ספורנו — ומטך אשר הכית בו את היאור / והכית בצור

Q — Why does Hashem specify "ומטך אשר הכית בו את היאור" — emphasizing that this is the same staff Moshe used to strike the Nile? Rashi (via Chazal) reads it as: Bnei Yisrael thought the staff was only for punishment; show them it can serve good too. Is there a chiddush deeper than rebranding the staff?

A — Sforno reads it as a proof-of-concept argument for divine agency. In Egypt the staff *blocked* the population from drinking water; here it *produces* drinking water. Opposite outcomes from the same instrument. "ובזה יכירו שאין פעַל המטה טבעי לו, כי הטבעי יעשה לעולם על ענין אחד. אמנם פעלו במצות פועֵל רצוניי הפועל פעולות הפכיות." Nature is always one-directional — fire burns, water flows. Something that produces *opposite* effects on demand cannot be operating from its own essence: it must be acting "במצות פועֵל רצוניי." The staff is thus an epistemic instrument as much as a practical one. And Sforno doubles the effect with the opening: "עבור לפני העם — ותכל תלונותם, בראותם שאתה משתדל להמציא צרכם." Visible leadership-effort is itself half the cure for despair.