Midrash su Esodo 7:16

Another interpretation (of Eccl. 7:7): FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES <A WISE ONE> FOOLISH,… <In regard to> everyday affairs (rt.: 'SQ), when Solomon was engaged (rt.: 'SQ) in matters in which he did not have to <engage>, they led him astray, as stated (in I Kings 11:4): FOR IT CAME TO PASS IN SOLOMON'S OLD AGE [THAT HIS WIVES LED HIS HEART ASTRAY AFTER OTHER GODS]. R. Hiyya bar Abba said: <It would have been> better for him if he had cleaned sewers, so that this verse would not be written about him. And what were the words? (Prov. 30:1:) THE WORDS OF AGUR BEN JAKEH OF MASSA: [THUS SAYS THE MAN TO ITHIEL, TO ITHIEL AND UCAL (ukhal).] Why is his name called AGUR (rt.: 'GR)? Because he gathered ('GR) the Torah. <Why> BEN (BYN)? Because he understood (rt.: BYN) it. <Why> JAKEH (YQ')? Because he regurgitated (rt.: YQ') it up. What is the meaning of TO ITHIEL (itti'el)?¹⁰The name means: “God is with me.” Cf. Tanh., Exod. 2:5, which adds here: “Thus he said: God is with me (itti’el), and I shall overcome (ukhal) <temptation>.” What the Holy One wrote in his Torah (in Deut. 17:17): HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY WIVES FOR HIMSELF, <was written there> so that {HE WOULD NOT GO ASTRAY WITH HIS HEART} [HIS HEART WOULD NOT GO ASTRAY].¹¹ySanh. 2:6 (20c); Eccl. R. 2:2:3. Solomon said: I will multiply them and not be afraid. Thus his heart went astray. R. Joshua ben Levi said: A yod (the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, equivalent to Y or J in English) went up and fell down before the Holy One.¹²Exod. R. 6:1; Lev. R. 19:2; Cant. R. 5:11:3. It said to him: Sovereign of the World, have you had a single letter written in your Torah for nothing? R. Simeon ben Johay said: The book of Mishneh Torah (i.e., Deuteronomy) went up before the Holy One. He said to him: Sovereign of the World, here is Solomon wanting to pluck out a yod which you have written in me. <It is written> (in Deut. 17:16–17): {HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY WIVES FOR HIMSELF.} HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY (YRBH) HORSES FOR HIMSELF <….> [HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY (YRBH) WIVES FOR HIMSELF] <…;> NOR SHALL HE GREATLY MULTIPLY (YRBH) SILVER AND GOLD FOR HIMSELF. He did multiply (RBH)¹³The negative, third-person imperative here adds the prefix yod (= Y). When the verb becomes a simple past tense telling what Solomon actually did, the yod is dropped. Thus by breaking each commandment about multiplying for himself, the king plucked out a yod from the Deuteronomic commandment. horses for himself.¹⁴Below, Tanh. (Buber), Lev. 6:2, and the note there. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in I Kings 5:6): NOW SOLOMON HAD FORTY THOUSAND STALLS OF HORSES. He did multiply wives (RBH) for himself. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in I Kings 11:3): SO HE HAD SEVEN HUNDRED ROYAL WIVES <AND THREE HUNDRED CONCUBINES; AND HIS WIVES LED HIS HEART ASTRAY >. He did multiply silver and gold for himself. It is so stated (in I Kings 10:27): AND THE KING MADE SILVER <IN JERUSALEM AS PLENTIFUL AS STONES >. The Holy One said to him: By your life, Solomon and a hundred like him have passed away, but not one letter <of my book> has passed away.¹⁵See Matthew 5:17–18. And what caused Solomon to come to this point? Being busy (rt.: 'SQ), for he was engaged (rt.: 'SQ) in matters in which he did not have to <engage>. Ergo (in Eccl. 7:7): FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES <A WISE ONE> FOOLISH. Now you should mention, not only Solomon, but even Moses at the time that he went to Pharaoh. What is written (in Exod. 5:1)? AFTERWARDS, MOSES AND AARON CAME <AND SAID UNTO PHARAOH >….¹⁶According to the last verses of Exod. 4, Moses was engaged in assembling the elders of Israel before he went to Pharaoh. R. Hiyya b. R. Abba said: It was ambassador¹⁷Gk.: presbeutes. day for Pharaoh,¹⁸Exod. R. 5:14. and all the kings were coming to crown him because he was the cosmocrator¹⁹A Latin adaption of the Gk.: kosmokrator, a title of the Roman emperor. of the world {i.e., powerful one}. Now Moses and Aaron were standing at the palace²⁰Lat.: Palatium. gate. They came in to Pharaoh. They said to him: Two elders are standing at your palace gate. He said to them: Are there crowns in their hands? They told him: No. He said to them: Let them enter last. They came in to Pharaoh. He said to them: What do you want? They said to him (in Exod. 7:16, cf. 5:3): THE LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS SENT US UNTO YOU; and he said to us, as stated (ibid., cont.): LET MY PEOPLE GO THAT THEY MAY {CELEBRATE A FESTIVAL TO ME} [WORSHIP ME] IN THE DESERT. He said to them (in Exod. 5:2): WHO IS THE LORD THAT I SHOULD HEED HIS VOICE, when he did not know <enough> to send me a crown of his. Rather he comes unto me with <mere> words. So (in Exod. 5:2) WHO IS THE LORD THAT I SHOULD HEED HIS VOICE?

Lest you believe that Solomon alone was guilty, Moses, our master, likewise concerned himself in many things and was confounded by them. When was that? When he went to Pharaoh, as it is written: And afterwards Moses and Aaron came (Exod. 5:1).⁵They came alone. Moses neglected to keep watch over the elders, who slipped away, because of his preoccupation with many matters. R. Hiyya the son of Abba said: This was the day of Pharaoh’s reception, when all the kings came to crown him, since he was a cosmocrator.⁶One of the titles of the Roman emperor. While they were placing the crown on his head, Moses and Aaron stood at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace. His guards went to him and told him: “Two old men are standing at the door.” “Do they hold a crown in their hands?” he asked. “No,” the guard replied. “Then let them enter last,” he declared. When they finally stood before Pharaoh, he said: “What do you desire?” Moses replied: The God of the Hebrews has sent me to you to say: Let My people go that they may serve Me (Exod. 7:16). He retorted angrily: “Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto His voice? Does He not know enough to send me a crown? With reference to the matter concerning which you have come, I know not the Lord (ibid. 5:2).”

... This is that which is written (Job 36:22), "See, God is beyond reach in His power, who governs like Him?" It is customary in the world that when flesh and blood seeks to do bad to his enemy, he does so immediately so that [the other] not become aware. But the Holy One, blessed be He, warns Pharaoh about each and every plague, so that he would repent. This is that which is written (7:17), "In this you will know that I am the Lord"; (7:27) "behold I will plague all of your borders with frogs"; (9:19) "send, hasten your cattle."

(Bamidbar 11:1) "And the people were ['vayehi'] as seekers of a pretext": "vayehi" connotes return to a previous condition, i.e., they were perverse to begin with, and they reverted to their original perversity. "And the people": "the people" connotes the wicked ones, as in (Shemot 17:4) "What can I do to this people?", (Bamidbar 14:4) "How long will this people provoke Me?" (Jeremiah 13:10) "this evil people who refuse to hear My words." And when He calls them "My people," this connotes the upright ones, as in (Shemot 7:16) "Send My people and let them serve Me," (Michah 6:3) "My people, what (wrong) did I do to you, and how did I tire you? Testify against Me!", (Ibid. 5) "My people, remember now, etc." And the people were kemithonenim": "mithonenim" connotes "grumblers," seekers of a pretest to abandon the L-rd, as in the instance of Yoram the son of Achav, viz. (II Kings 5:7) "Know now and see that he seeks a pretext (mithaneh) against me," and in the instance of Samson, viz. (Judges 14:4) "for he was seeking a pretext (toanah) against the Philistines." R. Eliezer says: "kemithonenim" connotes "blows," as in (Proverbs 26:22) "The words of the grumbler are like blows," and in (Devarim 1:23) "And you 'grumbled' in your tents." What is "blows" (in our context)? They were as strikers of blows, but a "knife" descended from heaven and split their innards, viz. (Proverbs, Ibid.) "and they descend to the recesses of the stomach." R. Yehudah says: "kemithonenim" connotes those who afflict themselves, as in (Devarim 26:19) "I did not eat in my mourning (be'oni) of it." Rebbi says: "kemithonenim ra [evil]": "evil" (in this context) is idolatry, as in (Devarim 31:29) "for you will do evil in the eyes of the L-rd." "in the ears of the L-rd": We are hereby taught that Israel deliberately intended to have Him hear (their words). R. Shimon says: An analogy: A man is cursing the king, when the king passes by. They tell him: Hush! the king might hear! And he says: Who told you that I don't want him to hear! So, (in this instance) Israel wanted the L-rd to hear. He heard and His wrath burned in them. "and the fire of the L-rd burned in them": Fire descended from heaven and "rained blows" upon them until they could not tell the difference between the living and the dead. But whom did the fire strike first? — "and it (the fire) devoured 'biktzei' of the camp." Some say (this refers to) the proselytes, who were muktzim ("cast off") in the end ("katzeh") of the camp. R. Shimon b. Menassia says: "and it devoured 'biktzei' of the camp": in the ketzinim, (their officers), their great men, as in (Judges 11:11) "and the people set him as a leader and a chief (katzin) over them."