Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Pere:

In verse 11 did Pharaoh’s magicians change their sticks to snakes? Or was
it some sort of trick?

Many years ago I read an account that included a story about a type of
Egyptian snake that if one presses into the neck just behind the head, that
it stiffens our like a stick. So when the Egyptian magicians came in with
their “sticks”, it wasn’t really so, hence their trickery.

Now we come to them changing water to blood “by their enchantments”, did
they really do so, or was it another trick? From the context of this reply,
you have my answer what I think it was.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 10:05 PM, Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com> wrote:

>  Dear b-hebrew listers,
>
> at reading Ex 7:22, I'm finding something that I do not understand.
>
> KJV has: "And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and
> Pharaoh's heart was hardened"
>
> Comparing verse 22 with the precedent verses 20-21, must we here (in verse
> 22) deduce that the magicians also turned the water to blood? Or... the
> sense of the sentence is quite other?
>
> Is it really possible for the magicians to turn blood to blood?  Does it
> make any sense?
>
> Maybe I am missing something?
>
>
> --
> Pere Porta
> (Barcelona, Catalonia, Northeastern Spain)
>
>
>