Midrash su Esodo 9:34

R. Judah bar Simon said (Ibid., cont.): I HAVE MADE A COVENANT WITH YOU AND WITH ISRAEL. < It was done > through writing and through word of mouth: FOR THESE WORDS ARE BY MOUTH. If you preserve what is in writing in writing and what is by word of mouth by word of mouth, I HAVE MADE < A COVENANT > WITH YOU. But, < if > you change what is by mouth into writing and what is in writing into word of mouth, I HAVE not MADE < A COVENANT > WITH YOU. R. Judah b. R. Shallum the Levite said:²⁹Tanh. Exod. 9:34. See Exod. R. 47:1; Cant. R. 2:7:1; cf. Hag. 13a; Ket. 111a. Moses wanted the Mishnah also to be in writing, but the Holy One foresaw that the peoples of the world were going to translate the Torah and read it in Greek. Then they would say: We too are Israel. The Holy One said to him (in Hos. 8:12): SHOULD I WRITE THE FULL ABUNDANCE OF MY TORAH (i.e., including the Mishnah) FOR YOU? If so, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN RECKONED AS STRANGERS. And why all this? Because the Mishnah is a mystery³⁰Gk.: mysterion. belonging to the Holy One, and the Holy One reveals his mystery only to the righteous. Thus it is stated (in Ps. 25:14): THE SECRET OF THE LORD IS FOR THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. And so you find that even when the Holy One was angry over Sodom because of their evil deeds and when the Holy One sought to destroy Sodom, the Holy One did not seal their judgment until he had consulted with Abraham. {Thus it is stated:} [Where is it shown? From what we have read on the matter] (in Gen. 18:17): THEN THE LORD SAID: SHALL I HIDE FROM ABRAHAM < WHAT I AM DOING >?

At that very moment the wicked Pharaoh cried out: Entreat the Lord … and I will let them go (Exod. 9:28). Moses replied: You said that at the time of the first plague, and I pleaded in your behalf, but yet you did not send them away. Why should I entreat for thee and for thy servants? (ibid. 8:5). Pharaoh replied: I have sinned before the Lord your God and against you, but now I will let them go. When Moses heard that, Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread forth his hands unto the Lord; and the thunders and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth (ibid. 9:33). They were suspended in mid-air. When did they descend? Some descended upon the Amorites in the days of Joshua, as it is said: The Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them (Josh. 10:11), and the remainder will fall on Gog and Magog in the days of the Messiah. And the thunders ceased (Exod. 9:34). They, too, were suspended (in mid-air). They descended in the days of Elisha, against the camp of the Arameans, as it is said: For the Lord had made the hosts of the Arameans, to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses (II Kings 7:6).

And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased (Exod. 9:34). Such is the way of the wicked: whenever they are in trouble, they humiliate themselves, but once their troubles have ceased, they become corrupt again. When Nebuchadnezzar was in trouble, he said: Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and honor and extol the King of heaven, for all His works are truth, and His way is justice; and those that walk in pride, He is able to abase (Dan. 4:34).