Комментарий к Шмот 5:3

פן יפגענו LEST HE LIGHT ON US — They should have said, “Lest He light on thee (Pharaoh) [with pestilence] etc.” — but they showed respect to royalty (the king) by thus expressing themselves. This term פגיעה “lighting on”, “meeting” denotes meeting with death (Exodus Rabbah 5:15).

LEST HE FALL UPON US WITH PESTILENCE. “Moses and Aaron wanted to say [to Pharaoh], ‘Lest He fall upon thee,’ but they showed respect to royalty.” Thus the language of Rashi. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained: “‘Lest He fall upon us; that is, including us Israelites, also you Pharaoh and all Egypt.’ Therefore when the Egyptians saw the slaying of the firstborn, they said, ‘We are all dead men,’³²⁰Further, 12:33. for the words of Moses now became clear to them when he said, Lest he fall upon us with pestilence, and therefore they drove them to go to sacrifice [to G-d].”
This explanation of Ibn Ezra is not correct, for Moses and Aaron were not commanded to say that Israel too would share in the punishment of pestilence or sword if they would not sacrifice [to G-d],³²¹Only the Egyptians were to suffer that punishment if they failed to permit the Israelites to go to worship the Eternal. and Moses and Aaron would by no means change anything in the mission of G-d.
By way of the Truth, [the mystic lore of the Cabala], this is the secret of the offerings,³²²See Ramban on Genesis 4:3 (Vol. I, p. 88, and Note 423). as they constitute a redemption from punishment, for before Him goeth the pestilence.³²³Habakkuk 3:5. This explains the verse here: Let us go…and sacrifice… lest He fall upon us with pestilence. Ramban then proceeds to explain the end of the verse: or with the sword.
Or with the sword, this means the harsh [attribute of justice]. Moses said this because the Holy One, blessed be He, had commanded them, saying, And you shall say unto him: ‘The Eternal, the G-d of the Hebrews hath met with us. And now let us go … that we may sacrifice to the Eternal our G-d.’³²⁴Verse 1. and they said to Pharaoh, Thus saith the Eternal, the G-d of Israel: ‘Let My people go.’³²⁴Verse 1. Now Pharaoh was indeed a very wise man. He knew [of the existence of] G-d and acknowledged Him, as he — or his predecessor³²⁵This is a reference to the difference of opinion among the Rabbis of the Talmud (Sotah 11 a) regarding the verse, Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph (above, 1:8). One Rabbi said that he was really a new king; the other said that it was the same king but he decreed new edicts, and comported himself as though he did not know him. — said to Joseph: Forasmuch as G-d had shown thee all this;³²⁶Genesis 41:39. a man in whom the spirit of G-d is.³²⁷Ibid., Verse 38. But Pharaoh did not know the Proper Name of G-d, [i.e., the Tetragrammaton],³²⁸See above, Note 84. and accordingly, he answered, I know not the Eternal.³²⁹Verse 2. Therefore they replied and said to him, as they were commanded, The G-d of the Hebrews hath met with us,³³⁰In Verse 3 before us. mentioning to him only the G-d of the Hebrews, which is equivalent to E-il Sha-dai. They said, He hath met with us, relating to Pharaoh the exact language of the message they were commanded to bring him, and they explained to him that in this meeting which they would have [with G-d], it would be necessary for them to sacrifice before Him, lest the meeting be with pestilence, or with the sword. In a similar vein did Scripture set forth in connection with Balaam, as it is said, And G-d met Balaam, and he said unto Him: I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.³³¹Numbers 23:4.

'ויאמרו אלוקי העברים וגו, the Jewish people are not Egyptians but originated in Mesopotamia, across the river Euphrates, as their very name indicates, they are therefore bound by the rules of the G’d of that country, otherwise this G’d will smite them” [making them useless to you as slave-labour. Ed.]