9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying: 'Perform a wonder'; then say to Aaron: Take your staff, and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent (tanin)."
10 Then Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they did just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent (tanin).
ח וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֔ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֖ן לֵאמֹֽר: ט כִּי֩ יְדַבֵּ֨ר אֲלֵכֶ֤ם פַּרְעֹה֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר תְּנ֥וּ לָכֶ֖ם מוֹפֵ֑ת וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֣ אֶֽל־אַֽהֲרֹ֗ן קַ֧ח אֶֽת־מַטְּךָ֛ וְהַשְׁלֵ֥ךְ לִפְנֵֽי־פַרְעֹ֖ה יְהִ֥י לְתַנִּֽין: י וַיָּבֹ֨א מֹשֶׁ֤ה וְאַהֲרֹן֙ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה וַיַּֽעֲשׂוּ־כֵ֔ן כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֖ר צִוָּ֣ה יְהוָֹ֑ה וַיַּשְׁלֵ֨ךְ אַֽהֲרֹ֜ן אֶת־מַטֵּ֗הוּ לִפְנֵ֥י פַרְעֹ֛ה וְלִפְנֵ֥י עֲבָדָ֖יו וַיְהִ֥י לְתַנִּֽין:
Moses receives signs to show God's power both to the Israelites and then to Pharaoh, including the miraculous transformation of a staff into a serpent.
The original instruction for this miracle came in Exodus 4:3-4, in which Moses tells God that the Israelites won't listen to him, and God replies telling him to throw his staff on the ground where it becomes a snake. The word used here is nachash, which seems to clearly indicate a mundane snake, albeit transformed miraculously by the power of God.
But when it comes time to confront Pharaoh, the staff does not become a nachash but rather a tanin, the word that we have already seen in Genesis 1 last week refers to Sea Monsters, something monstrous and supernatural. Then all Pharaoh's sorcerer's repeat the trick, and their staffs also become serpents (taninim). But Aaron's staff swallows all the others, proving the supremacy of God.
Should we take this shift in language seriously? And if so, what does it mean that the staff became a tanin for Pharaoh and the Egyptians?
