Commentary for Exodus 1:22

לכל עמו This may be translated AND PHARAOH GAVE COMMAND REGARDING ALL (לכל) HIS PEOPLE — Regarding them, too, he made a decree (Sotah 12a). For on the day when Moses was born his astrologers said to him, “To-day their deliverer has been born, but we know not whether he is born of an Egyptian father or of an Israelite; but we see by our astrological art that he will ultimately suffer misfortune through water”. Pharaoh therefore made a decree that day regarding the Egyptians also, as it is said here, “Every son that is born [ye shall cast into the river]”, and it is not stated “[every son] who is born to the Hebrews”. They (the astrologers), however, were not aware that Moses was ultimately to suffer misfortune through the waters of Meribah and not through the waters of the Nile (Exodus Rabbah 1:18; Sotah 12a; cf. also Rashi on Numbers 20:13).

ויצו פרעה לכל עמו לאמר, the meaning of the line is: “and this is what he said to them.” Every time the word לאמר occurs in the Torah it implies a repetition of words spoken which had been introduced either with the word ויצו or ויקרא, or וידבר, or ויאמר as we explained in connection with Genesis 8,15.

ויצו פרעה לכל עמו, Pharaoh commanded his entire nation, etc. Whereas originally Pharaoh's command to the midwives to kill new born boy babies was a secret deal between him and the midwives, something the Hebrew women did not know about, now, in view of the failure of that plan, he resorted to a public announcement; he believed that in view of the continued expansion of the Israelite population he would have popular support for such a draconian measure. An additional factor forcing Pharaoh's hand to go public with the decree to drown all boy babies may have been that according to astrologers Pharaoh foresaw that the redeemer of the Israelites would be born and would end his career prematurely due to water (Sanhedrin 101). Pharaoh mobilised every Egyptian to participate in this decree in order to precipitate this event.

And Pharaoh charged (vayitsav): It is written, vayitsav, here, which is an expression of exhortation. And it is explained at the beginning of Parshat Tsav (Leviticus 6:2) that exhortation is whatever is required to be diligent about a matter so that it will be done in its totality. And [it was] since this decree was not similar to the prohibition to the midwives - as there it was easy to fulfill the decree, since it is impossible to give birth without a midwife; which was not the case with this prohibition. For it was possible to hide it from him, as they told him that the Israelite women were vigorous and [able] to give birth without a midwife. And those appointed over it could have also dealt with it weakly and said that they did not know about this boy. For this reason Pharaoh [decreed it] with an exhortation, that they diligent about the matter, so as to fulfill the decree in its totality.

Also upon them (the Egyptians) did he issue the decree. . . People ask: if they threw the infants into water because of what the astrologers said, what was their wisdom in “Come let us deal wisely with him” (Shemos 1:10), on this Rashi explains: “Let us . . . bring about their fate through water, for He has already sworn. . .”? The answer is: Originally, Pharaoh issued the decree only upon the Hebrews. “Come let us deal wisely,” refers to that decree. But Pharaoh issued an additional decree upon the Egyptians, on the day that Moshe was born. Only on that day all male infants were thrown into the river, since the astrologers said their savior will be smitten through water, “but we do not know whether he is from the Egyptians or the Hebrews.”

V. 22. לכל עמו, seinem ganzen Volke. Er hatte nämlich gesehen, wie die hebräischen Frauen seinen Befehl illusorisch gemacht hatten, und es ist kaum eine Frage, ob, wenn irgend ein Fürst bestimmten Leuten einen solchen Blutbefehl gegeben hätte, er auf Ausführung rechnen dürfte. Das menschliche Gefühl der damit Beauftragten dürfte sich gegen die Ausführung empören, und jedenfalls dürften bestellte Kindesmörder nur vom Abscheu des ganzen Volkes gebrandmarkt und gesteinigt werden. Aber dass sich in einem ganzen Volke nicht auch Unmenschen finden, die von dem Willen und von des Königs Befehl Gebrauch machen und ihre teuflische Lust an unschuldigen Kindern ausüben sollten, ist eben so unwahrscheinlich. Er erklärte daher die jüdischen Knaben für vogelfrei und konnte damit sicherer der Ausführung seines Befehles gewärtig sein. Es fiel das Odium auf keine bestimmten Personen.

לכל עמו, “to his whole nation;” seeing that Pharaoh saw that the midwives had not cooperated with him, he now ordered every Egyptian to drown each new born Jewish male baby since he thought that in this way no Jewish baby boy would survive. היארה תשליכהו “you shall cast in the river” since his astrologers predicted that one nation would be struck by water in the future (Sh’mot Rabbah 1,18), they suggested to turn this decree against the Jewish people. [According to my version first the King demanded that all pregnant Egyptian mothers be kept under his care for nine months to make sure the intended saviour of the Jewish nation would be killed. When the people refused to believe that an Egyptian could become the saviour of the Jewish people, he reinterpreted the astrologers’ forecast by saying that the saviour of the Jews would save them by means of turning water into their grave. He therefore restricted the decree to apply only to sons born by Jewish mothers.]

The Torah says לאמור, i.e. not every Egyptian should personally commit such a murder but that he should tell the Hebrew parent to drown his child seeing it was a Royal decree. Pharaoh's interpretation of what the astrologers had told him was that Moses would find a premature death by water at the hand of an Israelite. This is why he insisted that the Israelites themselves kill the children. The fact that Yocheved herself exposed Moses to a watery death is proof that the Egyptians themselves did not drown the children.

וכל הבת תחיון, “and allow all the daughters to live.” This was why only the male Egyptians who pursued them after the Exodus were drowned and not the females.

and every daughter: Whether they were already born or whether they be born from now, let them live - [meaning,] make efforts to keep them alive. And his intention with this was that since the daughters would be so more numerous than the males, they would per force marry Egyptians. And he saw to deal well with his land through this; as the Israelite women were vigorous, and he reasoned that this is what caused the proliferation of the people of Israel. So if they would marry Egyptians, they too would proliferate and increase.

It is also possible that the meaning of the word לאמור at this point is that only the neighbours of the Israelites were to be involved in this, not the entire population.

Some of our rabbis felt (Sotah 12) that Pharaoh commanded that all boy babies (Egyptian as well as Jewish) born on a certain day should be drowned as he believed that this was the day on which the Jewish redeemer was to be born. Such an exegesis is homiletics. The plain meaning is that the decree concerned only Jewish boy babies. Had it been in effect for only a single day, why did Yocheved feel she had to hide Moses for three months? Surely the decree was in effect for an indefinite period during the time Moses was born. The words לכל עמו simply mean that "his entire people be acquainted with this decree."