Kommentar zu Schemot 7:23

גם לזאת [NEITHER DID HE SET HIS HEART] TO THIS ALSO — to the wonder of the staff which was changed into a serpent and also not to that of the blood.

NEITHER DID HE SET HIS HEART TO THIS ALSO. I.e., to the wonder of the rod turning into a serpent,¹²⁸Above, Verse 10. nor to that of the waters turning into blood. [Thus the language of Rashi.] A more correct interpretation would appear to be that to this also means “to this also which was indeed a plague,” [as distinguished from the wonder of the rod turning into a serpent, which was not a plague at all], and he should have feared lest the power of G-d be upon him from now on.¹²⁹See Ramban above in Verse 16, where he explains that beginning with the wonder of the rod, Pharaoh already began fearing the coming of the plagues. It is this then which Scripture says here: In spite of his fear which he already had then even before the plagues came, “also” now that the first plague did come and he should have feared the coming of other plagues, yet he did not set his heart to it.

גם לזאת, seeing he had already made himself obstinate, vayechezak, (verse 13) at this time also, he relied on his own resources of self confidence to ignore what he had seen. However, when it came to the plague of frogs Pharaoh already began to waver and external stimuli in stiffening his attitude were required. Hence we read there (8,11) vayachbed Paroh et libbo, that Pharaoh had to draw on external stimuli to maintain his obstinate pose. The same was true with the fourth plague, that of the wild beasts invading civilised urban regions. (8,28)

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת, to recognise the difference between what G’d had done and what his sorcerers had done. G’d’s activity had produced a total change in the nature of the river Nile, a phenomenon which had been considered as inviolate, constant, incapable of being abolished. It had now been turned into “real blood,” so much so that all the fish had died. The changes effected by the tricks of the sorcerers were performed on phenomena that were unstable to begin with. Possibly, all the sorcerers produced was make believe, an illusion of blood.

ויפן ..ולא שת לבו, He turned…and did not take due notice of this, etc. The Torah is careful not to write that Pharaoh expressly refused to let the Israelites depart; Pharaoh was very anxious not to expose himself to additional retribution. We will explain on 8,4, why Pharaoh had not asked Moses and Aaron in this case to pray on his behalf and to remove the plague.

And [Pharaoh] paid no attention. He made no attempt to attain water for his country, because he was sure it was only witchcraft and the magic would soon vanish as was the way of witchcraft.

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת, “his heart did not become perturbed even by this.” Rashi understands the word גם, “also,” as referring to both the miracles of the staff and that of the water turning into blood. Nachmanides explains the words גם לזאת, as meaning that although the water having been turned into a blood was not a mere trick, but a real plague, Pharaoh refused to display any emotion at what he had witnessed. Normal people would have reacted by becoming afraid that the next plague would hurt them, personally.