In Exodus 7-12, Moses, through the power of God, releases ten plagues of different sorts on the land of Egypt, which included turning all the water to blood, plagues of insects, boils, and hail. Finally, the death of every firstborn son included the death of Pharaoh’s eldest, who would someday inherit the kingdom of Egypt.
We will see that they were delivered not just to let Pharaoh know who God was but also to let the Israelites know who God was. Because they had been enslaved for four hundred and thirty years, they didn’t know God; they had become used to being enslaved and used to being around the idol gods of Egypt. And so not only did God have to convince Pharaoh who He was, but He also had to convince the Israelites who He was.
God tells Moses that he will be like God to Pharaoh, Exodus 7:1. This is because Pharaoh saw himself as a god and would think Moses was a god too because of the miraculous power he would unleash on Egypt.
Aaron will be Moses’ prophet, Exodus 7:1, that is, Moses’ spokesman, and God’s spokesman, Exodus 7:2, as other prophets were spokesmen of God. By the end of the confrontation between God and Pharaoh, both the Egyptian people and Pharaoh would understand that there is only one God.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning Exodus 7:2.
‘Throughout the whole series of the Ten Wonders about to be related, Aaron spoke and acted for Moses, his actions and words being actually those of Moses, facts clearly indicated by this verse.’
God says, He will harden Pharaoh’s heart, Exodus 7:3, which we already dealt with back in Exodus 4. This doesn’t mean that God worked directly on Pharaoh’s heart to such an extent that He had him choose. Pharaoh’s heart was full of pride and arrogance and was already hard, Romans 9:14-24.
God knows Pharaoh will not let His people go, Exodus 7:4, despite Him asking on several occasions, Exodus 3:12 / Exodus 4:23 / Exodus 7:16 / Exodus 8:1 / Exodus 8:20 / Exodus 9:1 / Exodus 9:13 / Exodus 10:7, but by the time He’s finished unleashing all the plagues, the Egyptians will know that He is the Lord, Exodus 7:4-5. Moses and Arron obeyed the LORD, Exodus 7:6.
From the beginning of this chapter onwards, we see Moses, who is now eighty years old, and Aaron, who is eighty-three years old, Exodus 7:7 / Deuteronomy 31:2 / Deuteronomy 34:7 / Acts 7:23 / Acts 7:30, working together as a team.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The mention of the ages of Moses and Aaron here has puzzled some, but it appears to have been inserted for the purpose of demonstrating that the deliverance was far more of God than of men. Both Moses and Aaron were past the age when such exploits could have been undertaken by men, with any reason, without supernatural endowment. We cannot allow any questioning of the ages given here. They are confirmed by Stephen, Acts 7:23 / Acts 7:30, and by Moses himself in Deuteronomy 31:2 and Deuteronomy 34:7.’
Notice that God knows exactly what Pharaoh was going to say, Exodus 7:8-9. In the mind of Pharaoh, he thinks he will see and witness a ‘miracle’ like his magicians regularly did in front of him.
We read that Aaron’s rod turned into a snake, Exodus 7:10, and Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing, Exodus 7:11. The Old Testament doesn’t tell us the names of these magicians, but we know that two of them were named Jannes and Jambres, 2 Timothy 3:8.
The Bible doesn’t tell us how the magicians performed this trick, but it does say they used their ‘secret arts’, Exodus 7:11 / 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10. Remember, they are magicians and magic was their art. They were secret because these magicians, like some today, don’t reveal how they do it.
The important thing in all of this is not how the Egyptians’ rods were changed into serpents but what happened to them. Aaron’s rod swallowed all of theirs, Exodus 7:12, which demonstrated that God is greater than their god. But Pharaoh wasn’t convinced by this miracle and so refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, Exodus 7:13.
We can be misled by the word ‘snake’ because the Hebrew word used is ‘tanniyn’, which suggests some kind of marine or land monster. This is a different word which was used when Moses’ staff was turned into a snake, Exodus 4:3.
A few commentators believe it actually became a ‘crocodile’, which would be in keeping with the plagues which are about to come. The crocodile god was known as ‘Sobek’, and it was the ancient god of crocodiles. To his worshipers, he was a god who created the Nile, a god of fertility and rebirth, and the symbolic strength of the ruler of Egypt.
The purpose of this miracle and all the miracles to come was to prove that Moses and Aaron were messengers from God. If the magicians really did perform miracles, then there would be no proof in the confirming miracles that Moses and Aaron were God’s true messengers.
Some people question whether the miracles recorded were actually miracles. Note the following thoughts.
1. In each case, they were accurately foretold, as to the time and place of occurrence.
2. The intensity of such things as the frogs and lice was beyond all possibility of what could have been expected naturally.
3. Both their occurrence and their ending were demonstrated to be under the control and subject to the Word of God through Moses.
4. There was discrimination, some of the plagues afflicting the Egyptians and yet at the same time sparing the Israelites.
5. There was orderliness in their appearance, each event more severe than the one that preceded it, concluding with the most devastating of all, the death of the firstborn.
6. Also, there was a progression in relation to the reaction of Pharaoh’s servants. At first, they could do anything that Moses did, but at last, they admitted their failure and affirmed that ‘This is the finger of God!’ Exodus 8:9.
7. Over and beyond all this, there was a moral purpose in the plagues; they were not mere freaks of nature.
Remember that the ten plagues were actually ten disasters sent upon Egypt by God to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves from the bondage and oppression they had endured in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. When God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, He promised to show His wonders as confirmation of Moses’ authority, Exodus 3:20.
This confirmation was to serve at least two purposes: firstly, to show the Israelites that the God of their fathers was alive and worthy of their worship and secondly, to show the Egyptians that their gods were nothing.
The Egyptians worshipped a wide variety of nature gods and attributed to their powers the natural phenomena they saw in the world around them. There was a god of the sun, of the river, of childbirth, of crops, etc.
Events like the annual flooding of the Nile, which fertilised their croplands, were evidence of their god’s powers and goodwill. When Moses approached Pharaoh, demanding that he let the people go, Pharaoh responded by saying, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go,” Exodus 5:2. And so from that point onwards, the challenge was on to show whose God was more powerful.