A trilogy of signs.
In reply to his complaint that the people would not believe him, nor hearken to his voice, God gave Moses three signs. These are to be viewed—
I. AS ATTESTATIONS OF HIS DIVINE COMMISSION (Exodus 4:5, Exodus 4:8). Divine power is supernaturally exercised in proof of Moses' title to speak with Divine authority. This is a clear case of the use of miracles as credentials of a mission, and confutes those who reason that this view of miracles has no basis in Scripture. The character of the signs was not to be disregarded, but the immediate circumstance which gave them evidential value was the fact of supernatural origin. Practically, signs of the kind wrought by Moses would be felt to be incontestable proofs of his Divine commission; and it is difficult to see how otherwise his message could have been authenticated. Why should this be objected to? Why, if the message is worthy of God, and the work of power is also worthy of God, should the work of power not be employed to add authority to the word, as indicating with certainty the source from which it comes?
II. AS SIGNIFICANT OR PARABOLIC ACTS. This is implied in their character as "signs." They had had of themselves a "voice." They told over again what Moses had explained in words, while they exhibited in symbol the superiority of Jehovah to the king and gods of Egypt.
1. Sign 1st.—The impotence of Pharaoh against Jehovah's messenger. This seems to be the import of the turning of the rod into the serpent (Exodus 4:2-5). The serpent "was the symbol of the royal and divine power on the diadem of every Pharaoh."
2. Sign 2nd. The power of Jehovah to smite and heal. The symbol of this was at the same time an instance of it—viz, the sudden smiting of Moses' hand with leprosy, followed by as instantaneous a cure (Revelation 12:6-8). Leprosy was peculiarly the theocratic punishment (Miriam, Uzziah, Gehazi). It was probably a common disease among the Israelites, who figure in Egyptian traditions as a nation of lepers, hateful to the gods on account of their pollutions. The obvious teaching of this sign would therefore be
This conveyed both threat and promise.
1. To fear the stroke of the Divine anger.
2. That God who smites can also heal (Hosea 6:1).
3. That God is more willing to remove judgments than to send them.
4. That God can heal the leprous heart.
5. To fear, above all, that most awful fulfilment of the leprosy symbol—the adjudging of the soul, under Divine wrath, to the unchecked spread of its own corruptions—to the reign of sin within itself.
3. Sign 3rd.—The ruin that would descend on Egypt if God's will continued to be disobeyed. The sign of the turning of a portion of the water of the Nile—the source of Egypt's beauty, fertility, and prosperity—into blood (Revelation 12:9) could only have one meaning. It portended ruin to the state of Egypt. And such would be the inevitable consequence of a contest between Pharaoh and Jehovah, if protracted by the king's obstinacy. In this case there was no reversal of the sign. The end of strife with God is judgment without mercy—utter destruction. Lesson—the folly of striving with the Almighty.
III. AS A SERIES OF SIGNS ADAPTED TO REMOVE DOUBT AT DIFFERENT STAGES (Revelation 12:8, Revelation 12:9). Though, strictly speaking, one sign was enough to attest the Divine commission of him who wrought it, yet God, who condescends to man's infirmity, added sign to sign, thus furnishing a superabundance and accumulation of evidences, and rendering unbelief wholly inexcusable. It has often been observed that the strength of the evidence for revelation lies, not in any single line of proof, but in the cumulative force of a great variety of evidences, some of which strike one class of minds as of peculiar cogency, while minds differently constituted are more impressed by others. In the case before us, a certain progression may be noted; each sign, by peculiar marks, carrying us a step further than its predecessor.
1. In the turning of the rod into the serpent, we have a work of Divine power, but not without a certain resemblance to the feats of the native serpent-charmers. The points of contrast were great, but it might be doubted whether the acts of the magicians were not competent to produce as great a wonder.
2. In the second sign—the stroke of leprosy—this doubt is eliminated, and the presence of Divine power conclusively demonstrated. But Egypt had her gods also, and the question, as it would present itself to those who believed in them, was not simply, Is Jehovah powerful? but, Is his power greater than theirs?
3. The last sign gives the final proof, by working a miracle on the water of the Nile—itself one of Egypt's greater gods. The turning of that sacred water into blood was the death-blow to all hope of help from the Egyptian idols.
Observe—
1. The anxiety of God to remove doubt.
2. The ample provision he has made for its removal.
3. The patience with which he bears with man's dulness and slowness of heart.
4. The inexcusableness of unbelief.—J.O.