And the Frankish magi and sayers of sooth approached the emperor, and said not to be afraid of this serpent of YHWH. For the word and rod of the wise man had become a great serpent before the emperor. “Lo,” they said, “do we not have brain snakes every bit as large as this one?” And they published their snakes in a refereed journal. But the serpent of the wise man came unto the brain snakes, and swallowed them up. And thus it was that the brain snakes became tummy snakes (Ex. 7:8-13).
These things are a parable, line on line, precept on precept.