שָׁ֣לַֽח חֹ֭שֶׁךְ וַיַּחְשִׁ֑ךְ וְלֹֽא־מָ֝ר֗וּ אֶת־דברוו [דְּבָרֽוֹ׃]
Ia mengirimkan kegelapan, maka menjadi gelaplah; dan mereka tidak menentang firman-Nya.
Akeidat Yitzchak
Some difficulties in the text of our story: 1) Chapter 7,3-4 seems to contain superfluous verbiage. If Pharaoh would not listen, he would obviously not release the Israelites. 2) Having produced the miracle of the reptile swallowing the staffs, why did G-d send other miracles that the magicians could duplicate? 3) An examination of the three groups of plagues suggests that each successive group was less miraculous than the previous one. The reverse would have been expected! 4) Pharaoh's reactions seem puzzling from a psychological point of view. Sometimes he reacts to the impact of a plague; other times he reacts to the impact of the relief from the plague. Why? 5) Why did G-d say on the occasion of the plague of hail, "This time I will send all My plagues against you" (9,13)? After all, hail is only one plague! If G-d wanted to kill the Egyptian's livestock, why suggest that they make them take shelter? 6) When Pharaoh asked Moses, "Who are those who want to go?" why did Moses not simply say, "The whole nation" instead of the cumbersome, "With our youngsters and with our old folk we will go"? 7) In Chapter 7,25-26, Moses states, "You too will give us offerings that we will present to the Lord our G-d, and also our cattle will go with us." The order seems inverted. Surely taking their cattle is the more important of the two statements! 8) What gave Pharaoh the courage to finally threaten Moses (10,28) when he had never done so previously?