Commento su Esodo 12:31

ויקרא למשה ולאהרן לילה AND HE CALLED FOR MOSES AND AARON BY NIGHT — This tells us that he went round to the entrances leading into the city (i. e. to each different district) crying out, “Where does Moses reside? Where does Aaron reside?” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:31).

AND HE CALLED FOR MOSES AND AARON BY NIGHT. “This teaches us that Pharaoh went round to the entrances leading into the city, crying out, ‘Where does Moses dwell? Where does Aaron dwell?’” Thus the language of Rashi. Now this happened because Moses and Aaron lodged [close to the vicinity of the palace] that night, [the city of] Egypt, so that Moses’ words would be fulfilled, as he said, And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down unto me, saying: Get thee out.²⁸¹Above, 11:8. And when Pharaoh came to them, they sent messengers to the land of Goshen where the children of Israel dwelled, giving them permission to leave, and they all assembled in Rameses.²⁸²Verse 37. By that time, it was already well into the day. From there they journeyed with a high hand, with Moses at their lead, as it is said, And they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.²⁸³Numbers 33:3. The verse stating, The Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt by night²⁸⁴Deuteronomy 16:1. [is no contradiction], since from the time Pharaoh gave them permission to go — [which was at night] — they are already deemed as “going forth” from Egypt.
And thus the Rabbis have said in the Sifre:²⁸⁵Sifre, Re’ei, 128. See above, Note 209, on the word “Sifre.” “Had they not gone forth out of Egypt only at daytime, as it is said, On the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out?²⁸³Numbers 33:3. [How then does Scripture say that we were brought forth out of Egypt by night?]²⁸⁴Deuteronomy 16:1. Simply, this teaches us that the redemption [from bondage] took place at night [although the actual exodus took place during the day].” And in the Gemara of Tractate Berachoth we read:²⁸⁶Berachoth 9a. “All Rabbis agree that the redemption took place at night, as it is said, The Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt by night,²⁸⁴Deuteronomy 16:1. but the actual going forth took place only at daytime, as it is said, On the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.”²⁸³Numbers 33:3.
And some scholars say²⁸⁷Mentioned by Ibn Ezra here. that they went out from [the city of] Egypt at night, and at daytime they went out from the land of Egypt, which is Rameses, for many of them dwelled in the city of Egypt, and they left at night and joined their brothers in Rameses. But this is not correct, since Scripture says, And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.²⁸⁸Above, Verse 22. Thus they were forbidden to go out of their homes at all at night. And similarly the Rabbis have said in the Mechilta:²⁸⁹Mechilta on the Verse before us, with changes. A Midrashic text closer to the one Ramban mentions appears in Midrash Tehilim 113:2. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 336. “And he called to Moses, and Aaron by night, and said: Rise up, get you forth. But Moses said to Pharaoh: ‘Thus we have been commanded: And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.²⁸⁸Above, Verse 22. Are we thieves that we should go forth at night? We shall go forth only with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.’”
Now Onkelos explained²⁹⁰The verse of Deuteronomy 16:1, The Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt by night, was translated by Onkelos thus: “The Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt and did miracles for you at night.” that the miracles which were done for the Israelites on that night make it proper to say that on that night G-d “brought thee forth,” because on account of these miracles, they went forth from Egypt.

ויקרא למשה ולאהרון לילה, "He called for Moses and Aaron at night, etc." The reason that the Torah repeats the word לילה, night, could be that Pharaoh was afraid that inasmuch as he had forbidden Moses and Aaron to see him again on pain of death (10,28), they would use this as an excuse not to see him, fearing it was a trap to give Pharaoh an excuse to execute them. By emphasising the word לילה Pharaoh indicated that he had only threatened them on "the day you will see my face, etc." Since it was night, they had no reason to be afraid. Alternatively, Pharaoh meant that seeing it was dark they would not see his face anyways, and his threat applied only to their seeing his face.