Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 7:4

ויאמר ה׳ ..עוד נגע אחד, G'd said to Moses: "one more plague, etc." This chapter tells us about matters G'd had already mentioned to Moses earlier while Moses was still in Midian. At that time (3,19) G'd had informed Moses that Pharaoh would not let the Israelites depart even after He applied a strong hand against him. In 4,22-23 G'd had already warned Pharaoh of the consequences of not letting the Israelites depart. You will observe that the end of the cycle of nine plagues left Pharaoh exactly as obstinate as he had been at the beginning. He had started out by not even considering the demands of G'd, and though he appeared to have softened his stance, making progressively greater concessions, he was now back to square one having ruled out the departure of any of the Israelites. In 7,4 G'd had told Moses that the sign that the plague of the killing of the firstborn was about to occur would be Pharaoh's refusal to listen. As soon as Moses heard that he was not to appear again at court he knew that the time had come for the last plague after which the Exodus would begin. Moses knew that this plague would be the most severe because G'd asked him to instruct the people to "borrow" as many silver and golden trinkets as they could. The word עוד then does not mean an additional plague as much as it means "the plague I have already spoken to you about once before, I am mentioning again." This explains why Moses did not wait after verse four until G'd described the plague to him, though G'd had done so every other time when Moses was told to warn Pharaoh. Moses proceeded to inform Pharaoh on the spot. Whereas it is true that we do not find that G'd had previously told Moses that the plague of the killing of the firstborn would occur at midnight, we may assume that G'd had told Moses that detail also at that time, but that the Torah did not record it there as it had not yet become relevant. This is why it is not difficult to understand that G'd repeated here what He had told Moses originally, i.e. that the Jews would take with them the silver and gold trinkets borrowed from the Egyptians as well as their garments and that they would "empty" Egypt (Exodus 3,22).

ויחל העם, “the people profaned themselves.” The word ויחל means to profane something which previously was sacred, holy. We encounter the same word in connection with Noach (Genesis 9,2), when Noach planted a vineyard and became drunk. Judaism describes people who are meticulous in their sexual mores as ”holy,” whereas those that are not are considered as “profane.” Whenever the Torah refers to the Israelites simply as העם, this term implies a criticism of their spiritual level (at that time). The Following are some examples of the Torah using this terminology: Numbers 11,1: “the people were looking for something to complain about.” Numbers 20,3: “the people quarrelled.” Numbers 21,5: “the people spoke out against G’d.” On the other hand, whenever the people of Israel are referred to as עמי, this is to be taken as a complimentary term; examples are: Psalms 81,14: “if only My people would listen to Me.” Exodus 7,4: “I will take out the hosts of My people.” Isaiah 40,1: “comfort, comfort My people.”

במספר שמות, “according to the number of names, etc.;” the Torah did not write: “according to their names,” as it did in 3,40 in connection with the count of the firstborn. Perhaps we may explain this in terms of the angels who had come to earth at the time of the revelation. At that time the number of the camps, flags, etc., corresponded to the number of those angels; possibly by not referring to the individual names of the people to be counted, the Torah wanted to allude to the comparison with the angels at Mount Sinai [who have no fixed names but receive names in accordance with the missions they are asked to perform. Ed.]. During the revelation each individual Israelite was on a spiritual par with the angels except that he was like an angel equipped with a body. This may be the reason why at that time the Torah wrote: תפקדו אותם לצבאותם, “count them according to their hosts” (verse 3). The “hosts” referred to are the angels who were at Mount Sinai. They are the ones commonly known as מלאכי השרת, “the ministering angels.” G’d Himself had referred to the Jewish people as “My hosts” in Exodus 7,4 when He told Moses that Pharaoh would refuse His request to take His hosts (the Jewish people) out of Egypt.

‎ כאשר דבר ה׳ AS THE LORD HAD SPOKEN — And where had He said this? When He said, (Exodus 7:4) “Pharaoh will not hearken to you”.

כאשר דבר ה׳ AS THE LORD HAD SPOKEN — when He said, (Exodus 7:4) “Pharaoh will not hearken unto you”.