Moses and Magic:

Notes on the Book of Exodus

SCOTT B. NOEGEL
Rice University

The scholarly world has known for some time that the book of Exodus demon-
strates a ˜rst-hand knowledge of Egyptian customs and beliefs, even if somewhat
tendentiously related.1 This is especially apparent in the account of the ten plagues,
which some see as representing an attack against the Egyptian pantheon,2 and in the
account of Moses’ ˜rst appearance before Pharaoh’s magicians (Exod. 7:8–12). Re-
garding the latter, for example, not only does the word µymwfrj, “magicians,” derive
from Egyptian hry-tp “lector priest, magician,”3 but the trick of turning a staˆ into
a serpent has parallels both in Egyptian literature, in the so-called “wax crocodile
story,” and in the repertoire of Near Eastern snake charming tricks.4 In addition,
J. Currid has demonstrated convincingly that, far from being theologically troubling,
the frequent “hardening (lit., making heavy) of Pharaoh’s heart,” is a polemical play
on the Egyptian belief that Pharaoh’s heart would be weighed against the feather of
truth before entering the afterlife.5
While scholars often rightly note the theological polemic behind such allusions,
namely the subordination of Egyptian magic and belief to the God of Israel, to my
knowledge, no eˆort has been made to understand the magicians’ tricks and their
subsequent failures from the perspective of Egyptian magic.6 Nevertheless, as I shall
demonstrate, a knowledge of Egyptian magical practice greatly enhances our under-
standing of the confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh. Therefore, in what fol-
lows I shall delineate and discuss several aspects of the Exodus account in the light
of their linguistic and thematic a¯nities with Egyptian magic.

1.ÙSee, e.g., J. K. Hoˆmeier, “The Arm of God Versus the Arm of Pharaoh in the Exodus Narratives,”
Bib. 67 (1986), 378–87. For linguistic parallels, see T. O. Lambdin, “Egyptian Loan Words in the Old
Testament,” JAOS 73 (1953), 144–55.
2.ÙSee, e.g., Ziony Zevit, “Three Ways to Look a the Ten Plagues,” BR 6/6 (1990), 16–23 and more re-
cently John D. Currid, “The Egyptian Setting of the ‘Serpent’: Confrontation in Exodus 7, 8–13,” BZ 39/2
(1995), 203–24.
3.ÙA. S. Yahuda, The Language of the Pentateuch in Its Relation to Egyptian (London, 1933), 93–94;
Jan Quaegebeur, “On the Egyptian Equivalent of Biblical Hartummim,” in Sarah Israelit-Groll, ed., Phar-
aonic Egypt, the Bible, and Christianity (Jerusalem, 1985), 162–72.
4.ÙL. Keimer, “Histories de serpents dans l’Egypte ancienne et moderne,” MIE 50 (Cairo, 1947); D. P.
Mannix, “Magic Unmasked,” Holiday (Nov. 1960), 32; W. Gibson, Secrets of Magic: Ancient and Mod-
ern (New York, 1967), 13.
5.ÙJohn D. Currid, “Stalking Pharaoh’s Heart: The Egyptian Background to the Hardening of Pharaoh’s
Heart in the Book of Exodus,” BR 9/6 (1993), 46–51; “The Egyptian Setting of the ‘Serpent’,” 216–24.
6.ÙCurrid, “The Egyptian Setting of the ‘Serpent’,” brilliantly details the Egyptian setting of the stories
and their Egyptian parallels, but he does not deal with the particulars of Egyptian magic.

45
46 JANES 24 (1996)

Before doing so, it should be stated that although the magicians’ use of “spells”
is contrary to Moses and Aaron’s method, “which is unaccompanied by any incan-
tation praxis,”7 this does not rule out the possibility that Moses and Aaron’s acts may
have been perceived as magic by the Egyptians, especially the magicians who were
steeped in magical lore.8 Moreover—and this will anticipate somewhat my conclu-
sions—many of the wonders that Yahweh and Moses perform mirror Egyptian mag-
ical acts. Thus, while literarily the stories in Exodus conveyed to the Israelites a
theological polemic in Yahweh’s defeat over Egyptian magic and belief, they were
also not without meaning for the Egyptians, who perceived in Yahweh’s wonders a
signi˜cance within the context of their own belief system. It is this double-edged
literary sophistication that I would like to make apparent below.
No doubt a lack of scholarly attention to comparisons between the Exodus ac-
count and Egyptian magic is due, at least in part, to the lack of a comprehensive
study of Egyptian magic. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that biblical and Near
Eastern scholars can welcome the appearance of Robert Ritner’s volume on the
mechanics of Egyptian magical praxis.9
While it is not my intention here to review Ritner’s book, scholars should be
aware that his study is a veritable goldmine of information on Egyptian magic for
the specialist and interested comparativist. The reader will recognize my debt to his
important study. With this new set of data at our disposal, then, let us return to Exod.
7:8–12 and look anew at the events recounted from the magicians’ perspective.

1. The Staves and the Serpents

Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, ‘Produce your
marvel,’ you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it down before Pharaoh.’ It shall turn
into a serpent (ˆynt).” So Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh and did just as Yahweh had
commanded: Aaron cast down his rod in the presence of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and it
turned into a serpent. Pharaoh, for his part, summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and
the magicians (µymwfrj) did the same with their spells (µhyfhl); each cast down his rod, and
they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods.

First, it will be noticed that the event related here cannot have as its basis the
often-cited Egyptian snake charming trick which pinches the nerve on the nape of
the snake’s neck to induce paralysis, for as B. Jacob correctly observed, with these
tricks we deal “with snakes that turn into staˆs, not the reverse as here—staˆs which
turned into snakes!”10 Moreover, Yahweh explicitly commanded Moses to pick up
the serpent not by its head, but by its tail (Exod. 4:4).

7.ÙN. M. Sarna, JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus (Philadelphia, 1991), 37.

8.ÙIn this respect it is interesting to note that Christian tradition recalls Moses as “learned in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22).
9.ÙRobert K. Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice (Studies of Ancient Ori-
ental Civilization, 54; Chicago, IL, 1993).
10.ÙBenno Jacob, The Second Book of the Bible: Exodus. Trans. Walter Jacob and Yaakov Elman
(Hoboken, NJ, 1992), 254.
 Noegel: Moses and Magic 47

Second, it will be noticed that the word for “serpent,” ˆynt, is not the usual word
for this creature, and that when Yahweh prepares Moses for the confrontation with
Pharaoh in Exod. 4:3, and again later in 7:15 when the event is recounted, the ani-
mal is called a vjn. While to some this points to evidence of variant sources,11 to
others it suggests that the ˆynt of 7:9 is a wholly diˆerent reptile, possibly a croco-
dile.12 In turn, this reading is then used to bolster the apparent similarity to the
Egyptian tale of the wax crocodile. Yet, militating against this view is Exod. 7:15
where ˆynt and vjn are clearly synonyms.
N. Sarna, on the other hand, has suggested that we read ˆynt as a possible ref-
erence to Pharaoh’s uraeus. According to this view, the event would represent to the
king the loss of divine power and apotropaic protection.13 It is true that the ˆynt,
which elsewhere appears to mean “sea monster” or “dragon,”14 must have special
signi˜cance for Pharaoh, for Ezekiel addresses him as a ˆynt in 29:3. Nevertheless,
Sarna’s view is problematic because the magicians perform their transformation
utilizing staˆs that have no connection with the uraeus, which typically belongs on
Pharaoh’s throne and headdress.
Thus, on the basis of Exod 7:15 which relates the very same event using vjn,
I propose that we read ˆynt in 7:9 as “serpent,” even if it carries an additional nu-
ance. So why the change in wording? In my opinion, ˆynt was chosen in Exodus 7
because of its strong mythological import. At Ugarit, for example, the tnn, “Tannin,”
appears as a synonym of the primordial sea monster Leviathan, and its inclusion in
several personal names suggests that the Tannin was worshipped.15 Moreover, the
Bible’s references to the Tannin in connection with creation (Gen. 1:21) and the evil
serpent whom Yahweh slew (e.g., Job 7:12; Isa. 27:1; 51:9) illustrate the mythologi-
cal and theological importance of the Tannin. In Egypt, too, the serpent had cosmic
connections in the form of the giant serpent Apophis, the divine enemy of Ra, who
would battle the solar deity daily as he made his circuit through the underworld.16
Thus, I suggest that the change from vjn to ˆynt was made in order to re˘ect the cos-
mic importance of the serpent when standing before Pharaoh’s court. This would ˜t
the tendency in the Exodus and conquest narratives to polemicize against the theolo-
gies of its neighbors by reworking them. To cite just two examples: the parting of the
Sea represents a victory over Yam “Sea,” and the decisive battle against the giant Og
of Bashan (Num. 21:33–35), a victory over the underworld.17 Moses’ grasping of

11.ÙI prefer to treat the text as we have it, and not according to hypothetical reconstructions.
12.ÙSee, e.g., George Bush, Commentary on Exodus (New York, 1943; repr.: Grand Rapids, 1993), 91;
A. H. McNeile, The Book of Exodus (London, 1908), 41; U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exo-
dus (Jerusalem, 1967), 94; Ronald E. Clements, Exodus (Cambridge, 1972), 44; Robert A. Cole, Exodus:
An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL, 1973), 88–89; James B. Coˆman, Commentary
on Exodus: The Second Book of Moses (Abile, TX, 1985), 87; John I. Durham, Word Bible Commentary:
Exodus (Waco, TX, 1987), 91; Amos Hakam, The Book of Exodus (Jerusalem, 1991), 111 [in Hebrew].
13.ÙSarna, Exodus, 20.
14.ÙThe LXX translates dravkwn in Exod. 7:9 and oß˜Í in 4:3.
15.ÙC. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook, 498.
16.ÙByron E. Shafer, ed., Religion in Ancient Egypt (Ithaca, NY, 1991), 36, 41, 119.
17.ÙYahuda, The Language of the Pentateuch, 131; Scott B. Noegel, “The Aegean Ogygos of Boeotia
and the Biblical Og of Bashan: Re˘ections of the Same Myth,” ZAW (in press).
48 JANES 24 (1996)

the Tannin, therefore, would be no less theologically signi˜cant, as it would repre-

sent the casting down of Apophis, an act familiar to Egyptian magicians.18
Additional support for this theological dimension comes from the verb ˚ylvh,
“cast down,” used in reference to the staves (Exod. 4:3; 7:9; 7:10; 8:12). The Egyp-
tian verb for “casting down,” shr, in addition to appearing in magical exorcisms and
spells, also occurs in the Apophis text in reference to the magicians who would take
a wax ˜gurine of Apophis and shr m “cast (it) down.”19 The Egyptian magicians,
therefore, would have seen Aaron’s casting down of the staˆ as magically signi˜cant.
Nevertheless, we need not concern ourselves with the reason that a synonym
was chosen in Exod 7:15, since there vjn clearly functions as a synonym for ˆynt.20
Moreover, the Egyptians associated serpents in general with magic. Even Pharaoh’s
uraeus, itself an embodiment of the cobra goddess Wedjet, was believed to imbue
Pharaoh with magical power. For example, note the following hymn to the uraeus
recited upon Pharaoh’s coronation:
The doors of the Horizon are opened, their bolts are slipped.
He (the king) comes to thee, O Red Crown, he comes to thee O Fiery One.
He comes to thee, O Great One; he comes to thee, O Magician.
He has puri˜ed himself for thee . . .
He comes to thee O Magician.
It is Horus who has fought to protect his eye, O Magician.21
In fact, serpents of numerous types appear ubiquitously in a variety of Egyptian
magical texts.22 Therefore, although like Currid, “I am not convinced that the Exo-
dus writer meant anything more than the rods of Aaron and the magicians turned
into large snakes,”23 I do feel that a latent polemic lurks behind the use of the word
ˆynt, especially when used, as it is in 7:15, in conjunction with Egyptian magic.
Indeed, a knowledge of Egyptian magic thoroughly informs Exodus 7. For ex-
ample, the serpent trick account is a literary description of what Ritner calls “super-
position,” i.e., the placement of one person or animal over another. Known primarily
from royal iconographic materials, this magical act appears in a variety of forms,
e.g., human over animal, animal over animal, and human over human. In each case
the superposition represents the control of the one item over the other. Of greater in-
terest, however, is the representation of one serpent poised atop or striking another.
According to Ritner: “When snakes are directed against snakes, opponents are made
to function as allies and ‘assistant’ means only ‘subjected opponent’.”24 Ritner’s ob-

18.ÙDoes the LXX’s rendering of the Tannin in 4:3 as oß˜Í represent an attempt to bring out mytho-
logical signi˜cance of the Tannin, by way of a play on avfu˜Í “Apopis”? For the variant Greek transla-
tions of the Egyptian word çépp “Apopis,” see Ritner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 212.
19.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 48, n. 232.
20.ÙThe change also might play on Pharaoh’s use of the verb ˆtn just previous in 7:9: tpwm µkl wnt
“Give for yourselves a sign.”
21.ÙThe translation is that of H. Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods (Chicago, 1978), 107.
22.ÙFor an excellent discussion of serpents in Egyptian magical praxis, see Currid, “The Egyptian
Setting of the ‘Serpent’,” 208–12.
23.ÙIbid., 207.
24.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 128, n. 583.
 Noegel: Moses and Magic 49

servation bears signi˜cantly on Exod. 7:8–13, for it explains why, despite the ma-
gicians’ ability to reproduce the ˜rst three plagues, they in eˆect exacerbate the
situation. They conjure more bloody water and more frogs, and thus, assist Moses in
his plight. In essence, they have become “subjected opponents.” It also may explain
why the Egyptian people abet the Israelites’ cause by lavishing upon them gifts of
gold and of jewelry before they depart (Exod. 12:35–36).

2. The Act of Swallowing

Exodus 7:12 tells us that Aaron’s staˆ “swallowed” ([lbyw) those of the magi-
cians. In Egypt “swallowing” (sáb or çém) was an act of great magical signi˜cance.25
Ritner remarks:

Consumption entails the absorption of an object and the acquisition of its bene˜ts or traits.
Alternatively, the act can serve a principally hostile function, whereby “devour” signi˜es “to
destroy”—though even here the concept of acquiring power may be retained.26

For instance, we read in spell 612 of the Co¯n Texts: “I have swallowed the seven
uraei.”27 Swallowing gods (like the uraeus) was proscribed by Egyptian magic as a
potion for death.28 The “Cannibal Hymn” in the Pyramid Text, spells 273–74, also
state:
The King is one who eats men and lives on the gods . . .
The King eats their magic, swallows their spirits.29
See also Co¯n Text, spell 1017: “I have eaten Maat, I have swallowed magic.”30 In
addition, in Egyptian magical parlance, çém “to swallow,” is “to know,”31 and “to
know” someone is to have power over that person. For example, in the Book of the
Heavenly Cow we ˜nd Ra’s warning against the magicians who employ the magic in
their bodies:

Moreover, guard against those magicians who know (rh) their spells, since the god Heka is
in them himself. Now as for the one who ingests/knows (çém) him, I am there.32

Therefore, when Aaron uses the “staˆ of God” (cf. Exod. 4:20), the symbol of his
authority, to devour the staˆs and authority of the magicians, the Egyptian magi-
cians would have perceived this as an absorption of their power and knowledge.
This explains why the text attributes the act of swallowing to Aaron’s “staˆ ” and

25.ÙCf. the curse for adultery in Num. 5:23–24 which involves the ingestion of a priestly text; noted
by Ritner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 109. Interestingly, both Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus (Louis-
ville, 1991), 113; and Currid, “The Egyptian Setting of the ‘Serpent’,” 206, see the word “swallow” as a
linguitic connector to Exod. 14:16, 14:26, in which the Reed Sea “swallows” the Egyptians.
26.ÙRitner, Egyptian Magical Practice, 103.
27.ÙIbid., 104.
28.ÙIbid., 105.
29.ÙIbid., 103.
30.ÙIbid., 88.
31.ÙIbid., 106. Cf. the English expression “hard to swallow” in the sense of “di¯cult to comprehend.”
32.ÙIbid., 106.
50 JANES 24 (1996)

not to Aaron’s serpent, a textual peculiarity that clearly bothered the classical rabbis
as well.33 Perhaps it is with the Egyptian conception of “knowledge” in mind, there-
fore, that we should understand God’s repeated words to Moses: “By this (demon-
stration of power) you shall know that I am Yahweh” (7:17). More on this below.

3. Grasping the Serpent

This is the second time that Moses witnessed the transformation of his staˆ into
a serpent, for as the narrator tells us in Exod. 4:4, the ˜rst time Yahweh changed
Moses’ rod into a snake, God commanded him to seize it “by its tail (wbnz).” Com-
pare this with the Co¯n Text, spell 885: “The snake is in my hand and cannot bite
me,” and the so-called “Horus on the Crocodiles” stele which depicts the god Horus
trampling crocodiles “while ˜rmly grasping in each hand an assortment of noxious
animals suspended harmlessly by the tail.”34 The signi˜cance of Moses’ picking up
of the serpent in 4:4, therefore, not only “manifests Moses’ implicit faith in God,”35
but also provides him with a sign that is certain to strike an ominous chord in the
hearts of the Egyptian magicians who were well-versed in their spells. To them, the
act was tantamount to the harnessing of the creative and potentially hostile forces of
nature.

4. The Serpent and Speech

Furthermore, when we consider that an Egyptian magician was a highly literate
practitioner whose “physical activities aquire[d] ‘non-literal, ritual nuance[s],”36 and
to whom the pictorial characters of the Egyptian script added “a further bond be-
tween the written word and the object which it embodies,”37 we may see the snake
as the embodiment of the commonest Egyptian word for “statement” (Éd ), written
as a serpent ( ), a word that appears in Egyptian magical texts as a synonym for
“spell.”38 Therefore, in the eyes of the Egyptian magicians, the events of Exod. 7:13–
18 bore an additional and more subtle nuance of “eating one’s (magical) words.”
When we keep in mind that words were believed to possess a power and e¯cacy all
their own,39 it becomes clear that from the ˜rst encounter, Aaron’s devouring staˆ
signalled the death knell to the conjurors’ abilities.

5. The Nile Turns to Blood

Despite their public failure before the king, the magicians, now victims of
superposition, do not give up, but instead proceed to imitate the following three

33.ÙSee, e.g., BT Menahot 85a Yashar Shemot 142b.

34.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 106–7.
35.ÙSarna, Exodus, 20.
36.ÙIbid., 132.
37.ÙIbid., 249.
38.ÙIbid., 40– 41.
39.ÙIbid., 35. See also Frederick Moriarty, “Word as Power in the Ancient Near East,” in H. N. Bream
et al., eds. A Light Unto My Path: Old Testament Studies in Honor of J. M. Myers (Philadelphia, 1974),
345–62; Isaac Rabinowitz, A Witness Forever: Ancient Israel’s Perceptions of Literature and the Result-
ant Hebrew Bible (Bethesda, MD, 1993).
 Noegel: Moses and Magic 51

plagues that Yahweh brings upon the Egyptians. The ˜rst of these plagues, of course,
turns the Nile into blood. This too has analogues in Egyptian literature, in particular
in the Tale of Ipuwer’s description of the chaotic unravelling of Egyptian order during
the First Intermediate Period (2181–2040 B.C.E.),40 and in the story of Rameses II’s
(1279–1212 B.C.E.) son, also a magician(!), who tells his mother that her water will
turn to blood if he loses a magic contest.41
While these parallels are apt and suggest a certain propriety in turning the Nile
(also the god Hapi) into blood, we add substantially more to our understanding of
the event’s signi˜cance for the Egyptians by peering into Egyptian magical texts. In
particular, it is highly relevant that the Nile should be turned to blood, for whereas
the Israelites regarded blood as the carrier of an individual’s life, the Egyptians
viewed the Nile as the bringer of life. The famous Hymn to the Nile, for example,
opens as follows: “Hail to thee, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep
Egypt alive!”42 Further, to Egyptian magicians, the word dsr, both “blood” and
“red,” carried negative associations because it was the color of Seth and the serpent
enemy of Horus, Apophis.43 Thus, dsr “is often a synonym to ‘evil’.”44 This can be
seen also by the word’s determinatives “evil bird” ( ) and “dying-man” ( ). It
is perhaps no accident, therefore, that the plague of the Nile should occur immedi-
ately after the magic contest involving the serpents.
Similarly connected to “red” and “evil” is the writing of the “Oxyrhynchus
˜sh” ( with the value áé),45 which though “derived from the ‘red ˜sh’ . . . may
evoke a visual pun on the word for corpse (áé.t).”46 To the Egyptian magician, then,
red was synonymous with blood and evil, and, by extension, with the Oxyrhynchus
˜sh and death. While such allusions are easily missed by the uninitiated modern
reader, the Egyptian magicians would have seen import in the fact that “all the ˜sh
in the Nile died” (Exod. 7:21).
The color red also is connected intimately with the breaking of execration ves-
sels. This rite included the sectioning of a bull and the libation of the execration
bowl’s water with gestures that symbolized strewing the bull’s blood. During this
procedure both the bloody bull and the red pot became “substitute ˜gures for the en-
emy, repulsed and dismembered.”47 Thus, to Pharaoh’s magicians, the ˜rst plague
would have smacked of execration and signalled the imminent destruction of Egypt.
When we recall that the Nile was the Egyptians’ only source of water, we also
should recognize the plague’s impact on magical water charms which served to drive
potentially dangerous forces such as crocodiles from the water.48 In eˆect, the ma-
gicians’ ability to perform puri˜cation and protection rites using water also came to
a sudden halt.

40.ÙMiriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings (Berkeley, 1973), 151.
41.ÙIbid. (1980), 3:148.
42.ÙSee John A. Wilson, “Hymn to the Nile,” in ANET, 372–73.
43.ÙRitner, 147.
44.ÙLoc.Cit., n. 662.
45.ÙAlan Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar (London, 1966), 477, sign-list K4.
46.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 147, n. 662.
47.ÙIbid., 147.
48.ÙIbid., 48.
52 JANES 24 (1996)

6. Pour Out The Water

In addition, in 4:9 Yahweh instructs that if Pharaoh does not heed the previous
signs, Moses should take “from the water of the Nile and pour it out on dry ground
(hvbyh tkpvw rayh ymymm).” This would have made him appear, at least to the ma-
gicians, as a funerary priest (wéh mw), lit., “water pourer.”

7. Lice
The third plague, lice, which the magicians were unable to mimic also gains
signi˜cance in the light of Egyptian magical praxis. In particular, we note that the
plague involved the transformation of lice from sand (8:13). Not only did the trans-
formation into wildlife represent the power of the gods, but “by virtue of its early
appearance from the receding ˘ood waters, sand was intimately associated with the
creation of the Egyptian cosmos, and hence with all creative acts.”49 When used for
hostile purposes, sand becomes an “omnipresent weapon for the blinding of enemies,
and as such is feared by the decreased and used to repel demons.”50 Its multiple uses
in Egyptian magic are to be seen in tandem with the ritual shattering of foreign ene-
mies. It is true that the Egyptian texts do not mention the turning of sand into lice,
but herein lies the polemic. What to the magicians was a tool for creative magic
against the dead, is transformed by Moses into a hostile swarm against the living.
Not surprisingly, the magicians are unable to mimic Moses’ performance (8:14).

8. The Finger of God

An awareness of Egyptian magical praxis continues to inform the biblical text.
For example, in Exod. 8:15, upon ˜rst realizing that they are unable to reproduce the
lice, the magician-scribes cry out awh µyhla [bxa, “this is the ˜nger of God!” Else-
where, we ˜nd the more common expression µyhla dy, “hand of God,” with refer-
ence to Yahweh (e.g., Exod. 9:3). The use of “˜nger” instead of “hand,” therefore,
stands out as peculiar. Its placement in the mouths of the magicians suggests that the
usage is Egyptian.51
Indeed, the use of an extended fore˜nger appears in magic rites, especially those
involving the fording of rivers, such as the water spells mentioned above. Typically,
one magician recites a spell while another points his ˜nger at the water, thereby still-
ing the hostile forces in that water. Most intriguing in this respect is this ritual’s ap-
plication in conjunction with a shepherd-priest (both real and an ivory ˜gurine).52 In
a fording scene from the tomb of Queen Ti (fourteeenth century B.C.E.), for example:

As the herdsmen extend their ˜ngers, they are watched by a standing ˜gure at the left who is
dressed in an elaborate kilt and leans upon a staˆ beside the water. Urged by a herdsman to

49.ÙIbid., 155.
50.ÙIbid., 156.
51.ÙAs noted already by Yahuda, The Language of the Pentateuch, 66–67. As Yahuda observes, the
Egyptian expression appears frequently in the phrases “the ˜nger of Thoth” and “the ˜nger of Seth,” i.e.,
in connection with the gods of magic and the scribal arts. Interestingly, the biblical expression “˜nger of
God” appears elsewhere only in reference to Yahweh’s scribal activity in making the tablets of the law
(Exod. 31:18; Deut. 9:10). The Egyptian magicians were, of course, scribes.
52.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice 225–31.
 Noegel: Moses and Magic 53

“(Put) your hand over the water” in the ritual gesture, the man replies instead: “Do not speak
so much!”53

Another relief from the same Eighteenth Dynasty tomb depicts a herdsman entering
a river while carrying a calf on his shoulders in order to induce the other cattle to
follow.54 Thus, both the water spell and the herdsman serve apotropaically to allow
safe passage through a potentially dangerous body of water too deep to cross with-
out guidance.
The Egyptian magicians, who were well-acquainted with such charms and rit-
uals, would have seen the shepherd-priest Moses in a similar light, especially at the
fords of the Reed Sea through which his ˘ock, the Israelites, were allowed safe pas-
sage (Exod. 14:26–29). Here too we are told that Moses accomplished the parting
by extending his arm over the Sea (14:27).55 Furthermore, just like the Egyptian
priest at the fords of the river in the text above, the Levite Moses commands the
Israelites ˆwçrjt µtaw, “be quiet” (14:14). Moses extending his arm, staˆ in hand,
might also relate to a rite depicted in the Temple of Horus at Edfu where we ˜nd the
picture of a king driving a cattle herd with a serpent-staˆ.56

9. “Knowers of Yahweh”
Throughout the story of the Exodus, Yahweh is greatly concerned with impart-
ing knowledge of himself both to Moses and to the Egyptians. I have mentioned
God’s words “By this you shall know ([dt tazb) that I am Yahweh” (7:17)—above
in reference to swallowing and the magical power of knowing someone. However,
Yahweh’s desire for mortal recognition is quite extensive. When Moses ˜rst meets
Pharaoh, the king refuses to let the Israelites go, for as he states: “I do not know
(yt[dy al) Yahweh, nor will I let the Israelites go” (5:2). In Exod. 6:3 we ˜nd God
informing Moses that he did not make himself known (yt[dwn al) to his forefathers
by the name Yahweh. In 6:7 Yahweh promises Moses “you shall know (µt[dyw) that
I, Yahweh, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians.” Yahweh
also promises in 7:5 that “the Egyptians shall know (w[dyw) that I am Yahweh when
I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring out the Israelites from their midst.” Yah-
weh tells Pharaoh in 7:17 that because of the plague of the Nile “you shall know
([dt tazb) that I am Yahweh.” Yahweh also tells Pharaoh that he intends to send
the plague of hail “in order that you may know ([dt rwb[b) that there is none like
me in all the earth” (9:14). The appearance of this expression of God’s will here in
plague seven, a theologically signi˜cant number both to the Egyptian magicians and
to the Israelites,57 underscores the importance of Yahweh’s concern with the

53.ÙIbid., 226. For a pictorial representation, see 229.

54.ÙIbid., 225.
55.ÙFor Egyptian parallels, see Yahuda, The Language of the Pentateuch, 66.
56.ÙA. M. Blackman and H. W. Fairman, “The Signi˜cance of the Ceremony Hwt Bhsw [The Striking
of the Calves] in the Temple of Horus at Edfu,” JEA 35 (1949), 98–112. Noted also by Currid, “The
Egyptian Setting of the ‘Serpent’,” 216.
57.ÙSee, Scott B. Noegel, “The Signi˜cance of the Seventh Plague,” Bib. 76 (1995), 532–39. For ad-
ditional information on the importance of seven in Egyptian magical texts, see Ritner, Ancient Egyptian
Magical Practice, 13, 24, 46– 47, 100, 102, 104, 159–61, 171, 190, 212, 249.
54 JANES 24 (1996)

impartation of knowledge. Even at the parting of the Reed Sea, Yahweh proclaims:
“Let the Egyptians know (w[dyw) that I am Yahweh . . . ” (14:18).
Yahweh’s preoccupation with making known his existence through power also
has a counterpart in Egyptian magical texts, not only in the often-cited text of “The
God and His Unknown Name of Power,” in which Isis acquires the hidden name of
Ra in order to equip herself against magic,58 but also in the expression rh-h.t, (lit.)
“knower of things,” another term meaning “magician.” In essence the “knowers” of
Exodus are Yahweh and Moses, who acknowledge God’s power, in much the same
way that a rh-h.t acknowledges the power of magic. Here, however, there is a
polemical reversal, for it is Pharaoh and the Egyptian people who do not “know”
Yahweh and his power, even though Pharaoh’s own magicians do. It will be recalled
that when the magicians are unable to imitate the third plague they proclaim, “this
is the ˜nger of God!” (8:15), an expression closely connected to the magical praxis
with which they were familiar. In eˆect, the “knowers of things,” i.e., the magicians,
ironically admit to knowing Yahweh’s power.

10. A Man of Impeded Speech

Regardless of how we explain Moses’ inability to speak eˆectively, it is obvi-
ous from Exod. 4:10, 6:12, and 6:30 that Moses cannot speak clearly. As he states
in 4:10, “I have never been a man of words (µyrbd vya), in times past or now that
you have spoken to your servant; I am heavy of mouth (hp dbk) and heavy of tongue
(ˆwvl dbk).” While much has been made of his speech impediment in terms of its
ironic import, nothing has been said with regard to the polemical posture of Moses’
words in the light of Egyptian magic.59 Egyptian magicians, for example, are said
to have been eloquent speakers. The Metternich Stela, for example, paints Isis as a
veritable word artist.
¡nk és.t ntr.t nb(.t) hké ¡r hké éh Éd mnh mdw
I am Isis the goddess, the possessor of magic, who performs magic, splendid of speech.60
The word mnh translated here as “splendid” can also mean “potent,” “excellent,”
“pleasing,” and e¯cacious.”61 Indeed, the God of Magic Hké also is described at
Dendera as mnh mdw, “excellent of words,” and elsewhere as nb sm.w nb b¡é sr
hpr.w, “lord of oracles, lord of revelations.”62 In this regard it is interesting to note
that twice after Moses complains of his inability to speak properly Yahweh tells him
that he will play God to Pharaoh (4:16, 7:1), a role that allows him to become a
giver of oracles and revelations. Moreover, hké, “magic,” frequently appears as a
synonym for mdw nìr, “god’s words,”63 an obvious parallel to Moses’ repeated
requests and threats to Pharaoh, which are in fact, God’s words.

58.ÙJohn A. Wilson, “The God and His Unknown Name of Power,” in ANET, 12–14.
59.ÙFor another interesting analysis of these expressions, see Jeˆrey Tigay, “ ‘Heavy of Mouth’ and
‘Heavy of Tongue’: On Moses’ Speech Di¯culty,” BASOR 231 (1978), 57–67.
60.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 34, n. 157.
61.ÙRaymond O. Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian (Oxford, 1962), 109.
62.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 35–36 with n. 167.
63.ÙIbid., 35.
 Noegel: Moses and Magic 55

Note also that Moses’ description of himself as one who is not µyrbr çya, “a man
of words (also: things),” reminds one of an Egyptian magician who is sometimes
called rh-h.t, “a knower of things.” When we add to this other terms for magic such
as tp-ré, “(what is) on the mouth,”64 and hm.t-ré, “spells on your mouth,” we may see
in Moses’ protests a subtle confession that he never has practiced magic. Perhaps this
is why Yahweh becomes angry with him in 4:13, since God, despite Moses’ mis-
understanding, does not expect him to carry out his mission by using magic.
It is important to recognize that all of the passages in Exodus discussed thus far
share in common a context of Egyptian magic. In each case Moses either performs
his miracle before the magicians and/or warns the Pharaoh and his courtiers of his
impending plague. Nevertheless, the writer’s incorporation of the knowledge of
Egyptian magic appears to extend beyond the accounts concerning the magicians.65

11. Execration and the Song at the Sea

At the fords of the Reed Sea, the Israelites sing the Song of the Sea employing
images and phraseology with parallels in Egyptian literary texts. The song’s closest
literary analogy is the so-called “Boating Party” tale (1800 B.C.E.) in which a spoiled
princess recovers a pendant which she had dropped into the water with the aid of a
lector priest who parts the waters for her by chanting a magical incantation.66
Though this literary parallel is striking, a close examination of the Song sug-
gests that it also utilizes imagery commonly found in Egyptian execration texts. A
knowledge of Egyptian execration texts has been demonstrated elsewhere in the
Bible, for example, in Amos 1:2–2:16 and Jer. 19:1–11.67 The identi˜cation of al-
lusions to Egyptian execration literature in Exodus, therefore, gains in plausibility.
In Exodus 15:6–7 we read:
Your right hand, O Yahweh, glorious in power,
Your right hand, O Yahweh, shatters the foe!
In your great triumph, you smash your opponents!
Observe the incongruity presented in the Song; the drowning of the Egyptians is de-
scribed as “shattering” (≈[r) and “smashing” (srh), words which evoke the smash-
ing (t¡t¡, htm, ìms, ptpt, hw¡, etc.) of execration bowls. Indeed, from the onset, the
poem smacks of an execration text utilizing the vocabulary commonly found in later
incantation bowls: “horse and driver he has hurled (hmr) into the sea.”68
The Song’s employment of execration language would explain the emphasis
it places on the death of the Egyptians, which Sarna noted as unique among the

64.ÙIbid., 42.
65.ÙIf Yahuda, The Language of the Pentateuch, 131, is correct in explaining tmht in Exod. 15:5 as
an allusion to Tiamat, then the presence of magical nomenclature would be expected.
66.ÙLichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 1: 216–17.
67.ÙA. Bentzen, “The Ritual Background of Amos I.2–II.16,” OTS 8 (1950), 85–99; J. K. West, Intro-
duction to the Old Testament (New York, 1971) 244; and more recently, S. M. Paul Amos (Minneapolis,
1991). For a contrary view, see M. Weiss, “The Pattern of the ‘Execration Texts’ in the Prophetic Litera-
ture,” IEJ 19 (1969), 150–57.
68.ÙFor hmr in incantations, see, e.g., Isbell, Corpus of Aramaic Incantation Bowls, 21–23, 38, 42–
43, etc.; Naveh and Shaked, Amulets and Magic Bowls, 50–51, 198–201.
56 JANES 24 (1996)

“overwhelming majority of the texts that celebrate the crossing of the sea. . . . ”69
This emphasis on the death of the Egyptians can be explained in the light of Egyp-
tian execration which makes use of stone vessels as “direct participant(s) in the
execration process.”70 This perhaps adds an additional nuance to 15:5 in which we
hear that the Egyptians sank into the water like an ˆba, “stone (vessel).”71
Typically, the magician would transfer the attributes and power of his enemy to
a vessel and then bury it so as to bring about the enemy’s death. Support for the no-
tion that the drowning served as a type of “ritual burial” comes from the peculiar
mention of ≈ra, “the earth” in Exod. 15:12 in a death at sea: “You put out your right
hand, and the earth swallowed them.” If ≈ra means “underworld” here, as some
suggest,72 then we would have an even more direct connection between the burial of
the Egyptians at Sea and the Egyptian execration materials. While we do ˜nd the
image of Death (Mot) receiving the deceased through the gullet also in the myths of
Ugarit,73 a magical nuance cannot be ruled out here either, since these references ap-
pear in the mythological texts. In addition, nowhere do we ˜nd Mot receiving the
living as in the Exodus pericope. Moreover, the word “swallow” ([lb or any other)
is unattested in Ugaritic. This is important, since the use of [lb, “swallow,” in this
passage recalls the magical “swallowing” of Aaron’s staˆ.74
Morever, in addition to the terms ìs.t and twt for execration ˜gures, both meaning
“image,” are the generic terms for “enemy,” hfty and sb¡.75 Therefore, we need not see
the mention of the sinking stone in 15:5 as an execration vessel, for the repeated
mention of bywa, “enemy,” in Exod. 15:6 and 15:9 also could serve this purpose.
In addition, during execrations a lector priest (magician) would be accompanied
by a çhéw-ç, “great ˜ghter priest,” who was responsible for cutting up the Apophis,
and for ˜ghting the evil forces on behalf of the lector priest. This might provide an
insightful polemical nuance into the mention of Yahweh as an hmjlm vya, “man of
war,” in the Song (15:3). Here it is God, and not another magician, who ˜ghts on
behalf of the Levite Moses.

12. Incineration
Closely tied to the execration rites of the Egyptians was the incineration of
both model and living enemies. Ritner observes: “The ritual burning of such ˜gures,
as a cultic analog to executions on earth and in the underworld, is a commonplace
of temple practice. . . . ”76 Exod. 15:7 proclaims: “You send forth your burning, it con-

69.ÙSarna, Exodus, 70.

70.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 175–76.
71.ÙFor ˆba as “stone vessel,” see Exod. 7:19.
72.ÙSarna, Exodus, 80.
73.ÙSee, e.g., Marvin Pope, “The Cult of the Dead at Ugarit,” in Gordon D. Young, ed., Ugarit in
Retrospect: Fifty Years of Ugarit and Ugaritic (Winona Lake, 1981), 168–69.
74.ÙAs observed by Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus (Louisville, 1991), 113, and Currid, “The Egyptian
Setting of the ‘Serpent’,” 206.
75.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 185.
76.ÙIbid., 158.
 Noegel: Moses and Magic 57

sumes them like straw.” Like execration victims, then, Pharaoh’s army is smashed,
crushed, burned, and buried.

13. The Pattern of Execration

To allude to an execration, the text must utilize “the standard Egyptian pattern
of attributing impious acts and statements to one’s enemies.”77 Consider the follow-
ing Egyptian example:

See, that foe, etc., who is among men and gods and the inhabitants of the acropolis, has come
to break your house, to ruin your gate . . . O Osiris, see that foe who . . . has said: ‘Sore be the
pains of your suˆering which are on you’ . . . May you break and overthrow your foes and set
them under your sandals.78

Compare this Egyptian execration with what we hear in the Exod. 15:9.

The foe said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall have its
˜ll of them. I will bare my sword, my hand shall subdue them.’

In addition, Exod. 14:24 and 15:12 also portray Yahweh as elevated above his
enemies. To Ritner, “physical elevation produces political, social, and cosmic domi-
nation.”79 While the notion of Yahweh as elevated above other gods is common in
the Bible, its appearance here in an Egyptian setting and in conjunction with so
many other aspects familiar to Egyptian execration takes on an added polemical
dimension. The Egyptians, despite their prowess at magic, were themselves the vic-
tims of God’s execration.

14. Cursing or Casting Light

In this polemical light it also is interesting to note that prior to the parting of
the Reed Sea we ˜nd the mention of a curse, not in connection with the magicians,
but rather in connection with Yahweh. As Exod. 14:20 informs us, the cloud of
darkness that Yahweh created “cast a curse/spell (rayw) upon the night, so that one
could not come near the other all through the night.”80 Though rayw as presently
vocalized favors the usual understanding of “cast light” rather than “cast a spell,” the
original consonantal text would have been ambiguous. Moreover, the ordinary in-
terpretation fails to explain why, if Yahweh cast light, “one could not come near the
other all through the night.” This is a description of darkness and not illumination.
This ambiguity too can be explained by appealing to Egyptian magic, where we
˜nd the common word for “spell, curse,” éh, also meaning “shine, be bright, be
eˆective.”81 In Papyrus BM 10188, for example, we read: éh.n-y m ¡b-y, “I made

77.ÙIbid., 173.
78.ÙLoc.cit.
79.ÙIbid., 131.
80.ÙFrom the root rra; see E. A. Speiser, “An Angelic Curse: Exodus 14:20,” JAOS 80 (1960), 198–200.
81.ÙRitner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 30.
58 JANES 24 (1996)

spells in my heart.”82 Indeed, we ˜nd in the Egyptian Book of Amduat a subtle play
on this other meaning of éh “shine”: hpr n mdw ìn ssp n hkéw ìn, “May your words
happen; may your magic shine.”83
Such a pun might lurk behind the appearance of rayw in 14:20 and would suggest
a role reversal. Moreover, in 14:25 Yahweh’s curse eˆectively restrains the Egyptians
on the shore by causing their chariot wheels to lock (wytbkrm ˆpa ta rsyw). Restraint
is a common theme in Egyptian execration. The rituals of rth pçt, “subjugating
people,” require that ˜gures of enemies by ensnared in a ˜shing net, bound, or locked
before burning them. Thus, another phrase used to describe this rite is hnr hft.w, “re-
straining enemies.”84 In essence, the acts which normally would fall to the Egyptian
magicians, now fall upon the Egyptian people at the hand of Yahweh.

15. Blowing the Sea

The Sea is divided only when Yahweh blows upon the water. Exod. 15:8, for
example, states: “with the wind of your nostrils (˚ypa jwrb) the waters piled up,” and
15:10: “you blew your wind (˚jwrb tpvn), the sea covered them.” Blowing, too,
is fundamental to Egyptian magic. As Ritner says: “The notion of transferring in-
vigorating breath is commonplace in oˆering rituals, which promise the donor the
‘breath of life’ (ìéw çnh), and funerary texts recognize the same technique . . . .”85
Moreover, blowing must be seen as a subset of the magical act of spitting, i.e., as
spitting air. Hence, a later Demotic cure for gout: “In addition to this, you must blow
(nfy) at him with your mouth.”86 The air god Shu, for example, was created by the
creator Amon who is said to have “spat out the wind (ìéw).”87 When seen in this
light, Yahweh’s breath becomes a meaningful referent not only to the Israelites, but
also to the Egyptians.

16. Execration and Dread

Fundmentally associated with Egyptian magic are notions of nrw, “terror,” qfé,
“dread,” and sfy.t, “fear.” For example, one magical text tells us: sfy.t-k pár.t m ¡b-sn,
“fear of you circulates in their heart(s),” and another: nr-f pár.t m ¡b.w, “his terror
circulates in hearts.”88 The Horus cippi also reads: shpr n-y qfé.w-k n hké.w-k, “cre-
ate for me your dread by your magic.”89 It is this fear and dread that magic ultimately
invokes in the heart of the enemy if aˆected properly.
When we return to Exodus 15 we ˜nd a similar concern with how the death of
the Egyptian at the Reed Sea brought dread upon Egypt’s neighbors. Exod. 15:14–
16 reads:

82.ÙIbid., 31.
83.ÙIbid., 30.
84.ÙIbid., 197, 209.
85.ÙIbid., 89.
86.ÙIbid., 88.
87.ÙIbid., 89.
88.ÙIbid., 66, n. 301; 195, n. 902.
89.ÙIbid., 178, n. 828.
 Noegel: Moses and Magic 59

The peoples hear, they tremble (ˆwzgry)

Agony (lyj) grips the dwellers in Philistia
Now are all the clans of Edom dismayed (wlhbn);
The tribes of Moab—trembling (d[r) grips them;
All the dwellers in Canaan are melting (wgmn).90
Terror and dread (djpw htmya) descend upon them;
Through the might of your arm they are as still as stone.

Conclusion
A close look at the account recording Moses before the magicians (Exod. 7:8–
12) and the Song at the Reed Sea (15:1–18) con˜rms the remark by Currid that the
Exodus account “is remarkably brimming with elements of Egyptian religious and
cultural background. Only an author who was well-versed in Egyptian tradition could
have composed such a poignant piece.”91 In addition, these same texts portray the
Pharaoh and his magicians as “subjected opponents,” and in a subtle and ironic re-
versal of roles, as unwilling execration victims. The latter is accomplished by a po-
lemical casting of the demise of the Egyptians in the form of a victory song utilizing
imagery from Egyptian execration practices.92
While Moses and Aaron do not employ magic of any kind, the miracles they
perform do have Egyptian analogs, suggesting that the Exodus writer made a delib-
erate eˆort to allude to Egyptian magical praxis in order to polemicize against it. Such
allusiveness bespeaks the literary and polemical sophistication of the ancient author.
It is probable that a closer look at other biblical stories involving Egyptians will
yield further insights when seen in the light of Egyptian customs and beliefs.93 As
new data become available, the biblical scholar will surely bene˜t.

90.ÙNote here another possible allusion to the incineration (here “melting”) of execration victims.
91.ÙCurrid, “The Egyptian Setting of the ‘Serpent’,” 224.
92.ÙThe very act of reversal and overturning, shd in Egyptian, also carries magical import as it ap-
pears with some frequence in execration texts. See Ritner, Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, 168.
93.ÙNote that the motif of ritually bound captives also might lie behind the often repeated formula
“Let my people go!” For Egyptian magical counterparts, see Ritner, Egyptian Magical Practice 113–36.