God explains the purpose of the sign: this is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — has appeared to you. The sign is not self-interpreting; God provides the interpretation alongside the sign. The goal of the sign is belief, and the content of the belief is specifically genealogical and covenantal: this is the God of their fathers. Israel in Egypt has been separated from the living memory of the patriarchs for generations; the plagues and signs are in part a re-introduction of a God who has not forgotten, even if His people have had no recent evidence of His activity. 1 Corinthians 1:22 says Jews demand signs; this is not a criticism but an acknowledgment of a covenant pattern God Himself established. Signs in the Mosaic tradition authenticate messengers and call communities back to covenantal identity. They are means, not ends — but they are genuine means.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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