,.... That is, they seemed to be so, as Josephus z expresses it, but not really, in which he is followed by many; though some think that the devil assisted in this affair, and in an instant, as soon as the rods were cast down, removed them and put real serpents in their room: BUT AARON'S ROD SWALLOWED UP THEIR RODS; that is, the serpent that Aaron's rod was turned into, swallowed up the rods of the magicians, which never were otherwise than rods only in appearance; or if real serpents were put in the room of them, these were devoured by his serpent called his rod, because it was before turned into a serpent, as Aben Ezra observes; though the Targums of Jonathan, Jarchi, and R. Jeshua, suppose this was done after the serpent became a rod again; which makes the miracle the greater and more wonderful, that a rod should devour ot...

AARON'S ROD (Cf) (Exodus 4:2) As Moses' rod was the rod of power, the rod of the King (Deuteronomy 33:4); (Deuteronomy 33:5) so Aaron's was the rod of life, the rod of the Priest. As here the serpents, symbols of Satan, who had the power of death; (Revelation 12:9); (Hebrews 2:14) are swallowed up, so in resurrection death will be "swallowed up in victory"; (1 Corinthians 15:54); ...

CHAPTER S 6:28-7:13 THE RENEWED COMMISSION AND BEFORE PHARAOH AGAIN _ 1. Renewed commission and renewed hesitation (Exodus 6:28)_ 2. Jehovah's instructions (Exodus 7:1) 3. Before Pharaoh and the sign of the rod (Exodus 7:10) Once more Moses received his commission, and again he hesitated on account of his poor speech. After all the gracious words Jehovah had spoken he pleads again his weakness. It shows what the unbelieving heart is. Twice Jehovah said that Moses should be a god. A god to Aaron (4:16) and a god to Pharaoh (7:1). He received divine authority and power over Pharaoh, while he was to his spokesman Aaron a god, because the word he uttered to him to communicate to Pharaoh was the word of

EXODUS 7:8 P. AARON AND THE MAGICIANS: HARDENING OF PHARAOH'S HEART. Magic and religion are, in the last analysis, fundamentally diverse; for, while magic claims to put a compelling constraint upon occult powers, religion implies a relation and dependence upon a personal Being of which prayer is the characteristic expression (p. 187). But the two have been, and are still, almost inextricably intermingled. It is not surprising, therefore, to find magical powers, in all good faith, claimed for the servants of Yahweh, and allowed, in inferior degree, to exist among His enemies. Magic has been called the science of primitive times, and its obvious success is due to a mixture of bluff, shrewd prognostication, cunning contrivance (_cf._ secret arts, Exodus 7:11 _mg._), and sleight-of-hand. Serpent-charmi

MAN. Hebrew. _'ish._ App-14. ROD. Figure of speech _Ampliatio_ (App-6). The rod still called. rod, though it had become. serpent. SWALLOWED UP: and thus inflicted the first blow on the gods of Egypt. See note on Exodus 7:20....