Комментарий к Шмот 3:19

לא יתן אתכם מלך מצרים להלך THE KING OF EGYPT WILL NOT LET YOU GO, if I do not (ולא) show him My strong hand (יד חזקה) — it is as much as to say: so long as I do not let him feel My strong hand he will not let you go.

V’LO B’YAD CHAZAKAH’ (AND NOT BY A MIGHTY HAND). “So long as I do not let him feel My mighty hand he will not let you go.” Thus the words of Rashi.²⁴³The sense of the verse according to Rashi is thus: “except by a mighty hand.” It is so translated in the J.P.S. translation. Ramban will suggest its meaning to be: “and not even by a mighty hand.”
The correct interpretation in my opinion is: “The king of Egypt will not give you leave to go by plea, and not [even] by a mighty hand, until I will put forth My hand with all My wonders which I will do in his midst,²⁴⁴Verse 20. by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, and by signs and by wonders.²⁴⁵Deuteronomy 4:35. In the verse there, the phrase “by trials and by wonders” is listed first. And after that he will let you go.”²⁴⁴Verse 20. Indeed, all these manifestations came upon him before he gave them leave to go.

ואני ידעתי וגו', but I am perfectly aware that initially he will not grant you permission to follow My instruction to dismiss the Jewish people. This will not be due to his own innate toughness as he is quite powerless against Me, but I shall reinforce his obstinacy to give Myself a chance to display My might first. Only after that will the Egyptians come to realise that I am the only G’d and that all power resides within Me.

כי לא יתן אתכם מלך מצרים להלוך. He will not agree to do this from his own free volition at My request.

ולא יתן אתכם מלך מצרים להלוך, ולא ביד חזקה“and the King of Egypt will not let you go, except through a strong hand.” According to Rashi, the line means that G’d says that as long as G’d would not display His strong hand Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go. According to Nachmanides we are to understand the line as follows: Pharaoh will not let the Israelites go voluntarily, not even when I apply pressure, until I will display all the power at My command. I will use a strong hand in demonstrating this power of Mine to him, working many miracles. This is a preview of what the Torah describes later progressively as יד חזקה, זרוע נטויה, אותות ומופתים, “a strong hand, an outstretched arm, a variety of supernatural miracles.” All these instruments of G’d’s persuavive power would have to be experienced by Pharaoh before he would dismiss the Israelites.

And not because his hand is strong. In other words, the verse means: “The king of Egypt will not allow you to go, but not because his hand is strong.” For [the next verse says:] “I will then send forth My hand and strike Egypt . . . [and then he (Pharaoh) will send you out.]” Whereas if Pharaoh’s hand was strong, he would not send them out [even after being struck].

V.19. Aber selbst diese einfache, natürliche, ja im Grunde sein eigenes Interesse wahrende Bitte — damit nicht ein zürnender Gott seine Sklaven heimsuche — die ihm höchstens sechs oder sieben Arbeitstage kosten würde, wird er nicht bewilligen, nicht wenn ihr ביד חזקה mit Nachdruck fordernd vor ihn trätet. Fast möchte man glauben, dass schon in einem so frühen ägyptischen dynastischen Kreise die äußerlich mit solcher Wichtigkeit proklamierte Religion im Herzen doch nicht das kleinste Plätzchen gehabt und nur zum politischen Popanz für das Volk gedient haben müsse. Er hätte sonst aus Götterfurcht einwilligen müssen. Wo neunzig Götter verehrt werden, hat auch der einundneunzigste Platz, zumal wo, wie hier, an dies über alle Götter waltende Höhere appelliert wird, wo etwas geschehen, was seit Jahrhunderten nicht geschehen.

ואני ידעתי כי לא יתן אתכם מלך מצרים להלוך, “I know already that the King of Egypt will not permit you to go;” G-d revealed to Moses beforehand that Pharaoh would become obstinate; He told Moses this in advance so that he would not become discouraged over Pharaoh’s refusal. Seeing that in the event Moses still did become discouraged, we can imagine how much more discouraged he would have been if G-d had not foretold him that.

לא יתן — Translate this as the Targum does: he will not give leave. Similar uses of נתן followed by ל with the infinitive in sense of permitting are: (Genesis 20:6) “therefore I did not permit thee (נתתיך) to touch her”; (Genesis 31:7) “And God did not permit him (נתנו) to do me evil”. Still all these passages really have the sense of giving”. Some explain the phrase ולא ביד חזקה to signify: “He will not permit you to go, and this will not be because his hand is strong”, for (v. 20) “As soon as I stretch forth My hand I will smite the Egyptians [… and afterwards he will let you go]”. And so the Targum renders it: and not on account that his power is mighty. This explanation was told me in the name of Rabbi Jacob the son of Menachem.

ולא ביד חזקה, I will see to it that he will not even allow you to depart as a result of the plagues I shall inflict on Egypt. I will arrange that as soon as a plague has ceased he will change his mind in order to give Me a chance to inflict further plagues on him as chastisement.

And not because his power is strong. ולא מן קדם דחיליה תקיף means “but not because he has great strength.” Rashi attributes the explanation to Rabbi Yaakov rather than to Onkelos only as regards the meaning of ושלחתי את ידי , who explained it as, “for once I send forth My Hand and strike [Egypt]” he will immediately send you out. The Re”m writes: “But [according to this,] I do not know how to explain the ו of אחרי כן ישלח אתכם (And then he will send you out).” It would seem the answer is: The ו is [superfluous] like the ו in (Bereishis 36:24): ואלה בני צבעון ואיה וענה (And these are the children of Tziv’on: and Ayah and Anah).

ולא ביד חזקה, “not even after I will perform nine plagues to change his mind,” as we know from Deuteronomy 34,12 where in the last verse of the Torah, this has been repeated for the benefit of the next generation that had not been alive at the Exodus and had witnessed all this. G-d told Moses that only after the tenth plague when He would slay all the firstborn of and in Egypt, would Pharaoh finally relent and even expel the Israelites. (verse 20)