The Contest with Pharaoh: LORD of the Serpents
I. Introduction
In our previous message, we saw how God’s timing is not always the same as our expectation.
Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh with their request for him to let God’s people leave Egypt but was surprised that his request was met not just with a negative reply but was also accompanied by further hardship to the Israelite slaves.
So much so that the people’s spirit became even more broken as they had to make bricks without being given straw.
The foremen of the people blamed Moses and Moses blamed God! But the LORD reassured Moses that He would bring the people out and began to reveal Himself in a contest with Pharaoh performing signs and wonders so that all would know that “I am the LORD your God” Lets pick up in chapter 7.
II. The Contest with Pharaoh Begins (7:1-7)
A. God exalted His servants Moses and Aaron to speak to Pharaoh. (7:1-2)
B. God will harden Pharaoh’s heart. (7:3-4)
C. Purpose of God’s acts of judgment: “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD”. (7:5)
D. Moses and Aaron obey God (7:6-7)
III. The Miracle of the Serpent (7:8-13)
A. Aaron’s staff became a serpent. (7:8-10)
The serpent was considered a wise and magical creature in Egypt. Wadjet, the patron goddess of lower Egypt, is represented as a snake (uraeus) on Pharaoh’s crown. This came to symbolize the power of Pharaoh. But additionally Apopis, the enemy of the gods, in the form of a snake, represented the forces of chaos. It is therefore not arbitrary that the sign featured a serpent (whether cobra or crocodile, see below), for in Egyptian thinking there was no other creature so ominous.
B. Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers to show Egypt’s power. (7:11-12a)
C. Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs! (7:12b)
When Aaron’s serpent swallowed the magicians’ serpents, the symbolism would clearly imply an Israelite triumph over Egypt. So, for instance, an Old Kingdom Pyramid Text uses the portrayal of one crown swallowing another to tell of Upper Egypt’s conquest of Lower Egypt. In Egyptian Coffin Texts swallowing is a magical act that signifies absorption of the magical powers of that which was swallowed. Thus the Egyptian magicians would have concluded that the power of their rods had been absorbed into the rod of Moses.