Musar do Wyjścia 10:3

To return to the subject which we touched upon earlier of how the שר can don the "mantle" of the שכינה. Although this is a tremendous display of power for such a שר, it will boomerang and become the cause of his downfall as we mentioned earlier. This procedure is alluded to in the words of our פרשה in 10,2, where the Torah says: "how I have made a mockery of the Egyptians." Rashi explains that the word התעללתי במצרים, means "I have toyed with them." We need to understand the meaning of this שחוק, game, that G–d played. When we consider the august position of the שר של מצרים as we have described, we realise that when he was at the height of his power, this שר gave no thought to his eventual demise, and that the higher he would rise, the greater would be his eventual fall into a deep pit. The very "mantle" of the שכינה which he wore would become the cause of his downfall. At that time, G–d in Heaven, who is aware of the exact moment in time when events would cause the שר של מצרים to fall, would smile. The timing of these events is alluded to in Moses' words to Pharaoh in 10,3: "How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?" Humbling oneself means to turn from being evil to being good. We have a prime example of this when Samael, who had been Jacob's arch-enemy, changed direction and accorded Jacob his blessing, his recognition (Genesis 32,29).

Pharaoh's repentance was of the category described by Jeremiah. He even said it openly when he exclaimed in 10,17: ויסר מעלי רק את המות הזה, "In order that He should remove from me only this death!" His servants who told him "dismiss these people and let them serve their G–d, for do you not know yet that Egypt will perish?" were not much better. This is why Moses said to Pharaoh in 9,30: "I know that neither you nor your servants have yet experienced true reverence for the Lord G–d." Moses merely intimated that he knew that the motivation of Pharaoh's professed remorse was not a true תשובה. G–d confirmed this in 10,3 when He said to Pharaoh (through Moses): "How long do you refuse to humble yourself before Me?"