The Magicians Copied Aaron But Their Rods Reverted

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 7:12 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 1, 2025

The Egyptian magicians threw down their rods too, and theirs also became serpents. So far, a tie. But Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 7:12 adds a detail the Hebrew only hints at: they were forthwith changed to be what they were at first. The magicians' serpents turned back into wood almost immediately. Only then did Aharon's rod swallow theirs.

This is a short verse with a long lesson. Egyptian sorcery could produce a moment of apparent power — a flash, a transformation — but it could not sustain it. Real transformation holds. The meturgeman is distinguishing between illusion and miracle. An illusion reverts; a miracle endures long enough to do something with.

And then the endurance is used for consumption. Aharon's living basilisk eats the magicians' sticks. The competition is not close. The God of Israel does not merely match the magicians — God overwrites them. Their very props vanish into the stomach of the sign they could only imitate.

The takeaway is durable: beware the miracle that disappears the moment you stop staring at it. Truth lingers. Sorcery evaporates. Every Jewish practice that has outlasted an empire has outlasted it by being real.

Themes

Miracles Divine justice Wisdom

Biblical References

Exodus 7:12

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