7417. Stretch out thy rod. That this signifies that he should show Divine power, is evident from the signification “to stretch out,” as being to exercise and to show (as above); and from the signification of a “rod,” as being power (see n. 4013, 4015, 4876, 4936, 6947, 7011, 7026); which power was Divine because Aaron had no power, still less was there power in the rod; but the power was exercised through Aaron and his rod. That it was exercised through the rod was because the things done by Divine command within the church were done by means of representatives (this was before the Lord’s Coming), thus by the stretching out of the hand and of the rod; because the arm and the hand correspond to power, and from this also the rod. The reason why before the Coming of the Lord the things done within the church by Divine command were done by means of representatives, was that all things and each represented the Lord and His kingdom in the heavens, and His kingdom on earth, that is, the church. That this is so can also be seen from the Word, in which all things and each in the supreme sense treat of the Lord, and in the internal sense treat of His kingdom and church.

4936. Several times spirits have been seen who had rods, and who were said to be magicians. They are in front, far away to the right, deep in caverns; and those who have been more malign magicians are hidden away still deeper. They seem to themselves to have rods, and they also by phantasies make many kinds of rods, and believe that they can perform miracles with them; for they suppose potency to be in the rods, and this because they are what support the right hand and arm, which by correspondence are strength and power. From this it was plain to me why men of old attributed rods to magicians; for the ancient Gentiles had this from the ancient representative church, in which rods, like hands, signified power (see n. 4876). And because they signified power, Moses was commanded, when miracles were wrought, to stretch out his rod, or his hand (Exodus 4:17, 20; 8:1-11, 16-18; 9:23; 10:3-21; 14:2, 21, 26-27; 17:5-6, 11-12; Numbers 20:7-11).