[1] And Moses answered and
said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice:
for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
They will not hearken to my voice - That is, they would
not take his bare word, unless he shewed them some sign. He remembered
how they had once rejected him, and feared it would be so again.
[2] And the LORD said unto him,
What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. [3]
And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it
became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. [4]
And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the
tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in
his hand:
[5] That they may believe that
the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
That they may believe - An imperfect sentence to be thus
compleated, This thou shalt do, before them, that they may believe.
[6] And the LORD said furthermore
unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his
bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
[7] And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom
again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of
his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.
His hand was leprous, as snow - For whiteness. This signified,
That Moses, by the power of God, should bring sore diseases upon Egypt,
that at his prayer they should be removed. And that whereas the Israelites
in Egypt were become leprous, polluted by sin, and almost consumed by oppression,
by being taken into the bosom of Moses they should be cleansed and cured.
[8] And it shall come to pass,
if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first
sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. [9]
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs,
neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the
river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out
of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
The voice of the first sign - God's works have a voice
to speak to us, which we must diligently observe.
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