Chasidut do Wyjścia 7:16
וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו יְהוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֤י הָעִבְרִים֙ שְׁלָחַ֤נִי אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י וְיַֽעַבְדֻ֖נִי בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר וְהִנֵּ֥ה לֹא־שָׁמַ֖עְתָּ עַד־כֹּֽה׃
I powiedz mu: Wiekuisty, Bóg Ibrejczyków posłał mnie do ciebie, mówiąc: uwolnij lud Mój, aby mi odprawili służbę na pustyni; a oto nie usłuchałeś dotąd.
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 7,16. “and behold so far you have not listened.” The words: “so far,” appear strange, and sound as if G’d had already performed a number of miracles, whereas in fact He had only brought on one plague, i.e. the waters of the Nile turning into blood. We may be able to understand this turn of phrase when considering a statement by our sages when they compared Moses’ prophecies as characterized by the word זה and that of the other prophets by the word: כה. (Sifri Mattot, 2) On the face of it this statement appears strange as Moses frequently introduced his prophecies with the words: כה אמר ה'.
This apparent contradiction has been dealt with by the Rivash, (Rabbi Yitzchok bar Rabbi Sheshet) in his commentary on Exodus 19, 9 בעבור ישמע העם בדברי עמך וגם בך יאמינו לעולם “in order that the people can hear when I speak with you (Moses( and they will also have complete faith in you forever.” The Rivash writes that there is a difference between what a person sees with his own eyes and between what he knows through use of his intelligence to be the truth. In spite of what his brain tells him is the truth, he still tends to trust his eyes more than he trusts his intellect. This principle also became manifest during the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, and again during the revelation at Mount Sinai when they received the Torah. In spite of the people having witnessed any number of miracles during the period immediately preceding the Exodus so that their faith in G’d should have become absolute, there was a further need to strengthen their belief at Mount Sinai. In spite of all the miracles that Moses had been instrumental in performing ever since he returned from Midian to Egypt, G’d still found it necessary to make the people hear Him speak to Moses directly, before they would believe in him absolutely. The famous proverb: “seeing is believing,” applied to the Jewish people also.
This apparent contradiction has been dealt with by the Rivash, (Rabbi Yitzchok bar Rabbi Sheshet) in his commentary on Exodus 19, 9 בעבור ישמע העם בדברי עמך וגם בך יאמינו לעולם “in order that the people can hear when I speak with you (Moses( and they will also have complete faith in you forever.” The Rivash writes that there is a difference between what a person sees with his own eyes and between what he knows through use of his intelligence to be the truth. In spite of what his brain tells him is the truth, he still tends to trust his eyes more than he trusts his intellect. This principle also became manifest during the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, and again during the revelation at Mount Sinai when they received the Torah. In spite of the people having witnessed any number of miracles during the period immediately preceding the Exodus so that their faith in G’d should have become absolute, there was a further need to strengthen their belief at Mount Sinai. In spite of all the miracles that Moses had been instrumental in performing ever since he returned from Midian to Egypt, G’d still found it necessary to make the people hear Him speak to Moses directly, before they would believe in him absolutely. The famous proverb: “seeing is believing,” applied to the Jewish people also.
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