출애굽기 4:9의 주석

You shall take from the water of the river. He alluded to them that with the first plague He will exact retribution from their deity (Explanation: When God exacts retribution from the nations He first exacts retribution from their deity, for they had worshipped the Nile which gave them sustenance and He turned them (its waters) to blood. [This explanation is found] in an old Rashi manuscript.

V’HAYU’ (AND IT SHALL BE) THAT THE WATER WHICH THOU TAKEST OUT OF THE RIVER ‘V’HAYU’ (SHALL BECOME) BLOOD UPON THE DRY LAND. “The word v’hayu is mentioned here twice.²⁶¹The literal translation of the Hebrew text is: “And it shall be that the water which thou takest out of the river, and it will be blood upon the dry land.” It appears to me that if He had said, ‘V’hayu (And it shall be) that the water which thou takest out of the river be blood upon the dry land,’ I might understand it to mean that it would be turned into blood in his hand, and that also when it reached the ground it would remain in the same state. But now, [as the verse actually reads], the final v’hayu teaches us that it would not become blood until it reaches the dry land.”²⁶²The significance of this point is explained by L’vush Ha’orah (see Preface in Vol. I, p. IX, Note 12): If the water had turned into blood while still in Moses’ hand, skeptics could say that it was done through some secret art. But running or flowing water turning into blood upon reaching the ground was undeniably a miracle. Thus the language of Rashi.
But the purport of this verse is not as the Rabbi [Rashi] has it, and there is no need for his Midrash, for the masters of language²⁶³Found in R’dak’s Sefer Hamichlal. The repetition of a verb occurs after a lengthy intervening phrase. have found in many places that it is the normal style of Scripture to repeat words for the purpose of emphasis and significance, or because of some lengthy phrase intervening between them. Such a case is the verse: And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and come with all the desire of his soul.²⁶⁴Deuteronomy 18:6. Here Scripture repeats [the verb] “come” because of the lengthy expression between [the parts of the verse]. Similarly: And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah; and he said: When ye act as midwives, etc.;²⁶⁵Above, 1:15-16. Here the verb “said” is repeated because of the identification of the midwives stated in the verse. And G-d spoke unto Israel in the visions of the night, and He said: Jacob, Jacob.²⁶⁶Genesis 46:2. There are many instances of such verses.

והיו המים, the repetition of the word והיו applying to the same predicate is similar to a construction in Psalms 93,3 נשאו נהרות ה', נשאו נהרות קולם “the ocean sounds, O Lord; the ocean sounds in thunder, etc.” Another such construction is found in Psalms 94,3 עד מתי רשעי ה', עד מתי רשעים יעלוזו?, “for how long shall the wicked O Lord, for how long shall the wicked exult?”

והיה אם לא יאמינו גם לשני האותות, "In the event that they will not believe even both these two signs, etc.," This sounds strange. Does G'd then entertain any doubts so that He has to phrase this verse in such a way? Besides, G'd had already told Moses that the people would listen to his voice! Perhaps the thrust of the message is addressed to Moses' concerns, and G'd is saying to him: "In the event you are afraid that even these two miracles will not be sufficient to convince the Israelites of your authenticity and the authenticity of the message of the imminent redemption, I will let you perform another miracle which will be the clincher and as a result of which they will certainly believe you."

והיו המים אשר תקח מן היאור והיו לדם ביבשת, “and it will be that the waters which you will take from the river will turn into blood on the dry land.” Even though G’d had already told Moses that he was to take water from the river,ולקחת ממימי היאור, He repeated the word “you will take” once more. The idea was that Moses should not take the water from the river by means of some container, but directly by hand.

והיו לדם ביבשת “they (the waters) will turn into blood on the dry land.” The reason the Torah repeats the word והיו, is because the people will first observe that the water poured on the dry land was still water. Only afterwards will it turn into blood to prove there had not been a sleight of hand. This is why the Torah had to write והיו לדם ביבשת.

They will not turn into blood until they reach the dry land. You might ask: But why is the first והיו needed? The answer is: It is the way of Scripture to begin [a phrase] with והיו . (Re”m)

V. 9. Wenn sie nach den beiden Zeichen noch kein rechtes Vertrauen gewonnen haben sollten, so beginne gleichsam die עשר מכות vor ihren Augen, lasse sie sehen, dass du gesandt bist, Hand an das Land selbst zu legen, dass der dich sendende Gott wohl im Stande ist, diesem Staat den Stab des Daseins zu brechen. Der Nil ist ja die Stütze und die verkörperte Macht Mizrajims.

והיו לדם, “they will turn into blood. (the waters)” This was to serve as a sign that in the future the Egyptians would be slain through the dying of their firstborn and the drowning of the soldiers riding the chariots at the sea of reeds.

והיו לדם ביבשת, “and it (the waters) will turn into blood as soon as it hits the dry ground.” This water, once it had turned into blood on the ground, would not revert to become water again even when the plague had ended. This would serve as proof to the Egyptians that this phenomenon had had its origin in heaven. Anything that is manipulated by witchcraft etc., is reversible. Here we are dealing with real blood. (as opposed to the waters that had remained in the river or lakes)

והיו המים וגו׳ — Here we have the word והיו twice. It appears to me that if it was stated היאר לדם ביבשת מן והיו המים אשר תקח, I might understand it to mean that it would be turned into blood in his hand and that also when it reached the ground it would retain that state (more lit., it would be as it was). But now (as the text stands) it tells us that it would not become blood until it would come on the dry ground.

והיו, “they will be (remain).” Why has this word והיו been repeated? According to Rashi this means that the waters in question will not turn into blood until poured on the dry land. Nachmanides writes that there is no need for this explanation in order to justify the repeated use of the word והיו, as it is part of the usual syntax of the Torah to repeat certain words whenever the Torah wants to emphasise a point, or when there is a lengthy interval between the legislation becoming applicable and its being carried out in practice. A case in point is Leviticus 27,3 where the Torah repeats the words והיה ערכך. [you will note there that when the Torah speaks about shorter time frames such as ages between a month and five years, or five years and 20 years, instead of a time frame between 20-60 years, the words והיה ערכך are not repeated. Ed.] The first two miracles were temporary phenomena, the natural state of events being restored in short order. The water which Moses poured on the ground and which turned into blood, never reverted to becoming water; hence the words והיו לדם the second time would be aptly translated as “they will turn into blood permanently”.

G'd may also have wanted to tell Moses not to worry about aspects of the people's faith which could not be discerned on their faces. In the event that Moses worried that though externally the people would appear to believe both in him and in the success of his mission, they might harbour reservations which Moses could not detect. G'd reassured him on that score and told him that as a result of all three miracles they would believe him without reservations.

והיו המים….לדם ביבשת. "The waters…will turn into blood on the ground." Rashi has enlightened us by remarking that the repeated use of the word והיו in this verse indicates that the waters will not turn into blood until they touch the dry land. I only wish to add one more comment concerning the statement of our sages in Shemot Rabbah 9,10 that G'd eventually commanded Aaron and not Moses to perform this miracle in front of Pharaoh because the Nile had saved Moses' life at the time his mother placed him amongst the reeds and it would have been gross ingratitude to strike at the part of nature which had saved his life. In this case where G'd commanded Moses to strike the waters personally, He did so with the proviso that the waters would become blood only after they had already ceased to perform their life-giving and life-preserving function, i.e. after they had been spilled on the ground.