There is a story in Exodus where God asks Moses to throw his staff on the ground (see 4:3). It becomes a serpent, and God instructs Moses to pick it up by the tail—at which point it turns back into a staff. Then God tells Moses to put his hand in his bosom. After he does, he pulls it out leprous, only to be told to put it back in, after which his hand is restored to normalcy. Mary Baker Eddy has a beautiful explanation of these occurrences in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, stating that Moses lost his fear of the serpent through understanding divine Science, which became a staff he could lean on. “The illusion of Moses lost its power to alarm him, when he discovered that what he apparently saw was really but a phase of mortal belief” (p. 321).
Later, when Moses and Aaron appear before Pharaoh, at God’s direction Aaron casts down his rod, and it, too, becomes a serpent (see Ex. 7:8–12). Pharaoh’s magicians then throw their staffs down and their staffs also become serpents. I have always been puzzled as to how they did this. I don’t believe in magic or that God does magic. Yet, I couldn’t dismiss this story, so I prayed for a deeper understanding of its meaning.
And then recently it became so clear to me. God doesn’t do magic tricks. Of course not! Transforming the staffs into serpents was nothing more than mesmerism. It’s possible the staff was always a staff, but that Moses’ fear mesmerized him and he “saw” it become a serpent. God, Mind, nevertheless directed him to pick it up—to see the nothingness of his fear.
