Splendid Instruments not Necessary
Exodus 4:2-5
And the LORD said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.…


A rod: probably the shepherd's crook, the symbol of his present condition. Among the Arabs a long staff with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length, is used for this purpose. This rod was made the subject of a double miracle. From the story of Moses' rod the poets invented fables of the thyrsus of Bacchus and the caducaeus of Mercury. Homer represents Mercury as taking his rod to work miracles, precisely in the same way as God commanded Moses to take his. God takes the weakest instruments to accomplish His mightiest ends. "A rod," "a ram's horn," "a cake of barley meal," "an earthen pitcher," "a shepherd's sling," anything, in short, when used of God, will do His appointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends can only be reached by splendid means, but such is not God's way. He can use a crawling worm as well as a scorching sun, a gourd as well as a vehement east wind.

(A. Nevin, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

WEB: Yahweh said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."




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