Комментарий к Шмот 7:9

מופת A WONDER — a sign to prove that there is power in Him who is sending you.

תנו לכם מופת, “identify yourselves by means of a miracle which shows that the One Who has sent you is capable of carrying out what He promises so that we should obey Him. The expression אות as opposed to מופת is meant to identify the messenger, i.e. to prove that he is not a pretender, a charlatan. This was the reason why Moses performed אותות before the Israelites so that they should not entertain any doubt as to his being an authentic messenger from G’d to them. Pharaoh, whose doubts did not relate to the authenticity of Moses as the people’s representative, had to be convinced of the identity of the G’d who Moses claimed had sent him. It was he who had said that he did not recognise even the existence of such a G’d. Hence Moses had to perform miracles proving that such a G’d did in fact exist. The fact that the same miracle could help establish two separate facts is no hindrance to Moses performing the same miracle in two locations for two different audiences.

[Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg 18th c. Germany]

A sign. Since Rashi interprets מופתים as “wondrous plagues,” in Parshas Va’es’chanan (Devarim 4:34), he needed to explain that here מופת means “a sign.”

V. 9. תנו לכם:stolz: er braucht und will kein Wunder, will nicht überzeugt werden. "Wenn ihr denn auftreten wollt, wohlan, so gebet für euch ein Zeichen, legitimiert euch durch ein Wunder." — מטך: Man ist durch nichts veranlasst zu glauben, es sei dies nicht Aarons, sondern Mosche Stab gewesen. Es ist vielmehr viel vernünftiger, ihn, wie es auch hier heißt, für Aarons Stab zu halten. Lag ja die Göttlichkeit nicht im Stabe. War es ja nichts als Gottes Fügung und für diese ja jeder Stab gleich. — תנין, nicht eigentlich Schlange, sondern ein ungeheures Wassertier, ein Fischungeheuer (siehe Bereschit 1, 21). Pharao selbst wird als התנים הגדול הרובץ בתוך יאוריו (Jechesk. 29, 3) bezeichnet, als das große Tier, das durch die Gunst der Flussgötter sich seines Daseins erfreut. Dies Zeichen sagte Pharao: "du und deine Götter, ihr seid nichts als ein Stab in meiner Hand". Wir vermuten, dass es hier das Krokodil bedeute.

יהי לתנין “it will turn into a serpent.” Seeing that Pharaoh had proclaimed himself as equivalent to a giant monster, G–d was going to show him Who it was that created such monsters. (Compare Ezekiel 29,3.) The principal feature of serpents is that they bend and twist, so Pharaoh would also be forced to bend and twist. (Sh’mot Rabbah 9,4) He also afflicted him with the plague of tzoraat, (Exodus 11,1) reminding him that he should have learned a lesson from what happened to the first Pharaoh when he tried to rape the wife of the first Hebrew, Avraham (Genesis 12,17).

תנו לכם מופת,”perform a miracle in order to legitimize yourselves!” According to Rashi, the word מופת refers to a miracle that would prove who it is that authorised Moses to become the redeemer of the Israelites. G-d would have to demonstrate not only being a Ruler, but also His capacity to enforce his decrees. We have a source for this Rashi in Devarim Rabbah 2,11, which while not exactly what Rashi says nevertheless approximates it. Basically, it explains why paganism in Jewish literature is called עבודת כוכבים אלהים, literally: “worshiping stars as gods,” the reason being that [(my choice of words), “G-d is indispensable in our universe.” Otherwise, the word elohim in that expression is superfluous. Ed.] Rabbi Yossi claims that these deities cannot be called elohim, for if they were, it would follow that such a force must be obeyed. This is why the Torah in Deuteronomy 32,17, quotes Moses as referring to these so called deities as שדים לא אלוה, “satyrs, non deities.” Onkelos translates it as “something that is misleading,” as there is absolutely no need for it. For if there had been a need for such phenomena why would G-d be jealous of them?”

To make it known that there is power. . . [ צרוך means power], i.e., the One Who sends you has power and rulership, as it is written in Parshas Ha’azinu (Devarim 32:17), “They will sacrifice to demons that have no power,” and Onkelos there translates as, “. . .that have no צרוך .”

והשלך לפני פרעה יהי לתניו, “throw it in front of Pharaoh so that it will turn into a sea monster.” The reason for this was that Pharaoh boasted of his power to the extent that G-d in Ezekiel 29,3 called him “the great sea monster.” The prophet there ridicules the actual power of Pharaoh who people were afraid of. Moses’ performing the miracle, was to show him that awe-inspiring monsters are only an illusion and can be turned into a stick by merely taking hold of their tail. Similarly, Pharaoh’s power is also only an illusion. Even though it appears that at this time he is all-powerful, this can change in the time it takes to drop a stick to the ground.

יהי לתנין, this paragraph has already appeared in parshat sh’mot 4,21 ראה כל המופתים אשר שמתי בידך ועשיתם לפני פרעה, “see that you perform all the miracles that I have put at your disposal and carry them out in the presence of Pharaoh;” the reason that this has been repeated here is that a new element has been added, that only the miracle of turning the staff into a sea monster is to be performed.