Commentaire de citation sur L’Exode 8:6

ויחזק לב פרעה, “Pharaoh’s heart remained stubborn, strong.” The reason why Pharaoh did not ask Moses to pray for the removal of this plague was that this would have been an admission that it was a heavenly phenomenon. [Besides thus far none of the plagues had caused deaths, only inconvenience. He felt that if this is all that Hashem can do, he could live with it. Ed.] There was a good reason to feel that a plague which was common among the poor people all the time, had spread for some reason beyond its normal boundaries. Pharaoh did not realise that the absence of a warning meant that this was not of Moses’ doing; in fact the reason why he had not been warned was that he had ignored the warnings issued before the first two plagues, so that this was the punishment for having ignored those two plagues to influence his attitude toward the Israelite slaves. Moreover, every group of three plagues, as pointed out by Rabbi Yehudah who characterised (summarised) them as acronyms, i.e. דצ׳ך, עד׳ש, באח׳ב, was also introduced by Moses as having a specific objective.(Compare Exodus 8,6: למען תדע כי אין כה׳ אלוקינו “so that you will realise that there is no G-d like our G-d.” Exodus 8,18: למען תדע כי אני ה׳ בקרב הארץ, “so that you will realise that I am the Lord right here on earth also.” Exodus 9,29: למען תדע כי לה׳ הארץ, “so that you will realise that the earth belongs to the Lord.”) Some commentators explain that the reason Rabbi Yehudah summarised the plagues as he did, was to remind us that this was the correct order, as compared to Psalms 78,44-51 where they are listed in a different sequence. Also in Psalms 105, 28-36 they are listed in a different order.

A Midrashic approach, based on Mechilta Yitro Bachodesh 9: the word כדברך in addition to the word סלחתי is similar to when Pharaoh told Moses כדברך, i.e. it is a form of admission. When the master agrees with conditions set by his servant such a servant is indeed blessed. (the reference is to Moses accepting Pharaoh’s request to delay removal of the frogs until the following day; Exodus 8,6) In this instance G’d, the master, accepted the servant Moses’ conditions.

V. 22. Vergl. הנני משליח בן (Schmot 8, 17). Im Gegensatz zu V. 6 ziehe ich die durch mich dem Tiere eingeflößte Scheu vor euch zurück und überlasse sie ihrem Triebe, euch anzugreifen, ושכלה אתכם. Siehe zu Bereschit 27, 45 והמעיטה אתכם im Gegensatz zu V. 9.