Komentarz do Wyjścia 9:12

AND THE ETERNAL HARDENED THE HEART OF PHARAOH. It is possible that during the first plagues, the magicians hardened Pharaoh’s heart in order to pride themselves in their wisdom. But now that they did not come before him and there was none to help him and none to uphold him²⁰⁸See Isaiah 63:5. in his folly except his iniquities that ensnared him,²⁰⁹See Proverbs 5:22. [it was G-d Who hardened his heart]. It is possible that Scripture is alluding to that which our Rabbis have explained,²¹⁰Shemoth Rabbah 11:7. i.e., that during the first plagues, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was his own doing,²¹¹And not, as stated before, that it was caused by the magicians, who were proud of their arts. and now it was [rightfully] caused by G-d, as I have explained above.²¹²Above, 7:3. This is the true explanation.

.'ויחזק ה, G’d needed to reinforce Pharaoh’s heart as without this he would not have been able to endure this plague without his resistance collapsing. We know how Satan expected Job to react to the same affliction, from Job 2,5 “if You lay a hand on his bones and flesh he will surely blaspheme.”

ויחזק ה', “the Lord strengthened the heart of Pharaoh.” It is possible that during the preceding plagues the presence of and encouragement by the sorcerers had helped Pharaoh to maintain a defiant posture. Now G’d had to strengthen his heart so that he would not capitulate prematurely, and G’d could not complete the whole series of plagues He had planned. Ibn Ezra writes that Pharaoh did not ask Moses to pray to G’d on this occasion because the plague did not last long, and we should not assume that because the first plague had lasted for seven days, that all the subsequent plagues also lasted for a whole week. We should be guided by the text, so that the plague of pestilence lasted only for an hour, whereas the plague of darkness continued for three whole days. This being so, we have no way of calculating during which month of which year these plagues commenced. If what the sages have handed down to us is based on tradition, we are, of course, bound to accept this, if not, we may pursue our own speculations.