And Jehovah said to him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A staff.
Moses has just told God that Israel will not believe him. Instead of a rebuke, God asks him about the ordinary shepherd's staff already in his hand.
Moses had contradicted a direct promise of God.
Could unbelief be more presumptuous? The Lord had said, "They will listen to your voice." Moses replies, "They will not believe me." It would have been no wonder if the Lord had utterly rejected His servant for daring to contradict Him to His face. But He is slow to anger and of great mercy. This scene is full of beauty. It reveals the depth of the tenderness and patience of His heart. So He will bear with His servant and stoop lower still. He will even give miraculous signs to strengthen him in his weakness and to drive out his unbelief.
Each fresh objection draws out something new.
We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard enough to set his fears aside. Still, Moses raises questions, and still God answers them. Each new question brings out fresh grace... The Lord would just take him as he was, and use what he had in his hand.
The writers call it a rod; older translations use that word where the ESV has "staff." The stick itself was worth nothing, and that is the point of the question.
Here is a great principle in a small subject... You may be sure that the rod was in itself nothing but a piece of common dead wood. The principle is this. Men are apt to think, "How much would I do if I only had such and such instruments." God is saying, "What is that in your hand? Do it with that." "With that? It is only a bit of stick. If only it were a sceptre, or even a bishop's staff! But it is just a shepherd's crook." Yet do you not know that you can do greater wonders with that bit of common stick, if God sends you, than you ever could with a sceptre or a staff?
The same principle runs right through the Bible's account of God's chosen tools.
He had tended Jethro's sheep with that rod. Now God was about to use it to deliver Israel and to punish the land of Egypt. It would open a way through the deep for the ransomed of the Lord to cross over. It would bring water out of the hard rock to refresh Israel's thirsty crowds in the desert. God takes up the weakest instruments to reach His mightiest ends. "A rod," "a ram's horn," "a cake of barley meal," "an earthen pitcher," "a shepherd's sling" — anything, in short, when used of God, will do the appointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends need splendid means. But that is not God's way.
In Egypt, a rod was more than a walking stick.
The rod in the East is a symbol of authority and power... The old monuments of Egypt show, in hundreds of cases, gods and men with sceptre-like rods in their hands... Satan had the power and the authority, and Jehovah would commit these to Moses as His servant; and often, as the story goes on, we read that Moses holds the rod of God.
But it is a shepherd's rod, and that shapes the power it stands for.
"All power belongs to God," and this shepherd's rod shows us how He uses it. Power with Him always waits upon love. Do you doubt this? Do you ask, "Is the rod of iron, with which He will crush His enemies — is that love?" I answer that every passage about it reads exactly, "He shall shepherd them with a rod of iron." Hard as the blow may fall, love guides it.
Moses did not have to wait for a better tool to arrive.
Now you will notice that Moses had this equipment for his service from the first. The rod was in his hand at the very moment when the excuses were in his mouth. Human eyes saw only the rod, but God was working the mighty wonders through His servant.
- Question — God met Moses' objection with a question, not a rebuke. Each new question drew out fresh grace.
- Hand — the equipment was already there; the rod was in his hand while the excuses were still in his mouth.
- Common wood — the rod was only dead wood. God takes up weak instruments — a horn, a pitcher, a sling — to reach His mightiest ends.
- Authority — in Egypt a rod stood for power and rule, and God was handing that authority to His servant. It is a shepherd's rod, so love guides the power, even when it strikes.
- Result — human eyes saw only a stick, but God was doing the mighty wonders through His servant.
And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
God tells a hesitant Moses to throw down the only thing he is holding — a shepherd's staff — and it turns into a snake he runs from. Commentators read this first sign on two levels. It taught Moses about himself. It also pictured power in the world, in Egypt, and in Satan's hand.
Writers take the shepherd's staff as the standing picture of authority. One commentator asks what kind of power a shepherd's rod stands for.
"All power belongs to God," and this shepherd's rod shows us how He uses it. With Him, power always serves love. Do you doubt this? Do you ask, "Is the rod of iron, with which He will crush His enemies — is that love?" I answer that in every passage that speaks of it, the exact rendering is, "He shall shepherd them with a rod of iron." It may strike hard, but love guides it.
Another writer explains why God gave the signs, and what the rod stands for in Scripture.
Miraculous signs then follow, to prove that Jehovah sent His servant… The word is vague. It probably has a wider meaning than the more definite "serpent." It is the same word used for sea monsters in general… This wonder showed power — which is what a "rod" means in Scripture — changing into something satanic. The rod is the symbol of authority. It can also stand for chastening. But no chastening is right unless it flows from just authority, and this emblem joins the two ideas.
The change happens the moment the rod leaves Moses' grip. One writer explains what power becomes once it is thrown down, and where that leaves Christians today.
A rod is the symbol of authority. Cast to the ground, and so brought low, it becomes wholly evil, even satanic, and a man may run from it… In Egypt power was brought low and satanic. God ordered Moses to seize it, and then the authority, rescued from Satan, would be in his hands. Satanic power is more and more in evidence in our own day. But as Christians we have no command to seize the serpent by the tail. If we try it before the time, we will only get bitten.
If power in the world looks out of God's control, one commentator points to the exact wording of the sign.
Notice the beautiful accuracy of the picture, and the comfort it holds for us. The rod was cast out of Moses' hand; it did not slip out. God has not lost control of the world, after all. Of His own will, and for His own wise purposes, He has put man under the rule of the prince man chose for himself.
The snake that rose up was Egypt's own royal emblem.
When Moses threw his rod on the ground, up rose the form of the cobra, the uraeus. This was the very serpent Egypt used as its emblem of majesty. It reared up and hissed at him, and Moses fled before it! … The majesty of Egypt had the mastery, and Israel fled before it.
One writer sees Moses' flight as a lesson about the power in his own hand.
Here, indeed, was a lesson for him. The power of his own hand was under Satan's direction and influence. That rod was the one he had already tried out in Egypt when he killed the Egyptian. Left to himself, and leaning on himself, the natural force he had and the weapon he trusted were under the enemy's power, and Satan guided them.
His flight also pictures where every person stands before evil — and points to the One who does not flee.
Moses fleeing from the serpent would show man's inability to face the power of evil. The Lord Jesus alone could do this. Mark's Gospel is remarkable here. It presents God's perfect Servant as the One who can meet and overcome every part of Satan's power. He can also clothe His disciples with that power, so that they can "take up serpents."
Before the sign convinced anyone else, it tested Moses.
A rod was a weak thing, easy to despise, to use for setting a nation free. But by it Jehovah was going to test whether His servant would obey His instructions without hesitating or objecting. Would Moses use the rod right then, just as God told him?
- Rod — the shepherd's staff stands for authority. In God's hand, love guides that authority — never bare force.
- Dropped — out of the hand that held it, power changes character and turns satanic. That was Egypt. Yet God cast the rod down on purpose; He never lost control.
- Serpent — the snake was Egypt's own emblem of majesty. The sign named the enemy God was sending Moses to face.
- Fled — Moses ran. Man cannot face evil, and Moses' own strength had served the enemy.
- Seized — Moses was told to grasp the serpent; obedience turned the thing he fled from into authority in his hand.
And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand and take it by the tail -- and he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand --
Moses fears that Israel will not believe him. So the Lord gives him a sign on the spot. He throws down the shepherd's staff in his hand, it turns into a serpent, and Moses runs from it. Then God tells him to pick the thing up by the wrong end. Two questions follow. Why does God arm His servant with something so ordinary? And why does He make him grab the very thing he just fled?
The staff was a shepherd's tool, nothing impressive. One writer notes how God works with what the man already carries:
The Lord would just take him as he was, and use what he had in his hand. He had tended Jethro's sheep with that rod. Now it would deliver the Israel of God and punish the land of Egypt. It would open a way through the deep for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over. It would bring water out of the hard rock to refresh Israel's thirsty crowds in the desert. God takes up the weakest instruments to do His mightiest work.
A rod is not just a stick. One writer notes that this one is a shepherd's rod, and that this says something about the power it stands for:
Power with Him always waits on love. The rod in Moses' hand, then, is the type of divine power, marked by tenderness and care, like a shepherd's rod. Moses is then told to cast it on the ground; and out of his hand, the rod changes its character; it becomes a serpent.
Once the rod leaves his hand and hits the ground, its nature changes. That picture matched the country God was sending Moses into.
The point of this wonder was the change of power (which a "rod" means in scripture) into something satanic. The rod is the symbol of authority; it may also represent chastening. But chastening is right only when it flows from just authority. So the two ideas belong together in this emblem. The rod of power then taking satanic form seems to be what the first sign given to Moses means. Such was exactly the state of things in the land of Egypt.
Kelly also observes that the Hebrew word is broader than "serpent" — it is the same word used for large creatures of the sea.
The command runs against instinct. Grabbing a snake by the tail leaves its head free to strike, and one writer faces that:
To grab the serpent by its tail, leaving its head free to strike with its poisonous fangs, seemed unwise and dangerous. But God's directions are always the wisest and the best, even when they seem to run against our own reason and wishes. Here, I think, we shall understand the inner meaning of God's command by looking at His prophetic word given in Eden. The Seed of the woman would in due time bruise the serpent's head. That is why His servant could take it by the tail without harm.
The sign was meant to steady a frightened man. What terrifies him turns out to be borrowed strength:
The serpent is typical of Satan, who has power that is dreaded by mankind. But where does he get his power? In effect he is only a rod in the hand of God... God is in perfect control. When He wants, He can turn the serpent into a rod as fast as He turned the rod into a serpent. So Moses should realize this: Satan's opposition may be strong, but God was in sovereign control. He could put power into the hand of Moses to overcome all the power of Satan.
One writer adds a caution. Believers are not told to handle evil powers now:
We live in a day when satanic power shows itself more and more. But as Christians we have no command to seize the serpent by the tail. If we try to do it before the time, we shall only get bitten. That action is reserved for the One of whom Moses serves as a type. He will do it finally and gloriously at His second coming.
- Rod — God uses what is already in the hand and sends the man out with it. The weakest instrument does the appointed work.
- Dropped — authority dropped on the ground turns satanic. That was Egypt, and Moses fled from it.
- Grasped — obedience takes it by the tail. The command runs against reason, and it is still the safest thing to do.
- Restored — in the obedient hand the serpent is a rod again. The enemy's power is only borrowed, and God stays in control.
- Reserved — the final seizing belongs to the One Moses pictures. Believers who try it early only get bitten.
that they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
Moses had just told God that Israel would not believe him. Verse 5 gives God's answer: the sign of the rod is proof that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had appeared to him.
God gives the sign to a servant who has just contradicted Him.
Could unbelief be more presumptuous? The Lord had said, "They will listen to your voice." Moses replies, "They will not believe me." Would it be any surprise if the Lord had rejected His servant outright for daring to contradict Him to His face? But He is slow to anger and of great mercy... So He will bear with His servant and stoop lower still. He will even give miraculous signs to strengthen him in his weakness and clear away his unbelief.
God does not hand Moses a new instrument. He asks what he is holding, and uses that.
The Lord would just take him as he was, and use what he had in his hand. He had used that rod to look after Jethro's sheep. Now God would use it to rescue the Israel of God, to punish the land of Egypt, to open a way through the sea for the ransomed of the Lord to cross, and to bring water out of the hard rock for Israel's thirsty crowds in the desert. God takes up the weakest instruments to achieve His mightiest ends. A rod, a ram's horn, a cake of barley bread, a clay jar, a shepherd's sling — anything at all, when God uses it, will do the appointed work.
On the ground, the rod pictures a world that looks out of God's hands. One writer stresses that it did not fall there by accident:
The rod was cast out of Moses' hand; it did not slip out. God has not lost control of the world after all. Of His own will, and for His own wise purposes, He has put man under the rule of the one man himself has chosen as his prince.
Moses ran from the serpent. Then God told him to pick it up by the tail. The lesson lands where verse 5 says it should — on proof that God had appeared to him.
The serpent is a picture of Satan, who has power that mankind dreads. But where does he get his power? He is in effect only a rod in the hand of God. God does give him freedom, up to a point, to act by his own will, and so he becomes a dangerous enemy to man. Still, God is in perfect control. As He desires, He may turn the serpent into a rod as quickly as He turned the rod into a serpent. So Moses should realise that God was in sovereign control, however strong Satan's opposition might be. God could put power into Moses' hand to overcome all the power of Satan. How clear a witness that the God of his fathers had appeared to Moses!
The seizing was commanded. One writer traces what the rod and the serpent stand for, then warns us not to copy the act:
A rod is the symbol of authority. Thrown to the ground and so brought low, it becomes thoroughly evil, even satanic, so that a man may run from it... In Egypt power was debased and satanic. At God's order, Moses was to seize it, and then the authority, rescued from Satan, would be in his hands. We live in a day when satanic power is more and more in evidence. But as Christians we have no command to seize the serpent by the tail. If we try to do it before the time, we will only get bitten. That work belongs to the One whom Moses pictures.
Why name the fathers just as Israel is about to become a nation?
The time was coming when they would no longer be a family but a nation. Just as God was about to reveal Himself in a special way, He also brings before them His link with their fathers. We must never forget the ways in which God has acted before if we are to appreciate what He is doing now... He directs attention to His being the God of promise, and so joins the names of the fathers with His own.
The sign aimed at belief. One writer names what has to come first:
They must have faith in the deliverer to find the deliverance. It is the same today. Faith in Christ Himself is the first and essential thing on which everything else depends.
Yet not every response to a sign runs deep. One writer draws a line between the two:
Read Exodus 4:1-9 and 29-31 together with Exodus 14:30-31. What is spoken of there is the people believing the evidence of what they saw. That is a very different thing from the faith that connects the soul with God.
- Objection. Moses contradicted God to His face. Instead of rejecting him, God stooped lower and gave signs to clear away his unbelief.
- Instrument. God used the shepherd's rod already in his hand. He takes up weak instruments to achieve His mightiest ends.
- Control. Moses threw the rod down at God's word; it did not slip out. God has not lost control of a world that looks satanic.
- Mastery. Grasping the serpent showed that Satan is only a rod in God's hand. God commanded that grasp, and the final seizing belongs to Christ.
- Belief. The sign aimed at faith in the deliverer, and without that there is no deliverance. Believing what the eyes see is not yet faith that connects the soul with God.