출애굽기 8:25의 주석

התל is the same as להתל (i. e. the infinitive may be used with or without ל prefixed).

והעתרתי, a similar construction to vehacharamti in Numbers 21,2 והחרמתי את עריהם, “I will destroy their cities.” Another similar construction occurs in Ezekiel 26,3 והעליתי, and in Jeremiah 17,2 we find והעבדתיך, in all these examples the letters אהחע determine which vowels are used in this type of future tense, introduced by the inverted letter vav, if it is in the future tense or in the past tense. If it were in the ordinary past tense however, it should have read: he-evarti, he-eliticha, instead of ha-avarti and ha-aliticha. [the author quotes a few more examples which we can dispense with. Ed.]

AND MOSES SAID: BEHOLD, I GO OUT FROM THEE, AND I WILL ENTREAT THE ETERNAL THAT THE SWARMS WILL DEPART FROM PHARAOH, FROM HIS SERVANTS, AND FROM HIS PEOPLE, TOMORROW.¹⁹³The question here arises: Why did Moses say that he will pray that the removal of the plague be tomorrow, when Pharaoh had just said to him, Entreat for me (Verse 24)? Ramban proceeds to answer this question. Just as Pharaoh, during the plague of the frogs, had asked that it be removed tomorrow,¹⁹⁴Above, Verse 6. so did Moses want to do it in this case as well; he would pray that the swarms [of beasts] shall depart tomorrow. And then G-d removed the swarms,¹⁹⁵Verse 27. and they vanished completely, unlike the case of the frogs, [where Scripture states that they died].¹⁹⁶Above, Verse 9. This was for the reason, as stated by our Rabbis,¹⁹⁷Shemoth Rabbah 10:6. that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to afflict them with plagues from which they would derive no benefit.¹⁹⁸If the beasts had died in the land of Egypt, the Egyptians would have made use of their skins. Hence they just disappeared. This of course was not the case with the frogs. Now Moses guarded himself when he spoke to Pharaoh, saying to destroy the frogs,¹⁹⁹Above, Verse 5. which alludes merely to their death, as I have explained there,¹⁹⁹Above, Verse 5. [while here in the case of swarms, he said that the swarms will depart].

וסר הערוב מפרעה, מעבדיו, ומעמו, מחר, “the wild beasts will retreat from Pharaoh, his servants and his people tomorrow.” Seeing that during the plague of the frogs Pharaoh had requested that the removal of the frogs be arranged for the following day, Moses told him that this time too he would pray for the wild beasts to depart on the following day. However, they would not die, as had the frogs, as our sages explained; this was because their carcasses would have proved useful and welcome to the Egyptians, and they were not to benefit from the plague. According to the plain meaning of the text the difference in the disappearance of the frogs on the one hand and the wild beasts on the other, is rooted in the fact that the frogs and similar low life creatures which are always spawned in multiple births, have a tendency to increase in huge numbers constantly. To bring them all back to the river would overtax the river’s ability to sustain them. The wild beasts did not increase in numbers during the time they invaded the urban areas of the country, and making them return to their normal habitat did not strain that habitat’s ability to sustain them. G’d had not created a single extra animal (mammal) in order for it to plague the Egyptians.

וסר הערוב מפרעה, “and the wild beasts will depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people to-morrow.” Moses told Pharaoh this in order that he should not assume that the plague was bound to stop on that day and that Moses knew this based on his astrological calculations. Just as with the plague of frogs Pharaoh had asked that it not be stopped until the following day as he had hoped to embarrass Moses, Moses now turned the tables on him using the delay in arranging relief to prove the same point. Both arrival and cessation of the plagues were announced on the day following their being announced.

V. 25. התל von תלל, verwandt mit דלל ,טלל Grundbedeutung: Niederstürzen aus der Höhe. דַל: nicht der ursprünglich Arme, sondern der Herabgekommene. טַל: der Niederschlag, der Dunst, der in Begriff ist, in die Höhe zu steigen, und niederschlägt, Tau. תֵל: etwas früher Hochgewesenes, das jetzt in Trümmern liegt. הָתֵל: erst etwas groß aufbauen und es dann wieder fallen machen. Analog mit במֵה, von רמה, schleudern, jemanden, der sich uns erst vertrauensvoll in die Hand gelegt, plötzlich wegschleudern, sein Vertrauen zu seinem Sturze missbrauchen. So הָתל, jemanden mit großen Versprechungen necken täuschen: "Du bauest eine große Hoffnung auf, mögest du dein Versprechen nicht in Trümmer werfen".