Exodus 8:19

19 So the charmers said to Pharao, This is the finger of God. But the heart of Pharao was hardened, and he hearkened not to them, as the Lord said.

Exodus 8:19 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 8:19

Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of
God
This is to be ascribed to a power superior to human, to a divine power; so long as they could do something similar, or impose upon the senses of men, and make them believe they did the like, they would not acknowledge divine omnipotence; but when they no longer could deceive the sight of Pharaoh and the Egyptian, then they own the effects of a superior power: and this they did partly to detract from the power of Moses and Aaron, because they would not have them pass for more skilful persons in the magic art than themselves; and therefore suggest, that this was done not by virtue of any human skill and art, but by the power of the Supreme Being; and partly to detract from the honour of the God of Israel; for they do not say this is the finger of Jehovah, whom they accounted, as Dr. Lightfoot ^F7 observes, as a petty trivial god, but this is the finger of Elohim, the Supreme Deity. It is conjectured by some ^F8, that in memory of this plague the Egyptian priests scrape their whole bodies, lest there should be a louse or any unclean thing on them when they worship their gods, as Herodotus ^F9 relates:

and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them;
either not unto the magicians owning the hand of God, and his divine power in the plague inflicted; or to Moses and Aaron demanding the dismission of the people of Israel, which latter seems to be confirmed by the usual phrase, as follows,

as the Lord had said;
see ( Exodus 7:4 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Ut supra. (Works, vol. 1. p. 705, 706.)
F8 Vid. Scheuchzer. Physica Sacra, vol. 1. p. 132.
F9 Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 37.

Exodus 8:19 In-Context

17 So Aaron stretched out his rod with his hand, and smote the dust of the earth; and the lice were on men and on quadrupeds, and in all the dust of the earth there were lice.

18 And the charmers also did so with their sorceries, to bring forth the louse, and they could not. And the lice were both on the men and on the quadrupeds.

19 So the charmers said to Pharao, This is the finger of God. But the heart of Pharao was hardened, and he hearkened not to them, as the Lord said.

20 And the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharao: and behold, he will go forth to the water, and thou shalt say to him, These things says the Lord: Send away my people, that they may serve me in the wilderness.

21 And if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I send upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and upon your houses, the dog-fly; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with the dog-fly, even throughout the land upon which they are.