I have made thee a god - At thy word every plague shall come, and at thy command each shall be removed. Thus Moses must have appeared as a god to Pharaoh. Shall be thy prophet - Shall receive the word from thy mouth, and communicate it to the Egyptian king, Exodus 7:2 . read more
I will harden Pharaoh's heart - I will permit his stubbornness and obstinacy still to remain, that I may have the greater opportunity to multiply my wonders in the land, that the Egyptians may know that I only am Jehovah, the self-existent God. See Clarke's note on Exodus 4:21 . read more
And bring out the children of Israel - Pharaoh's obstinacy was either caused or permitted in mercy to the Egyptians, that he and his magicians being suffered to oppose Moses and Aaron to the uttermost of their power, the Israelites might be brought out of Egypt in so signal a manner, in spite of all the opposition of the Egyptians, their king, and their gods, that Jehovah might appear to be All-mighty and All-sufficient. read more
Moses was fourscore years old - He was forty years old when he went to Midian, and he had tarried forty years in Midian; (see Exodus 2:11 , and Acts 7:30 ;); and from this verse it appears that Aaron was three years older than Moses. We have already seen that Miriam their sister was older than either, Exodus 2:4 . read more
Show a miracle for you - A miracle, מופת mopheth , signifies an effect produced in nature which is opposed to its laws, or such as its powers are inadequate to produce. As Moses and Aaron professed to have a Divine mission, and to come to Pharaoh on the most extraordinary occasion, making a most singular and unprecedented demand, it was natural to suppose, if Pharaoh should even give them an audience, that he would require them to give him some proof by an extraordinary sign that their... read more
It became a serpent - תנין tannin . What kind of a serpent is here intended, learned men are not agreed. From the manner in which the original word is used in Psalm 74:13 ; Isaiah 27:1 ; Isaiah 51:9 ; Job 7:12 ; some very large creature, either aquatic or amphibious, is probably meant; some have thought that the crocodile, a well-known Egyptian animal, is here intended. In Exodus 4:3 ; it is said that this rod was changed into a serpent, but the original word there is נחש ... read more
Pharaoh - called the wise men - חכמים chacamim , the men of learning. Sorcerers, כשפים cashshephim , those who reveal hidden things; probably from the Arabic root kashafa , to reveal, uncover, etc., signifying diviners, or those who pretended to reveal what was in futurity, to discover things lost, to find hidden treasures, etc. Magicians, חרטמי chartummey , decipherers of abstruse writings. See Clarke's note on Genesis 41:8 . They also did in like manner with their... read more
Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods - As Egypt was remarkably addicted to magic, sorcery, etc., it was necessary that God should permit Pharaoh's wise men to act to the utmost of their skill in order to imitate the work of God, that his superiority might be clearly seen, and his powerful working incontestably ascertained; and this was fully done when Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. We have already seen that the names of two of the chief of these magicians were Jannes and Jambres; see... read more
And he hardened Pharaoh's heart - פרעה לב ויחזק vaiyechezak leb Paroh , "And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened," the identical words which in Exodus 7:22 ; are thus translated, and which should have been rendered in the same way here, lest the hardening, which was evidently the effect of his own obstinate shutting of his eyes against the truth, should be attributed to God. See Clarke's note on Exodus 4:21 . read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 7
The dignified mission of Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh - the one to be as God, the other as a prophet of the Most High, Exodus 7:1 , Exodus 7:2 . The prediction that Pharaoh's heart should be hardened, that God might multiply his signs and wonders in Egypt, that the inhabitants might know he alone was the true God, Exodus 7:3-4 . The age of Moses and Aaron, Exodus 7:7 . God gives them directions how they should act before Pharaoh, Exodus 7:5 , Exodus 7:9 . Moses turns his rod into a... read more