Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Ezekiel 29:3

ראה נתתיך אלהים, “See, I have made you a master over Pharaoh,” i.e. that Pharaoh would listen to him. Firstly, G’d would give Moses a stature that Pharaoh could not ignore. Secondly, as to the matter of verbal communication between them, G’d appointed Aaron as Moses’ spokesman. The word נביאך, usually translated as “your prophet” must be understood here as ניב שפתיך, ((Isaiah 57,19) “he will express what emerges from your lips.” Onkelos also translates the word as “your interpreter.”
Shemot Rabbah 8,1 understands the words אלוהים לפרעה as “Pharaoh appointed himself as god.” He did this by claiming “the Nile is mine because I have created it “(Ezekiel 29,3). In response to this arrogance G’d told Moses that he was nothing, but that on the contrary, He would show him that Moses would be his “god.”

כי גאה גאה, He alone is entitled to feel this sense of superiority seeing He is the source of all goodness in the universe. This is in contrast to Pharaoh who boasts about having created the Nile as the source of Egypt’s affluence, (Ezekiel 29.3) a totally spurious claim.

In view of the statement in Sanhedrin, I believe that Moses would issue warnings concerning the same plague twice, once at the river’s edge and once in Pharaoh’s palace. Whenever G’d instructed Moses: “go to Pharaoh, the meaning is that he was to go to the palace. The verses of the Torah prove this theory. When Moses warned Pharaoh of the impending plague of the waters of the Nile turning into blood (7,15), this is followed by the report that Moses went to Pharaoh’s house (7,23) where the Torah says: “he (Pharaoh) did not pay any heed to this either.” The Torah meant that Pharaoh did not pay heed to the second warning either. The same pattern occurred again and again with all the plagues concerning which Pharaoh was forewarned. The reason for these repeated warnings was to demonstrate the pride and arrogance with which Pharaoh reacted to these warnings. Pharaoh demonstrated his pride at the river claiming he had made the river, and he again demonstrated his pride in his palace feeling that this was not the place where anyone could dare threaten him. The very fact that Moses had the audacity to threaten him in his own palace put his back up. Were it not for this fact, why would the Torah have had to tell us that Moses came to his palace uninvited, and apparently not even at the command of G’d who had told him only to meet Pharaoh at the river’s bank? (7,15). The Torah wanted to show us Pharaoh’s arrogance. We have a similar situation with Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4,27) where the king boasted about his palace, saying openly that it demonstrated his glory and splendor. In verse 1 of that same chapter in Daniel he boasted: “I Nebuchadnezzar was tranquil and vigorous in my house, etc.” Just as Nebuchadnezzar’s arrogance was the reason for his downfall, so Pharaoh’s arrogance became the cause of his downfall. The plagues inflicted upon Pharaoh also emanated from “his” river and his palace. The Torah lists two reasons why G’d resorted to hardening Pharaoh’s heart. 1) in order to publicize His stature as the deity through a demonstration of His miracles. 2) In order for these miracles to become the talk of the town, world-wide. The expression שתי in למען שתי alludes to the ten plagues as the letter י in the middle was otherwise quite unnecessary.

From the stream on the way he would drink, etc. From the Nile River, on the way of its course, his land would drink, and it was not in need of rain water. Therefore, he would raise his head and boast (Ezek. 29:3): “My river is my own, and I made myself.” In another manner, this psalm can be explained regarding David: