Exodus · Chapter 5

Afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh: Thus says Hashem, the God of Israel — Send out My people, that they may celebrate before Me in the wilderness.

ואחר באו משה ואהרן AND AFTERWARDS MOSES AND AARON CAME — But the elders slipped away one by one from behind Moses and Aaron until every-one of them had slipped away before they arrived at the palace, because they were afraid to go there. At Sinai they were punished for this, for it is stated (Exodus 24:2) “And Moses alone shall draw near unto the Lord, but they, (the elders; cf. Exodus 24:1) shall not draw near” — He bid them stay behind. (Exodus Rabbah 5:14)

"And afterward" — after Aaron had performed the signs, the two of them came before Pharaoh and both spoke to him, for Hashem had promised them: "and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth" (above, 4:15). "And they said: Thus said Hashem" — this divine name Pharaoh did not recognize, and therefore they also mentioned the God of Israel, meaning: the people of Israel, and not Jacob alone. "That they may hold a festival to Me in the wilderness" — to offer sacrifices, as in: "bind the festival offering with cords" (Ps. 118:27) and "festivals shall encircle" (Isa. 29:1).

ואחר באו משה ואהרון ויאמרו אל פרעה, afterwards Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said, etc. The word "afterwards" means after the people had believed that G'd had despatched Moses to them as their redeemer. The verse refers to fulfilment of what G'd had told Moses in 3,18. We now appreciate the dividing tone sign etnachta under the word לקולך in 3,18; we would have expected the words "and you will proceed to Pharaoh" to be part of the same sequence. Inasmuch as some considerable time passed between what was mentioned in the first half of that verse and the completion of what it was meant to lead to, the Torah repeats here that now the second part of verse 18 in chapter 3 was being played out.

ואחר באו משה ואהרן אל פרעה ויאמרו וגו, “and after this Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh” this line is the basis of the liturgist’s poem in the Shabbat morning prayer of the Shabbat before Passover after the line: חי וקים נורא וקדוש שמו, inserting his poem commencing with the words: ירדת להצל עמך, “You descended in order to save Your people.” Among other lines it contains the phrase: יכנס הבא במנה, a reference to the day when Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh without an appointment apparently. It was Pharaoh's birthday, and when advised that two elderly men stood outside waiting to be admitted, Pharaoh thought that they must have come to pay him homage. When asked about their message, they replied that the G-d of the Hebrews commanded Him to release the Hebrews to serve Him in the desert. The expression ויחגו which occurs here for the first time is familiar to us from the line: אסרו חג בעבותים, (Psalms 118,27) “bind the festival offering!”

And Pharaoh said: The name of Hashem has not been revealed to me, that I should heed His word to send out Israel. The name of Hashem has not been revealed to me, and Israel too I will not send out.

"And he said: Who is Hashem that I should heed His voice?" — he is asking who Hashem is, whether He is truly God. We learn the answer from what Moses replied to him afterward.

'לא ידעתי את ה; I have never heard of any Being which created something tangible out of an absolute nothing. וגם את ישראל לא אשלח, even if it could be proved that this Being you speak about does in fact exist, I will not release the Israelites on account of that new found wisdom.

אשר אשמע בקולו, "that I should listen to His voice." Pharaoh challenged Moses regarding his G'd's great power. Surely the Jewish G'd was not so powerful that He could demand such obedience in a matter of such overriding importance! He added gratuitously: "to dismiss the Jewish people," meaning that however great His power it would surely not suffice to liberate the Jewish people. Pharaoh did not mean to concede that he did know of the Jewish G'd after all, but that the latter was not great enough to make such a demand; rather he said: 1) "I do not know of Him;" 2) even if I would be told that He does indeed exist this would not mean that He could demand the freeing of the Jewish people." The word גם refers to a hypothetical situation.

מי ה' אשר אשמע בקולו, “Who is this Hashem that I should obey His instructions?” Tanchuma Vaeyra 5 comments on this that when Pharaoh heard Moses mention the name of G’d, he took out a register of all known deities and did not find the name Hashem listed there. What the Midrash means is that Pharaoh was intelligent and knowledgeable enough to be familiar with the extent to which earth was populated and civilizations had been established. He knew that the earth had been divided into 7 climatic zones and that each zone had been assigned a deity (zodiac constellation) to supervise its fate. He was also familiar with the 70 nations and what deity was responsible for their respective fates. Seeing that he could not find the name of Hashem listed anywhere in his list, he challenged Moses by saying: “who is this Hashem?” He was unaware that the Hashem Moses had spoken of was the supreme G’d who presided over all forces in the universe and without whose approval no other power could wield any influence in the universe. Our sages in the above Midrash illustrated this by a parable. A priest had a servant who was mentally defective. Once when the priest had left the country this servant went in search of him. When he came to a cemetery he started shouting at the people assembled there: ”have you seen my master?” The people answered him: ‘is not your master a certain priest, etc.?’ The servant confirmed that this was so. Thereupon the people said to him: ”you idiot why do you look for a priest in a cemetery, a place which is out of bounds to priests?” Similarly, what business does a king have in a slaughterhouse? Moses and Aaron replied to Pharaoh that the reason he had never heard of the supreme G’d was that he had not looked for Him in the right place. Earth, which is a vast cemetery for mankind was most certainly not the place where he could expect to find the supreme G’d. The gods Pharaoh had spoken of were all dead themselves whereas the supreme G’d personified life, growth, development, etc. In answer to Pharaoh’s question what this G’d did and what He had accomplished, Moses and Aaron listed the fact that He had created the universe, the plants, the animals, man, etc., that He made mountains, covered the earth with an atmosphere, that He appoints kings, etc. After hearing this Pharaoh became angry exclaiming: “I have created myself and I am lord of the universe! The river Nile is my river. Who is this G’d that I should take orders from Him?” Thereupon G’d said: “you wicked person!” I am going to bring a plague upon you from this very river which you claim to own and to have created. This is why the first plague was the turning of the waters of the river Nile into blood. Another explanation of the words: “who is this G’d that I should pay heed to His command?” Pharaoh did not deny G’d’s existence but he felt slighted that G’d did not communicate with him directly as he had done to the Pharaoh who had kidnapped Sarah, and to Avimelech who had wanted to marry Sarah against her will. Seeing that this G’d had revealed Himself to these two kings they had reason to obey His instructions. Seeing that this G’d had not revealed Himself to him, he saw no reason to accept what Moses said as instructions emanating from that G’d. He was angry that G’d had not given him an opportunity to defend his conduct as He had done for Avimelech. [This assumes that the Pharaoh in Genesis 13,17 was the same one as here some 400 years later. Ed.]

מי ה' אשר אשמע בקולו לשלח את ישראל?, They are my slaves in my country to perform slave labour there. What possible interest could this Hashem have in demanding that they serve Him instead?

And they said: The God of the Jews has been revealed to us. Let us go now a three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice before Hashem our God, lest He encounter us with death or slaughter.

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,’ 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], 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, as they constitute a redemption from punishment, for before Him goeth the pestilence. 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.’ and they said to Pharaoh, Thus saith the Eternal, the G-d of Israel: ‘Let My people go.’ Now Pharaoh was indeed a very wise man. He knew [of the existence of] G-d and acknowledged Him, as he — or his predecessor — said to Joseph: Forasmuch as G-d had shown thee all this; a man in whom the spirit of G-d is. But Pharaoh did not know the Proper Name of G-d, [i.e., the Tetragrammaton], and accordingly, he answered, I know not the Eternal. Therefore they replied and said to him, as they were commanded, The G-d of the Hebrews hath met with 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.

"And they said" — this divine name is the God of the Hebrews, those who were known as such: namely Abraham, who is called "the Hebrew," and his son Isaac, and Jacob and his sons, as I will explain at the verse "When you acquire a Hebrew slave" (below, 21:2). "And they said" — the word נִקְרָא ("called upon / encountered us") is like "I happened to be on Mount Gilboa" (2 Sam. 1:6); the sense is one of unexpected encounter. They thus explained to him why they are obligated to hold this festival — lest pestilence or sword come. The word פֶּן יִפְגָּעֵנוּ, "lest He strike us," encompasses both us, the Israelites, and you, Pharaoh, along with us, and all the Egyptians. When Pharaoh saw that the wild beasts came and devoured many Egyptians — as it is written: "He sent against them a swarm and it consumed them" (Ps. 78:45) — he then said: "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land" (below, 8:21). Moses replied that it would not be proper to do so in the land; rather they must travel three days' journey into the wilderness. This distance is the interval between Egypt and Mount Sinai for one traveling by the direct route, and there they offered sacrifice, as it is written: "you shall worship God on this mountain" (above, 3:12), and further: "Moses built an altar beneath the mountain" (below, 24:4). The altar that was built at the defeat of Amalek was also at Mount Sinai, for it is written "and they encamped at Rephidim" (below, 17:1), and there it is written: "Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock at Horeb" (ibid., v. 6). When the locusts came, Pharaoh granted permission to some of Israel to go and sacrifice; at the plague of darkness he granted permission for all of them to go, only their livestock would not accompany them. When they saw that the plague of the firstborn came and struck them, the words of Moses became clear to them: "lest He strike us with pestilence" — therefore all of them cried out: we are all dying (below, 12:33). So the Egyptians drove them out to go and sacrifice, and also lent them articles.

אלוקי העברים, concerning your statement that you never heard of such a Being, He is the G’d of the Hebrews, the ones who cleave to the religious teachings of עבר, the grandson of Shem, son of Noach. Concerning your statement that you will not release the Israelites, you would do well to listen to His instructions פן יפגענו, as He would punish both us and you.

ויאמרו אלוקי העברים ..פן יפגענו "The G'd of Israel…. lest He punish us." The last words were spoken by the Israelites. Even though our sages in Shemot Rabbah 5,14 told us that the elders melted away on the way to the first confrontation with Pharaoh, the Israelites expressed fear of being punished by G'd. The elders were punished for not accompanying Moses and Aaron. Perhaps the entire nation went to see Pharaoh and told him it would be in Pharaoh's own interest to excuse the Jewish people from work for three days and to take the chance that they would return; otherwise, if they would be punished by their G'd, Pharaoh would lose their labour altogether if they were to die of a pestilence. Perhaps they even implied that such a pestilence would also pose a problem for Pharaoh himself who might become infected. They used the well known method of describing such a plague as afflicting them rather than Pharaoh, as they did not want to threaten Pharaoh outright.

ויאמרו: אלוקי העברים, they said in response to Pharaoh denying that there was a G-d called Hashem (or a people called Israel), that they were talking about the G-d of the Hebrews. The G-d of the Hebrews sits in judgment of His people as He is their G-d and are His servants and His people.” פן יפגענו, “so that He will not afflict us;” when using the plural mode “us,” Moses and Aaron implied that they included Pharaoh in the people who would feel the wrath of the G-d of the Hebrews. A different interpretation: Pharaoh was not included in what Moses and Aaron said, but if the G-d of the Hebrews were to kill us, he, Pharaoh, would not only lose their work for a few days, but that he would lose the work of the Hebrew slaves permanently and irrevocably; thus it would be in his interest to grant their request. בדבר או בחרב, “either through pestilence or the sword.” Here Moses already hinted for the first time that G-d had told him to warn Pharaoh of fatal consequences, i.e. the death of the firstborn if he were to refuse to obey His commands. Rashi points that out when he says on 4,23 that Moses warned Pharaoh already of the last plague on his first encounter with him.

אלו-הי העברים נקרא עלינו, “the G’d of the Hebrews has manifested Himself to us.” It is somewhat peculiar that after Pharaoh had denied any knowledge of the G’d in whose name Moses and Aaron had addressed him, Aaron and Moses continue to refer to this G’d. Were they bent on intensifying the confrontation?” The fact is that G’d had told Moses in advance (Exodus 3,18) that when Moses would come to Pharaoh he was to tell him that the G’d of the Hebrews had manifested Himself to the Israelites; G’d had added then already that Pharaoh would not respond positively to the request to release the Jewish people even for a journey of three days in order to offer sacrifices to their G’d.” A closer look at our verse shows that here Moses described the G’d of the Hebrews in terms of אלו-הי, i.e. a term for G’d which was familiar to Pharaoh. Moreover, the word נקרא [as opposed to נקרה in 3,18 Ed.] implied that failure to obey G’d’s command would result in harm to the Jewish people. This is why they added “lest He smite us with the plague of the sword.” There cannot be a question then of Moses and Aaron provoking a confrontation for the sake of a confrontation. On the contrary, they made their previous request sound plausible and even advantageous for Pharaoh. Pharaoh, revealing the true wickedness of his nature, did not even debate the merits of the request but accused Moses and Aaron of interfering with the people’s work schedule and he told them to go about their own business. ונזבחה לה' אלוקינו פן יפגענו בדבר או בחרב, “and we will bring offerings to the Lord our G’d lest He strike us dead with a plague or the sword.” In this verse we hear something about the mystical dimension of animal sacrifice, i.e. that it may atone for people guilty of death. Chabakuk 3,5 spells out that plague is a punishment by G’d when he said: “Pestilence marches before Him, and plague comes forth at His heels.” The reason Moses added death by the sword as an alternative is connected to Isaiah 66,16: ”For with fire will the Lord contend, with His sword, against all flesh.” You are aware that the שכינה represents the attribute of Justice. This is the source of the powerful fire which consumed the Israelites’ offerings on the altar in the Temple. This is what the Torah referred to when it wrote: (Leviticus 9,6) “so that the glory of the Lord will appear to you (and consume the sacrifice).” Immediately after that (verse 24) the Torah reports that “fire descended from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offerings and the fat parts.” This is also the reason the שכינה describes the daily public offerings (Numbers 28,2) as קרבני לחמי, “the offerings of food due to Me.” G’d added the word לאשי, “to be consumed by My fire.” This is why at the beginning of this verse Moses had spoken of G’d as אלוקים as it is this attribute which receives and responds to animal sacrifice. Only subsequent to mentioning this attribute did he spell out the need for the Israelites to offer sacrifices He also mentioned the attribute Hashem, as though the sacrifice is offered to the attribute of Justice, the intent behind it is the great name of G’d, and this is what David had in mind when he said (Psalms 50,14) “sacrifice a thank-offering to G’d and pay your vows to the Most High.” The mechanics are that the sacrifice is presented to the attribute of Justice but the idea behind is is recognition of the Most High, i.e. י-ה-ו-ה. [If this were not so the sacrifice would be no more than an attempted bribe. Ed.]

דרך שלשת ימים, “a distance of three days’ journey.” If Moses had declared that they wanted to leave the country for good, the Egyptians would never have agreed to lend them their valuable trinkets to use in their rituals. There is a comment in the Midrash according to which when G’d told Moses to have the Children of Israel ask for these trinkets, he replied to G’d: “is it worth the effort to make the Israelites borrow these trinkets for a mere three days?” G’d answered him that He was aware that Pharaoh would not even grant a vacation of three days, and that in response to his refusal G’d would bring on the plagues, at the end of which he would send the Israelites from his land permanently. פן יפגענו בדבר או בחרב, “lest He will strike us dead either with the plague or the sword.” According to Rashi this was a veiled warning to Pharaoh and meant “lest He strike you dead either by the plague or by the sword.” Ibn Ezra understands the line as a warning to Pharaoh as well as to the Israelites who would be punished for not heeding their G’d’s commandment. This is the reason why when the time came for the slaying of the firstborn, the Egyptians were afraid that they would all die. They had belatedly remembered what Moses had said during the first interview with Pharaoh. Nachmanides rejects this commentary as he is bothered by the fact that Moses and Aaron had not been commanded by G’d to say to Pharaoh that their G’d had threatened to punish the Israelites if they failed to offer sacrifices to Him.

'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.]

דרך שלשת ימים, “a distance of three days’ walk.” The plain meaning of the verse is that Moses requested to take the people to the desert in order there to offer sacrifices to their G–d. In the event that Pharaoh would ask: “why can you not offer these sacrifices right here?” Moses anticipated this question, and he added that unless we do it in the desert we will be subject to severe punishment by our G–d. (Compare Exodus 8,22 for further elaboration)

And the king of Egypt said to them: Why, Moses and Aaron, do you cause the people to cease from their labors? Go to your work.

תפריעו את העם ממעשיו means ye detach and take them away from their work, because they listen to you and believe that they may refrain from the work. Similar are: (Proverbs 4:15) “פרעהו pass not by it”, i. e. keep it far from thee, pass not by it; (Proverbs 1:25) “and ye withdraw (ותפרעו) all my counsel”; (Exodus 32:25) “for it is פרע” i. e. it had removed itself from the proper path and had made itself a thing to be abhorred (but cf. Rashi on this verse where he explains the word by מגולה — נתגלה שמצו וקלונו). לכו לסבלתיכם. GO YE UNTO YOUR BURDENS — Go to your work which you have to do at home; but it cannot signify “go to your labours as slaves”, for he was speaking to Moses and Aaron who were of the tribe of Levi, and the work of Egyptian slavery had not been imposed on the tribe of Levi. You may know that this was so, because Moses and Aaron went and came just as they pleased (Exodus Rabbah 5:16).

WHEREFORE DO YE, MOSES AND AARON…? Pharaoh asked them for their names, and he mentioned them by name in a manner indicating respect. TAPHRI’U’ THE PEOPLE FROM THEIR WORK. Onkelos translated: t’vatlu (you cause them to idle from their work). Similarly: ‘porei’a’ (refuseth) instruction; ‘vatiphr’u’ (and ye have set at nought) all my counsel. GET YOU TO YOUR BURDENS. If we follow the simple interpretation of Scripture, reference here is to the work for the king, since Moses and Aaron were part of the [Hebrew] people for at this time they came before him with all the people. But he did not listen to them and commanded them: “Return you all to the work.” Later when Moses and Aaron returned before Pharaoh and he said to them, Show a wonder for you, and they did so, they appeared to him like the magicians, sorcerers, and wise men, and he showed them respect. Still later, when the plagues began coming upon him, he was in dread fear of them. It appears furthermore that not all the children of Israel worked all the time for Pharaoh in mortar and in brick, for in that case they would have filled the whole land of Egypt with cities. Rather, they worked in levies, and he pressed his yoke upon them by taking many of the Israelites [into his labors]. Now Rashi explained: “Get you to your burdens, i.e., ‘to your work which you have to do in your homes.’ But [it cannot signify ‘go to your labors as slaves,’ for he was speaking to Moses and Aaron, who were of the tribe of Levi, and] the work of Egyptian slavery was not imposed upon the tribe of Levi. You may know that this was so because Moses and Aaron went and came as they pleased.” This is correct. All man’s work whether at home or in the field is so called [sebel (labor)], just as in the verse: over all the ‘sebel’ (labor) of the house of Joseph. And it is customary among all people to have wise men who teach them their laws. Therefore Pharaoh did not impose slavery upon the tribe of Levi, who were the teachers and the elders of the children of Israel, and it was all caused by G-d. I have seen in V’eileh Shemoth Rabbah: “Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that the tribe of Levi was free from servile labor. Pharaoh said to them, ‘It is because you are free [from the forced labor] that you therefore say, Let us go and sacrifice to our G-d. Get ye unto your burdens for Israel.’ Another interpretation: Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron, ‘It is enough for you that you are free! Perhaps you are displeased because you are not doing this forced labor; [if so], get ye unto your burdens.’”And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained the verse, Get ye unto your burdens, as meaning the burdens of the entire people, since Pharaoh spoke to them for all Israel.

"And he said" — the word תַּפְרִיעוּ means to cause confusion and disorder, as in: "where there is no vision the people throw off restraint" (Prov. 29:18). By the expression "go to your burdens," he included both Moses and Aaron, for they represent all of Israel. The word סִבְלוֹתֵיכֶם is not equivalent to עֲסָקֵיכֶם, "your occupations," as is proven by "and you shall ease them from their burdens" (v. 5).

ויאמר..למה משה ואהרון תפריעו את העם, He said: "Why Moses and Aaron to you deter the people, etc.?" After Pharaoh had first faced both the elders and Moses and Aaron and they had told him about the demands of the Hebrew G'd, Pharaoh now turned to Moses and Aaron telling them that he had no complaint against the elders who were obviously motivated by their fear of pestilence. His complaint was directed against Moses and Aaron on two counts. 1) Seeing that Moses and Aaron had brought a message from their G'd, it appeared that the decision was up to him. They had therefore not been entitled to threaten the people with punishment by their G'd for something that was not up to them but up to him! 2) If Moses and Aaron had told the people that they could simply leave Egypt without being granted permission, why had they come to ask his permission at all? Perhaps this is what our sages had in mind in our Midrash when they said: "why does the Torah write אתם and why the word למה? This may mean that Pharaoh asked why they came at all, and why they told the people in the name of G'd that they could leave. Pharaoh then turned towards the Israelites and told them: לכו לסבלותיכם, "go and do your work!"

!לכו לסבלותיכם, “go back to your labours! “The reason why the tribe of Levi had been exempted from performing slave labour when the Egyptians first began to enslave the Israelites was that Pharaoh pretended to share that burden with them in order to encourage them to perform these labours for patriotic reasons, building fortifications against potential invaders. This is how the sages interpreted the word: בפרך in Exodus 1,13, i.e. as meaning: בפה רך, “spoken softly.” Pharaoh had appealed to their loyalty and told them that by performing this labour they could prove that they were loyal Egyptians citizens. The Jews of then [as we know only too well from all the Jews serving in the German Kaiser’s army in the first world war, 12000 of them giving their lives for the aggressive designs of Germany, Ed.] were only too eager to prove their loyalty, not suspecting how they would be exploited. At that time the tribe of Levi remembered what their founding father Yaakov had said to them on his death bed, that Levi was not to be one of his pall bearers as that tribe was destined in the future to carry the Holy Ark on its shoulders. They therefore declined at the time to participate in the building of fortifications, and Pharaoh did not make an issue of this as also the Egyptians had a caste of priests who Joseph during the years of famine had completely excused from any taxation. Furthermore, we found a Midrash according to which Avraham already taught his son Yitzchok the whole Torah (the written Torah that would be given to the Israelites in the desert) Yitzchok in turned transmitted it to Yaakov, and Yaakov to Levi, who in turn transmitted it to his direct descendants. Seeing that these people had not learned any vocation, they were not physically suitable to perform the kind of physical labour the other tribes were used to. They were therefore rewarded by G-d not to have to share this burden with their brethren. (Compare Torah shleymah by Rabbi M. Kasher item 32 on our verse.) According to that, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron not to try his patience and be content that they, being Levites, were not required to do slavelabour.

לכו לסבלותיכם,” go about your business!” He meant “attend to your affairs.” [The Levites were not performing slave labour]. The Egyptians, i.e. Pharaoh, respected Joseph’s law that religious dignitaries were not owned by Pharaoh. Pharaoh himself was interested in the people having religious leadership and instructions that would make them a disciplined people. According to Shemot Rabbah 5,16 Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that Pharaoh meant that the only reason Moses and Aaron were bent on going to the desert to sacrifice to their G’d was because they were beneficiaries of the law that the Levites did not have to perform slave-labor. He therefore ordered them to join the Isaelites .

למה....תפריעו, “why do you disturb, etc?” According to Rashi the meaning of תפריעו is the same as תבטלו, “you are causing idleness.” Ibn Ezra interprets the word as תשבתו, you cause them to deteriorate as in Proverbs 5,23 (29,18) באין מוסר יפרע עם, “the people will become corrupt in the absence of discipline.” לכו לסבלותיכם, “go about your own business!” Rashi equates סבלותיכם with עבודתכם, “your work,” as opposed to סבלות, forced labour, as the members of the tribe of Levi were exempt from forced labour. Ibn Ezra does not perceive the word סבלותיכם as addressed to Moses and Aaron, but as referring to the forced labour of the masses of the Israelites whom they claimed to represent. Some commentators claim that even the ordinary Israelites did not have to join the workforce until they had reached the age of nine, and that they could “retire” at the age of 60. Nachmanides writes that according to the plain meaning of the words Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to rather perform their duties for their King, together with the remainder of the nation, seeing that on that occasion Moses and Aaron appeared before him accompanied by the common people. Pharaoh therefore told those people to get back to work instead of wasting their time dreaming of an illusory redemption. When Moses and Aaron, instead of complying with Pharaoh’s command, appeared before him once more, he commanded them to legitimize themselves by means of a miracle. Once Moses and Aaron had done so, he no longer looked upon them as part of the common people but respected them as elders, as sages. Once they had begun to decree plagues upon Egypt, he no longer treated them only with deference, but with fear, with dread. It appears that not all of the Israelites were slaving away making and laying bricks all the time, for if so the country would have become a large heap of bricks. Making bricks was a tax imposed by Pharaoh on the entire population, but the Israelites were singled out by working far longer hours and by having to supply a much larger percentage of their manpower.

תפריעו, you make them idle, or “detach them” from their regular duties. The word פרע in Numbers 5,18 means to detach the hair of the woman from her head. לסבלותיכם, to your regular occupation, and neither interrupt your agenda nor try to disrupt my own agenda.

לכו לסבלתיכם, “get to your labours!” Rashi comments that Moses and Aaron did not personally have to perform manual labour, as they belonged to the tribe of Levi which was exempt from that. Accordingly, what Pharaoh meant was that they should attend to their affairs and not meddle in those of the other tribes. (Sh’mot Rabbah 5,15.) According to the Midrash there, the members of that tribe already at the very outset, when Pharaoh “invited” the people to build fortifications and show their patriotism, explained that they could not engage in such manual labour as they were destined to perform different holy tasks in the Temple in the future. They would not engage in such activities regardless of how well Pharaoh would pay them for this. They remained exempt from such labour. When Moses grew up and saw that the other tribes were forced to work seven days a week, he went to Pharaoh and explained to him that unless he gave these people at least one day of rest during each week, instead of their producing more bricks, they would fall over dead from exhaustion and produce no bricks at all. This made sense to Pharaoh, and he empowered Moses to tell the people that they could select one day of the week as their day of rest. A miracle occurred and they chose the Sabbath as their day of rest. This is why Moses was able to tell the people (Exodus 16,29) that G–d had given them a day of rest on the Sabbath. They themselves had already chosen this day as their day of rest while still slaves in Egypt.

And Pharaoh said: Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you would make them cease from their labors.

הן רבים עתה עם הארץ BEHOLD THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND NOW ARE MANY upon whom lies the duty of working, and you make them rest from their burdens — this is a great loss to us, since so many will refrain from work.

"And he said" — Yefet holds that the meaning of "the people of the land are now many" is: we need not be concerned if pestilence or sword comes upon you, for those who bear burdens are many. In my opinion, its meaning is: you seek to bring to a halt a very great labor.

הן רבים עתה עם הארץ, the really smart Hebrews would not listen to your words.

ויאמר פרעה הן רבים עתה עם הארץ, Pharaoh said: "now the people in the land are very numerous, etc." Pharaoh meant that in view of the large numbers of people involved it was impossible to convince all of them that they did not face a danger if they did not march to the desert to offer sacrifices to their G'd. This was why he held Moses and Aaron responsible for the work stoppage if it would occur. He directed this accusation exclusively at Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh meant that even a brief work stoppage was a major economic disaster considering the number of people involved.

And Pharaoh commanded on that day the taskmasters over the people and their officers, saying:

הנגשים THE TASKMASTERS — These were Egyptians, and the שוטרים, bailiffs, were Israelites (cf. vv. 14, 15, 19) (Exodus Rabbah 5:18). A taskmaster (נוגש), was given charge over many bailiffs, and a שוטר was one who was appointed to have control over the workmen.

"And he commanded" — the taskmasters (נֹגְשִׂים) were Egyptians, while the officers (שֹׁטְרִים) of the people were from Israel.

ויצו פרעה ביום ההוא, On that day Pharaoh issued orders, etc. This directive was to be effective only on that particular day. He hoped that by forcing the people to concentrate on their immediate and overwhelming problem they would forget about their fear of what might happen if they failed to offer sacrifices to their G'd in the desert. Any intelligent person understands that an immediate and pressing problem is apt to push other problems that are not so immediate into the background. Pharaoh hoped that a single day of the new decree would suffice to accomplish this objective. On the other hand, the Torah could have indicated with the words ביום ההוא that there was only a single day left on which the Israelites performed slave labour, seeing that on the morrow Moses and Aaron would turn the life-giving river Nile into blood. According to our tradition no more slave labour was performed from the day the plague of blood occurred. Not only that, but the Egyptians would pay the Israelites good money to obtain some drinking water from them seeing that water did not turn into blood once the Israelites held it in their hands (compare Shemot Rabbah 9,10). The expression כתמול שלשום, poses no problem as the Israelites did not complete their quota on the day prior to Moses' interview because it was a public holiday.

הנוגשים, the more senior officials in charge of the lower echelon of overseers. The relationship between שוטרים and נוגשים is somewhat similar to that between שופטים and שוטרים, judges who make the rules and police who enforce these rules. (Deuteronomy 16,18)

You shall no longer give straw to the people to lay bricks as before; let them go themselves and gather straw for themselves.

תבן STRAW — In old French estouble; English stubble. They used to knead this into the clay. לבנים BRICKS — old French tuiles: English tiles, which they make from clay and dry in the sun; sometimes they are burnt in a kiln. כתמול שלשם means as you have been doing UP TILL NOW (not “yesterday and the day before” as is the literal meaning, but merely “formerly”). וקששו means AND LET THEM GATHER.

"You shall no longer supply" — לֹא תֹאסִפוּן is written with an aleph, though the regular form uses a vav; both letters interchange with yod. It is the custom of those who build with clay to mix into it straw or stubble to give it cohesion. "To make bricks" — derived from the root לְבֵנָה, "brick." Brick construction is stronger than stone construction: a mud structure is damaged by water, while a stone structure is damaged by fire, as it is written: "and the brick served them as stone, and the bitumen served them as mortar" (Gen. 11:3). Know that there are nouns whose vowel is not altered by the cantillation mark — whether an etnachta or a sof-pasuq — in the class of small qamatz, such as סֵפֶר (2 Kgs. 5:5), or in the class of small patah, such as צֶדֶק (Deut. 1:16). The same applies to תֶּבֶן, "straw." The reason for their voweling we do not know; we simply find them as such. "And gather" — וְקֹשְׁשׁוּ is derived from the root קַשׁ, "stubble," belonging to the class of doubled-root verbs.

לא תאספון, “ you must not continue!” the letter א תאספון is not to be read, (as it would mean changing the meaning of the word beyond recognition).

לא תאספון לתת תבן, “do not continue to supply straw, etc.” It is entirely possible that this decree was in force for only a single day and that the unusual letter א in the word תאספון is proof of this. This is the view of Rabbeinu Chananel.

לתת תבן, the straw was mixed in with the mud to make the mud bricks firmer and less likely to crumble.

But the quota of bricks that they have been making as before, you shall impose upon them — you shall not reduce it. For they are idle; that is why they cry out, saying: Let us go and sacrifice before our God.

ואת מתכנת הלבנים means the total number of bricks which each made per day when straw was being supplied to them — that total you shall impose upon them now also, in order that the service may be hard upon them. כי נרפים signifies because they have loosened themselves from the work; therefore (this word in Rashi corresponds to על כן in the Hebrew text) their mind turns to idleness and they cry out, saying, נלכה וגו׳ LET US GO [AND SACRIFICE etc.]. מתכנת — This word, and ותכן (v. 18), and the words of the same root in (I Samuel 2:3) “And by Him actions are counted (נתכנו)” and in (2 Kings 12:12) “the money that was counted (המתכן)”, all have the meaning of counting. נרפים — The work is loose (רפויה) in their hand and neglected by them so that they are loosened (הם נרפים) from it. In old French retrait.

"And the quota" — מַתְכֹּנֶת is like תֹּכֶן (below, v. 18): a fixed, known measure.

כי נרפים הם, "for they are lazy!" Who had ever suggested that the idea to sacrifice to their G'd originated in the relatively light burden of work that Pharaoh had imposed on the Israelites up until then? Perhaps what Pharaoh meant was that the Israelites felt that now that Moses had arrived their lot would become easier and that therefore they wanted to thank their G'd for that by offering up thanksgiving sacrifices so that He would cancel out the servitude altogether. Pharaoh countered this euphoria by making the workload heavier so that they would not even entertain any idea of their servitude being near an end, i.e. those lies that Moses had fed them. Pharaoh also reacted to the Israelites having said: נלכה נזבחה, "let us go slaughter, etc." He understood this as an implied promise that the Israelites planned to make up the time lost by working extra hard after their return. He reasoned that if they could really do this it was proof they had not been working hard enough thus far. This is why he withdrew the supply of straw which had been provided up until then and referred to them as lazy. Eventually, their holiday would backfire and the would cry out, i.e. צועקים that they had to work too hard. Pharaoh wanted to head off all these complications by ordering now that the straw would be withdrawn so that the people would stop dreaming about all kinds of improvements in their lives. The expression ואל ישעו reflects weakness. Pharaoh interpreted the people's weakness as stemming from the "illusions" (in his view) which Moses had come to feed them. As a result they had expressed fear of punishment by their G'd if they did not offer the sacrifices their G'd demanded. When people live in fear they are weak and it undermines their ability to perform good work. Pharaoh wanted to stop this process at the source, hence his decree to suspend the deliveries of straw.

מתכנת, the quota.כי נרפים הם, they are therefore able to make more of these bricks daily. (2) THEY ARE SHIRKERS. And they can do more.

Let the labor weigh heavily upon the men, and let them be occupied with it, and let them not be occupied with idle words.

ואל ישעו בדברי שקר AND LET THEM NOT REGARD VAIN WORDS — let them not think and speak always about “words of wind” saying, “Let us go and sacrifice”. Of similar meaning is, (Psalm 119:117) “And I will speak of (ואשעה ב־) thy statutes continually”. The phrase (Deuteronomy 28:37) למשל ולשנינה “[thou shalt become] a proverb and a byword” we translate in the Targum by “a topic of conversation (שועי)”, and the word ויספר (Genesis 24:66) “and he related” by ואשתעי “and he spoke about”. One cannot possibly say that the word ישעו has the same meaning as the verbs in (Genesis 4:4) “And the Lord turned (וישע) to Abel” and in (Genesis 4:4) “but to Cain and his offering he did not turn (שעה)”, and that we must translate אל ישעו by “Let them not turn”, for if this were so Scripture should have written אל דברי שקר or לדברי שקר (instead of בדברי) for so is the construction in all such cases. Examples are: (Isaiah 17:7) “A man shall turn to (ישעה אל) his Maker”; (Isaiah 17:8) “and he shall not turn to (ישעה על) the altars”; (Isaiah 31:1) “they turn not unto (שעו על) the Holy One of Israel”. I do not find the construction of a ב following these verbs in the sense of “turning to”, but after an expression of דבר “speaking” — as when one intently directs his conversation upon a matter — the construction with כ is quite an appropriate one. For instance: (Ezekiel 33:30) “those who intently direct their conversation (הנדברים) upon thee (בך)”; (Numbers 12:1) “And Miriam and Aaron directed their speech (ותדבר) upon Moses (במשה)”; (Zechariah 4:1) “And the angel who directed his conversaion (הדובר) upon me (בי)”; (Deuteronomy 11:9) “To turn your conversation (לדבר) intently upon them (בם)”; (Psalm 119:46) “And I will direct my speech (אדברה) upon thy testimonies (בעדותיך)”. So, too, here: ואל ישעו בדברי שקר means “let them not always be conversing about vain and idle matters”.

"Let them be burdened" — the Gaon [Saadia] says that אַל יִשְׁעוּ means אַל יִשְׁעֲנוּ, "let them not lean," with the nun omitted, as the nun is omitted from the word "תֵּת פַּחְדְּךָ" (Deut. 2:25). One should not heed or listen to the interpretation of one who dreams that its root is תֵּת, on the grounds that one finds "תַּתָּה לִּי עֹרֶף" (2 Sam. 22:41) — he supposed it to be like שָׁתָה עֲוֺנֹתֵינוּ לְנֶגְדֶּךָ (Ps. 90:5). But he cannot deny that the second tav in תַּתָּה is for the second person [pronominal suffix], while the root tav is absorbed by the dagesh — even though the tav properly takes a dagesh, as in the tav of "וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי חַיָּה רָעָה" (Lev. 26:6). Therefore it is better to say that the nun is absorbed, as the nun is absorbed into the tav in וַאֲמִתּוֹ (Gen. 24:27) — for the form should properly be אַמְנָתוֹ — and similarly בַּת derives from בְּנַת; and תֵּת from תְּנַת; and the first nun of תַּתָּה לִי is omitted, just as the yod is omitted in "וְהַיּוֹם רַד מְאֹד" (Judg. 19:11), and the nun is omitted in "גַּע בֶּהָרִים וְיֶעְשָׁנוּ" (Ps. 144:5). In my own opinion, יִשְׁעוּ means "let them grow slack," as in the usage of נִרְפִּים (v. 5 below) and as in "הַשַּׁע מִמֶּנִּי" (Ps. 39:14), "שְׁעוּ מִנִּי" (Isa. 22:4), and "עֵינָיו הַשַּׁע" (Isa. 6:10) — for when the eyes grow slack they grow dim. Comparable is: "and the eyes of those who see shall not be dim" (Isa. 32:3). "With lying words" — the sense is: because of the lying words with which Moses and Aaron are promising them.

ואל ישעו בדברי שקר, “let them (the Israelites) not pin their hopes on falsehoods.” According to Ibn Ezra, the meaning of ישעו is derived from the root שען, the letter נ being missing here. The meaning is: “to lean on something for support.” Examples quoted are: השע ממני Psalms 39,14: “look away from me; (do not count on me for support)” also Isaiah 22,4 השע ממני. “leave me alone!” Let them not slacken their labor because of the lies that Moshe and aaron have told them.

תכבד העבודה, “increase the workload!” The Egyptians were punished for this new decree at the sea when their chariots found it especially difficult to escape the onrushing waters. This is why the Torah specifically mentions (14,25) that “G’d made it כבד, “hard, difficult,” for the drivers to guide their chariots. Because the Egyptians decreed that the Jews had to provide their own straw, we find that they were tossed on the sea like straw (15,7). When we read here that the people had to scatter in order to find the straw, we find that in Jeremiah 18,17 the prophet describes that the Egyptians were scattered all over the sea. G’d’s punishing arm made the punishment fit the crime wherever possible. As to Pharaoh’s derisive comment that Moses and Aaron should not cause the people to turn to “false hopes,” Onkelos renders the words דברי שקר as “vain slogans.”

ואל ישעו, “let them not pay heed, etc.” some commentators believe that the root is שען, to rely on, to draw support, and that the root letter נ has been omitted in this case. Ibn Ezra explains the term as meaning “so that they do not become weak,” ירפאו, in the sense of becoming weak through indolence, נרפים. False hopes would engender general slackness.

ישעו, they will turn willingly. The same word as used in Genesis 4,4 when it describes G’d’s turning with goodwill to Hevel’s offering while rejecting Kayin’s offering by not turning to it with favour.

ואל ישעו, (according to Rashi), the root שעה can have one of two meanings. It can mean the same as הגה, “to speak, articulate”, etc; or it can mean: “to turn to in expectation.” In Genesis 4,4, it meant the latter, when G–d turned willingly to Hevel’s offering, but had not turned gracefully to the offering tendered by his brother Kayin. Rashi prefers to interpret the word here as meaning the same as in Isaiah 17,8 and as in Jeremiah 31,1.

And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and said to the people, saying: Thus says Pharaoh — I will not give you straw.

"And they went out" — from the royal palace to the people who were working.

You yourselves go and take straw for yourselves from wherever you can find it, for nothing of your labor shall be reduced.

אתם לכו קחו לכם תבן GO, YE, TAKE TO YOURSELVES STRAW — and you will have to go pretty quickly, כי אין נגרע מעבודתכם דבר FOR THERE SHALL NOT BE DIMINISHED OF YOUR WORK A SINGLE THING from the whole total of bricks which you used to make daily when straw was supplied to you, ready to use, from the king’s store.

"You, wherever you find it" — near or far. "For nothing shall be reduced" — this is a predicate adjective, and therefore it is in the qamatz form, as is grammatically proper.

כי אין נגרע מעבודתכם, "for your workload will not be diminished." Why did the taskmasters say: כי אין נגרע "for it will not be reduced" instead of ואין נגרע? "and it will not be reduced?" When the taskmasters had first said: "go and get your own straw," the Israelites had thought of this as a welcome diversion. They considered collecting straw as less demanding than either building, or forming bricks. The taskmasters "dropped the second shoe" by adding that it was not as the Israelites thought that collecting straw was instead of their other work; rather it was in addition to their regular work. They explained that the reason for the decree was precisely so as not to diminish the Israelites' workload.

כי אין נגרע, the vowel kametz under the letter ע makes the word into a passive mode, meaning גרוע, inferior, less. If the vowel under the letter ע had been a patach, the meaning would have been a past tense of the verb in the passive mode nifal. A similar construction is found with the word נשגב in Psalms 149,13 where it is an adjective, meaning “sublime.” If it had been written with the vowel patach, it would be a verb in the past tense passive.

And the people scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

לקשש קש לתבן means TO MAKE A GATHERING, to make a collection FOR the purpose of STRAW for the clay. קש denotes collecting. Because stubble is something that is strewn about and must be gathered (קושש) it is called קש in other passages.

"And the people scattered" — וַיָּפֶץ is a transitive verb, with the agent being Pharaoh, who compelled them to scatter. "For straw" — לְתֶבֶן means "in place of straw," as in: "and the bitumen served them as mortar" (Gen. 11:3).

ויפץ העם בכל ארץ מצרים, “the people spread out throughout the whole land of Egypt.” We know from Genesis 11,34, that straw was needed to make mud bricks. The search for straw to build the Tower led to G-d punishing those people once, and here, indirectly, it provides G-d with the justification to punish the entire Egyptian nation. Up until the time when Pharaoh issued the decree to withhold straw from the people, only few Egyptians had been directly involved in mistreating them. Now that the Israelites had to forage for straw wherever they could find some. Once they found straw they were beaten by the Egyptians, even by their slave-women. Thus, the entire Egyptian people had become involved in abusing the Jewish people, both men and women. G-d “inspired” Pharaoh to come up with the idea of withholding straw so as to eventually being justified to issue a decree which to some might have been viewed as collective punishment.

And the taskmasters pressed them, saying: Complete your work, the daily quota day by day, just as when straw was given to you.

אצים means PRESSING. דבר יום ביומו means the full quantity due each day complete it on that day, as ye used to do when straw was ready at hand.

"And the taskmasters pressed" — אָצִים is a transitive verb, like the verb שָׁב ("return") or מָשׁ ("move"), which can be found sometimes as transitive and sometimes as intransitive. The sense of לֵאמֹר, "saying," is: saying to them. "A day's work each day" — like "month by month" (Isa. 66:23).

אצים, urging forcefully. We have the same verb when the angels urge Lot to leave Sodom in Genesis 19,15. ויאיצו המלאכים.

And the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had appointed over them, were beaten, saying: Why have you not completed your prescribed quota of laying bricks as yesterday and the day before — both yesterday and today?

ויכו שטרי בני ישראל AND THE BAILIFFS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL … WERE SMITTEN — These bailiffs were Israelites and they spared their fellow-Israelites, not urging them on to their work. When they handed over the bricks to the taskmasters who were Egyptians and something was deficient in the total they used to beat them because they had not urged on the Israelitish workmen. On this account these bailiffs were privileged to become members of the Sanhedrin later on, and there was taken some of the prophetical spirit that was upon Moses and it was placed upon them, as it is said, (Numbers 11:16) “Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel [whom thou knowest]” — of those about whom thou knowest the kindly acts which they did in Egypt, “for they are the real elders of the people having been their bailiffs” (Exodus Rabbah 5:20). ויכו שטרי בני ישראל אשר שמו נגשי פרעה THEN WERE SMITTEN THE BAILIFFS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHOM PHARAOH’S TASKMASTERS HAD PUT as bailiffs עליהם OVER THEM (i. e. over the Israelites) לאמר מדוע וגו׳ SAYING, WHEREFORE etc. — Why were they beaten? because they (the taskmasters) said to them (the bailiffs) WHEREFORE DID YE NOT FINISH (גם תמול גם היום) BOTH YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY THE TASK SET FOR YOU (חקכם) IN MAKING BRICKS as ye did yesterday-in-the-third-degree (כתמול שלשם) — which means the day before yesterday — which was the time when straw was given to them. Heb. וַיֻכּוּ They were the object of an action. [The word is in the “hoph’al” conjugation, the recipient of the “hiph’il.”] They were beaten by others; the taskmasters beat them.

"And they beat" — "upon them" refers to the children of Israel. The meaning of the added word גַּם, "also," I have already explained. Now, "yesterday" is the day on which Moses performed the signs before the people, when they did not attend to their labor; and "today" is the day on which Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh. This is consistent with what is written: "And Pharaoh commanded on that very day" (above, v. 6).

גם תמול, “also yesterday;” on the day when Moses performed the miracles, and the people on account of that did not perform their daily routine, גם היום, as well as to day, when Moses and Aaron had gone to speak to Pharaoh, (and they were awaiting the results of that conversation.).

גם תמול גם היום, “as (much as) yesterday also today?” According to Ibn Ezra the day referred to here as “yesterday,” was the day on which Moses had performed the miracles before the people, and “today” was the day on which Moses and Aaron had their first audience with Pharaoh. On both of these days the Israelites did not deliver their quota of bricks.

And the officers of the children of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying: Why do you deal thus with your servants?

"Why do you deal thus with your servants?" — for it was not your custom to act this way.

No straw is being given to your servants, yet they say to us: Make bricks! And behold, your servants are being beaten, and your people is at fault against them.

ולבנים אמרים לנו AND BRICKS THEY — the taskmasters — SAY TO US עשו MAKE, just as the former number. וְחָטָאת עַמֶּךָ BUT THE FAULT IS IN THINE OWN PEOPLE — If the word וחטאת had the vowel Patach under the ט I would say that it is a noun in the construct state, so that the meaning would be, “and this thing is the sin of thy people” But now, since the vowel is Kametz, it is a noun in the absolute case, and its meaning is as follows: “And this thing brings sin upon thy people”, as though it were written וחטאת לעמך. Sirnilarly we find ל omitted in, (Ruth 1:19) “When they were come בית לחם” which is the same as לבית לחם, to Bethlehem, and there are many similar examples.

The word וְחָטָאת is a past-tense verb, and the vav converts it to the future sense, as is grammatically regular, for it is like וְחָטְאָה. When the aleph was dropped — as it is in the word חֵטְא — and they could not place another quiescent letter after the aleph, they substituted a tav for the he, without any need to place a dagesh in the tav. Comparable is: "and misfortune will call out to you" (Deut. 31:29). Here the word הָעָם, "the people," is feminine in gender, as in: "the people who dwell therein live securely" (Judg. 18:7) and "why has this people turned away?" (Jer. 5:5). The meaning is: the sin will be upon you — phrased this way as a form of moral censure, meaning the sin will be accounted to his name. Comparable is: "I and my son Solomon will be counted sinners" (1 Kgs. 1:21), "our enemies mock" (Ps. 80:7), and "they exchanged their glory" (Ps. 106:20).

והנה עבדיך מוכים וחטאת עמך, we are the ones who are being beaten and the sinful people beating us are all we who are members of your people. It is up to you to take note of this and to intervene.

וחטאת עמך, “and it is considered a sin by your people!” The overseers instead of accusing Pharaoh outright, phrased it in a less offensive way, i.e. as if the Israelites were the guilty party.

תבן אין נתם, again we encounter this construction with the vowel kametz, making the word a past participle of the passive, i.e. “available.” The same word in Kohelet 10,6 in the line נתן הסכל במרומים, spelled with the vowel patach under the letter ת, is in a passive mode of the verb נתן, meaning “folly has been placed on lofty heights.” וחטאת עמך, seeing that the word וחטאת is spelled with the vowel kametz under the letter ח and there is a dagesh in the letter מ of the word עמך, the meaning of the expression is “we are beaten and your people will be held accountable for a sin causing us to be beaten.” If the word חטאת had been spelled with the vowel patach under the letter ח, the meaning of the line would have been: “the sin is your people’s.” [according to Rashi as if the Torah had written חטאת לעמך. Ed.]

And he said: You are idle — idle! That is why you say: Let us go and sacrifice before Hashem.

"And he said" — their words had no effect, for he hardened his heart in his stubbornness.

נרפים אתם נרפים, you are the ones who are lazy and delinquent in carrying out your duties. This is why I decided to make things harder so that you will be more energetic in performing your duties. על כן אתם אומרים נלכה נזבחה, the fact that you dream about such things shows that you are lazy. This pretext of “we want to offer meat offerings” is clear evidence that you want to simply take a holiday.

And now, go and work. No straw will be given to you, yet the quota of bricks you shall deliver.

ותכן לבנים means THE NUMBER OF THE BRICKS; similar is (2 Kings 12:12) “the money המתכן”, i. e. the money which was counted, just as it states in that passage (v. 11), “and they put it up in bags and counted the money”.

"And now go, work" — he said to the officers that they too were obligated to work.

And the officers of the children of Israel saw themselves in an evil situation, being told: You shall not reduce your bricks — the daily quota, day by day.

ויראו שטרי בני ישראל The meaning is: AND THE BAILIFFS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID SEE [THEM] i. e. their fellow-lsraelites who were ruled by them, ברע — they saw them in the misfortune and trouble that befell them, because they had to make the labour hard upon them. לאמר לא תגרעו וגו׳ BY SAYING, YE SHALL NOT DIMINISH etc.

"And they saw" — this verse is connected to the verses that follow, for they saw themselves in distress because Pharaoh had told them: "you shall not reduce your bricks, the daily quota." Then they encountered Moses and Aaron and brought complaints against them. The word אוֹתָם is used in the sense of נַפְשָׁם, "themselves," as in: "the shepherds tended themselves" (Ezek. 34:8) and "he buried him in the valley" (Deut. 34:6). R. Judah ibn Bal'am said it is like: "he shall bring himself to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting" (Num. 6:13). In my own view, it is the priest who commands that he be brought.

ויראו שוטרי בני ישראל אותם ברע.” The Hebrew supervisors of the labourers of the Children of Israel saw that they were in an untenable situation;” we read earlier that their Egyptian superiors had pressured them to change the routine by both withholding straw and insisting on the daily number of bricks remaining the same, thus making their brethren’s lives even more intolerable; they therefore rather absorbed physical punishment themselves than becoming partners to Pharaoh’s overseers through pressuring the Israelites. Pharaoh had told them that no straw would be given to them to distribute to their brethren. אותם themselves, as in (Leviticus 22:16) And they will burden אותם with iniquity of trespass”.

ויראו שוטרי בני ישראל אותם ברע לאמור, “The foremen of the Israelites saw themselves in an untenable position, saying:” Ibn Ezra understands the word אותם here not as referring to someone else but as referring to themselves, as if the Torah had written: עצמם. He quotes a couple of other verses where the word is used in similar fashion, one being in Deut. 34,6 ויקבור אותו בגיא, “He buried himself in the valley.” [Moses entombing himself. Ed]

And they encountered Moses and Aaron standing to meet them as they came out from before Pharaoh.

ויפגעו AND THEY MET — men of Israel met — את משה ואהרן וגו׳ MOSES AND AARON etc.; Our Rabbis explained that wherever it speaks of people “quarelling” (2:13; cf. Rashi on that verse) or “standing” these were Dathan and Abiram about whom it is stated (Numbers 16:27) “[And Dathan and Abiram] came out standing” (Nedarim 64b).

"And they encountered" — the phrase "and they [Moses and Aaron] were standing" is missing from the text, as in: "and Pharaoh was dreaming" (Gen. 41:1) means "he had been dreaming." So too "he was standing by the river" — and many cases are like this.

And they said to them: May Hashem be revealed over you and judge, because you have made our scent offensive in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hands to kill us.

"And they said: May Hashem look" — he has wronged us, and that wrong is upon you [Moses and Aaron]. Know that the five senses all meet at one place above the forehead; therefore one sense can be expressed in terms of another, as in: "and light is sweet" (Eccl. 11:7). R. Marinus said that the meaning is: we have become repulsive and loathsome in his eyes, like a foul odor.

הבאשתם את ריחנו, “you have made us loathsome in the eyes of Pharaoh, etc.”

and they said to them, Our affliction is manifest before the Lord, but our punishment is from you who have made our smell offensive before Pharoh and his servants; for you have occasioned a sword to be put into their hand to kill us.

And Moses returned before Hashem and said: Hashem, why have You done harm to this people? And why is this that You have sent me?

למה הרעתה לעם הזה WHEREFORE HAST THOU DONE SO EVIL TO THIS PEOPLE? — And if You ask, “What concern is that of yours?” I answer “I have to complain that You have sent me at all” (Exodus Rabbah 5:22).

ADO-NOY’, WHEREFORE HAST THOU DEALT ILL WITH THIS PEOPLE? The Divine Name is here written Aleph Dalet, for through the Proper Name of G-d, [i.e., the Tetragrammaton], which is the attribute of mercy, no evil would befall the people. However, above [in Chapter 4, Verses 10 and 13], Moses twice mentioned the Divine Name written Aleph Dalet — [Bi Ado-noy (O G-d)] — since he was praying that the anger of G-d would not be kindled against him [for refusing to undertake the mission to go to Pharaoh]. Perhaps Moses was afraid to mention the Great Divine Name that was then being revealed to him and speaking to him. WHEREFORE HAST THOU DEALT ILL WITH THIS PEOPLE? [It should be asked]: After G-d twice informed Moses that the king of Egypt would not let them go, why did he complain? Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that Moses had thought that from the moment he would speak to Pharaoh in the name of G-d, he would ease the burden from upon the children of Israel, and that G-d would begin to redeem them, but Pharaoh hardened and increased their woes. This is the sense of the expression, Wherefore has Thou dealt ill…? “It is the opposite of what Thou hast told me, i.e., I have surely seen the affliction of My people. And I am come down to deliver them.” But this [explanation of Ibn Ezra] does not appear to me to be correct because [Moses said], Neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all, and “delivery” means only their going forth from exile. In my opinion, Moses our teacher thought G-d had told him that Pharaoh would not let them go immediately at his command, nor by sign and wonder until He would perform His many wonders among them. But Moses thought that G-d would bring them upon Pharaoh in uninterrupted succession in a few days. When Pharaoh said, I know not the Eternal, He would immediately command him to execute the sign of the serpent before the king, and [if] the king would still not listen, He would smite him on that very day with the plague of blood, followed by all the rest of the plagues. But when Moses saw that three days passed and the king increased their woes every day and G-d did not rebuke him, nor did He reveal Himself to Moses to inform him what he should do, then Moses thought that [the captivity] is a long one. It is possible that there was a long period of time to this story recounted here by Scripture. When the officers of the children of Israel were beaten, days passed until they spoke to Pharaoh himself, saying to him, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? It is not every person that has a right to come into the inner chambers of the king’s palace and speak to him face to face, and all the more the officers of those people abhorrent to him. Thus they suffered in their burden and oppression many days, and they would come even before the king’s gate until their outcry was heard before the king and he commanded that they come before him and speak with him. It is likewise possible that Moses returned to the Eternal and said, Where...

"And Moses returned" — here a question arises: since Hashem had already informed Moses and told him, "I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand" (above, 3:19) — until all the signs He had commanded him were done — why then does Moses complain, saying "why is it that You sent me?" and "You have not delivered at all"? The answer is: Moses had assumed that from the moment he spoke before Pharaoh, the burden upon the people would be lightened; yet Pharaoh actually made their labor heavier. The thrust of "why have You dealt ill" is that it is the opposite of what You said: "I have indeed seen the affliction of My people" (above, 3:7) and "I have come down to deliver them from the hand of Egypt" (ibid., v. 8) — so why is it that You sent me only to bring harm upon Israel? For I have found no answer to give to the officers.

למה זה שלחתני?, if they were guilty of suffering such problems why did You make me the one to be the immediate cause of it?

וישב משה אל השם, Moses returned to G'd, etc. The verse must be understood in this order: "Why did You G'd not tell me at the time when You told me that You would harden Pharaoh's heart that this would involve additional hardship for the people? If You were to answer that the appointed time for relieving the burden of their servitude has not arrived yet, why did You send me already at this time? Moses implied that G'd should have waited with sending him on this mission until the actual slave labour of the Israelites had come to an end. We have a reaction by Moses to what G'd had told him previously, namely that the end of the redemption process was not yet at hand but that He, G'd, would advance the time for rescuing the Jewish people by saving them from their oppression. At the end of twelve months the Exodus itself would take place. Moses now asked: "why did You bring harm upon this people?" He meant that if G'd were to tell him that this suffering would advance the redemption, "why did You send me already now? You Yourself have told me that the only reason to commence the mission now was to relieve the people of having to perform slave labour. If as it now appeared, my mission was to be effective only at the time of the Exodus, why did You send me ?" The word זה (numerical value 12) in Moses' question was an allusion to the 12 months the people still had to wait for the redemption. Moses was clearly afraid that Pharaoh's most recent decree would be in effect for the 12 months until the redemption. Perhaps Moses also referred to the fact that amongst the Israelites there were those who had to perform slave labour, and others, such as the the tribe of Levi, who were free from that burden. Concerning the former group Moses asked: "why have You brought harm upon them?" Concerning the latter group he asked: "why did You send me on this mission?" Moses may also simply have asked: "why did You cause harm to Your people?" G'd's answer would have to be that the harm was the result of Moses' mission. To this Moses retorted: "Why is this (זה) that You have sent me on this mission?" Moses' adding of the word זה was his way of saying that this was why he had been unwilling to undertake the mission in the first place.

וישב משה אל ה, “Moses returned to Hashem;” to the site from which He had spoken to him last. (Rash’bam) ויאמר: א־דני, “he said,” using the name of G-d we spell with .אד למה הרעות, “to what purpose did You worsen (the people’s plight)?” ולמה זה שלחתני, “and if so, for what purpose have You sent me?”Did Moses then not know from what G-d had already told him that Pharaoh would not be responsive? G-d had told him explicitly in Exodus 3,19, that Pharaoh would not consent to let the Israelites go? Moses had thought that while Pharaoh would not consent to let the Israelites go, at least he would lighten their burdens. This is why he added in frustration that instead of a marginal improvement in the Israelites’ sorry state, it had now worsened dramatically due to his intervention! This is why he added (improperly) “and You have certainly not saved Your people!” He quoted G-d as having said: “I’ll descend and save it.”G-d responded that “now you will see,” as from now on I shall commence applying pressure to him via My plagues.” They will soon feel a drastic reduction in their suffering.

אדנ-י למה הרעות לעם הזה, “My Lord, why have You allowed things to become worse for this people?” Moses chose this name of G’d as he was not afraid of the element of the attribute of Mercy which is part of this name; he was however afraid of the central part of the name, the word דן, the attribute of Justice. This fear of Moses is expressed in his adding the extra letter ה at the end of the word הרעותה. It is as if he had said to G’d: “Why did You allow the harmful effect of the attribute of Justice to be invoked against this people?” He added the words: “why did You send me?” He meant: “why did You not wait until the predetermined time for the redemption when these negative elements of the attribute of Justice could not have affected the people?” This is the way Nachmanides explains Moses’ outcry. A Midrashic approach (based on Tanchuma Vaeyra 1) When Moses began to question G’d’s methods in our verse, G’d responded by saying to him: “what a pity that the patriarchs are no longer alive; they are indeed unforgettable. When I told Avraham to walk ahead of Me and be perfect, he did not question My ways. When he searched for a piece of ground to bury his wife Sarah and could not find it until he finally paid a fortune of 400 shekel for a cave, he did not question Me and My ways [after all G’d had promised the whole of the land of Canaan to Avraham and his descendants. Ed.]. When I told Yitzchak to stay in the land of Canaan during the famine instead of seeking relief in Egypt, he did not question My ways. How many times did he have to dig for water only to be denied its use by the Philistines? He never questioned My ways. I had promised Yaakov that the land he was lying on was all going to be his and his children’s and when it came to finding a piece of land whereon to put his tent 26 years later he had to acquire a small tract near Shechem for 100 kessitah (an outrageous amount) yet he never questioned My ways. You, on the other hand, who are only at the very beginning of your career as My messenger already are beginning to question My ways! First you wanted to know My name; now you accuse Me of making things worse for the Jewish people! Truly, עתה תראה “what I am going to do to Pharaoh now you will experience, but because you have seen fit to question My ways you will not live to see what I am going to do to the 31 kings of the land of Canaan.” This will be a battle under the leadership of Joshua. According to this Midrash Moses had already accepted the decree that he would not enter the land of Canaan at this time. Thus far the Midrash. It appears to me that when you read the plain text without trying to read between the lines as did the sages of the Midrash, you will come to the conclusion that Moses had not sinned at all with what he asked. There are two reasons for not finding fault with Moses’ question למה הרעותה לעם הזה, “for what purpose did You allow this people to experience a deterioration in their plight instead of redeeming them immediately?” The Torah wanted to inform us that improvements or deteriorations in the fate of the Jewish nation are the result of G’d’s doing, not of someone else’s doing. By his very question, Moses wanted to make it clear that he understood this. After all, evil does originate with G’d though in a more indirect manner than good. Did not Tzefaniah 1,12 admonish the people saying: “I will punish those who say to themselves: ‘the Lord will do nothing good or bad?’” Secondly, If Moses had been under the impression that his question had been sinful, it is hard to understand why he would repeat the same mistake in Numbers 11,11 where he used similar language applying it to his own situation when he asked G’d למה הרעות לעבדך ולמה לא מצתי חן בעיניך, וגו', “why did You do this evil to Your servant; why did I not find favor in Your eyes, etc.” Moses did commit a sin however when he said in the following verse: “Ever since I have come to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, but You did not rescue Your people.” In response to this criticism of G’d’s methods, G’d told Moses that he would indeed shortly observe how He would make good on His promise against Pharaoh and the Egyptians; He implied that Moses would not become a witness to how G’d would make good on His promise to bring the Israelites to the Holy Land. The lesson G’d was going to teach Pharaoh would be that he himself would ask the Jewish people to leave. They would not escape but Pharaoh would actually expel them. I have found support for my theory in the wording of Tanchuma Vaeyra 1 which quotes Moses as saying: “seeing that I have sinned with a remark commencing with the word אז, I wish to make amends by extolling You with a song commencing with the word אז.” (Exodus 15,1). As to the Midrash which I have quoted earlier in which G’d is reported as saying to Moses ‘you have questioned My ways already at the beginning of your mission by asking “what is Your name,” and now you continue by saying: “why have You made things worse, etc.?’” I do not think that we need to interpret these words by G’d as a rebuke. The reason the Midrash had G’d quote these words was simply because they had been the first words Moses addressed to G’d during that entire dialogue at the burning bush. I have seen in the commentary by Rabbeinu Chananel that the words למה הרעותה are not a complaint at all. They were simply a question; Moses asked for enlightenment. He did not mean to criticise. Moses’ question included the whole subject of צדיק ורע לו ורשע וטוב לו, of why the righteous is often seen to suffer whereas the wicked is often perceived as prospering in all his undertakings. Moses wanted to know the point of this attribute, this phenomenon? He referred not to what had occurred during the time since his appointment but to what had occurred during the hundreds of years prior to his appointment during which time the innocent Israelites had been subject to all kinds of torture at the hands of an immoral society such as the Egyptians. Seeing that afflictions can be divided into two categories, i.e. the ones which are retribution and the ones which are known as יסורין של אהבה, afflictions which reflect G’d’s love for the afflicted, Moses wanted enlightenment. We know that there are these two kinds of afflictions from Isaiah 57,17: “for their sinful greed I was angry; I struck them and turned away My wrath.” On the other hand, we know of a different category of afflictions described in Deut. 8,16: “who fed you manna in the wilderness...in order to test you through hardships and to benefit you in the end.” These latter kinds of afflictions are called יסורין של אהבה, and concerning them David has said (Psalms 94,12) “happy is the man whom You discipline, O Lord, the man whom You instruct in Your teaching.” Seeing that Moses had now observed that ever since his appointment to Pharaoh the latter had increased the people’s workload, Moses asked G’d why He had allowed this seeing that it was within His power to save them and He had not made use of that power. The meaning of הרעותה is: “You have allowed things to get worse,” not “You have made things worse.” It is similar to Exodus 1,17 when the Torah wrote of the midwives ותחיין את הילדים. The meaning obviously is not that the midwives “gave life” to the children, but that they had allowed the children to survive. When Pharaoh (Exodus 1,22) ordered וכל הבת תחיון, the meaning was not “you shall bring to life every daughter,” but “you may allow every daughter to survive.” After all, it is not within the power of human beings to grant life or death. Moses spoke out of a fear that Pharaoh would further add to the sufferings of the Jewish people. Actually, many hundreds of years later the prophet Jeremiah posed a similar question when he asked (Jeremiah 12,1) “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are the perpetrators of treachery at ease?” Jeremiah wanted to know if the ease experienced by the wicked is the compensation they receive from G’d in this life for any good deeds they have performed, or if their ease was a form of punishment which would reinforce them in their belief that they were not accountable for their wicked deeds. As a result of their continuing their wicked ways their eventual punishment would be so much greater. At that time G’d answered him that whatever ease the wicked experience in this life is only a prelude to their eventual terrible punishment. We find that David was troubled by similar thoughts when he asked of G’d (Psalms 69,28) “add to their guilt, let them have no share of Your beneficence; may they be erased from the book of life; and not be inscribed with the righteous.” G’d’s answer to Moses’s question: “now you will see, etc.” meant that he would become aware that the afflictions suffered by the Israelites were only designed to increase the reward they would reap at the end of their period of enslavement; at the same time it would also serve to double and redouble the punishments to be endured by their oppressors The first message was contained in the words עתה תראה, the second in the words אשר אעשה לפרעה, “what I am going to do to Pharaoh.” There is an allusion to our present exile under the descendants of Edom in the experience of the Jewish people in their first exile under the Egyptians. The Jews in Egypt had to bear up under increasingly difficult conditions only in order to experience a wonderful redemption and in seeing their oppressors being killed after suffering many plagues and then dying a painful death by drowning. Similarly, when the time comes we will experience a wonderful redemption when the Messiah will arrive, a redemption by comparison to which the Exodus of the Jewish people will fade into relative insignificance. David referred to this redemption in Psalm 130,6 where he described the longing of the כנסת ישראל saying “I am more eager for the Lord than watchmen for the morning.” If in spite of our impatient wait for the redemption it has been delayed then this is only in order to add to the guilt of our oppressors in the interval and in order to punish them more severely for their sins against G’d and against His people. Just as we find that oppression of the Jewish people reached a new intensity after Moses asked that his people be allowed to celebrate a holiday for the Lord in the desert, the redemption in the future will be ushered in after a period of unparalleled suffering by the Jewish people. The initial attempt at bringing about the final redemption will suffer setbacks just as the initial attempt by Moses to secure the release of the Jewish people encountered setbacks. Our sages in Shemot Rabbah 5,20 comment on verse 20 where Moses and Aaron are being assailed by the overseers of the Jewish laborers for having been instrumental in their situation deteriorating rather than improving, that after 6 months G’d appeared to Moses in Midyan and said to him: “go back to Egypt (4,19) for all the people who wish to kill you have died.” When Moses and Aaron met, the former coming from Midyan and the latter from Egypt, the overseers met them as they emerged from their audience with Pharaoh. We find a similar comment in Midrash Chazita on Song of Songs 2,9: “My beloved is like a gazelle.” Just as a gazelle is visible to the eye one moment, disappears and then reappears, so the first redeemer appeared to the Jewish people, disappeared, and reappeared again in due course. Rabbi Tanchuma said that Moses disappeared for only three months and that this is the meaning of ויפגעו את משה ואת אהרן. [The expression ויפגעו always refers to an unexpected meeting, i.e. since both Moses and Aaron had returned to their previous abodes there was no reason to expect them at the palace gates of Pharaoh at the time (quoted in the name of עץ יוסף)]. When the prophet Micah 7,15 speaks of G’d performing miracles “just as in the days when you came out of Egypt,” he alludes to certain similarities between what preceded the Exodus from Egypt to what will occur when the final redemption will be at hand. We have another Midrash (Sanhedrin 98) according to which the meaning of Isaiah 59,19: “for he will come like a hemmed in stream which the wind of the Lord drives on,” is that if you observe a certain generation being flooded by troubles from all sides like a river, await him (the Messiah), seeing that the prophet Isaiah continued there (verse 20) “for he shall come as a redeemer to Zion and to those who turn back from sin.”

וישב משה אל, he returned to the spot where G’d had been speaking to him previously. למה הרעותה לעם הזה?, the reason why the accent is on the last syllable of the word למה here is because it is in a construct form to the word ”G’d“ written in the form of the letter ה at the end of the word הרעותה. למה הרעותה לעם הזה?, if You were to tell me that they deserved this additional harassment due the multitude of their sins, and that they are not yet deserving of redemption, למה זה שלחתני?, if they do not deserve to be redeemed forthwith?

For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not at all delivered Your people.

הרע This is an expression denoting “he has caused something to happen” — he (Pharaoh) has brought even more evil upon them. It must be translated in the Targum by אבאיש “he has treated badly”.

"And from the time" — from the day I spoke to him, he made the burden upon them heavier, as it is written: "And Pharaoh commanded on that very day" (v. 6). The sense of "and You have not delivered Your people at all" is: whereas I expected that Pharaoh would begin to ease the burden on them and that You would begin to deliver them. The phrase הָרַע לָעָם הַזֶּה, "dealing ill with this people," employs a transitive verb, as in: "they did worse than their fathers" (Jer. 7:26).

והצל לא הצלת, the overseers of the Israelites who are being beaten for showing empathy with the people.

לדבר בשמך…והצל לא הצלת את עמך. "to speak in Your name…but You have not saved Your people." Moses added another argument to his previous ones. He wanted to know how it was possible that since he had spoken to this wicked king in the name of G'd, not only had He not responded but He had actually made things worse for the people whom Moses represented. He emphasised the word מאז to point out that Pharaoh's obstinacy appeared to have been a direct consequece of G'd's intervention through Moses. Clearly what Pharaoh did was motivated by his hatred for G'd. He was unparalleled in his rebellious behaviour against the king of the universe. Moses was amazed at G'd's apparent lack of jealousy of His reputation. Surely G'd now had an additional reason to redeem Israel immediately. Even if Israel did not merit redemption at this time due to its own merit, it had to be redeemed as a gesture against the blaspheming Pharaoh! The words והצל לא הצלת should be read as a question expressing Moses' amazement that G'd had not yet saved His people. Moses spoke of two "salvations," i.e. the one due to Israel's merit and the one due to Pharaoh's excesses.

למה הרעות לעם הזה?, “Why did You allow more evil to be done to this people?” Some commentators are stymied by Moses’ reaction, seeing that G’d had warned him beforehand that things would be tough for a while. Ibn Ezra thinks that Moses had thought that from the moment he would speak to Pharaoh there would at least be a gradual improvement in the people’s situation. Instead, the people’s lot had actually worsened. This is why he asked G’d what such worsening was meant to achieve. He could not square this with G’d having told him that He had observed the terrible condition His people were in and that He was about to respond to their pleas. This is why G’d immediately tells Moses that he would witness an improvement in short order. Nachmanides is not content with this answer, seeing that Moses had accused G’d of not having saved His people thus far, one of the promises made in 3,8 and there is no other way of “saving, i.e. rescuing” the people except by leading them out of Egypt. He explains therefore that Moses had thought that although G’d had prepared him for the fact that Pharaoh would turn a deaf ear to his request, his refusal would be followed by G’d beginning to orchestrate the plagues immediately. When this did not happen, and Pharaoh appeared to carry the day by imposing even stricter decrees, Moses was nonplussed, and sought answers from G’d. Three days had passed since his interview with Pharaoh and he had not received any additional instructions from G’d. He thought that enough time had elapsed for the people’s condition to undergo a healing process. When he saw that he had miscalculated G’d’s timetable, he wanted to know why G’d had not waited with sending him on this mission until the time for the redemption was at hand. According to a statement in Shemot Rabbah, when Moses saw that the Jewish foremen had been beaten and nothing happened to Pharaoh, he went back to Midian with his family to Yitro, leaving his family in his care until after the redemption would have materialized.