It was not to be expected that the general series of events related in the first fourteen chapters of Exodus should obtain any direct mention in the historical records of Egypt. As M. Chabas remarks, “events of this kind were not entitled to be inscribed on the public monuments, where nothing was ever registered except successes and triumphs.” The court historiographers would naturally refrain from all mention of the terrible plagues from which Egypt suffered during a whole year, as well as from any record of the disaster of the Red Sea; and the monarch would certainly not inscribe any account of them upon his edifices. G. R.

PLEDGES RENEWED TO ISRAEL. CHARGE TO MOSES AND AARON. HEADS OF HOUSES. HARDENING OF PHARAOH’S HEART.

6 : 2 AND God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am JEHOVAH : and I appeared unto 3 Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH I was not 4 known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land 5 of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, wherein they sojourned. And moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I 6 have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments; 7 and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God : and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage : I am Jehovah. 9 And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel : but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. 10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, 11 that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses spake before the LORD, 12 saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh 13 hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. 14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses : the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; 15 Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi : these are the families of Reuben. And the sons of Simeon : Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a 16 Canaanitish woman : these are the families of Simeon. And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations : Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari : and the 17 years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years. The sons of Gershon ; 18 Libni and Shimei, according to their families. And the sons of Kohath ; Amram, and

Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty 19 and three years. And the sons of Merari; Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the 20 Levites according to their generations. And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an 21 hundred and thirty and seven years. And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nephreg, and 22 Zichri. And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri. And Aaron took him 23 Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, to wife; and she bare him 24 Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and 25 Abiasaab; these are the families of the Korahites. And Eleazar Aaron’s son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas. These are the heads of the 26 fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families. These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according 27 to their hosts. These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron. 28 And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 that the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of 30 Egypt all that I speak unto thee. And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of unciv- 7:1 cumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pha- 3 raoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh’s 4 heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people 5 the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgements. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out 6 the children of Israel from among them. And Moses and Aaron did so; as the LORD com- 7 manded them, so did they. And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh. 8 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto 9 you, saying, Shew a wonder for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and 10 cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so, as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod be- 11 fore Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like man- 12 ner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became 13 serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken.

6:2-13. The oppression of the people, Moses’ call and going down into Egypt, his first announcement of the Divine will to Pharaoh, the refusal of the king, the still harder servitude of Israel,—all this combined had extorted from Moses the almost despairing cry of complaint (ch. 5:22, 23). Now commences properly the history of the deliverance. In another appear- ance and address, God renews the former dec- larations and promises. He explains more fully the name by which it was his wish to be known to Israel. Even this fresh and solemn declaration of his gracious purposes makes no impression on the people under their hard burdens, and Moses repeats his complaints. Henceforth begin the deeds of the Lord—his wonders in Egypt. Gerl.

3. I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty (Hebrew El-Shaddai), but by my name Je- hovah was I not known to them.** It was not the name, but the true depth of its significance which was unknown to and uncom- prehended by the patriarchs. They had known God as the omnipotent, El-Shaddai, the ruler of the physical universe, and of man as one of his creatures; as a God eternal, immutable, and true to his promises he was yet to be revealed. Dic. B.—The meaning is, not that the name Jehovah was never used by them or given of God to them; but that its special significance had not been manifested to them as he was now about to make it manifest. His power God had revealed—his power to protect them in their perils, his power to fulfil to Abraham the prom- ise of a son; but such a glorious testimony to his faithfulness in fulfilling promise as was now to be given, the patriarchs had never seen. The redemption of Israel from Egyptian bond- age was destined to stand through all the ages of their history as the crowning manifestation of God’s faithfulness—the standard and unsur- passed testimony to the significance of his most honored name Jehovah. By this shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God when I bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and bring you into the land given by solemn oath to your fathers and to their posterity for a heritage (vs. 7, 8). H. C.

El-Shaddai is the Almighty God, who by his creative omnipotence prepared the natural conditions and vital agencies required for the development of salvation, and hence the word sets forth one view of the Elohistic existence of God, on which it was necessary that peculiar stress should be laid. Jehovah is the God engaged in the development of salvation, who enters into it himself, manifests himself in it and with it, and therefore conducts it with absolute certainty to the desired result. All that Jehovah had performed in connection with the patriarchal history was limited to the election and call of individuals, to the communication of directions and promises, and the fostering of faith in the directions and promises given. Hitherto there had been no embodiment in fact; there had been merely the introduction of an idea, which was to be realized and embodied for the first time at Sinai. Hence the patriarchs could only grasp the operations of Jehovah in faith and hope; they could not see them; they did not feel and know them as something actually accomplished and fulfilled. This was reserved for their descendants, to whom Moses was sent with the message that it was now about to happen. This then, and this alone, is the meaning of the words of God: “They have known me, my nature, and my operations, as El-Shaddai, but not as Jehovah; you shall soon know me as Jehovah also. K.—The time was now come when God was to be known by his name “Jehovah,” in the doing of what he had before decreed, and the fulfilling of what he had before promised. Accordingly in the words immediately following (vs. 4-8), God goes on to assure them that he will make good his promise by establishing his covenant. Bush.

The name Jehovah was (or rather became) undoubtedly a new one then, but only in the sense in which Christ said, “A new commandment give I unto you,” whereas he merely repeated one of the primary commandments, which we find in the Old Testament and meet with on every hand in the laws of Moses. It was a commandment, however, the fulness and depth, the meaning, force, and value of which were first unfolded by the gospel. And just as the greatest act of love which the world ever witnessed provided a new field for the exemplification of this command in greater glory than was possible under the law, and thus the old commandment became a new one; so did the new act of God in the redemption of Israel from Egypt, furnish a new field in which the ancient name of God struck fresh and deeper roots, and thus the ancient name became a new one. K.

The Divine Being who appeared to these ancient saints many times in various visible forms and covenanted with them, did never assume the name Jehovah to himself in the appearances, nor covenant with them by this name. He appeared unto Abraham, entering into covenant with him as El-Shaddai, “God Almighty.” Isaac in transferring the blessings of the covenant to Jacob used the same covenant title, “God Almighty bless thee.” So when God appeared to Jacob, again the title El-Shaddai was the covenant name used. God might say, “I am Jehovah, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name God Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by my name, Jehovah, was I not made known to them.” Observe, it is not “I was not known,” but “not made known”—that is, did not reveal myself by that name in any theophany to covenant with them. And not only is this statement in precise harmony with the facts of the previous history, but is itself the key to the singular fact, that though so often spoken of as Jehovah in other relations, God had not announced himself as such in any of the many covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This term Jehovah, while it is applied to the invisible God, is applied in the narration also to the visible God manifest in the flesh and in the shadowy forms of the ancient theophanies which foreshadowed the incarnation. Not without abundant reason in the history might Jesus assume to himself the title “Ehjeh,” saying, “Before Abraham was I AM.” And if it was Jesus in his pre-existing nature, the second person of the Godhead, that in this patriarchal history made these appearances to Abraham and entered into the covenant with him—and this is Jesus Christ the second person of the Godhead who appears in the burning bush and speaks to Moses—then have we found the clew of the somewhat singular application of the titles of God found in the patriarchal history. If Jesus is the Jehovah in the revelation of the burning bush, then he is also, for he declares he is, the El-Shaddai—Almighty God—who covenanted with Abraham—and the Angel of the covenant so often mentioned in the history of the patriarch. And he is called the Angel because, as mediator and messenger of the Infinite, invisible God, he is sent on these missions to earth. Now, though the name Jehovah was from the beginning well known as the title of the eternal, invisible and incomprehensible God, it was not known as a name also belonging to the “God manifest,” the visible representative Angel of God, until the secret is revealed to Moses at the burning bush. And the fact that Moses wrote the book of Genesis after this revelation explains why he represents the Angel who appears to make these covenants, and to execute the fulfilment of them, as also the Jehovah whom the patriarch conceived of only as the invisible and incomprehensible God. S. R.

4. 5. Two reasons are assigned for the promise that follows, viz. the old covenant with the patriarchs, and the divine compassion for the sufferings of Israel. Cook.—6-8. Here is line upon line to assure them, that they should be brought triumphantly out of Egypt, and should be put in possession of the land of Canaan; I will bring you out. I will rid you. I will redeem you. I will bring you into the land of Canaan, and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. H.—8. I am Jehovah. The continual repetition of the covenant promise in connection with the name JEHOVAH marks forcibly the inauguration of that sacred name as the future appellation of the God of Israel. Alf.—In the dawn of Hebrew history God gives his people a memorial name, by which he should be known forever.—Jehovah,—a seal upon his covenant with them, a name of promise, pointing to a deliverance to come, a Saviour, a Messiah; and that mighty name stood, on the lips and in the mind of the chosen tribes, through centuries of trial and expectation, an impregnable defence, an inexhaustible hope, an unfailing herald of redemption to come. F. D. H.

9. They hearkened not unto Moses. Ah, how frail is poor human nature! How weak is the faith of this long-oppressed people! But God’s compassions are a great deep and he does not frown severely upon them, broken down though they were in their manhood and in their religious trust. Moses too seems to falter before this stern reception from Pharaoh and this disheartening attitude of Israel (v. 12); but the loving-kindness of the Lord endures, despite of these sad imperfections in his servants. For the glory of his own name and not for the worthiness or virtue of his people, he has entered upon this redeeming work and he will carry it through. H. C.—Insurmountable, to human apprehension, are the difficulties which surround the Hebrew leader; and the most fearful of them are those which he has to contend with in his own countrymen. There is neither union nor confidence among them. There is neither courage nor self-respect. Long endurance of slavery and misery has extinguished such sentiments. From this people he can expect nothing. Yet without this people he can do nothing. What remains to him? Before he gives them freedom, he must make them capable of freedom. He must restore to them those elements of humanity which they have lost. He must give back to them the qualities which a long persecution has smothered. He must rekindle in them hope, courage, generosity, self-respect, and enthusiasm. E. C. W.

10. 11. God still moved forward in his measures for their relief, as if he heard not or heeded not their unbelieving complaints. But the punishment which is ripening even for Pharaoh is not to be inflicted without further warnings. When the Lord is about to visit with judgments, we see him advancing as with slow and reluctant steps. When misery is to be relieved, benefits conferred, or sins forgiven, the blessing makes haste to spend itself upon its objects. But when the wicked are to be dealt with, justice seems to regret the necessity under which it is laid to maintain itself, and the sinner is not destroyed till the equity of his condemnation is manifest, and everything around him calls for vengeance. Bush.

11. Go out of his land. There is now a change in the demand; the first of a series of changes. Moses is now bidden to demand not a permission for a three days’ journey, which might be within the boundaries of Egypt, but for departure from the land.

13. Unto Moses and unto Aaron. The final and formal charge to the two brothers is given, as might be expected, before the plagues are denounced. With this verse begins a new section of the history, and as in the book of Genesis “there is in every such case a brief repetition of so much of the previous account as is needed to make it an intelligible narrative in itself; a peculiarity which extends to the lesser subdivisions also.” Cook.

14-27. The occasion of this solemn inauguration of the mission of Moses and Aaron is taken to insert the genealogical notice of the heads of the houses of the tribes until Levi, from whom the descent of Moses and Aaron is given. The whole of this portion is remarkably illustrative of the fragmentary and compound character of this part of the history. Alf.

We have here a genealogy of those two great patriots, Moses and Aaron, to show that they were Israelites, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, whom they were sent to deliver, raised up unto them of their brethren, as Christ also should be, who was to be the Prophet and Priest, the Redeemer and Lawgiver, of the people of Israel, and whose genealogy also was to be carefully preserved. The heads of the houses of three of the tribes are here named. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are thus dignified here because they three were left under marks of infamy by their dying father, Reuben for his incest, and Simeon and Levi for their murder of the Shechemites; and therefore Moses would put this particular honor upon them to magnify God’s mercy in their repentance and remission, as a pattern to them that should afterward believe: the two first seem to be mentioned only for the sake of Levi, from whom Moses and Aaron descended, and all the priests of the Jewish church. H.—It is easily seen that he especially refers to the tribe of Levi. This is the point to be observed, that the minister of their deliverance, by whose hand God would ratify the truth of his promise, was chosen from the race of Abraham. Colo.

Beyond all question some links have been omitted in tracing the line of Moses’ descent. The genealogies of the Bible are frequently abbreviated by the omission of important names. In fact, abridgment is the general rule. W. H. G.

20. Amram.** This can scarcely be the same person who is mentioned in v. 18, but his descendant and representative in the generation immediately preceding that of Moses. The intervening links are omitted, as is the rule where they are not needed for some special purpose, and do not bear upon the history. Between the death of Amram and the birth of Moses was an interval which can scarcely be brought within the limits assigned by any system of chronology to the sojourn in Egypt. Thus Tiele, quoted by Keil: “According to Numbers 3 : 27, in the time of Moses the Kohathites were divided into four branches, that of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel: their number amounted to 8600 males; of these the Amramites were about one fourth, i.e. more than 2000 males. This would be impossible were Amram the son of Kohath identical with Amram the father of Moses. We must therefore admit an omission of several links between the two.” Cook.

23. Elisheba.** Elizabeth, of the tribe of Judah, sister to Nahshon, prince of that tribe. While making prominent this high connection of Aaron, and recording the names of his sons, Moses makes no reference to his own family. B.

26,27. This emphatic repetition shows the reason for inserting the genealogy. The names of Moses and Aaron are given twice and in a different order; in the 26th verse probably to mark Aaron as the elder in the genealogy, and in the 27th to denote the leadership of Moses. Cook.

7 : 1. Made thee a god to Pharaoh. Moses was to be God’s representative in this affair, as magistrates are called gods because they are God’s vicegerents, authorized to speak and act in his name. Aaron was to be to Moses what Moses himself was to God. The Most High does not scruple to clothe his humblest servants with a kind of divinity when he would make them oracles to his people or instruments of wrath to his enemies. Bush.

3. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.** We have seen the process already begun. The very patience and moderation which were calculated to subdue a will amenable to reason, only aroused the resistance and vengeance of Pharaoh. Every succeeding step in the procedure of God is dictated by a like consideration and forbearance. Though it be true, therefore, that God did harden Pharaoh’s heart, yet it was by measures that would have disarmed the opposition, and commanded the acquiescence of an upright mind. M. [See close of this Section.]

5. The Egyptians were to be convinced that Jehovah was the true God by their own false gods falling before him: but this was a knowledge of discomfiture, not of conversion; Israel was by the same series of judgments to acquire the same knowledge; but this was to be a knowledge of conversion and attachment. God’s sword is two-edged. Aif.

6. So did they.** All unwillingness to obey, arising from unbelief or fear on their parts, had now ceased forever. 7. Old. In this great turning-point of the history their age is mentioned (as before, their descent), in order to throw light on the narrative. The longevity of the human race still continued down to this time, though it becomes less and less. We are to regard Moses as in the full possession of vigor and energy. Gerd.

9. It is taken for granted that Pharaoh would demand a miraculous testimony in proof of their commission from God. The Scriptures go all along on the admitted principle that the performance of miracles is the true seal of a divine commission. Bush.

Moses was the first teacher of religion to whom the power of working miracles was granted. Miracles were not necessary to Adam or to Noah, as they each possessed sufficient evidence of the truths they taught: they were not necessary to Abraham, as he was the reformer only of the religion of Noah. Moses was empowered to work miracles for the purpose of establishing a new dispensation. In the same manner, Christ, the prophet “like unto Moses,” wrought his wonderful miracles to convince the world of the dissolution of the Levitical dispensation in favor of the Christian covenant. Horæ Mosaicae.

10. The command to Moses and Aaron to work the miracle was predicated on the contingency of Pharaoh’s asking it, and we must presume that this condition occurred. But the sacred writers study the extremest brevity upon all points that do not positively require specification. Up to this point Moses and Aaron had simply delivered their message, their instructions, to Pharaoh; the time had come for them to produce their credentials. Bush.

11,12. And now commenced a contest, unequal it would at first appear, between two individuals of an enslaved people, and the whole skill, knowledge, or artifice of the Egyptian priesthood, whose sacred authority was universally acknowledged; their intimate acquaintance with all the secrets of nature extensive, their reputation for magical powers firmly established with the vulgar. The names of the principal opponents of Moses, Jannes and Jambres, are reported by Paul from Jewish tradition. Milman.—It was not to the secular power of the Egyptian monarch, but to his gods, that the gauntlet was thrown down. It was in the domain of miracles that the battle was to be fought—a domain in which Egypt regarded itself as peculiarly strong—for it was in Egypt, the land of conjurors and magicians, of interpreters of dreams and signs, that magic, that mysterious life-blood of heathenism, had put forth its marvellous power in its most fully developed forms. K.—From the nature of the case, the conflict could only be one of miracles; which, also from the nature of the case, must increasingly become miracles of judgment. Kit.—Since the pride, the madness and the obstinacy of the king were indomitable, every door was closed until broken down miraculously, and by various means. In employing these miraculous means God chose more clearly to lay open his power. He wished this monument to exist of his singular love to his elect people. He wished to accustom his servants in all ages to patience, lest they should faint in their minds if he does not immediately answer their prayers and relieve their distresses. He wished to show that against all the strivings and devices of Satan, against the madness of the ungodly and all worldly hindrances, His hand must always prevail; and to leave no room to doubt that whatever we see opposing us will at length be overcome by Him. By detecting the illusions of Satan and the magicians, he would render his Church more wary, that she might carefully watch against such devices, and that her faith might continue invincible against all the machinations of error. These things must be attentively observed in the course of the narrative, if we desire to profit by it. Calv.

11. Magicians.** “As there is no nation without religion, so there is also none without magic, which clings like a shadow to religion in all its forms.” Magic, according to the notions prevalent among those who placed implicit confidence in it, is a power, acquired or inherited, which enables the possessor, by means of some secret art or science, to employ at will the forces of a supernatural world of spirits or deities, either for the purpose of finding cut what is naturally hidden from human knowledge (augury), or of performing things, beyond the natural power of the human will (magic). K.—The Egyptians were famous for legerdemain and for charming serpents; and the magicians having had notice of the miracle which they were expected to imitate, they might make provision accordingly, and bring live serpents, which they might have substituted for their rods. And though Aaron’s serpent swallowed up their serpents, showing the superiority of the true miracle over the false, it might only lead the king to conclude that Moses and Aaron were more expert jugglers than Jannes and Jambres, who opposed them (2 Tim. 3:8). Hales.—It was necessary that these magicians should be suffered to exert the utmost of their power against Moses, in order to clear him from the imputation of magic or sorcery; for, as the notion of such an extraordinary art was rife not only among the Egyptians but all other nations, if they had not entered into this competition with him and been at length overcome by him, both Hebrews and Egyptians would have been apter to have attributed all his miracles to his skill in magic, than to the divine power. It was necessary, too, to confirm the faith of the wavering and desponding Israelites; by making them see the difference between Moses’ acting by the power of God, and the sorcerers by the arts of jugglers. And it was necessary, in order to preserve them afterward from being seduced by any false miracles from the worship of the true God. It may be added: God permitted this in mercy to the Egyptians, that they might see that the gods in whom they trusted were utterly incapable of saving them; that they could not undo or counteract one of the plagues sent upon them. A. C.

Scripture not only regards magicians with abhorrence; but brands their miracles as “lying wonders,” and makes the teaching of false doctrine a test of the false pretence of supernatural power. And, when we pass from principles to facts, there is not a well-authenticated case of an apparent miracle, wrought by others than the Scripture witnesses for God, which excludes the possibility of imposture and leaves no room for doubt. In the case of the Egyptian magicians, their own exclamation, “This is the finger of God,” involves the confession that they had been aided by no divine power, not even by their own supposed deities. P. S.—Their power stopped where that of all dealers in legerdemain must stop—at the failure of proper materials with which to work. Egypt abounds with serpents; blood could be easily procured in a quantity equal to the water that could then be found, on which the experiment was to be made; and without difficulty they might have frogs in abundance from the river or the canals. But when Moses produced lice from the dust of the ground, the magicians, who had it not in their power to collect a sufficient number of these insects, were compelled to own this to be the finger of God. In our translation it is, indeed, said, that when Aaron had cast down his rod, and it became a serpent, the magicians also did in like manner with their enchantments; but the words translated, did in like manner, and did so, may indicate nothing more than the attempt; for the very same words are employed to denote what they did in the case of the lice, in which they confessed that they had failed. It is to be observed, too, that the original term, rendered their enchantments, being derived from a root which signifies to hide or cover, fully expresses the secret deceptions of legerdemain or sleight of hand to impose on the spectators. There is, therefore, no necessity for calling in the aid of supernatural agency to the magicians on this occasion, nor is it probable that they laid claim to such aid. Bp. Gleig.

On the position of magic at the court of the Pharaohs, M. Maspero makes the following statement: “Magic was in Egypt a science, and the magician one of the most esteemed of learned men. The nobles themselves, the prince Khamuas and his brother, were adepts in supernatural arts, and decipheres of magic formularies, in which they had an entire belief. A prince who was a sorcerer would nowadays inspire a very moderate sentiment of esteem.

In Egypt the profession of magic was not incompatible with royalty, and the sorcerers of a Pharaoh had not uncommonly the Pharaoh himself for their pupil.” The magical texts form a considerable proportion of the MSS, which have come down to us from ancient times, particularly from the nineteenth dynasty; and the composition of some of them was ascribed to a Divine source. G. R.

12. Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. We do not read that they either attempted to prevent this, or to follow it by an imitation. By this, and by the serpent reverting to a rod when Aaron took hold of it, the superior nature of the power he exercised, and that it was far above all delusive art, was shown. Kit.

13. It should be, And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, so that “he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said,” or foretold. The original is so rendered by all the ancient versions without exception, and by the most judicious modern translations. Our translators incorrectly render, “And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” inconsistently with their rendering of the same phrase, and of a phrase with the same construction afterward (7:22; 8:19; 9:7), for Pharaoh hardened his heart several times before God began to harden it. They seem to have been led into this error by the expression, “as the Lord had said,” referring to the foregoing, “But I will harden his heart” (4:21), and “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (7:3). But this did not take place till Pharaoh became obdurate and incorrigible (9:12). Hales.—There is not in any of these three verses, the 13th, the 14th, and the 22d of this chapter, the least mention of any person by whom his heart was hardened. Nor is there any other hardening implied than what proceeded from his own settled resolution not to lose the service of the Israelites. Bp. Patrick.

Before Moses had returned into Egypt (Ex. 4:21), God had declared of Pharaoh, “I will harden his heart,” placing this phase in the foreground, that Moses might be assured of God’s overruling will in the matter. For a similar purpose, only much more fully expressed, God again announced to Moses, before the commencement of the ten plagues (7:3), “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.” These are the first two statements about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. In both cases the agency is ascribed to God; but in both cases the event is yet future, and the announcement is only made in order to explain to Moses what his faith almost needed to know. Twice ten times in the course of this history does the expression hardening occur in connection with Pharaoh. Although in our English version only the word “harden” is used, in the Hebrew original three different terms are employed, of which one literally means to make hard or insensible, the other to make heavy, that is, unimpressionable, and the third, to make firm or stiff, so as to be immovable. Now it is remarkable, that of the twenty passages which speak of Pharaoh’s hardening, exactly ten ascribe it to Pharaoh himself, and ten to God, and that in both cases precisely the same three terms are used. The ten passages in which the hardening is traced to Pharaoh himself are: Ex. 7: 13 (“the heart of Pharaoh was firm” or “stiff”); ver. 14 (“was heavy”); ver. 22 (“firm”); 8: 15 (“made heavy”); ver. 19 (was “firm”); ver. 32; 9: 7, 34 (“heavy”); ver. 35 (“firm”); 13: 15 (“Pharaoh made hard,” viz., his heart). The ten passages in which it is traced to the agency of God are: Ex. 4: 21; 7: 3; 9: 12; 10: 1, 20, 27; 11: 10; 14: 4, 8, 17.

With the exception of the two passages in which the Divine agency in hardening is beforehand announced to Moses for his instruction, the hardening process is during the course of the actual history, in the first place, traced only to Pharaoh himself. Thus, before the ten plagues, and when Aaron first proved his Divine mission by converting the rod into a serpent, “the heart of Pharaoh was hardened,” that is, by himself (7: 13, 14). Similarly, after each of the first five plagues (7: 22; 8: 15, 19, 32; 9: 7), the hardening is also expressly attributed to Pharaoh himself. Only when still resisting after the sixth plague do we read for the first time, that “the Lord made firm the heart of Pharaoh” (9: 12). But even so, space for repentance must have been left, for after the seventh plague we read again (9: 34) that “Pharaoh made heavy his heart;” and it is only after the eighth plague that the agency is exclusively ascribed to God.

Moreover, we have to consider the progress of this hardening on the part of Pharaoh, by which at last his sin became ripe for judgment. It was not only that he resisted the demand of Moses, even in view of the miraculous signs by which his mission was attested; but that, step by step, the hand of God became more clearly manifest, till at last he was, by his own confession, “inexcusable.” If the first sign of converting the rod into a serpent could in a certain manner be counterfeited by the Egyptian magicians, yet Aaron’s rod swallowed up theirs. But after the third plague, the magicians themselves confessed their inability to carry on the contest, declaring: “This is the finger of God.” If any doubt had still been left upon his mind, it must have been removed by the evidence presented after the fifth plague, when “Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead.” Some of the Egyptians, at least, had profited by this lesson, and on the announcement of the seventh plague housed their cattle from the predicted hail and fire (9: 20, 21). Lastly, after that seventh plague, Pharaoh himself acknowledged his sin and wrong (9: 27), and promised to let Israel go (ver. 28). Yet after all, on its removal, he once more hardened his heart (ver. 35)! Can we wonder that such high-handed and inexcusable rebellion should have been ripe for the judgment which appeared in the Divine hardening of his heart? A. E.

From the various uses of the three Hebrew root-forms, the sullen stubbornness of Pharaoh appears attributable to himself directly, while in the expressions referring to God’s action the main thought appears to be of encouragement and emboldenment. How this agrees with Pharaoh’s renewed confidence following each release from judgment is obvious. The conclusions to be drawn may, perhaps, follow this train: 1. As seen in Egyptian History, Meneptah, the senile and obstinate Pharaoh, appears the man to play a weak and vacillating part in a critical time. 2. That God, designing to work mightily, predetermined to harden Pharaoh’s heart, and that this design was carried into effect. 3. That the result was accomplished, not by an irresistible pressure of Divine Will upon Pharaoh’s mind, of which there is no mention, as by the employment of wonders and signs, which, acting upon a better heart, would have wrought obedience and submission, but with the haughty spirit of Pharaoh, produced boldness and hardness of heart. 4. That in the hardening of his heart the responsibility rests upon the king. But for his own sullen obstinacy his calamities might have softened him, his reliefs have conquered him. But his stubbornness impelled him to extremities, and so, though God gave the occasion, Pharaoh himself was responsible for the fact. 5. And, finally, that no charge can be laid to the Almighty. As Dr. Hodge wisely says, “Some things He purposes to do, others he decrees to permit to be done. He effects good, he permits evil. He is the author of the one, but not of the other.” Summerbell.

It was before the plagues began to be inflicted that the Lord announced to Moses that he would “harden Pharaoh’s heart;” but it is a remarkable fact that the threat was constantly suspended, in order, as it appears, that Pharaoh might “set his heart” to God’s judgments and be obedient to his word. Five plagues had already been wrought in his presence by “the finger of God,” and he had previously hardened his heart against these unequivocal testimonies of Almighty power before the sentence of the Divine wrath was accomplished against him, “and the Lord hardened his heart, as he had spoken by Moses.” This result was drawn down upon him by his own previous obstinacy and numerous provocations. That he hardened his own heart was his sin; that the Lord hardened it was his punishment. It was an act of righteous retributive justice upon an impenitent and obstinate sinner, who had despised the riches of God’s mercy and forbearance and challenged the severity of his anger. Bp. Mant.

The expressions employed and the facts themselves lead to the conclusion, that hardening can only take place where there is a conflict between human freedom and divine grace. It can only result from a conscious and obstinate resistance to the will of God. It cannot take place where there is either ignorance or error. The hardening of the heart commences from the moment in which a man becomes clearly conscious that he is resisting God, and it increases in proportion as this consciousness becomes stronger and clearer, and the testimony of God comes home to his mind with greater vividness and power. The course of Pharaoh’s history will show how truly this applied to him. Hardening, then, cannot even commence till some manifestation of God has been brought home to a man, with the express declaration and proof that it is such a manifestation. The moral condition which is the prerequisite of hardening, the soil from which it springs, is a man’s own fault, the result of the free determination of his own will. But it is not without the co-operation of God, that this moral condition becomes actual hardness. Up to a certain point the will of God operates on a man in the form of mercy drawing to himself, he desires his salvation; but henceforth the mercy is changed into judicial wrath, and desires his condemnation. K.

The Gospel is “the savor of life unto life, and of death unto death,” as one and the same savor is to some creatures refreshing, to others poisonous. But that the Gospel is unto death, is not a part of its original intention, but a consequence of perverse unbelief; but when this takes place, that it is unto death comes as a punishment from God. Thus the expression “hardening” presupposes an earlier condition when the heart was susceptible, but which ceased in consequence of the misuse of Divine revelations and gifts. As Pharaoh hardens himself, so God hardens him at the same time; and the prediction of this hardening would give Moses the assurance that the outbursts of his rage were all under the Divine control, and that the very punishment which befell him was ordained of God. Gerl.

Every wicked man, like Pharaoh, is under the dominion of sin: he is so voluntarily, but while under its power, the forms and the occasions of sin showing itself in action are not under the sinner’s control, but are as the sinner himself, at God’s disposal, and in subserviency to the ends of his moral government. The fact of a moral agent being a sinner, or the enemy of God, and so not willing to render the service due, cannot exempt him from it; and if he will not serve God in one capacity, he must be made to serve him in another. Now, the hardening of a sinner, either total or partial, is not the beginning of his sin, or the inducement of an evil state or disposition. God did not sinfully dispose any of his creatures, but they being so, he, nevertheless, employs them to carry out his purposes; while this hardening itself may be viewed as a punitive retribution, —a manifestation of righteous judgment. In the present instance such a manifestation was specially needed. A counteraction was required, both for the despondency of the Israelites and the arrogance of their oppressor. The opposition of Pharaoh, not less than his destruction, tended to glorify God; and his very obduracy called into action the Divine power, justice and grace. D. M.

First and foremost, we learn the insufficiency of even the most astounding miracles to subdue the rebellious will, to change the heart, or to subject a man unto God. Our blessed Lord himself has said of a somewhat analogous case, that men would not believe even though one rose from the dead. And his statement has been only too amply verified in the history of the world since his own resurrection. Religion is matter of the heart, and no intellectual conviction, without the agency of the Holy Spirit, affects the inmost springs of our lives. Secondly, a more terrible exhibition of the daring of human pride, the confidence of worldly power, and the deceitfulness of sin than that presented by the history of this Pharaoh can scarcely be conceived. And yet the lesson seems to have been overlooked by too many! Lastly, resistance to God must assuredly end in fearful judgment. Each conviction suppressed, each admonition stifled, each loving offer rejected, tends toward increasing spiritual insensibility, and that in which it ends. It is wisdom and safety to watch for the blessed influences of God’s Spirit, and to throw open our hearts to the sunlight of his grace. A. E.