Commentary for Exodus 12:29

וה׳ “AND” THE LORD — Wherever it is stated וה׳ “And the Lord” it signifies He and His celestial Court, because the prefix ו expresses an addition, just as one says, “Mr. So-and-so and Mr. So-and-so” (Genesis Rabbah 51:2; cf. Rashi on Genesis 19:24).

וה' הכה, while the Jews were busy with preparing and eating the Passover offering, G’d was busy with killing the firstborn of Egypt and orchestrating the redemption of His people.

בחצי הלילה, while they were eating their Passover offering.

Wherever it states. . . It is written (Bereishis 19:24), “And Hashem made sulfur and fire rain down.” There, Re”m explained that wherever it says “and Hashem,” it means “He and His Divine court,” and enumerated other places where it says, “and Hashem.”

(Exodus 12:29) "And it was in the middle of the night": Its Creator divided it. What is the intent of this? It is written (Ibid. 11:4) "And Moses said (to Pharaoh): Thus said the L rd: When the night is divided (i.e., at midnight) I shall go out into the midst of Egypt." Now is it possible for flesh and blood to ascertain the middle of the night? It must be, then, that its Creator divided it. R. Yehudah b. Betheira says: He who knows its hours and its times — He divided it. R. Eliezer says: It is written here "And it was in the middle of the night," and elsewhere (Genesis 14:15) "And they 'divided' against them at night." Just as here the plague did not begin until the middle of the night, there, too, (their attack) occurred in the middle of the night. "and the L rd smote every first-born": I might think through an angel or through an emissary. It is, therefore, written (Ibid. 12:12) "and I shall smite every first-born, etc." — not through an angel and not through an emissary. "and the L rd smote every first-born in the land of Egypt": even (those first-born) from different places. And whence is the same derived for the first-born of Egypt (who were found) in different places? From (Psalms 136:10) "Who smote Egypt by their first-born" (wherever they were). Whence do I derive the same for the first-born of Cham, Kush, Put, and Lud? From (Ibid. 78:51) "He smote every first-born in Egypt, the first-fruit of their strength in the tents of Cham." "from the first-born of Pharaoh sitting on his throne": Scripture hereby apprises us that Pharaoh (himself) was a first-born, (the throne passing in succession to the first-born). __ But perhaps the intent is only to teach that his son was a first-born? __ "sitting on his throne" already speaks of his son. Why (the redundant) "from the first-born of Pharaoh"? To apprise us that Pharaoh himself was a first-born. He alone remained (alive) of all the first-born. Of this, Scripture states (Ibid. 9:16) :But because of this I have preserved you, in order to show you My might, etc." (Likewise,) Ba'al Tzefon remained (standing) of all the Egyptian idols in order to raise their hopes. Of such as these it is written (Iyyov 12:23) "He lifts up nations and destroys them." "until the captive first-born": Now what sin did the captives commit (that their first-born should be killed)? So that they not say (if they were spared) "Our god brought this catastrophe upon them ([the Egyptians] for incarcerating us). Awesome is our god, that stood up for itself! Awesome is our god, who shielded us from this punishment!" And we are hereby apprised that the captives rejoiced in all the decrees inflicted by Pharaoh upon Israel, (for which they were punished) in keeping with (Mishlei 17:5) "He who rejoices in (another's) misfortune will not be absolved," and (Psalms 24:17) "Do not rejoice in the downfall of your foe," and (Ezekiel 26:2-3) "Son of man, because Tyre said about (the besieged Jerusalem) 'Heach!' (an expression of joy) — thus said the L rd G d: 'Behold, Tyre, I am (coming) against you, and I will raise up many nations against you, as the sea raises its waves!'" And not only captives alone (were thus smitten), but even men-servants and maid-servants, viz. (Exodus 17:5) "… until the first-born of the maid-servant." "and every first-born of the beast": Now what sin did the beasts commit? (They were smitten) so that the Egyptians not say (if they were spared) "Our god (i.e., the beasts, whom they worshipped) brought this catastrophe upon us. Awesome is our god, against whom this catastrophe did not prevail!"

ויהי בחצי הלילה, “it was precisely at midnight;” actually this paragraph should have been written immediately following chapter 11,verse 10, when the Torah reported that Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go as demanded by G-d through His agents Moses and Aaron. If the Torah had done so, all the plagues would have been recorded in their proper sequence. The reason why the paragraph about the new moon was inserted in the middle of the list of the plagues was to alert the reader to how the firstborn Israelites escaped that plague when the Destroyer had targeted Egypt.

הכה כל בכור SMOTE ALL THE FIRSTBORN — all: such, also, belonging to another people who happened to be in Egypt (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:29; cf. Rashi on v. 12).

היושב על כסאו, who would have sat on his throne if he had lived.

Because they rejoiced at the misfortune of the Israelites. See above (v. 11:5) for an explanation why two reasons are needed.

בחצי הלילה, וה׳ הכה כל בכור, “at midnight when the Lord smote every firstborn, etc.” elsewhere (Numbers 3,13) the wording used by the Torah about this plague was as follows: “on the day that I smote every firstborn;”Rabbi Yochanan comments on this apparent discrepancy that although G-d smote the firstborn at midnight, the souls of those firstborn were still convulsing in their bodies until morning (Compare Torah shleymah item 499 based on an ancient version of Tanchuma) The reason for this was so that the Israelites would know with what plague G-d had killed the firstborn. Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedot, commenting on the same verse said: whenever a verse or phrase in the Torah commences with the word: 'וה, it refers to Hashem accompanied by His counselors. This teaches that prior to carrying out this punishment the heavenly Court (presided over by Hashem, of course) debated the merits of it. The decree was issued by the entire Court.

מבכר פרעה means FROM THE FIRSTBORN PHARAOH’S — Pharaoh too, was a firstborn, but he alone was allowed to remain of the firstborn; and regarding this it states, (Exodus 9:16) “[But for this cause I have maintained thee in life in order to show thee my power” — i. e. to show thee my power at the Read Sea (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:29).

מבכור פרעה, “commencing with the firstborn son of Pharaoh,” (the highest ranking firstborn). The Torah hints that Pharaoh himself was also a firstborn. If he was killed in this manner it was in order for him to see how, through his obstinacy, a substantial part of the Egyptian males were killed in one single night. (Mechilta Pisscha chapter 13)

עד בכור השבי UNTO THE FIRSTBORN OF THE CAPTIVE — because they rejoiced at the misfortune of the Israelites (Midrash Tanchuma, Bo 7); and a further reason why they were slain is that they should not say, — if they remained alive — it was our god who brought punishment upon our oppressors, the Egyptians (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:29) The firstborn of the handmaid, threatened with death in 40:5 but not mentioned here as having been slain, is included in those stated here to have been slain since it enumerates here (i. e. the terms used here are intended to include everyone) from the most important amongst all of them to the least important, and the firstborn of the handmaid as belonging to the Egyptian people, is certainly more important than the firstborn of the captive (cf. Rashi on 11:6).

היושב על כסאו, “who was meant to sit on Pharaoh’s throne in due course.” We find a similar formulation in Kings II 3,27: ויקח את בנו הבכור אשר ימלוך תחתיו, “he took his firstborn son, the one who was supposed to rule in his stead;”Some commentators understand our verse as the conclusion of a description how G-d employed the four most basic materials in the universe as having had a part in the plagues visited upon Egypt. These elements are; water, wind, fire and earth. The two first plagues involved the use by G-d of the water, i.e. blood in the Nile river basin and the frogs, which had their habitat in water. The next two plagues involving vermin and free roaming beasts were symbolic of the element earth, (dust). The wild beasts are described by the Torah during the six days of creation as תוצא הארץ נפש חיה, “let the earth produce living creatures.” (Genesis 1,24) The two middle plagues, i.e. pestilence and infectious boils (#3 and #6) # 3 was produced through utilizing the air, (wind) i.e. pollution in the air, and #6. The boils were produced through Moses polluting the air with soot of a furnace. The hail and the locusts were initiated through stormy winds. Finally, the plague of killing the firstborn originated in heaven (where human life originated) (The upper waters?) The darkness likewise originated in heaven, where light, the first visible part of the universe, originated. The Egyptians therefore had been punished by all the elements that make up the globe that we live on, including the region known as outer space. These ten plagues had been orchestrated by Hashem, Moses, and Aaron. The first three plagues were the direct result of Aaron and Moses’ staff. They produced changes in the lowest region of our universe by employing the basest of the four elements of which the universe consists. Two were using water and one used earth as its medium. Moses orchestrated the next three plagues, utilising higher ranking elements in the atmosphere, corresponding to the fact that he ranked higher as a prophet than did his older brother Aaron. They were: hail, locust, and darkness. Moses demonstrated his control of the surface of the earth and the airspace surrounding it. G-d orchestrated the four plagues of wild beasts roaming unrestricted and killing. The pestilence killed livestock, just as the plague of killing the firstborn. Finally, the plague of שחין, was orchestrated by Moses, Aaron and Hashem; The former threw soot into the air and Hashem, when the former threw soot (totally sterile matter) “Hashem converted it into most harmful and painful boils on the Egyptians’ skins