2 Timothy 2:8, The Magicians of Egypt

//Ever wonder who these depraved fellows are in the book of Timothy? Tradition names them as the magicians who competed with Moses, performing tricks for Pharoah, as in the following verses:

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. –Exodus 7:10-12

Several Jewish writings after the time of Christ, including Targums and Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, make reference to Jannes and Jambres. Origin, one of the early Church Fathers, refers in his writing Against Celsus to an apocryphal book titled The Book of Jannes and Jambres about the exploits of these two magicians. Origin says that the epistle of 2 Timothy is quoting from that book (Origin assumes authorship of Timothy by Paul). 

The Book of Jannes and Jambres has never been found, and many commentators, defending Sola Scriptura, insist instead that Paul learned their names by divine inspiration.