SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:11
Entonces llam tambin el Faran sabios y encantadores; e hicieron tambin lo mismo los encantadores de Egipto con sus encantamientos;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Exodus 7:11
Verse 11. Pharaoh-called the wise men] ymkj chacamim, the men of learning. Sorcerers, ypk cashshephim, those who reveal hidden things; probably from the Arabic root kashafa, to reveal, uncover, &c., signifying diviners, or those who pretended to reveal what was in futurity, to discover things lost, to find hidden treasures, &c. Magicians, ymfrj chartummey, decypherers of abstruse writings. See note on "Genesis xli. 8". They also did in like manner with their enchantments.] The word ythl lahatim, comes from fhl lahat, to burn, to set on fire; and probably signifies such incantations as required lustral fires, sacrifices, fumigations, burning of incense, aromatic and odouriferous drugs, &c., as the means of evoking departed spirits or assistant demons, by whose ministry, it is probable, the magicians in question wrought some of their deceptive miracles: for as the term miracle signifies properly something which exceeds the powers of nature or art to produce, (see ver. 9,) hence there could be no miracle in this case but those wrought, through the power of God, by the ministry of Moses and Aaron. There can be no doubt that real serpents were produced by the magicians. On this subject there are two opinions: 1st, That the serpents were such as they, either by juggling or sleight of hand, had brought to the place, and had secreted till the time of exhibition, as our common conjurers do in the public fairs, &c.
2dly, That the serpents were brought by the ministry of a familiar spirit, which, by the magic flames already referred to, they had evoked for the purpose. Both these opinions admit the serpents to be real, and no illusion of the sight, as some have supposed. The first opinion appears to me insufficient to account for the phenomena of the case referred to. If the magicians threw down their rods, and they became serpents after they were thrown down, as the text expressly says, ver. 12, juggling or sleight of hand had nothing farther to do in the business, as the rods were then out of their hands. If Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods, their sleight of hand was no longer concerned. A man, by dexterity of hand, may so far impose on his spectators as to appear to eat a rod; but for rods lying on the ground to become serpents, and one of these to devour all the rest so that it alone remained, required something more than juggling. How much more rational at once to allow that these magicians had familiar spirits who could assume all shapes, change the appearances of the subjects on which they operated, or suddenly convey one thing away and substitute another in its place! Nature has no such power, and art no such influence as to produce the effects attributed here and in the succeeding chapters to the Egyptian magicians.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-13 - What men dislike, because it opposes their pride and lusts, they wil not be convinced of; but it is easy to cause them to believe thing they wish to be true. God always sends with his word full proofs of it 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 oblige to confess they could not any longer imitate the effects of Divin power. None assist more in the destruction of sinners, than such a 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.
Original Hebrew
ויקרא 7121 גם 1571 פרעה 6547 לחכמים 2450 ולמכשׁפים 3784 ויעשׂו 6213 גם 1571 הם 1992 חרטמי 2748 מצרים 4714 בלהטיהם 3858 כן׃ 3651
