Commentaire sur L’Exode 10:25

גם אתה תתן THOU MUST GIVE ALSO — It will not be enough for you that our cattle will go with us but you will give also of yours.

THOU MUST ALSO GIVE INTO OUR HAND SACRIFICES AND BURNT-OFFERINGS. Moses did not make this a condition, neither did Pharaoh. Rather, these are words to impress Pharaoh. In effect Moses was saying to him that G-d’s power will be so heavy upon him and his people that even sacrifices and burnt — offerings and all that he hath will he give for his life.⁶⁴Job 2:4. Indeed, when Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron [at the time that he gave the people permission to go], And bless me also,⁶⁵Further, 12:32. he would willingly have given all his cattle in atonement for his sin [of rebelling against G-d’s command till then]. Moses however had no intention to do so, for the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination,⁶⁶Proverbs 21:27. as it pleased the Eternal to crush him,⁶⁷Isaiah 53:10. not to forgive him but instead to punish him and to overthrow him with all his host in the midst of the sea.
Now our Rabbis have said⁶⁸Mechilta d’Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, on the Verse further, 12:32. that Pharaoh’s expression [to Moses and Aaron], Take both your flocks and your herds, as ye have said,⁶⁵Further, 12:32. refers to their saying to him, Thou must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings. Perhaps the Rabbis intended to say that Pharaoh hinted to Moses and Aaron that he is ready to give them whatever they say, but not at all that they took anything from him. It may be that he supplied them with sacrifices and burnt-offerings for their use so that the Israelites would fulfill their own obligation [in the observance of G-d’s feast]. But this also is not correct.⁶⁹Since permission for their own cattle for sacrifices was specifically made a condition by Moses [here in Verse 26 — Our cattle shall also go with us… for thereof must we take to serve the Eternal our G-d] — it could not be correct to say that they later took sacrifices for themselves from Pharaoh. We must therefore conclude that Pharaoh only hinted to them that he was ready to give them whatever they demand, but actually they took no animals from him for sacrifice.

גם אתה תתן בידנו זבחים, "you too will give into our hands meat-offerings, etc." It is somewhat difficult to understand why a servant of the only G'd should ask a confirmed sinner such as Pharaoh who had repeatedly raised his voice against G'd to offer his animals to the G'd of the Hebrews as sacrifices on his behalf. Do we not know that G'd hates the offerings of sinners? While it is true that we learned in Chulin 13 that the words איש איש in Leviticus 22,18 are the basis for our ruling that G'd accepts sacrifices from Gentiles, this certainly does not mean that a Jew should request a Gentile to offer such offerings!

גם אתה תתן בידינו זבחים ועולות, “you too will give to us (from your own herds) meat offerings and burnt offerings.” Moses did not intend to use Pharaoh’s animals as sacrifices by the Jewish people, seeing that such offerings belonging to idolators, would be an abomination in the eyes of Hashem. He made these remarks to show Pharaoh that not only would he not benefit financially by the departure of the Israelites, but on the contrary, he would be so anxious for them to leave when the time came that he would compensate them financially in order to get rid of them sooner. The Lord’s hand would be felt so severely that Pharaoh would be willing, if only able, to offer all kinds of sacrifices to assuage the Lord’s feelings which he had hurt by his obstinate posture during this whole period. All he would be concerned with at that time would be to save his own life.

V. 25. זבחים ועלת, nach der Ansicht (Sebachim 116 a.): die Opfer der noachidischen Menschheit haben nur aus עולות bestanden, die Gottesverehrung durch שלמים, durch das Bewusstsein eines von Gott stammenden und Gott zuzuwendenden heiteren Genusses eines ungestörten glücklichen Daseins, sei nur dem Judentume charakteristisch, müssten hier זבחים nicht als Mahlopfer, sondern als festliche Mahlzeiten verstanden werden.

גם אתה תתן בידינו, “also you will give to us,” Moses tells Pharaoh that not only will the Israelites take with them their own livestock, but Pharaoh will give them of his own livestock as sacrifices to be offered by them on his behalf. Pharaoh did not ask Moses and Aaron to pray for the removal of the darkness as he thought that surely the Israelites are afflicted by the same plague, and if so, prayer would be useless.

A close look at our verse will show you that Moses did not request such offerings. He had only said ועשינו לה׳ אלוקינו. Moses predicted that Pharaoh would voluntarily give the Jews animals which would be suitable as offerings to G'd and that the Israelites would use these animals for such a purpose on their own behalf. The animals were to be viewed as gifts from Pharaoh to the Jewish people to enable them to have enough animals for their requirements. We have proof of what Moses had in mind because we are taught in Menachot 63 that the only sacrifices accepted from Gentiles are total offerings, as opposed to peace offerings. Since Moses spoke also about זבחים i.e. peace-offerings, it is clear that he did not mean to offer these animals on behalf of Pharaoh.