Exodus-Pharaoh's sovereignty challenged

Can you imagine standing before an arrogant king with just a staff in your hand? The LORD has tasked you with the awesome mission of being His agent to deliver His people out of slavery. In case the king demands a sign to prove you are sent by God, He has shown you that when you throw down your staff, it will turn into a serpent. The king, angry at your intrusion into his royal chamber, demands that you prove that God sent you to him. You throw down your rod and it turns into a serpent. You feel vindicated! God is at last showing up to deliver His people. Then, horror of horrors, the king’s magicians throw down their staffs and they become serpents too! The angry monarch glares at you petulantly. Your mind races and there is a lump in your throat. It seems like time is standing still. “What now?” you think.

 One could only imagine the trepidation that Aaron and Moses felt as they stood before Pharaoh. It must have taken every fibre of their faith to remain standing in the presence of the king of Egypt after what looked like the beginnings of a colossal failure. They were reluctant missionaries on a seemingly ridiculous errand. However, God had a plan! Just as hope seemed to fade away, the serpent that had come from Aaron’s staff swallowed up the magicians’ serpents! God had come through for them; they must have breathed a sigh of relief as their hearts gave silent prayers of thanks to Him.

Historical records reveal that the Pharoahs often wore Uraei on their crowns. The Uraeus, in the stylized form of a rearing cobra, was an ornament that adorned the Pharaoh’s crown. It symbolized his divine authority and sovereign rule and was also symbolic of the goddess Wadjet, one of the earliest Egyptian deities, who was often depicted as a cobra. It therefore seemed a fitting sign to Pharoah when the serpent created by the LORD’s power swallowed those conjured up by Pharaoh’s magicians. This signified that Pharaoh’s sovereignty and rule was being challenged by the LORD and none of his gods could protect him or his kingdom from the one true God’s coming judgments.

 The LORD’s mission in Egypt was not just to deliver His people from Egyptian slavery. He planned to expose the idols of Egypt for what they really were; they were not gods for against the great God of the Universe, they were powerless. Pharaoh, though he was revered as a god by his people, was a mere man. This miracle, though dismissed by hard-hearted Pharaoh, was an omen of the coming destruction that Egypt and its king would face if they disregarded the Word of the Sovereign LORD by refusing to let Israel go.

Scripture references: Exodus 7:1-13