Jannes and Jambres

 “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Tim. 3:8).

"The only ones besides Pharaoh, of whom we have any account that they resisted Moses, were the magicians whom Pharaoh called to his aid.

 

Hence Jannes and Jambres are the names of the magicians who used their enchantments to confirm Pharaoh in his rebellion against God.

 

It is sufficient to refer to the account in Exodus 7 and 8. 

When Moses performed miracles to prove his divine commission, the magicians and sorcerers did the same, up to a certain point. 

--Their rods became serpents (Ex. 7:10, 12); 

--they turned water into blood (Ex. 7:19-22); 

--they brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt (Ex. 8:5-7); 

----but when the third plague came, —the plague of lice, —they could not do the same with their enchantments, but were forced to say, “This is the finger of God” (Ex. 8:17-19). 

 

By the aid of the devils whom they worshiped, they performed miracles which served to harden Pharaoh’s heart against the truth; but they were not allowed to proceed very far before their folly was made manifest. 

*Notice also, in this connection, that while the magicians could, with their enchantments, bring calamities, they could not cause those calamities to depart. This is in keeping with the character of the master whom the magicians served. Satan is the destroyer; to build up and do good is no part of his work.

The work, which the Egyptian magicians did, is the very work that modern Spiritualism is doing. 

 

 It is true that there is a great deal of fraud connected with it. Many persons, who are unable to conjure up the evil spirits at will, seek the notoriety of genuine mediums by counterfeiting genuine manifestations. Nevertheless there are Spiritualistic manifestations that are not the work of sleight-of-hand performers. Many things have been accomplished which show the presence of a power not human."

E.J. Waggoner