{"id":68933,"date":"2020-01-23T12:07:51","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T10:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=68933"},"modified":"2022-04-24T18:11:15","modified_gmt":"2022-04-24T15:11:15","slug":"vaera-the-rod-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/vaera-the-rod-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Va&#8217;era: The Rod Of God"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[397,368,618],"acf":{"old_id":"68933","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46171,"related_cahpter":"1080","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The time has come to talk of many things: Of crocodiles, and kings\u2026","content":"<p>When Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh, Aaron cast down his rod, which turned into a serpent, and Pharaoh\u2019s magicians did the same: \u201cBut Aaron\u2019s rod swallowed their rods\u201d (Exod. 7:12). It is this episode that is visualized in the center of Avner Moriah\u2019s painting. Why does the artist choose this particular scene to illustrate this <em>parasha<\/em>? What is the connection between the central image and the six small vignettes?<\/p>\n<p>Against the background of the pyramids in the central scene, we see sandy ground and the blue water of the Nile. Moses, Aaron, and Pharaoh and his magicians are figured in a particularly Egyptian style of painting, showing a perspective that combines profiles of the head, the legs, and the arms with frontal views of the eyes and the shoulders. As the biblical text uses a singular form when referring to Aaron and Moses the artist portrays them as one figure standing on the right holding onto the tail of a green crocodile. On the left Pharaoh is with his magicians, who are holding the tails of brown crocodiles as they are being swallowed by the large reptile that came from Aaron\u2019s rod. The devouring crocodile is shaped very much like an Egyptian barque, the sailing vessel associated with the journey to the afterlife.\u00a0Thus what appears to be a battle between the serpents of Moses and Pharaoh might also presage an event in the distant future.<\/p>\n<p>The six images framing the central picture all relate to the rod in the hand of Aaron or Moses, which represented God\u2019s might. The three on the right visualize miracles done through the rod in Egypt. At the top the rod has turned into a crocodile, which is devouring the magicians\u2019 reptiles; the middle scene shows the rod turning the waters of the Nile into blood, killing the fish and essentially destroying the Nile as a source of food; and the bottom square depicts the plague of the frogs.<\/p>\n<p>The three scenes on the left visualize the rod being used to call forth God\u2019s miracles for the Israelites. The top square shows Moses splitting the Sea (Exod. 14); in the middle we have a reverse parallel to turning the water to blood, with Moses hitting the rock and the water gushing out to provide living water for Israel (Exod. 17); and the bottom image depicts the struggle with Amalek, with Moses standing on a hill with the rod in his upraised arm (Exod. 17).<\/p>\n<p>By figuring the rod in the performance of God\u2019s commands, the artist visualizes it as having a role in God\u2019s deeds, as the magicians told Pharaoh: \u201cThis is the finger of God\u201d (Exod. 8: 15) and as evidenced in the ten plagues, in the Exodus from Egypt, and in the miracles in the wilderness.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":68940,"id":68940,"title":"14 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