You likely know a little bit about Moses and the 10 Plagues. Egypt had enslaved the Israelites for 400 years, but it all ended when Moses told Pharaoh to let his people go. When Pharaoh refused, God unleashed a torrent of plagues on Egypt. But at the beginning, Pharoah was skeptical that Moses really had God on his side because his court magicians replicated several of these plagues. Rabbinical literature provides names for two of these men: Jannes and Jambres.
Interestingly, Jannes and Jambres are only named in the New Testament, and the passage says very little about them. We know from the biblical record that they opposed Moses. According to the Talmud, they (or at least two people with the same names) were involved in attacking the Israelites. In today’s article, we’ll discover what the Bible says about Jannes and Jambres, what we learn about them in Jewish literature, and what we can learn from their stories.
We only get one Bible verse featuring the actual names Jannes and Jambres. Considering that they had a role to play in Exodus, it might surprise you that they were mentioned, of all places, in 2 Timothy 3:8.
In this letter to Timothy, Paul discusses the last days and false teachers who will appear then: “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth” (NIV). In the same way, false preachers will oppose truth. They’ll trade the real Gospel for a fake one. From this passage, we know that Paul was familiar with Jewish traditions that named the court magicians Jannes and Jambres.
What do we learn about these magicians in Exodus? Well, we know that Pharaoh relied on them to oppose Aaron and Moses. They replicated some of the plagues, such as the river of blood, bringing frogs out of the Nile, and turning the dust into gnats.
However, they couldn’t replicate any of the other plagues. This suggests limits to their powers or that they used “copycat tricks” for the plagues they imitated.
Beyond this, the Bible doesn’t say much. We have to consider what extrabiblical tradition or ancient history says if we want more details. While these sources don’t carry the same weight as Scripture, they can be immensely helpful when they complement Scripture.
The Talmud, a compilation of Jewish teachings, presents various ideas about what happened to Jannes and Jambres. We must take a grain of salt with whatever we learn about them through these documents since they seem to contradict one another.
That said, here’s what we can glean from the Talmud.
They may have left Egypt with the Israelites. The Bible does tell us that some Egyptians left with the Israelites after the plagues (Exodus 12:38). Perhaps they wanted to leave their decimated homes. Or perhaps they felt compelled by the God Yahweh, who had shown up all their gods (each plague targeted an Egyptian deity’s attributes). It is entirely possible that Jannes and Jambres joined the Israelites. Hopefully, that means they repented of their past ways.
They may have aided in the Golden Calf. For those unfamiliar with the Golden Calf story, the Israelites got impatient waiting at Mt. Sinai while Moses received the 10 Commandments from God. So they asked Aaron to make a golden calf they could worship—fashioned similarly to the gods of the surrounding nations. It’s possible that Jannes and Jambres had not given up all the ways of their previous life and could have aided in idolatry.
They may have helped Balaam. Balaam was a prophet who had sought to curse the people of God. God prevented him from doing so, but that didn’t stop him from leading the Israelites astray afterward on his own terms. Some sources say that Jannes and Jambres were working with Balaam or were his sons (or servants). The timeline suggests this isn’t impossible: Moses was still around during the events mentioned in the Book of Numbers, so some of his generation may have been around when Balaam blessed Israel. However, it seems unlikely that these would be the same people helping Balaam (particularly since it’s hard to imagine how Balaam’s sons ended up in Egypt).
Outside the Talmud, we get a brief reference in ancient history. Roman historian Pliny also mentioned Jannes, describing him as a sorcerer—which aligns with what we see in Scripture.
Again, we must take all of this with a grain of salt, considering we don’t have any concrete evidence of what Jannes and Jambres did outside of what we’ve heard in the Bible.
It depends on which tradition you ask.
Some say that they died when the Red Sea collapsed on the Egyptians. Although it was Pharaoh’s armies that chased after the Israelites into the sea, perhaps the magicians had also joined in, although it’s not entirely clear why they would do that—if they were close advisors to the king.
Some say that Jannes and Jambres died after the Golden Calf incident, put to death for leading Israel astray.
Some say they died during the time of Phinehas when they tried to make themselves invisible, but someone caught them and killed them.
It’s hard to say what is accurate or not. Most of these stories do have a common element: they depict Jannes and Jambres dying for defying God.
Unfortunately, we can’t definitively say what ultimately became of Jannes and Jambres. We know that they opposed God (perhaps more than once) and probably paid the price for it down the road. Beyond that, well, as we often heard in Sunday School, we’ll have to wait for heaven to get a clear answer.
Jannes and Jambres certainly aren’t the kind of people you want to emulate. Paul uses them as a prime example of what false preachers will look like in the last days. If Jewish literature is correct, they opposed God every chance they had and ultimately paid for their choices with their lives. So, it’s worth asking where they went wrong.
Here are some things we can learn from the lives of Jannes and Jambres.
1. They tried to match God’s power. One of the most interesting things about Exodus is that the magicians managed to replicate a few of the plagues but were quickly outmatched. We may run into evil people who seem very powerful. But we should know that power does run out ultimately and that God is the most powerful being in the universe. He can’t be outmatched.
2. They opposed God. Paul makes the clear point that Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses and Aaron—the very messengers of God. Things did not turn out well for them: Egypt succumbed to plagues. Had they known the power of Yahweh, hopefully, they would have tried to convince Pharaoh to relent and let the Israelites go. Instead, they trusted in their own strength and prowess to subdue Moses into submission.
3. They (apparently) tried to lead God’s people astray. If the rabbinical literature is correct, Jannes and Jambres followed the Israelites into the desert. People likely assumed they’d turned over a new leaf. Maybe they intended to serve Yahweh and followed their new convictions for a while. If so, those new convictions didn’t last long. They turned to foreign idols the first chance they got—possibly multiple times, if they were still around when the Balaam incident happened. People may try to lead us astray. They may seem to have good intentions. Ultimately, though, they want to lead us away from Christ. We have to be wary of people who seem powerful but whose motives or behavior don’t match the gospel’s values.
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Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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