Комментарий к Шмот 12:31

ויקרא למשה ולאהרן לילה AND HE CALLED FOR MOSES AND AARON BY NIGHT — This tells us that he went round to the entrances leading into the city (i. e. to each different district) crying out, “Where does Moses reside? Where does Aaron reside?” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:31).

AND HE CALLED FOR MOSES AND AARON BY NIGHT. “This teaches us that Pharaoh went round to the entrances leading into the city, crying out, ‘Where does Moses dwell? Where does Aaron dwell?’” Thus the language of Rashi. Now this happened because Moses and Aaron lodged [close to the vicinity of the palace] that night, [the city of] Egypt, so that Moses’ words would be fulfilled, as he said, And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down unto me, saying: Get thee out.²⁸¹Above, 11:8. And when Pharaoh came to them, they sent messengers to the land of Goshen where the children of Israel dwelled, giving them permission to leave, and they all assembled in Rameses.²⁸²Verse 37. By that time, it was already well into the day. From there they journeyed with a high hand, with Moses at their lead, as it is said, And they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.²⁸³Numbers 33:3. The verse stating, The Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt by night²⁸⁴Deuteronomy 16:1. [is no contradiction], since from the time Pharaoh gave them permission to go — [which was at night] — they are already deemed as “going forth” from Egypt.
And thus the Rabbis have said in the Sifre:²⁸⁵Sifre, Re’ei, 128. See above, Note 209, on the word “Sifre.” “Had they not gone forth out of Egypt only at daytime, as it is said, On the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out?²⁸³Numbers 33:3. [How then does Scripture say that we were brought forth out of Egypt by night?]²⁸⁴Deuteronomy 16:1. Simply, this teaches us that the redemption [from bondage] took place at night [although the actual exodus took place during the day].” And in the Gemara of Tractate Berachoth we read:²⁸⁶Berachoth 9a. “All Rabbis agree that the redemption took place at night, as it is said, The Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt by night,²⁸⁴Deuteronomy 16:1. but the actual going forth took place only at daytime, as it is said, On the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.”²⁸³Numbers 33:3.
And some scholars say²⁸⁷Mentioned by Ibn Ezra here. that they went out from [the city of] Egypt at night, and at daytime they went out from the land of Egypt, which is Rameses, for many of them dwelled in the city of Egypt, and they left at night and joined their brothers in Rameses. But this is not correct, since Scripture says, And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.²⁸⁸Above, Verse 22. Thus they were forbidden to go out of their homes at all at night. And similarly the Rabbis have said in the Mechilta:²⁸⁹Mechilta on the Verse before us, with changes. A Midrashic text closer to the one Ramban mentions appears in Midrash Tehilim 113:2. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 336. “And he called to Moses, and Aaron by night, and said: Rise up, get you forth. But Moses said to Pharaoh: ‘Thus we have been commanded: And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.²⁸⁸Above, Verse 22. Are we thieves that we should go forth at night? We shall go forth only with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.’”
Now Onkelos explained²⁹⁰The verse of Deuteronomy 16:1, The Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt by night, was translated by Onkelos thus: “The Eternal thy G-d brought thee forth out of Egypt and did miracles for you at night.” that the miracles which were done for the Israelites on that night make it proper to say that on that night G-d “brought thee forth,” because on account of these miracles, they went forth from Egypt.

ויקרא למשה ולאהרון לילה, "He called for Moses and Aaron at night, etc." The reason that the Torah repeats the word לילה, night, could be that Pharaoh was afraid that inasmuch as he had forbidden Moses and Aaron to see him again on pain of death (10,28), they would use this as an excuse not to see him, fearing it was a trap to give Pharaoh an excuse to execute them. By emphasising the word לילה Pharaoh indicated that he had only threatened them on "the day you will see my face, etc." Since it was night, they had no reason to be afraid. Alternatively, Pharaoh meant that seeing it was dark they would not see his face anyways, and his threat applied only to their seeing his face.

ויקרא פרעה למשה ולאהרן לילה, “Pharaoh called on Moses and Aaron during the night.” Moses made a point of sleeping in the capital that night, in order that his prediction that Pharaoh’s servants would come down to him and humble themselves could come true. When Pharaoh arrived at his abode they sent messengers to Goshen giving permission for the Israelites to leave, whereupon they assembled in Ramses en masse. It was still fully light at the time when they assembled there. From there they proceeded with pomp and ceremony (not as escapees) as described in Numbers As to the apparent contradiction in the verse (Deut. 16,1) הוציאך ה' אלוקיך ממצרים לילה, “that the Lord your G’d took you out of Egypt at night,” this refers to the night when they became free to go, having obtained Pharaoh’s permission. Ibn Ezra writes that the Israelites who were residing in Egypt proper left the same night, whereas they did not cross the border, i.e. the city of Ramses, until the morning following. At that point, they were joined by all the other Israelites who had come to meet with them, having traveled from Goshen. This commentary does not sound plausible, for how could anyone have traveled at night after having been told not to leave their homes until morning as they would expose themselves to danger if they did? Onkelos explains what happens as follows: the miracles which were performed for the Israelites on that night are called by the Torah “G’d took you out of Egypt.” The wording is justified seeing that the departure of the Israelites from Egypt was due to these miracles.

This tells us that he went. . . Otherwise it should say, “He called אל משה , as it does in “Hashem called אל משה (to Moshe) and spoke to him.” But למשה means, “for Moshe.”

(Exodus 12:31) "And he called for Moses and Aaron": We are hereby apprised that Pharaoh made the rounds of Egypt, asking "Where is Moses to be found? Where is Aaron to be found?" "And he said: Arise, go out" — to which Moses replied: We are exhorted to go out only in a throng, viz. (Ibid. 22) "And you, do not go out, etc." Variantly: "And he called to Moses and to Aaron": What is the intent of this? Pharaoh had said to him (Ibid. 10:28) "Go from me." (29) "And Moses said: "True have you spoken" (and in the proper time. Indeed,) "I shall not see your face again." (11:8) "And all these servants of yours will come down to me (Moses), etc." What is the intent of "these"? You (Pharaoh) are destined to be at their head and to come down first — whereby we are taught that Moses accorded honor to the ruler, ("these" being euphemistic for "you"). And thus do we find that the Holy One Blessed be He (Himself) accorded honor to the ruler, viz. (6:13) "And the L rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron and he charged them … to Pharaoh." He charged them to accord honor to the ruler. For thus do we find with Joseph, that he accorded honor to the ruler, viz. (Genesis 41:16) "G d will answer (for) the peace of Pharaoh." And thus with Jacob, viz. (Genesis 28:2) "And Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed" (to accord honor to Joseph, the ruler at that time). And thus with Eliyahu, viz. (I Kings 18:46) "And he girded his loins and ran before (King) Achav." And thus with Chananiah, Mishael, and Azaryah, viz. (Daniel 3:26) "Then Nevuchadnezzar approached the door of the burning, fiery furnace and called out: 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Aved-Nego, servants of the Most High — Come out! (Only) then (at the behest of the ruler) Shadrach, Meshach, and Aved-Nego came out of the fire?" And thus with Daniel, viz. (Daniel 6:21) "And when he (the king) approached the den, he cried to Daniel in a mournful voice … (22) (Only) then did Daniel speak with the king, etc." "And he said: Arise and go out": I (Pharaoh) said (Ibid. 10:8) "Who and who are the goers?" and you said (Ibid. 9) "With our youth and with our elders will we go" — "Arise go out from the midst of my people, both you (the adults) and the children of Israel." I said (Ibid. 24) "Only your flocks and herds leave in place," and you said (Ibid. 25) "You, too, shall place in our hands sacrifices and burnt-offerings" — (Ibid. 12:32) "Take as you have spoken and go, etc." "and bless me, too": Pray that this calamity depart from me.

V. 31. צאו מתון עמי heißt ein völliges Fortgehen aus dem Volke. ולכו עבדו besänftigt euren Gott, erfüllt ihm seinen Willen.

ויקרא למשה ואהרן, “he had Moses and Aaron called to the Palace;” seeing that we have been told in 10,28: that Pharaoh had commanded Moses to leave his presence, he was now forced to countermand himself and beg Moses to come to him as soon as possible, as the Torah reported that there was not a single house in which not at least one Egyptian had died. At first glance this statement sounds almost incredible, for surely not every house harboured a firstborn. The Egyptians would mark a house in which a firstborn had died with a portrait or statute of the deceased and put it on a pedestal inside the house in which he had lived as a kind of memorial. On this night all of these had been shattered at the time G-d struck the firstborn. This day now became as tragic for them as the day on which that particular first born had died and they had buried him. This was not all; the Egyptians now buried their most recent dead (firstborn) in their own houses and the dogs found ways to drag out these corpses and to gorge themselves on their flesh. As a result, their relatives felt as badly as they had on the day they had buried them.

גם אתם BOTH YE — the men,

RISE UP, GET YOU FORTH FROM AMONG MY PEOPLE. The intent thereof is that it was a royal command that they go forth at once, “for I will not give you permission to tarry among my people at all, since they are being killed on account of you.”

קומו, צאו!, “get up and get going!” He meant that they should depart without delay seeing that the King had commanded that the people would depart immediately and had refused them the right to perform any more slave labour. He added that they should engage in the worship of their G’d as they had demanded all this time, as an additional reason for them to hurry to do as commanded. It is as if the servants said to Moses and Aaron: “do what he says seeing this is what you waited for all this time!” [this commentary presupposes that the words ויקרא למשה ולאהרן לילה, ”he called upon Moses and upon Aaron at night, did not describe Pharaoh, personally, going to see Moses, but his servants did. Ed.]

One could also interpret this verse by viewing the word לילה as part of Moses' answer. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, whereupon the latter responded that it was now night, i.e. not the time to conduct negotiations. Moses may have added that G'd had forbidden any of the Israelites to leave their houses during that night (12,22) until morning.

גם בני ישראל AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — the little ones (i. e. בני must be understood literally).

BOTH YE — [i.e., Moses and Aaron], who do the smiting²⁹¹This is unlike Rashi who explained: “Both ye, the men; and the children of Israel, the little ones.” — AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. “All of you go out, and do not tarry here under any circumstance.” This was to fulfill what G-d had said to Moses, He shall surely thrust you hence.²⁹²Above, 11:1.

Upon hearing this Pharaoh said: קומו צאו, "arise and depart." In other words Pharaoh freed the Israelites by this proclamation. The expression קומו, "arise," may even contain a hint of Pharaoh's granting the Israelites a "higher status" than they had possessed heretofore. Bereshit Rabbah 58,8 explains Genesis 23,17 where the field and cave of Machpelah are described as ויקם, having arisen. Whereas previously, before Abraham's purchase, the field and cave belonged to a low-life such as Efron, the field and cave "rose" to a higher status by becoming the property of a man of the calibre of Abraham. At any rate, Pharaoh believed that by declaring the Israelites a free people without any further ado, he could free himself of the plague of the dying of the firstborn. If they did not leave immediately, their continued stay could not be blamed on him.

ולכו עבדו את ה' כדברכם AND GO, SERVE THE LORD, AS YE HAVE SAID — everything shall be as you have said and not as I have said: annulled is what I have said, (5:2) “I will not let you go” (“Arise, go out”); annulled is, (10:8) “who are they that shall go?” (“go, both you and the children of Israel”); annulled is, (10:24) “but your flocks and herds must remain” (“Take also your flocks and herds”) (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:31).

AND GO SERVE THE ETERNAL, AS YE HAVE SAID. Pharaoh said this by way of conciliation so that they would be willing to go forth and listen to him, “since you have been wanting to go to the desert to serve the Eternal.”

Another meaning of the words קומו צאו is that it is an accusation. Seeing that Moses and Aaron had refused to come to Pharaoh, he called upon them to rise from their beds for their own benefit, i.e. "the reason I have called you was so that you should leave the country." Accordingly, Moses and Aaron explained that their failure to get up from their beds immediately was not lack of respect for the king but לילה, G'd had ordered them not to leave their houses during that night.

גם אתם גם בני ישראל, "both you and the children of Israel." Why did Pharaoh say גם, also, already before mentioning that Moses and Aaron were to leave? Besides, why did Moses and Aaron need Pharaoh's permission to leave that he said to them: "depart from amongst my people?" They were not his prisoners! Perhaps the wording of Pharaoh's dismissal reveals that subconsciously he had always wanted to arrest Moses and Aaron. When he now gave orders that the Israelites could leave, he had to first reverse his thinking about detaining Moses and Aaron individually. None of this would have been discernible if the word גם had been used only in connection with the departure of the Israelites as a people.

Still another meaning of this verse is that Pharaoh not only discharged the Israelites but he expelled them. The words גם אתם may then be interpreted thus: "Although you are no longer under my control as slaves, I do not want you to reside in my country any longer." This was a new element. Now the point had been reached of which G'd had said to Moses in 11,1: "when he will finally discharge you completely he will not only discharge you but he will expel you." The words גם בני ישראל refer to the women and the children; the word גם, also, in connection with גם צאנכם in verse 32 refers to the other items such as the animals Pharaoh himself was to supply (compare 10,25).