Commentaire sur L’Exode 5:6

הנגשים THE TASKMASTERS — These were Egyptians, and the שוטרים, bailiffs, were Israelites (cf. vv. 14, 15, 19) (Exodus Rabbah 5:18). A taskmaster (נוגש), was given charge over many bailiffs, and a שוטר was one who was appointed to have control over the workmen.

הנוגשים, the more senior officials in charge of the lower echelon of overseers. The relationship between שוטרים and נוגשים is somewhat similar to that between שופטים and שוטרים, judges who make the rules and police who enforce these rules. (Deuteronomy 16,18)

ויצו פרעה ביום ההוא, On that day Pharaoh issued orders, etc. This directive was to be effective only on that particular day. He hoped that by forcing the people to concentrate on their immediate and overwhelming problem they would forget about their fear of what might happen if they failed to offer sacrifices to their G'd in the desert. Any intelligent person understands that an immediate and pressing problem is apt to push other problems that are not so immediate into the background. Pharaoh hoped that a single day of the new decree would suffice to accomplish this objective.

They were Egyptians while the officers were Israelites. Otherwise, why did only the שוטרים (officers) cry out to Pharaoh and not the נוגשים (taskmasters)? Also, why were only the officers beaten and not the taskmasters?

V. 6. נגשׁ .נגשׂי: zu etwas oder zu jemandem hintreten, allgemein, in freundlicher oder unfreundlicher Absicht. נגשׂ: nur in unfreundlicher: jemandem zu Leibe gehen, insbesondere mit einer Forderung; daher נֹגֵשׂ: der Privatgläubiger. Hier: diejenigen, die die Forderung des Staates an das geknechtete Volk geltend machten. שוטרים sind deren Untergebene, ihre Werkzeuge, durch welche sie die Leistung dieser Forderung erzwangen. So verhalten sich auch später שופטים und שוטרים, der שופט spricht die Anforderung des Gesetzes aus, der שוטר erwirkt deren Erfüllung. Daher heißt auch das "Instrument", vermittelst dessen der Privat-נגֵש, der Gläubiger, seine Forderung geltend macht und deren Leistung erzwingt: שטר. So auch in Job 38, 33 heißt der Einfluss des Himmels auf die Erde: משטר, ein שוטר-Amt, er ist nur das exequierende Werkzeug unter dem Höhern, dem שופט כל הארץ.

On the other hand, the Torah could have indicated with the words ביום ההוא that there was only a single day left on which the Israelites performed slave labour, seeing that on the morrow Moses and Aaron would turn the life-giving river Nile into blood. According to our tradition no more slave labour was performed from the day the plague of blood occurred. Not only that, but the Egyptians would pay the Israelites good money to obtain some drinking water from them seeing that water did not turn into blood once the Israelites held it in their hands (compare Shemot Rabbah 9,10). The expression כתמול שלשום, poses no problem as the Israelites did not complete their quota on the day prior to Moses' interview because it was a public holiday.