2 Timothy 3:8
8 [hos] Now [de] as [tropos] Jannes [Iannes] and [kai] Jambres [Iambres] withstood
[anthistemi] Moses, [Moseus] so [houto] do [anthistemi] these [houtos] also [kai] resist [anthistemi] the
truth: [aletheia] men [anthropos] of corrupt [katphtheiro]
minds, [nous] reprobate [adokimos] concerning [peri] the
faith. [pistis] KJV-Interlinear
8 And just
as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of
depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith. NASB
Jannes and Jambres are
two names that appear only here and nowhere else in the Bible. By tradition they are referred to as two of
the magicians of Pharaoh who opposed Moses and tried to imitate and counter all
of the ten plagues that God brought against Egypt, through Moses.
In historical
documents, they are referred to by Pliny (23 A.D. - 79 A.D.), Nat. Hist. 30:7;
by Numenius, the philosopher, as quoted by Eusebius, 9:8 , and Origen, against
Celsus , p. 199; by Apuleius (c 130
A.D.), who speaks of Moses and Jannes as famous magicians of antiquity. The
Pythagorean philosopher Numenius (2nd century A.D.) speaks of Jannes and Jambres
as Egyptian ‘hierogrammateis,’ or sacred scribes.
The story of the
opposition to Moses begins in Ex. 7.
Jannes means ‘he who
seduces,’ and Jambres means ‘he who makes rebellion.’
Exactly where Paul got
his information is not known. But
apparently there was valid documentation making reference to them, or even if
the story of Jannes and Jambres was purely by tradition and unsupported, the
point here is not of the accuracy of their existence, but of their role in
opposing Moses, in opposing God, and in opposing truth.
Since Paul does not
quote any source, then it is presumed that all of the hearers or readers of
this letter, would have common knowledge of them and their story, who they are
and what they did.
These two magicians
opposed Moses. Moses went on and
displayed, by the power of God, ten plagues.
After each subsequent plague, most folks would come to believe that God
indeed was behind them, and not mere magic.
These two magicians
knowing that their own results were through mere deception, smoke and mirrors
magic, then one would presume that they would begin to realize that the plagues
of Moses were far beyond their ability and even of Moses, and thus from a
higher power, namely God.
But they continued to
oppose and continued to oppose even though they had intimate knowledge of their
own efforts as being only magic, and could see plainly the efforts of Moses
were clearly not magic. And still they
opposed God.
That is the length that
people will go to when they have been negative and continue to remain
spiritually negative for a very long time.
They become disconnected with reality, and will get lost even in the
face of overwhelming proof.
When Jesus raised
Lazarus, that was a pinnacle moment of proof, even after years of miracle work
in curing and healing. And yet within
just a few days, the popular consensus was that he should die.
Therefore, you need to
beware that spiritual negative volition is not something that you should
disregard as something without danger, for it is extremely dangerous and can
swallow you up before you are even aware that your life has been vastly
compromised.
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