Commentaire sur L’Exode 7:26

ויאמר ה' אל משה בא אל פרעה, Moses warned Pharaoh twice before a plague materialised, whereas before the third plague he did not give any warning. This remained the pattern throughout all the plagues which occurred in groups of three. Before the plague of blood and frogs Pharaoh was warned, not so before the vermin. Before the plague of free roaming beasts and pestilence Moses extended a warning, whereas he did not warn Pharaoh of the plague of boils and carbuncles. Pharaoh was warned both before the hail and the locust, whereas the plague of darkness occurred without prior warning.

V. 26. בא אל וגו׳, nicht לך, mache ihm in seinem Palaste den Besuch.

!בוא, “Go!” our author wonders why in some instances the command to visit Pharaoh is introduced by the word: השכם “rise early,” whereas on other occasions it is simply: בא, “go!” (Compare Exodus 8,16) I have heard from Rabbi Yitzchok [presumably the Rabbi Yitzchok hakadosh resident in the Rhineland died in 1196 based on Refael Halperin, Ed.] that when the expression בוא is used it means “Come with Me,” i.e. I’ll be on your side. When the expression השכם is used it means that Moses was to surprise Pharaoh when he went to the river early in the morning to maintain the fiction amongst his people that he did not need to excrete as do ordinary human beings. It would not be appropriate for the holy presence of G–d to attend such a performance. I find this whole approach puzzling, as we know that Moses would not even offer the simplest prayer while on the ritually contaminated soil of Egypt, so why would G–d accompany him on his audiences with Pharaoh? (Compare Exodus 9,29-33 where he refused to call off the plague of hail while on that contaminated soil)