Exodus 7:25

And seven days were fulfilled,.... Or there were full seven days, a whole week: after that the Lord had smitten the river, and turned it into blood; here the miracle is ascribed to him; Moses and

And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river. Seven days were fulfilled, after the Lord had smitten the river.

For seven days were fulfilled, ere all the waters of Egypt were perfectly free from this infection. Quest. How could the Egyptians subsist so long without water? Answ. 1. Philo tells us that many of them died of this plague. 2. As the plague might come on, so it might go off, by degrees; and so the water, though mixed with blood, might give them some relief. 3. The juices of herbs, and other liquors, which were untouched with this plague, might refresh them. 4. They might have some water, either from their pits, or by rain from heaven, as was said before; or from Goshen; for though it be said that the blood was in all their vessels, , yet it is not said that all that should afterwards be put into them should be turned into blood.

Exodus 7:25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.Ver. 25. And seven days were fulfilled.] So long the plague continued; that they might be sensible of it; and not do as the dog, who getting out of the water, shakes his ears, and there is an end. Surely if these Egyptians had believed the prediction of this plague, they would have done as Pliny saith camels do - Implentur cameli, cum bibendi est occasio et in praeteritum et in futurum. They would have drunk for hereafter also. Plin., lib. viii. cap. 18.

(25) And seven days were fulfilled.—These words seem to mark the duration of the first plague, which was the longer because Pharaoh made no submission at all in consequence of it. Obtaining sufficient water for his own purposes (see the comment on Exodus 7:23), he thought little of its continuance.

Verse 25. And seven days were fulfilled] So we learn that this plague continued at least a whole week. THE contention between Moses and Aaron and the magicians of Egypt has become famous throughout the world. Tradition in various countries has preserved not only the account, but also the names of the chief persons concerned in the opposition made by the Egyptians to these messengers of God. Though their names are not mentioned in the sacred text, yet tradition had preserved them in the Jewish records, from which St. Paul undoubtedly quotes 2 Timothy 3:8, where, speaking of the enemies of the Gospel, he compares them to Jannes and Jambres, who withstood Moses. That these names existed in the ancient Jewish records, their own writings show. In the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel on this place they are called יניס וימבריס Janis and Jambris; and in the Babylonian Talmud they are named Joanne and Mambre, and are represented as chiefs of the sorcerers of Egypt, and as having ridiculed Moses and Aaron for pretending to equal them in magical arts. And Rab. Tanchum, in his Commentary, names them Jonos and Jombrus. If we allow the readings of the ancient editions of Pliny to be correct, he refers, in Hist. Nat., l. xxx., c. 2, to the same persons, the names being a little changed: Est et alia magices factio, a Mose et Jamne et Jotape Judaeis pendens, sed multis millibus annorum post Zoroastrem; "There is also another faction of magicians which took its origin from the Jews, Moses, Jamnes, and Jotapes, many thousands of years after Zoroaster;" where he confounds Moses with the Egyptian magicians; for the heathens, having no just notion of the power of God, attributed all miracles to the influence of magic. Pliny also calls the Egyptian magicians Jews; but this is not the only mistake in his history; and as he adds, sed multis millibus annorum post Zoroastrem, he is supposed by some to refer to the Christians, and particularly the apostles, who wrought many miracles, and whom he considers to be a magical sect derived from Moses and the Jews, because they were Jews by nation, and quoted Moses and the prophets in proof of the truth of the doctrines of Christianity, and of the Divine mission of Christ. Numenius, a Pythagorean philosopher, mentioned by Eusebius, names these magicians, Jamnes and Jambres, and mentions their opposition to Moses; and we have already seen that there was a tradition among the Asiatics that Pharaoh's daughter had Moses instructed by the wise men Jannes and Jambres; see Abul Faraje, edit. Pococ., p. 26. Here then is a very remarkable fact, the principal circumstances of which, and the chief actors in them, have been preserved by a sort of universal tradition. See Ainsworth. When all the circumstances of the preceding case are considered, it seems strange that God should enter into any contest with such persons as the Egyptian magicians; but a little reflection will show the absolute necessity of this. Mr.

Seven days - This marks the duration of the plague. The natural discoloration of the Nile water lasts generally much longer, about 20 days.

25. Seven days — A week passed while the Nile rolled blood through Egypt, but Pharaoh obstinately shut himself in his house and made no sign of submission.