פירוש על שמות 7:12

ויבלע מטה אהרן BUT AARON’S STAFF SWALLOWED (It states that the staff swallowed) — after it had again become a staff it swallowed all of them (Shabbat 97 a; Exodus Rabbah 9:7).

ויהיו לתנינים, they looked and felt like these kinds of monsters. They were not able to move like these monsters move, or even not at all.

ויהיו לתנינם, “they (the staffs of the sorcerers) turned into snakes.” The Torah refrained from saying ויהיו תנינים, which would have meant that they actually became snakes. The sorcerers did not have the power to do that. They could only create the illusion not the real thing. The wording of the Torah here is similar to Joshua 7,5: “their hearts melted into water.” This was a description of people losing courage. It did not describe a phenomenon literally. We have another example of this in (Samuel I 25,37) וימת לבו בקרבו והוא היה לאבן, which translated literally would mean “his heart (Naval’s) died within him, and it turned into stone.” The word אבן is merely a figure of speech.
You may well counter that the expression ויהי לתנין is also used when Moses’ staff turned into a snake, so what is so peculiar about the Torah not writing תנין when describing what happened to the staffs of the sorcerers? We have to explain that in the case of Moses’ i.e. Aaron’s staff, this was a true transformation of the staff into a snake and that a similar wording is found in Genesis 2,7 ויהי האדם לנפש חיה where the letter ל at the beginning of the word לנפש certainly does not speak about something illusory. However, by way of contrast, what the sorcerers did was merely sleight of hand. Seeing that the wording lent itself to two different interpretations, the Torah had to write immediately that Aaron’s staff swallowed all the staffs of the sorcerers in order the show the qualitative difference between what Aaron had done and what the Egyptians had been able to do. The fact that the Torah describes “their staffs” as being swallowed instead of “their snakes” being swallowed, shows that their staffs had remained staffs in spite of appearing to be snakes. Another proof that the sorcerers only created an illusion is that the Torah does not describe them as having performed their art in the presence of Pharaoh and his servants as the Torah had been at pains to emphasise concerning Moses’ miracle.
Alternatively, supposing that the חרטומים had really been capable of turning their staffs into snakes as the Talmud Chulin 7 suggests, why then were they called sorcerers instead of prophets? The answer is that they denied the power of the celestial forces. We could interpret the words ויהיו לתנינים to mean that their staffs did indeed turn into live snakes. The letter ל would be justified seeing that later on these snakes reverted to being staffs. The qualitative edge of Moses’ staff was simply that it swallowed the staffs of the sorcerers. According to Shemot Rabbah 9,7 when Pharaoh observed that Moses’ staff (as a staff) was able to swallow the combined staffs of his sorcerers he reflected that it might equally be capable of swallowing him and his throne. The word ויבלע means that something inert was able to swallow both something else inert and something live. We have a parallel in Numbers 16,32 when the earth swallowed both Korach and family as well as his tents and belongings.

After it became a rod again did it swallow all the rest. I.e., since it is not written that “Aharon’s serpent swallowed,” we infer that “after it became a rod. . .” If it was still a serpent when it swallowed the others, it would be only one miracle. But [this occurred] after they [all] became rods again, as it is also written “[Aharon’s rod swallowed] their rods,” so it was a double miracle. (Re’m)

And each man cast down his staff This relates to the sages and magicians, that they cast down their staffs. And they became serpents, this relates to the sorcerers of Mitzrayim, that they became serpents at the moment that the sages and magicians cast down their staffs. They were wrapped in serpentskin and it seemed that it was because of the staffs that they became serpents, and Aharon's staff swallowed up their staffs. Regarding this, the Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 9:7) relates that "the Holy Blessed One said: If the serpent swallows their serpents, that would be the ordinary way of their world, that serpent swallows serpent. Rather, it should return to its form and then swallow their serpents. What is and Aharon's staff swallowed their staffs? Rabbi Elazar says, a miracle within a miracle: it teaches that Aharon's staff returned to its form and swallowed them. When Par'oh saw this, he was surprised and said, what if the staff swallows Paroh and his throne? Now it will swallow him!" Here ends the Midrash quotation. And what is written, What is and Aharon's staff swallowed their serpents, has no explanation, for it has already explained that it returned to being a staff and then swallowed it - so what's the novelty of Rabbi Elazar? It seems that in the beginning it explains what is written, and Aharon's staff swallowed, that it returned to staffhood and after that swallowed. Regarding this it is asked, What is and Aharon's staff swallowed their serpents? Meaning to say that it should have said, and Aharon's staff swallowed their serpents, for their serpents didn't return to their original form! Regarding this Rabbi Elazar says it's a miracle within a miracle, for after Aharon's staff returned to be a staff as its original form was, it swallowed them, meaning to say, it swallowed the sorcerers themselves! For since the sorcerers were serpents wrapped in serpentskin, and they with the staffs were concealed below the skin, the staff of Aharon swallowed the "serpents" with the sorcerers and staffs concealed beneath them. And if it had said, and Aharon's staff swallowed their serpents, I would have thought that only the serpents' bodies were swallowed and not the sorcerers. But since it said that it swallowed their staffs, that they were concealed below the serpents, from this we know that they were swallowed with the sorcerers. And regarding this it's said that Paroh said that it was capable of swallowing him and his throne just as it swallowed the sorcerers. And Paroh's heart was hardened, that he was also visibly scared to be swallowed alive as the sorcerers had been swallowed - and with all this, he [still] hardened his heart!

בלהטיהם, später בלטיהם, also von להט und לוט. Es kann nun allerdings sein, dass להט und לוט völlig identisch sind, wie רהב und כהן ,רוב und בהן ,כון und בון, und wir auch hier nur an die Bedeutung לוט: einhüllen, verdecken, zu denken und להטים und לטים beides für Geheimkünste zu nehmen haben. Allein notwendig ist dies nicht. Es kann uns mit diesen beiden Namen eben das Wesen ihrer Kunst enthüllt sein. להט: Flamme, somit das Helle, לוט: verhüllen, das Verborgene. Die große Kunst der Täuschung besteht darin, dass man dem Zuschauer etwas Blendendes zeigt und dadurch seinen Blick von anderem abzieht. Es ist dies das Verfahren unserer Taschenspieler. Sie ziehen das Auge und den Gedanken des Zuschauers durch etwas Blendendes von dem Einblick in die Wirklichkeit des Vorganges ab. Vielleicht heißt selbst Flamme in dem Sinne להט, dass durch sie, das Hellste, Blendendste, alles andere in den Schatten gestellt wird; ein "blendendes Licht", das unsere Sehnerven so fixiert, dass wir anderes nicht sehen. Ihre Künste waren deshalb verborgen, לטים, weil sie blendend, להטים, waren: להטים nach dem Eindruck auf den Beschauer, לטים nach dem, was sie an sich waren.

ויבלע מטה אהרן את מטותם, this would demonstrate that only the G’d in heaven can grant life to inert phenomena, something Pharaoh’s sorcerers were unable to do.