Hashem said to Moshe, "What is that in your hand?" Moshe replied, "A staff." Hashem told him, "Throw it to the ground." He threw it to the ground and it became a snake, and Moshe fled from before it. Hashem said to Moshe, "Put out your hand and grab it by the tail." Moshe put out his hand and grabbed it, and it became a staff in his hand.

(Shemot 4:2-4)

Aharon threw down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent! Pharaoh called upon his wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt did likewise through their sorcery. Each one threw down his staff and they became serpents. Then, the staff of Aharon swallowed up their staffs!

(Shemot 7:10-12)

A number of suggestions have been made concerning the metaphorical significance of the transformation of the staff in to a snake. Most of the commentaries see it as symbolic of the Jewish exile in Egypt, and of Pharaoh's ultimate downfall (Keli Yakar 4:9, 7:9; Ya'arot Devash 1:3; Chatam Sofer HaChadashot 4:3; Meshech Chochma ibid.; Pardes Yosef 4:10). Others bring out the symbolism of Moshe's authority as an emissary of Hashem (Ha'amek Davar, Malbim, and R.S.R. Hirsch to 4:3). In general, however, these explanations fall short of explaining the rebuttal of the Egyptian magicians. What were they trying to say by turning their own staffs into snakes? What was their response to Moshe's proof of Divine agency?

Perhaps the most satisfying explanation of the allegory is that of the early commentators (Ibn Ezra 4:3; Chizkuni 7:9; Baal HaTurim 7:9), who say that the staff turning into a serpent was a hint to Pharaoh's behavior as king of Egypt; behavior which ultimately led to the Ten Plagues that Hashem brought upon the Egyptians. This interpretation actually has its basis in a Midrash. Let us take another look at Moshe's Divine sign in light of this explanation.

What message did the sign of the stick/snake carry for the Jews? Said Rebbi Elazar: The stick that became a snake hinted to Pharaoh, who is called a "snake" -- "Pharaoh... the great serpent" (Yechezkel 29:3); "The erect Leviathan snake" (Yeshayah 27:1). He was compared to a snake because of the way he "bit" the Jews. Hashem said to Moshe, "Do you see how Pharaoh is like a snake? You will smite him with a staff, and he will end up as a piece of wood, that cannot bite!"

(Shmot Rabba 3:12)

Why did Moshe perform for Pharaoh the miracle of the serpent? Because Pharaoh is compared to a serpent... . When Moshe would leave Pharaoh's presence, Pharaoh would say, "If I get hold of Moshe, I'll kill him! I'll hang him! I'll burn him!" But when Moshe would enter the palace, Pharaoh would immediately become as a stick of wood.

(Shemot Rabba 9:4)

There may, however, be a deeper significance to a staff than simple lifelessness. A staff, or stick, is used for striking and for punishing. When Hashem sent the nation of Aram to conquer the Jews, he called them His "rod of retribution" ("Shevet Appi" -- Yeshayah 10:5.) So too, Pharaoh's position was one of a rod of retribution -- he enslaved the Jews as per the Divine decree (Bereishit 15:13): "Your offspring will be strangers in a land not theirs, and they will serve the natives of that land, who will afflict them for four hundred years."

Such a "staff" is nothing but a tool that is wielded by the one who holds it. It accomplishes nothing on its own. As Hashem chastened the nation of Aram that prided itself in the destruction of Israel, "Can an ax in the hand of a wood-chopper take pride in its accomplishments? ... Does a staff [that strikes] pick itself up? No! Someone must raise it!" (Yeshayah 10:15). Pharaoh had nothing to gloat over. He was simply Hashem's tool.

But then, why should Pharaoh be punished for his actions with ten plagues? What did *he* do? The answer is that Pharaoh had turned himself into a snake!

The Ramban (Bereishit 15:13) gives two reasons for the punishment of the Egyptians. First of all, they did much more than was decreed. Hashem had only said that the Jews would be enslaved and oppressed. Pharaoh, however, gave them excruciatingly hard labor, and even decreed the death of their babies. The second reason given by the Ramban is that Pharaoh did not enslave the Jews *in order* to fulfill the will of Hashem, but for his own selfish motives, out of his hatred of the Jews, and his desire to profit from their labor. His goal was not to fulfill the prophecy. That is why, according to the Ramban, he was deserving of punishment for his deeds.

The first reason that the Ramban suggests is clearly symbolized by the staff turning into a "serpent." When someone is struck with a staff, he is left with a bruise in the place where the staff hit him. But Pharaoh made himself into a snake. The bite of a snake, unlike the bites of other animals, causes poison to spread throughout the entire body of its victim (Yerushalmi Rosh Hashana 3:9). The effects are much more severe than those of a stick.

The second reason of the Ramban, that Pharaoh did not punish the Jews in order to fulfill the will of Hashem, is also alluded to in the staff becoming a *snake*. The Gemara tells us (Sanhedrin 78a) that if a person scratches someone with the fangs of a snake, he cannot be sentenced as a murderer (according to the majority opinion). The fangs of a snake are not like knives dipped in poison. The poison is contained in a duct, and the snake must exude the venom of its own volition. The snake is the killer, while the man holding it is merely a causative agent in the murder ("Gerama"). In a similar manner, Pharaoh tortured the Jews of his own free will. Instead of being the "staff" of Hashem, Pharaoh transformed himself into a "serpent." (See also Parasha-Page Toldot 5756, section IV, for some more insights into the metaphor of a snake. I was later shown that much of the above thought can be found in Rav Yosef Salant of Jerusalem's "Be'er Yosef," to Parashat Va'era.)

At this point, Moshe's staff swallowed up all of the other staffs. It is noteworthy that the Torah now refers to them as "staffs" once more, and no longer as serpents. Moshe's serpent became a piece of wood once again, and then it "swallowed" the staff/serpents of the Egyptian sorcerers (Rashi). Perhaps this was a hint that, against his own will, Pharaoh would return to being a stick in the hands Hashem. He would end up doing things which were clearly against his own interests, simply because they fit into Hashem's plan. This is just what Hashem had already told Moshe (Shemot 4:21), "I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go." Pharaoh would refuse to allow the Jews to leave, even after he had seen plague after plague, in order to reveal to the world through the plagues that Hashem was the Creator of the Heavens and Earth (Shemot 7:3). Pharaoh again became a staff in the hand of Hashem -- but this time, for punishing the Egyptians, not the Jews.

Perhaps this is why Moshe was told to pick up the snake by its *tail* when he turned it back into a staff. He was to reverse the direction of this rod of retribution, making it smite the one who formerly wielded it!

Eventually, Pharaoh's own servants pleaded with him to let the Jews go, declaring, "Don't you realize that we're being destroyed?" (Shemot 10:7). Yet Pharaoh refused to listen, and they became unwilling partners in his refusal to let the Jews go free. They, too, became sticks in the hand of Hashem, and were "devoured" by the "stick" called Pharaoh!

One is to bow upon saying "Blessed are you," and to stand erect upon reaching the name of Hashem. Rav Sheshet would bow as a *stick* (-- all at once -Rashi), and would return to an erect state as a *snake* (-- slowly, first head, then neck, then trunk -Rashi).

(Gemara Berachot 12a-b)

But when we reach the Holy Name, we stand erect. This is the time to display our pride in being Hashem's chosen nation, upon whom He rests His great name (see Ritva, loc. cit.). We return to holding our head *erect* the way a *snake* does. Even haughtiness has its place. "[Yehoshaphat's] heart was haughty, when it came to following the ways of Hashem" (II Chronicles 17:6 -- see Shabbat 63a, Yoma 23a "Talmid Chacham ... Noter K'Nachash"). We must be sure to recognize when we should be "snakes," and when we must be "sticks!"