Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Commentary for Exodus 10:7

וַיֹּאמְרוּ֩ עַבְדֵ֨י פַרְעֹ֜ה אֵלָ֗יו עַד־מָתַי֙ יִהְיֶ֨ה זֶ֥ה לָ֙נוּ֙ לְמוֹקֵ֔שׁ שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֲנָשִׁ֔ים וְיַֽעַבְד֖וּ אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם הֲטֶ֣רֶם תֵּדַ֔ע כִּ֥י אָבְדָ֖ה מִצְרָֽיִם׃

And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him: ‘How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God, knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?’

Rashi on Exodus

הטרם תדע means KNOWEST THOU NOT YET that Egypt has perished. (Cf. Rashi on Exodus 9:30.)
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Rashbam on Exodus

?הטרם תדע; do you still not realise that Egypt will be lost by the cumulative effect of these plagues?
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Or HaChaim on Exodus

עד מתי יהיה זה לנו למוקש, "how long will this one continue to be a snare for us?" Pharaoh's servants were most certainly not prepared to let the Israelites depart for the prophecy G'd had told Moses i.e. that He had hardened both the heart of Pharaoh and that of his servants would contradict such an assumption. All the servants had in mind was to ensure that the Israelites' departure would be such that they would be sure to return after having offered their sacrifices. This is why the servants did not pursue the matter once Moses had made it plain that they would take both their children and their aged with them. Their very words proved that they considered Moses' invoking G'd as the driving force behind the Israelites' demands merely as a snare. They could not believe that the great and powerful G'd whose existence Moses had demonstrated would bother to punish the Egyptians in order to let the Israelites go to the desert for three days. There is no greater denial of G'd than that.
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