Again let us picture this scene together. There could possibly be a very packed room with Pharaoh, his officials and possibly a whole bunch of wise men, sorcerers and even magicians here (cf. 2 Timothy 3:8).[7] It may even be like us in this room today. Imagine that Pharaoh is sitting or standing up by me here. Imagine that these two men in their 80’s throw this staff on the ground in front of us here and it becomes a snake and then either one-by-one or all-at-once the person beside you and everyone around you - these many wise men, sorcerers and even magicians - they throw their canes on the ground and there are all of a sudden all these snakes crawling everywhere. This is what it would be like.
Now imagine that this snake up here sees all of the others down there and one-by-one goes and fights and eats those 20, 30, 40, 10 or however many other snakes there are sliding around on the ground.[8] That is the visual image of this first sign for Pharaoh. I’ve been in a snake pit or two before – I can’t say that I would necessarily be so eager to watch these duals.
Picture this further with me. When Pharaoh and everyone see that anyone in the room can seemingly throw her cane on the ground and have it become a snake, they are probably thinking that it is no big deal and maybe they are feeling a little bit smug too. Pharaoh probably thinks that Moses thought that he had come up with this impressive feat so he calls together this room full of people to show Moses up: “Look Moses. What’s the big deal? You thought you could convince us to do what you want by doing this? We can all do it!” Now we can imagine Pharaoh or one of his officials or a magician, a sorcerer or two start giggling or laughing to themselves that someone dares make demands of Pharaoh when he can’t do anything more special than any of the rest of the wise men, sorcerers or even magicians. How can Moses think he is so special? They are possibly enjoying the humour of the moment when someone notices – and then the next person sees – and then someone else watches as Aaron’s rod, Moses’ staff, this older gentleman’s snake cane is not only attacking but is actually eating, swallowing up all of the other snake canes. Can you picture that?
You can picture how the mood would change in a moment, right? One minute they are enjoying their illusion of victory probably laughing in celebration; the next they are shocked, embarrassed and maybe even the object of scorn themselves as their canes are eaten by Moses’ or Aaron’s staff. In one moment, they believe they have proved they are superior, in the next minute God shows them that He has defeated them. Their defeat has been swallowed up in His victory.
I Remember a Grey Cup between Montreal and Saskatchewan when I was living in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. That one had an interesting ending, Montreal just had to make a simple field goal before time ran out and they would win the game. They missed though. We all celebrated as apparently Saskatchewan had won the Grey Cup; everyone was happy and then one by one each person in whatever room we happened to be in the province happened to notice something was happening; something was wrong. The players were lining up again. Someone had miscounted. Saskatchewan had too many men on the field. Montreal was allowed to kick again. They did and this time they won the game; they won the cup. As we from Saskatchewan felt on that day, losing after we thought that we had won, that is how it must have been for Pharaoh’s magicians on this day. As the Montreal kicker and his team must have felt when the next kick went through the uprights that must have been exactly how Moses and Aaron felt as God through their snake cane carried the day.
Now imagine that this snake up here sees all of the others down there and one-by-one goes and fights and eats those 20, 30, 40, 10 or however many other snakes there are sliding around on the ground.[8] That is the visual image of this first sign for Pharaoh. I’ve been in a snake pit or two before – I can’t say that I would necessarily be so eager to watch these duals.
Picture this further with me. When Pharaoh and everyone see that anyone in the room can seemingly throw her cane on the ground and have it become a snake, they are probably thinking that it is no big deal and maybe they are feeling a little bit smug too. Pharaoh probably thinks that Moses thought that he had come up with this impressive feat so he calls together this room full of people to show Moses up: “Look Moses. What’s the big deal? You thought you could convince us to do what you want by doing this? We can all do it!” Now we can imagine Pharaoh or one of his officials or a magician, a sorcerer or two start giggling or laughing to themselves that someone dares make demands of Pharaoh when he can’t do anything more special than any of the rest of the wise men, sorcerers or even magicians. How can Moses think he is so special? They are possibly enjoying the humour of the moment when someone notices – and then the next person sees – and then someone else watches as Aaron’s rod, Moses’ staff, this older gentleman’s snake cane is not only attacking but is actually eating, swallowing up all of the other snake canes. Can you picture that?
You can picture how the mood would change in a moment, right? One minute they are enjoying their illusion of victory probably laughing in celebration; the next they are shocked, embarrassed and maybe even the object of scorn themselves as their canes are eaten by Moses’ or Aaron’s staff. In one moment, they believe they have proved they are superior, in the next minute God shows them that He has defeated them. Their defeat has been swallowed up in His victory.
I Remember a Grey Cup between Montreal and Saskatchewan when I was living in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. That one had an interesting ending, Montreal just had to make a simple field goal before time ran out and they would win the game. They missed though. We all celebrated as apparently Saskatchewan had won the Grey Cup; everyone was happy and then one by one each person in whatever room we happened to be in the province happened to notice something was happening; something was wrong. The players were lining up again. Someone had miscounted. Saskatchewan had too many men on the field. Montreal was allowed to kick again. They did and this time they won the game; they won the cup. As we from Saskatchewan felt on that day, losing after we thought that we had won, that is how it must have been for Pharaoh’s magicians on this day. As the Montreal kicker and his team must have felt when the next kick went through the uprights that must have been exactly how Moses and Aaron felt as God through their snake cane carried the day.
Even when it appears that all is lost, God can carry the day. Read more tomorrow here...
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