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see that signs, wonders and displays of power have always had a prominent place for this
people.
No.3.
Setting the scene --- The Old Testament:
"Then believed they His words".
pp. 186 - 192
We have seen how miracles--signs, wonders and displays of power--and how the
Jews, the people of Israel, dominate the book of Act. If we know the O.T., we should not
be surprised to see the close association of these two. Neither should we be surprised to
find that when the Jewish nation was set aside by God at the end of the book of Acts (see
Acts 27: 26-28), the evidential miracles, the external signs, wonders and displays of
power, also ceased.
The first occurrence, in English, of the word miracles in the O.T. comes in Exod.vii.9:
"And when Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying Show a miracle for you, then thou
shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a
serpent."
Here, the Hebrew for miracles is mopheth of which there are two occurrences earlier
in the Bible. In Exod. 4: 21 and 7: 3 where it is translated wonders:
"And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou
do all these wonders before Pharaoh" (Exod. 4: 21).
"I will . . . . . multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt" (Exod. 7: 3).
The first occurrence, in English, of the word sign is not in Exod. 7: 3, quoted above,
but in Exod. 4: 8. Please read Exod. 4: 1-9 and note:
"And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of
the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign" (Exod. 4: 8).
The Hebrew word for sign is oth and occurs several times previous to Exod. 4: 8,
being translated signs (Gen. 1: 14), mark (Gen. 4: 15) and token (Gen. 9: 12, 13, 17 and
17: 11 and Exod. 3: 12). Please read each of these references.
The first occurrence, in English, of the word wonder in the O.T. is found in Exod.iii.20:
"And I will stretch out My hand, and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do
in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go."
The Hebrew word for wonder in this verse is pala which occurs but once previously in
Gen. 18: 14. There it is translated too hard and the context of the first occurrence of
this word is significant: