(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)
If you ever think you are too old to do something big for God, you better change your thinking!
Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty three
years old when God commanded them to go before Pharaoh for the second time and
tell him to let the people go. This was only the beginning of many other things that God had for them to do. They would be used in a mighty way until they reached the end of their lives. God's servants are never through, as long as they have breath; they have a mission. Moses and Aaron are prime examples of this.
God prepared them
for this second quest. He told Moses when Pharaoh requested that they perform
a miracle to tell Aaron to throw down the staff and it will become a
snake.
So Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh and did just as the
LORD had commanded. Pharaoh asked them to show him a miracle and Aaron
threw down the staff and it became a snake in front of Pharaoh. Pharaoh
called together his magicians and sorcerers and “wise men” and requested that
they use their magic arts to perform the same act. They did!
Moses and Aaron watched as each one threw down their staff
and it turned into a snake; but then the snake of Moses and Aaron ate up the other
snakes.
Surely such a sign must have convinced Pharaoh, but
no! His heart only became harder, just as the LORD had told Moses would
happen. Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go.
One has to wonder; why did God chose to use a walking
stick, or a staff to demonstrate his power to Pharaoh? Also, one really
has to wonder, of all the creatures God could have picked to illustrate and
make His point, why did He chose to use a snake?
Remember when God first told Moses to go to Pharaoh and
Moses asked God what if Pharaoh and the people didn’t believe his
message? That was the first time God told Moses to throw down his staff
and Moses watched God turn it into a snake. Moses was afraid, remember?
He ran and hid.
Finally, when he
got brave enough to come back out before God to the place where the snake was
God asked Moses to do something really frightening! He told Moses to pick
up the snake by the tail.
I’m sure Moses was trembling, but maybe He thought of the
fact that God WAS God and God knew exactly what He was doing! Moses
finally reached down and grabbed that snake by the tail. Instantly it
turned back into a staff!
Can't you just imagine Moses' relief?
This little illustration has more meaning than one might
notice at first glance.
Remember Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden being
tempted by the snake? They gave their will over to the suggestions of the
devil who had disguised himself as a snake.
With this one act these two humans brought sin into the world.
By the time of Moses sin was everywhere. The people
had forgotten the ways of God. After so many years of slavery and
bondage, they no longer knew about the fact that in order to come closer to
God, humans have to master control over sin; for God is Holy and He cannot
dwell in the midst of sin.
Adam and Eve fell into sin because they desired to please themselves more than they desired to please God. Without God's intervention and help, it seems that men are destined to do this. Most desire to please God but fall into temptation and sin.
Now here on The Mountain of God; we see Moses representing most of mankind
who DO desire to please God. With the power
that God gave to the staff (could it possibly have come from The Tree of Life?) Moses re-gained some mastery over sin, and because
of his obedience and faith; God decides to continue to draw closer to the people. The
staff turning into a snake was symbolic of the fall of man; the snake turning
back into the staff was symbolic of the fact that most of mankind wants to change, have mastery
over sin and come back to God. With the staff, God had provided a way through Moses. Moses stood in the place of all the hope of mankind. It was a sign that man's heart could be changed with assistance from God, even after dwelling for years in evil. Mankind had the ability to master sin if they would just chose to use it with God's help.
Usually when you pick up a snake by his tail the snake
will uncoil and strike you with poison and kill you. It was Moses having
enough faith in God to act on that faith that changed God’s heart toward the
people and made Him want a relationship with them again. When Moses followed God, even in fear of death, God knew that mankind could change. Moses must have given God hope. The desire for
relationship had always been there; but Moses being faithful and obedient to
the point of risking his life by trusting God, really sealed the deal. God was pleased in that first rod into a snake experience on the mountain with Moses.
Moses had seen a preview up on the mountain of God of what he and Aaron would do before Pharaoh. That first time Moses was handling the rod, or the staff. Aaron was handling the staff during the second time when the two brothers actually stood before Pharaoh in his court.
When Moses gave the word Aaron threw the staff down and watched it turn into a snake right before the eyes of Pharaoh.
Pharaoh’s magicians were not impressed with the staff turning into a snake. They were all accomplished snake
charmers. They knew they could handle that trick; they had used it before in
their magic events. They possessed the knowledge of the old serpent; Satan.
They used his black magic, his sorcery and evil ways to do their jobs all the
time. The “wise men” of Pharaoh were wise about all the wrong things;
mostly they were wise about black magic and the occult. Their wisdom was
the very wisdom that God had not wanted Adam and Eve to have when they took of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was only the fruit from The Tree of Life that would bring healing to mankind. Pharaoh's men were not using that fruit.
The Egyptians admired the power of the creature called the
serpent. The carving of a cobra was the design on the headdress of
Pharaoh. It stood for Egyptian rule and authority. It represented a
pagan Egyptian goddess who supposedly protected the land with her power and dark
magic.
Many think Pharaoh’s magicians used supernatural demonic
powers to summon up their snakes, but when they “charmed” their snakes into
appearing, the snake of Aaron ate up all of the other snakes of Egypt!
When Aaron’s snake ate the other snakes God was showing
his sovereignty over Egypt. The world and all that is in it belongs to
God; not Pharaoh, or his magicians, or any demonic powers from their pagan gods.
God was showing everyone who was in charge; and it wasn’t Pharaoh or his pagan
goddess!
