ii. Of the deeds performed by Moses somo were imitated by the magicians of the Pharaoh, To at- count for this, various hypotheses have been re , sorted to. t. It has been supposed that they were enabled to do this by diabolic aid. But this as sumes the position that men can enter into agree ment or compact with evil spirits so as to receive their aid—a position which has never been proved, and consequently cannot be legitimately assumed to explain an actual phenomenon. This hypothesis assumes also that evil spirits can work miracles, a position no less gratuitous and improbable. 2. It has been maintained that the magicians were aided by God to do what they did ; that they were in struments in his hand, as was the witch who raised Samuel, and were probably as much surprised at their own success as she was ; and that God thus employed them probably to skew in the most de cisive manner that the agency at work was His, and that it was just as he gave the power or with held it that the miracle was performed. For this hypothesis there is much to be said. At the same time it is open to objection, for—t. Whilst Moses distinctly asserts that it was by Divine power that he and Aaron wrought, he never hints, even in the most distant way, that it was by this that the magi cians succeeded in their attempts ; and 2. It is ex pressly said, on the contrary, that what they did they did by means of their ' enchantments.' The word here used (W19) means a secret art, hence magical arts, enchantments, and may be properly used to designate the covert tricks or juggling artifices by which practisers of legerdemain impose upon others. This leads us to the 3d hypothesis, which is, that the achievements of the magicians were merely clever tricks by which they imposed upon the people, and tended to confirm the Pharaoh in his obduracy. This hypothesis has in its favour the fact that the magicians of Egypt, and of the East generally, have always, down to our own day, possessed an unparalleled and almost incredible dexterity in artificial magic (see Lane's Modern Egyptians, p. 352, ff.) It is to be borne in mind, also, that in the cases before us these magicians were allowed time to prepare them selves, and to go through those introductoiypro cesses, by means of which jugglers mainly succeed in cheating the beholders ; and, moreover, it is im portant to keep in view that they performed before witnesses who were interested in believing in their success. Above all, in the three feats in which they succeeded, there was really nothing but what the jugglers of the present day could easily do. The jugglers of India will, for a few pence, do tricks with serpents far more wonderful than making them rigid so as to resemble staves ; and any juggler could make water in a basin or a tank resemble blood, or, when the country was already swanning with frogs, could cover some place that had been cleared for the purpose, with these reptiles, as if he had suddenly produced them. The perform ances of these magicians are really below par as compared with those which may be witnessed in the room of any travelling conjuror among our selves. Let it be noted, also, that they failed as soon as they were required to perform the miracle on the instant, as in the case of the plague of lice, for their attempts to imitate which no time was al lowed ; and as a consequence of this it is emphati cally said, they could not.' When to all this it is added that they were impotent not only to re move the infliction, but even to exempt themselves from it, there seems abundant reason for conclud ing that these magicians attained to nothing beyond the performance of a few successful tricks (Scot Congregational Lecture, p. 210.226; Wardlaw On Miracles, p. 231, ff.) It has been asked, What period of time was occupied in the infliction of these successive plagues IP In answer to this, some contend for a year ; but they have no better reason for this than that it enables them to compare the plagues with certain natural phenomenon, occurring at fixed seasons of the year in Egypt. This has been done with considerable ingenuity, though not without some rather violent straining in particular cases ; but without some better reason than this we should not feel justified in accepting a hypothesis which the general tone of the narrative does not suggest. Each plague, according to the historian, lasted only for a short time ; and unless we suppose an inter val of several weeks between each, a few months would afford sufficient time for the happening of the whole.
iv. A more important inquiry respects the design of these inflictions: That their ultimate design was the effecting of the liberation of the Israelites from their cruel bondage lies on the surface of the narrative; but with this, there may, and probably were other ends contemplated. We may That God designed to produce an effect on the mind of Moses himself, tending to educate and discipline him for the great work on which he was about to enter, the conduct and rule of the people during their passage through the wilderness. For such a task, great fortitude and implicit confidence in the power and majesty of Jehovah were required; and as Moses, timid at first, and ready to retire on the first rebuff, gradu ally acquired courage and determination as the manifestations of God's power in the chastisements inflicted on the Pharaoh and his land proceeded, it is very probable that the series of inflictions of which he was the instrument, were designed to confirm him in faith, obedience, and confidence, and so fit him for his great work. 2. We may suppose that a salutary effect was intended to be produced on the minds of the Israelites, the mass of whom had, under their long protracted debasement, sunk low in religious and intellectual life. The marvellous manner in which God interposed for their deliver ance, and the mighty power by which He brought them forth, could not but arouse them to thought, and elevate and quicken their religious emotions. 3. It appears that a salutary religious effect was produced on many of the Egyptians themselves, as is evidenced by the multitudes who united them selves to the Israelites when they made their escape ; and also on the surrounding nations, as is attested by Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses (Exod. xviii. to, 11). We may presume, therefore, that this also was part of the design of these inflictions, especially as we find God expressly declaring to Moses that these judgments were intended to make the Egyptians know that He was God (Exod. vii. 5)- 4. But these ends were included in the great end of demonstrating the vanity of those idols in which the Egyptians ...trusted. Against all the gods of Egypt, said the Lord to Moses, I will execute judgment : I am Jehovah' (Exod. xii. 12). On these idols, God would pour contempt ; and in connection with this, it is noticeable that nearly every miracle performed by Moses, had relation to some object of idolatrous worship among the Egyptians. The devouring of the serpents by the serpent fine which the rod of Moses had been turned, was directed against the serpent-worship of Egypt ; the turning of the water into blood, was an assault on their sacred river the Nile; the plague of the frogs, the gnats, the flies or scarabei, all tended to bring objects of idolatrous worship among the Egyptians into contempt ; the murrain on the cattle was directed against their Apis-worship; the plague of boils, brought on by the casting of ashes from the altar into the air, a rite which they followed to arrest evil, shewed how God could reverse their omens, and make what they used for good to turn to evil ; the hail and storm plague was directed against their worship of the elements or of deities supposed to preside over them ; the plague of locusts shewed that this great scourge which they were accustomed to trace to the wrath of their deities was entirely in the power of Jehovah; the plague of darkness poured contempt on their worship of the sun-god; and the death of the first born wound up this terrible series, by shelving that in the hand of Jehovah alone was the life of all his creatures. A mighty and memorable lesson was thus read out before both Egyptians and Israelites, which could not but have its effect in weakening among the former the attachment of many to their idols, and confirming the latter in their reverence for Jehovah as the only true God. (Stackhouse, Hist. of the Bible; Bryant, Observations on the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians, Lond. Eichhorn, De Eopti anno mirablli, in the Com ment. Soc. Reg. Scient. Gottingen. Recentior, vol. iv. 45 ; Rosenmiiller, Scholia, in loc. ; Knobel, in lee.; Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses; Winer, R. IV.B., art. Moses.)—W. L. A.