Commento su Esodo 10:1

ויאמר ה' אל משה בא אל פרעה AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES GO IN UNTO PHARAOH and warn him.

AND THE ETERNAL SAID UNTO MOSES: GO IN UNTO PHARAOH; FOR I HAVE HARDENED HIS HEART AND THE HEART OF HIS SERVANTS. The Holy One, blessed be He, informed Moses that it is He Who has hardened their hearts in spite of their fear of Him during the hail and their confession of sin.¹Although Scripture above (9:27) mentions only Pharaoh confessing his sin, it is apparent from Verse 30 there that the king’s servants also made this confession, since Moses said to all of them, But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Eternal G-d. This is a clear indication that the servants too had joined the king in admitting their guilt. Ramban is thus correct in writing here in the plural: “their confession of sin.” And He explained to him: “The reason I hardened their hearts is that I might set in their midst these signs that I wish to do among them so that the Egyptians will know My power, but not in order that I can punish them more on account of this hardening of heart, and also that you and all Israel should recount during the coming generations the power of My deeds, and you shall know that I am the Eternal,²Verse 2. and whatsoever I please, I do in heaven and in earth.”³See Psalms 135:6.

כי אני הכבדתי את לבו, during all the preceding plagues we do not find that G’d had told Moses that it was He Who had stiffened Pharaoh’s heart. However, since we have reached the stage where Pharaoh himself had said that “G’d is just whereas he and his people are the sinners,” (9,27) and still he had reneged and sinned deliberately, a phenomenon which must have seemed incomprehensible to Moses, G’d explains the psychology behind this, i.e. that it was not as hard to understand, as He Himself had to stiffen Pharaoh’s resolve causing him to renege. ואת לב עבדיו, as we are told in 9,34.

כי אני הכבדתי, even though Moses had said; “I know that you do not yet relate with awe and reverence to G’d,” (9,30) he thought that even if he does not humble himself to G’d because of G’d’s greatness, at least he should do what G’d says seeing that he has no choice, and can no longer withstand the cumulative effect of the plagues. He had arrived at this conclusion when he noted the words ה' הצדיק, “the Lord is the Just One.” However, when he found out that all these pious words notwithstanding Pharaoh continued to oppose G’d’s will in spite of the fact that he found it impossible to cope with the plagues, Moses had come to the conclusion that warning Pharaoh of an impending plague was an exercise in futility. This is why G’d had to tell him at this stage that already during the sixth plague (9,12) He had stiffened Pharaoh’s heart so that ordinary rules of psychology could no longer be applied to this man. The purpose was to enable G’d to demonstrate more miracles so that maybe some Egyptians would be moved by what they experienced to become penitents. If so, the Israelites in the future would be able to tell their children of the greatness of G’d’s miracles. This in turn would convince mankind that G’d loved His creatures and was very patient with them, giving them opportunities to mend their ways. This is why the warning to Pharaoh was in place although it would prove ineffectual. G’d’s plan was

ויאמר ה׳ אל משה, G'd said to Moses, etc. The Torah mentions אמירה, the soft approach as well as G'd's name as the Merciful One. This did not refer to the "sender," i.e. to G'd, but to the messenger Moses, as we see in verse 3. [Whereas as recently as 9,35 the Torah referred to Moses as having spoken sternly, דבר, to Pharaoh, now there is a change of mood. Ed.] Moses spoke in a kindly manner to Pharaoh even while delivering a warning of a devastating plague. G'd warned him to do so as otherwise he might have lived up to the description of the righteous man in Psalms 58,11 where the Holy Spirit describes the righteous as rejoicing when he observes G'd taking revenge. Moses is reminded that what truly makes the righteous happy is seeing G'd's attribute of Mercy in action.

בא אל פרעה כי אני הכבדתי את לבו, “come to Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart.” G’d informed Moses that although, by natural processes, Pharaoh’s heart had already become softened, and he had even confessed his guilt, He, the Lord, had now hardened his heart again.

And warn him. [Rashi knows this] because it is written, “ כי (for) I have hardened his heart.” Every כי that appears in Scripture comes to give a reason for what preceded. And if “Go in to Pharaoh” did not mean “and warn him,” how would כי be giving a reason for what preceded? This is what Hashem was saying to Moshe: [It is true that] warning Pharaoh will surely have no effect, since he did not send out the B’nei Yisrael in spite of his confession, “This time I have sinned” (9:27). Thus our verse explains: “For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants.” In other words, the warning is necessary for his servants, whose hearts had not yet hardened [and they rebelled in the plague of hail only because Hashem hardened their hearts]. The reason Hashem did not harden their hearts sooner [but He waited for the plague of hail to do so] is that the verse states there, “he that feared the word of Hashem . . . made his servants and his livestock flee. . .” (9:20). If Hashem had not hardened the servants’ hearts at that time, they would have insisted that Pharaoh release the B’nei Yisrael. Thus He hardened their hearts, “So that I will be able to set these signs in their midst.” Although [with the coming plague of locusts] Pharaoh’s servants said, “Send the men out” (20:7), their repentance was not wholehearted [and they deserved the ensuing punishment]. For they said to send only the men [and not the entire nation], as Pharaoh himself said, “The [adult] men should go.” (20:11) (Nachalas Yaakov, see further elaboration there)

Kap. 10. V. 1. Wie bei allen עדרות-Plagen, den bisherigen צפרדע und דבר, heißt es auch hier, der dritten und letzten עבדות-Plage: בא אל פרעה, suche Pharao in seinem Palaste, in Mitte seiner Großherrlichkeit auf. Es galt ja, durch diese Plagen Pharao inne werden zu lassen, dass selbst, wenn Fluss und Boden, das Land mit all seinem üppigen Naturreichtum unverändert bliebe, Besitz und Genuss dieser ganzen Herrlichkeit doch von dem Belieben Gottes bedingt sei, und wenn er, stolz auf diesen Besitz, Fremdlinge, als Unberechtigte, den ihnen gegönnten schmalen Mitgenuss derselben mit der Einbuße ihrer Freiheit und Selbständigkeit bezahlen zu lassen, und sie zu knechten sich berechtigt glaube, so wisse ihm Gott all diesen Reichtum zu vernichten und ihm ganz andere Fremdlinge in sein Reich zu senden, die ihm den ganzen Reichtum vor seinen Augen bis auf die letzte Faser zu verzehren verständen. —

בוא אל פרעה....מביא מחר, “go in unto Pharaoh...I will bring on the plague of locusts tomorrow to your territories.” How had Moses had advance warning of this plague, seeing that we have no word in the Torah where G–d had given him advance notice about this plague? We will have to fall back on the tradition that the acronyms of the ten plagues as per Rabbi Yehudah, had been etched into the side of his staff. The problem with this interpretation is that if so why did G–d bother to give him advance notice of the two plagues following after the plague of locusts? It may be more plausible to assume that the words למען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים, “in order that you will be able to tell your son and your grandson what I have wrought upon Egypt,” (verse 2) that this had included details about the forthcoming plague of locusts. We find that the plague of locusts recorded in the Book of Yoel (Yoel 1,3-4) was also introduced by the prophet telling his people to tell his children and grandchildren about it. [In that instance the plague of locusts smote the land of Israel. Ed.]

בא אל פרעה כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו, “go toPharaoh for I have hardened both his heart and that of his servants;” We have not found this formulation in connection with any of the previous plagues. The reason that G-d reacted so harshly was that after Pharaoh himself had confessed that he had sinned, instead of releasing the Israelites, both he and his servants continued to oppress the Israelites. This retraction by Pharaoh forced G-d’s hand, so to speak, to react in kind, matching the punishment to the sin committed. [In verse 34 at the end of the last chapter the Torah testified that Pharaoh’s servants had supported him in his retraction of his confession. Ed.]

שתי means my setting (an infinitive of שית), so that the phrase, which literally means “for the sake of my setting these my signs”, denotes “that I may set”.

שיתי, equivalent to שומי, “I am setting.”

למען שיתי אותותי אלה אלה בקרבו, so that I can demonstrate these miracles of Mine in its midst, so that the people realise My greatness and return in contriteness.

למען שיתי, “in order that I can demonstrate, etc.;” to give Me an opportunity to perform My miracles so that the Egyptians (and the Israelites) will become familiar with My power; Pharaoh will not, however, be subjected to additional punishment on account of My having hardened his heart.

That I will set. We need not ask: The same word, שת , is written in Parshas Vayeitzei: “ וישת his own flocks. . .” (Bereishis 30:40), and in Parshas Va’eira: “Pharaoh . . . did not שת even to this” (Shemos 7:23). Why did Rashi not comment there? The answer is: Here [the shin of] שתי is vocalized with a chirik and no yud, so I might think it does not mean שימי but is a different word, such as, “For they destroyed the שתות (foundation)” (Tehillim 11:3). Or, “ שות שתו (they did battle) at the gates” (Yeshayah 22:7). That is why Rashi needs to explain it here as שימי , although generally, the meaning is obvious. Even after explaining that שתי means שימי , Rashi explains further and says, “that I will set,” because שתי still has two possible meanings. This is similar to תִּתִּי , which has two possible meanings. One is written regarding Lavan, in Parshas Vayetzei (Bereishis 29:19): “Better תִּתִּי (I shall give) her to you.” The other [possible] meaning is written in Parshas Balak (Bamidbar 22:13): “For Hashem has refused לְתִתִּי (to give to me) permission to go with you.” Thus Rashi explains that here, שתי means “I will set” [and not “set for me”]. (Re”m) Alternatively: Rashi explains further and says, “that I will set,” because שתי could mean the past tense, “I already set.” Thus Rashi explains “I will set,” is in the future tense.

Furthermore, the Torah employs the attribute of Mercy to remind us that G'd did not send the plague immediately after the warning but gave Pharaoh time to change his mind and to release the Israelites. If he did this then he and his country would be spared the suffering entailed by the plague of locusts. According to Shemot Rabbah 9,12 a week or even twenty-four days would elapse between the warning and the implementation of the plague. All this was part of the attribute of Mercy in action.

אני הכבדתי, dadurch, dass ich ihm nicht alles zugleich vernichtete, sondern ihm immer, und so namentlich bei dem Hagelschlag, noch das Wertvollste unverletzt gelassen, habe ich ihm etwas gelassen, woran er sich anklammerte, und da ich ihm das Empfindlichste, die Vernichtung des eigentlichen ägyptischen Fruchtreichtums bis zuletzt ersparte, konnte er noch immer an meiner eigentlichen Allmacht zweifeln, sich noch immer hinter den Gedanken bergen, der eigentliche Kern der ägyptischen Macht und des ägyptischen Wohlstandes stehe unter einem Schutz, der meiner Macht unerreichbar sei. Ich habe dies aber getan, um eben nacheinander das Siegel meiner Hoheit und Herrschaft an alle einzelnen Träger und Stützen des menschlichen Daseins und der menschlichen Macht auf Erden zu legen, um בקרבו, in dem stolzen machtreichen Ägypten, אותותי, meine Wahrzeichen aufzustellen.

On the other hand, it is possible that our verse underlines that even the attribute of Mercy agreed joyfully that the time had arrived to take revenge on this enemy of G'd and the Jewish people (compare my comments on 7,2).

כי אני הכבדתי את לבו, "for I have hardened his heart, etc." G'd means that Moses would realise as of now that He had indeed hardened Pharaoh's heart. Even the most obstinate person would have broken down by now if he had experienced what Pharaoh had endured during the last seven plagues. Only intervention by G'd could have accounted for his continued refusal to let the Israelites depart. G'd did not, of course, interfere outright with Pharaoh's free will; rather He performed a miracle such as the immunity of the wheat and spelt to the plague of hail, to give Pharaoh a chance to delude himself that G'd's power did not extend to those two categories of grain. When G'd said כי אני הכבדתי He referred to that phenomenon in the past tense.

It is also possible that G'd's words were directed primarily at Moses who must have despaired of the purpose of going to Pharaoh time and again without accomplishing his mission. G'd told Moses that Pharaoh's obstinacy was not that of an ordinary human being, but the reason he could not respond as he should was that G'd Himself had hardened his heart. The moment G'd decided not to interfere with whatever motivated Pharaoh's decisions he would relent and send the Israelites on their way.

ואת לב עבדיו, and the heart of his servants, etc. The reason G'd also had to harden the heart of Pharaoh's advisers was so that they would not urge him to release the Israelites. G'd had to do so in order to bring the plagues not only on Pharaoh but on the whole nation. If Pharaoh had been the only one punished, this would not have made an impact on the people. Although G'd had not mentioned this detail to Moses at the beginning of his mission, and He had spoken only of hardening Pharaoh's heart at that time, He had told Moses the essential part of what would happen. Perhaps G'd wanted to explain to Moses at this stage that not only one man was obstinate, i.e. Pharaoh, but also his servants. He may have been prompted to do so now because of Moses' gratuitous remark in 9,30 that both Pharaoh and his servants had not yet developed true fear of the Lord. Moses' comment had indicated that he had not previously understood the word "Pharaoh" to include also Pharaoh's entourage. Therefore G'd explained to him that the obstinacy of the servants could also be explained by the same phenomenon as that of their master, i.e. that G'd had interfered with their normal decision-making process. Up until now, Moses had assumed that the servants were naturally obstinate whereas Pharaoh had only remained obstinate because G'd had interfered. G'd was at pains to correct Moses' error.

למען שתי אותותי אלה בקרבו, "so that I might display My signs in the midst of them." Why did the Torah have to write אותותי אלה, "these My signs?" This implies that the main reason G'd hardened Pharaoh's heart was to have an opportunity to display miracles. Furthermore, why did the Torah have to add בקרבו, "in their midst?" Where else would G'd perform these miracles? We may understand these expressions on the basis of Shemot Rabbah 12,5 that the plagues in Egypt were to demonstrate that G'd is Ruler and Master. He is Master inasmuch that He desires to bring Israel closer to become His servants and to cleave to Him. In order to do this He had to demonstrate that it was foolish to put one's trust in anyone but Him. He had not yet shown them that He creates the wind and employs the wind as His angels (messengers). He had also not yet demonstrated to the Israelites that He created light and darkness. Having told Moses that He, G'd had made Pharaoh unresponsive, Moses would have been entitled to ask: "why bother?" G'd therefore justified the plagues which were yet to occur as designed to demonstrate His creative power in the spheres we have just mentioned. Regarding the chance of Pharaoh's responding to them, it was true that these miracles were somewhat wasted, but their impact on Israel was vital. The seven plagues which had occurred so far did not offer an answer to people who wanted to worship such powers of nature as the sun and the moon. Anyone who claimed that the force which created earth was not the same force which created the wind could not find proof that he had been wrong by experiencing any of those plagues. The plague of locusts would demonstrate G'd's power to employ the wind as His messenger, by the wind bringing the locusts and removing them. It would even carry away all the locusts which had died so that the Egyptians would not benefit from the dead locusts as mentioned in Shemot Rabbah 13,7. The plague of darkness would demonstrate that G'd had created the luminaries, and exercised control over them. The plague of the dying of the firstborn demonstrated that G'd creates every creature and can distinguish between who was the issue of the first drop of semen (Baba Metzia 61). This plague also generated the commandment in 13,2 to sanctify every firstborn. One of the reasons for that commandment was that it serve as a reminder that it is G'd who creates the firstborn out of the womb of his mother in order that he should be His servant. When G'd encountered this evil Pharaoh, He made use of him by hardening his heart and performing miracles which would make him taste the cup of retribution. Had it not been for these various considerations G'd would not have troubled Himself to orchestrate all these major changes in nature.