John Gill Commentary Exodus 7

And the Lord said to Moses
In answer to his objection, taken from his own meanness, and the majesty of Pharaoh, and from his want of readiness and freedom of expression: see ;
take notice of, observe what I am about to say.

I have made you a god to Pharaoh ;
not a god by nature, but made so; he was so by commission and office, clothed with power and authority from God to act under him in all things he should direct; not for ever, as angels are gods, but for a time; not in an ordinary way, as magistrates are gods, but in an extraordinary manner; and not to any other but to Pharaoh, being an ambassador of God to him, and as in his room and stead to, rule over him, though so great a monarch.

To command him what he should do, and control him when he did wrong, and punish him for his disobedience, and inflict such plagues upon him, and do such miracles before him, as no mere man of himself, and none but God can do; and even exercise the power of life and death, as in the slaying of the firstborn, that Pharaoh should stand in as much fear of him, as if he was a deity, and apply to him to remove the plagues upon him, as if he was one.

And Aaron your brother shall be your prophet ;
to declare the will of God revealed to him by Moses from the Lord; so that this seems to be more than to be the mouth and spokesman of Moses and interpreter and explainer of his words, or to be acting the part of an orator for him; for Moses in this affair being God's viceregent, and furnished with a knowledge of the mind and will of God respecting it, as well as with power to work miracles, and inflict plagues, was made a god to both Pharaoh and Aaron; see (Exodus 4:6) to Pharaoh in the sense before explained, and to Aaron, he being his prophet, to whom he communicated the secrets of God, and his will and pleasure, in order to make the same known to Pharaoh.

Thus highly honoured was Moses to be a god to a sovereign prince, and to have Aaron to be his prophet.

You shall speak all that I command you. That is, to Aaron his prophet, whatever the Lord made known to him in a private manner as his will to be done.

And Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh; whatever should be told him by Moses, as from the Lord.

That he send the children of Israel out of his land; this was the principal thing to be insisted upon.

And all that was said or done to him was to bring about this end, the dismission of the children of Israel out of Egypt.

And I will harden Pharaoh's heart
(See Gill on Exodus 4:21) and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt ;
work one miracle and wonderful sign after another, until all those intended are performed, which he had given Moses power to do, until the end was achieved: the letting go of the children of Israel.

But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you Regard not what they said, nor answer the demand they made, or obey the command of God delivered by them to him: this the Lord apprised them of, that they might not be discouraged, and conclude their labour would be in vain, their attempts fruitless, and they should never gain their point, but spend their time, and expose themselves to danger to no purpose:

that I may lay mine hand upon Egypt the inhabitants of Egypt, smiting them with one plague after another, and particularly with the last, slaying their firstborn; every plague was a stroke of his hand, and an effect of his mighty power and vengeance, and more especially that:

and bring forth mine armies the children of Israel consisting of 600,000 men, besides women and children, (Exodus 12:37) which, divided into twelve tribes, made twelve fine armies, 50,000 men in a tribe or army upon an average:

and my people the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt the word "and" need not be supplied; if any supplement is necessary, the word "even" would be better, since this clause is added by way of explanation, showing who are meant by the armies of the Lord, his people to be brought out:

by great judgments inflicted upon the Egyptians.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord
Jehovah, the one only true and living God; this they should know by the judgments executed upon them, and be obliged to acknowledge it:

when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt :
especially the last time, to destroy the firstborn:

and bring out the children of Israel from among them ;
by which it would appear that he was mightier than they, and obtained the end for which the plagues were inflicted on them.