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| 1 And Jehovah said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. |
Made thee a god – Elohim, mighty one, a name applied to Jehovah as well as to men. E68; R338:2, R421:3, R1410:3
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| 2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. |
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| 3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. |
Harden Pharaoh's heart – See comment on Exodus 4:21.
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| 4 But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. |
By great judgments – The plagues were doubtless a full compensation of justice upon the Egyptians. R5271:3
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| 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. |
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| 6 And Moses and Aaron did so; as Jehovah commanded them, so did they. |
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| 7 And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh. |
Fourscore – The fourscore, or twice forty, would bring us to 1878 in the antitype when Christ spake to Pharaoh (the world) by an act, in restoring Israel to favor. R181:6*
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| 8 And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, |
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| 9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent. |
Shew a miracle – These three signs signified certain truths which, in the present time, will be convincing to the Lord's true people. R2910:5
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| 10 And Moses and Aaron went in before Pharaoh, and they did so, as Jehovah had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, that it became a serpent. |
Became a serpent – Symbolizing that all the evil there is in the world is the result of God's having let go of his rod or authority temporarily. R4058:4
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| 11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their enchantments. |
Then Pharaoh – Type of Satan. R5273:2, R5419:5, R2910:2; F458
And the sorcerers – Sorcery, witchcraft and enchantments are manifestations of Satan and of demons for the delusion of mankind. R2110:2, R2189:3
Magicians – Satan's mediums. R341:1*
The names of these magicians are given to us in 2 Tim. 3:8, where it is stated that, aresist the message of God. R3994:5, R4060:2, R2189:3
Of Egypt – Satan's dominion of sin and death. R5643:1, R5273:1; F458
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| 12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. |
They became serpents – Symbolizing the various views of the permission of evil which have been put forth by theologians of the past. R4060:4
Perhaps in some way the power of God will appear to be evil. Somehow God will permit the world, under the power of Satan, to have an hour of triumph during a great time of trouble. R5419:5
There are but two sources of occult power-divine and satanic. R5271:5
The Egyptian plagues were miraculous from one standpoint; not so from another. R5271:2
Duplicated under Satan's knowledge of natural laws. R1685:3
Some have surmised that they performed a trick common in India by hypnotizing a serpent. We are not sure, however, that the magicians did not do more than this. R5271:5
Satan's first agent was the serpent. R265:3
The powers of darkness have liberty and ability to perform wonders of certain kinds under certain circumstances. R2206:6
But Aaron's rod – The correct view on the permission of evil is such that it quite swallows up all the suggestions and theories of the past. R4060:4
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| 13 And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as Jehovah had spoken. |
And he hardened – See comment on Exodus 4:21.
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| 14 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is stubborn, he refuseth to let the people go. |
The people – In the antitype it will be the "groaning creation" that will be delivered. R2910:2
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| 15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the waters; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand. |
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| 16 And thou shalt say unto him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou hast not hearkened. |
Let my people go – Representing the call of the Christian Church to come out from the world and to engage in his worship. T25
In the wilderness – Condition of separation from the world. T70
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| 17 Thus saith Jehovah, In this thou shalt know that I am Jehovah: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. |
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| 18 And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river. |
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| 19 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the waters of Egypt, over the rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. |
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| 20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as Jehovah commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote 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. |
All the waters – The first three plagues were common to all in Egypt. The next six plagues affected only the Egyptians. R5640:3, R5272:2
The truth, as contained in millions of pages of tracts, poured upon the symbolic earth, society, liberally in many lands and in many languages. R4059:6
Were turned to blood – Perhaps it resulted from the inconceivably rapid growth of microscopic animals (infusoria) and minute cryptogamous plants of a red color. R3994:5, R5271:6
To society the truth seems repulsive, undesirable, bloody. They resent even the thought that the sacrifice for sins was the blood of Christ. R4060:1
Almost as miraculous as the turning of water into wine by our Lord at Cana. R5271:6
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| 21 And the fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. |
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| 22 And the magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as Jehovah had spoken. |
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| 23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart. |
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| 24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the waters of the river. |
The Egyptians digged around – The world (Christendom, Churchianity) seek for truth in various ways of their own. R4060:4
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| 25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that Jehovah had smitten the river. |
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