The Significance of Moses' staff turning into a snake before Pharaoh

The first miracle that God did before the ten plagues was to turn Moses’ (Aaron’s) staff into a snake and the staff swallowed the Egyptian magicians’ staffs (Exod 7:9-12). In connection with the ten plagues that happened in Egypt, this sign gives the setting to the plagues as judgment to Pharaoh and deliverance to the Israelites. Scholars have different views regarding the significance of Moses’ (Aaron’s) staff turning into a snake and swallowing the Egyptian magicians’ staffs. A question may be raised, “Why did God use a staff that turned into a snake to convince Pharaoh?” After investigation the study shows that 1. The word !yNIT; that is used in Exod 7:9-12 is also used in other texts in the OT to describe the life of nations, human beings, and kings, especially Pharaoh the king of Egypt. In addition, according to Egypt’s mythology, there were some of their gods who manifested themselves in the form of a snake. Furthermore, Egyptians believed that every Pharaoh in Egypt was a manifestation of those gods. Therefore, based on the use of the word !yNIT; in the OT and Egyptian belief toward snake, the snake in Exod 7:9-12 may symbolize Pharaoh the king of Egypt. 2. The immediate context of Exod 7 shows that at that time, God dealt with Israelite and Pharaoh through His servants, Moses and Aaron. The exegetical investigation found out that a situation of judgment is revealed in this prologue narrative. Furthermore, in this judgment, God is the subject who executes the judgment and Pharaoh is the object who receives the judgment. Thus, this miracle symbolically reveals that Pharaoh is under judgment and the subject executing judgment is the powerful God of Moses. Thus, the significance of Moses’ (Aaron’s ) staff turning into snake in this context was to show the object of judgment whom God dealt with that was Pharaoh and all his power.