1Der Ewige aber sprach zu Mosche: «Sieh, ich habe dich als Gott für Par'o eingesetzt, und Aharon, dein Bruder, soll dein Weissager sein. 2Du sollst alles reden, was ich dir gebiete, und dein Bruder Aharon soll zu Par'o sprechen, daß er die Kinder Jisraël aus seinem Land ziehen lasse. 3Ich aber werde Par'os Herz verhärten und will meiner Zeichen und Wahrbeweise viel sein lassen im Land Mizraim. 4Und Par'o wird nicht auf euch hören, und ich werde meine Hand auf Mizraim legen und werde meine Scharen, mein Volk, die Kinder Jisraël, aus Mizraim führen mit großen Strafgerichten. 5Dann sollen die Mizräer erkennen, daß ich der Ewige bin, wenn ich meine Hand ausstrecke über Mizraim und die Kinder Jisraël herausführe aus ihrer Mitte.» 6Und Mosche und Aharon taten, wie der Ewige ihnen befohlen hatte; so taten sie. 7Und Mosche war achtzig Jahre alt und Aharon dreiundachtzig Jahre, als sie zu Par'o redeten. 8Und der Ewige redete zu Mosche und Aharon und sprach: 9«Wenn Par'o zu euch sprechen wird: ,Erbringt doch einen Wahrbeweis für euch!', so sprich zu Aharon: ,Nimm deinen Stab und wirf ihn vor Par'o hin!' Er wird zur Schlange werden!» 10Da kamen Mosche und Aharon zu Par'o und taten so, wie Gott geboten hatte: Aharon warf seinen Stab hin vor Par'o und vor seinen Dienern, und er wurde zur Schlange. 11Aber auch Par'o rief die Weisen und Zauberer; und auch sie, die Schriftkundigen Mizraims, taten dasselbe durch ihre geheimen Künste. 12Es warf ein jeder seinen Stab hin, und die wurden zu Schlangen. Da verschlang der Stab Aharons ihre Stäbe. 13Aber Par'os Herz blieb fest, und er hörte nicht auf sie, wie es der Ewige gesagt hatte. 14Da sprach der Ewige zu Mosche: «Verstockt ist das Herz Par'os; er hat sich geweigert, das Volk ziehen zu lassen. 15Geh zu Par'o am Morgen, da geht er ans Wasser hinaus; dann tritt ihm entgegen am Ufer des Flusses, und den Stab, der sich in eine Schlange verwandelte, nimm in deine Hand 16und sprich zu ihm: Der Ewige, der Gott der Ebräer, hat mich zu dir gesandt, um dir zu sagen: Laß mein Volk ziehen, daß es mir diene in der Wüste; aber nun hast du bisher nicht gehorcht. 17So spricht der Ewige: Daran sollst du erkennen, daß ich der Ewige bin: Sieh, ich schlage mit dem Stab, der in meiner Hand ist, auf das Wasser, das in dem Fluß ist, und es wird sich in Blut verwandeln. 18Und die Fischbrut, die im Fluß ist, wird sterben, und der Fluß wird stinkend werden, daß die Mizräer kein Wasser aus dem Fluß trinken können.» 19Da sprach der Ewige zu Mosche: «Sprich zu Aharon: Nimm deinen Stab und strecke deine Hand aus gegen die Wasser Mizraims, gegen ihre Ströme, gegen ihre Flüsse und gegen ihre Teiche und gegen alle ihre Gewässer, daß sie zu Blut werden; Blut wird sein im ganzen Land Mizraim, selbst in Holz und Stein.» 20Und Mosche und Aharon taten so, wie der Ewige geboten hatte. Und er hob den Stab und schlug das Wasser, das in dem Fluß war, vor den Augen Par'os und seiner Diener. Da verwandelte sich alles Wasser, das im Fluß war, in Blut. 21Und die Fischbrut, die im Fluß war, starb, und der Fluß wurde stinkend, so daß die Mizräer kein Wasser aus dem Fluß trinken konnten. Und das Blut war im ganzen Land Mizraim. 22Aber die Schriftkundigen Mizraims taten ebenso durch ihre geheimen Künste; da ward Par'os Herz fest, und er hörte nicht auf sie, wie es Gott gesagt hatte. 23Und Par'o wandte sich und ging in sein Haus und kehrte sein Herz auch daran nicht. 24Ganz Mizraim aber grub um den Fluß herum nach Wasser, um zu trinken, denn sie konnten von dem Wasser des Flusses nicht trinken. 25So wurden sieben Tage voll, seit der Ewige den Fluß geschlagen hatte. 26Da sprach der Ewige zu Mosche: «Geh zu Par'o und sage ihm: So spricht der Ewige: Laß mein Volk ziehen, daß es mir diene! 27Weigerst du dich aber, es ziehen zu lassen, sieh, so will ich dein ganzes Gebiet mit Fröschen schlagen. 28Und wimmeln wird der Fluß von Fröschen, und sie werden heraufkommen und in dein Haus und in dein Schlafgemach und auf dein Bett dringen, sowie in das Haus deiner Diener und unter dein Volk, und in deine Backöfen und in deine Teigtröge. 29Über dich und dein Volk und alle deine Diener werden die Frösche kommen.»
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 SECOND INTERVIEW WITH PHARAOH. (Exo. 7:1-25)
the Lord said unto Moses--He is here encouraged to wait again on the king--not, however, as formerly, in the attitude of a humble suppliant, but now armed with credentials as God's ambassador, and to make his demand in a tone and manner which no earthly monarch or court ever witnessed.
I have made thee a god--"made," that is, set, appointed; "a god"; that is, he was to act in this business as God's representative, to act and speak in His name and to perform things beyond the ordinary course of nature. The Orientals familiarly say of a man who is eminently great or wise, "he is a god" among men.
Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet--that is, "interpreter" or "spokesman." The one was to be the vicegerent of God, and the other must be considered the speaker throughout all the ensuing scenes, even though his name is not expressly mentioned.
3 I will harden Pharaoh's heart--This would be the result. But the divine message would be the occasion, not the cause of the king's impenitent obduracy.
4 I may lay mine hand upon Egypt, &c.--The succession of terrible judgments with which the country was about to be scourged would fully demonstrate the supremacy of Israel's God.
7 Moses was fourscore years old--This advanced age was a pledge that they had not been readily betrayed into a rash or hazardous enterprise, and that under its attendant infirmities they could not have carried through the work on which they were entering had they not been supported by a divine hand.
9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, &c.--The king would naturally demand some evidence of their having been sent from God; and as he would expect the ministers of his own gods to do the same works, the contest, in the nature of the case, would be one of miracles. Notice has already been taken of the rod of Moses (
Exod 4:2), but rods were carried also by all nobles and official persons in the court of Pharaoh. It was an Egyptian custom, and the rods were symbols of authority or rank. Hence God commanded His servants to use a rod.
10 Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, &c.--It is to be presumed that Pharaoh had demanded a proof of their divine mission.
11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, &c.--His object in calling them was to ascertain whether this doing of Aaron's was really a work of divine power or merely a feat of magical art. The magicians of Egypt in modern times have been long celebrated adepts in charming serpents, and particularly by pressing the nape of the neck, they throw them into a kind of catalepsy, which renders them stiff and immovable--thus seeming to change them into a rod. They conceal the serpent about their persons, and by acts of legerdemain produce it from their dress, stiff and straight as a rod. Just the same trick was played off by their ancient predecessors, the most renowned of whom, Jannes and Jambres (
2Tim 3:8), were called in on this occasion. They had time after the summons to make suitable preparations--and so it appears they succeeded by their "enchantments" in practising an illusion on the senses.
12 but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods--This was what they could not be prepared for, and the discomfiture appeared in the loss of their rods, which were probably real serpents.
14 Pharaoh's heart is hardened--Whatever might have been his first impressions, they were soon dispelled; and when he found his magicians making similar attempts, he concluded that Aaron's affair was a magical deception, the secret of which was not known to his wise men.
15 Get thee unto Pharaoh--Now began those appalling miracles of judgment by which the God of Israel, through His ambassadors, proved His sole and unchallengeable supremacy over all the gods of Egypt, and which were the natural phenomena of Egypt, at an unusual season, and in a miraculous degree of intensity. The court of Egypt, whether held at Rameses, or Memphis, or Tanis in the field of Zoan (
Ps 78:12), was the scene of those extraordinary transactions, and Moses must have resided during that terrible period in the immediate neighborhood.
in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water--for the purpose of ablutions or devotions perhaps; for the Nile was an object of superstitious reverence, the patron deity of the country. It might be that Moses had been denied admission into the palace; but be that as it may, the river was to be the subject of the first plague, and therefore, he was ordered to repair to its banks with the miracle-working rod, now to be raised, not in demonstration, but in judgment, if the refractory spirit of the king should still refuse consent to Israel's departure for their sacred rites.
17 Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their favorite beverage became a nauseous draught, and the fish, which formed so large an article of food, were destroyed. [See on
Num 11:5.] The immense scale on which the plague was inflicted is seen by its extending to "the streams," or branches of the Nile--to the "rivers," the canals, the "ponds" and "pools," that which is left after an overflow, the reservoirs, and the many domestic vessels in which the Nile water was kept to filter. And accordingly the sufferings of the people from thirst must have been severe. Nothing could more humble the pride of Egypt than this dishonor brought on their national god.
22 And the magicians . . . did so with their enchantments, &c.--Little or no pure water could be procured, and therefore their imitation must have been on a small scale --the only drinkable water available being dug among the sands. It must have been on a sample or specimen of water dyed red with some coloring matter. But it was sufficient to serve as a pretext or command for the king to turn unmoved and go to his house.