© Charles Chandler

 

Deuteronomy 4

 

12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

This sounds like theatrics.

 

See also Numbers 20:2-13, where God tells Moses to strike his staff twice on the rock, and then water will come out. The pharaoh could have had people with containers full of water on the other side of the rock, ready to pour water into a crack in the rock with they heard Moses striking his staff on the rock. Then it makes more sense that it required two strikes instead of just one — two strikes make a more distinctive signal, less likely to be confused with any other arbitrary impact.