Aaron's Rod Is Turned Into A Serpent Series

Aaron's Rod Is Turned Into A Serpent

Exodus 7:11-12

11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men[4] and the sorcerers [3]: now the magicians of Egypt[2], they also did in like manner[5] with their enchantments[1].

Magic was practiced in Egypt, and they consisted of the arrangement and employment of charms, which were believed to exert a powerful effect over man and brute creation. The Ritual of the Dead" consists of charms, spoken by the soul in Hades, to enable it to pass the various monsters it would encounter there. Charms were considered effective in this life to produce or remove disease and avert the attacks of harmful animals. Egyptian works are mere collections of magical recipes and supply strange prescriptions and mystic words to be uttered. A Jewish tradition, accepted by the Apostle Paul (2Timothy 3:6), spoke of two magicians as the notable opponents of Moses and called them "Jannes and Jambres." (See the Tar-gums of Jerusalem and Jonathan.) The former of these, Jannes, obtained fame as a magician among the classical writers and was mentioned by Pliny and Apuleius. Some have supposed that the magicians possessed supernatural powers obtained by a connection with evil spirits. However, it is most probable that they were merely persons acquainted with many secrets of nature not known and trained in tricks of sleight-of-hand and conjuring.

They also did likewise[5]—The magicians had entered the royal presence with rods in their hands, which all Egyptians carried. These they cast down upon the ground when they are seen to be serpents. This was the mere exhibition of a trick, well known to Egyptian serpent-charmers in all ages, by which a charmed serpent is made to look like a stick for a time and then disenchanted. Alternatively, it may have been affected by sleight-of-hand, which seems to be the meaning of the word translated "enchantments[1]."

The art of serpent-charming is indigenous in the East: there are allusions to it in Psalm 58:5, Jeremiah 8:17, and Ecclesiastes 10:11; it is practiced in Egypt to the present day. Modern Egyptian serpent-charmers possess an extraordinary power over serpents, drawing them forth, for instance, by noises made with the lips, from their hiding places, and by pressure applied to the neck, throwing them into such a state of hypnotic rigidity that they can be held as rods by the tip of the tail. The serpent commonly used for the purpose is a species of cobra. However, we only hear of serpents becoming rods, not of rods becoming serpents: the latter, the swallowing up of the magicians' rods by Aaron's rod, is 'peculiar to the Hebrew story.

Moses had been instructed in learning the Egyptians and was suspected of having improved in magical arts in his long retirement. The magicians are to compete with him. The chief of them was Jannes and Jambres. Their rods became serpents, by the power of evil angels, artfully substituting serpents in the room of the rods, God permitting the delusion performed for wise and holy ends. However, the serpent, which Aaron's rod was changed into, swallowed the others: which was sufficient to convince Pharaoh on which side the right lay.

They will not be convinced of what men dislike because it opposes their pride and lusts, but it is easy to cause them to believe things they wish to be true. God always sends complete proofs of its Divine authority with his word, but when men are determined to disobey and willing to object, he often permits a snare to be set in which they are entangled. The magicians were cheats, trying to copy the real miracles of Moses by sleight of hand or juggling, which to a small extent, they succeeded in deceiving the bystanders. However, they were compelled to confess that they could not imitate the effects of Divine power. No one assists more in destroying sinners than men who resist the truth by amusing other men with a counterfeit resemblance. Satan is most dreaded when transformed into an angel of light.

Three names for the magicians of Egypt[2] are in this verse. The "magicians" are the "bearers of sacred words," scribes, and interpreters of hieroglyphic writings. The "wise men"[4] are men who know occult arts. The "sorcerers"[3] are they who "mutter magic formulae," especially when driving away crocodiles, snakes, asps, etc. It was natural that Pharaoh should have sent for such persons. Books containing magic formulae belonged exclusively to the King; no one was permitted to consult them except the priests and wise men[4], who formed a council or school and were called in by the Pharaoh on all occasions of difficulty.

According to the Arabs, the name of the place where they lived was Asana, ancient and pleasant, called the city of the magicians, which lay to the East of the Nile. Josephus calls these magicians of Egypt priests, and Artapanus says they were priests that lived near Memphis. Their name in the Hebrew language is either from a word which signifies a greyish tool because, in their enchantments, they used superstitious characters and figures; or, they used two words, the one signifying a "hole" and the other "stopped"; because they bored a hole in a tree to put witchcrafts into it and stopped it up, and then declared what should be, or they had to say.