ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמות 5:22

Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. The word now is a proper response to Moses regarding what he said, Why have You done evil to this people? For Moses did not complain about Pharaoh not immediately sending the Israelites when he came to him, as the Holy One, blessed be He, had already told him twice that the king of Egypt would not allow them to go. Rather, he complained about how He made things worse for this people than before, because at the very least if his mission did not immediately help them, it should not have harmed them. Yet our eyes see that his mission did harm them.
Moses said, “Perhaps I was the cause of this because You sent to him a man with a heavy mouth and tongue like me. Therefore, Pharaoh’s anger was intensified because he said, ‘See, the Jews are mocking me,’ and if so, why did You send me?” Moses perhaps understood this from Pharaoh’s words, Why, Moses and Aaron, do you disturb the people, as he should have said, “Moses and Aaron, why do you disturb?” Rather, this is what he meant: “If some other suitable and eloquent person had been sent on this mission to disturb the people from their work, I would have been silent. But why Moses and Aaron, who are not fit for this mission, and they disturb the people from their work?” This angered him even more — that this mission was carried out by an unworthy messenger rather than someone appropriate for the task.

And the Holy One, blessed be He, answered him, “Now you will see, etc.” For it is known that this is the natural order — that every day, just before the dawn rises, the darkness becomes even more intense than the night’s darkness, and afterward the light of dawn breaks through and rises. Similarly, most sick people, just before their death, strengthen and sit up in bed and ask for food, and afterward death overpowers them. And likewise in the winter days, just before the sun rises, the cold intensifies, and finally it is overcome by the sun. This is natural, for any natural thing that senses something opposing it coming to nullify its existence will strengthen itself against its opponent and refuse to yield before it, exerting in its nature all the power it can muster, until finally it is defeated because the opposite force has overpowered it. This is true in all the examples we mentioned. Similarly, the fact that Pharaoh has now worsened his treatment of Israel more than before is conclusive proof that his end is near and that the time of redemption is close, which will nullify all of Pharaoh’s actions. Therefore, he wants to strengthen his efforts. This is what is meant by Now you will see — with the word now, He answered Moses’ question of Why have You brought harm…? Because now the time has arrived when Pharaoh will be compelled to send them away and expel them, therefore he wishes to rise up against them with a strong hand. And this is proof that My salvation is close to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.

וידבר אלהים אל משה AND GOD SPOKE UNTO MOSES — He took him to task because he had spoken so censoriously when he said, (Exodus 5:22) “Wherefore hast thou done so evil to this people”.

Crushed in the building - of the Egyptians, who put him into the building in the place of a brick as is explained in the aggadah. Moshe said to the Holy One 'You have done evil to this people! Now if they don't have bricks they place the children of Israel into the building!' The Holy One replied to him, 'They are wiping out the thorns, because it is revealed before Me that if these children lived they would be completely wicked. If you want, make a test and remove one.' Moshe went and removed Micah.

מקצר רוח THROUGH ANGUISH (lit. shortness) OF SPIRIT — If one is in anguish his breath comes in short gasps and he cannot draw long breaths. In a somewhat similar manner to this I heard this section expounded by Rabbi Baruch the son of Rabbi Eliezer, and he cited the following verse to me in proof of his explanation: (Jeremiah 16:21) “This once will I cause them to know My hand and My might, and they shall know that My Name is the Lord”. Rabbi Baruch said: we may learn from this text that when the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfils His words, even when it is a matter of punishment, He makes it known that His Name is the Lord; and, of course, this is all the more so, when He fulfils His words in a matter of bestowing reward. — Our Rabbis explained it (this section) as having reference to what precedes it — that Moses said (5:22): “Wherefore hast thou done so evil [to this people]”. Whereupon God said to him, “Alas, for those that are gone (i. e. the patriarchs) and are no more to be found! I really have reason to deplore the death of the patriarchs. Many a time did I reveal Myself to them by the name ‘God Almighty’, and not once did they ask Me, What is Thy Name? (i. e. what is the name that describes Thy true essence); but thou hast at once said (Exodus 3:13) “[If they ask] ‘what is His name’, what shall I say unto them?!” (Exodus Rabbah 6:4; Sanhedrin 111a).

וגם הקמתי וגו׳ ALSO I SET UP [MY COVENANT WITH THEM TO GIVE THEM THE LAND OF CANAAN], and yet when Abraham wished to bury Sarah he could not obtain a grave until he purchased one at a high price. So, too, in the case of Isaac, people strove with him for possession of the wells which he had dug. Similarly, of Jacob it is stated, (Genesis 33:19) “He purchased a parcel of field,” in which to pitch his tent. Yet none of them criticised My dealings with them, whilst you say “Wherefore hast Thou done so evil [to this people!]” — But this Midrashic exposition does not fit in with the text for several reasons. Firstly, because Scripture does not state “And they did not ask of Me regarding my Name, the Lord”. And if you say in refutation of my objection that they did not mean that ושמי ה' לא נודעתי actually signifies that they did not ask what is My Name, but it means “He did not tell them that this was His Name and yet they did not ask Him what it was”, then I reply that these words cannot mean that He did not tell them His name, for at the very first when He revealed Himself to Abraham at the Covenant “between the pieces’’ it is said, (Genesis 15:7) “I am the Lord (אני ה׳) who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees”. Further (secondly), how does the context run on to the statements which Scripture places after the above verses, viz., “And I have also heard etc.” and “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel etc.”? Therefore I say: let Scripture be explained in its literal sense so that each statement fits into its proper setting, but the Midrashic exposition may also be given, if you like, as it is said (Jeremiah 23:29) “Is not my word like as fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer which, by the force of its own blow, the rock at which it strikes shatters in pieces”.