If Robin Hood Had Used Plastic...

On the wall in front of me where I'm sitting hang three bows. Because I'm a nerd who loves imagining that I'm a Robin Hood-esque superhero, I asked for a bow and arrows for Christmas a few years back and got what I'd requested. For fellow archery nerds, the bow is a 40-lb. recurve Sage Samick, and the arrows are 30-inch carbon arrows. Hardly a Robin Hood yew longbow, but I did split an arrow once with a second arrow (by accident). ;) There's some heft on that bowstring; when I practice, my arrows embed several inches into the target.

On the wall, beneath my recurve, are two small bows my husband and I bought for our children. They're light wood weighing slightly more than a pencil, and they come with arrows that are nearly as light as a drinking straw. When my children release their arrows, the breeze often catches them and carries them far off-target. If they do hit the target, they don't embed; they bounce off and land somewhere else (all in the name of safety). 

There's no weight or heft, because their bows are imitations, not the real thing.

We're in Exodus 7 today. Moses and Aaron have regrouped. In Chapter 5, they've gone before Pharaoh and they make their first request. "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go.'" And Pharaoh arrogantly responds, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go" (Exodus 5:1-2).

Now the same Lord that Pharaoh refuses to acknowledge tells Moses and Aaron to go back, this time with a little bit of weight behind their words. Helpfully, the Lord reminds Moses of the fact that his staff will turn into a snake when it's tossed on the ground.

"So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake" (Exodus 7:10).

This was interesting: my footnotes tell me that the Hebrew word for "snake" is a different one from the original word used in Exodus 4:3 when Moses is standing before the burning bush and he "practices" tossing his staff on the ground and watching it become a snake. The word used in 7:10 more accurately means "monster" and is used again in Ezekiel 29:3 to describe Egypt and her king: "I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams."

So by this point, I'm picturing a boa constrictor of prodigious proportions. 

Still, tossing staffs onto the ground and watching them become snakes doesn't seem to faze Pharaoh. Or at least, it's nothing that Pharaoh thinks is all that impressive. What does he do?

"Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake" (Exodus 7:11-12).

Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you. No you can't. Yes I can. No you can't. Yes I can.

The problem is, Pharaoh's trick isn't better. As he watches, as his wise men and sorcerers and magicians all stand around witnessing this hissing pit of vermin roiling over the ground...

"Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs." (Exodus 7:12).

I really wish I could have been a bystander to this scene. I would love to see the faces of the magicians as they step back, literally empty-handed, while Aaron picks up the only snake left by the tail and it turns back into a staff. I wonder if the staff was any longer or wider than the original? :)

I think it's pretty cool that God picked this to be the first sign to Pharaoh. Throughout much of Egypt's history, the cobra symbolized sovereignty and power, so the fact that Aaron's snake swallows up the Egyptian ones is such a cool reminder of Who is truly sovereign over all rule and authority this world has to offer.

You know the story: "Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard, and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said" (Exodus 7:13).

So, since the king of Egypt ignores the snake sign, God tells Moses and Aaron to go meet Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the Nile, presumably to bathe in its waters. "Say to him...With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water." Then God told Moses: "Tell Aaron [because Moses still thinks he has 'faltering lips' and can't talk]: 'Stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt -- over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs -- and they will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and stone jars'" (Exodus 7:17-19).

So Aaron does, and blood is everywhere. Gross, gross, gross. But just wait; there are worse plagues coming. 

"But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said" (Exodus 7:22). The Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for drinking water -- which, filtered through the sandy soil near the river bank, was at least safe for drinking.

Anything you can do, I can do better...

Please notice two things here: 

First thing: Egyptian sorcerers and diviners came up with blood and snakes. There are only two possible explanations for this: either they used sleight-of-hand manipulations... or they truly used the powers of darkness, Satanic powers. It is easy in these modern days to back-burner the occult, the unseen, the invisible, but we must be aware of what it is we fight. If we don't think we're waging a war, we are badly deceived. 

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). That's why it's so important to suit up in our spiritual armor, described in Ephesians 6:13-18. Our battles aren't only against what we can see. There are innumerable and ancient forces of evil out there.

The good news? We are already equipped to fight the invisible battle. "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).

The second thing to notice: The efforts of the Egyptian sorcerers and diviners are cheap imitations at best. A monster snake eats up the snakes produced by the Egyptian magicians. Blood in a pitcher or two cannot even come close to the entire Nile River, all streams, canals, and every vessel in Egypt turning into blood.

Satan deceives by "almost-rights" constantly. He conjures up cheap, plastic imitations of the real thing and spends a lot of time and effort convincing us that they're real in an effort to keep us away from Truth. John 8:44 reminds us that "there is no truth in [Satan]. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." 

Think about the time Jesus goes into the wilderness just after John the Baptist baptizes Him in the Jordan River. Matthew 4 gives the story: Three times during Jesus' 40-day sojourn, Satan appears to Him and tempts Him, and then justifies the temptation with Scripture taken out of context. Jesus answers Satan back with Scripture placed in context. Imitation v. Reality. Trickery v. Truth.

Here's the deal: When it's all said and done, when the bloody Nile flows by Pharaoh's feet, when the snake opens its jaws and eats its fellow serpents... the power is the Lord's. The sovereignty is God's. The snake symbols that Egypt holds so tightly to as an example of their superiority, God uses to show that He is sovereign.

My kids love to get out with me and target practice. I'm excited to watch them grow in strength and skill so that someday -- they'll be able to use my bow. Right now, though, they can't draw the string; it's too heavy for them. All they can do is pull their cheap imitation bows, shoot their cheap imitation arrows, and fall far short of the target.

Please don't make the mistake of picking up the imitation bow with the expectation of sinking your arrow into the target. I guarantee you, it won't.