Comentário sobre Êxodo 9:5

מועד לאמר, Moses announced the timing of the plague so that the Egyptians could not claim that the plague was a natural disaster.

וישם ה׳ מועד לאמור, G'd appointed a set time, etc. He informed the Egyptians of when the plague would strike to enable them to bring their livestock indoors as we also find when the plague of hail struck (9,19). In that instance G'd told the Egyptians outright to bring their animals indoors to protect them, whereas here He only hinted at this. The hint is expressed in the Torah by the word לאמור. This meant that Moses and Aaron were to inform both Pharaoh and the Egyptians of the timing of that plague.

וישם ה' מועד לאמור מחר יעשה ה' הדבר הזה בארץ, “G’d appointed a set time, saying: “G’d will carry out this matter in the land tomorrow.” Why this cumbersome language? All the Torah had to write was: “Tomorrow I will do it.” The plain meaning of this verse is that G’d gave Moses the date on which this plague would occur and he was to tell the Israelites the date, i.e. on the following day.

Adonoy has set a time, saying, tomorrow. By tomorrow Pharaoh would have a chance to repent, and he could stop the plague.

A kabbalistic approach: The apparent repetition וישם ה', ה' יעשה, “G’d (set) determined, G’d will do,” refers to G’d Who together with His celestial tribunal would orchestrate this plague. G’d’s celestial tribunal had already been mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph with the word הנה יד ה' הויה. This is not the only time when mention of G’d in the third person rather than quoting G’d in the first person means that the reference is to G’d’s celestial tribunal. Another example of this is found in Exodus 16,29 where the words ראו כי ה' נתן לכם השבת, “see, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath,” instead of “I have given you the Sabbath” refer to the same thing. There are many such examples. .