Dear Truth Seeker, Salamun Alaikum
Let me respond to you by citing a beautiful verse from Quran;
And We never sent before you (O Muhammad) any of the Messengers but verily, they ate food and walked in the markets. (25:20)
The above verse contains a powerful message.....please THINK how Allah compares prophet with other messengers. The above verse contains very powerful message. Keeping this verse in mind, let us look into the verse you have quoted;
'Then we sent after them (the messengers) Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they disbelieved in them; so see what the end of the corrupters was.'
A layman’s understanding from the above verse could be; Moses showed great signs like a live serpant swallowing faked serpants, and showed his hand producing light, but Pharoah and his cheifs disbelieved!
In fact, looking at the Quran you will see Quran is full of the monumental struggle which prophets had to do to succeed in their missions .
[But] do you think that you could enter paradise
without having suffered like those [believers] who passed away before you? Misfortune and hardship befell them, and so shaken were they that the apostle, and the believers with him, would exclaim, "When will God's succour come?" Oh, verily, God's succour is [always] near! (2:214)
“
Rejected were the messengers before thee: with patience and constancy they bore their rejection and their wrongs, until Our aid did reach them”(6:34)
“The fair promise of thy Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel,
because they had patience and constancy, and We levelled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Pharaoh and his people erected (with such pride)”(7:137)
Sura ‘Araaf cites Moses’ people requesting Allah to “write for us good things in this life as well as in the hereafter.” Allah’s response was: “These (good things) are written
for those who (are ‘muttaqeen) follow Allah’s laws. Said Moses to his people: "Pray for help from Allah,
and (wait) in patience and constancy: for the earth is Allah's, to give as a heritage to such of His servants as He pleaseth; and the end is (best) for the righteous. (7:128)
We can clearly see that a FACTUAL series of events is about to be relayed to us regarding the plight of Prophet Moses. Clearly depicted in Arabic, are conversations that ensued and incidents that occurred.
Now by saying that in between this, allegories are being introduced midway into the story for example when we are told that his staff turns into a serpent and his hand becomes white in response to Phaorah's challenge, is nonsensical. This is not contextually correct in this whole section (7.103 till 7.145)
I am not saying we will be doing a big crime in understanding allegorically explained
miracles literally since the issue of miracles (understanding allegorical narratives like an Ant's speech and acting of as a real Ant's is not a major issue as litereally understanding narratives like Hands of Allah, face of Allah, etc). But it will make us fail to appreciate long, sustained, crushing battle that the previous prophets and his people had to undergo before success reached them (2:214). It will negate facts like Allah will never bring about a change in a nations conditions unless they change themselves. Suddently you start to view just a miraculous rod winning a battle against a mighty army. In fact those who strive in the path of Allah will have to undergo many struggles and painful experiences before success reach them;
“You will face war and killing, shortage of food, loss of life and property, damage to crops and orchards. But eventually, good news will come to the steadfast who constantly keep in view their target of replacing the wrong evil system with the right good one. They say” “We are devoted to this cause. Regardless of problems and difficulties, we will keep striving to achieve that goal by moving towards that target” (2 : 155-156).
The above success comes with Man’s own effort which bears fruit in a collective (social) form of life of a nation, not through any miracles from heaven. It is the message of the Quran.