Exodus 4:1-9

Exodus 4:1 J (following Exodus 3:18). Moses's Third Difficulty Israel's unbelief. To overcome it, he is enabled to authenticate his mission by three signs the rod that became a serpent and again a rod (Exodus 4:2), the leprosy of his hand that came and went (Exodus 4:6), and the turning of water into blood (Exodus 4:9). The first is in P a sign to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8), and the third is in E and P the first plague (Exodus 7:14). The rod, in J, is Moses's ordinary shepherd's staff, turned to a special use; in E, it is the rod of God, given him to use as a miraculous instrument; in P, it is Aaron who uses it. All three sources must mention the rod, so firmly was it entwined in the thread of tradition (Exodus 17:15 f.*). In Exodus 4:9, river should be Nile.