Midrasz do Wyjścia 9:6

[(Exod. 30:12): WHEN YOU TAKE A CENSUS.] What is written <just> before this lection (in Exod. 30:10)? AARON SHALL MAKE ATONEMENT UPON ITS HORNS (i.e., the horns of the incense altar) <ONCE A YEAR>.¹³Tanh., Exod. 9:6; PRK 2:7. When Israel sinned, the Holy One said to Moses: Go and make atonement for them. He said to him: Sovereign of the World, did you not say this: ONCE A YEAR? The Holy One said to him: Go and restore them. R. Abbin the Levite said: Moses said to the Holy One: Sovereign of the World, out of all the peoples that you have in your world, you only charge me concerning Israel. (Lev. 20:2:) AND UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL YOU SHALL SAY. (Exod. 30:31:) UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL YOU SHALL SPEAK. To what is the matter comparable?¹⁴Tanh., Exod. 9:8. To a King who had purple garments.¹⁵Gk.: porphurai. Now he had a certain purple cloak which he cherished more than all of them. So he commanded his servant and said to him: Shake it out; fold it up. He also said to him: Set your mind on it. He said to him: My Lord King, of all your purple garments you have only commanded me concerning this one. He said to him: Because I wore this one when I first became king, I therefore cherish it more than all these <other> garments of mine. In such a way did the Holy One speak, when <Moses> said to him: For what reason did you command me more concerning Israel than all the <other> peoples which are in the world? He said to him: For what reason? Because they were the first to make me king, <when they did so> by the sea. (Exod. 15:18:) THE LORD SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER.

Whatever the Egyptians devised against Israel, [the Holy One] brought against them. Those < Egyptians > devised for them to draw their water. What is written (in Ps. 78:44)? HE TURNED THEIR NILES INTO BLOOD SO THAT THEIR STREAMS WERE UNDRINKABLE. Those < Egyptians > devised for them to be laden as traveling traders.²²Gk.: pragmateutes. He sent frogs upon them and covered them with resin. Those < Egyptians > devised for them to work on the land. The Holy One made the land swarm with gnats. Those <Egyptians> devised that they should bear their children as a paidagogos.²³The Greek word designates a slave who was assigned to a child as an attendant and guardian. He sent lions, wolves, and bears among them. <If> an Egyptian had ten children, when he told Israel to bring them to the market place, the lion came and took one, the wolf one, the bear one, the leopard one, and the snake one. Then he came <back> to the Egyptian alone. The Egyptian said: Where are my children? Israel said to him: Sit down and I myself will render you an accounting: The lion took one <etc.>; and so <he continued> on, until he had given him an accounting. Now they (the Egyptians) devised that they would tend their livestock, but he sent out the plague among them, as stated (in Exod. 9:6): THEN ALL THE EGYPTIAN LIVESTOCK DIED. They intended that they would be bath attendants {bathe them}. He brought the boils upon them. They intended to stone them with stones. The Holy One brought the hail upon them, as stated (in Exod. 9:22): THAT THERE MAY BE HAIL <IN ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT >…. They intended that they would be their vine dressers. The Holy One brought the locusts, who ate their trees, as stated (in Exod. 10:15): AND THEY ATE ALL THE GRASS OF THE EARTH…. They intended to imprison them in prison. The Holy One brought darkness upon them, as stated (in Exod. 10:23): THEY COULD NOT SEE ONE ANOTHER…. They intended to kill them. The Holy One killed their first-born, as stated (in Exod. 12:29): THAT THE LORD SMOTE ALL THE FIRST-BORN. They intended to drown them in water. The Holy One also drowned them in water, as stated (in Ps. 136:15): BUT OVERTHREW PHARAOH AND HIS HOST IN THE REED SEA….

And he took six hundred chosen chariots (Exod. 14:7). Whose beasts drew the chariots? If you should say they belonged to the Egyptians, has it not already been said: And all the cattle of Egypt died (Exod. 9:6)? If you should contend that they belonged to Pharaoh, has it not already been stated: Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle (ibid. 9:3)? If you should assert that they belonged to Israel, has it not already been written: Our cattle also shall go with us, there shall not a hoof be left behind (ibid. 10:26)? To whom, then, did they belong? They belonged to the slaves of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord. Hence we learn that even those who feared the word of the Lord were a stumbling block to Israel. Because of this verse, they say: “The best among the Egyptians, kill; the best among serpents, crush its brain.”