Exodus 7

7:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, he refuseth to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou hast not hearkened. Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD; behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river. And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river. And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river. 8:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: and the river shall swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs: and the frogs shall come up both upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did in like manner with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice unto the LORD. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Have thou this glory over me: against what time shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs be destroyed from thee and thy houses, and remain in the river only? And he said, Against to-morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God. And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and

12 from thy people; they shall remain in the river only. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD concerning the frogs which he had brought upon 13 Pharaoh. And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the 14 houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields. And they gathered them together in heaps: 15 and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken. 16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of 17 the earth, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and there were lice upon man, and upon beast; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land 18 of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they 19 could not; and there were lice upon man, and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken.

The predicted trial, provoked through the daring of man, in measuring his strength against that of the living God, was to establish two facts for all ages and to all mankind. In sight of Egypt (7:5) and of Israel (10:2) it was to evidence that God was Jehovah, the only true and living God, far above all power of men and of gods. This was one aspect of the judgments which were to burst upon Egypt. The other was, that he was the faithful Covenant-God who remembered his promises, and would bring out his people “with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments,” to take them to himself for a people, and to be to them a God (6:1-8). These are the eternal truths which underlie the history of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. How Israel understood and taught them to their children, appears from many passages of Scripture, especially from Ps. 78 and 105. Nor is their application less suited to our wants. It exhibits alike the Law and the Gospel—the severity and the goodness of God—and may be summed up in that grand proclamation unto all the world: “Jehovah reigneth.” A. E.

The results produced by these plagues were calculated to prepare the mind of Moses for the arduous work which lay before him in the leading of the tribes through the wilderness. That enterprise would task to the utmost his courage, his patience, and his faith; and reluctant to undertake it at the first, he might have been often tempted to give it up in despair, had he not been fortified with the assurance which the sight of these plagues produced within him, that the Lord whom he served was indeed Jehovah, and had the resources of the universe at his command. Already the Lord was fulfilling to him the promise, “Certainly I will be with thee;” and this foretaste of his faithfulness strengthened him ever afterward. A similar effect would be produced on the Hebrews themselves, who needed this quickening of their faith even more than Moses. They might forget what they had seen done for them by God in Egypt; but when it was recalled to their recollection they would rise to faith in the majesty of God; while the fact that they themselves experienced the effects of the first four plagues would tend to produce in them a fear of offending him who was “the great and dreadful God.” W. M. T.

The first miracle is wrought to accredit the mission of the brothers; it is simply credential, and unaccompanied by any infliction. Now come signs which show that the powers of nature are subject to the will of Jehovah, each plague being attended with grave consequences to the Egyptians, yet not inflicting severe loss or suffering; then in rapid succession come ruinous and devastating plagues, murrain, boils, hail and lightning, locusts, darkness, and, lastly, the death of the firstborn. Each of the inflictions has a demonstrable connection with Egyptian customs and phenomena; each is directly aimed at some Egyptian superstition; all are marvellous, not for the most part as reversing, but as developing forces inherent in nature, and directing them to a special end. The effects correspond with these characteristics; the first miracles are neglected; the following plagues first alarm, and then for a season, subdue, the king, who does not give way until his firstborn is struck. Even that blow leaves him capable of a last effort, which completes his ruin and the deliverance of the Israelites. Cook.

From the fruitlessness of the first sign, it was evident that Pharaoh would not learn wisdom, till he had been made to suffer. The great judgments and strong arm of the Lord therefore began at once to be manifested. Signs gave place to plagues; but the plagues still continued to be signs, which demonstrated the weakness of the gods of Egypt, and the complete supremacy of the God of Israel. The peculiarity of these plagues was, that they possessed at the same time a natural and a supernatural character; and therefore the way was left perfectly open for the exercise of either faith or unbelief: the more so as even that which was supernatural, when compared with the similar efforts of the Egyptian sorcerers, might be set down by unbelief as the result of ordinary magic. The first two plagues were repeated by the sorcerers; but their weakness was manifested in the fact, that they could only increase the evil, and were unable to remove the plagues, or render them harmless. But at the third plague their magical art was entirely exhausted, and they were unable to continue even their miserable imitations. K.

The significance of these plagues consists in this, that well-known visitations occurred with unusual violence and in rapid succession—that they were called forth and ceased at Moses’ word—that the Egyptian sorcerers at the outset can only increase, not remove, the visitation; and, finally, are obliged to declare themselves powerless and vanquished. This it is which proves to the Egyptians, under these circumstances, the mighty saying of Jehovah, “All the earth is mine.” At length a plague is inflicted which exceeds all the former in its awfulness, since it leaves the ground of nature on which the others were exhibited—this is the slaughter of the firstborn. The number of the plagues is ten—the number of completeness—to signify the entire subjection of the land under its rightful Owner. Geri.

The plagues were miraculous—yet not so much in themselves as in the time, the manner, and the measure in which they came upon Egypt. As so often, the Lord here employed ordinary natural events. The supernaturalness of the plagues consisted in their severity, their successive occurrence, their coming and going at the word of Moses, their partial extent, and the unusual seasons and manner in which they appeared. We also mark in them a regular arrangement and steady progress. Properly speaking, there were only nine plagues (3 x 3), the tenth “stroke” being in reality the commencement of judgment by Jehovah himself, when he went out “into the midst of Egypt” to slay its firstborn. Of these nine, the first three were in connection with that river and soil which formed the boast of Egypt, and the object of its worship. They extended over the whole country, and at the third the magicians confessed: “This is the finger of God.” By them the land was laid low in its pride and in its religion. The other six came exclusively upon the Egyptians, as the Lord had said: “I will put a division between my people and thy people,” “to the end that thou mayest know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the land.” If the first three plagues had shown the impotence of Egypt, the others proved that Jehovah reigned even in the midst of Egypt. Finally, the three last “strokes” were not only far more terrible than any of the others, but intended to make Pharaoh know “that there is none like me in all the earth.” To show that Jehovah, He is God; that He was such in the midst of Egypt; and finally, that there was none like Him in the midst of all the earth—or, that Jehovah was the living and the true God—such was the threefold object of these “strokes.” As to the length of time occupied by all, it seems likely that from the first plague an interval of 10 months elapsed prior to the slaying of the firstborn. All this time Pharaoh was on his trial! A. E.

The Water of the Nile turned into Blood.

The purport of this plague is evident when we consider the sacredness of the Nile in the religious system of the Egyptians, the importance of the water of the river, as well as of its abundant supply of fish, and the extent to which the Egyptians depended upon these to supply their daily wants. On the monuments it is called the god Nile, the life-giving father of all that exists, the father of the gods, etc. The Egyptians were and still are enthusiastic in favor of the Nile water, which is in fact almost the only drinkable water in Egypt. The Turks enjoy the water so much, that they eat salt in order that they may be able to drink all the more of it. K.

17. Thou shalt know that I am the Lord.** Pharaoh had asked, in a contemptuous manner, “Who is the Lord?” God therefore now bids Moses tell him, He would make him know that He is the almighty Lord of the world. Bp. Patrick.—One great design of these visitations, growing more awful in their progress, was to make Pharaoh know and confess that the GOD OF THE HEBREWS was the SUPREME LORD; to exhibit his power and his justice in the strongest light to “all the nations of the earth,” and to execute judgment upon the Egyptians, and upon their gods. Hales.

19. The expressions in this verse show an accurate knowledge of Egypt, where the water system was complete at a period long before Moses. Lepsius describes it carefully. Their streams mean the natural branches of the Nile in Lower Egypt. The word rivers should rather be canals. They were of great extent, running parallel to the Nile, and communicating with it by sluices, which were opened at the rise, and closed at the subsidence of the inundation. The word rendered “ponds” refers either to natural fountains, or more probably to cisterns or tanks found in every town and village. The “pools,” lit. “gathering of waters,” were the reservoirs, always large and some of enormous extent, containing sufficient water to irrigate the country in the dry season. Cook.—By stretching out his arm, and waving his rod in different directions over the land, the judgment was to become universal. The various branches of the Nile, the canals derived from it, the ponds and reservoirs, all were to exhibit the spectacle of the same hideous and nauseous transformation! Bush.

21. Pharaoh adores the life-sustaining power of nature, as embodied in the majestic river before him. The God of nature transforms the running water into a river of death before his eyes. It demonstrates, in the way that was most striking to the Hebrew and the Egyptian, that the God of Israel was the true and only God of heaven and earth, and that all other objects of worship were but the creatures of God or the works of men’s hands. M.—The fish died. “We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely,” said the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness, from which it is obvious that fish constituted no small part of the food of the country.

22. The magicians did so. The shallowness of their pretences was palpable in their proposing to show their skill by increasing an evil which was already intolerable. If they had had any confidence in their own art they would rather have attempted to turn the blood into water than the reverse. But they chose to ape the miracle of Moses, and though there is no evidence of their succeeding even in this, yet the result went to harden still further the obdurate heart of Pharaoh. Bush.

Frogs Swarming from the River.

1,2. God again threatens the plague, before he inflicts it, that Pharaoh might know it came not by chance, but by His determinate counsel; and that he might prevent it by repentance and submission to the Divine commands. Bp. Patrick.

5,6. All God’s judgments stand ready, and wait but till they be called for. They need but a watchword to be given them. No sooner is the rod lift up, but they are gone forth into the world; presently, the waters run into blood, the frogs swarm about, and all the other troops of God come rushing in upon his adversaries. Bp. H.—In this case also, a creature honored by the Egyptians was made the instrument of their affliction, and they were compelled to regard it with disgust and horror. In the Egyptian mythology the frog was an emblem of man in embryo. There was also a frog-headed god and goddess,—the former supposed to be a form of Pthah, the creative power. The importance attached to the frog, in some parts of Egypt, is shown by its being embalmed and honored with sepulture in the tombs of Thebes. Kit.

7. The magicians did so. As in the two former cases, so here also we see no positive evidence that the magicians did anything more than go through certain preliminary ceremonies of jugglers which may perhaps have deceived the senses of the spectators, or they might have obtained them from among the multitudes produced by Moses and Aaron. Bush.—The jugglers of India will for a few pence do tricks with serpents far more wonderful than making them rigid so as to resemble staves; and any juggler could make water in a tank resemble blood; or, when the country was already swarming with frogs, could cover some place that had been cleared for the purpose with these reptiles, as if he had suddenly produced them. W. L. A.

8. The plague was too formidable to be despised, too mighty to be resisted, too extensive to be remedied. In the case of the waters turned into blood there was some mitigation of the scourge. They could procure pure water, though with great labor, by digging around the river. But from the plague of the frogs there was no respite or relief. In their houses, in their beds, at their tables, they were incessantly infested by these hated intruders. The judgment in its extremity is no longer endurable. Pharaoh is compelled to intercede for its removal. Bush.—The fact that Pharaoh was at first inclined to yield (and we have no reason to doubt his sincerity for a moment), is a proof that his heart was not yet thoroughly hardened, that he still possessed a certain amount of susceptibility for impressions from the testimony of God. But his relapse after the plague had been removed is also a proof that the process of hardening had previously commenced. K.

In the expression, “Intreat Jehovah, that he take away the frogs,” Pharaoh distinctly admits the impotence of the magicians and acknowledges the supreme might of Jehovah. 9. In the responsive utterance of Moses, his generous and noble spirit not only foregoes reproach or taunt, but he honors the royalty of Pharaoh. B—How is God’s might glorified in the willing humility of his messenger, who, by allowing Pharaoh to fix the time, puts at the same time before him a proof of the greatness of God! Gerl.

12-15. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. This is the second and decisive part of the miracle. The frogs suddenly die out of the land, are gathered in heaps or measures, and emit a grievous stench. Thus at the word of Moses they come, and at his word they go. There is a power here above nature. The God of nature is with Moses. He accomplishes what the magicians did not attempt. Pharaoh, however, thinks not of this demonstration of the divine power and mercy, but only of the “respite.” On obtaining relief, his obduracy of heart returns. M.—The usual effect of the intermission of divine judgments upon obstinate offenders is here strikingly displayed. “Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord” (Is. 26:10). The respite granted in order to lead the rebellious king to repentance serves but to embolden him in the career of disobedience, and harden his heart afresh. Bush.—Not the least sense of gratitude for the favor—the mercy of removing the plague! How many of the sinners of our world have done this very thing! Stricken down with sickness, have they not begged for life and besought the prayers of the good, and promised the Lord that with restoring mercy they would give him their hearts and their lives? But when the respite came their vows were forgotten; their hearts were hardened. H. C.

THIRD PLAGUE (vs. 16-19).

The Dust became Lice.

16. Stretch out thy rod. The judgment now to be inflicted was to be inflicted without any previous warning. On the other hand, the fourth and fifth were preceded by a warning, while the sixth was not; again, the seventh and eighth were announced, but not the ninth; under the tenth the people were sent away. Bush.—The two preceding plagues fell upon the Nile. This fell on the earth, which was worshipped under the name Seb, its personification, regarded, in the pantheistic system of Egypt, as the father of the gods. Cook.—In the third plague, the Hebrew word for “lice” were better rendered gna’s. Herodotus (B.C. 400) speaks of the great trouble which they cause and of the precautions used against them. Hartmann testifies: “All travellers speak of these gnats as an ordinary plague of the country.” “So small as to be scarcely visible to the eye, their sting notwithstanding causes a most painful irritation. They even creep into the eyes and nose, and after harvest rise in great swarms from the inundated rice fields.” (Keil.) H. C.

18. The magicians did so. That is, they tried the utmost of their skill, either to produce these insects, or to remove this plague; but they could not—no juggling could avail here. A. C.—With all their skill in magic, and with all their dexterity in deceiving spectators, they could not even succeed so far as they had already done in producing a specious counterfeit of the work of Moses. Had they hitherto performed real miracles, how came they to be baffled now? It cannot be a greater miracle to produce lice or gnats than to turn rods into serpents, water into blood, or to create frogs. Now, as the plague came without warning, they had no opportunity for contriving any expedient for imitating or impeaching the act of Moses. Bush.

The relative power of the Egyptian magicians in the beginning must serve to show in so much clearer light their entire impotence, as it was first exhibited in the little gnats, and then continued invariable. The contest was first intentionally carried on in a sphere to which the Egyptian magicians, as we certainly know with reference to the first sign, had hitherto shown their principal power. After they had there been vanquished, the scene was changed to a sphere, in which they could not at all further contend, and the doom which in this way came upon them fell through them upon their gods. Hengs.

19. The magicians try, but make an utter failure, and (what is to Pharaoh more provoking still) they frankly declare to him, “This is the finger of God.” They retire from the contest, and leave Pharaoh to fight it out alone. They can help him no longer. He is apparently vexed and maddened, but not at all subdued. Rather, he rouses himself to greater desperation, for the record puts these points in the closest connection: the frank admission, “This is the finger of God;” and the stiffening of Pharaoh’s rebellious will—“And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he hearkened not unto them.” H. C.—Who would not have thought that this confession of the magicians, which was a virtual avowal of the impotency of their craft, together with the striking displeasure of the Almighty, manifested in the new calamity visited upon him, would have made the haughty monarch at least begin to waver in his resolution? But we read that he grew more and more obstinate. Bu-h.

Pharaoh saw real miracles. He never thought of questioning their genuineness; and if he had, the words of his own magicians, “This is the finger of God,” would have reproved him. Yet he did not submit himself to Jehovah. He preferred his own royal pride to the humility of obedience; and so, the miracles notwithstanding, he resisted Jehovah. In the same way the Scribes and Pharisees saw Christ’s miracles, but were not thereby induced to become his followers. They would not join his ranks, not because they disputed the reality of his miracles, but because they rebelled against the searching inwardness of his doctrines. And, in these days of ours, many men profess that they cannot believe in Jesus because of intellectual difficulties; when the truth is, that they will not believe in him because their lives are condemned by his words. Even if they were to see miracles wrought in his name before their eyes, it would make no difference to them; they do not wish to have him as their Lord, and that is all. For all its intellectual pretensiveness, infidelity springs from a heart that is wrong with God, far more frequently than from a head which is unusually acute. W. M. T.

Miracle and prophecy are the two indispensable accompaniments, vehicles, and messengers of revelation. In each there is a manifestation to man of the fulness of the godhead; in the former of the power of God, in the latter of his wisdom. And through each the divine fulness enters into a covenant association with the history of humanity, co-operates in its development, and insures its safe arrival at its destined end. That end is the incarnation of God and the consequent entrance of the whole fulness of the divine essence, in a living and personal form, into an intimate and abiding union with man.

It is a striking fact, that in the whole of the patriarchal history, and in the primeval history anterior to it, we do not meet with a single miracle performed by a man. Where any miracles occur, they are performed solely and exclusively by God himself. We have in this fact a decisive argument against every mythical explanation of the patriarchal history, and a strong proof of the historical credibility of this portion of sacred history. This absence of miraculous powers and of the gift of prophecy in the patriarchal age, and the frequency with which God appeared, are easily explained as parts of God’s regular plan for gradually revealing and communicating himself to the people of the covenant. It was an essential element in the gifts of miracles and prophecy, that the performer of miracles did not work them primarily for himself, but for others, and that the prophet did not proclaim the message from God for himself, but for those around. Now Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the solitary recipients of the divine call; God was related to them as a friend to a friend, and all the blessing, the protection, and the light, which he had to impart to them, were necessarily imparted directly to themselves, since there was no third person in existence who could mediate between the two. It was very different when the seed of Abraham had become a numerous people. Individuals could then be raised up, endowed with divine power and wisdom, to be the channels of power and light from God to the rest of the people. In fact, it was necessary that such persons should rise up, to be the typical representatives of the perfect mediatorship of the Godman, to whom the whole history of the covenant pointed, and at the same time to prepare the way for his coming, so that when he appeared, it might be as the ripe fruit, the complete and mature result of the entire history. Hence we find that Moses was the first prophet sent by God, and, more especially, the first worker of miracles in the history of the world. K.

Moses was the first to bear a Divine commission to others. He was also the first to work miracles. Miracles present to us the union of the Divine and the human. All miracles pointed forward to the greatest of all miracles, “the mystery of godliness, into which angels desire to look;” the union of the Divine with the human, in its fullest appearance in the Person of the God-Man. Thus in these two aspects of his office, as well as in his mission to redeem Israel from bondage and to sanctify them unto the Lord, Moses was an eminent type of Christ. “Wherefore” let us “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” A. E.

The miracles of Moses were twofold in character and purpose; one class designed to identify God to the people and be a witness to his present hand, to confirm their faith in him as their Deliverer: the other designed by terrible inflictions of calamity, to force upon Pharaoh’s hardened heart the conviction of Jehovah’s power and compel him to let God’s people go. These two objects were to be accomplished; the Hebrew people were to be assured that their own God had indeed come; Pharaoh must be made to know who Jehovah is; how fearful the judgments of his uplifted hand are; and how vain it is for mortals, though on thrones of human power, to lift up themselves against the Almighty. H. C.

The historian intends to produce the impression that these plagues were miraculously inflicted. The matter to be established was the personal existence and supremacy of Jehovah. The ground on which the demand of Moses was based was not that the Hebrews had a right to their civil freedom, though that was true, but that Jehovah had the prior claim to their service, and that Pharaoh too was bound to yield him obedience. The great reason constantly assigned by God for Pharaoh’s submission to him was, “I am Jehovah.” This involved an assertion of his sovereignty over the universe; and he could prove that he was the upholder of the common order of nature only by deviating from that order in certain previously indicated instances. If there be an intelligent and personal Cause sustaining the common order of nature, it is just as possible for him to deviate in exceptional cases, and for a worthy end, from that order, as it is for him to carry it continuously on. So, if the being of God be admitted at all, the possibility of miracles is involved in that admission. But Pharaoh admitted in the abstract the being of Deity, only he contended that the god whom he worshipped was the true God; and now by this series of miracles Jehovah demonstrated that He alone is the ruler of the universe. W. M. T.

When God sent Moses to deliver a new law to the Israelites, he attended him with a miraculous power, to testify it to be his will that what Moses delivered should be entertained. So the miracles performed by Christ were a confirmation of his commission. They were miracles of that nature that had not been performed by any prophet before him. And those miracles done by him which were of the same kind with those done by the prophets of old, were done with more ease, and in a way of absolute authority. These were such credentials, that the very devils knew him to be the Messiah, the Sent of God. But when a doctrine is settled and a Church established, God forbears those extraordinary works, as he did the raining down manna after the Israelites’ entrance into Canaan, where they might have provision in an ordinary way of providence. We have now rational ways to introduce us to a belief of the Christian doctrine; and hence miracles, as of old, have ceased. Charnock.

Creation is God’s bringing his creatures into existence. Ordinary Providence is God’s sustaining and governing all his creatures and all their actions after they are created. This ordinary providence always works through natural causes and according to the uniformities of natural law. The supernatural working of God embraces all of his various modes of acting upon or through his creatures, which produces effects beyond their natural powers to produce, and different from the uniform method of natural law. This includes special interventions, gracious operations, revelations, and specifically, miracles.

“Miracle,” as a technical word, refers only to a class of supernatural events alleged to have occurred in connection with the origin of the Jewish and of the Christian religions, which are recorded in the Old and New Testament Scriptures as a mode of divine attestation to the divine origin of these religions. We exclude from this term, miracle: 1. All spiritualistic phenomena—ghost-flitting, spirit-rapping, demonic possession or other manifestation of merely superhuman power. 2. Extraordinary providences, as the draught of fishes and flight of quails mentioned in Scripture. 3. All possible special intervention and modification of the ordinary course of providence in the spiritual education of souls. 4. All the gracious acts of God in the spiritual sphere, regenerating and sanctifying the souls of his people. 5. His supernatural operations in the minds of his prophets, revealing truth, disclosing future events and inspiring them as public teachers.

The “Miracle” should be defined thus: An event, occurring in the material world, obvious to the senses, of such a nature that it can be rationally referred only to the immediate act of God as its direct cause, accompanying a teacher of religion sent from God, and designed to authenticate his divine commission. A. A. Hodge.

If men are blind to God and divine things, having chosen not to retain him in their knowledge; so that the works of nature and his ordinary Providence do not bring him before their minds—so that he is hidden from them; how shall he make himself known? In what other way than by miracles, or by a supernatural manifestation? When the heavens no longer declare his glory, nor the firmament his handiwork, when the Creation and secondary causes are falsely looked upon as self supported and ultimate, how shall he reveal himself save by a supernatural incoming into the order of nature and of history, by which his presence shall be undeniably recognized? The miracle in some form is the only conceivable mode of revelation to men who see not God in the ordinary course of things, or to the world as it is, under the dominion of sin. Miracle and revelation are interchangeable terms. To believe in the possibility of a miracle is simply to believe in God—in fact, every one does believe in a miracle who believes in a creator. To believe in the fact of a miracle, simply requires that an adequate motive for one should exist; that a sufficient motive should be presented to the Divine benevolence. Grant such a motive, and every presumption against the occurrence of a miracle disappears. To suppose that the power of God is restrained by the Creation, or that his benevolence is shut up to the usual methods of blessing mankind by the regular operation of natural causes, is to deny God. Belief or disbelief in the miracles depends at last on whether you deem the occasion for them, or the need of light and help from above, to be a real and sufficient occasion; whether, in short, you believe and think it credible and desirable that a benevolent God should reveal himself to mankind. Belief or disbelief is thus contingent on the moral views and the moral state, the opinion which men have of their character and spiritual wants, and the sense they have of the evil and danger of being separated from God. It is here that the Bible places the grounds of faith and of unbelief. G. P. Fisher.

God can override every force by a higher force; but this higher force is no created energy, but his creative fiat—his will—whose function is to suspend every other force, and to control every law. Every disturbance that might occur in consequence he can avoid by the same energy by which he suspends any natural force. Should he arrest a planet in its orbit, he could provide all the compensations that might be required to avert or check or turn aside the results that might otherwise ensue. His hand is not only on the driving lever that starts and stops and regulates the engine, but his presence and spirit are in all the wheels, and pulsate in that vast organization which we call the universe of matter and spirit. For God to suspend a force or break a law, is, however, never a lawless or an unreasonable act. Every miracle is performed for some reason. No force of nature is ever suspended, no law is broken, except to reveal a present and personal God, and to enforce a sense of his presence which is yet above nature, by some manifestation through nature, in order that some impressive moral or spiritual lesson may be conveyed.

It follows that a story of a miracle is credible whenever a sufficient reason for its occurrence can be given or supposed. We believe that a miracle is credible whenever it is required for any worthy end which God may propose, for the same reason that we believe in the unbroken reign of law in the ordinary routine of nature, because of the ends which this dominion of law will subserve. We believe that the laws of nature may be broken when the occasion requires, for the same reason that we believe them to be unbroken in the ordinary routine of life. Not only is a miracle credible, but it becomes probable, when the occasion justifies it. The end proposed in a miracle may not only justify our reason in believing it, it may even require this faith of both reason and conscience. Is what is usually called nature the whole of the universe? Or if you enlarge the conception of nature, so as to take into it spiritual beings who are immortal, are all their interests limited to power, wealth, enjoyment, to social affection, culture, art, and civilization, and even to character—if you leave out of character responsibility to one’s self and to God, with its results of confirmed sin or confirmed holiness—are these all that man should care for, or all that God does care for? If there is more, this outweighs all the rest. If man is responsible, then he is guilty and weak, and needs forgiveness and help. He also needs the assurance of both in such form that he cannot doubt the reality and cannot help being moved by the love. In one word, he needs the supernatural and the miraculous Christ, just the Christ of the gospel story, and he needs him more than anything and everything besides. If there is a living and loving God, shall he not supply this want? If, in order to supply it, he must meet man with such miraculous works as break through the order of nature in order to manifest his presence, shall we believe the story the less or the more because it records supernatural deeds? Well might Coleridge say, “Evidences of Christianity! I am weary of the phrase—make a man feel his need of Christianity, and give him right conceptions of what Christianity is, and he cannot but believe it to be from God, and this by a most natural and rational judgment.” N. Porter. [See New Testament, vol. 1, Section 177.]