1ER sprach zu Mosche: Sieh, ich gebe dich Pharao zu einem Gott, und Aharon dein Bruder wird dein Künder sein. 2Reden sollst alles was ich dir gebiete du, doch zu Pharao soll Aharon dein Bruder reden, daß er die Söhne Jissraels aus seinem Land freischicke. 3Ich selber aber härte Pharaos Herz, mehren will ich im Land Ägypten meine Zeichen und meine Erweise: 4wird Pharao nicht auf euch hören, dann gebe ich meine Hand wider Ägypten und führe meine Scharen, mein Volk, die Söhne Jissraels, aus dem Land Ägypten, mit großen Gerichten, 5erkennen werden die Ägypter, daß ICH es bin, wann ich meine Hand über Ägypten strecke und die Söhne Jissraels aus ihrer Mitte führe. 6Mosche tats und Aharon, wie ER ihnen gebot, so taten sie. 7Mosche war achtzig Jahre und Aharon dreiundachtzig Jahre, als sie zu Pharao redeten. 8ER sprach zu Mosche und zu Aharon, sprach: 9Wenn Pharao zu euch reden wird, sprechend: Gebt euch eine Beglaubigung, sprich zu Aharon: Nimm deinen Stecken, wirf ihn hin vor Pharao, er werde zur Otter. 10Mosche kam und Aharon zu Pharao, sie taten so, wie ER geboten hatte, Aharon warf seinen Stecken hin vor Pharao und vor seine Diener, und er wurde zur Otter. 11Auch Pharao berief die Weisen und die Zauberer, und auch sie, die Magier Ägyptens, taten so mit ihren Geheimkünsten, 12sie warfen jedermann seinen Stecken, und die wurden zu Ottern. Doch Aharons Stecken verschlang ihre Stecken. 13Und Pharaos Herz erstarkte, und er hörte nicht auf sie, wie ER geredet hatte. 14ER sprach zu Mosche: Verstockt ist Pharaos Herz - er weigert, das Volk freizuschicken. 15Tritt zu Pharao am Morgen, da geht er aus zum Wasser, stelle dich ihm zu begegnen ans Ufer des Flusses, den Stab aber, der sich zur Schlange wandelte, nimm in deine Hand, 16und sprich zu ihm: ER, der Gott der Ebräer, schickt mich zu dir, sprechend: Schicke mein Volk frei, daß sie in der Wüste mir dienen. Aber da hast du nicht gehört bis nun. 17Nun hat ER so gesprochen: Hieran sollst du erkennen, daß ICH es bin: ich lasse schlagen - mit dem Stab in meiner Hand - auf das Wasser, das im Fluß ist, und es wandelt sich zu Blut, 18das Fischgeschlecht im Fluß stirbt, der Fluß wird stinkend, widern wirds die Ägypter, Wasser vom Fluß zu trinken. 19ER sprach zu Mosche: Sprich zu Aharon: Nimm deinen Stab, strecke deine Hand über die Gewässer Ägyptens, über ihre Stromarme, über ihre Flußgräben, über ihre Teiche und über alle Stauung ihrer Gewässer, dann werden sie Blut, Blut wird sein in allem Land Ägypten, noch im Holzgefäß, noch im Steinzeug. 20Mosche und Aharon taten so, wie ER geboten hatte, er hob den Stecken, er schlug das Wasser im Fluß vor den Augen Pharaos und vor den Augen seiner Diener, und alles Wasser das im Fluß war wandelte sich zu Blut, 21das Fischgeschlecht im Fluß starb, der Fluß wurde stinkend, nicht vermochten die Ägypter Wasser vom Fluß zu trinken, das Blut war in allem Land Ägypten. 22Aber die Magier Ägyptens taten ebenso mit ihren Geheimkünsten, und Pharaos Herz erstarkte, und er hörte nicht auf sie, wie ER geredet hatte. 23Pharao wendete sich, er kam in sein Haus, und er setzte sein Herz auch daran nicht. 24Alles Ägypten bohrte rings um den Fluß nach Wasser, zu trinken, weil sie vom Wasser des Flusses nicht trinken konnten. 25Ein Tagsiebent erfüllte sich, nachdem ER den Fluß geschlagen hatte. 26ER sprach zu Mosche: Komm zu Pharao und sprich zu ihm: So hat ER gesprochen: Schicke mein Volk frei, daß sie mir dienen. 27Und weigerst du, es freizuschicken, da, ich treffe all deine Gemarkung mit Fröschen. 28Frösche wimmelt der Fluß, sie steigen, sie kommen in dein Haus, in dein Schlafgemach, auf dein Bett, ins Haus deiner Diener, unter dein Volk, in deine Backöfen und in deine Teigtröge, 29an dir, an deinem Volk, an all deinen Dienern steigen die Frösche auf.
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.