Exodus 7:12

12 ein jeglicher warf seinen Stab von sich, da wurden Schlangen daraus; aber Aarons Stab verschlang ihre Stäbe.

Exodus 7:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 7:12

For they cast down every man his rod, and they became
serpents
That is, they seemed to be so, as Josephus ^F26 expresses it, but not really, in which he is followed by many; though some think that the devil assisted in this affair, and in an instant, as soon as the rods were cast down, removed them and put real serpents in their room:

but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods;
that is, the serpent that Aaron's rod was turned into, swallowed up the rods of the magicians, which never were otherwise than rods only in appearance; or if real serpents were put in the room of them, these were devoured by his serpent called his rod, because it was before turned into a serpent, as Aben Ezra observes; though the Targums of Jonathan, Jarchi, and R. Jeshua, suppose this was done after the serpent became a rod again; which makes the miracle the greater and more wonderful, that a rod should devour other rods; and supposing them real serpents, this was what the magicians could not make their rods do, and in which they were outdone by Aaron.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Antiqu. ut supra. (l. 2. c. 13 sect. 3.)

Exodus 7:12 In-Context

10 Da gingen Mose und Aaron hinein zu Pharao und taten, wie ihnen der HERR geboten hatte. Und Aaron warf seinen Stab vor Pharao und vor seinen Knechten, und er ward zur Schlange.

11 Da forderte Pharao die Weisen und Zauberer; und die ägyptischen Zauberer taten auch also mit ihrem Beschwören:

12 ein jeglicher warf seinen Stab von sich, da wurden Schlangen daraus; aber Aarons Stab verschlang ihre Stäbe.

13 Also ward das Herz Pharaos verstockt, und er hörte sie nicht, wie denn der HERR geredet hatte.

14 Und der HERR sprach zu Mose: Das Herz Pharaos ist hart; er weigert sich das Volk zu lassen.