Did ancient Egyptians fear sorcery

Answer 1

Not at all in Exodus 7:11 The Pharaoh being confronted by Moses and Aaron called for sorcerers to try and compete with God's Plagues which they failed.

Down in Egypt in the sixteenth century B.C. Jehovah God gives a series of warnings to Pharaoh through His witness Moses. Before each of the plagues the ruler is warned; after each his heart hardens. With devastating effect the ten plagues roll through the land: rivers turn to blood, frogs come over the land, lice everywhere as dust, swarms of flies next, then murrain of beasts, plaguing boils, destructive hail, followed in rapid succession by plagues of locusts and darkness, then the woeful tenth-the death of Egypt's firstborn! These physical facts in fulfillment of the warning witness given by Moses the pagan religious leaders of Egypt try to counteract and misinterpret, unsuccessfully in the end. The plagues were seen and felt throughout the land of that first world power, and the Egyptians certainly had noised among them the witness given by Moses. The Israelites had contact with the Egyptians, talked with them, and found many hearing ears, so much so that when they finally made their exodus from Egypt "a mixed multitude went up also with them" and witnessed the destruction of Pharaoh's armies in the Red sea.-Ex. 12:38; 7:1-14:31.