출애굽기 10:17의 인용 해설

During the eighth plague, the locusts, the Torah quotes Pharaoh's alarm when, for the first time, his servants move him to negotiate the Israelites' release before the onset of the plague. Negotiations having broken down, the plague does occur and Pharaoh pleads for G'd "to remove this death."

Bahya writes. The locusts ate out the eyes of the Egyptians and this killed them. That is why they said: remove this death from us. Moses prayed and a wind carried away the locusts into the sea.⁷Bahya, Exodus, 10:17.

It would appear that Israel’s presence in Egypt was directed at the generations that preceded them. Just as there was one righteous person in each generation who could uphold the world so that it was not destroyed, so, too, in Egypt. Moses was equal to all of the people and so whatever happened to them, happened to him…. In the beginning, Seth was born when Eve was 130 years old and from him the world was established. Similarly, Moses was born to Yocheved when she was 130 years old. In the generation of the flood, Noah was born circumcised just as Moses was born circumcised. Both Moses and Noah were saved in a teivah, an ark. Abraham rose after the generation of the division and he cursed the builders of the tower of Babel and he went out from among them. Similarly, in Egypt Moses rose up and killed the Egyptian and then fled from Egypt. Even though the people of Sodom were wicked sinners against God, Abraham prayed on their behalf. Similarly, in Egypt Moses prayed to God on behalf of Pharaoh and his servants even though they denied God. (Ex. 10: 17-18) This is sufficient reason to explain why Israel had to be subjugated even though they had not sinned. The whole reason was to refine the sparks and to repair the damage done by the earlier sins.