What does Exodus 7:7 mean?

Popular culture—movies, art, etc.—usually portrays Moses as a middle-aged man delivering rousing speeches in front of the Egyptian king. Yet Scripture notes that Aaron (Exodus 4:14–16), not Moses (Exodus 4:13), is the primary speaker in most of those encounters. Likewise, neither man is young; they are both in their eighties. Moses was middle-aged (Acts 7:23–24) before he left Egypt (Exodus 2:11–15) and returned when there was no one left to prosecute him for his crime (Exodus 4:19). This apparently took decades.

Moses has another four decades of service in front of him. His mission would last until the venerable age of 120 (Deuteronomy 34:7), seeing the Promised Land from a distance (Deuteronomy 34:1–3) before his death. Aaron was three years older than Moses and clearly younger than their older sister Miriam (Exodus 2:1–7; 15:20). He would have been born before prior to Pharaoh's command to throw Jewish male newborns into the Nile river (Exodus 1:22).

This verse marks a turning point in the book of Exodus. The next verse (Exodus 7:8) begins a cycle of divine commands, stubborn rejection, and miraculous judgment. Pharaoh will refuse to obey the Lord until after the tenth and most devastating plague (Exodus 4:19–23; 12:29–32).