Komentarz do Wyjścia 6:1

עתה תראה וגו׳ NOW THOU SHALT SEE etc. — You have criticised My methods of guiding the world. You are not like Abraham to whom I said. (Genesis 21:12) “for through Isaac shall seed be raised unto thee” and to whom I afterwards said, (Gen 22:2) “bring him up as a burnt offering”, and yet he did not criticise My ways, therefore, עתה תראה NOW THOU SHALT SEE — what will now be done to Pharaoh thou shalt see, but thou shalt not see what will be done to the kings of the seven nations of Canaan when I shall bring them (the Israelites) into the Holy Land (cf. Sanhedrin 111a).

כי ביד חזקה ישלחם, He will send them off in spite of the Israelites. The reference is to the fact that the Israelites will be expelled by him, not released, as the Torah reports in Exodus 12,33.

. עתה תראה, now that you have seen yourself the sin of Pharaoh who has the nerve to hold on to the Israelites with the authority of his office, you will see that he will not only release them voluntarily, but ביד חזקה ישלחם, not only will he release them, but he will be forced to get rid of them post haste due to the problems he will have while they are still in his country.

עתה תראה אשר אעשה לפרעה, "Now you are about to see what I shall do to Pharaoh, etc." The word עתה was G'd's answer to Moses' ומאז באתי, that G'd had made things worse for Israel than prior to Moses' appointment. G'd told Moses that not only would the additional hardships cease forthwith but also the hardships endured by the people up until then would come to an end immediately. We have already mentioned that slave labour ceased from the time the river Nile was struck and turned into blood. G'd made it plain to Moses that not only had he been wrong in assuming that the most recent decree of Pharaoh would last for twelve months, but even his previous decrees would become inoperative at once.

עתה תראה, “now you will see;” according to Rashi the word “now” means that whereas Moses would witness the redemption from Egypt, he would not witness the entry of the people into the Holy Land. Both the accusation Moses leveled against G’d that He had worsened the fate of the people, and the failure to speak to the rock instead of hitting it in Numbers 20, 5-14, combined to his not being allowed to witness conquest of the land of Canaan.

To the kings of the seven nations when I will bring them (Yisrael) to the Land. You might ask: It seems that Hashem is hinting now to Moshe that he will not enter the Land. Yet later, in Parshas Beha’alosecha (Bamidbar 10:29), and it says, “We are traveling to the place,” Rashi himself explained that Moshe thought he would enter the Land. The answer is: He thought he would enter but would die before conquering the seven nations, as B’nei Yisrael fought a long time before conquering them. But a difficulty remains, for earlier, it says, “Please send the one You usually send” (Shemos 4:13), and Rashi explained: “I [Moshe] am not destined to bring them into the Land.” Thus, it clearly implies that Moshe knew he would not enter the Land. The answer is: Moshe thought he would not bring them into the land as their leader, but would still enter as one of the people. But a difficulty still remains: Later on in Parshas Beshalach, it says, “You will bring them and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance” (Shemos 15:17), and Rashi explains: “Moshe prophesied that he would not enter the Land [at all].” The answer is: Moshe surely prophesied this, but not as a full prophecy, i.e., he prophesied without realizing the content of his prophecy.

Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. Until this point, the B’nei Yisrael were still lacking sufficient merit for to be redeemed, and there was not enough sin to fill the measure for Pharaoh. However, due to the difficult oppression at the end of their servitude the affliction and suffering of the B’nei Yisrael reached its limit, and the measure of Pharaoh’s wickedness was complete. For not only did Pharaoh not heed the word of Hashem and let them go, he even rebelled against Hashem by increasing their affliction (Malbim).

Kap. 6. V. 1. עתה, dies ist gerade der Moment, den ich erwartet. Es muss sich erst diese völlige Ohnmacht, diese Verzweiflung gezeigt haben, muss erst am Tage liegen, dass durch Menschen nichts auszurichten und gewöhnliche Vorstellungen bei Pharao nutzlos sind, es müssen erst Mosche und Aaron den Vertretern des Volkes gegenüber in ihrer völligen nackten Nichtigkeit verstummt dastehen, ehe die Erlösung als Gotteswerk beginnen kann. Mit diesem Moment war auch der letzte Schein etwa vorhandener natürlicher Hilfsmittel geschwunden, war Mosche nur als Werkzeug und das Werk als Gotteswerk gekennzeichnet. יד חזקה, die höhere, unwiderstehliche Gotteshand soll darin sichtbar werden, darum war dieser Moment der Verzweiflung nicht zu ersparen.

עתה תראה, “now you are about to see, etc;” according to Rashi, this is a criticism, G–d saying to Moses that when He subjected Avraham to a test of his faith, [when He had asked him to offer his son Yitzchok as a sacrifice, Ed.] the latter did not question His judgment, as opposed to Moses. [This editor does not understand the comparison, as Moses was concerned about his people, and when Avraham had heard about the impending destruction of Sodom and all its inhabitants, he also engaged in a dialogue with G–d requesting an explanation, and the Sodomites were far from being his people. Ed.] Our author, in referring to Avraham’s having asked G–d for a sign that he would fulfill His promise to make him into the founder of a great nation, Genesis 15,8 does not consider this as a criticism of G–d’s attributes. He supposedly asked only by what merit he had deserved to be given such a promise. G–d told him then that it was the merit of the sacrifices he would be about to be asked to offer forthwith.

כי ביד חזקה, because through a combination of (My) strong hand and coupled with (his) obstinacy, i.e. ויד חזקה, he will expel them from Egypt. When G-d said in 11,1 that Pharaoh would dispatch, ישלח, the Israelites, He referred to his dispatching them permanently, not for a three day trip into the desert.

כי ביד חזקה ישלחם this means: for on account of My strong hand (i. e. the strong hand which I will use against him, the ב in ביד denoting “on account of”) — which will prove strong against him he will send them away.

וביד חזקה יגרשם מראצו, in contrast with his keeping the Israelites enslaved in his country at this time, he will eventually be forced to expel them by force so that not a single one of them will remain behind.

Due to My strong hand . . . I.e., we should not explain that Pharaoh will let them go by his strong hand, as in “The Egyptians pressed the people to hurry them” (Shemos 12:33), because this point is stated in the end of our verse (“and by [a] strong hand, he will drive them out from his land”).

G'd also answered Moses concerning what Moses had perceived as G'd's failure to respond to the way Pharaoh had slighted Him. This is why He told Moses that He would smite him until Pharaoh would dismiss the Israelites because he had experienced G'd's strong hand. We explained already that G'd delayed the final plague in order to punish Pharaoh for his blasphemy.

יגרשם ,ישלחם, scheinbar zwei Widersprüche, ישלחם: wider seinen Willen, יגרשם: wider Israels Willen; beides soll sich verwirklichen. In dem Momente der Erlösung soll weder Pharao noch das Volk den Auszug wollen — לא יכלו להתמהמה — wie in der Geburt Mutter und Kind willenlos der Wirkung einer höheren Macht unterliegen, so soll Israel bis in den letzten Moment Sklave bleiben und als Sklave erscheinen, damit aus der Geschichte seiner Rettung für alle Zeit nur die Gottestat hervorleuchte!

וביד חזקה יגרשם מארצו AND WITH A STRONG HAND SHALL HE DRIVE THEM OUT OF HIS LAND — against the will of the Israelites themselves will he drive them out of his land: they will not have sufficient time to prepare provisions for themselves for the journey. So, indeed, does Scripture state: (Exodus 12:33) “And Egypt was urgent (תחזק. lit., was strong) upon the people etc.”.

He will drive them out against their will. This seems to mean: Because of Hashem’s strong hand on Egypt, Pharaoh will drive the people out. But the Re”m explains: Because of Pharaoh’s strong hand on the people, he will drive them out. However, his explanation is not correct. (Nachalas Yaakov)

וביד חזקה, "and with a mighty hand, etc." This second reference to G'd's mighty hand was a preview of the consternation G'd would cause at the time of the killing of the firstborn when the Torah reports that there was not a single house in Egypt in which not at least one person died at that time (compare Yalkut Shimoni on Exodus 12,30 where it is explained that if there was no actual firstborn in a specific house at the time, the oldest would be killed). As a result of all this the Egyptians would not only dismiss the Israelites but would actually יגרשם, "expel them," as each Egyptian feared for his own life every minute (compare Exodus 12,33). G'd answered Moses' other argument as to why He had allowed things to get worse in the next פרשה.