The three signs Elohim gave Moshe (Moses) at the burning bush in Exodus 4 to show the elders of Israel revealed God knew intimately the horrors they endured during centuries of bondage in Mitzraim (Egypt).
First, the staff becoming a snake and back again symbolized how the “tribe” of Israel had been made contemptible in Egypt but was being restored, finally though the Red Sea crossing. Second, the leprous hand showed God saw their affliction as if they were stillborn infants, to which Moshe’s sister, Miriam, was compared. Third, turning a jug of water into blood red revealed that God witnessed their babies’ murders by Egypt into the Nile, which be expanded to grand scale in the first plague.
This study explores that through these signs addressing their specific traumas, God demonstrated to the elders that He heard, remembered, saw and knew His “first-born,” and God would gain justice for their sufferings in Egypt. This is a key lesson of Pesach (Passover) and Matzot (Unleavened Bread).
