Exodus 7:1-25

The Rod of Moses turned into a Serpent. The First Plague

1. A god to Pharaoh] see on Exodus 4:16. Thy prophet] A prophet is a spokesman. The prophets of God are those who declare His will. In doing this they may foretell His judgments and predict the future; but prediction is a secondary feature of prophecy, and is not contained in the original and proper sense of the word in which it is used here, where Aaron is called the prophet or mouthpiece of Moses. To prophesy sometimes means to declare God's praise in song. Thus Miriam is called a prophetess in Exodus 15:20, Eldad and Medad are said to have prophesied in Numbers 11:25 (see note there), Deborah was a prophetess (Judges 4:4; Judges 5:1), and in 1 Chronicles 25:1 the sacred musicians in the temple are said to 'prophesy with harps': cp. also 1 Samuel 10:10; 1 Samuel 19:20; 1 Corinthians 14:1;

4, 5. The purpose of the miraculous events connected with the exodus was not only the deliverance of the Israelites, but the manifestation of Jehovah's character to the Egyptians: see on Exodus 4:21.