Commentaire sur L’Exode 7:30

נתתיך אלהים לפרעה This signifies I have made thee a judge and castigator — to castigate him with plagues and pains.

נביאך, your spokesman.

ראה נתתיך אלוהים לפרעה, “see I have made you like a God as far as Pharaoh is concerned.” According to Ibn Ezra the word אלוהים here merely denotes that Moses had been elevated to a very high rank, so much so that Pharaoh would relate to him with the same reverence as he would display when facing a disembodied angel of G’d who addresses the prophet whereas the prophet subsequently relays the words of the angel to his people.

ראה נתתיך אלהים, “See, I have made you a master over Pharaoh,” i.e. that Pharaoh would listen to him. Firstly, G’d would give Moses a stature that Pharaoh could not ignore. Secondly, as to the matter of verbal communication between them, G’d appointed Aaron as Moses’ spokesman. The word נביאך, usually translated as “your prophet” must be understood here as ניב שפתיך, ((Isaiah 57,19) “he will express what emerges from your lips.” Onkelos also translates the word as “your interpreter.”
Shemot Rabbah 8,1 understands the words אלוהים לפרעה as “Pharaoh appointed himself as god.” He did this by claiming “the Nile is mine because I have created it “(Ezekiel 29,3). In response to this arrogance G’d told Moses that he was nothing, but that on the contrary, He would show him that Moses would be his “god.”

And he said. And then God said to Moshe, see, I have set you as a god to Par'oh (Shemot 7:1). That is what is written And God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon, and commanded them to the children of Yisrael and to Par'oh. (Shemot 6:13) - that God made Aharon a partner with Moshe. Earlier the text was concise and didn't mention the details of what God said, but here they are mentioned, for since God said to Moshe, see, I have set you as a god to Par'oh - meaning to say that Paroh will hold/strengthen you as though you were God who visits and commands. And just as God doesn't bring a matter to action except by way of Their prophets and emissaries, since God visits and Their emissaries bring the matter to action - so too, Aharon your brother will be your prophet (Shemot 7:1) - he will be your prophet, for by his hand you will decree and he will fulfil it for you. And it is explained.

Kap. 7. V. 1. אלקים לפרעה: vielleicht nicht ohne Beziehung zu dem entwickelten Gedanken, welcher der Mitteilung des eben gegebenen Geschlechtsregisters zu Grunde lag. Einem Pharao musste Mosche zuletzt als inkarnierte Gottheit erscheinen. Ist doch der heidnischen Vorstellung das erste Attribut einer Gottheit eine von dem Menschen zu fürchtende, der menschlichen Größe feindliche Gewalt, und es wäre kein Wunder gewesen, wenn nach allen von Mosche verübten Wundern Pharao ihm mit göttlicher Verehrung zu Füßen gesunken wäre.

ראה נתתיך אלהים, “see that I have made you a G–d relative to him.” Since Pharaoh had proclaimed himself as the owner and therefore the god of the river Nile, G–d now appointed Moses as Pharaoh’s G–d, i.e. superpower.

יהיה נביאך [AARON] SHALL BE THY PROPHET — This must be understood as the Targum takes it: thy interpreter. Similarly, wherever this term of נבואה is mentioned it refers to a man who publicly proclaims and utters to the people words of reproof. It is of the same derivation as, (Isaiah 57:19) “utterance (ניב) of the lips”; (Proverbs 10:31) “it utters (ינוב) wisdom”; (I Samuel 10:13) “he made an end of proclaiming (התנבות)”, which is in the book of Samuel. In old French we call him predicar; English preacher.

ואהרן אחיך יהי׳ נביאך. So wie der Prophet zu mir, so soll Aaron zu dir stehen. Diese Bezeichnung ist für die ganze Tatsache der wahren, jüdischen Prophetie von höchster Bedeutung. So gewiss wie Mosche und Aaron hier getrennte Persönlichkeiten sind, Mosche der Anordnende und Gebietende, Aaron der Ausführende und Wiederholende, so gewiss ist die Vorstellung von dem Prophetentum eine lügenhafte, die Gott nicht zu dem Propheten, sondern in ihm sprechen lässt, wie dies noch heute alle Leugner wirklicher Gottesoffenbarungen tun, die das Wort, den Schein, bestehen lassen, in Wahrheit aber den Propheten zu nichts als einem begeisterten Dichter, Gesetzgeber in gehobener Stimmung oder Ekstase machen. Der Prophet steht Gott gegenüber, wie hier Aaron vor Mosche. נביא ist daher ein passiver Begriff: הִנָבֵא, verwandt mit נבע, von Gott als "Quell" gebraucht, um durch ihn sein, Gottes, Wort offenbar werden zu lassen. Der Prophet ist nicht Erzeuger, sondern Organ des Wortes, das er spricht.

אתה תדבר THOU SHALT SPEAK once, every separate message just as you have heard it from My mouth, and your brother Aaron shall express it in eloquent language and explain it in Pharaoh’s hearing.

ושלח, he should tell Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.

As you heard it from Me. . . Rashi is explaining why it says, “All that I command you.” You (Moshe) will say each statement before Pharaoh, concisely and only once, just as you heard it from Me. And Aharon your brother will express each statement a few times, eloquently, until it is palatable to the ears of Pharaoh. (Maharshal)

ואני אקשה AND I WILL ALLOW [PHARAOH’S HEART] TO HARDEN — Since he has wickedly resisted Me, and it is manifest to Me that the heathen nations find no spiritual satisfaction in setting their whole heart to return to Me penitently, it is better that his heart should be hardened in order that My signs may be multiplied against him so that ye may recognise My divine power. Such, indeed, is the method of the Holy One, blessed be He: He brings punishment upon the nations so that Israel may hear of it and fear Him, as it is said, (Zephaniah 3:6, 3:7) “I have cut off nations, their corners are desolate etc. … I said: Surely thou wilt fear Me, thou wilt receive correction” (cf. Yevamot 63a). Nevertheless, in the case of the first five plagues it is not stated, “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” but “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 3).

AND I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH’S HEART. The Rabbis said in Midrash Rabbah:⁹⁴Shemoth Rabbah 5:6. “G-d revealed to Moses that He was destined to harden Pharaoh’s heart in order to bring judgment upon him for he caused them to work in cruel bondage.” It is also stated there [in Midrash Rabbah]:⁹⁵Ibid., 13:4. “For I have hardened his heart.⁹⁶Further, 10:1. Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘This provides a pretext for the heretics to say that G-d did not allow Pharaoh to repent.’ Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, ‘The mouths of the heretics be closed! Only, if it concerneth the scorners, He scorneth them.⁹⁷Proverbs 3:34. When He warns one on three occasions and he does not turn from his ways, He closes the door of repentance on him in order to punish him for his sin. Such was the case with wicked Pharaoh. After the Holy One, blessed be He, sent him five times⁹⁸“In the case of the first five plagues, it is not stated, ‘The Eternal hardened Pharaoh’s heart,’ but ‘Pharaoh’s heart was hardened’” (Rashi). That is, it was hardened by his own stubborness. [the request to let His people go] and he paid no attention to His words, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You have stiffened your neck and hardened your heart; I will double your defilement.’”⁹⁹Literally: “I will add defilement to your defilement.”
The Rabbis [in the above Midrash] have thus discussed the question which all ask:¹⁰⁰See Ibn Ezra here, and Rambam in his Shemonah Perakim, Chapter 8, and in his Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Teshubah 6:3, where this problem is discussed. “If G-d hardened his heart, what then was Pharaoh’s sin?” For this there are two explanations, and both of them are true. One is that Pharaoh in his wickedness had unjustifiably perpetrated such great evils against Israel that justice required that the ways of repentance be withheld from him, as is so indicated in many places in the Torah and in the Writings.¹⁰¹See Rambam in Mishneh Torah, ibid., where he quotes from the Prophets and Writings to substantiate this point. He was judged according to his wickedness which he had originally committed of his own will. The second explanation is that half of the plagues came upon him because of his transgressions, for in connection with them it is only said: And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened;¹⁰²Further, Verses 13 and 22, and 8:15. And Pharaoh hardened his heart.¹⁰³Ibid., 8:28 and 9:7. Thus Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go for the glory of G-d. But when the plagues began bearing down upon him and he became weary to suffer them, his heart softened and he bethought himself to send them out on account of the onslaught of the plagues, not in order to do the will of his Creator. Then G-d hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate,¹⁰⁴Deuteronomy 2:30. so that His name may be declared [throughout all the earth].¹⁰⁵Further, 9:16. Similar in meaning is the verse, Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Eternal.¹⁰⁶Ezekiel 38:23. And that which He said before the plagues, And I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go,¹⁰⁷Above, 4:21. was merely His warning to Moses of that which He was destined to do to Pharaoh in the last [five] plagues, it being similar to that which He said, And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go.¹⁰⁸Ibid., 3:18. This then is the meaning of the verse [before us], And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs. That is to say, “I will harden his heart so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt,”¹⁰⁹Further, 11:9. since in the last five plagues, as well as at the drowning in the sea, it is said, And the Eternal hardened the heart of Pharaoh,¹¹⁰Ibid., 14:8. for the king’s heart is in the hand of the Eternal; He turneth it whithersoever He will.¹¹¹Proverbs 21:1.

ואני אקשה, seeing that G’d is interested in the sinner’s repentance rather than his death (as we know from Ezekiel 33,11 חי אני, נאום ה', אם אחפוץ במות הרשע כי אם בשובו מדרכו וחיה, “by My life, I do not want the death of the wicked but that he return from his wicked path and live”), G’d told Moses that He would bring on numerous plagues, all in order to increase the chances that Pharaoh would finally see the light and become a genuine penitent. He hoped that by demonstrating His greatness and His power this would eventually cause the Egyptians to recognise all this. At the same time, G’d also spelled out a similar thought in 9,16 but aimed at the Israelites, when He said: “that the only reason He had not yet killed Pharaoh was so that in the course of more plagues you, the Jewish people, would come to recognise both G’d’s greatness and His patience.“ He also wanted the Jewish people to learn how to both love and revere Him when they witnessed and thought about the meaning of all these plagues. There can be no question that without G’d stiffening Pharaoh’s attitude from time to time, he would have collapsed much sooner and would have sent the Israelites on their desired journey. However, this would not have been the result of his repentance and humbling himself before the Lord, involving genuine regret about his previous errors, but the result of his impotence to withstand the pressure applied to him. He would have acted out of terror of what the next plague would do to him and to his country. If we needed confirmation of this, all we have to do is look at what his servants said to him when Moses threatened with the plague of locust. They said to him: “how long will you be obstinate, do you not see that Egypt will go down the drain?!” There was not a single word of regret of past errors, no word of recognition that G’d could have killed them all long before this and that He must therefore be very patient, and kind, but mere terror forced them to utter these words. (10,7) Keeping all this in mind, it is foolish to ask how G’d could punish Pharaoh after he Himself had interfered with his decision-making process by “stiffening his heart,” ואני אקשה את לב פרעה, I will stiffen the heart of Pharaoh, etc.” not in order to punish him but in order to finally trigger repentance in his heart. The operative clause is “in order that I can demonstrate all these miracles of Mine in his midst” (10,1), the purpose being to bring about his humbling himself in repentance and genuine contrition. If that wish of G’d would indeed materialise, the Jewish people also would tell of G’d’s greatness, (למען ספר את שמי, having observed at first hand how the mightiest secular power on earth turned into G’d fearing human beings.) They would tell their children and children’s children the lesson they had learned that G’d’s apparent cruelty is actually an act of loving kindness as it results in His creatures coming to love and to revere Him. [Noach, who had survived the destruction of mankind by a deliberate act of G’d’s kindness to him and his family, had not been able to relate to his children what G’d hoped that the Israelites would be able to relate to their children. Ed.] The basic lesson in ethics we derive from all this is that when suffering an affliction we must first and foremost examine our past actions to find out where we went wrong, and try to find out what these afflictions are intended to trigger in our memory so that we can improve our conduct both vis-à-vis G’d and our fellow man.

ואני אקשה את לב פרעה, “I will toughen the heart of Pharaoh.” Most people question G’d’s right to exact punishment from Pharaoh if He had first robbed him of the freedom of will which is an inalienable right of every human being created in the image of the Creator. The answer to this question is quite simple. Pharaoh was not punished for disobeying G’d’s command but for the relish with which he maltreated G’d’s people. He was punished for the excess cruelty he displayed. This was not due to G’d’s interfering with his free will, but to a flaw in his character as a human being. People who display this degree of inhumanity of man to man, are denied the opportunity to return to G’d in penitence. This is described in Ethics of our fathers as עברה גוררת עברה, the commission of deliberate sins brings in its wake the commission of more sins and yet more sins. There are numerous verses in Scripture confirming this principle. Furthermore, if you will examine the text of the ten plagues you will observe that G’d did not interfere with Pharaoh’s decision making brain or heart until after the fifth plague. The wording of the first five plagues describes that Pharaoh’s obstinacy in resisting G’d and Moses up until then was entirely spontaneous, not reinforced by any attempt of G’d to coerce his behaviour. During the last five plagues, when Pharaoh had initially indicated a preparedness to comply with G’d’ request and to let the people go, at least for a vacation of a religious nature, he reneged on his promises as soon as the plague had been called off by Moses. Some commentators simply see in the words ואני אקשה את לבו, not an interference with Pharaoh’s free will, but a device that enabled him to endure the plagues without collapsing. This, as a corollary, made him feel that he was strong enough to withstand anything G’d would try and do to him.

And in opposition towards Me. . . Rashi is answering the question: Pharaoh will surely defy Hashem if He hardens his heart. Is this Hashem’s way, to induce a person to transgress His will? Therefore Rashi explains, “And it is revealed to Me. . .”

V. 3. אקשה, wir finden in dieser Beziehung drei Nuancen: אחזק ,אכבד ,אקשה. קשה: hart sein überhaupt: keinen Eindruck in sich aufnehmen, alles ohne Eindruck an sich vorübergehen lassen. כבד: schwer, es kann etwas einen Eindruck erhalten, allein es ist noch eine weite Kluft zwischen dem Eindruck und dem Momente, sich von diesem Eindruck leiten zu lassen: schwer in Bewegung zu bringen. Jedoch dieser Moment ist, wenngleich mit Anstrengung, zu erreichen. חזק: fest, aber widersetzt sich mit Bewusstsein jeder Fügsamkeit. Selbst der Eindruck geht in seinen Folgen völlig verloren. Pharaos anfängliche Unempfindlichkeit wird ein Mittel, um in Mizrajim einen Schatz von אותות und מופתים niederzulegen, aus welchen alle Folgezeit sich die Erkenntnis und die Überzeugung von Gottes Allmacht, Gegenwart und Waltung in der Geschichte zu schöpfen vermag. Es brauchen fortan keine נסים mehr zu geschehen, weil sie eben dort bereits geschehen sind.

ואני אקשה, “and I (G-d) will toughen;” Rashi points out that during the first five plagues G-d actually did not yet harden Pharaoh’s heart, and the Torah only speaks about vayechezak lev paroh, meaning that Pharaoh “remained obstinate without any help from G-d.” When the Torah writes during the seventh plague, the plague of hail in chapter 9 verse 35, that vayechezak lev paroh, that “Pharaoh’s heart remained obstinate,” which appears to contradict what Rashi said, seeing that line occurs during the seventh plague, this line appears after in verse 34, G-d had already hardened his heart. In that instance, for the first time, Pharaoh had admitted being guilty, and after G-d had hardened his heart he was able to hold out still longer in his obstinate ways. In chapter 10,1, G-d explains to Moses that Pharaoh’s behaviour from then on was understandable only because He had already hardened his heart. He was already no longer a free agent. The reason is simple, as Rashi explains. Once a person has remained obstinate in the face of five plagues clearly orchestrated by G-d, he is deprived of his most precious attribute, that of freedom of choice. Even if Pharaoh had freed the Israelites at that stage, G-d would not have let him, until He had been able to demonstrate Hjs powers completely.

It is better for Me that his heart be hardened. . . In other words, if I do not harden Pharaoh’s heart he will surely repent. But it is revealed to Me that he will not really repent wholeheartedly. And then, if I smite him with plagues and punish him, people will say that Hashem brings punishment upon repenters — for they will not know that Pharaoh’s repentance was not wholehearted. Therefore I will harden his heart so that he will not repent at all, and then I will be able to increase My wonders and punish him for all to see.

And you will thereby recognize My power. . . Rashi inferred this because it is written, “to increase My signs,” implying that Hashem will punish Pharaoh more severly in proportion ot his sins. This raises a difficulty: Why should Hashem want to bring more plagues on Pharaoh than he deserves? Thus Rashi explains: In order that “you will thereby recognize My power.” And Rashi then brings a proof for this concept: “This is the way of Hashem. . .”

Nevertheless, concerning the first five plagues it does not say. . . Rashi is saying that even though Hashem should have strengthened Pharaoh’s heart in the first five plagues as well, [He refrained from doing so] because He wished to publicize Pharaoh’s wickedness — so that people should know that even without Hashem strengthening his heart, he strengthens it on his own. Therefore, Hashem did not do so until after the first five plagues.

את ידי this must be translated literally, “hand”, (not “power”) I will lay My hand upon Egypt to smite them.

ולא ישמע אליכם פרעה; not before the plague materialises after the warning, nor even after the plague did come to pass. He will not listen to you even after having endured many such plagues. Seeing that this is so, I will be forced to bring retribution upon them. This retribution will take the form of the killing of the firstborn as well as the drowning of all the military might of Egypt in the sea. The retribution will be seen as a punishment to fit their crimes. All the other plagues are only designed to encourage repentance, not as a form of retribution. Four times the Torah introduces this objective of the plagues. In 7,17 the Torah writes למען תדע כי אני ה', “so that you will know that I am the Lord.” In 8,18 the Torah writes: בעבור תדע כי אני ה' בקרב הארץ, “so that you will know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth (not only in heaven).” In 9,29 the Torah writes: למען שיתי אותותי אלה בקרבו ולמען תספר...וידעתם, “this is why I perform all these miracles of Mine right in its midst, so that you will tell…. and finally realise that there is no one like Me anywhere (9,14).”

ולא ישמע אליכם פרעה, "and Pharaoh will not listen to you." Why did the Torah have to say that Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and Aaron after G'd had already said in verse three that He would harden the heart of Pharaoh? We also need to understand what G'd meant when He spoke about placing His hand on Egypt, which appears to mean something over and beyond the plagues with which G'd will strike Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

ונתתי את ידי במצרים, “I will put My hand upon Egypt;” the word ידי when applied to G’d, Who has no physical dimension, is parallel to the hand of a human being who uses it to punish, to inflict pain.

והוצאתי את צבאותי, “and I will take out My hosts.” Here G’d referred to the Jewish people as “My hosts.” He meant to contrast them and their influence on earth with that of the planetary system. In Deut. 1,10 Moses himself refers to the multitude of the Jewish people as “here you are to-day as numerous as the stars in the heaven.” When G’d said צבאותי, He also referred to His hosts in the celestial regions. The correct translation of our verse is: “I will lead forth My celestial hosts together with My people on earth the Children of Israel.” This is another instance from which our sages derive their oft-repeated principle (Megillah 29) that the Shechinah was exiled together with the Jewish people. If even a relatively high celestial Being such as the Shechinah considered itself in exile while the Jewish people were in exile, how much more so is this true of other (lower) echelons of celestial beings! The Talmud Shevuot 35 stipulates that the word צבאות ranks as one of the names of G’d therefore must not be erased. The reason is that it represents the heavenly hosts. When later on (12,41) the Torah speaks of יצאו כל צבאות ה’ מארץ מצרים, “all the hosts of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt,” the reference is to both G’d’s celestial and terrestrial hosts (compare Mechilta on that verse).

V. 4. Durch diese in ihrem letzten Zweck für die ganze Menschheit zu geschehenden אותות und מופתים soll zunächst Israel צבאות ד׳ und עם ד׳ werden, bevor ich sie zur Freiheit und Selbständigkeit hinausführe. Die dadurch gewonnene Gotteserkenntnis sammelt sie zu צבא um ד׳ und eint sie als עם ד׳ unter einander. Über צבא, siehe (Bereschit 2, 1). Sie sammeln sich um mich als ihren Führer, ordnen sich meinen Befehlen unter, erhalten für den Posten, auf welchen ich sie gestellt, meine צוה=צבה) מצות) und diese Gemeinsamkeit um mich gibt ihnen die Einigung als Volksgesamtheit zu einander. Israel heißt aber nicht צבא ד׳, sondern צבאות ד׳, ganz in dem Sinne, in welchem es nicht nur גוי, sondern auch קהל גוים heißt, indem es eine Mannigfaltigkeit der verschiedensten Volkseigentümlichkeiten zur Konstatierung der Tatsache darstellen soll, dass die תורה, der jüdische Beruf, an keinen Stand, keine Volkseigentümlichkeit gebunden ist, vielmehr die Gesamtmenschheit in allen Nuancen zur Unterordnung unter Gott ladet. Daher auch בצאת ישראל וגו׳ ישראל ממשלותיו, nicht ממשלתו; Israel wird ein Komplex der verschiedensten Berufskreise, in welchen allen das Gotteswort als leitender Wille zur Herrschaft kommt (siehe Bereschit 35, 11).

ולא ישמע אליכם פרעה, “and Pharaoh will not pay any heed to you.” This verse cannot be understood as a prediction of future events, as during the tenth plague Pharaoh did heed Moses’ and Aaron’s warnings, finally. It is a reminder to Moses of what G-d had told him already before the commencement of the plagues.

צבאותי, “My hosts.” Just as the angels are perceived as G’d’s army in the celestial spheres, so the Jewish people are His army on earth.

I believe that we must understand the verse thus: First of all, G'd announces that He would harden Pharaoh's heart as a result of which He would bring many plagues upon him. The plagues would prove counterproductive (initally) and make Pharaoh even more obstinate, adding still more sins to his already considerable culpability. Eventually, he would not even want to listen to what Moses and Aaron had been instructed to tell him. This is in fact what happened in 10,28 when Pharaoh bans Moses and Aaron from appearing again in His presence. G'd announces to Moses already at this point that when that stage will be reached it would be the limit of obstinacy that Pharaoh is allowed. Immediately after that ban G'd brought the final plague of the dying of the Egyptian firstborns upon him, as a result of which he would not only release the Israelites but expel them.

We find confirmation of this meaning of the word "My hand," when we read in Chronicles I 21,16 that David observed the angel of death with drawn sword in "his hand." In our instance, G'd refers to the fact that He personally would bring this plague upon Pharaoh by describing His activity as ידי, "My hand." This is why the Mechilta on Exodus 11,4 states that He Himself would be active as distinct from any of His agents. G'd also alluded to the destruction He would bring upon the various Egyptian deities at that time.

When we keep all this in mind we can understand Moses' comment that "I will not continue to see your face," which appears as somewhat high-handed at first. Whence did Moses know that G'd would not send him to speak to Pharaoh again in spite of Pharaoh's threat? The answer is that Moses had been told already in our verse exactly how things would develop. Instead of questioning Moses' statement we should congratulate him on recognising that Pharaoh had reached the end of his rope when he forbade Moses and Aaron to appear before him and threatened to have them executed in the event they would come to him again. Up until then Pharaoh had only refused to listen to G'd's instructions. The moment he even refused to grant an interview to G'd's messengers he had forfeited all further consideration. Actually, this was already the second allusion to the eventual slaying of the firstborn, the first time being when G'd referred to "My firstborn, Israel," as I have demonstrated in my commentary on 4,22.

והוצאתי את צבאותי את עמי, "I will take out My hosts, My people, etc." Who exactly are the ones G'd describes as צבאותי, "My hosts?" If the reference is to the Israelites, the Torah should have written: את צבאות עמי, "the hosts who are My people." Perhaps G'd wanted to illustrate the superior stature of the Israelites, i.e. that of all of G'd's hosts none could compare to His people Israel. Had the Torah used the words: את צבאות עמי, the impression would have been created that G'd has many hosts, the Israelites being merely one of many. By saying צבאותי, further identification became unnecessary as only one people qualified for such a description. Subsequently the Torah does identify G'd's people by mentioning Israel by name. The whole verse can be understood according to the classic principle of כלל ופרט. Whenever that rule is applied the פרט, i.e. the details are automatically closely related to what is stated in the כלל, the subject in the general statement, i.e. only the Israelites could have been meant in the description צבאותי. The Torah therefore wanted the world to know that as of that moment whenever mention is made of G'd's hosts only the Israelites are meant.

Egypt will know that I am ruler and master of the whole universe. This will include all the people who up until now had refused to acknowledge that there is such a G’d.

ויעש משה ואהרן כאשר צוה ה' אותם, after every instruction from G’d they followed the same procedure. Moses used to announce beforehand what would happen, seeing that he was G’d’s emissary. After that Aaron would translate what Moses had said into diplomatic language.

ויעש משה ואהרון…כן עשו, Moses and Aaron did (as G'd had commanded)..so they did. Why does this verse mention twice that Moses and Aaron did what G'd had commanded them to do? The Torah may be telling us that Moses and Aaron carried out their mission on two levels. 1) The carried out all those instructions of G'd that made sense to them. 2) They tried to understand G'd's purpose in every detail of the instructions they received. By not deviating in a single detail from the instructions they had received, Moses and Aaron proved that their only concern was to carry out G'd's intention to the letter.

כן עשו, “so they did.” The fact is repeated to remind us that Moses and Aaron put their lives in danger every time they threatened Pharaoh with another plague if he did not comply with their request.

כן עשו, they would do exactly this, not adding or subtracting anything of their own.

The Torah may also testify here that Moses and Aaron had no ulterior motives in carrying out any details of G'd's instructions. We find a parallel to this in Deut. 6,25 where the Torah states that carrying out G'd's laws will be considered צדקה, righteousness for us, if we perform them כאשר צונו, "as He has commanded us." It is not enough to merely carry out G'd's instructions, but in order to qualify for praise one must carry them out precisely as He commanded us. In our verse the Torah testifies that this is what Moses and Aaron did.

Another point that our verse wanted to mention is that both Moses and Aaron did not miss any opportunity to mention G'd every time they did anything. The Torah underlines the word עשו to show that Moses and Aaron carried out G'd's instructions immediately after they had received them.

ומשה בן שמונים שנה, even though he was an aged man both he and his brother rose early in the morning to do their Creator’s bidding. Although some people lived to a ripe old age in those days, eighty was an age which was considered as very much part of what we call “old age.” We know from David in Psalms 90,10 that reaching the age of 80 was considered an exceptional feat, i.e. kindness of G’d.

בדברם אל פרעה, when they spoke to Pharaoh. The word בדברם refers to the first day Moses and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh. They were certainly somewhat older as time went on.

ומשה בן שמונים שנה, “and Moses was eighty years old, etc.” Ibn Ezra, in dealing with the age of Moses at this time, mentions that no other prophet has ever been described as practicing his prophecy at such an age. The only ones able to do so were those that enjoyed an exceptionally high level of prophecy,

-9. לאמור…כי ידגר אלכם פרעה, to say: "when Pharaoh will say to you, etc." The reason the Torah adds the word לאמור is to inform us that they had been allowed to inform Pharaoh that they would perform the miracles in G'd's name. Unless such permission had been granted explicitly, they would have been forbidden to reveal this even in response to a question by Pharaoh. We have learned in Yuma 4 that under normal circumstances one is not to reveal the source of one's information unless specifically authorised to do so. The first time the Torah writes לאמור here it is to give Moses and Aaron permission to reveal this information. The Torah repeats the word לאמור once more in order to show that G'd ordered Moses and Aaron to reveal this information.

Another piece of information contained in this verse (according to Torat Kohanim is 1) is that wherever the Torah writes: "to Moses and Aaron," the meaning is that Moses should tell Aaron to carry out G'd's instructions. This piece of exegesis is derived from the very word לאמור here. It means that unlike your impression that G'd spoke to both Moses and Aaron simultaneously, the truth is that G'd spoke to Moses to relay the information to Aaron. The reason that the Torah makes it appear as if G'd had spoken to both of them simultaneously is only to tell us that the commandment performed by Aaron in relaying the information to Pharaoh was equal in importance to Moses having performed his part of the commandment.

פרעה לאמור, תנו לכם מופת, Pharaoh saying: "perform a miracle for your accreditation," the reason the Torah inserts the word לאמור in addition to already having quoted Pharaoh as כי ידבר, was to tell Moses not to volunteer a miracle until Pharaoh actually asked for it. At that point they were to perform the miracle described in our verse. Alternatively, if Pharaoh challenged Moses and Aaron about the authenticity of their mission Moses would also be entitled to tell Aaron to demonstrate the miracle described here.

מופת A WONDER — a sign to prove that there is power in Him who is sending you.

תנו לכם מופת, “identify yourselves by means of a miracle which shows that the One Who has sent you is capable of carrying out what He promises so that we should obey Him. The expression אות as opposed to מופת is meant to identify the messenger, i.e. to prove that he is not a pretender, a charlatan. This was the reason why Moses performed אותות before the Israelites so that they should not entertain any doubt as to his being an authentic messenger from G’d to them. Pharaoh, whose doubts did not relate to the authenticity of Moses as the people’s representative, had to be convinced of the identity of the G’d who Moses claimed had sent him. It was he who had said that he did not recognise even the existence of such a G’d. Hence Moses had to perform miracles proving that such a G’d did in fact exist. The fact that the same miracle could help establish two separate facts is no hindrance to Moses performing the same miracle in two locations for two different audiences.

[Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg 18th c. Germany]

A sign. Since Rashi interprets מופתים as “wondrous plagues,” in Parshas Va’es’chanan (Devarim 4:34), he needed to explain that here מופת means “a sign.”

V. 9. תנו לכם:stolz: er braucht und will kein Wunder, will nicht überzeugt werden. "Wenn ihr denn auftreten wollt, wohlan, so gebet für euch ein Zeichen, legitimiert euch durch ein Wunder." — מטך: Man ist durch nichts veranlasst zu glauben, es sei dies nicht Aarons, sondern Mosche Stab gewesen. Es ist vielmehr viel vernünftiger, ihn, wie es auch hier heißt, für Aarons Stab zu halten. Lag ja die Göttlichkeit nicht im Stabe. War es ja nichts als Gottes Fügung und für diese ja jeder Stab gleich. — תנין, nicht eigentlich Schlange, sondern ein ungeheures Wassertier, ein Fischungeheuer (siehe Bereschit 1, 21). Pharao selbst wird als התנים הגדול הרובץ בתוך יאוריו (Jechesk. 29, 3) bezeichnet, als das große Tier, das durch die Gunst der Flussgötter sich seines Daseins erfreut. Dies Zeichen sagte Pharao: "du und deine Götter, ihr seid nichts als ein Stab in meiner Hand". Wir vermuten, dass es hier das Krokodil bedeute.

יהי לתנין “it will turn into a serpent.” Seeing that Pharaoh had proclaimed himself as equivalent to a giant monster, G–d was going to show him Who it was that created such monsters. (Compare Ezekiel 29,3.) The principal feature of serpents is that they bend and twist, so Pharaoh would also be forced to bend and twist. (Sh’mot Rabbah 9,4) He also afflicted him with the plague of tzoraat, (Exodus 11,1) reminding him that he should have learned a lesson from what happened to the first Pharaoh when he tried to rape the wife of the first Hebrew, Avraham (Genesis 12,17).

תנו לכם מופת,”perform a miracle in order to legitimize yourselves!” According to Rashi, the word מופת refers to a miracle that would prove who it is that authorised Moses to become the redeemer of the Israelites. G-d would have to demonstrate not only being a Ruler, but also His capacity to enforce his decrees. We have a source for this Rashi in Devarim Rabbah 2,11, which while not exactly what Rashi says nevertheless approximates it. Basically, it explains why paganism in Jewish literature is called עבודת כוכבים אלהים, literally: “worshiping stars as gods,” the reason being that [(my choice of words), “G-d is indispensable in our universe.” Otherwise, the word elohim in that expression is superfluous. Ed.] Rabbi Yossi claims that these deities cannot be called elohim, for if they were, it would follow that such a force must be obeyed. This is why the Torah in Deuteronomy 32,17, quotes Moses as referring to these so called deities as שדים לא אלוה, “satyrs, non deities.” Onkelos translates it as “something that is misleading,” as there is absolutely no need for it. For if there had been a need for such phenomena why would G-d be jealous of them?”

To make it known that there is power. . . [ צרוך means power], i.e., the One Who sends you has power and rulership, as it is written in Parshas Ha’azinu (Devarim 32:17), “They will sacrifice to demons that have no power,” and Onkelos there translates as, “. . .that have no צרוך .”

והשלך לפני פרעה יהי לתניו, “throw it in front of Pharaoh so that it will turn into a sea monster.” The reason for this was that Pharaoh boasted of his power to the extent that G-d in Ezekiel 29,3 called him “the great sea monster.” The prophet there ridicules the actual power of Pharaoh who people were afraid of. Moses’ performing the miracle, was to show him that awe-inspiring monsters are only an illusion and can be turned into a stick by merely taking hold of their tail. Similarly, Pharaoh’s power is also only an illusion. Even though it appears that at this time he is all-powerful, this can change in the time it takes to drop a stick to the ground.

יהי לתנין, this paragraph has already appeared in parshat sh’mot 4,21 ראה כל המופתים אשר שמתי בידך ועשיתם לפני פרעה, “see that you perform all the miracles that I have put at your disposal and carry them out in the presence of Pharaoh;” the reason that this has been repeated here is that a new element has been added, that only the miracle of turning the staff into a sea monster is to be performed.

לתנין means A SERPENT.

ויעשו כן כאשר צוה, They did as G'd had commanded, etc. The reason the Torah writes the words כן כאשר, i.e. repeating basically the same word is, because it tells us that Moses and Aaron a) did what G'd had told them to, b) did not do so until Pharaoh had requested the miracle from them.

A serpent. The term תנין when on land means a serpent (i.e., a snake). And when in the sea it means a [kind of] fish. So too does the Radak explain תנין .

And it became a tanin In the wilderness, which is a place of snakes, the staff was turned into a snake; but in Mitzrayim, which is a place of taninim, it was turned into a tanin. A tanin [תנין] is a "crocodile" in this language, like in Yechezkel 29:3 "The great crocodile [hatanim התנים] that crouches in the midst of his streams". And he didn't do the second sign in front of Par'oh, to bring his hand out from his breast and behold it was afflicted with tzara'at like snow, because if he had been afflicted with tzara'at they would have removed him from Par'oh's presence, and something like this is in Bereishit 50, that Yosef didn't have permission to come before Par'oh when he was still tamei meit before he had buried his father. [In Bereishit 50:4 Yosef lays a petition before the court of Par'oh rather than going directly to Par'oh]

The Torah also wanted us to know that though anyone who performs miracles immediately raises his own image in the eyes of the onlookers, Moses and Aaron had no such considerations. They did what they did only at the behest of G'd. It is the mark of the truly righteous not to perform their own will but to perform what they perceive to be G'd's will.

בלהטיהם The Targum renders this by בלחשיהון: with their secret spells. There is no other example of this word in the Bible. One may compare it to the first word in (Genesis 3:24) “the להט of the sword that turned round” — it appeared to turn round through some magic spell.

AND THEY ALSO, THE MAGICIANS OF EGYPT, DID IN LIKE MANNER ‘B’LAHATEIHEM’ (WITH THEIR SECRET ARTS). Our Rabbis have said¹¹²Sanhedrin 67b. that these are deeds of sorcerers who perform their arts through angels of destruction,¹¹³A term found in Kiddushin 72 a, and designating a supernatural being holding destructive power. the word b’lahateihem being derived from the expressions: eish loheit (flaming fire);¹¹⁴Psalms 104:4. the flame ‘t’laheit’ (burned up) the wicked.¹¹⁵Ibid., 106:18. The purport [of the saying of the Sages] is that these deeds of sorcery are done by means of “the flaming ones,” angels of a fire that burns in man, and he does not know that the fire burns in him and pays no attention to it. It is similar in sense to the expression, “And the Eternal opened the eyes of the young man of Elisha, and behold there were horses of fire and chariots of fire.”¹¹⁶The verse, II Kings 6:17, reads: And the Eternal opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Perhaps these are identical with the angels that dwell in the atmosphere of the spheres of the [four] elements,¹¹⁷The four elements — fire, air, earth and water — are the basic components of all created things that are beneath the firmament, which is below the lunar sphere. See Rambam, Hilchoth Yesodei Hatorah 3:11 and 4:1. which are called sarim (lords).¹¹⁸See my Hebrew commentary, p. 310, that it is possible there is another reading here. Instead of sarim (lords), the word should be sheidim (demons). The first reading seems to be more correct here. I will explain this theme again [in the Book of Leviticus 17:7] with the help of the Rock.
But the word b’lateihem, [mentioned further in 8:3 — And the magicians did in like manner ‘b’lateihem’] — is explained [by the Rabbis] as meaning sheidim (demons) — the word being derived from the Hebrew word lat (secret): Speak with David ‘balat’ (secretly) — since the demons come quietly inasmuch as they are ethereal bodies whose presence is not felt. This is why Scripture states [in Verse 11 before us] that Pharaoh called for the wise men and the sorcerers, for the wise men who knew [the art of] incanting and assembling the demons were the leaders and elders of the Egyptians.
The term chartumei mitzrayim (the magicians of Egypt) includes both of them, [i.e., the wise men and the sorcerers]. We do not know the root of the word chartumei. Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says that it is either an Egyptian or Chaldean word since we find it only mentioned in their accounts.¹¹⁹Here, and in the Book of Daniel 2:2, and other places there. The more likely explanation is that of Rashi, who said¹²⁰Rashi’s interpretation is found in Genesis 41:8. that it is an Aramaic compound-word: char tami (those who excite themselves by means of the bones [of the dead]). It is known that the greater part of this craft is one with the bones of dead persons or the bones of animals, just as they mentioned in the case of the yid’oni.¹²¹Leviticus 19:31. “The yid’oni takes the bone of a bird [or a beast] called yido’a, puts it into his mouth, burns incense, recites certain prayers, performs a certain ritual until he is in a condition akin to fainting, and falls into a trance in which he predicts the future” (Maimonides,”The Commandments,” Vol. II, p. 10).

בלהטיהם, “with their incantations.” A reference to a variety of activities all connected to witchcraft. Nachmanides explains that the word בלהטיהם is derived from the root להט, flame, i.e. that the activities of the Egyptian necromancers were concentrated on the use of the element of fire, one of the four basic components of the material universe. Apparently, the forces, i.e. “angels” in charge of this are afflicting man with fever (heat) i.e. an invisible flame. The fact that these sorcerers understood some of these processes in nature contributed to Pharaoh discounting the miracle, as in his eyes Moses was nothing but a more accomplished sorcerer. In non-professional parlance, the agents causing such frustrating phenomena are known as שדים, demons. What distinguishes this “demonic” activity is the fact that its approach is invisible, and therefore more frightening than visible phenomena. Just as we get no warning of attacks by viruses or similar disease carrying pollutants in the atmosphere, so these harmful phenomena not only cause disease and death, but they inspire fear in addition.

.ויקרא גם פרעה , “Pharaoh also called in.” According to an ancient version in the Tanchuma Vaeyra 11 the word גם means that Pharaoh also called in his wife and that the latter then called in the sorcerers of Egypt. The practice of witchcraft was so commonplace in Egypt that Pharaoh’s wife and even young children were well versed in such sleights of hand.

For it appears to rotate by magic. In other words, this sword rotates on its own, and a person who sees it thinks it rotates by magic. Accordingly, the word להט which appears there connotes “magic.”

V. 11. גם: Pharao sah in Aaron und Mosche Zauberer, er rief daher auch die seinigen. — כשף .מכשפים: sehr wahrscheinlich verwandt mit כזב ,קשב ,ישב. Grundbedeutung ישב: körperlich ruhen. ישב ל־: ruhen in bezug auf jemanden, d. h. auf jemanden warten, bereitstehen für jemanden. Was ישב ל־ leiblich ist, d.i. קשב ל־ geistig: seinen Geist völlig ruhen lassen von allem andern und ihn jemanden zuwenden, die intensivste Aufmerksamkeit auf die Worte eines andern. מְיַשֵב ל־ oder מְקַשֵב ל־ würde heißen: etwas für jemanden zur Ruhe, oder zum Aufmerken auf ihn bringen. Nun ist aber das Geschäft des מכשף nichts anderes, als angeblich לישב oder לקשב die vorhandenen Wesen und Kräfte der Natur, sie angeblich entweder zum Stillstand oder zum Gehorsam für einen bestimmten Zweck zu bringen; sie zum negativen oder positiven Gehorsam zu zwingen. Das Ganze ist jedoch nur כזב, Täuschung, ist ja auch nichts anderes als Bewältigung der Einsicht des andern. Nur der wird getäuscht, der sich sorglos den Einwirkungen eines andern hingibt. כשוף wird zum todeswürdigen Verbrechen, obgleich es כזב ist. Alle Verbrechen, die ע׳׳ז sind oder damit zusammenhängen, sind nicht wegen der ihnen innewohnenden metaphysischen oder logischen Lüge, sondern wegen der sittlichen Verderblichkeit ihrer Folgen Verbrechen. Für sittlich gute Zwecke hat man nie den מכשף zu Hilfe gerufen. Wo man das Bewusstsein hatte, der Zweck, den man verfolge, habe die Billigung der Gottheit und laufe ihrer Weltordnung parallel, da hat man zu keinem solchen Hilfsmittel zu greifen sich veranlasst gesehen. Nur wo man wegen der Schlechtigkeit des Wollens nicht auf den Beistand des Weltenordners rechnen durfte, da suchte man sich bei der vermeintlichen Kunst des כשוף eine Nebentüre, einen Schleichweg, das Schlechte der Weltordnung zum Trotze ausführen zu können. Daher erklären die Weisen שמכחישים פמליא של מעלה :מכשפים, machen angeblich die höhere Weltordnung zu Schanden. Im Dienst der alten Herrscher finden wir in תנ׳׳ך überall מכשפים, sowie wenn heutigen Tages die Naturwissenschaft in den Dienst der Staatszwecke tritt; und wollte die Naturwissenschaft sich heutigen Tags in den Dienst der Lösung des Problems stellen, wie man beispielsweise allen Ausschweifungen sich hingeben könne, ohne deren gesundheitszerstörende Folgen fürchten zu müssen, so würde das eine dem Grundgedanken des כשוף ähnliche missbräuchliche Bewältigung der Natur anstreben. —

ויקרא גם פרעה, “also Pharaoh called upon etc.;” what is the meaning of the word: “also” here? After all, even little babies can call to people for help!

גם הם, “they too.” First he had only called on the children; subsequently on the wise men and sorcerers. This is the reason why the Torah repeated the word גם when writing ויעשו גם הם, “they did likewise.” Rabbi Shimon ben Pezzi said (Shemot Rabbah 9,3): “what did the sages perceive that they compared the wriggling of a snake to the conduct typical of the kingdom of Egypt seeing they quoted Jeremiah 46,22 ‘she shall rustle away like a snake.’ Just as a snake winds its way slithering hither and thither, the king of Egypt did likewise. Just as the snake hisses prior to killing, so the Egyptian Kingdom hisses prior to killing its enemies.” Moses suspended the staff over Pharaoh telling him that it would become the source of the plagues he was going to inflict upon him.

חרטומי, von הרט: das Werkzeug zum Schreiben, daher: Schriftkundige. Es braucht nicht eben Bilderschrift zu sein. Der Begriff Bild liegt nicht in חרט, und es gab auch in Ägypten eine Kursivschrift. Nur scheint man irrtümlich in חרט einen Schreibgriffel zum Eingraben in Stein, wie חרת, zu finden. Es ist nicht gut denkbar, dass man sich zur gewöhnlichen Schrift des langsamen Eingrabens in Stein bedient habe. Schrieb man doch größtenteils auf Papyrusrollen. Jesaias 8, 1 wird ja חרט geradezu zum Schreiben auf eine Rolle gebraucht, wo doch unmöglich an ein Eingraben gedacht werden kann. חרט kann in Verwandtschaft mit חרד stehen, welches nicht nur eine heftige Gemütsbewegung wegen etwas zu Erwartenden, sondern auch eine starke innere und äußere Tätigkeit für die Ausführung eines Zweckes bedeutet. חרדת אלינו את כל החרדה הזאת (Kön. II 4, 13), חרדים אל דברו ,חרד על דברי (Jes. 66, 2. 5). Es kann daher vielleicht den Schreibgriffel als den emsigen, rasch sich bewegenden Diener des menschlichen Gedankens bezeichnen. (So ist im rabbinischen חרטה synonym mit חרדה als innere Gemütsbewegung.) —

בלהטיהם, “with their spells.” Some kind of witchcraft. The ability to perform such tricks is anchored in the מלאכי חבלה, spiritually negative forces [whose origin are wasted human sperm, and other sins committed by man. Ed.] The word is derived from לוהט as in אש לוהט, (Psalms 104,4) “fiery flames.” The author speculates about a variety of causes responsible for these phenomena. One of his suggestions is that they attack man בלט, when he is unaware. The word חרטומים is a combination of two words i.e.חר טמי , “people who consult dead bones.” Most necromancers employ either human bones or animal bones to receive their knowledge of matters not accessible to ordinary people (compare Nachmanides).

ויבלע מטה אהרן BUT AARON’S STAFF SWALLOWED (It states that the staff swallowed) — after it had again become a staff it swallowed all of them (Shabbat 97 a; Exodus Rabbah 9:7).

ויהיו לתנינים, they looked and felt like these kinds of monsters. They were not able to move like these monsters move, or even not at all.

ויהיו לתנינם, “they (the staffs of the sorcerers) turned into snakes.” The Torah refrained from saying ויהיו תנינים, which would have meant that they actually became snakes. The sorcerers did not have the power to do that. They could only create the illusion not the real thing. The wording of the Torah here is similar to Joshua 7,5: “their hearts melted into water.” This was a description of people losing courage. It did not describe a phenomenon literally. We have another example of this in (Samuel I 25,37) וימת לבו בקרבו והוא היה לאבן, which translated literally would mean “his heart (Naval’s) died within him, and it turned into stone.” The word אבן is merely a figure of speech.
You may well counter that the expression ויהי לתנין is also used when Moses’ staff turned into a snake, so what is so peculiar about the Torah not writing תנין when describing what happened to the staffs of the sorcerers? We have to explain that in the case of Moses’ i.e. Aaron’s staff, this was a true transformation of the staff into a snake and that a similar wording is found in Genesis 2,7 ויהי האדם לנפש חיה where the letter ל at the beginning of the word לנפש certainly does not speak about something illusory. However, by way of contrast, what the sorcerers did was merely sleight of hand. Seeing that the wording lent itself to two different interpretations, the Torah had to write immediately that Aaron’s staff swallowed all the staffs of the sorcerers in order the show the qualitative difference between what Aaron had done and what the Egyptians had been able to do. The fact that the Torah describes “their staffs” as being swallowed instead of “their snakes” being swallowed, shows that their staffs had remained staffs in spite of appearing to be snakes. Another proof that the sorcerers only created an illusion is that the Torah does not describe them as having performed their art in the presence of Pharaoh and his servants as the Torah had been at pains to emphasise concerning Moses’ miracle.
Alternatively, supposing that the חרטומים had really been capable of turning their staffs into snakes as the Talmud Chulin 7 suggests, why then were they called sorcerers instead of prophets? The answer is that they denied the power of the celestial forces. We could interpret the words ויהיו לתנינים to mean that their staffs did indeed turn into live snakes. The letter ל would be justified seeing that later on these snakes reverted to being staffs. The qualitative edge of Moses’ staff was simply that it swallowed the staffs of the sorcerers. According to Shemot Rabbah 9,7 when Pharaoh observed that Moses’ staff (as a staff) was able to swallow the combined staffs of his sorcerers he reflected that it might equally be capable of swallowing him and his throne. The word ויבלע means that something inert was able to swallow both something else inert and something live. We have a parallel in Numbers 16,32 when the earth swallowed both Korach and family as well as his tents and belongings.

After it became a rod again did it swallow all the rest. I.e., since it is not written that “Aharon’s serpent swallowed,” we infer that “after it became a rod. . .” If it was still a serpent when it swallowed the others, it would be only one miracle. But [this occurred] after they [all] became rods again, as it is also written “[Aharon’s rod swallowed] their rods,” so it was a double miracle. (Re’m)

And each man cast down his staff This relates to the sages and magicians, that they cast down their staffs. And they became serpents, this relates to the sorcerers of Mitzrayim, that they became serpents at the moment that the sages and magicians cast down their staffs. They were wrapped in serpentskin and it seemed that it was because of the staffs that they became serpents, and Aharon's staff swallowed up their staffs. Regarding this, the Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 9:7) relates that "the Holy Blessed One said: If the serpent swallows their serpents, that would be the ordinary way of their world, that serpent swallows serpent. Rather, it should return to its form and then swallow their serpents. What is and Aharon's staff swallowed their staffs? Rabbi Elazar says, a miracle within a miracle: it teaches that Aharon's staff returned to its form and swallowed them. When Par'oh saw this, he was surprised and said, what if the staff swallows Paroh and his throne? Now it will swallow him!" Here ends the Midrash quotation. And what is written, What is and Aharon's staff swallowed their serpents, has no explanation, for it has already explained that it returned to being a staff and then swallowed it - so what's the novelty of Rabbi Elazar? It seems that in the beginning it explains what is written, and Aharon's staff swallowed, that it returned to staffhood and after that swallowed. Regarding this it is asked, What is and Aharon's staff swallowed their serpents? Meaning to say that it should have said, and Aharon's staff swallowed their serpents, for their serpents didn't return to their original form! Regarding this Rabbi Elazar says it's a miracle within a miracle, for after Aharon's staff returned to be a staff as its original form was, it swallowed them, meaning to say, it swallowed the sorcerers themselves! For since the sorcerers were serpents wrapped in serpentskin, and they with the staffs were concealed below the skin, the staff of Aharon swallowed the "serpents" with the sorcerers and staffs concealed beneath them. And if it had said, and Aharon's staff swallowed their serpents, I would have thought that only the serpents' bodies were swallowed and not the sorcerers. But since it said that it swallowed their staffs, that they were concealed below the serpents, from this we know that they were swallowed with the sorcerers. And regarding this it's said that Paroh said that it was capable of swallowing him and his throne just as it swallowed the sorcerers. And Paroh's heart was hardened, that he was also visibly scared to be swallowed alive as the sorcerers had been swallowed - and with all this, he [still] hardened his heart!

בלהטיהם, später בלטיהם, also von להט und לוט. Es kann nun allerdings sein, dass להט und לוט völlig identisch sind, wie רהב und כהן ,רוב und בהן ,כון und בון, und wir auch hier nur an die Bedeutung לוט: einhüllen, verdecken, zu denken und להטים und לטים beides für Geheimkünste zu nehmen haben. Allein notwendig ist dies nicht. Es kann uns mit diesen beiden Namen eben das Wesen ihrer Kunst enthüllt sein. להט: Flamme, somit das Helle, לוט: verhüllen, das Verborgene. Die große Kunst der Täuschung besteht darin, dass man dem Zuschauer etwas Blendendes zeigt und dadurch seinen Blick von anderem abzieht. Es ist dies das Verfahren unserer Taschenspieler. Sie ziehen das Auge und den Gedanken des Zuschauers durch etwas Blendendes von dem Einblick in die Wirklichkeit des Vorganges ab. Vielleicht heißt selbst Flamme in dem Sinne להט, dass durch sie, das Hellste, Blendendste, alles andere in den Schatten gestellt wird; ein "blendendes Licht", das unsere Sehnerven so fixiert, dass wir anderes nicht sehen. Ihre Künste waren deshalb verborgen, לטים, weil sie blendend, להטים, waren: להטים nach dem Eindruck auf den Beschauer, לטים nach dem, was sie an sich waren.

ויבלע מטה אהרן את מטותם, this would demonstrate that only the G’d in heaven can grant life to inert phenomena, something Pharaoh’s sorcerers were unable to do.

ויחזק לב פרעה, he claimed that Aaron had also merely performed a better kind of sorcery.

ויחזק לב פרעה, “Pharaoh’s heart remained obstinate;” seeing that his sorcerers had been able to duplicate Aaron’s feat, he concluded that Aaron was another sorcerer.

'כאשר דבר ה, “just as Hashem had said.” (when He had said: “Pharaoh will not pay heed to you.” Verse 4)

כבד — This word should be translated in the Targum by יקיר (his heart is hard — an adjective) and not by אתיקר (his heart has become Hard — a verb, as is given in some editions of Onkelos) because it is an adjective, just as (Exodus 18:18) “the thing is too heavy (כָּבֵד) for thee”.

כבד, Pharaoh had hardened his heart, as I explained already. (the word is a verb, not an adjective, compare Exodus 1,8 on the word מלא). In intransitive words applying to the body of a person, such as vayishman, he waxed fat, (Deut. 32,9) or vayichbad, he remained heavy, (Exodus 9,7) and several similar examples, constructed by a future tense with the prefix ו, the ordinary past tense would be kaved, or shamen.

כבד לב פרעה, even though Pharaoh could not help but notice the qualitative difference between what the sorcerers had done and what Moses and Aaron had accomplished.

ויאמר ה׳ אל משה כבד לב פרעה, G'd said to Moses: "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn, etc." What did G'd tell Moses here that he did not already know? Perhaps Pharaoh had not refused the request to let the Israelites go in so many words, but had merely remained silent after watching Aaron's demonstration. G'd informed Moses that the meaning of this silence was that Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites and did not even think it necessary to say so.

הנה יצא המימה LO, HE GOETH OUT UNTO THE WATER to ease himself. For he claimed to be a god and asserted that because of his divine power he did not need to ease himself; and therefore he used to rise early and go to the Nile and there eased himself in secret (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 14; Exodus Rabbah 9:8).

הנה יוצא המימה, as do most ministers, in order to take their morning stroll. Sometimes they go for a short gallop on their horse.

נהפך לנחש, not only in appearance but also in its movements. This is implied by the word ויבלע, “it swallowed” (verse 12). We encountered this phenomenon already in 4,3 when Moses himself fled from the serpent his staff had turned into.

לך אל פרעה בבוקר, “go to Pharaoh in the early morning, etc.” according to Rashi, Moses went to meet Pharaoh at a secret place near the waters of the river Nile, a place where he defecated secretly, maintaining the fiction that as a deity, he did not need to bother with such animalistic necessities. The fact that Moses would be in a position to reveal this well-kept secret, was meant to show Pharaoh that he depended on Moses’ discretion. According to the plain meaning of the text, Pharaoh was in the habit to take his daily exercise walk near the banks of the river Nile. Some commentators, focusing on the words הנה יוצא המימה, ”here he is going out towards the waters,” suggest that Pharaoh was given an opportunity to discuss the Israelites’ concerns with their leader, for there were guards at the entrance to his palace which prevented Moses from securing an interview with the king.

V. 15. הנה: es ist dies die ganz gewöhnliche Zeit, zu welcher er täglich zum Nil geht. Dieser Fluss ist ja in der Tat die Ursache des Daseins des ägyptischen Landes. Nur er hat in Mitte einer Wüste das fruchtreichste Land sich entwickeln lassen. An dem Wohlwollen der Nilgötter hing Existenz und Gedeihen des Landes. Kein Wunder, wenn ihm des Landes Fürst jeden Morgen das Opfer seiner Verehrung brachte. Stelle dich ihm entgegen, dass er sieht, du erwartest ihn, und dass er dich früher trifft als seinen Fluss.

הנה יוצא המימה, according to Rashi, Pharaoh went to the Nile every morning in order to have his bowel movement, as having declared himself a deity, he could not allow his subjects to think that he like they had to excrete his undigested food daily. Seeing that the area where he performed this rite was a dirty area, G-d had not told Moses “בא אל פרעה” as if he were to dress up for an interview at Pharaoh’s Palace. The meaning of בא when G-d speaks to Moses, always implies that He is accompanying him as He had promised in Exodus 3,12.

Wir stehen an dem Anfang der עשר מכות, versuchen wir einen Überblick derselben. Schon R. Jehuda hat sie gruppiert: ד׳צ׳ך ,ע׳ד׳ש ,ב׳א׳ח׳ב. Diese Gruppierung ergibt sich sofort aus der Geschichte selbst. In zweien Plagen geht immer eine entschiedene Warnung voran, die dritte, also שחין כנים und חשך, tritt dann ohne Warnung ein. Die dritte erscheint immer als Strafe dafür, dass die beiden ersten erfolglos geblieben.

הנה יוצא המימה, here he is about to go out towards the Nile so as to attribute the waters of the Nile rising towards him proving that he was a deity. A different interpretation: Pharaoh would wash himself every morning in the waters of the Nile, especially in order to wash out any particles that had accumulated around his eyes during his sleep. Still another interpretation: he went for a stroll along the banks of the river every morning. He would also go hunting birds by means of trapping them in mud. [Maybe the reference is to chasing geese and ducks into traps. Ed.] The point of G-d’s instruction was for Moses to have a private talk with Pharaoh when he would not feel under pressure to show his ministers etc., that he could stand up to Moses.

Näher betrachtet stehen diese Plagegruppen in inniger Beziehung zu den drei Seiten, welche den Kern des ägyptischen Galut bildeten, und deren Beseitigung die Erlösung bewirkte. ענוי ,עברות ,גרות waren die Bestandteile des Verhängnisses, das sich durch Ägyptens Versündigung an Israel vollzog, עבדות ,גרות und ענוי waren die Momente, welche die Plagen über die Ägypter brachten, sie den Ungrund ihrer Erhebung über das unglückliche Volk und das Herbe eines solchen Elends fühlen zu lassen.

ברד ,ערוב ,דם zeigten den Ägyptern, wie sie selber nur גרים im eigenen Lande und wie wenig sie daher berechtigt wären, Israel als גרים rechtlos zu machen. צפרדע ,ארבה דבר , zeigten ihnen die Nichtigkeit der Momente, die ihren Herrendünkel über die zu עבדים Erniedrigten erzeugten; חשך ,שחין ,כנים endlich waren ענויים die sie zu einmal fühlen ließen, was es heißt, einem systematischen ענוי-Verhängnis zu unterliegen. מכת בכורות schließt das Ganze ab und führt endlich die Erlösung herbei

Die Plagen gruppieren sich demnach:
ענוי עבדות גרות
כנים צפדע דם
שחין דבר ערוב
חשך ארבה ברד
מכת בכורות

מכת בכורות

ד׳צ׳ך ist Heilung von dem עבדות ,-גרות- und ענוי-Wahn durch Offenbarung der Gottesmacht an Wasser und Land, עד׳׳ש ist Heilung von dem עבדות ,-גרות- und ענוי-Wahn durch Offenbarung der Gottesmacht an den lebendigen Bewohnern des Landes, ב׳א׳ח ist Heilung von dem עבדות -גרות- und ענוי-Wahn durch Offenbarung der Gottesmacht an der Land und Leute umgebenden Atmosphäre.

גר :גרות=ברד ,ערב ,דם ist der, dessen Verharren in einem Lande von dem Willen und der Duldung eines andern bedingt ist. Mizrajims Selbstgefühl wurzelte in seinem Flusse, dadurch fühlte es sich auf seinem Boden stolzer als irgend eine andere Nationalität, unabhängig selbst vom Himmel, sprach: לי יאורי ואני עשיתיני. Durch מכת דם sprach Gott zu ihm: לי יאורך, wenn ich will, versiegt nicht nur dein Fluß, sondern bringt Fäulnis statt Segen und Gedeihen, und speit dich aus. Du bist selbst nur גר im Lande, so lange Ich es will. Zeigte durch ערוב, wie nur durch Gottes Bann das Tier der Wüste (ערבה — ערוב) dem Menschen den Boden räumt; er spricht, und die Scheidewand fällt, und in dem eigenen Hause ist der Mensch nicht mehr sicher, und gerade der Boden der Menschen, die sie als unberechtigte Fremdlinge betrachten, bleibt allein respektiert. Zeigte endlich durch ברד zum blassen Schrecken der Ägypter, wie es nur eines Winkes von oben bedarf, und das ganze tellurische, klimatische Verhältnis des Landes wird umgewandelt. Ägypten, das überhaupt wenig atmosphärischen Niederschlag hat und sein Nass durch den Nil erhält, in welchem es daher noch nie gehagelt, sieht plötzlich seine ganze atmosphärische Natur umwandelt und in dem ersten Hagel die drohende Möglichkeit, zu einem ganz andern Landstrich verwandelt zu werden. (Darum wird auch der Hagel mit den Worten angekündigt: בפעם הזאת אני שלח את (!כל מגפתי אל לבד

עבדות=ארבה ,דבר ,צפרדע: Ein doppelter Wahn füllt die Brust des Sklavenhalters mit dem Dünkel berechtigter Erhebung über den Sklaven: der Wahn, ein Wesen höherer Art zu sein, und der hochmütige Wahn der Macht und des Besitzes. צפרדע, der Frosch, das scheueste Tier, das sonst vor dem Menschen in Sumpf und Röhricht schlüpft, verlässt seine Schlupfwinkel, tritt keck hinein in alle Wohnstätten der Menschen, hüpft keck hinauf an die Leiber der stolzen Gekrönten selbst und lehrt sie, wie selbst das kleinste, niedrigste Tier vor ihnen den Respekt verloren, um sie von dem Wahne selbstüberhebenden Dünkels zu heilen. Und es kommt דבר, die Pest, und tötet das Roß ihrer Macht, den Esel und das Kamel, die Lastträger ihrer Habe, und in Rind und Schaf ihren eigentlichen Besitz. Und es kommt ארבה, die Heuschrecke, und hält Nachlese an dem Fruchtreichtum Ägyptens, soweit ihn nicht schon der Hagel verwüstet.

ענוי=חשך ,שחין ,כניס: Und was es heißt, ein geplagtes, schmerzreiches und darbendes Leben zu führen, das lehrten die körperlichen Plagen und Schmerzen, die כנים und שחין, und der dreitägige Kerkerhunger, den חשך über Ägypten brachte; denn nichts Geringeres als das war es, was חשך für Mizrajim bedeutete. Gott braucht keine Fessel und Zwinger, um den Menschen einzukerkern. Gott kerkert ihn in Nacht ein, dass er, an seine Stelle gebannt, sich nicht zu rühren wagt, gefesselt sitzt und hungert, bis ihn Gott dem Lichte wiedergibt. —

לך אל פרעה בבקר. Wie bemerkt, sind die ersten beiden מכות einer jeden Gruppe mehr belehrend und immer erst die dritte ist Strafe; daher auch nur die ersten beiden in Folge vorausgehender Ankündigung eintreten. Bei der ersten einer jeden Gruppe, mit welcher also immer eine neue Belehrung beginnt und auf ein neues Terrain des menschlichen Existenzkreises eintritt, also bei ברד ,ערב ,דם, muss Mosche immer früh Morgens dem Könige am Flusse entgegentreten, ihm damit zu sagen: nicht von der Gunst des Flusses, von dem Willen des Höhern, der mich gesendet, hängt eure Zukunft ab.

עד כה means UNTIL NOW. A Midrashic explanation (taking this sentence to mean, “thou wilt not hearken until (עד) thou hearest the word “כה”) is: until thou hearest from me the announcement of the slaughter of the first-born, which I will begin with the words, (Exodus 11:4) “Thus (כה) saith the Lord, About midnight etc.”

AND, BEHOLD, HITHERTO THOU HAST NOT HEARKENED. Because this was one of the [ten] plagues and henceforth He will begin to smite him, He therefore said to him that it was his wickedness which was responsible for the bringing of the punishment upon him since he hearkened not to the command of his Creator. Now at this time, [i.e., when the warning about the first plague was given to him], Pharaoh did not declare to Moses and Aaron that he will neither hearken to G-d’s words nor let the people go. It was only at the first time [when they came before him] that he said, I know not the Eternal, and moreover I will not let Israel go.¹²²Above, 5:2. At present, he did not rebuke them; he only heard their words and remained silent, for since they performed the wonder of the serpent before him and Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods,¹²³Verse 12. he was already afraid of the plagues, except that during the first plagues he attempted that the magicians do likewise, that is, by means of deeds of sorcery. Thus he was afraid, and yet he hardened his heart. This is the sense of the expression, And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.¹²⁴Further, Verse 22.

ואמרת אליו ה׳..שלחני אליך, "Say to him: G'd.. has sent me to you, etc." This entire verse appears to be superfluous. Verse 17 would have been quite adequate. Pharaoh did not need to be told that G'd had sent Moses! Perhaps the Torah wanted to tell us that Pharaoh had objected to being met by Moses at a time when he performed his morning ritual. Moses was to explain that he had not intended to invade Pharaoh's privacy but had been commanded by G'd to do so. Moses was to imply that instructions from the Supreme G'd must be carried out immediately.

והנה לא שמעת עד כה, “seeing that thus far you have not been willing to listen.” The meaning of these words, which appear at first glance as if they do not tell us something we did not learn from the narrative thus far, is that until I begin to carry out My threats, to bring on the plagues, you will not begin to listen.

Which I will begin with the word כה . . . Regarding the other plagues, כה is written at the warning, but not at the actual plague. Whereas for the killing of the first-born, כה אמר ה' is written at the actual plague.

ואמרת אליו, “and you will say to him, etc.” some commentators believe that the purpose of this private talk and warning to Pharaoh near the river was that it was a ritually pure area, as opposed to his palace which was filled with abominations and therefore not a place where G-d’s sacred name is to be spoken.

G'd may have intended another lesson for Pharaoh, one which is alluded to in Shemot Rabbah 8,1 based on Ezekiel 29,3 where Pharaoh is described as claiming that he had made the river Nile and that he owned it. Since Pharaoh had thus elevated himself to the level of a deity, he had to leave the palace every morning and answer a call of nature where he would not be seen in order that he could maintain the myth of being a god. G'd exploded this myth by sending Moses to him at the time and place Pharaoh had reserved for his very human needs. Moses first told Pharaoh that the G'd of the Hebrews was well aware of his whereabouts and wanted him to know this and embarass him with this knowledge. Pharaoh was now under threat that his myth might be shattered if Moses were to tell his servants of their master's weakness. When G'd added that so far Pharaoh had not listened to him, He wanted Pharaoh to know that though the latter had not specifically refused Moses' latest demand, G'd could read his thoughts.

The words "the G'd of the Hebrews has sent me to you," may also be a way of telling Pharaoh that the demand to release the Israelites need not be repeated before Moses would strike the river Nile and turn it into blood. The word כה was quite enough to show us that the plague that follows was the result of the demand to let the Israelites go which Pharaoh had thus far ignored. After all, Moses had previously identified himself and Pharaoh had ignored the demand to dismiss the Israelites. If Pharaoh thought that the fact that he had not yet been smitten for his refusal was a sign that G'd's threats were not to be taken seriously, he would find out immediately how wrong he had been.

ונהפכו לדם AND THEY SHALL BE TURNED INTO BLOOD — Because rain does not fall in Egypt but the Nile rises and irrigates the land and the Egyptians on this account worshipped the Nile, therefore God first smote their deity and afterwards smote them (Exodus Rabbah 9:9).

'בזאת תדע כי אני ה, to teach you who have said: “I do not know any god by the name of Hashem.” (5,2)

'בזאת תדע כי אני ה; I will turn something that never changes in nature and never ceases to flow, into something else. This will demonstrate My power over natural law.

בזאת תדע כי אני ה׳, "In this you shall know that I am י־ה־ו־ה." The reason G'd used the plague of blood to prove to Pharaoh that He was who He said He was, is understandable when we consider Shemot Rabbah 9,9 according to which the Egyptians looked upon the Nile as a benevolent deity. By striking this deity first and turning it into a source of curse instead of a source of life, G'd demonstrated that He owned the Nile. According to the Zohar volume 3 page 297 the tetragram implies the eternity of G'd. He had preceded the river Nile just as He had preceded every other phenomenon in the world.

כה אמר ה'.....הנה אנכי מכה במטה אשר בידי, “Thus says the Lord….behold I am about to strike with the staff which is in my hand, etc.” According to Ibn Ezra this verse is only a short summary of what is going to happen, the missing ingredient being the name of the One Who had entrusted Moses with this mission. The verse really should have read: “here I, the Lord’s messenger, am about to strike the waters in the river Nile with the staff which is in the hands of Aaron.” Moses described the staff as being in his own hand, although Aaron would use it to turn the water into blood, the reason being that he wanted to make plain to Pharaoh that both he and Aaron were equally involved in what was going to unfold before his eyes. Personally, I do not see why Ibn Ezra had any difficulty with the wording as it is, seeing that, as we already explained, it was always Aaron who addressed Moses’ words to Pharaoh. It is natural therefore that he referred to the staff as his staff.

V. 17. בזאת תדע כי אני ד׳, dass der gegenwärtige und nächste Moment nicht blindnotwendige Folge von tausendjährigem Kausalnexus ist, sondern jeder kommende Moment unmittelbares Produkt meines Willens ist, der ich die ganze Zukunft frei in Händen habe.

בזאת תדע, “by the way the punishment fits the crime you will know;” seeing that you have said: “I don’t know a deity called Hashem, I will give you proof of the existence and power of such a deity.” The precise meaning of the word תדע here is: “you will begin to know.”

G'd also hinted at His attribute of Mercy when He smote the river. He wanted to give Pharaoh a chance to repent when the latter realised His awesome power as manifested by His turning the river into blood. If not for the attribute of Mercy as represented by the tetragram, G'd would have already killed Pharaoh outright at this stage. The words בזאת תדע therefore refer to G'd's attribute of Mercy.

ונהפכו, “and they will be turned (into blood);” the letter ה is written with the vowel segol.

הנה אנכי מכה במטה אשר בידי, “I am about to strike with the staff which is my hand, etc.” The words הנה אנכי mean “at my command,” (seeing Aaron was doing the actual striking of the river, verse 20); The verse teaches that the water was transformed not only in appearance but also in taste as well as in smell. We know that the appearance changed from verse 20 where the miracle is described as occurring before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants. We know that the taste of the river changed from the words: “the fish in the river died.” Fish live in a cool environment. When the water turned into blood it also became warmer. The fish drank from it and died as they could not survive in the warmer temperatures. We know that the smell of the river changed from the words: “the river stank.”

ונלאו מצרים THE EGYPTIANS SHALL WEARY THEMSELVES in seeking a cure for the waters of the river that they may become fitted for drinking.

ונלאו, I explained the origin of this word already on Genesis 19,11. It is a reinforced version of saying “they could not.” It is an expression of being powerless.

והדגה אשר ביאור תמות, the river will not retain the appearance of a river, part of it has been turned into blood; but the entire river bed will be filled with blood so that the fish have no habitat in which to survive.

V. 18. ונלאו, sie werden zur Einsicht der "Verneinung", zur Einsicht der Unmöglichkeit gebracht werden. Es wird ihnen damit das Bewusstsein werden, wenn es so bliebe, müssten sie fast aus dem Lande. Von oben gibts keinen Regen, der Fluss gibt kein Wasser mehr, Mizrajim wird zur Wüste. לאה, Wurzel von לא, Verneinung des Seins, (im Gegensatz zu אל: Verneinung des Willens). לאה: zur Nichtverwirklichung einer Absicht kommen, etwas nicht verwirklichen können, zweckloses Abmühen. Verwandt damit ותלה מצרים ,להה (Bereschit 47, 13): verschwand aus der Wirklichkeit. כמתלהלה, (Mischle 26, 18) wie einer, der etwas tut, was gar keine Folgen hat. לעה bei חז׳ל ein zweckerreichendes Bemühen. לחי, von לחה, ein Organ mit sehr positiver, anstrengender Tätigkeit, (bei חז׳׳ל ja auch לעא, vielleicht ist auch מתלעות von לעה, wie מתלאה (Maleachi 1, 13) von לאה). — (Es ist eigentümlich, dass die Verbote in der תורה größtenteils, nicht, wie zu erwarten stand, mit אַל, sondern mit לא ausgesprochen sind. Es scheint, daß לא תגנוב usw. eine viel tiefere Negierung des Schlechten ist, als אל תגנוב usw. wäre. אַל würde einen Willen voraussetzen, der durch das Verbot zurückgedrängt wird; לא aber verneint die Ausübung des Schlechten ganz und gar von uns: wenn du Jude bist, wird es dein Wille gar nicht sein, etwas zu tun, dem erst das Gesetz entgegentreten müsste, als Jude sollst du es nicht nur nicht tun, als Jude wirst du es nicht tun. So haben nach R. Akiba unsere Väter auch die Verbote mit einem freudigen Ja, wie die Gebote begrüßt, על הן הן ועל לאו הן, haben, wie bei Erfüllung einer Mizwa, eine lebendige freudige Energie auch für die Verwirklichung des Verbotes eingesetzt).

ובאש, “and it will become foul smelling;” if it had not turned evil smelling, the Egyptians might not have desisted from trying to drink its waters. The fact that the waters had assumed the colour of blood would not have been enough to discourage them. We witness people drinking the waters of polluted rivers nowadays, as long as the waters have not become putrid. The fish in the river Nile had to die in order to ensure that the river became putrid. Our author wonders why in light of this the name of the plague is not באש, “stench,” instead of דם, “blood.” He concludes that the reason this is so is that stench is not something visible, and it was important that the plague be something visible to everyone’s eyes.

ונלאו מצרים, digging around the river bed trying to find water. This referred to what the Torah described in verse 24 ויחפרו כל מצרים סביבות היאור, “all the Egyptians dug all around the river.”

אמר אל אהרן SAY UNTO AARON — Because the river had protected Moses when he was cast into it, therefore it was not smitten by him neither at the plague of blood nor at that of frogs, but it was smitten by Aaron (Exodus Rabbah 9:10).

The water in the wooden vessels and the stone vessels. Rashi is explaining that the plague affected only the water in the vessels, but not the wood and stone vessels themselves.

V. 19. מטך, nicht Mosche Stab, das Werkzeug ist gleichgültig, es war ja kein Zauber, sondern Gottes Wirkung. Bevor Aaron das Wasser des Nil vor Pharaos Augen berührte, soll er den Stab in der Richtung über alle davon abgeleitete Wasser schwenken, um im vorhinein auch deren Umwandlung als seine Absicht und Wirkung anzukündigen; sonst hätte die auch bei den von Aaron nicht berührten Wassern eingetretene Wandlung Pharao das Ganze als ein Naturphänomen erscheinen lassen können. Daher war auch wohl nur das Nilwasser, soweit es das Land in Kanälen etc. etc. durchströmte, getroffen. Wenigstens wird in der Ankündigung und in dem Erfolg wiederholt und ausdrücklich nur vom Wasser des Nil gesprochen, המים אשר ביאר. Brunnenwasser blieb gut. Es sollte ja überhaupt nur der Nil als solcher, als Grundbedingung des ägyptischen Bodens in Beziehung zum גרות getroffen werden.

נהרתם THEIR STREAMS — These are the flowing rivers, just like our rivers in France.

יאריהם — These are canals which convey water being made by human agency and extending from the river bank into the fields. The waters of the Nile increase in volume and rise by way of these canals and so irrigate the fields.

אגמיהם — A collection of waters that neither spring up from beneath the ground nor flow along, but which remain in one spot. In old French they call it étang.

בכל ארץ מצרים [THERE WILL BE BLOOD] THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT— also in their bathing establishments and in the baths in their houses.

ובעצים ובאבנים — the water which happened to be BOTH IN vessels of WOOD AND in vessels of STONE.

AND HE LIFTED UP THE ROD, AND SMOTE THE WATERS THAT WERE IN THE RIVER IN THE SIGHT OF PHARAOH. That is to say, Aaron lifted up the rod and stretched out his hand over the land of Egypt in all directions,¹²⁵Ramban’s intent is to state that the lifting up of the rod, mentioned here in Verse 20, is identical with “stretch out thy hand,” mentioned in G-d’s command in Verse 19. Ibn Ezra, as stated further in the text, differs with this opinion. and afterwards he smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh. In Pharaoh’s sight, all the waters that were in the river turned to blood, and the blood was furthermore throughout all the land of Egypt.¹²⁶Verse 21. Ramban thus explains that the waters that were in the river turned to blood by reason of the smiting of the rod, while the waters in all other places turned into blood by reason of Aaron’s stretching forth his hand in all directions (Bachya). And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that Scripture mentioned the smiting of the river but found it unnecessary to mention the stretching out of the hand [in all directions] over the entire land of Egypt.¹²⁷Thus according to Ibn Ezra, Scripture merely shortened its account here and did not mention the stretching out of Aaron’s hand, but not, as Ramban has it, that the stretching out of the hand is already included in the act of the smiting of the waters of the river.

לעיני פרעה, this was a big boost for Moses’ stature, that Aaron, merely his messenger, was able to accomplish this and use his staff on a regular basis.

ויעשו כן משה ואהרן, Moses and Aaron did so precisely, etc. This means that when Moses and Aaron smote the river the result was that G'd's will was done and the result was the same as if G'd Himself had struck the river. Please read what I have already written on verse six concerning such expressions in the Torah, as well as what I shall be writing on the verse following.

וירם במטה, “he held the staff aloft, etc.” Nachmanides explains the construction וירם במטה as meaning that Aaron raised the staff with his hand extending it in all the directions of the globe, exactly as commanded, i.e. קח את מטך ונטה את ידך, and after having extended his hand in every direction he proceeded to strike the waters of the river Nile. Ibn Ezra also writes that the Torah mentions the fact that the river was struck, but there was no need to mention the motions made with the hand or arm in all directions of the land of Egypt, as the raising of the staff automatically includes the raising of the hand holding the staff.

ויהפכו כל המים אשר ביאור לדם, “all the water in the river had been turned into blood.” The river had been turned into blood only temporarily, and the fish died immediately on account of being unable to survive in a river of blood. As soon as all the fish had died, the river reverted to being water. As to the Torah having written that “the Egyptians could not drink water from the river,” this was not on account of the blood, for we do not find that they even tried to reverse the plague, but that was, as the Torah writes, because the stench of the water on account of all the dead fish. The proof of this is that the Torah writes: ויעשו כן כל חרטומי מצרים, “all of the sorcerers of Egypt performed a similar miracle;” if the waters had not first been restored, how could they have demonstrated their sorcery? Some commentators claim that the plague lasted for slightly over a week, a quarter of a month, for all waters visible to the people during that period. During that period, the sorcerers busied themselves with subterranean water. Their proof is that the Torah writes that “the Egyptians dug all around the river to find water as they could not drink the water from the river.” (verse 24). The subterranean waters had not been turned into blood.

לעיני פרעה ולעיני עבדיו, before the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of his servants. Although Moses issued the warning to Pharaoh when the latter was unaccompanied because he hid his need to answer calls of nature, the Torah tells us that G'd delayed implementing the plague until it could be done publicly in the presence of Pharaoh's servants. While it is true that the text does not mention this, it is most likely that G'd had mentioned this to Moses for reasons of maximum effect. It is even possible that the words כן כאשר צוה, "exactly as He commanded," refer to words G'd had told Moses but which were not spelled out in our text.

מתה, the accent is on the first syllable as the verb is in the past tense. When the same verb occurs in the present tense/future tense, as in Genesis 30,1 the accent is on the last syllable. In Genesis 48,7 when Yaakov describes Rachel having died on him, the accent is also on the first syllable.

והדגה…מתה, and the fish…died; the Torah reports this detail to show that the Egyptians realised that the plague was not just a sleight of hand, i.e. make-believe. The blood would kill the people who drank it (in quantities). The fact that the river stank proved that the plague was for real. When the Torah adds ויהי הדם בכל ארץ מצרים, "the blood persisted throughout the land of Egypt," the reference is to bath-houses, bathtubs, etc. Perhaps the Torah wanted to tell us that the Egyptians took the "blood" from one location to another. If the "blood" had been the result of witch-craft it would have reverted to water as soon as it had been removed from the sphere of the sorcerer who had performed the trick (compare Zohar volume 2 page 192). The Torah tells us that the Egyptians realised that this phenomenon was something over and above the kind they were used to see their own sorcerers perform.

בלטיהם SECRET ARTS — magic formulas which they utter secretly and in a whisper. Our Rabbis stated that בלטיהם refers to the work of demons, בלהטיהם to witchcraft (Sanhedrin 67b; Exodus Rabbah 9:11).

ויעשו כן חרטומי מצרים, The Egyptian sorcerers did likewise, etc. If we follow the sages in Shemot Rabbah 9,11 according to whom all the waters in Egypt were struck, where did the Egyptian sorcerers practice their art and convert water into blood? Perhaps only visible sources of water had been turned into blood, whereas subterranean water had remained in its original state. This would explain why the Torah described the Egyptians as digging for water in verse 24.

ויעשו כן חרטומי מצרים, “the sorcerers of Egypt did likewise.” From where did these sorcerers take the water to duplicate Aaron’s turning the water into blood? They must have either used water that the Egyptians had dug up surrounding the areas that contained water, or they must have taken water in possession of the Israelites. Some commentators claim that the waters that Aaron had turned into blood reverted to being water in short order, so that there was no shortage of water anywhere. This would account for the fact that Pharaoh failed to be impressed with this miracle. This is why Moses and Aaron were not called in to reverse the plague, (as they were on the next occasion).

בלטיהם refers to works of demons. . . This is because demons walk בלט (with stealth). In Sanhedrin 67b it says: R. Aiba bar Nagari said in the name of R. Chiya bar Abba, בלטיהם is works of demons; בלהטיהם is witchcraft. And so it says (Bereishis 3:24), “The להט of the sword. . .” Rashi (Sanhedrin, ibid.) explains בלטיהן as in (Shoftim 4:21): “And she went to him בלאט (with stealth).”

ויעשו כן, “and the sorcerers of Pharaoh did something similar (with the aid of their witchcraft)” Where did they take water from to duplicate such a feat? Either they brought the water from outside Egypt, or they must have dug for it. Also, the fact that the Egyptians are reported to have dug for water, something reported in verse 24 also seems out of place. We do not apply the principle of the Torah reversing historical sequences within the same paragraph.

ויחזק לב פרעה AND PHARAOH’S HEART WAS HARDENED so that he said: You are doing this by witchcraft: “You are bringing straw to Afarayim”— a city that is full of straw; thus you bring sorcery to Egypt, a land that is full of sorcery (Menachot 85a; Exodus Rabbah 9:6-7).

It is also possible that the sorcerers used the water which the Israelites had sold to the Egyptians according to Shemot Rabbah 9,10. Although we have explained that the average Egyptian had already realised that the miracle performed by Moses and Aaron was real, Pharaoh's attitude remained obstinate and he refused to see a qualitative difference between the magic of his own magicians and that of Moses and Aaron. This is why he did not examine if what his magicians had done was more than make-believe.

גם לזאת [NEITHER DID HE SET HIS HEART] TO THIS ALSO — to the wonder of the staff which was changed into a serpent and also not to that of the blood.

NEITHER DID HE SET HIS HEART TO THIS ALSO. I.e., to the wonder of the rod turning into a serpent,¹²⁸Above, Verse 10. nor to that of the waters turning into blood. [Thus the language of Rashi.] A more correct interpretation would appear to be that to this also means “to this also which was indeed a plague,” [as distinguished from the wonder of the rod turning into a serpent, which was not a plague at all], and he should have feared lest the power of G-d be upon him from now on.¹²⁹See Ramban above in Verse 16, where he explains that beginning with the wonder of the rod, Pharaoh already began fearing the coming of the plagues. It is this then which Scripture says here: In spite of his fear which he already had then even before the plagues came, “also” now that the first plague did come and he should have feared the coming of other plagues, yet he did not set his heart to it.

גם לזאת, seeing he had already made himself obstinate, vayechezak, (verse 13) at this time also, he relied on his own resources of self confidence to ignore what he had seen. However, when it came to the plague of frogs Pharaoh already began to waver and external stimuli in stiffening his attitude were required. Hence we read there (8,11) vayachbed Paroh et libbo, that Pharaoh had to draw on external stimuli to maintain his obstinate pose. The same was true with the fourth plague, that of the wild beasts invading civilised urban regions. (8,28)

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת, to recognise the difference between what G’d had done and what his sorcerers had done. G’d’s activity had produced a total change in the nature of the river Nile, a phenomenon which had been considered as inviolate, constant, incapable of being abolished. It had now been turned into “real blood,” so much so that all the fish had died. The changes effected by the tricks of the sorcerers were performed on phenomena that were unstable to begin with. Possibly, all the sorcerers produced was make believe, an illusion of blood.

ויפן ..ולא שת לבו, He turned…and did not take due notice of this, etc. The Torah is careful not to write that Pharaoh expressly refused to let the Israelites depart; Pharaoh was very anxious not to expose himself to additional retribution. We will explain on 8,4, why Pharaoh had not asked Moses and Aaron in this case to pray on his behalf and to remove the plague.

And [Pharaoh] paid no attention. He made no attempt to attain water for his country, because he was sure it was only witchcraft and the magic would soon vanish as was the way of witchcraft.

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת, “his heart did not become perturbed even by this.” Rashi understands the word גם, “also,” as referring to both the miracles of the staff and that of the water turning into blood. Nachmanides explains the words גם לזאת, as meaning that although the water having been turned into a blood was not a mere trick, but a real plague, Pharaoh refused to display any emotion at what he had witnessed. Normal people would have reacted by becoming afraid that the next plague would hurt them, personally.

לא יכלו לשתות מים מן היאור, “they could not drink the waters from the river.” Even when the river again flowed with water, they could not drink those waters as they had become putrid from the dead fish that had died when the water had turned into blood. This explanation does not appear to stand up in light of what the Torah writes, as we have been told specifically (verse 25), that “seven days elapsed after the Lord had struck the river.” In other words, the plague ran its course for a whole week, unless we must understand that line to mean that after the blood reverted to being water the Egyptians still could not drink from the river for a full week.

וימלא AND THERE WAS COMPLETED (the verb is singular) שבעת ימים the number of SEVEN DAYS during which the river did not return to its original condition. For each plague functioned a quarter of a month and for three quarters He warned and cautioned them (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 13; Exodus Rabbah 9:12).

And seven days were fulfilled after that the Eternal had smitten the river.¹³⁰Verse 25. This is connected with the verse above, and the purport thereof is as follows: And with this¹³¹The verse states, ‘Vayimalei’ (And it was fulfilled) seven days, using a singular verb when the verb actually required is a plural: vayimal’u (and they were fulfilled). Rashi explained it by adding the word minyan (number) in the singular, explaining it thus: “and the number of seven days was fulfilled.” Ramban suggests that the verse is connected to the preceding one and is to be understood with the additional word of bazeh (with this), thus rendering the sense of the verse: “and with this activity — i.e., with the Egyptians’ digging, etc., as stated in the above Verse 24 — was filled (or completed) seven days.” — namely, the Egyptians’ digging round about the river for they could not drink of the water of the river, [as stated in Verse 24] — with this was filled the seven days after the river had been smitten.

שבעת ימים, this was the duration of the plague that struck the river.

וימלא שבעת ימים, Seven days went by, etc. The word וימלא, "became full," refers to the pre-arranged length G'd had ordained for the plague. After that period had elapsed, G'd told Moses to go and see Pharaoh again (verse 26). The Torah tells us this detail to show us the obstinacy of Pharaoh who could let an entire week go by without making an effort to somehow have this plague terminated. All of this is in accordance with an opinion expressed in Shemot Rabbah 9,12 that Moses spent 24 days warning Pharaoh of the impending plague whereas once the plague materialised it remained in effect for seven days. According to the opinion that it was the other way around, i.e. that Moses warned Pharaoh of the impending plague for seven days running, whereas once the plague materialised it lasted for 24 days, the seven days mentioned here refer to the period of warning. The plague then would have remained in effect for the remainder of the month. The problem with this explanation is the plague of darkness which is described as being intense for three days (10,22). Perhaps both the plague of darkness and the plague of blood were exceptions and the author of the opinion that the plagues remained in effect for 24 days agrees that the water in the river did not remain blood for 24 days on end. This would account for the fact that the Torah mentions a time frame only in the case of those two plagues. I believe that even though G'd had set a time-limit for each plague, Moses' prayer would have sufficed to terminate the plague sooner.

וימלא שבעת ימים, “seven days had elapsed.” This verse is a continuation of the previous verse that had told us that the Egyptians had been unable to drink the waters of the river without telling us for how long such a condition continued. For seven whole days the Egyptians, in order to secure drinking water for themselves, had to dig in the neighbourhood of the river’s embankment Ibn Ezra writes that many people claim that the waters which, while in the hands of the Egyptians had turned red, immediately resumed normal colour as soon as the Jews held it in their hands. If that were true, why did the Torah not mention this additional miracle? Personally, [Ibn Ezra speaking, Ed.] I believe that the first three plagues, i.e. blood, frogs, and the vermin, struck not only the Egyptians but also the Israelites, seeing that these three plague caused relatively little damage to either property or life. I believe we are duty-bound to pay careful attention to the text, and seeing that the first three plagues were more of a nuisance than a real danger to life and property, and the Torah did not spell out, as it did later- that the Israelites were immune, we must assume that they were not. Only the fourth plague, wild beasts invading urban areas and wreaking havoc, were major disasters, and the fact that these beasts would not invade the province of Goshen, home to most of the Israelites, was predicted at the time when Moses warned Pharaoh of the impending plague. (verse 18) All subsequent plagues struck only the Egyptians, as testified by the Torah. Therefore I conclude, that just as the Egyptians had to dig for water- but they secured it for themselves- so did the Israelites. Ibn Ezra’s determination to follow the plain meaning of the text prompted him to even assume that the locust and the boils (8th and 6th plague), which did not pose serious danger to people, afflicted also the Israelites. [Our author not only accuses him of ignoring the approach of our sages, but considers this as unnecessarily accusing G’d of afflicting His own people as if He were not able to immunize them. Ed.]

וימלא שבעת ימים, “seven days were completed.” The Torah spells out that the duration of the first plague was seven days, the length of time a menstruating woman is bleeding or is considered impure due to bleeding. The ritual state of the Egyptians was comparable to that of a menstruating woman. The Torah did not bother to give us data for the length of subsequent plagues as they lasted seven days unless otherwise reported. The interval between one plague and the next was 21 days so that a plague and its aftermath lasted approx. a month. We find this confirmed by Rabbi Eliezer Hakalir in his liturgical poem (recited in Ashkenazi congregations on the eighth day of Passover, commencing with the words מה מועיל רשע רשע בעליו) He says there that a full month was allocated to each plague and that three quarters of the month was allowed for warning and waiting. The fourth part of the month was the actual duration of the plague.

The number of seven days. . . Rashi is explaining why it is not written וְיִמָּלְאוּ , [the plural form of “full,” instead of וימלא , which is the singular form.] Rashi explains that וַיִמָּלֵא refers to the number, [which is singular,] and not to “seven days.”

וימלא שבעת ימים, “seven complete days had passed.” According to Rashi, this was the pattern of all the plagues, that a plague lasted for one quarter of the month, whereas the warning that preceded it was in effect for the other three quarters of that month, so that each plague was relevant for a whole month. This interpretation is derived from Psalms 135,9: שלח אותות ומופתים בתוככי מצרים, “He sent signs and miracles against Egypt.” The last two letters in the word בתוככי, whose numerical value is 30 were unnecessary, and are the hint that each plague was relevant for 30 days.Our author raises the point that according to the wording in Rashi, the month had only 28 days then. He suggests as a possible solution, that the Egyptians were given the extra two days after the completion of each plague as a sort of “relief” before the warning of the following plague was issued. A further question is raised concerning the length of the plague of darkness, where the Torah described the most intense portion of that plague as having lasted for three days. (Exodus 10,22-23). He suggests that when we read in Exodus 14,20: ויהי הענן והחושך, “there was both the cloud and the darkness,” (as the beaches of the sea of reeds) the missing days were made up. (Compare Sh’mot Rabbah 14,3.) It is notable that in the Haggadah shel Pesssach, the text we read on the first night of Passover, where Rabbi Yehudah sums us the plagues on an acronym- דצ'ך עד'ש באח'ב, and everyone asks what he contributed to our understanding of those events by doing so, that Rabbi Yitzchok son of Rabbi Asher, who was born on the same calendar date as the death of his father, so that he was given the same name as that of his late father, they applied to him the words of the verse: וזרח השמש ובא השמש, “a new sun began to shine as soon as the sun had set,” (Kohelet 1,8) pointed out that when we place the three acronyms of Rabbi Yehudah one on top of the other like this: דצך, עדש, באחב you will find both at the beginning, the middle and the end the acronym for the three plagues of כנים, שחין, and חשך. [Our author adds that he will not elaborate further, presumably because he had not figured out how this is arrived at by Rabbi Yitzchok. This editor remembers his father of blessed memory explaining to him, that these were the three plagues not preceded by a warning. Ed.] Rabbi Yehudah may have wished to remind the reader that the order in which the plagues occurred was the one listed in the Torah, and not the order in which the plagues are listed in the Book of psalms (chapter 105). The Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin, folio 81 [Mishnah] relates that it was customary if people had been administered 39 lashes for having committed sins that qualified for such a penalty, if they sinned repeatedly, to lock them up and feed them a diet of barley until the sinner’s intestines collapsed and he died.

For each plague functioned for a quarter of a month. . . in other words, seven days. You might object: But the plague of darkness lasted only six days, as indicated in Parshas Bo (10:22). The answer is: Later, in Parshas Beshalach (14:20) it said: “There was cloud and darkness and the night was illuminated.” This means: The cloud and darkness was for Egypt, while the night was illuminated for Yisrael. And why was there darkness for Egypt? Because there, Hashem punished them with the seventh day of darkness that He did not bring upon them at first.

אחרי הכות ה' את היאור, “after the Lord had struck the river Nile;” the reason why G–d smote the river Nile first was that the Egyptians considered it as providing the backbone to their economy, its waters irrigating their fields. G–d reasoned that He would first smite the Egyptians’ deity and, if this did not help, the Egyptians themselves. This principle is described as a parable in the Tanchuma section 13 on our portion: a layman decides to destroy the idol first, which will make it easier subsequently to destroy its priests.

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)

ואם מאן אתה — AND IF THOU BE A REFUSER. מאן — The word has the same meaning as ממאן, refusing, (the Piel participle) only the difference is that it is a description of a person having reference to the action he always does (i. e. it is an adjective and the full phrase would be איש מאן) similar to שָׁלֵו “a man at ease” (Job 16:12); שָׁקֵט “a man at ease” (Jeremiah 48:11); וְזָעֵף [‎סר] “a man displeased” (1 Kings 20:43), whilst מְמאֵן merely describes the person as refusing at some particular moment.

נוגף, another word for makkeh, “strike, smite.”

ואם מאן אתה, "if you should refuse, etc." We learn from here that for a warning to be legally valid it must be delivered immediately preceding the sin.

את כל גבולך, “your entire territory.” The word “your territory” excludes the territory of Cham. The sons of Cham (the kushim, negroes?) and the sons of Mitzrayim had a territory גבול, between their respective territories. According to Shemot Rabbah 10,2 this area had remained disputed between them until that time. Due to the plague of the frogs they made peace amongst themselves. They came to the realisation that the area not invaded by the frogs belonged to the territory of Cham. We derive this from the words of Moses’ warning “your entire territory,” i.e. not anyone else’s territory.

It is describing a person based on an ongoing action. . . [Rashi is answering the question:] מָאֵן implies that Pharaoh constantly refuses. And that is not so, for just because Pharaoh refuses now, therefore will he constantly refuse? Thus Rashi explains: “It is describing. . .” [And to prove the point,] Rashi says it is similar to שלו ושקט , which [due to their grammatical form] imply a permanent, ongoing condition, yet [in fact they only] describe a temporary condition, [since no one is constantly serene and at ease]. Similarly with סר וזעף , which imply permanency although they are only temporary. Therefore Rashi explains, “It is describing. . .”

V. 27. נגף, verwandt mit נקב, sehr scharf und spitz treffen. גבול scheint ursprünglich nicht sowohl Grenze, als vielmehr Gebiet zu bedeuten, verwandt mit יבול: das in unser Gebiet, in unsern Besitzkreis Gekommene. צפרדע kann nicht Krokodil gewesen sein, es wären dann keine Ägypter übrig geblieben. Es ist klar, dass es ein nur lästiges, aber nicht gefährliches Tier gewesen. Traditionell waren es Frösche. Zusammengesetzt aus צפר: Morgen, und דע: kundig, chaldäisch עור דעניא: kundig der wachwerdenden Zeit. Ein Tier, das Nachts laut ist, aber vor dem ersten Strahl und Geräusch des Morgens scheu verstummt.

נגף את כל גבולך I WILL PLAGUE ALL THY BOUNDARIES — נוגף means smiting. So, too, wherever a form from the root נגף occurs, it does not necessarily denote killing but it may mean merely smiting. Similarly, (Exodus 21:22) “and if they hurt (ונגפו) a woman with child”, does not mean they kill (as the context shows); so, too, (Jeremiah 13:16) “and before your feet stumble (יתנגפו)” (i. e. hit against something); (Psalms 91:12) “lest thou dash (תגף) thy foot against a stone”; (Isaiah 8:14) ”and for a stone of stumbling (נגף)‎”.

ועלו AND THEY SHALL GO UP from the river

V. 28. ועלו ובאו וגו׳. Diese licht- und geräuschscheuen Tiere werden aus ihrem Dunkel heraufkommen und den "König" in seinem Palast, den königlichen "Menschen" in seinem Schlafgemach, auf seinem Bette, und so abwärts die königlichen Diener und das Volk beunruhigen, in Öfen und Trögen ihr Brot verekeln, ja an Fürst, Volk und Diener selbst hinankriechen und so die über ihre Sklaven sich wie Götter erhebenden Ägypter lehren, wie selbst das kleinste, sonst so scheue Tier, allen Respekts und aller Scheu vor ihnen ledig sei. — תנור, von נור, die Feuersglut: der Ofen. — משארותיך von שאר, Grundbedeutung: das zur Ergänzung Fehlende, daher: Rest, ferner: Verwandtschaft. Die Verwandten zusammen bringen eine Eigentümlichkeit in die Erscheinung. Der Charakter der Ureltern verteilt sich unter den Nachkommen in verschiedene Nuancen, die sich gegenseitig ergänzen. Endlich: Nahrung, die stoffliche Ergänzung des Körpers. משארת: das Nahrungsbereitungsgerät: der Trog. —

בביתך — first into thine house and afterwards, בבית עבדיך — into the house of thy servants; he took the first step in counselling evil against Israel, as it is stated (1:9) “He spake to his people, “[Behold, the children of Israel are more numerous and powerful than we]”, and with him, therefore, did punishment begin (cf. Sotah 11a and Exodus Rabbah 10:3).

Fassen wir all die Räume zusammen, welche die Frösche so respektwidrig und ungescheut beunruhigt, so sehen wir alle die Momente, welche die ägyptischen Herren ihren iwrischen Sklaven verkümmert. Als עבדים hatten unsere Väter kein Haus, kein Familiengemach, keinen Schlaf, kein Brot — daran erinnert ja noch unser לחם עוני — in allen diesen Räumen spazieren die scheuen Tiere herum und zeigen dem Ägypter, was es heißt, wenn man nicht einmal sein Haus, sein Bette, sein Brot ruhig genießen kann, ohne jeden Augenblick störenden, lästigen Eingriff befürchten zu müssen. Charakteristisch folgen bei Aufzählung der Häuser auf den Palast des Königs die Häuser der Königsdiener und dann das Volk, bei Aufzählung der Persönlichkeiten aber erst das Volk und dann die Diener. In äußerer Erscheinung der Pracht stehen natürlich die Häuser des Volkes hinter den Häusern der Königsbeamten zurück. An zu respektierender Menschenwürde sind aber unter einem Pharaonenregime die Königsdiener die letzten. In einem Pharaonenreiche sind nur die beiden Endpunkte frei: der König und verhältnismäßig auch das Volk, das wenigstens in seinen inneren Privatverhältnissen unangefochten ist, während die äußerlich mit Glanz bekleideten Chargen die verachtetsten Sklaven sind und vor der leisesten Anwandlung einer königlichen Laune zittern. "Eine Fliege im Kelch, ein Haar im Brot" und ein Fußtritt weist den goldverbrämten Großen in den Kerker, um ihn "bei Gelegenheit" aufknüpfen zu lassen. —

ובכה ובעמך AND UPON (or in) THEE AND THY PEOPLE [SHALL THE FROGS COME] — they made their way right into their bodies and crowed (Exodus Rabbah 10:3).

ובכה ובעמך, “against you as well as against your people.” The unusual letter ה at the end of the word ובך “and against you,” indicates that every one of the ten plagues was subdivided into 5 plagues [compare Haggadah shel Pessach Rabbi Yossi Hagalilee].

They would enter and croak. מקרקרין means crying out and making noise.

ובכה ובעמך, “and against you as well as against your people, etc;” the word: ובכה is to be read as if it had been spelled as ובך.