Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 9. Show a miracle for you] A miracle, tpwm mopheth, signifies an effect produced in nature which is opposed to its laws, or such as its powers are inadequate to produce. As Moses and Aaron professed to have a Divine mission, and to come to Pharaoh on the most extraordinary occasion, making a most singular and unprecedented demand, it was natural to suppose, if Pharaoh should even give them an audience, that he would require them to give him some proof by an extraordinary sign that their pretensions to such a Divine mission were well founded and incontestable.For it appears to have ever been the sense of mankind, that he who has a Divine mission to effect some extraordinary purpose can give a supernatural proof that he has got this extraordinary commission.
Take thy rod] This rod, whether a common staff, an ensign of office, or a shepherd's crook, was now consecrated for the purpose of working miracles; and is indifferently called the rod of God, the rod of Moses, and the rod of Aaron. God gave it the miraculous power, and Moses and Aaron used it indifferently.
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 כי3588 ידבר1696 אלכם413 פרעה6547 לאמר559 תנו5414 לכם מופת4159 ואמרת559 אל413 אהרן175 קח3947 את853 מטך4294 והשׁלך7993 לפני6440 פרעה6547 יהי1961 לתנין׃8577
