Exodus 7:12
Hebrew Bible
10 When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them—Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a snake. 11 Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt by their secret arts did the same thing. 12 Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Jubilees 48:9
Pseudepigrapha
8 The Lord did everything for the sake of Israel and in accord with his covenant which he made with Abraham to take revenge on them just as they were enslaving them with force. 9 The prince of Mastema would stand up against you and wish to make you fall into the pharaoh’s power. He would help the Egyptian magicians, and they would oppose you and perform in front of you. 10 We permitted them to do evil things, but we would not allow healings to be performed by them. 11 When the Lord struck them with bad sores, they were unable to oppose you because we deprived them of their ability to perform a single sign.
Date: 150-100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
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Notes and References
"... Jubilees’ author here offers further information about his own view of the world’s workings. God is supremely powerful, but the wicked angel Mastema is nonetheless allowed to some freedom to work evil in the world—unless he is specifically restrained. (He is apparently not, for all that, the origin of all bad things that happen in the world—not the full-blown Satan of later writings.) His presence is evoked here to answer a specific question that interpreters had about Pharaoh’s “wizards/magicians” and “wise men”: how was it that they seemed to have some sort of occult power, turning their staves into snakes as Moses did (Exodus 7:11-12) and apparently working other feats (Exodus 7:22; 8:3)? The answer is that the angel Mastema would help the Egyptian magicians. The angel of the presence adds that he and the other good angels permitted them to do evil things, but not to allow healings to be performed by them, that is, not to let them undo the effects of the plagues ..."
Kugel, James L.
A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation
(p. 196) Brill, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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