8 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 9 When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Do a miracle for yourselves,—then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy staff and cast [it] before Pharaoh—it will become a serpent. 10 And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and did so, as Jehovah had commanded; and Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh, and before his bondmen, and it became a serpent. 11 And Pharaoh also called the sages and the sorcerers; and they too, the scribes of Egypt, did so with their enchantments: 12 they cast down every man his staff, and they became serpents; but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staves. 13 And Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had said.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 7:8-13
Commentary on Exodus 7:8-13
(Read Exodus 7:8-13)
What men dislike, because it opposes their pride and lusts, they will not be convinced of; but it is easy to cause them to believe things they wish to be true. God always sends with his word full proofs of its Divine authority; but when men are bent to disobey, and willing to object, he often permits a snare to be laid wherein they are entangled. The magicians were cheats, trying to copy the real miracles of Moses by secret sleights or jugglings, which to a small extent they succeeded in doing, so as to deceive the bystanders, but they were at length obliged to confess they could not any longer imitate the effects of Divine power. None assist more in the destruction of sinners, than such as resist the truth by amusing men with a counterfeit resemblance of it. Satan is most to be dreaded when transformed into an angel of light.