Exodus 8 · a question people ask
How could Pharaoh's magicians make frogs too?
Exodus says the magicians "did the same thing with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt" (8:7), but it doesn't say how. It does show their limits: Pharaoh asks Moses, not them, to have the frogs taken away (8:8); they "tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t" (8:18); and they themselves said, "This is God’s finger" (8:19). Christians who share the same beliefs read the magicians' frogs in two main ways, and both agree that the LORD alone ended the plague (8:13).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Real power, not from God
Those who hold this view take "did the same thing" (8:7) at its word. They point out that the Bible warns of signs that really happen yet lead people away from God: a prophet's "sign or the wonder comes to pass" and still Israel is not to listen (Deuteronomy 13:1-3), and "false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones" (Matthew 24:24; also 2 Thessalonians 2:9).
Exodus 8:7 · Deuteronomy 13:1-3 · Matthew 24:24 · 2 Thessalonians 2:9
Secret arts, not real wonders
Those who hold this view point to the word for "enchantments" (8:7), which Brown-Driver-Briggs defines as "secrecy, mystery"; elsewhere the WEB translates the same word "secretly" (1 Samuel 18:22; 24:4). They note that frogs had already "covered the land of Egypt" (8:6) before the magicians acted, and read the magicians' frogs as something done in secret rather than a miracle like Aaron's (7:9-12).
Exodus 8:6-7 · 1 Samuel 18:22 · 1 Samuel 24:4 · Exodus 7:9-12
The verses
“The magicians did the same thing with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the LORD, that he take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.””
“The LORD did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields.”
“The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s finger;” but Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken.”