3 And I will render Pharaoh's heart obdurate, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 And Pharaoh will not hearken unto you; and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch forth my hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. 6 And Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah had commanded them: so did they. 7 And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 9 When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Do a miracle for yourselves,—then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy staff and cast [it] before Pharaoh—it will become a serpent. 10 And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and did so, as Jehovah had commanded; and Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh, and before his bondmen, and it became a serpent. 11 And Pharaoh also called the sages and the sorcerers; and they too, the scribes of Egypt, did so with their enchantments: 12 they cast down every man his staff, and they became serpents; but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staves.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 7:3-12
Commentary on Exodus 7:1-7
(Read Exodus 7:1-7)
God glorifies himself. He makes people know that he is Jehovah. Israel is made to know it by the performance of his promises to them, and the Egyptians by the pouring out of his wrath upon them. Moses, as the ambassador of Jehovah, speaking in his name, laid commands upon Pharaoh, denounced threatenings against him, and called for judgments upon him. Pharaoh, proud and great as he was, could not resist. Moses stood not in awe of Pharaoh, but made him tremble. This seems to be meant in the words, Thou shalt be a god unto Pharaoh. At length Moses is delivered from his fears. He makes no more objections, but, being strengthened in faith, goes about his work with courage, and proceeds in it with perseverance.
Commentary on Exodus 7:8-13
(Read Exodus 7:8-13)
What men dislike, because it opposes their pride and lusts, they will not be convinced of; but it is easy to cause them to believe things they wish to be true. God always sends with his word full proofs of its Divine authority; but when men are bent to disobey, and willing to object, he often permits a snare to be laid wherein they are entangled. The magicians were cheats, trying to copy the real miracles of Moses by secret sleights or jugglings, which to a small extent they succeeded in doing, so as to deceive the bystanders, but they were at length obliged to confess they could not any longer imitate the effects of Divine power. None assist more in the destruction of sinners, than such as resist the truth by amusing men with a counterfeit resemblance of it. Satan is most to be dreaded when transformed into an angel of light.