by Michael Terrett
Spiritual Leader, B'nai Chayim/Children of Life Fellowship (www.bnaichayim.com)
Edmonton, Canada

When Moses and Aaron went in before Pharaoh, it was not just the final showdown between the gods of Egypt and the Holy One of Israel, it was a generational object lesson in how the L-rd would deal with any of the foes the future generations of Israel might encounter as they carried and fulfilled the redemptive purposes of G-d. I want to illustrate this with a story which my father tells about snakes.

Once in Zimbabwe, when our family was invited to dine with a farmer, during the visit he had to deal with a snake who was trying to investigate the kitchen. Amidst the yelling and scrambling of some people trying to get out of danger's way and others crowding in to watch the show, the farmer shot the snake with such force that its head was three quarters removed from its body. He picked up the mangled reptile with a stick and as the final preparations for dinner were being made, he amused himself by waving the remains of the snake in people's faces. My father was not troubled by the man's warped sense of humour, but kept insisting that a snake is not dead until you cut off its head.

The man mocked my father and showed him the mangled head which barely hung on to the rest of the body. The remains of that reptile were sort of like Pharaoh, whose kingdom was nearly destroyed by the first eight of the plagues, but whose hardened heart still clung to the hope of surviving all these disasters and still defeating Israel.  Pharaoh's head was not yet cut off, despite all the damage that the plagues had inflicted upon him and he still had the ability to strike a fatal blow to Israel.

The farmer refused to believe that there was any life left in such a mangled snake and after much yelling and bad temper, my father packed us up and took us home; even though it meant we missed our supper.

A few days later, an abashed farmer phoned my father and finished the story. Once we left, with no more victims to terrify, he took the snake outside the kitchen and draped it across the path which the kitchen boy used when he showed up for work each morning. When the kitchen boy calmly entered the house and began his daily routine, the puzzled farmer asked him if the snake had scared him. The boy replied that he did not see a snake. Later that day, when he took the garbage out towards the dump site, the mangled snake attacked him and he barely made it back to the house. The farmer had to shoot the snake again and this time, he cut off its head.

Pharaoh was not going to give up and suffer the humiliation of seeing all of his gods humbled before the G-d of his slaves. He may have figured that Moses had used up all his tricks, but it is more likely he was waiting until one of his gods would be able to defeat the G-d of Israel and then a victorious Egypt could go about the business of healing its nearly severed head. Some sources assert that Egypt, like many other ancient peoples had a ten month calendar which celebrated ten of her most important deities. From this perspective, Pharaoh had endured at least eight months of humiliation as he saw the monthly symbols of his gods become curses for him and his kingdom. One of the most powerful myths of the Egyptian religion dealt with the death of the first born god, whose shed blood caused the waters of the Nile to flood and bring new life to the fields of Egypt. His return to life at the end of the year was an important celebration on the Egyptian calendar and some sources link this event with the last plague, which resulted in the death of the first born throughout Egypt.

In next week's portion, it is interesting to note that even after the defeat of the first born god, Pharaoh still pursued Israel and the destruction of the army probably threw Egypt into chaos when Pharaoh was drowned with his soldiers. Without the intended successor to take over or an intact army to support a discredited dynasty, Egypt was so pre-occupied that Israel could precede to the Promised Land without having to look over her shoulder.

Pharaoh was not going to give in until all of his gods were defeated and he himself had to be cut off at the head of his army. This final clash between the G-d of Israel and gods of Egypt forms the core of our generational proclamation of the supremacy of the only true G-d and should serve as a reminder to us that in our conflicts with any subsequent snakes, we should not underestimate our enemy and declare victory before the fatal blow is delivered.

As we wait for the final blow to be delivered to the cosmic serpent, we must never let his death throes distract us from our task. Our Messiah triumphed over all the principalities and powers and greater is He who is in us then the one who is in the world. May the Holy One of Israel show each of us how to cut off the head of our foe, instead of underestimating his wiles and having him bushwack us when our guards are down.