Ten Plagues of Egypt
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Pharaoh Could Yet Save Egypt
He was informed that the monarch would not yield until God
should visit judgments upon Egypt and bring out Israel by the signal
manifestation of His power. Before the infliction of each plague,
Moses was to describe its nature and effects, that the king might save
himself from it if he chose. Every punishment rejected would be
followed by one more severe, until his proud heart would be humbled,
and he would acknowledge the Maker of heaven and earth as the true
and living God. The Lord would punish the people of Egypt for their
idolatry and silence their boasting, that other nations might tremble at
His mighty acts, and that His people might be led to turn from idolatry
and render Him pure worship.
Again Moses and Aaron entered the lordly halls of the king of
Egypt. There, surrounded by lofty columns and glittering adornments,
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by the rich paintings and sculptured images of heathen gods, stood the
two representatives of the enslaved race. The king demanded a miracle
in evidence of their divine commission. Aaron now took the rod and
cast it down before Pharaoh. It became a serpent. The monarch sent
for his “wise men and the sorcerers,” who “cast down every man his
rod and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their
rods.” The king, more determined than before, declared his magicians
equal in power with Moses and Aaron. He denounced the servants of
the Lord as impostors, yet was restrained by divine power from doing
them harm.
Satan’s Counterfeits
The magicians did not really cause their rods to become serpents;
but by magic, aided by the great deceiver, they were able to produce
this appearance. The prince of evil, though possessing all the wisdom
and might of an angel fallen, has not power to create or to give life;
this is the prerogative of God alone. But he produced a counterfeit.
To human sight the rods were changed to serpents. Such they were
believed to be by Pharaoh and his court. Though the Lord caused the
real serpent to swallow up the spurious ones, this was regarded by
Pharaoh not as a work of God’s power, but as the result of a kind of
superior magic.