Tafsiran Keluaran 11:4: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ramban

ויאמר משה כה אמר ה AND MOSES SAID, THUS SAITH THE LORD — Whilst he was still standing before Pharaoh this prophecy was spoken to him, because after he left him, he did not see his face again (Exodus Rabbah 18:1).

ויאמר משה, Moses said: according to Rashi this paragraph was told to him while he was still standing in the palace in the presence of Pharaoh as he never saw him again later. The words: נאמרה לו, “were said (revealed) to him,” refer to Moses relating his latest prophecy to Pharaoh. The proof of this is that if these words were only now communicated to Moses by G-d, why did Rashi not comment this on verse 1 of our chapter? We must therefore understand Moses as having announced the plague of his own volition without a commandment at that time, as he had already done so with the plague of the locusts, as stated in Pessikta on the verse 29 in chapter 12. This is also the way it is described in Tanchuma 12,37 (older version) concerning that paragraph commencing with: “it was at about midnight;”

כחצות הלילה, “around midnight, etc.” G–d brought on the plagues on Egypt according to norms familiar to kings of flesh and blood. When a nation disobeys its ruler, the first thing such a ruler does is to interfere with its water supply. This is why Good first interfered with Egypt’s water supply, turning it into blood. When this proved ineffective, He resorted to frighten them by noises; in order to achieve this he had the frogs which are extremely noisy invade every part of the Egyptians’ homes, including their most private rooms. When this also proved useless, He subjected them to pricks such as are caused when a person is struck by arrows. The vermin did this to the skin of the Egyptians. Following the failure of achieving his objective, He subjected civilised Egyptians to barbarians, i.e. to hordes of ferocious animals whose normal habitat was elsewhere. The next step was to strike their livestock, still not afflicting them with lethal force. They were then subjected to intolerable stench, eventually even immobilised during the plague of darkness. When this proved ineffective, He struck dead both adults and children, i.e. their respective firstborns. Our author quotes verses from different parts of the Bible backing up his claims about frogs being noisy, etc.; etc.;