All was expectation, until at length two stately personages solemnly entered, each with his acacia rod. They were Jambres and Jannes, the royal and chief magicians of Egypt, of whose fame other lands have heard. They were dark-featured, Arabic-looking men, and dressed with great magnificence, wearing robes blazing with gold and jewels. Their bearing was haughty and imperious, and they looked about them with disdain, as if they were beings of a better order than the Egyptians, who stood awed, or prostrated themselves in their presence.
"Seest thou this serpent?" demanded Pharaoh, directing the attention of Jambres to the monster, which lay coiled upon the lion-skin before the steps of the throne; while several of the guard with spears stood near, to thrust it through, should it approach the king. The magicians regarded it with surprise, and then looked fixedly at Moses and Aaron. They had evidently heard by the messengers, what had passed. "Half an hour since, he was a rod in the hand of that Hebrew magician!" said the king. "Show him thy art, and that we have gods whose servants can do as great miracles as this!"
The magicians advanced and said—
"O king, beloved of the sun, live forever! Behold the power of thy own magicians!" Thus speaking, they cast their rods upon the ground, when they became serpents also, after a few moments had transpired. Pharaoh then said, addressing the Hebrew brothers—
"Ye are but impostors, and have done your miracle by the gods of Egypt, as my magicians do."
"If the god of Egypt be strongest, let his serpents destroy my serpent: but if the God of the Hebrews be the greatest and the only God, let my serpent devour his!" Thus quietly spake Aaron.
"So be it," answered Pharaoh.
In a moment, the serpent of Moses uncoiled himself, and fiercely seizing, one after another, the two serpents of the magicians, swallowed them. At this there was an outcry among the people; and, greatly terrified, Pharaoh half-rose from his throne; but Aaron catching up the serpent, it became a rod as before. Instead of acknowledging the God of Moses, the king became exceedingly enraged against his own magicians, and drove them from him, and ordered Moses and Aaron to depart, saying that they were only more skilful sorcerers than the others, and must show him greater signs than these ere he would let Israel go. I have since learned, that these magicians brought with them real serpents, which they have the power of stiffening, and holding at arm's length by pressing upon their throats: that they came with these, which could not be detected in the obscurity of the shadows where they stood, and casting them down they resumed their natural motions. That the rod of Moses should devour them, and return to a rod again, ought to have shown Pharaoh that it was a miracle, and not sorcery. But his heart seems to be hardened against all impressions of this nature.
The following morning, the governor of the nilometer having reported to the king that the Nile had commenced to rise, Pharaoh, according to custom, proceeded to the river, where the statue of Nilus stands, and where he had caused the Hebrew boy to be sacrificed and his blood poured as a libation into the stream. Here, with great pomp, he was about to celebrate the festivities of the happy event, when, lo! Moses and Aaron stood before him by the river's brink,—the latter with the rod, which had been turned into a serpent, in his hand.
"The Lord God of the Hebrews," cried Moses in a loud voice, "hath sent me unto thee, saying, 'Let My people go.' Lo! hitherto thou wouldst not hear. Now thus saith the Lord—'In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord!' Behold, O king, at His command, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned into blood!"