Exodus 7:1-13

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt,
4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
6 Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them.
7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”
10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.
11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:
12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

Exodus 7:1-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 7

Moses and Aaron are ordered to go to Pharaoh, and require the dismission of the people of Israel, but they are told before hand that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened, and would refuse to let them go, until the hand of the Lord was stretched out, and great judgments were brought down upon, Egypt, and then they should come forth, Ex 7:1-5, which orders Moses and Aaron obeyed, and their age is observed, when this was done, Ex 7:6,7 and they are bid to work a miracle, when Pharaoh should demand one, by turning a rod into a serpent, which they did; but Pharaoh's magicians doing the same in appearance, his heart was hardened, Ex 7:8-14 and then they are directed to meet him at the river, and require the same as before; and if he refused, to smite the waters of the river with the rod, and turn them into blood, which they did, Ex 7:15-21, but Pharaoh's magicians doing the same by enchantments, he did not regard it, though the plague lasted seven days, Ex 7:22-25.

Cross References 18

  • 1. S Exodus 4:16
  • 2. Exodus 4:15; Acts 14:12
  • 3. S Exodus 4:21; Exodus 11:9; Romans 9:18
  • 4. S Exodus 3:20; S Exodus 10:1; Acts 7:36
  • 5. ver 13,16,22; Exodus 8:15,19; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 11:9
  • 6. S Exodus 3:20; Exodus 6:6; Acts 7:36
  • 7. S Exodus 6:26
  • 8. S Exodus 6:2; ver 17; Exodus 8:19,22
  • 9. Exodus 3:20; Psalms 138:7; Ezekiel 6:14; Ezekiel 25:13
  • 10. ver 2,10,20; Genesis 6:22; ver 2
  • 11. Deuteronomy 31:2; Deuteronomy 34:7; Acts 7:23,30
  • 12. Deuteronomy 6:22; 2 Kings 19:29; Psalms 78:43; Psalms 86:17; Psalms 105:27; Psalms 135:9; Isaiah 7:11; Isaiah 37:30; Isaiah 38:7-8; Isaiah 55:13; S John 2:11; John 2:18
  • 13. Exodus 4:2-5
  • 14. Exodus 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:10; 1 Samuel 6:2; 2 Kings 21:6; Isaiah 2:6; Isaiah 47:12; Jeremiah 27:9; Malachi 3:5
  • 15. S Genesis 41:8; 2 Timothy 3:8
  • 16. ver 22; Exodus 8:7,18; S Matthew 24:24
  • 17. S Exodus 4:21
  • 18. S ver 4
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