Exodus 4:2-5

2-5. A rod The shepherd’s staff which Moses casts down is the emblem of the shepherd life which now, at God’s call, he abandons. But at once he finds himself confronted by a hissing serpent, the emblem of Egyptian royalty, from which he flees, for his flesh shrinks from this conflict with Pharaoh. In Egypt the asp was the hieroglyph of royalty. But when, at God’s bidding, he boldly grasps his formidable foe, the very wrath of Pharaoh calls forth the power of Jehovah and Jehovah’s messenger. The serpent becomes the “wonder-working rod.” This sign sets forth the character of Moses, God’s messenger.