קַח אֶת־מַטְּךָ וְּהַשְּלֵךְ לִפְּנֵי־פַרְּעֹה יְּהִי לְּתַנִין
“Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, it will become a snake”
In the first miracle performed before Pharaoh, Aharon cast down his staff to the ground and it became a snake. The staff of Aharon reverted back to become a staff and swallowed the staffs of the Egyptian magicians.
This sign, a fore-runner to the Ten Plagues, conveyed a deeper message. The lifeforce of everything in Creation originates from a lofty G-dly source. However, the sparks of this light descend through concealments and contractions, to become enclothed and hidden within the existence of the lower created worlds.
Because their Divine source is hidden, the world appears as an independent existence; not recognising their inherent G-dly source and dependence on Hashem. As such, the creations can deny the existence of Hashem and go against His Will.
The word מטה - a staff, also means to draw down. This refers to the flow of G-dliness that comes from Above. The snake represents Kelipah, the forces that conceal and oppose G-dliness, which is why Pharaoh, who denied Hashem, is called a serpent.
The staff turning into a snake alluded to the hidden truth; that far from being independent, the real source of the Kelipos comes from the flow of G-dly light that descends to vivify them. Were this flow to cease, they would no longer exist.
The snake transforming back into a staff was to show that even though like the snake, they currently conceal the presence of Hashem and go against His Will, ultimately, through the revelation of G-dliness in the Plagues, the Kelipos would become elevated and once again recognise and become united with their Divine source, the מטה.
