פירוש על שמות 10:4

BEHOLD, TOMORROW WILL I BRING LOCUSTS. Commentators¹⁴Ibn Ezra (Verse 5) in the name of another commentator. have said that there was a long interval between the plague of hail and that of locusts, as is suggested by the expression, and [the locusts] shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field.¹⁵In the present verse. Since we have been told that the hail broke every tree of the field (above, 9:25), a long interval must have passed to allow the trees to grow back. In my opinion, the interval between these plagues was not a long one but rather was very brief. It is known that the judgment of the Egyptians did not last more than a year, this being so established through our knowledge of the years of Moses our Teacher,¹⁶Moses was eighty years old when he stood before Pharaoh (above, 7:7). Add the forty years of the desert, and you have the one hundred and twenty years he lived (Deuteronomy 34:7). Thus, the elapsed time of all the ten punishments decreed for Egypt could not possibly have been more than a year. just as we have been taught in Tractate Eduyoth:¹⁷Eduyoth 2:10. “The judgment of the Egyptians in Egypt endured twelve months.” And so it is indicated by Scripture when saying, and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail.¹⁸Verse 5. And it is further written, even all that the hail had left,¹⁹Further, Verse 12. thus indicating that it was in that very same year. If so, [we must say that] the hail came down that year during the month of Adar, not before, for the barley was in the ears²⁰Above, 9:31. [and therefore smitten by the hail], but the wheat had not grown up²¹Ibid., Verse 32. and therefore its tender sprouts could not be completely destroyed by the hail, as they would grow back again. Then too the vine had not yet budded, and the trees were not in flower. It is for this reason that Scripture states, and [the hail] broke every tree of the field,²²Above, 9:25. meaning that it broke the branches and boughs. Then, in one month’s time, in the month of Nisan, the wheat and the spelt grew, these being the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail,¹⁸Verse 5. and the trees began to blossom and the flowers appeared. This then is the purport of the word hatzomei’ach (which groweth),¹⁸Verse 5. since the locusts came and ate their blossoms and thus destroyed everything since they did not leave them a blossom or flower. And in this very month, the children of Israel were redeemed [from Egypt]. The verse which states [that the locusts consumed] all the fruit of the tree,²³Verse 15. [which would indicate that there were fruits already on the tree and, therefore, that a long interval must have passed between the plagues of hail and locusts], is to be understood as referring to the flower which produces the fruits, similar to the expression, every herb on the tree,²³Verse 15. [which cannot be understood literally, since herbs do not grow on trees. Consequently, it must be understood as Rashi has it: “any green leaf on the tree.” Here too then, “the fruit of the tree” is not to be taken literally, but should be understood as “the flower of the tree”].

הנני מביא מחר ארבה, “behold I will bring on a plague of locusts,” Nachmanides writes that some commentators believe that many months separated the plague of hail from that of the locusts. These scholars base themselves on the line (verse 5) ואכל את כל העץ הצומח לכם מן השדה, “it will consume every tree that grows for you in the field.” [seeing that the Torah had described the hail as ruining all the trees, (9,25) until they had been replaced how could the locusts eat their foliage? Ed.] Nachmanides himself disagrees with this view, claiming that only a few days elapsed between the plague of hail and that of locusts, seeing that the judgments visited upon the Egyptians did not exceed a period of 12 months. Moreover, it is clear from the Torah that there had been some residue which had not been harmed by the hail (again verse 5,ואכל את יתר הפלטה הנשארת לכם מן הברד, “it will consume any remnants left intact for you by the hail.”) This clearly shows that both plagues occurred in the same calendar year. The hail could not have occurred before the month of Adar, as no crop would have had advanced enough to be ruined; the plague of locusts, obviously, must have occurred before the middle of the month of Nissan, the month of the Exodus. The trees that the hail struck were the branches which had not yet sprouted blossoms or fruit. The trees struck by the locusts had already produced leaves, etc.

V. 4. בגבולך: du atmest wieder auf, hast wieder das alte Ägypten, und weil dir der eigentliche ägyptische Reichtum noch unangetastet geblieben, fühlst du dich sicher und reich und glaubst deshalb mein Volk knechten zu dürfen: wenn du sie nicht ziehen lässest, so sende ich dir in dein Gebiet mein Heer.