Exodus 7:11

Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers,.... The cunning men and wizards, a sort of jugglers and deceivers, who pretended to great knowledge of things, to discover secrets, tell

Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

Under the general title of wise men he seems to comprehend all who were most eminent in any sort of wisdom, either natural, or civil, or divine, who were all called to give their opinion and advice in these matters. The magicians, the same now called sorcerers, who acted by the power of the devil, whom by certain rites and ceremonies they engaged to their assistance. Of these the two chief were Jannes and Jambres, . They also did in like manner, in show and appearance, which was not difficult for the devil to do, either by altering the air and the spectators’ sight, and by causing their rods both to look and move like serpents; or by a sudden and secret conveyance of real serpents thither, and removing the rods. Nor is it strange that God permitted those delusions, partly because it was a just punishment upon the Egyptians for their horrid and manifold idolatry, and barbarous cruelty towards the Israelites, and their other wickedness; and partly because there was a sufficient difference made between their impostures, and the real miracles wrought by Moses and Aaron, as appears from the next verse, and from , and from other passages. And this is a great evidence of the truth of Scripture story, and that it was not written by fiction and design. For if Moses had written these books to deceive the world, and to advance his own reputation, (as some have impudently said,) it is ridiculous to think that he would have put in this, and many other passages, which might seem so much to eclipse his honour, and the glory of his works.

Exodus 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.Ver. 11. The wise men and the sorcerers.] Magic is either pure and natural, or impure and diabolical, which implieth a compact with the devil; either overt or covert. The chief of these magicians here were Jannes and Jambres, whose names are also mentioned in the Talmud; Tract. de Oblat., cap. 9. Numenius also, the Pythagorean philosopher, speaketh of them.

(11) The magicians of Egypt.—These persons are called indifferently khΰkβmim, “wise men,” mλ-kashshλphim, “mutterers of charms,” and khartum-mim, “scribes,” perhaps “writers of charms.” Magic was very widely practised in Egypt, and consisted mainly in the composition and employment of charms, which were believed to exert a powerful effect, both over man and over the brute creation. A large part of the “Ritual of the Dead” consists of charms, which were to be uttered by the soul in Hades, in order to enable it to pass the various monsters which it would encounter there. Charms were also regarded as potent in this life to produce or remove disease, and avert the attacks of noxious animals. Some Egyptian works are mere collections of magical receipts, and supply strange prescriptions which are to be used, and mystic words which are to be uttered. A Jewish tradition, accepted by the Apostle Paul (2 Timothy 3:6), spoke of two magicians as the special opponents of Moses, and called them “Jannes and Jambres.” (See the Tar-gums of Jerusalem and of Jonathan, and comp. Numen, ap. Euseb. Pr�p. eν. ix. 8.) The former of these, Jannes, obtained fame as a magician among the classical writers, and is mentioned by Pliny (H. N. xxx. 1) and Apuleius (Apolog. p. 108). It has been supposed by some that the magicians were really in possession of supernatural powers, obtained by a connection with evil spirits; but, on the whole, it is perhaps most probable that they were merely persons acquainted with many secrets of nature not generally known, and trained in tricks of sleight-of-hand and conjuring. They also did in like manner.—The magicians had entered into the royal presence with, apparently, rods in their hands, such as almost all Egyptians carried. These they cast down upon the ground, when they were seen to be serpents. This was, perhaps, the mere exhibition of a trick, well known to Egyptian serpent-charmers in all ages (Description de l’Egypte, vol. i. p. 159), by which a charmed serpent is made to look like a stick for a time, and then disenchanted. Or it may have been effected by sleight-of-hand, which seems to be the true meaning of the word lĕ ?hβtim, translated “enchantments.” (Rosenmόller, Scholia in Exodum, p. 110.)

Verse 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 in futurity, to discover things lost, to find hidden treasures, &c. Magicians, חרטמי chartummey, decypherers of abstruse writings. See Clarke on Genesis 41:8. They also did in like manner with their enchantments.] The word להתים lahatim, comes from להט lahat, to burn, to set on fire and probably signifies such incantations as required lustral fires, sacrifices, fumigations, burning of incense, aromatic and odoriferous drugs, c., as the means of evoking departed spirits or assistant demons, by whose ministry, it is probable, the magicians in question wrought some of their deceptive miracles: for as the term miracle signifies properly something which exceeds the powers of nature or art to produce, (see Exodus 7:9,) hence there could be no miracle in this case but those wrought, through the power of God, by the ministry of Moses and Aaron. There can be no doubt that real serpents were produced by the magicians. On this subject there are two opinions: 1st, That the serpents were such as they, either by juggling or sleight of hand, had brought to the place, and had secreted till the time of exhibition, as our common conjurers do in the public fairs, &c. 2dly, That the serpents were brought by the ministry of a familiar spirit, which, by the magic flames already referred to, they had evoked for the purpose. Both these opinions admit the serpents to be real, and no illusion of the sight, as some have supposed. The first opinion appears to me insufficient to account for the phenomena of the case referred to. If the magicians threw down their rods, and they became serpents after they were thrown down, as the text expressly says, Exodus 7:12, juggling or sleight of hand had nothing farther to do in the business, as the rods were then out of their hands. If Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods, their sleight of hand was no longer concerned. A man, by dexterity of hand, may so far impose on his spectators as to appear to eat a rod but for rods lying on the ground to become serpents, and one of these to devour all the rest so that it alone remained, required something more than juggling. How much more rational at once to allow that these magicians had familiar spirits who could assume all shapes, change the appearances of the subjects on which they operated, or suddenly convey one thing away and substitute another in its place! Nature has no such power, and art no such influence as to produce the effects attributed here and in the succeeding chapters to the Egyptian magicians.

8–13 (P). Moses and Aaron are provided by God with a wonder, which, if the Pharaoh asks for a credential of their mission, they may perform before him. Aaron performs it: but the Egyptian magicians imitate it; and the Pharaoh refuses to listen to them. In Exodus 4:1-5 (J) Moses is empowered to perform a similar wonder before the Israelites.

Three names for the magicians of Egypt are given in this verse. The “wise men” are men who know occult arts. The “sorcerers” are they who “mutter magic formulae,” especially when driving away crocodiles, snakes, asps, etc.

11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers — Literally, mutterers, (of magic formulas.) Now the magicians — Priestly scribes who were skilled in the hieroglyphic wisdom.