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
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.