Jambres

Jambres is named only once in scripture — in Paul's letter to Timothy, paired with Jannes as a figure who "withstood Moses." The episode behind the naming belongs to Exodus 7, where Pharaoh's sorcerers oppose Aaron's rod with witchcraft of their own.

The Egyptian Sorcerer

In the contest before Pharaoh, "Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his slaves, and it became a serpent" (Ex 7:10). Pharaoh answered in kind: "Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and the sacred scholars of Egypt also did in like manner with their witchcraft" (Ex 7:11). Their rods became serpents too — "but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods" (Ex 7:12). The Exodus narrative does not name them; it gives their class — wise men, sorcerers, sacred scholars of Egypt — and shows their witchcraft outdone by Yahweh's word through Aaron.

Withstanding Moses

Paul retrieves the episode under personal names. Warning Timothy of men who creep into households and lead the unstable astray, he writes: "And even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also withstand the truth; men corrupted in mind, disapproved concerning the faith" (2 Tim 3:8). The pairing is set as a paradigm of opposition — those who imitate the work of God's servant in order to resist it, and who in the end are exposed as "corrupted in mind, disapproved concerning the faith."