Exodus 8:19

My Notes

What Does Exodus 8:19 Mean?

"Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said." The third plague (lice/gnats) produces what the first two couldn't: the Egyptian magicians' confession. They'd replicated the blood (7:22) and the frogs (8:7). But the lice are beyond them. Their magic fails. And their diagnosis: "This is the finger of God" (etsba elohim — the finger of God, divine power). The professionals in counterfeit spirituality recognize the genuine article when their counterfeiting capacity is exceeded.

Pharaoh's response to his own magicians' testimony: hardened. He hearkened not. The people he trusts most — his spiritual advisors — tell him: this is God. And he ignores them. The evidence from his own team isn't enough to move him.

Reflection Questions

• 1.When has even the evidence from your 'own team' (people you trust) failed to move you?
• 2.What does the magicians' confession ('the finger of God') teach about the limits of counterfeit spirituality?
• 3.How does 'the finger' (God's minimum effort exceeding maximum human capacity) recalibrate your view of divine power?
• 4.Where is your heart hardened against testimony you've already received from sources you trust?

Devotional

This is the finger of God. The magicians — the professional counterfeiters, the men whose job was to replicate divine signs and prove they weren't unique — throw up their hands and confess: we can't do this. This is the real thing. The finger of God.

The magicians replicated the blood. They replicated the frogs. Their magical toolkit could produce counterfeits of the first two plagues — creating the impression that Egyptian magic and divine power were in the same category. But the lice break the illusion: the magicians try and fail (v. 18: the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not). The counterfeiting capacity reaches its limit. And the limit produces the confession.

This is the finger of God. Etsba elohim — not the hand, not the arm, the FINGER. The magicians recognize that what overwhelmed their entire capacity was produced by the least effort of divine power. The finger — the most delicate, most precise, least forceful digit — did what their entire magical system couldn't. God barely exerted himself, and the professionals are confounded.

Jesus will use the same phrase: "If I with the finger of God cast out devils" (Luke 11:20). The finger is the casual, effortless application of divine power. The thing that humiliates the counterfeiters is barely a flick of God's finger. The professionals' maximum effort is exceeded by God's minimum.

Pharaoh's heart was hardened. The magicians confess. Pharaoh ignores. His own spiritual advisors — the people he trusts to evaluate the supernatural — tell him: this is God. Stop. You're outmatched. And Pharaoh's heart doesn't move. The hardening overrides even the testimony of the people he keeps on staff specifically to assess spiritual realities.

He hearkened not unto them. Not: he hearkened not unto Moses. He hearkened not unto his own magicians. The people whose job is to evaluate spiritual phenomena evaluated them correctly — and Pharaoh dismissed the evaluation. The hardened heart doesn't just resist the enemy's testimony. It resists its own team's diagnosis.

As the LORD had said. The narrator confirms: the hardening was predicted. The resistance was expected. The failure to hearken was part of the plan. God said Pharaoh would resist. Pharaoh resists. The script is being followed by a man who thinks he's improvising.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture