출애굽기 9:16의 인용 해설

to make Your name known to Your adversaries like the matter that is stated concerning that plague (Ex. 9:16): “But, because of this I preserved You, [in order to show you My strength, and in order to tell of My name throughout the entire land.]” Had You done this now, then nations would quake from before You.

“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the thornbush.” Regarding this vision, there are many opinions. Some say it represents “I [God] am with him in distress”; therefore He revealed Himself in a thornbush, a low and humble tree, though according to Rashi’s interpretation it doesn’t explain at all why specifically in a thornbush. Others say the thornbush symbolizes the sufferings of Israel, as the fire of troubles blazes around it yet it is not consumed, similar to “the arrows are spent but they are not spent.” In Genesis Rabbah, many such comparisons are also found. According to what I explained above on the verse, and they were disgusted because of the children of Israel, the Egyptians were compared to thorns because they were a painful thorn to Israel. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, showed him that the thornbush was not consumed, alluding to Pharaoh — that although the fire of troubles blazes around him — wrath, anger, and distress — nevertheless he is not consumed, because the Holy One, blessed be He, gives him strength to endure all the plagues, as it is written But for this purpose I have let you stand, in order to show you My power (Exodus 9:16).

die ich anlegen werde. Ex. 13, 9. 16; Deut. 6, 8; 11, 18.

מבכר פרעה means FROM THE FIRSTBORN PHARAOH’S — Pharaoh too, was a firstborn, but he alone was allowed to remain of the firstborn; and regarding this it states, (Exodus 9:16) “[But for this cause I have maintained thee in life in order to show thee my power” — i. e. to show thee my power at the Read Sea (cf. Mekhilta).