power over Pharash, and thy brother fhall be as thy prophet and interpreter to him; and though I fuffer his heart to continue hardened (D), till thou haft wrought all (D) We have ventured to depart from our own, and almoft all other verfions, which make God the chief hardener of Pharaoh's heart, that he might inflict the more fevere punishments on him. A notion, which, however embraced by the predeftinarians, feems fo fhocking to reason, that one would fooner choose to say with the fool, There is no God, than to believe him capable of fuch manifest injuftice. We fhall have occafion, in the fe quel of this hiftory to fhew, that the Jews have been the first broachers of this monftrous doctrine; and, by their verfions and paraphrafes, have led the way for others to render these, and many other texts of the Old Teftament, in a sense in which neither the original, nor the whole tenor of Scripture, nor the notion of a Deity, nor even the context, in this particular cafe, could bear them out. Forwho can deny, that what God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians was much more proper to foften than to harden his heart; efpecially when it is obfervable, that it was not till after seeing the miracles, and after the ceafing of the plagues, that his heart is faid to have been hardened? 1 We think ourselves, therefore, obliged to do juftice to those learned critics, who have been at the pains of clearing the Scriptures from charging the great Judge of heaven and earth with fuch foul injustice, by proving, even against the Jews, that the verbs here ufed are in the conjugations piel and biphil, as they are called by the grammarians; and fignify often a bare permiffion, of which they have given very many unquestionable inftances, which we shall not here trouble our reader with, seeing he may confult the authors themfelves, whofe names he will find in the margin (41): From all these, and many more authorities, it is plain, that the words ought to have been tranflated, as we have, that GOD suffered the heart of Pharaoh to be hardened, as all thofe, who are ever so little verfed in the Hebrew, will readily own. As for those places where it is faid, For this cause have I fet thee up, that I might shew my power, &c. it is plain, they ought to have been rendered, For this caufe have I fuffered thee to fubfift, or to ftand, &c. that is, I have forborn to cut thee off, or fpared thee from the common ruin, &c, which (44) Arr. Montan. de idiom. Hebr. #. 42. fin. Can. tbeol. cent. 2. Gerbard. de Provid. Calov. & Rung, in Exod. Hunnin. qu. de Provid. 57,91. Meitzer. difp. Gieff. tom. p. 745. Mefner anthropol. dec. 1. Pfeifer dubia V. T. cent. 1. l: 87. Pelling & Whitby against predeft. Dr. Clark, le Clerc is loc. Grot, le Scene offay, & al. bcas all the miracles I have charged thee with; yet be affured, that I will bring frael out of their bondage like a triumphant army, and the Egyptians fhall know, that I am the LORD. Go therefore, and let your mighty works convince that proud tyrant at least, that your meflage is from a greater and more powerful Monarch than he d.. Mofes and Aaron forthwith obeyed; and, having prefented themfelves before Pharaoh, confirmed their meilage byfir mithe firft miracle, and Mofes threw down his rod, which racle. Mofes's turned immediately into a ferpent. Here Pharaoh fent, to try what his magicians could do, and thefe likewife into a fer turned their rods into ferpents; fo that all the fuperiority pent. which Mofes fhewed over them at this time was, that his The magirod fwallowed up thofe of the Egyptians (E). However, cians do this the fame d Exod. vi. p. tot. bear quite another fenfe, and only fhew, that though he had long ago, deferved to be deftroyed, yet. GoD thought fit to let him fubfift, till he had, by his many wonders, delivered his people, in fpight of all his oppofition. ptian magicians fpeaking to And here, fince we are entering into a long feene of Ma(E) The Talmud has pre- fes's miracles, the greatest part ferved us a tradition of a pro- of which were imitated by the verbial taunt, with which the magicians of Pharaoh, it will Egyptians flouted Mofes, when not be amifs to inquire who the he began to work his miracles latter were, by what power among them; Thou bringeft they performed thofe wonders, Straw to Affra, a place in and why they came fhort of Egypt where ftraw abounded; fome of thofe of Mofes. As meaning, that he had chofen to the firft, we promised in a the wrong place to play his former place to prove, that conjuring tricks in, a country they were Jannes and Jambres that was fo well stocked with (3) mentioned by St. Paul to conjurers. Origen says, that have withftood Mofes (4) ; Plithey (the Egyptians) did not ny calls them Jamnesand Jota abfolutely deny the miracles of pha (5), when, fpeaking of the Mofes; but only pretended, that fect of the magicians, he says, they were done by delufion, and that Mofes, Jamnes, and Jota not by a divine power (1). pha, were the heads and foundAnd Philo introduces the Egy-ers of it. They are celebrat (1) Orig. cont. Celf. lib. iii. (2) Phil. in vit. Mef. Vid. Warren cont. Burnet, p. 40. (3) Vid. fup. p. 348, 349, (P). (5) Lib, xxx, ce Io (4) 2 Tim. ii, 1, by theirs, this advantage made no great impreffion on Pharaoh, who Second mi.might attribute it only to his fuperior skill in magic. racle, the This miracle therefore was foon followed by another, which was turning all the running and ftanding waters of turned in-Egypt into blood; fo that there was not a drop of water to blood. waters ed in the Talmud (4) under the names of 2017 Jochani and Mamri. The targum of Jonathan (5) affirms them to have been Balaam's fons; and that they went along with him to Balak king of Moab. Some Jewish authors call them Janes and Jambres; others, Jochanan and Mamre; and o:hers, Jonah and Jombres (6); and pretend, that they were drowned in the Red Sea with the Egyptians; though others think that they were not detroyed till the war which Phineas waged against the Midianites (7). The Mohammedans (8), after their ufual manner, have added many ridiculous ftories to this conteft, particularly left However, though this opinion hss been likewife maintained by feveral eminent perfons, both Jews and Chriftians (9); yet that of St. Austin (10), that they were done by the power of the devil, has been more univerfally received, and that for the two following reafons; firft, because the Scriptures of the Old and New Teftament feem to attribute fome fuch power to evil spirits; and, fecondly, becaufe Mofes expreffes himself in fuch terms as manifeftly fhew, that they really imitated him in all thofe wonders they wrought. For, in this cafe of their rods being tu ned into ferpents, he doth not fay, that theymade them appear to be fuch by a deceptio-vifus; but that ישליכו איש מטהו ויהיולתננים that they were ordered to be put to death by Pharaoh, who fufpected them to hold a fecret correfpondence with Mofes, becaufe they fuffered his ferpent to fwallow theirs; but, from they flung down every man bis rod, and that they became ferpents. And in all the other cafes, wherein they imitated him, he expreffes himself thus: גם or ויעשו כן חרטומים the whole account they give of it, it is plain, they looked upon the wonders wrought by the Egyptians rather as hocus pocus tricks, than fupernatural works. yn, and the magicians did fo likewife; or, and the magicians, even they, did fo likewife. If it be asked, why (4) Tract. nina, cap. 9. (5) Targ, in Num. xxii. 22, torf. lexic. Talmud Fabric. de Apocr. Vet. Teft. (6) Bux (7) Num. xxv. 17, 18. (8) Herbelo biblioth. orient. p. 648, & feq. Monofab ap. Calmer, fub voc. Jannes, e (9) Jof. ant. lib. ii. c. 13. Justin, Mart. quæft, orrbod. xvi. Tertul, lib, de anima. Greg. Nyffen, Ambrof. Hieron, cont. Jevin, lib. ii, & al. (10) Auguft. lib. xxxvii. quæft. 79, 98, & lib. i. de Trinitate, cap. Theodoret, in Exod. lib. xviii. quin. Toftar. Lyra, Burg. Cajet. Uffir. ann. & al. plurim. GOD left in the whole land for the Egyptians to drink (F). This miracle was likewife imitated by the magicians, but whether upon fea-water brought on purpose, or fome fresh water from the land of Goshen, or fome of that which they had drawn out of their new-digged wells, is not eafy to guefs; though it is more probable, that they staid till the waters of the Nile, and other places, were reftored. to their former colour and taste. However that be, Pharach was not one jot the nearer being convincede: where e Exod. vii. p. tot. GOD fuffered them to borrow this power from the devil, to invalidate, if poffible, thofe miracles which his fervant wrought by his divine power, the following reafons may be given for it; namely, first, it was neceffary that thefe magicians fhould be fuffered to exert the utmost of their power against Mofes, in order to clear him from the imputation of magic or forcery: for, as the notion of fuch an extraordinary art was very rife, not only among the Egyptians, but all other nations, if they had not entered into this ftrenuous competition with him, and been at length overcome by him, both the Hebrews and Egyptians would have been apter to attribute all his mi racles to his skill in magic,than to the divine power. Secondly,it wasneceffary, in order to confirm the faith of the wavering and defponding Ifraelites, by making them fee the difference between Mofes's acting by the power of GOD, and the forcerers by that of Satan. And, laftly, in order to preferve them afterwards from being feduced, by any falfe miracles, from the true worship of GoD (11). (F) How long they conti nued fo Mofes has not told us; for what is added afterwards in the laft verfe of this chapter. that feven days were completed after the turning of the waters into blood, is rather the space between this miracle and that of the frogs, which they are bid to perform in the beginning of the next chapter. For, as the divifion of the Bible into chapters was of later invention, and introduced for the better conveniency of reading it, if we join the last verfe of the feventh with the be ginning of the eighth, it will run thus; And Jeven days. were fulfilled after the turning the waters into blood, and the LORD spake, and so on, which is the fame as if he had faid, And seven days after the turning of the waters into blood, GOD fpoke to Mofes. However, this change continued long enough to kill all the fish, and to oblige the E gyptians to dig round about the river for fresh water to drink, none of the reft being fit for that, or any other ufe (11) Rupert, Perrer, Simler. Ferus, Villet. Tremel. & al. in loc. Bb 4 i fore Third mi- fore Mofes was again fent to threaten him, that, if he did racle, of not let Ifrael go, his whole kingdom fhould be fo filled frogs. with frogs, that their ovens, their beds and tables, should fwarm with them; as they accordingly did at the time appointed,whilft the magicians, indeed, went on to perfuade him, that Mofes was only fuch another miracle-monger as they were, by imitating alfo this miracle, and bringing a fresh fwarm of frogs. They might indeed have fhewed their skill to a better purpose, if they had tried to have removed thofe infects, of which the Egyptians did not want this fresh supply; but it seems they had not power enough to do that. Wherefore Pharaoh was reduced to fend for Mofes, and to promife him, that he would let Ifrael go, if he would but deliver him and hist country from that odious vermin. Mofes took him at his word, and, defiring him to name the time when he fhould rid the land of thofe creatures, did precifely perform his part; fo that by the next day there was not one frog left alive in all the land. But whilft his fubjects were gathering them up in heaps, in order to carry them off, their ftench being like to have bred an infection, Pharaoh was thinking how to elude his promife, not confidering that he only made way for another plague. FOR, when Mofes found himself baffled, he touched, Fourth mi- the duft with his rod, which was immediately turned into racle, of lice, or, as fome think, into gnats; which small infect, the lice. they fay, is more common, and the fting more torment ing, in Egypt, than any-where else. But our verfion feemsto us more agreeable to the original, and to the generality of antient and modern tranflations and expositors f. Thefe infected man and beast in fuch quantities, that one would have imagined, that all the duft of Egypt had been turned into lice. Pharaoh fent for his magicians, and bid them try their fkill, in vain; for either their power proved too fhort, or was curtailed by a fuperior hand; fo that they were forced to acknowlege, that the finger of God did plainly display itself in this miracle (G). However, f Chald. Targ. JOSEPH. ant. 1. ii. c. 14. Rabbin. Mon. TAN. MUNSTER, VATABL. JUN. BOCHART, & al. (G) What has been faid under this head in the last note will eafily lead us to an answer to the next question, why the magicians could not now bring forth lice, when they had been able to produce fwarms of frogs, and other infects. For, without |
