RAV KOOK ON Va'eira Part 1: Order in Miracles

Presenting his ‘credentials’ before Pharaoh, Moses threw down his staff before the Egyptian king, and it transformed into a viper. When the magicians of Egypt did the same with their magic, “the staff of Aaron swallowed up their staffs” (Ex. 7:12). The Sages in Shabbat 97a noted that the Torah does not say that Aaron’s snake swallowed up the magicians’ staffs. It says Aaron’s staff did the swallowing. A double miracle, a “miracle within a miracle” occurred. The viper became a staff once again, and only then — as a staff — did it swallow up the other staffs. What is the significance of this double miracle?