Now, we go to a different Pharaoh, and a different set of wise men:
Exo 7:9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’”
Exo 7:10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
Exo 7:11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.
Exo 7:12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.
Let's start by peeling back the layers. At least a couple of centuries have passed since our last visit to Egypt; God had prospered his people. This was part of a larger Semitic (descendants of Shem) gathering in the land of Ham (another of Noah's sons), and the original Egyptians had begun to resent their influence. This new Pharaoh had begun the policy of enslaving them; and eventually, God calls Moses and his brother Aaron to lead the people out. But the first attempt had borne bitter fruit: Mere words had caused Pharaoh to increase the burden on the Hebrews, and as a result they began to reject Moses. Therefore, God had to break them of their fear of Egypt. The fear of Pharaoh was his power, and his power was tied up in his "wise men, sorcerers, and magicians", and faith in them had to be broken, and faith in God restored.
The first step towards breaking this was this scene. Aaron throws his rod down, and it changes from stick to snake. The group opposing Moses and Aaron did the same... which certainly wouldn't have broke the people's fear. But how did they accomplish this? Here's where the "wise men" part came in.
To explain how the "wise men" accomplished this- and why God picked this challenge- I take you to a website RTS (dot) org, which helps explain. First off, they remind us, that the serpent was the symbol of Lower Egypt, and was a symbol of the wisdom goddess, and thus was an affront to the power of Pharaoh. Second, and I'll let them explain:
Secondly, casting down a rod is described over and over in Egyptian, mythological ritual. You find in text throughout the second millennium, those who have the power to change inanimate objects into animals, who have the power to make wax crocodiles into real crocodiles.
Note: one of the things I found is that the word used in context for 'serpent', can also be used for any large reptile type creature, including a crocodile! Or even a dragon, so this is also a direct affront to their true master, Satan. So was this magic? Maybe, and maybe not. RTS goes on:
Perhaps they did it by slight of hand. We are told that there are still snake charmers in Egypt today who can take certain types of cobras, pinch a nerve in the upper part of their neck and paralyze them, and then through chanting and incantations keep them in a catatonic state until they throw them down again, and they wriggle back to life.
So this was a 'magic', by which the wise men of Egypt looked wise. Problem A for them though, was that while their snakes were still groggy from the hypnotism, Aaron's CONSUMED theirs- and then Aaron grabbed it by the tail and- problem B- it turned back into a stick! And by stick, I don't mean a fake one (which the wise men would have had to do off-scene as it takes a while to mesmerize them), but one which, in Numbers 17, would actually branch and bear fresh almonds!
From here on, "wise men" are NOT mentioned- only magicians. To me, I think this means that they only real 'trick' they had was the snakes, and that has been eliminated. Next came the first plague- water into blood. If you read the passage (Exodus 7:17-22), you read how Moses and Aaron changed water to blood throughout Egypt, causing great hardship; but the magicians only "did this also". Obviously, a magician with a handful of hematite or red clay could simulate the same effect on a limited scale, but not to the extent. Think about it: They did it after Moses had turned "all the water in the Nile" (Ex 7:20) to actual blood; they would have had to have done it to a container of water, just enough for Pharaoh to say, we can do that, but Moses- actually, God- did it to an extent that it took SEVEN DAYS for it to wash away.
Then came the frogs. Again, the magicians had a way to do this- it seems they would gather groups of tiny insects, and release them over water frogs were in. The 'fan base' couldn't see the flies, the frogs would "magically" appear. But Moses's frogs were EVERYWHERE- so many that Pharaoh scoffed at his magician's tricks and begged Moses to get rid of them (Ex 8:8)!
The third plague ended the influence of the magicians once and for all.
Exo 8:16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’”
Exo 8:17 And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt.
Exo 8:18 The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast.
Exo 8:19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
So not only did God top them with their own "secret power"- the gnats they used to 'produce' frogs- but this time, they couldn't duplicate it, and they ADMITTED they couldn't do it! Something very important to note here (and actually, I might have done it earlier): The word the Bible uses for "enchantments", "secret arts", etc, in the first case- the snake changing- basically means "flaming", used here as magic, and used only one other time in the OT- for the flaming sword of the Cherubim who guards the way to Eden in Genesis! The rest of the time a word is used for "secret or hidden" and basically acknowledges these tricks were 'sleight of hand'.
From here on in, the people of both the Hebrews and Egypt know that God has defeated the magicians- the remaining plagues are a contest between God and Pharaoh alone. Not only vastly important for them, but vastly important for us, too. Lee Strobel's journey to Christ shows us that man's wisdom can only take you so far- eventually, you have to choose God's wisdom or just plain stubbornly refuse to hear any wisdom. When we get to Proverbs (and that will be a long session!), Solomon divides those who don't believe into three groups. The simple, who just don't know, and can receive instruction; the fool, "who says in his heart, 'There is no God' ", but can still become convinced; and the scoffer, who doesn't care what anybody says, any wisdom, or any evidence; they simply refuse. Pharaoh's later story points out both the foolishness and the ultimate end of such people.
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