How could Pharaoh's magician turn his staff into a snake?

[Jennet]

A myth?

Considering what Christ and Revelations tell us about what the anti-Christ will be able to do and the extraordinary feats he’ll be able to accomplish, is it really so difficult to believe that a pagan priest/magician was able to turn a stick into a snake? Have you read about what exorcists report about stuff that comes out of people they pray for who’ve been cursed/bewitched by a priest of Satan?

The OT is set in an age that’s very far back, so much archaeological evidence will be missing. But it’s far far easier for me to believe the History of the Hebrews as recorded in the OT than it is to believe that this tiny nomadic tribe just came up with this unique truths about God and a very unique morality in that time and age all on their own, without Divine intervention happening to them in ways that were absolutely convincing to them.

Consider what was going on around them everywhere they went. Why on Earth were they so different? So stubborn in their weird ways (per everyone else)?- What could possibly convince them to stick it out regardless of anything else everybody else believed, unless God had proven to them time and again that these laws and beliefs were really from him and not some Prophet? It was far easier for them to adopt the cultures and beliefs that dominated the area- It just makes no sense to me that they would insist on this unique, sole God and a very strict and specific morality in contradiction to everyone else around them.

For them to adopt this and stick to it through thick and thin against all odds, God must have shown them time and again that he was God- wasn’t joking around. So they knew that it was the truth and held on to it against the grain. That’s why I believe much of the Old Testament stories about the great feats of God and the Prophets among the Israelites- There’s just no other way the Hebrews could have accepted this strange religion and stuck to it against all odds otherwise .

Consider how even in the Old Testament, it’s told how they were constantly struggling to remain faithful to God and the Covenant in that world. Constantly adopting pagan ideas and practices- It was VERY hard to remain a child of the Covenant in that era. Yet, they kept coming back, sticking to it, against all odds and to me, beyond all reason, really.

For me, the religion itself and its setting in its origins and development, its survival, is proof enough for me, logically speaking, that this tiny group really did encounter and witness things that no one else in that world ever did.

Beautifully put.

 

[CatholicGOPer]

It’s a snake charming trick - probably still done by snake charmers in India today. The snake would essentially be hypnotized and made to go rigid like a stick. Then at the appropriate time the magician would un-hypnotize it and it would go back to doing it’s normal snaky thing.

Yep. I saw a special about that on TV once

 

[exoflare]

eg the feeding of the 5,000 is dismissed with ‘oh, He just inspired everyone to share the food they already had’

Haha so I’m not the only one who’s heard that.

 

[patrick457]

Sadly, I think you’ll find a lot of the same people who are dismissive of the Exodus are similarly dismissive of NT miracles - eg the feeding of the 5,000 is dismissed with ‘oh, He just inspired everyone to share the food they already had’ or shall ga of the blind, paralyzed and demon-possessed as ‘oh, their problems were all in their minds, He just had them comfort and reassurance and they were better’.

Some even doubt the reality of His resurrection, suggesting that this was a metaphor or symbol of something else rather than a historical event.

Gotta love those 18th century ‘Rationalists’ (which are really the first guys to propose that kind of stuff) .

 

[wiggbuggie]

that also bothered me and the suggestion of snake charmers is interesting this site agrees with that view and explains it a bit further

apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1704

 

[wiggbuggie]

this is kind of troubling too. Lets say you put people like david blaine or criss angel back in time people were pagans and superstitious back than. To them they would say they are ‘gods’ or ‘magicians’ I wonder if any of the magic or miracles in the bible are in fact done by people who are con artists. They do it for fame, money. And not only bible but other cultures too.

 

[Uzziah1]

always wondered about that and makes me lean toward exodus being a myth.

can you help with this?

Years ago, I read some apologist’s claim that there is a species of snake in the Sinai Desert which becomes stiff and straight when handled. I.e., that section of Exodus is declaring to be real that which was a game of deceptive illusions in a battle of wits between Moses and some pagans.

I have learned to be skeptical of the “rationalist” skeptics.

I once heard a Protestant Bible commentator say that the evil occult is real, and that the Bible condemns flirtations with the occult as sinful NOT because it is “superstition,” but rather because it is REAL!

I think that he was right.

I think that the God gave the devil some power, and those “in bed with” the devil can put on quite a show.

I think, therefore, that the answer to your question is, "Pharaoh’s magicians could do what they did because they were engaging in true demonically-based magic.

Note well that the same story says that Moses staff/snake gobbled-up Pharaoh’s staff/snakes.