The Two signs of Moses

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When Moses was being called to be a prophet, he feared that the children of Israel would not believe him. God responded by giving him two very strange signs. At first they seem quite random but as we dig deeper into the scriptures, we find that these signs carried a great message for the believer today.

Exodus 4:1-7 New King James Version (NKJV)

4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

2 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”

3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

6 Furthermore the Lord said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. 7 And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.

These two signs that Moses was given for Israel, were actually prophetic concerning the ministry of Moses and the Law.

The Rod and The Serpent

Why must Moses staff turn into a serpent of all things? When Moses goes before pharaoh, his and Aaron’s staffs turn into serpents and swallow the staffs of the magicians. Later on, the children of Israel are plagued by poisonous serpents and Moses is instructed to make a brass serpent and place it on his staff. Whoever looked at this brass serpent would be healed. When Jesus started ministering about 1500 years later, he makes clear that this brass serpent on the rod pointed to himself.

John 3:14-15 New King James Version (NKJV)

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus would be nailed to a tree and made to appear as a serpent. Those who placed their faith in that act would receive eternal life. But the issue of the serpent and the tree starts all the way in Genesis. In the garden of Eden.

Genesis 3 New King James Version (NKJV)

3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LordGod had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

We all know the story of how the serpent led Adam and Eve to sin against God by eating of the forbidden tree, but what does it have to do with Moses?

The serpent is later identified as non other than Satan, the devil himself.

Revelation 12:9
So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; 
The serpent, who was the devil, is the originator of sin. So in the case of Moses, the serpent represents sin.
Moses was a shepherd and his staff is what he used to support himself and to guide the sheep of his father in Law. This was symbolic of how he would shepherd God’s sheep; the children of Israel in the wilderness. And the staff which Moses was given to support himself and to guide the nation of Israel was the covenant of the Law.

Joshua 1:7 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

So when Moses ask’s for a sign, God asks him, what is in your hand. Moses replies that it’s a staff. Which represented the Law which would be given by his hand. God asks Moses to place the staff onto the ground and when he does so, the staff turns into a serpent and Moses runs away. God then tells Moses to pick the serpent by it’s tail, and when he does so, the serpent turns back into his staff.

God was showing Moses that though he would carry the Law (His staff) in his hand to support himself and to lead the nation of Israel, yet within the Law was a living serpent (Sin). The Law that he was given could cover sin such that it can’t be seen, but it had no power to destroy sin. Sin remained alive within the Law.

Romans 7:7-9 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

1 Corinthians 15:56
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
So it was because of the law, that the true effect of the serpent’s deception was exposed.  When the poisonous snakes plagued Israel, God instructs Moses to make a brass serpent and place it on his staff.
The brass serpent was not an actual serpent, but was forged into the likeness of a serpent and nailed to the staff so that those who looked upon it could be healed from the effects of the venomous serpents. Jesus makes clear that this represented the crucifixion of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus christ was perfect and sinless, but he was made to be sin (just as the brass was fashioned in fire to look like a serpent) He was judged as a sinner according to the Law and condemned to death. All those who would look to him, would be saved from the effects of sin in their lives. Moses himself did not have power to heal the people from the serpents. It was the one thing the staff could not do, because it had a serpent within itself. So all he could do was to point them to the future.
The Leprous Hand
Moses is then told to place his hand on his chest. When he took it out it was now leprous.
The hands signify works. The chest signified the heart. What God was telling Moses and Israel is that, the ministry of Moses could only deal with outward works, but when you were to compare the works to the heart, you would find that your works were unrighteous. That is why when Moses put his hand to his chest it became filled with leprosy. Under the Law, you would be righteous in works but your heart and conscience were still full of sin

Hebrews 10:1-4 New King James Version (NKJV)

10 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once [a]purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins

Galatians 2:16 Living Bible (TLB)

16 and yet we Jewish Christians know very well that we cannot become right with God by obeying our Jewish laws but only by faith in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And so we, too, have trusted Jesus Christ, that we might be accepted by God because of faith—and not because we have obeyed the Jewish laws. For no one will ever be saved by obeying them.”

Amen

Author:

Charles Mawungwa is a born again christian who has a passion for the word and sharing bible teachings in a simple, palatable form. Much of what is shared here comes from personal illumination that has come by the grace of God through years of private study of the bible.

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