Exodus 7:9

_WHEN PHARAOH SHALL SPEAK UNTO YOU, SAYING, SHEW A MIRACLE FOR YOU: THEN THOU SHALT SAY UNTO AARON, TAKE THY ROD, AND CAST IT BEFORE PHARAOH, AND IT SHALL BECOME A SERPENT._ When Pharaoh shall speak ... Since the king would naturally demand some evidence of their having been sent from God, Moses and Aaron are not only prepared to expect such an inquiry into the credentials of their commission, but instructed in what form the demonstration should be given. SHOW A MIRACLE FOR YOU, х_ MOWPEET_ (H4159)] - a wonder, a great and splendid deed (Gesenius); also a sign or proof of a divine commission (Deuteronomy 13:2-3; 1 Kings 13:3; 1 Kings 13

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 7:9. _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 occasion, making a most singular and unprecedented demand, it was natural to suppose, if Pharaoh should even give them an audience, that he would require them to give him some proof by an extraordinary sign that their pretensions to such a Divine mission were well founded and incontestable. For it appears to have ever been the sense of mankind, that he who has a Divine mission to effect some extraordinary purpose can give a supernatural proof that he has got this extraordinary commission. _TAKE THY ROD_] This rod, whether a common staff, an ensign of office, or a sheph

THY ROD - Apparently the rod before described Exodus 4:2, which Moses on this occasion gives to Aaron as his representative. A SERPENT - A word different from that in Exodus 4:3. Here a more general term, תנין _tannı̂yn_, is employed, which in other passages includes all sea or river monsters, and is more specially applied to the crocodile as a symbol of Egypt. It occurs in the Egyptian ritual, nearly in the same form, “Tanem,” as a synonym of the monster serpent which represents the principle of antagonism to light and life....

EXPOSITION EXODUS 7:1 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 (Exodus 5:1) and his recent rejection by the people of Israel (Exodus 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 (Exodus 7:9). Fr

WHEN PHARAOH SHALL SPEAK UNTO YOU, SAYING, SHOW A MIRACLE FOR YOU,.... To prove that they came from God, the Jehovah they said they did, and that they were his ambassadors, and came in his name, and made the demand for him; which when he seriously reflected on things, he would be ready to require, hoping they would not be able to show any, and then he should have somewhat against them, and treat them as impostors: THEN THOU SHALT SAY UNTO AARON, TAKE THY ROD; the same that Moses had in his hand at Horeb, and brought with him to Egypt; this he had delivered into the hand of Aaron, who was to be his agent, and with this rod do signs and wonders as he did, and on account of them it is sometimes called the rod of God: AND CAST IT BEFORE PHARAOH, AND IT SHALL BECOME A SERPENT; as it became one before at Horeb, when Moses by the order of God cast it on the ground, and afterwards became a rod...

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

SHEW. MIRACLE FOR YOU. show us. sign. SERPENT. Hebrew. _thaunin. a_ crocodile....

WHEN PHARAOH SHALL SPEAK UNTO YOU, SAYING, SHEW A MIRACLE— Hence it appears evidently, that miracles were judged, by the common sense of mankind, a proper and sufficient proof of a commission from God. Our Saviour constantly made this appeal: _believe me for the work's sake:—the works which I do, they witness for me,_ &c. Grotius has an ingenious conjecture on this place, that the custom of ambassadors bearing a caduceus or rod in their hands, was first derived from this event to the neighbouring nations; and from them to the Greeks and Romans: and it is remarkable, that the caduceus of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, was formed of two serpents twined round a rod....