Exodus 7

The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 1. The God of Pharao, that is to be his Judge; and to exercise a divine power, as God’s instrument, over him and people. Challoner.—Artapanus says, Moses was afterwards adored by the Egyptians.—Prophet, or interpreter. Thou shalt reveal my orders to him. Calmet.—Moses participated in the divine nature, as judge, priest, prophet, and so forth Worthington.

Read all chapter notes

2

You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

3

I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 3. I shall harden, and so forth; not by being the efficient cause of his hardness of heart, but by permitting it; and by withdrawing grace from him, in punishment of his malice; which alone was the proper cause of his being hardened. Challoner.—He took occasion even from the miracles to become more obdurate. Bible.—Yet Pharao was less impious than Calvin, for he takes the sin to himself. Calmet. 9:27. Tirinus.

Read all chapter notes

4

But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

5

The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand on Egypt, and bring the children of Israel out from among them.”

6

Moses and Aaron did so. As the LORD commanded them, so they did.

7

Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8

The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

9

“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Perform a miracle!’ then you shall tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.’”

10

Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as the LORD had commanded. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 10. Took, or “threw down,” as the Hebrew and Septuagint read.

Read all chapter notes

11

Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 11. Magicians. Jannes and Mambres, or Jambres. 2 Timothy 3:8. Challoner.—The pagans represented Moses as the greatest of magicians. (Plin. xxx. 1. Justin xxxvi.—They also, and so forth Hebrew has three terms, “wise men, diviners, and magicians;” but the two last seem to be of the same import. “The enchanters did the like by their secret practices,” either by words or by actions. Some say these operations were real; others affirm they were only apparent, and mere delusions. Calmet.—“Whoever believes that any thing can be made, or any creature changed or transmuted into another species or appearance, except by the Creator himself, is undoubtedly an infidel, and worse than a pagan.” Coun. of Orange. See Saint Augustine q. 21, de Trin. iii. 7.; Saint Thomas Aquinas ii. 2. q. 17. a 2.—The devil deceived the senses of the beholders; or brought real serpents, and so forth thither. Menochius.

Read all chapter notes

12

For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 12. Devoured. Thus the superiority remained with Aaron. The rod was then restored to its pristine form, verse 15. Bible.

Read all chapter notes

13

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken.

14

The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.

15

Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he is going out to the water. You shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him. You shall take the rod which was turned to a serpent in your hand.

16

You shall tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. Behold, until now you haven’t listened.”

17

The LORD says, “In this you shall know that I am the LORD. Behold: I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 17. My hand. The rod was in the hand of Moses, but he was God’s agent. Menochius.

Read all chapter notes

18

The fish that are in the river will die and the river will become foul. The Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the river.”’”

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 18. River. The Samaritan copy repeats here the very words of God to Pharao, as the other speeches are also twice put at length. “Moses and Aaron went to meet Pharao, and said to him, ‘The Lord,’ ” and so forth as verse 16, 18. See Calmet. 11:7. Calmet.—This is very agreeable to the style of Homer; and Kennicott believes that the repetitions have been omitted in the Hebrew for brevity’s sake, (Diss. 1 Chron. p. 383,) and that before the Greek version had been made. Bible.

Read all chapter notes

19

The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood. There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

20

Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

21

The fish that were in the river died. The river became foul. The Egyptians couldn’t drink water from the river. The blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 21. All the land, even in that of Gessen, which belonged to the Egyptians; while the Hebrews had good water. Menochius.

Read all chapter notes

22

The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 22. Like. They got a small quantity of water, either from the sea, from Gessen, (Wisd. 11:5,) or by digging wells, verse 24. Calmet.—This plague lasted a full week, verse 25. The water which they found in the mean time in the wells was mixed with blood, Philo. Saint Augustine in Ps. lxxvii. Wisdom 11:7, thou gavest human blood to the unjust.

Read all chapter notes

23

Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he didn’t even take this to heart.

24

All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn’t drink the river water.

25

Seven days were fulfilled, after the LORD had struck the river.