Exodus 7:6-13: a reflection

6Moses and Aaron did so. As the LORD commanded them, so they did. 7Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. 8The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 9“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Perform a miracle!’ then you shall tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.’” 10Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as the LORD had commanded. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments. 12For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 13Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken.

Moses and Aaron do exactly as the Lord commands, and Scripture underlines their obedience twice. Standing before Pharaoh, Aaron throws down his staff and it becomes a serpent. Pharaoh's magicians match the sign with their own tricks, their staffs becoming serpents too. For a moment the counterfeit looks like the real thing. Then Aaron's staff swallows all of theirs.

The detail is worth pausing on. The opposition could imitate the sign, but it could not withstand it. God's work absorbed and overcame the imitation entirely. Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he refused to listen. Seeing a sign, even a clear one, did not move a will that had set itself against God. Evidence alone will not bend a heart that has decided not to yield.

There are two invitations here. First, take comfort that the counterfeits arrayed against God's purposes, however convincing they seem for a moment, cannot finally stand; his work swallows them up. Second, examine your own heart for the hardness Pharaoh showed. Do not let familiarity with God's signs leave you unmoved. Meet what he shows you with a yielded will, ready to obey as Moses and Aaron did.

Lord, your work overcomes every counterfeit that rises against it, and I need not fear the imitations that look convincing for a while. Guard me from Pharaoh's hardness. Do not let me grow so familiar with your signs that I stop yielding to you. Give me the ready obedience of your servants, who did just as you commanded. Amen.