Exodus 7:11, commentary and pictures

Pharaoh answered the sign of Aaron's rod becoming a serpent by calling his wise men, sorcerers and magicians, and each cast down his rod in like manner. They counterfeited God's true work with enchantments that made their rods appear to become serpents indistinguishable to human eyes, yet without power to create or give life. Their deeds were at the same time real supernatural wonders wrought through them by Satan's power, not merely human trickery, fraud or science alone. Satan was personally at work through them to destroy the influence of God's work, deceive the people, harden Pharaoh against letting Israel go, and stagger the faith of Moses and Aaron. God's power proved superior when Aaron's real serpent swallowed their rods, and that counterfeit resistance only made His glory more evident, establishing the pattern for the last days when modern magicians will be permitted to imitate God's mighty works to deceive.

Pharaoh's Answer to Sign

Pharaoh answered the turning of Aaron's rod into a serpent by calling for his wise men and sorcerers, for the magicians of Egypt, and having every man cast down his rod to appear as serpents in like manner by their enchantments. That summons was his direct reply to the sign worked before him, setting his own servants rod for rod against what had been done through Moses and Aaron. Their rods were cast down together, each man presenting his own rod as a serpent alongside Aaron's.

This meeting was the first display of signs before Pharaoh, and it authenticated the mission of Moses and Aaron as sent to demand Israel's release. It was aimed at the serpents worshiped in Egypt, showing that they could neither help the people who honored them nor save themselves when confronted by the living God.

God did not cause this first encounter to end in Israel's immediate release, but allowed matters to develop so that Pharaoh's tyrannical spirit would be fully shown to the Egyptians and to Israel. By that exposure Israel would become more willing to leave Egypt in order to serve God rather than remain under oppression. Satan's counterfeiting of God's miracles through the magicians sought to keep Pharaoh from recognizing God's supremacy and obeying His command to let Israel go, yet the resistance could not defeat God but made His power and glory more evident to Israel and Egypt, revealing the existence and sovereignty of the true and living God.

Nature of Magicians' Work

The magicians answered Aaron's rod becoming a serpent by casting down every man his rod to appear like serpents in like manner with their enchantments. What they did was done by magic aided by Satan the great deceiver to counterfeit the true work God wrought through Moses and Aaron rather than truly to match it. Their work was false while the work through Moses and Aaron was of God and true, and Satan assisted his servants in this resistance to the Most High in order to deceive the people and encourage them in rebellion. Satan himself was on the ground working through his human agents, not by their own science alone but by the power of their god the devil, to destroy the influence of God's work through Moses. He knew Moses was chosen of God to break the yoke of bondage from Israel and that Moses prefigured Christ who would come to break sin's reign and deliver its captives, and he trembled for his power at the mighty works Christ would do to prove the Father had sent Him.

They did not really turn their rods into serpents but made them appear like serpents by magic. Their serpents were counterfeit and not living creatures, for Satan worked through the magicians to produce the appearance yet he could not create or give life or change rods into living creatures. What God brought forth through Moses and Aaron was a real living serpent, while theirs was illusion and not creation.

At the same time their deeds were not merely human tricks, pretended miracles, fraud, sleight of hand, or their own science alone, but signs and wonders wrought by the power of their god the devil working deceptive work through them. They were enabled by satanic aid to counterfeit God's work with real supernatural wonders, showing that supernatural manifestations can be real while opposing God. That same satanic power will again be manifested before the second coming of Christ with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, even making fire come down from heaven on the earth to deceive those who dwell on the earth. Those who believe such manifestations are only human imposture will be ensnared when brought face to face with supernatural manifestations and will accept them as the great power of God.

To human eyes the display looked indistinguishable from the real serpent God brought forth through Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh and his court believed the counterfeit appearance matched the true sign. The imitation nevertheless did not give the magicians the victory, for Aaron's real serpent swallowed up their rods and Moses and Aaron prevailed through the Lord's power, proving the superiority of the real over the counterfeit.

Aim and Immediate Result

Satan himself was on the ground in Egypt, working through his human agents whose god was the devil, not by their own science alone but by his power, to counterfeit the true work God wrought through Moses and to destroy its influence. He works with arts of infatuation that weave a spell about the human mind, and the power of his spiritual witchcraft steels the heart so it is not susceptible to heavenly influences that would counteract the deception. His withstanding of Moses and Aaron reveals how the fallen foe ever works in a special manner to hinder God's work and to prevent persons of repute and influence who could be of great service to the cause from embracing the truth, thwarting God's purpose through false reports and specious deceptions to turn such a man away and destroy the messengers' influence over him.

His immediate aim was to deceive the people and encourage them in rebellion, to harden Pharaoh against God's power, to stagger the faith of Moses and Aaron in their divine mission, and to keep Israel from being released to serve the living God. The false signs gave rebellion encouragement by appearing to reproduce Aaron's sign, making rods seem to become serpents in counterfeit of God's true work.

Pharaoh grasped at this likeness as the excuse he wanted to justify himself in resisting God, telling Moses and Aaron that his magicians could do all these wonders and declaring them impostors and merely magicians like his own servants. Because the magicians copied the rod becoming a serpent and the river turned to blood, he believed these miracles were performed by magic, regarded them as magic, and became more firmly resolved against the request, with heart unmoved and hatred of Israel increased.

Even when Aaron's rod swallowed their rods, though the display appeared indistinguishable to human eyes and proved the real superior to the counterfeit, Pharaoh took it as magic superior to his servants' power rather than as a display of God's power. This strengthened his rebellion and resistance to conviction and emboldened him to resist. His doubt at this first rejection grew into increasing hardness of heart that later miracles did not remove or persuade him he was wrong, and his course ended with the death of Egypt's firstborn.

Satan had a further twofold purpose reaching beyond Egypt, for he knew Moses was chosen to break the yoke of bondage from Israel and that Moses was a type of Christ who was to come to break the reign of sin over the human family and deliver those captive to its power. He knew that when Christ should appear mighty works and miracles would be wrought by Him that the world might know the Father had sent Him, and he trembled for his power. He therefore resolved through the magicians to exert an influence reaching down through all the ages that would in many minds destroy in advance true faith in the mighty miracles Christ would perform at His first advent to prove the Father had sent Him, since Moses breaking bondage prefigured Christ breaking Satan's power over captives.

God's Superior Power Shown

The signs set before Pharaoh came not from any human power in Moses but from the power of God, to convince Pharaoh that the great I AM had sent Moses and that it was his duty to let Israel go to serve the living God. The magicians answered with signs and wonders of their own, wrought not by their own science alone but by the power of their god the devil working deceptive work through them. Satan counterfeited God's miracles through them in an effort to keep Pharaoh from recognizing God's supremacy and obeying His command.

God's true work proved superior to Satan's counterfeit, for Aaron's real, living serpent swallowed the magicians' rods, and Moses and Aaron prevailed through the Lord's power. The magicians did not truly turn their rods into living serpents or give them life, but by magic aided by Satan made them appear like serpents to counterfeit the work of God, producing an illusion and counterfeit indistinguishable to human eyes. Yet God's work through Moses remained perfect and unchangeable notwithstanding that counterfeit, and as a counterfeit imitates an existing reality the satanic imitation proves the reality of God's work by the Holy Spirit rather than setting it aside.

The magicians could do only a few of the miracles God did through Moses. They copied the rod becoming a serpent and the river turned to blood, but they could not produce lice and were compelled to acknowledge to Pharaoh that it was the finger of God. Their copying led Pharaoh to believe the miracles were performed by magic, so his hard heart was not moved. The later removal of the plague of frogs gave Pharaoh and all Egypt further evidence that the work was not magic, because God did not make the frogs vanish but left them dead in heaps to corrupt the atmosphere, proving it was a judgment from the God of Heaven.

This counterfeit resistance could not defeat God; it made the divine power and glory more evident to Israel and Egypt, revealing the existence and sovereignty of the true and living God.

Foreshadowing of Last-Day Deception

Most of the signs and wonders God worked through Moses before Pharaoh were imitated by the magicians of Egypt, and that ancient imitation establishes the pattern for the last days. Just before the final deliverance of the saints God will work powerfully for His people, and modern magicians will be permitted to imitate the work of God. As the magicians deceived Pharaoh and his host by performing most of the miracles Moses performed, so the devil will show as great a manifestation of power just before the glorious deliverance of the saints when Michael stands up.

Those modern magicians work by Satan's power through spiritualist and mysterious rapping and mesmerism. That same satanic power now works through secret associations and seances and the obscurities and wonders of spiritualistic mediums, whose disclosures are eagerly received by thousands who refuse light from God's Word and through His Spirit. Satan's power will increase and spread until speaking against it is counted blasphemy.

Some of his devoted followers will have power to work miracles, even to bring down fire from heaven in the sight of men. The same satanic power will be manifested again before the second coming of Christ with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, and in the last days with great wonders, even making fire come down from heaven on the earth to deceive those who dwell on the earth. By that same power they will account for all the miracles and mighty works of Jesus Christ on earth as accomplished by it, and many will believe that all the mighty works of the Son of God were accomplished by it.

That deception happening just before the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage foreshadows the work of the last oppressive power numbered 666, which will manifest its power, deception, wonders, miracles, and oppression in its last struggle under the seven last plagues about the time it comes to its end. All these great signs and mighty wonders are designed to deceive God's people and overthrow them. Their deeds are real supernatural wonders wrought by Satan's aid to counterfeit the work of God, not merely human tricks, pretended miracles, fraud, or sleight of hand, and those who believe such manifestations are only human imposture will be ensnared when brought face to face with supernatural manifestations and will accept them as the great power of God.

Parallels and Present Warning

As the magicians withstood Moses and Aaron by doing in like manner, so Elymas the sorcerer withstood Paul and Barnabas before Sergius Paulus at Paphos. Satan was on hand with his servant to thwart the purpose of God, working through false reports and specious deceptions to turn an influential, prudent man away from the faith and to destroy the influence of God's messengers over him. They were under the control of Satan and greatly hindered the work, seeking to turn a man of repute and influence against God's messengers and to prevent him from embracing the faith of Christ. Their withstanding reveals how the fallen foe ever works in a special manner to hinder the work of God and to prevent persons of repute and influence who could be of great service to the cause from embracing the truth.

Unlike that Egyptian counterfeit, the miracles God gave Paul to perform at Ephesus could not be imitated by sorcerers and honored Jesus rather than Paul. The magicians are named as Jannes and Jambres, who were permitted to perform by Satan's power miracles resembling those Moses wrought before Pharaoh. God's work through Moses was perfect and unchangeable notwithstanding that counterfeit. Because a counterfeit imitates an existing reality, their satanic imitation proves the reality of God's work by the Holy Spirit and does not set it aside, so present deceptions by false visions, mesmerism, and mysterious rappings prove God still manifests Himself to His children and will not leave His people in this age of almost unbounded deception without the gifts and manifestations of His Spirit.

That same ancient contest appears among deceptive powers in the world and among professed churches, as in Amalek's boast that its wise men and magicians could do those wonders and Israel's God could not deliver Israel. Their influence was increasing and would continue to grow, and imitation did not give them the victory, for Moses and Aaron prevailed through the Lord's power. Believers must therefore rise in strength and grow in grace and knowledge of the truth, or the powers of darkness will overcome them. They must keep hold of the strong arm of Jehovah with minds stayed upon God, not fearing what the wicked fear, not putting trust in human leaders, but bold and valiant for the truth. By singing to God's glory and shouting they can drive back the enemy, keep the ascendency over the powers of darkness, and come off victorious.

That same satanic power now works through secret associations and seances and through the obscurities and wonders of spiritualistic mediums. The disclosures of modern mediums are eagerly received by thousands who refuse light from God's Word and through His Spirit. Though believers in spiritualism may speak with scorn of the magicians of old, in yielding to modern arts they yield to the great deceiver under a different form, to his triumph.