afraid of the serpents, because of what had already come to him from God in the first act, when He said to him, “Take it, and do not fear” [Ta Ha 20:21]. He forbade him to fear it and made known to him that it was a sign for him.
His second fear was therefore for the people, lest proof and specious argument become confused for them, while the sorcerers supposed that he feared the serpents. God thus confused for them the meaning of his fear, just as they had confused matters for the people. This is the utmost divine exactness in attending to correspondences in this situation. Had the sorcerers known that Moses feared being overcome in argument, they would not have hastened to faith.
Moreover, Moses’ serpent possessed the power to swallow, while theirs possessed neither swallowing nor effect, since in reality they were ropes and staffs. This dwelling, which we have described in this chapter as adjoining a particular science among the sciences of created existence, adjoins this particular science: the science of miracles. For a miracle proceeds neither from a power of the soul nor from the special properties of Names.
(Miracles, Saintly Marvels, and Sorcery)
Had the staff’s becoming a serpent resulted from the power of Moses’ spiritual aspiration, peace be upon him, or from Names bestowed upon him, he would not have turned away in flight without looking back, out of fear. We therefore know that there are matters particular to the Real’s side in His knowledge, unknown to the person at whose hands that form appears.
This dwelling adjoins what the prophets brought insofar as it does not proceed from a contrivance. Yet it is not like the prophets’ miracles, peace be upon them, because the prophets have no knowledge of how those occur. These people, however, manifest such things through their spiritual aspiration, the power of their souls,
