Midrash su Esodo 8:12

Now all the plagues which the Holy One brought upon the Egyptians, he is going to bring upon Edom (i.e., Rome). It is so stated (in Is. 23:5): <AS AT THE REPORT CONCERNING EGYPT, > THEY SHALL TREMBLE AT THE REPORT OF TYRE (TsR).²⁴Although the Buber text reads TsWR, the midrashic interpretation here requires TsR, which is the reading of the Masoretic text. R. Eleazar has said: When Tyre is written with a vowel letter (i.e., TsWR), what is written is speaking about the region of Tyre. But in every place in which it is written as TsR without the W, what is written is speaking about this wicked Roman Empire, because it is oppressing Israel (rt.: TsRR).²⁵Tanh. (Buber), Exod. 2:15; Tanh., Exod. 2:13; 3:4; Exod. R. 9:13; PRK 7:11; PR 17:8. In Egypt he brought the plague of blood upon them. So also shall it be in Edom (i.e., Rome), as stated (in Joel 3:3–4 [2:30–31]): THEN I WILLSET PORTENTS IN THE HEAVENS AND ON THE EARTH: BLOOD, FIRE, <AND PILLARS OF SMOKE; THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS > AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD. In Egypt he brought frogs upon them because their voice (qol) was strong. So also shall it be in Edom, as stated (in Is. 66:6): A SOUND (qol) OF TUMULT FROM THE CITY, <A NOISE (qol) FROM THE TEMPLE! THE THUNDER (qol) OF THE LORD IS REPAYING RETRIBUTION TO HIS ENEMIES>. In Egypt he brought gnats upon them. [So] also shall it be in Edom, [as stated] (in Is. 34:9): ITS²⁶The pronoun refers to Edom. STREAMS SHALL BE TURNED TO PITCH AND ITS DUST TO BRIMSTONE DUST can only mean gnats, just as it says (in Exod. 8:12 [16]): <HOLD OUT YOUR ROD> AND STRIKE THE DUST OF THE EARTH, AND IT SHALL BECOME GNATS < THROUGHOUT THE LAND OF EGYPT > …. In Egypt he brought swarms of flies ('RWB, rt.: 'RB) upon them. So also shall it be in Edom, as stated (in Is. 34:11): BUT THE PELICAN AND THE BITTERN SHALL POSSESS IT (i.e., Edom), [EVEN THE OWL AND THE RAVEN ('WRB, rt.: 'RB) SHALL DWELL IN IT.] In Egypt he brought pestilence upon them. So also shall it be in Edom, as stated (in Ezek. 38:22): I WILL ENTER INTO JUDGMENT AGAINST HIM WITH PESTILENCE. In Egypt he brought boils upon them. So also shall it be in Edom, as stated (in Zech. 14:12): AND THIS SHALL BE THE PLAGUE…: THEIR FLESH SHALL ROT AWAY. In Egypt he brought hail upon them. So also shall it be in Edom, as stated (in Ezek. 38:22): AND I WILL POUR TORRENTIAL RAIN, HAILSTONES <… UPON HIM…>. In Egypt he brought locusts upon them. So also shall it be in Edom, as stated (in Ezek. 39:17): SON OF MAN,[… ] SAY TO EVERY WINGED BIRD < AND TO EVERY LIVING CREATURE OF THE FIELD: ASSEMBLE, COME AND GATHER>…. In Egypt he brought darkness. So also shall it be in Edom (in Is. 34:11, cont.): AND HE SHALL STRETCH OVER IT THE MEASURING LINE OF THE EMPTINESS <AND WEIGHTS OF NOTHINGNESS>.²⁷The Hebrew words for EMPTINESS and NOTHINGNESS echo the VOID AND WITHOUT FORM in Gen. 1:2. In Egypt he smote their first-born. So also shall it be in Edom, as stated (in Ezek. 32:30): THERE ARE ALL THE PRINCES OF THE NORTH <AND THE ALL THE SIDONIANS WHO HAVE GONE DOWN WITH THE SLAIN…>. R. Meir says (citing Is. 34:7, which refers to Edom): AND THE WILD OXEN SHALL COME DOWN WITH THEM….²⁸Cf. Codex Vaticanus Ebr. 34 which adds the interpretation that these WILD OXEN (re’emim) are the Romans. Just as in Egypt, when he had exacted retribution from their gods, he afterwards exacted retribution from them; in Edom (rt.: 'DM) also, when he has exacted retribution from their prince, he shall afterwards exact retribution from them. It is so stated (in Is. 24:21): AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY THAT THE LORD SHALL PUNISH THE HOST OF HEAVEN IN HEAVEN AND THE KINGS OF THE EARTH (rt.: 'DM) {IN} [ON] THE EARTH (rt.: 'DM).

[(Exod. 29:1): AND THIS IS THE THING….] This text is related (to Ps. 119:89): FOREVER, O LORD, DOES YOUR WORD STAND FIRM IN THE HEAVENS.³⁵Tanh., Exod. 8:12; Exod. R. 38:6. R. Berekhyah the Priest said: From time immemorial you have treated us with the measure of mercy.³⁶Cf. PR 40:2. When? When our father Abraham was cast into the fiery furnace, the angels quarreled with each other.³⁷Exod. R. 18:5. Michael said: I am going down to rescue him,³⁸Cf. Gen. R. 44:13. but Gabriel said: I am going down and rescue him.³⁹Pes. 118a. The Holy One said: I am going down in my glory to rescue him, as stated (in Gen. 15:7): I AM THE LORD WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT FROM UR OF THE CHALDEES…. He said to them (the angels): You shall rescue his children's children. When Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah descended into the fiery furnace, the angel went down to rescue them.⁴⁰See Deut. R. 1:12; cf. Pes. 118ab; PR 35:2; M. Pss. 117:3, according to which the angel was Gabriel. Then the angels said (in Ps. 119:89–90): FOREVER, O LORD, DOES YOUR WORD STAND FIRM IN THE HEAVENS…. YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED THE EARTH AND IT STANDS FIRM. You are the foundation of the world.

When He desired it to happen, He said: Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together (Gen. 1:9). And when He was so inclined, He made the sea become dry and turn into land, as is said: And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea, upon the dry ground (Exod. 14:22). Therefore, whatsoever the Lord pleased, that hath He done, etc. With regard to the heavens, it is said: Stretch forth thy hand toward heaven that there may be hail (ibid. 9:22), and in reference to the earth it is stated: Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the earth (ibid. 8:12). What is written above concerning this matter? For now I have stretched out My hand … But in very deed for this cause have I made thee to stand (ibid. 9:16), so that you will not die as a result of the first plague, and so that My name may be declared throughout all earth (ibid., v. 36).

But for all that the anger of the Lord did not turn from Egypt, and his arm was still outstretched ‎upon them, and he sent the pestilence to rage in Egypt amongst horses, and asses, and ‎camels, and oxen, and sheep, and man, and when the Egyptians rose up in the morning to ‎drive their cattle to pasture, they found it dead. And there remained only one out of ten of ‎the cattle of the Egyptians, but of the cattle belonging to the Israelites in Egypt not one died. ‎And God sent burning heat into the bodies of the Egyptians that their flesh burst and turned ‎into malignant sores on all the Egyptians from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their ‎heads, and they had ulcers all over their bodies that their flesh sloughed away in stench. But ‎the Lord’s anger did not turn for all this, and his hand was still outstretched upon Egypt, and he ‎sent a heavy hail storm which smote their vines, and injured their fruit trees, so that they dried ‎up and finally fell upon the people. And every green herb became blighted and destroyed, for ‎fire was mingled with the hail, and therefore the fire and hail consumed all things on the field, ‎also man and beast that were found in the streets, so that the villages became depopulated. ‎Then the Lord brought into Egypt all sorts of locusts in great numbers, and they devoured all ‎that was left after the hail. Then all the Egyptians were pleased with the locusts, although they ‎consumed all the productions of the field, for the Egyptians caught them in great numbers and ‎salted them for food; but the Lord turned a mighty sea wind which carried away all the locusts, ‎even those that were salted, and cast them into the Red Sea, and not a single locust remained ‎within the boundaries of Egypt. And the Lord sent darkness over Egypt, and the whole land of ‎Egypt was so dark for three days that a man could not see his hand when he put it even to his ‎mouth. In those days many of the children of Israel died, all those that had rebelled against the ‎Lord, and would not hearken unto Moses and believed not that God had sent him, and said: ‎We will not go away from Egypt to die of starvation in the barren wilderness. And the Lord ‎punished them in those days of darkness, and the children of Israel buried them in those days, ‎so that the Egyptians should not know and rejoice over them; and the darkness was so intense ‎in Egypt for three days, that any man who stood up when the darkness came had to remain ‎standing in his place, and he that was sitting had to remain sitting, and he that was lying had to ‎keep on lying, and he that was walking remained fixed to the ground, and thus it was with all ‎the Egyptians until the darkness had subsided.‎