Exodus · Chapter 7

Hashem said to Moses: See, I have appointed you as a master over Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your interpreter.

נתתיך אלהים לפרעה This signifies I have made thee a judge and castigator — to castigate him with plagues and pains. יהיה נביאך [AARON] SHALL BE THY PROPHET — This must be understood as the Targum takes it: thy interpreter. Similarly, wherever this term of נבואה is mentioned it refers to a man who publicly proclaims and utters to the people words of reproof. It is of the same derivation as, (Isaiah 57:19) “utterance (ניב) of the lips”; (Proverbs 10:31) “it utters (ינוב) wisdom”; (I Samuel 10:13) “he made an end of proclaiming (התנבות)”, which is in the book of Samuel. In old French we call him predicar; English preacher.

"And Hashem said" — This is the answer to [Moses's complaint,] "How will Pharaoh listen to me, seeing that I am of uncircumcised lips?" Hashem replied: "See, I have set you as a god to Pharaoh." "And He said" — the meaning of "See" is: I have granted you a great distinction, so that you will be regarded in Pharaoh's eyes as having the rank of an angel — and this is the meaning of "a god." [God] speaks to the prophet, and the prophet speaks to the people of his generation. As for those who say that "prophet" (navi) derives from "the expression of lips" (niv sefatayim, Isa. 57:19) — this is not correct. The root of niv is a biconsonantal root [from two letters], according to the view of the French scholars, or belongs to the ayin-vav class according to the view of the Spanish scholars. But the root of navi has three letters, as proved by [the forms] neviim (Num. 11:29) and vayitnabbe'u (ibid. v. 25), since the alef is part of the root. Furthermore, niv sefatayim means "fruit of the lips," for it derives from tenuva (Isa. 27:6) and yenubbun beseiva (Ps. 92:15), and the decisive proof: "u-nivo nivze — its fruit is contemptible" (Mal. 1:12). Moreover, what is the meaning of "Return the man's wife, for he is a prophet" (Gen. 20:7) — if the meaning were "he is a spokesman," why would that obligate you to return her? Rather, the meaning is: he is a prophet, one to whom I reveal My secrets, in the manner of "He does not do anything without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7); he delights in Me — and therefore "he shall pray on your behalf and you will live" (Gen. 20:7).

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

ראה נתתיך אלוהים לפרעה, “see I have made you like a God as far as Pharaoh is concerned.” According to Ibn Ezra the word אלוהים here merely denotes that Moses had been elevated to a very high rank, so much so that Pharaoh would relate to him with the same reverence as he would display when facing a disembodied angel of G’d who addresses the prophet whereas the prophet subsequently relays the words of the angel to his people.

נביאך, your spokesman.

ראה נתתיך אלהים, “see that I have made you a G–d relative to him.” Since Pharaoh had proclaimed himself as the owner and therefore the god of the river Nile, G–d now appointed Moses as Pharaoh’s G–d, i.e. superpower.

You shall speak all that I have commanded you, and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, so that he will send the children of Israel out of his land.

אתה תדבר THOU SHALT SPEAK once, every separate message just as you have heard it from My mouth, and your brother Aaron shall express it in eloquent language and explain it in Pharaoh’s hearing.

"You shall speak" — to Aaron: "all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh." Even though Aaron is not mentioned each time Moses came before Pharaoh, we know that they always came together.

ושלח, he should tell Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.

But I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and I will multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

ואני אקשה AND I WILL ALLOW [PHARAOH’S HEART] TO HARDEN — Since he has wickedly resisted Me, and it is manifest to Me that the heathen nations find no spiritual satisfaction in setting their whole heart to return to Me penitently, it is better that his heart should be hardened in order that My signs may be multiplied against him so that ye may recognise My divine power. Such, indeed, is the method of the Holy One, blessed be He: He brings punishment upon the nations so that Israel may hear of it and fear Him, as it is said, (Zephaniah 3:6, 3:7) “I have cut off nations, their corners are desolate etc. … I said: Surely thou wilt fear Me, thou wilt receive correction” (cf. Yevamot 63a). Nevertheless, in the case of the first five plagues it is not stated, “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” but “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 3).

AND I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH’S HEART. The Rabbis said in Midrash Rabbah: “G-d revealed to Moses that He was destined to harden Pharaoh’s heart in order to bring judgment upon him for he caused them to work in cruel bondage.” It is also stated there [in Midrash Rabbah]: “For I have hardened his heart. Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘This provides a pretext for the heretics to say that G-d did not allow Pharaoh to repent.’ Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, ‘The mouths of the heretics be closed! Only, if it concerneth the scorners, He scorneth them. When He warns one on three occasions and he does not turn from his ways, He closes the door of repentance on him in order to punish him for his sin. Such was the case with wicked Pharaoh. After the Holy One, blessed be He, sent him five times [the request to let His people go] and he paid no attention to His words, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You have stiffened your neck and hardened your heart; I will double your defilement.’”The Rabbis [in the above Midrash] have thus discussed the question which all ask: “If G-d hardened his heart, what then was Pharaoh’s sin?” For this there are two explanations, and both of them are true. One is that Pharaoh in his wickedness had unjustifiably perpetrated such great evils against Israel that justice required that the ways of repentance be withheld from him, as is so indicated in many places in the Torah and in the Writings. He was judged according to his wickedness which he had originally committed of his own will. The second explanation is that half of the plagues came upon him because of his transgressions, for in connection with them it is only said: And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened; And Pharaoh hardened his heart. Thus Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go for the glory of G-d. But when the plagues began bearing down upon him and he became weary to suffer them, his heart softened and he bethought himself to send them out on account of the onslaught of the plagues, not in order to do the will of his Creator. Then G-d hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, so that His name may be declared [throughout all the earth]. Similar in meaning is the verse, Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Eternal. And that which He said before the plagues, And I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go, was merely His warning to Moses of that which He was destined to do to Pharaoh in the last [five] plagues, it being similar to that which He said, And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go. This then is the meaning of the verse [before us], And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs. That is to say, “I will harden his heart so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt,” since in the last five plagues, as well as at the drowning in the sea, it is said, And the Eternal hardened the heart of Pharaoh, ...

"And I will harden" — One may ask: if Hashem hardened his heart, what was Pharaoh's transgression, what was his sin? The answer is that Hashem gave wisdom to man and planted in his heart the intellect to receive a higher power — either to add to his good or to diminish his evil. I will explain this in [the portion] Ki Tissa and on the verse "O that they had such a heart" (Deut. 5:26). The meaning of "I will harden his heart" is in order to multiply My signs. And R. Yeshua said that the meaning of "I will harden his heart" is to endure the plagues — but this is not the correct interpretation.

ואני אקשה, seeing that G’d is interested in the sinner’s repentance rather than his death (as we know from Ezekiel 33,11 חי אני, נאום ה', אם אחפוץ במות הרשע כי אם בשובו מדרכו וחיה, “by My life, I do not want the death of the wicked but that he return from his wicked path and live”), G’d told Moses that He would bring on numerous plagues, all in order to increase the chances that Pharaoh would finally see the light and become a genuine penitent. He hoped that by demonstrating His greatness and His power this would eventually cause the Egyptians to recognise all this. At the same time, G’d also spelled out a similar thought in 9,16 but aimed at the Israelites, when He said: “that the only reason He had not yet killed Pharaoh was so that in the course of more plagues you, the Jewish people, would come to recognise both G’d’s greatness and His patience.“ He also wanted the Jewish people to learn how to both love and revere Him when they witnessed and thought about the meaning of all these plagues. There can be no question that without G’d stiffening Pharaoh’s attitude from time to time, he would have collapsed much sooner and would have sent the Israelites on their desired journey. However, this would not have been the result of his repentance and humbling himself before the Lord, involving genuine regret about his previous errors, but the result of his impotence to withstand the pressure applied to him. He would have acted out of terror of what the next plague would do to him and to his country. If we needed confirmation of this, all we have to do is look at what his servants said to him when Moses threatened with the plague of locust. They said to him: “how long will you be obstinate, do you not see that Egypt will go down the drain?!” There was not a single word of regret of past errors, no word of recognition that G’d could have killed them all long before this and that He must therefore be very patient, and kind, but mere terror forced them to utter these words. (10,7) Keeping all this in mind, it is foolish to ask how G’d could punish Pharaoh after he Himself had interfered with his decision-making process by “stiffening his heart,” ואני אקשה את לב פרעה, I will stiffen the heart of Pharaoh, etc.” not in order to punish him but in order to finally trigger repentance in his heart. The operative clause is “in order that I can demonstrate all these miracles of Mine in his midst” (10,1), the purpose being to bring about his humbling himself in repentance and genuine contrition. If that wish of G’d would indeed materialise, the Jewish people also would tell of G’d’s greatness, (למען ספר את שמי, having observed at first hand how the mightiest secular power on earth turned into G’d fearing human beings.) They would tell their children and children’s children the lesson they had learned that G’d’s apparent cruelty is actually an act of loving kindness as it results in His creatures coming to love and to revere Him. [Noach, who had survived the destru...

ואני אקשה, “and I (G-d) will toughen;” Rashi points out that during the first five plagues G-d actually did not yet harden Pharaoh’s heart, and the Torah only speaks about vayechezak lev paroh, meaning that Pharaoh “remained obstinate without any help from G-d.” When the Torah writes during the seventh plague, the plague of hail in chapter 9 verse 35, that vayechezak lev paroh, that “Pharaoh’s heart remained obstinate,” which appears to contradict what Rashi said, seeing that line occurs during the seventh plague, this line appears after in verse 34, G-d had already hardened his heart. In that instance, for the first time, Pharaoh had admitted being guilty, and after G-d had hardened his heart he was able to hold out still longer in his obstinate ways. In chapter 10,1, G-d explains to Moses that Pharaoh’s behaviour from then on was understandable only because He had already hardened his heart. He was already no longer a free agent. The reason is simple, as Rashi explains. Once a person has remained obstinate in the face of five plagues clearly orchestrated by G-d, he is deprived of his most precious attribute, that of freedom of choice. Even if Pharaoh had freed the Israelites at that stage, G-d would not have let him, until He had been able to demonstrate Hjs powers completely.

ואני אקשה את לב פרעה, “and I will harden the heart of Pharaoh.” Many people ask that if G’d’ hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he refused to release the Israelites how could G’d justify bringing the plagues upon him and the Egyptians seeing these people had acted under duress? Such plagues would represent caprice, undeserved violence by the Creator against people who were not guilty. How can we reconcile this with our concept of a fair and just G’d? Punishing Pharaoh for divinely inspired obstinacy and refusal to change his ways seems unfair. The answer is, of course, that Pharaoh had already been a confirmed sinner, having committed other sins which accounted for his forfeiting the right to do Teshuvah, repentance. If his only sin had been that he refused to let the Israelites go, and G’d had indeed made his heart stubborn on that score alone, punishing him would indeed have been doing violence to his rights as a human being. Pharaoh’s original sin versus the Jewish people has been spelled out in Exodus 3,5 where he used the natural (or unnatural) increase of the births amongst the Jewish people as a pretext to “outsmart” them and to kill their babies. Seeing that he had displayed his wickedness for all to see without having been interfered with by G’d, the time had now come when his punishment was that he was deprived of his free choice. Had G’d allowed Pharaoh and his people to become penitents He could not even have punished them for what they had done up until now. We have proof of this from the story of Jonah and Nineveh. G’d accepted the repentance of the people of Nineveh and they completely escaped punishment. This is why G’d had to find a stratagem to prevent the Egyptians from becoming penitents at this stage. A Midrashic approach based on Shemot Rabbah 13,3: Rabbi Yochanan said that this verse provides the heretics with ammunition and enables them to claim that if Pharaoh did not do Teshuvah it was G’d’s fault, not his own. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish replied that on the contrary, this very verse is an answer to the heretics as it demonstrates Solomon’s saying (Proverbs 3,34) “at the scoffers He scoffs, but to the humble He shows grace.” G’d had issued three successive warnings to Pharaoh and he had failed to respond to any of them. As a result, G’d slammed the door to Teshuvah shut. It is only after the fifth plague that the Torah actually uses the transitive form of “G’d hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” instead of the intransitive “Pharaoh’s heart remained hard” (compare 8,28 and contrast with 9,12). According to this Midrash the words which G’d spoke to Moses in our verse where He said: “I will harden the heart of Pharaoh,” refer to the last five plagues. We observe that several times when the plagues were really hurting the Egyptians Pharaoh weakened and made promises and offered compromises to Moses until in the end he reneged. The reason he reneged was that G’d hardened his heart although without such interference he would have given in much sooner. G’d had provided an additional rationale for all this when He said (9,16) “in order for My name to become a household word all over the earth.” This is analogous to Ezekiel 38,23 והתגדלתי והתקדשתי ונודעתי לעיני גוים רבים, “Thus will I be exalted and sanctified and become known in the eyes of many nations, etc.” You should know that the obstinacy of Pharaoh had already been hinted at to Moses at the very beginning of his career as a prophet at the burning bush when G’d had shown him a bush which burned without being consumed. G’d had compared the multiple troubles and plagues to fire, and Pharaoh and the wicked Egyptians as the bush of thorns which refused to submit to the fire (plagues). This had been G’d’s way of alerting Moses to the remarkable obstinacy which would be displayed by Pharaoh plus the fact that this would be just as unnatural as the spectacle he was observing at the time.

ואני אקשה את לב פרעה, “I will toughen the heart of Pharaoh.” Most people question G’d’s right to exact punishment from Pharaoh if He had first robbed him of the freedom of will which is an inalienable right of every human being created in the image of the Creator. The answer to this question is quite simple. Pharaoh was not punished for disobeying G’d’s command but for the relish with which he maltreated G’d’s people. He was punished for the excess cruelty he displayed. This was not due to G’d’s interfering with his free will, but to a flaw in his character as a human being. People who display this degree of inhumanity of man to man, are denied the opportunity to return to G’d in penitence. This is described in Ethics of our fathers as עברה גוררת עברה, the commission of deliberate sins brings in its wake the commission of more sins and yet more sins. There are numerous verses in Scripture confirming this principle. Furthermore, if you will examine the text of the ten plagues you will observe that G’d did not interfere with Pharaoh’s decision making brain or heart until after the fifth plague. The wording of the first five plagues describes that Pharaoh’s obstinacy in resisting G’d and Moses up until then was entirely spontaneous, not reinforced by any attempt of G’d to coerce his behaviour. During the last five plagues, when Pharaoh had initially indicated a preparedness to comply with G’d’ request and to let the people go, at least for a vacation of a religious nature, he reneged on his promises as soon as the plague had been called off by Moses. Some commentators simply see in the words ואני אקשה את לבו, not an interference with Pharaoh’s free will, but a device that enabled him to endure the plagues without collapsing. This, as a corollary, made him feel that he was strong enough to withstand anything G’d would try and do to him.

Pharaoh will not hearken to you, and I will bring the stroke of My might upon Egypt, and I will bring out My hosts, My people the children of Israel, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

את ידי this must be translated literally, “hand”, (not “power”) I will lay My hand upon Egypt to smite them.

"And I will set My hand" — [meaning,] My blow; for "by the hand" is the manner of human beings. The meaning of "My hosts" (tzivotai): just as the angels are the hosts of Hashem in the heavens, so too Israel are [His hosts] on earth.

ולא ישמע אליכם פרעה; not before the plague materialises after the warning, nor even after the plague did come to pass. He will not listen to you even after having endured many such plagues. Seeing that this is so, I will be forced to bring retribution upon them. This retribution will take the form of the killing of the firstborn as well as the drowning of all the military might of Egypt in the sea. The retribution will be seen as a punishment to fit their crimes. All the other plagues are only designed to encourage repentance, not as a form of retribution. Four times the Torah introduces this objective of the plagues. In 7,17 the Torah writes למען תדע כי אני ה', “so that you will know that I am the Lord.” In 8,18 the Torah writes: בעבור תדע כי אני ה' בקרב הארץ, “so that you will know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth (not only in heaven).” In 9,29 the Torah writes: למען שיתי אותותי אלה בקרבו ולמען תספר...וידעתם, “this is why I perform all these miracles of Mine right in its midst, so that you will tell…. and finally realise that there is no one like Me anywhere (9,14).”

ולא ישמע אליכם פרעה, "and Pharaoh will not listen to you." Why did the Torah have to say that Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and Aaron after G'd had already said in verse three that He would harden the heart of Pharaoh? We also need to understand what G'd meant when He spoke about placing His hand on Egypt, which appears to mean something over and beyond the plagues with which G'd will strike Pharaoh and the Egyptians. I believe that we must understand the verse thus: First of all, G'd announces that He would harden Pharaoh's heart as a result of which He would bring many plagues upon him. The plagues would prove counterproductive (initally) and make Pharaoh even more obstinate, adding still more sins to his already considerable culpability. Eventually, he would not even want to listen to what Moses and Aaron had been instructed to tell him. This is in fact what happened in 10,28 when Pharaoh bans Moses and Aaron from appearing again in His presence. G'd announces to Moses already at this point that when that stage will be reached it would be the limit of obstinacy that Pharaoh is allowed. Immediately after that ban G'd brought the final plague of the dying of the Egyptian firstborns upon him, as a result of which he would not only release the Israelites but expel them. We find confirmation of this meaning of the word "My hand," when we read in Chronicles I 21,16 that David observed the angel of death with drawn sword in "his hand." In our instance, G'd refers to the fact that He personally would bring this plague upon Pharaoh by describing His activity as ידי, "My hand." This is why the Mechilta on Exodus 11,4 states that He Himself would be active as distinct from any of His agents. G'd also alluded to the destruction He would bring upon the various Egyptian deities at that time. When we keep all this in mind we can understand Moses' comment that "I will not continue to see your face," which appears as somewhat high-handed at first. Whence did Moses know that G'd would not send him to speak to Pharaoh again in spite of Pharaoh's threat? The answer is that Moses had been told already in our verse exactly how things would develop. Instead of questioning Moses' statement we should congratulate him on recognising that Pharaoh had reached the end of his rope when he forbade Moses and Aaron to appear before him and threatened to have them executed in the event they would come to him again. Up until then Pharaoh had only refused to listen to G'd's instructions. The moment he even refused to grant an interview to G'd's messengers he had forfeited all further consideration. Actually, this was already the second allusion to the eventual slaying of the firstborn, the first time being when G'd referred to "My firstborn, Israel," as I have demonstrated in my commentary on 4,22. והוצאתי את צבאותי את עמי, "I will take out My hosts, My people, etc." Who exactly are the ones G'd describes as צבאותי, "My hosts?" If the reference is to the Israelites, the T...

ולא ישמע אליכם פרעה, “and Pharaoh will not pay any heed to you.” This verse cannot be understood as a prediction of future events, as during the tenth plague Pharaoh did heed Moses’ and Aaron’s warnings, finally. It is a reminder to Moses of what G-d had told him already before the commencement of the plagues.

והוצאתי את צבאותי, “and I will take out My hosts.” Here G’d referred to the Jewish people as “My hosts.” He meant to contrast them and their influence on earth with that of the planetary system. In Deut. 1,10 Moses himself refers to the multitude of the Jewish people as “here you are to-day as numerous as the stars in the heaven.” When G’d said צבאותי, He also referred to His hosts in the celestial regions. The correct translation of our verse is: “I will lead forth My celestial hosts together with My people on earth the Children of Israel.” This is another instance from which our sages derive their oft-repeated principle (Megillah 29) that the Shechinah was exiled together with the Jewish people. If even a relatively high celestial Being such as the Shechinah considered itself in exile while the Jewish people were in exile, how much more so is this true of other (lower) echelons of celestial beings! The Talmud Shevuot 35 stipulates that the word צבאות ranks as one of the names of G’d therefore must not be erased. The reason is that it represents the heavenly hosts. When later on (12,41) the Torah speaks of יצאו כל צבאות ה’ מארץ מצרים, “all the hosts of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt,” the reference is to both G’d’s celestial and terrestrial hosts (compare Mechilta on that verse).

ונתתי את ידי במצרים, “I will put My hand upon Egypt;” the word ידי when applied to G’d, Who has no physical dimension, is parallel to the hand of a human being who uses it to punish, to inflict pain. צבאותי, “My hosts.” Just as the angels are perceived as G’d’s army in the celestial spheres, so the Jewish people are His army on earth.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am Hashem when I raise the stroke of My might over Egypt and bring the children of Israel out from among them.

"And they shall know" — R. Yehudah the First Grammarian already noted the distinction between ve-yad'u and ve-yeid'u: when [the first vowel is] a large qamatz, it is a past-tense verb, as in sham'u, and the vav converts it to future, as is the grammatical rule; whereas when [the vowel is] a small qamatz, with the yod serving as the marker of the future [prefix], as in ve-yishm'ru — [in ve-yeid'u] the hidden nun between the yod and the dalet replaces the yod which is the root [letter]. The verse has now told us why He brought the plagues upon the Egyptians: so that His glorious Name would be known in the world.

Egypt will know that I am ruler and master of the whole universe. This will include all the people who up until now had refused to acknowledge that there is such a G’d.

Moses and Aaron did just as Hashem had commanded them — so they did.

"And Moses and Aaron did" — This is a general statement, indicating that the signs were performed through Aaron's hand as well as through Moses's hand; afterward [the text] will detail each sign individually.

ויעש משה ואהרן כאשר צוה ה' אותם, after every instruction from G’d they followed the same procedure. Moses used to announce beforehand what would happen, seeing that he was G’d’s emissary. After that Aaron would translate what Moses had said into diplomatic language. כן עשו, they would do exactly this, not adding or subtracting anything of their own.

ויעש משה ואהרון…כן עשו, Moses and Aaron did (as G'd had commanded)..so they did. Why does this verse mention twice that Moses and Aaron did what G'd had commanded them to do? The Torah may be telling us that Moses and Aaron carried out their mission on two levels. 1) The carried out all those instructions of G'd that made sense to them. 2) They tried to understand G'd's purpose in every detail of the instructions they received. By not deviating in a single detail from the instructions they had received, Moses and Aaron proved that their only concern was to carry out G'd's intention to the letter. The Torah may also testify here that Moses and Aaron had no ulterior motives in carrying out any details of G'd's instructions. We find a parallel to this in Deut. 6,25 where the Torah states that carrying out G'd's laws will be considered צדקה, righteousness for us, if we perform them כאשר צונו, "as He has commanded us." It is not enough to merely carry out G'd's instructions, but in order to qualify for praise one must carry them out precisely as He commanded us. In our verse the Torah testifies that this is what Moses and Aaron did. Another point that our verse wanted to mention is that both Moses and Aaron did not miss any opportunity to mention G'd every time they did anything. The Torah underlines the word עשו to show that Moses and Aaron carried out G'd's instructions immediately after they had received them.

כן עשו, “so they did.” The fact is repeated to remind us that Moses and Aaron put their lives in danger every time they threatened Pharaoh with another plague if he did not comply with their request.

Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

"And Moses" — [The text] mentions their ages. We do not find anywhere in Scripture that prophets whose [advanced] ages are recorded prophesied in old age except for these two, for their rank is greater than all the prophets. To them alone Hashem spoke in a pillar of cloud. Do not think that Samuel is included among them, because it is written "in a pillar of cloud He spoke to them" — I have already explained in its place that the Torah was given to these two alone. Through them the righteous will inherit the World to Come. All other prophets are prophets of rebuke or of future [events].

ומשה בן שמונים שנה, even though he was an aged man both he and his brother rose early in the morning to do their Creator’s bidding. Although some people lived to a ripe old age in those days, eighty was an age which was considered as very much part of what we call “old age.” We know from David in Psalms 90,10 that reaching the age of 80 was considered an exceptional feat, i.e. kindness of G’d.

בדברם אל פרעה, when they spoke to Pharaoh. The word בדברם refers to the first day Moses and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh. They were certainly somewhat older as time went on.

ומשה בן שמונים שנה, “and Moses was eighty years old, etc.” Ibn Ezra, in dealing with the age of Moses at this time, mentions that no other prophet has ever been described as practicing his prophecy at such an age. The only ones able to do so were those that enjoyed an exceptionally high level of prophecy.

Hashem spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

"And Hashem said" — He begins now to include both of them together, for Hashem knew that at first Pharaoh would not ask for a sign — he would only say "I do not know Hashem" — but now he would ask for a sign.

-9. לאמור…כי ידגר אלכם פרעה, to say: "when Pharaoh will say to you, etc." The reason the Torah adds the word לאמור is to inform us that they had been allowed to inform Pharaoh that they would perform the miracles in G'd's name. Unless such permission had been granted explicitly, they would have been forbidden to reveal this even in response to a question by Pharaoh. We have learned in Yuma 4 that under normal circumstances one is not to reveal the source of one's information unless specifically authorised to do so. The first time the Torah writes לאמור here it is to give Moses and Aaron permission to reveal this information. The Torah repeats the word לאמור once more in order to show that G'd ordered Moses and Aaron to reveal this information. Another piece of information contained in this verse (according to Torat Kohanim is 1) is that wherever the Torah writes: "to Moses and Aaron," the meaning is that Moses should tell Aaron to carry out G'd's instructions. This piece of exegesis is derived from the very word לאמור here. It means that unlike your impression that G'd spoke to both Moses and Aaron simultaneously, the truth is that G'd spoke to Moses to relay the information to Aaron. The reason that the Torah makes it appear as if G'd had spoken to both of them simultaneously is only to tell us that the commandment performed by Aaron in relaying the information to Pharaoh was equal in importance to Moses having performed his part of the commandment. פרעה לאמור, תנו לכם מופת, Pharaoh saying: "perform a miracle for your accreditation," the reason the Torah inserts the word לאמור in addition to already having quoted Pharaoh as כי ידבר, was to tell Moses not to volunteer a miracle until Pharaoh actually asked for it. At that point they were to perform the miracle described in our verse. Alternatively, if Pharaoh challenged Moses and Aaron about the authenticity of their mission Moses would also be entitled to tell Aaron to demonstrate the miracle described here.

When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Produce a sign for yourselves,' you shall say to Aaron: Take your staff and cast it before Pharaoh — let it become a serpent.

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

"Take your staff" — This is Moses's staff, which was given to him. The proof is [the command later]: "Say to Aaron, take your staff and stretch out your hand" (v. 19), and it is written "and he raised the staff and struck the water" (v. 20) — the patah under the bet of ba-mateh indicates that it is the well-known staff that He had said to him: "take your staff." Furthermore, [it is written]: "your staff with which you struck the Nile" (below, 17:5).

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

תנו לכם מופת,”perform a miracle in order to legitimize yourselves!” According to Rashi, the word מופת refers to a miracle that would prove who it is that authorised Moses to become the redeemer of the Israelites. G-d would have to demonstrate not only being a Ruler, but also His capacity to enforce his decrees. We have a source for this Rashi in Devarim Rabbah 2,11, which while not exactly what Rashi says nevertheless approximates it. Basically, it explains why paganism in Jewish literature is called עבודת כוכבים אלהים, literally: “worshiping stars as gods,” the reason being that [(my choice of words), “G-d is indispensable in our universe.” Otherwise, the word elohim in that expression is superfluous. Ed.] Rabbi Yossi claims that these deities cannot be called elohim, for if they were, it would follow that such a force must be obeyed. This is why the Torah in Deuteronomy 32,17, quotes Moses as referring to these so called deities as שדים לא אלוה, “satyrs, non deities.” Onkelos translates it as “something that is misleading,” as there is absolutely no need for it. For if there had been a need for such phenomena why would G-d be jealous of them?” והשלך לפני פרעה יהי לתניו, “throw it in front of Pharaoh so that it will turn into a sea monster.” The reason for this was that Pharaoh boasted of his power to the extent that G-d in Ezekiel 29,3 called him “the great sea monster.” The prophet there ridicules the actual power of Pharaoh who people were afraid of. Moses’ performing the miracle, was to show him that awe-inspiring monsters are only an illusion and can be turned into a stick by merely taking hold of their tail. Similarly, Pharaoh’s power is also only an illusion. Even though it appears that at this time he is all-powerful, this can change in the time it takes to drop a stick to the ground. יהי לתנין, this paragraph has already appeared in parshat sh’mot 4,21 ראה כל המופתים אשר שמתי בידך ועשיתם לפני פרעה, “see that you perform all the miracles that I have put at your disposal and carry them out in the presence of Pharaoh;” the reason that this has been repeated here is that a new element has been added, that only the miracle of turning the staff into a sea monster is to be performed.

כי ידבר אליכם פרעה, “when Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, etc.” Here G’d informed Moses that Pharaoh would demand that he perform a miracle in order to legitimise himself. This was standard practice. A person is not accepted as a genuine prophet before he has performed some miracle (Maimonides Hilchot Yesodey Hatorah 7,7). Shemot Rabbah 9,1 phrases it thus. Seeing that even righteous people demand legitimisation by the performance of a miracle, it is clear that wicked people will do no less. We find that after the deluge G’d said to Noach that He would not ever again bring a deluge to wipe out all the people. Noach asked for a sign. Thereupon G’d gave him the sign of the rainbow (Genesis 9,12). When King Chiskiyah was told by the prophet Isaiah that G’d had accepted his prayer for an extension of his life, the King (a very loyal Jew who almost became the Messiah) asked for a sign that the message from Isaiah which contradicted his earlier message that he should make his last will and testament was true (Isaiah 38,1-7). Seeing that these righteous people asked G’d for a sign, we cannot blame Pharaoh for asking Moses to perform some miracle.

“Take your staff and cast it before Pharaoh, it will become a serpent [tanin].” Here it says that Aaron should take his staff and it will become a tanin, while earlier in the book of Exodus (4:2) God commanded Moses to take his own staff and it became a “nachash” [snake]. The commentators are divided on this: some say that tanin refers to a large fish, as Rashi explained on the verse the great taninim (Genesis 1:21), while others say that tanin means a snake, and this is how Rashi explains it here. And here I have a place to resolve the difference in language, and this is: Because the serpent is a large snake that is exceedingly dangerous, as it is written The venom of serpents is their wine (Deuteronomy 32:33). We learn from this that its venom is greater than that of an ordinary snake. Now, Moses and Aaron performed all the miracles through the utterances of their mouths, like this snake whose main power is in its mouth. And it appears that most of the miracles were performed through the staffs of Moses and Aaron. So that no opponent would have an opening to dispute and say that all the miracles were performed by the power of the staffs, and perhaps they might erroneously claim that there was an element of sorcery in their staffs, therefore they were transformed into snakes to say: just as the snake bites without enchantment with its mouth, so too Moses and Aaron’s power was in their mouths, and the staffs performed all those actions through the power of their spoken words, for the righteous decree and it is established for them. Therefore, both of their staffs became snakes, as it is said Dan shall be a serpent on the way (Genesis 49:17), likewise the staffs of Moses and Aaron would be like burning snakes to harm Pharaoh and all his servants. And know and understand that Moses was a shepherd and leader for Israel with his staff of strength, as a shepherd leads his flock, and he was a ruler and governor also over Pharaoh. But Aaron was only a ruler over Pharaoh and his people alone. Therefore, God commanded that in front of Israel, Moses should cast his staff and it would become a snake on the way to Pharaoh and all his people, biting the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward — a hint to the horse of Egypt and its rider. And Moses fled from it, because he thought that his staff would always be destructive and harmful like a snake, and this is not consistent with His good nature. Therefore, it was said to him Grasp it by its tail, and it became a staff in his hand. For only its face, meaning the place of the head and mouth, is dangerous to harm and destroy the enemies of the Holy One, blessed be He. Its tail, however, is the opposite of this, for its end is to shepherd Israel, not to harm or destroy, like the tail of a snake that does not harm but is merely like an ordinary staff. So shall this power of the snake be a staff in his hand, as if to say that it would be a harmful snake to Egypt and a staff of strength for Israel at once. Or if you prefer to say that even for Israel it would be both a staff and a snake at once — a staff of strength for the good and a burning snake for the evil, for the bite of the wise is like the bite of a snake — this also explains well why this miracle was performed specifically with Moses’s staff in front of Israel. However, we have not yet seen any sign that Aaron would rule over Pharaoh and all his people. Therefore, God commanded that in front of Pharaoh, Aaron should cast down his staff and it would become a serpent [tanin], whose venom is greater than that of an ordinary snake. This demonstrated that Aaron too would rule over and dominate Pharaoh, who is referred to as a serpent, as it says The great serpent that lies in the midst of its rivers (Ezekiel 29:3). Since Pharaoh is compared to a tanin, which is larger than a regular snake, they showed him that Aaron’s staff would become a tanin against Pharaoh who is compared to a tanin. An ordinary snake would not be powerful enough against him, as the tanin’s strength exceeds that of a snake. Therefore, God showed him a tanin that would be stronger than Pharaoh. For regarding Pharaoh, it is written the great serpent [התנים הגדול] with a final mem, indicating a female, whose strength is not as great as that of the male tanin [תנין] with a final nun. Therefore, Aaron’s staff became a tanin, for it would swallow Pharaoh who is compared to a female tanin, as it says Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs. This was because the magicians said, “We also have a powerful staff that is compared to a tanin,” meaning Pharaoh and his servants. “Why are you boasting about your staff becoming a tanin?” Therefore, they were shown that their serpents were weak like females, and Aaron’s staff would swallow their staffs. There was no need to perform this with Moses’ staff since this miracle had already been performed in front of the Israelites. Additionally, God did not want Moses’ staff to have the venom of serpents when dealing with Israel. Moses’ staff encompassed leadership both toward Israel and toward Pharaoh, so it turned into a snake. But Aaron’s staff, which operated only against Pharaoh, turned into a tanin in order to nullify the power of Pharaoh who is compared to a tanin, as mentioned. And evidence for this is that in the plague of the river it is said, And take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake — this is Moses’ staff. And it is written about it, Behold, I will strike with the staff that is in my hand upon the waters that are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. But its power was not so great as to destroy all the waters of Egypt, their rivers and their pools. And afterward it is said, Say to Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, etc.” This teaches that the power of Aaron’s staff was greater than the power of Moses’ staff, for Aaron’s staff affected also their rivers and their pools and all their bodies of water. This is because Aaron’s staff was compared to a serpent [tanin], whose venom is greater than that of an ordinary snake. And Moses’ staff was not given great venom because he also used it to shepherd Israel, with whom he needed to behave gently even in times of anger. And this is a precious hint. However, according to those who say that “tanin” means a fish, we can say that in front of the Israelites, the staff turned into a snake to indicate that initially the Israelites stood upright like a straight rod, but afterward their full stature was lowered to the ground, becoming like creatures that crawl in the dust. And when they would grasp its tail — when they would reach the depths of degradation — they would return to their former state, becoming like this staff. And so it was that Pharaoh increased their servitude at the end, and he attacked them from behind to make them like the tails of smoking firebrands, from which they rose to their elevated status. This would not have been appropriate to do before Pharaoh; therefore, in his presence, the staff turned into a tanin, meaning a fish, to indicate that just as God foiled his plan initially — for Pharaoh wanted to make them like this dry staff that does not reproduce, and thus he said, Lest they multiply — the opposite happened: the dry staff became a fish, as it is written And they shall multiply abundantly in the midst of the earth (Genesis 49:16). So too now, God would foil his plan. Therefore, the tanin did not return to being a staff, hinting that the Israelites would remain in their multiplied state forever. And when it says, Aaron’s staff swallowed, it refers to the tanin that was initially a staff. The Nile, which contains fish, was struck specifically by Moses’ staff, which was initially a snake. But Aaron’s staff, which was initially a fish and now became a staff [not in Pharaoh’s presence], would not be appropriate to kill their fish, since it had been a fish itself. Afterward, He commanded them to take Aaron’s staff to strike all the rivers and lakes. Therefore, it says “the fish in the Nile died, but not those in the lakes and rivers that were struck by Aaron’s staff. He dealt more severely with the Nile because it was their god, so He executed judgments on their gods, showing them that it could not save the fish. But the lakes and rivers were not considered deities, so He did not kill their fish.

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

Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh and they did so, just as Hashem had commanded. Aaron cast his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

לתנין means A SERPENT.

"And Moses came" — This too is a wonder, that the staff became a tannin [serpent-monster]. It is not identical to the wonder he performed for Israel, where it turned only into a nachash [ordinary snake]. Yefet says that nachash and tannin are the same thing.

ויעשו כן כאשר צוה, They did as G'd had commanded, etc. The reason the Torah writes the words כן כאשר, i.e. repeating basically the same word is, because it tells us that Moses and Aaron a) did what G'd had told them to, b) did not do so until Pharaoh had requested the miracle from them. The Torah also wanted us to know that though anyone who performs miracles immediately raises his own image in the eyes of the onlookers, Moses and Aaron had no such considerations. They did what they did only at the behest of G'd. It is the mark of the truly righteous not to perform their own will but to perform what they perceive to be G'd's will.

ויהי לתנין, “it turned into a snake.” This was the first of the many miracles Moses performed for Pharaoh. The word תנין, means serpent; we know this from verse 15 where G’d referred to Moses’ staff as having turned into a נחש, a snake. The reason the staff turned into a snake and not into some other animal was that the snake had been the first creature to introduce sin by seducing Chavah with its tongue. Pharaoh had also sinned with his tongue, when he refused to recognize the existence of the G’d of Israel and used this pretext to add that he was not obligated to obey a deity he had never heard of. Just as the serpent at the time had been punished, so Pharaoh starts being punished. It has become accepted norm that when one slanders G’d or His existence, one is bitten by snakes as we know from Numbers 21,5 “the people spoke out against G’d and Moses“ which is followed by (21,6) ”G’d sent fiery serpents against the people and they bit the people.” Furthermore, just as a snake can make itself rigid and wriggle out of unpleasant situations, so Pharaoh squirmed and on other occasions remained rigid in order to avoid having to obey G’d’s wishes. Whenever the plagues got the better of him he seemed to relent in order to gain relief only to renege in the hope that G’d had exhausted His power. He would resume his obstinate stance of refusing to let the Israelites go. The reason that this נחש is called תנין in our verse is that Pharaoh has been referred to elsewhere as the התנים הגדול הרובץ בתוך יאוריו, “the great sea-monster that crouches within its rivers” (Ezekiel 29,3). The word תנין here contains a hint that just as the staff of Aaron swallowed all the staffs of the Egyptian magicians so the sea (G’d) would swallow Pharaoh and his army at the sea of Reeds. According to an unnamed Midrash, when Pharaoh saw the transformation of the staffs of his magicians into snakes, he exclaimed: “is this your G’d’s trademark? Now I know where all the witchcraft in this world originates.”

Pharaoh too called for the sages and the sorcerers, and they also — the sorcerers of Egypt — did the same with their incantations.

בלהטיהם The Targum renders this by בלחשיהון: with their secret spells. There is no other example of this word in the Bible. One may compare it to the first word in (Genesis 3:24) “the להט of the sword that turned round” — it appeared to turn round through some magic spell.

AND THEY ALSO, THE MAGICIANS OF EGYPT, DID IN LIKE MANNER ‘B’LAHATEIHEM’ (WITH THEIR SECRET ARTS). Our Rabbis have said that these are deeds of sorcerers who perform their arts through angels of destruction, the word b’lahateihem being derived from the expressions: eish loheit (flaming fire); the flame ‘t’laheit’ (burned up) the wicked. The purport [of the saying of the Sages] is that these deeds of sorcery are done by means of “the flaming ones,” angels of a fire that burns in man, and he does not know that the fire burns in him and pays no attention to it. It is similar in sense to the expression, “And the Eternal opened the eyes of the young man of Elisha, and behold there were horses of fire and chariots of fire.” Perhaps these are identical with the angels that dwell in the atmosphere of the spheres of the [four] elements, which are called sarim (lords). I will explain this theme again [in the Book of Leviticus 17:7] with the help of the Rock. But the word b’lateihem, [mentioned further in 8:3 — And the magicians did in like manner ‘b’lateihem’] — is explained [by the Rabbis] as meaning sheidim (demons) — the word being derived from the Hebrew word lat (secret): Speak with David ‘balat’ (secretly) — since the demons come quietly inasmuch as they are ethereal bodies whose presence is not felt. This is why Scripture states [in Verse 11 before us] that Pharaoh called for the wise men and the sorcerers, for the wise men who knew [the art of] incanting and assembling the demons were the leaders and elders of the Egyptians. The term chartumei mitzrayim (the magicians of Egypt) includes both of them, [i.e., the wise men and the sorcerers]. We do not know the root of the word chartumei. Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says that it is either an Egyptian or Chaldean word since we find it only mentioned in their accounts. The more likely explanation is that of Rashi, who said that it is an Aramaic compound-word: char tami (those who excite themselves by means of the bones [of the dead]). It is known that the greater part of this craft is one with the bones of dead persons or the bones of animals, just as they mentioned in the case of the yid’oni.

"And Pharaoh also called for the wise men" — the astrologers. "And for the sorcerers" — those who alter natural appearances to the eye. "And the chartummim" — those who know the secrets of natural processes. The word chartummim is a quadriliteral (four-letter root), perhaps Egyptian or Chaldean in origin, for we find it in Scripture only in the words of those two nations. Scripture distinguishes between the act of Moses — which was true, in that the staff genuinely turned into a tannin — and the act of the chartummim; therefore it is written "with their lahatim." The word lahat is a triliteral (three-letter root), deriving from "the flaming (lahat) sword" (Gen. 3:24), "I lie among those who are aflame (lohatim)" (Ps. 57:5), "the coming day will burn (ve-lahat) them" (Mal. 3:19) — it refers to flashes and passing fire. This is sleight of hand.

ויקרא גם פרעה, “also Pharaoh called upon etc.;” what is the meaning of the word: “also” here? After all, even little babies in Egypt can perform sorcery.

.ויקרא גם פרעה , “Pharaoh also called in.” According to an ancient version in the Tanchuma Vaeyra 11 the word גם means that Pharaoh also called in his wife and that the latter then called in the sorcerers of Egypt. The practice of witchcraft was so commonplace in Egypt that Pharaoh’s wife and even young children were well versed in such sleights of hand. גם הם, “they too.” First he had only called on the children; subsequently on the wise men and sorcerers. This is the reason why the Torah repeated the word גם when writing ויעשו גם הם, “they did likewise.” Rabbi Shimon ben Pezzi said (Shemot Rabbah 9,3): “what did the sages perceive that they compared the wriggling of a snake to the conduct typical of the kingdom of Egypt seeing they quoted Jeremiah 46,22 ‘she shall rustle away like a snake.’ Just as a snake winds its way slithering hither and thither, the king of Egypt did likewise. Just as the snake hisses prior to killing, so the Egyptian Kingdom hisses prior to killing its enemies.” Moses suspended the staff over Pharaoh telling him that it would become the source of the plagues he was going to inflict upon him. בלהטיהם, “with their spells.” Some kind of witchcraft. The ability to perform such tricks is anchored in the מלאכי חבלה, spiritually negative forces [whose origin are wasted human sperm, and other sins committed by man. Ed.] The word is derived from לוהט as in אש לוהט, (Psalms 104,4) “fiery flames.” The author speculates about a variety of causes responsible for these phenomena. One of his suggestions is that they attack man בלט, when he is unaware. The word חרטומים is a combination of two words i.e.חר טמי , “people who consult dead bones.” Most necromancers employ either human bones or animal bones to receive their knowledge of matters not accessible to ordinary people (compare Nachmanides).

בלהטיהם, “with their incantations.” A reference to a variety of activities all connected to witchcraft. Nachmanides explains that the word בלהטיהם is derived from the root להט, flame, i.e. that the activities of the Egyptian necromancers were concentrated on the use of the element of fire, one of the four basic components of the material universe. Apparently, the forces, i.e. “angels” in charge of this are afflicting man with fever (heat) i.e. an invisible flame. The fact that these sorcerers understood some of these processes in nature contributed to Pharaoh discounting the miracle, as in his eyes Moses was nothing but a more accomplished sorcerer. In non-professional parlance, the agents causing such frustrating phenomena are known as שדים, demons. What distinguishes this “demonic” activity is the fact that its approach is invisible, and therefore more frightening than visible phenomena. Just as we get no warning of attacks by viruses or similar disease carrying pollutants in the atmosphere, so these harmful phenomena not only cause disease and death, but they inspire fear in addition.

Each one cast down his staff and they became serpents, but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

ויבלע מטה אהרן BUT AARON’S STAFF SWALLOWED (It states that the staff swallowed) — after it had again become a staff it swallowed all of them (Shabbat 97 a; Exodus Rabbah 9:7).

"And they cast down" — This is a second wonder: that Aaron's staff swallowed the chartummim's staffs, and they were not found. [The text] calls it Aaron's staff because that is what it had been from the beginning. R. Yeshua said that it was only after [the staff] had reverted [from tannin back to staff] that it swallowed their staffs — and that would be an even greater wonder.

ויהיו לתנינים, they looked and felt like these kinds of monsters. They were not able to move like these monsters move, or even not at all. ויבלע מטה אהרן את מטותם, this would demonstrate that only the G’d in heaven can grant life to inert phenomena, something Pharaoh’s sorcerers were unable to do.

ויהיו לתנינם, “they (the staffs of the sorcerers) turned into snakes.” The Torah refrained from saying ויהיו תנינים, which would have meant that they actually became snakes. The sorcerers did not have the power to do that. They could only create the illusion not the real thing. The wording of the Torah here is similar to Joshua 7,5: “their hearts melted into water.” This was a description of people losing courage. It did not describe a phenomenon literally. We have another example of this in (Samuel I 25,37) וימת לבו בקרבו והוא היה לאבן, which translated literally would mean “his heart (Naval’s) died within him, and it turned into stone.” The word אבן is merely a figure of speech. You may well counter that the expression ויהי לתנין is also used when Moses’ staff turned into a snake, so what is so peculiar about the Torah not writing תנין when describing what happened to the staffs of the sorcerers? We have to explain that in the case of Moses’ i.e. Aaron’s staff, this was a true transformation of the staff into a snake and that a similar wording is found in Genesis 2,7 ויהי האדם לנפש חיה where the letter ל at the beginning of the word לנפש certainly does not speak about something illusory. However, by way of contrast, what the sorcerers did was merely sleight of hand. Seeing that the wording lent itself to two different interpretations, the Torah had to write immediately that Aaron’s staff swallowed all the staffs of the sorcerers in order the show the qualitative difference between what Aaron had done and what the Egyptians had been able to do. The fact that the Torah describes “their staffs” as being swallowed instead of “their snakes” being swallowed, shows that their staffs had remained staffs in spite of appearing to be snakes. Another proof that the sorcerers only created an illusion is that the Torah does not describe them as having performed their art in the presence of Pharaoh and his servants as the Torah had been at pains to emphasise concerning Moses’ miracle. Alternatively, supposing that the חרטומים had really been capable of turning their staffs into snakes as the Talmud Chulin 7 suggests, why then were they called sorcerers instead of prophets? The answer is that they denied the power of the celestial forces. We could interpret the words ויהיו לתנינים to mean that their staffs did indeed turn into live snakes. The letter ל would be justified seeing that later on these snakes reverted to being staffs. The qualitative edge of Moses’ staff was simply that it swallowed the staffs of the sorcerers. According to Shemot Rabbah 9,7 when Pharaoh observed that Moses’ staff (as a staff) was able to swallow the combined staffs of his sorcerers he reflected that it might equally be capable of swallowing him and his throne. The word ויבלע means that something inert was able to swallow both something else inert and something live. We have a parallel in Numbers 16,32 when the earth swallowed both Korach and family as well as his tents and belongings.

Yet the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, just as Hashem had spoken.

"And he hardened" — on his own accord, because he saw that the chartummim had done as Aaron had done.

ויחזק לב פרעה, “Pharaoh’s heart remained obstinate;” seeing that his sorcerers had been able to duplicate Aaron’s feat, he concluded that Aaron was another sorcerer. כאשר דבר ה, “just as Hashem had said.” (when He had said: “Pharaoh will not pay heed to you.” Verse 4)

ויחזק לב פרעה, he claimed that Aaron had also merely performed a better kind of sorcery.

Hashem said to Moses: The heart of Pharaoh has become heavy; he refuses to send out the people.

כבד — This word should be translated in the Targum by יקיר (his heart is hard — an adjective) and not by אתיקר (his heart has become Hard — a verb, as is given in some editions of Onkelos) because it is an adjective, just as (Exodus 18:18) “the thing is too heavy (כָּבֵד) for thee”.

"And He said" — "Kaveid" ["heavy/hardened"] is a past-tense verb, like "for Yitzchak had grown old (zaken)" (Gen. 27:1), "if Hashem desired (chafetz)" (Judg. 13), "as he loves (ahev)" (Gen. 27:9). There is a small qamatz under the mem of me'en ["refuses"], which is the root, since the alef that follows it does not receive a dagesh — as in "who endangered (charef) his life" (Judg. 5:18).

כבד לב פרעה, even though Pharaoh could not help but notice the qualitative difference between what the sorcerers had done and what Moses and Aaron had accomplished.

ויאמר ה׳ אל משה כבד לב פרעה, G'd said to Moses: "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn, etc." What did G'd tell Moses here that he did not already know? Perhaps Pharaoh had not refused the request to let the Israelites go in so many words, but had merely remained silent after watching Aaron's demonstration. G'd informed Moses that the meaning of this silence was that Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites and did not even think it necessary to say so.

כבד, Pharaoh had hardened his heart, as I explained already. (the word is a verb, not an adjective, compare Exodus 1,8 on the word מלא). In intransitive words applying to the body of a person, such as vayishman, he waxed fat, (Deut. 32,9) or vayichbad, he remained heavy, (Exodus 9,7) and several similar examples, constructed by a future tense with the prefix ו, the ordinary past tense would be kaved, or shamen.

Go to Pharaoh in the morning — behold, he goes out to the water — and station yourself before him at the bank of the river, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.

הנה יצא המימה LO, HE GOETH OUT UNTO THE WATER to ease himself. For he claimed to be a god and asserted that because of his divine power he did not need to ease himself; and therefore he used to rise early and go to the Nile and there eased himself in secret (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 14; Exodus Rabbah 9:8).

"Go to Pharaoh in the morning" — It is the custom of the king of Egypt, to this day, to go out in Tammuz and Av, when the Nile rises, to see how many degrees it has risen. Hashem commanded Moses to go in the morning and stand before the Nile and perform the sign — that is, the plague of the Nile — before Pharaoh. He commanded him to take the staff that had turned into a snake through Moses's hand, before he went to Pharaoh, and to give it to Aaron to stretch over the waters of Egypt so that Pharaoh could see it with his own eyes — for from the moment Aaron would strike the Nile with the staff, it would turn to blood.

נהפך לנחש, not only in appearance but also in its movements. This is implied by the word ויבלע, “it swallowed” (verse 12). We encountered this phenomenon already in 4,3 when Moses himself fled from the serpent his staff had turned into.

הנה יוצא המימה, according to Rashi, Pharaoh went to the Nile every morning in order to have his bowel movement, as having declared himself a deity, he could not allow his subjects to think that he like they had to excrete his undigested food daily. Seeing that the area where he performed this rite was a dirty area, G-d had not told Moses “בא אל פרעה” as if he were to dress up for an interview at Pharaoh’s Palace. The meaning of בא when G-d speaks to Moses, always implies that He is accompanying him as He had promised in Exodus 3,12. הנה יוצא המימה, here he is about to go out towards the Nile so as to attribute the waters of the Nile rising towards him proving that he was a deity. A different interpretation: Pharaoh would wash himself every morning in the waters of the Nile, especially in order to wash out any particles that had accumulated around his eyes during his sleep. Still another interpretation: he went for a stroll along the banks of the river every morning. He would also go hunting birds by means of trapping them in mud. [Maybe the reference is to chasing geese and ducks into traps. Ed.] The point of G-d’s instruction was for Moses to have a private talk with Pharaoh when he would not feel under pressure to show his ministers etc., that he could stand up to Moses.

לך אל פרעה בבוקר, “go to Pharaoh in the early morning, etc.” according to Rashi, Moses went to meet Pharaoh at a secret place near the waters of the river Nile, a place where he defecated secretly, maintaining the fiction that as a deity, he did not need to bother with such animalistic necessities. The fact that Moses would be in a position to reveal this well-kept secret, was meant to show Pharaoh that he depended on Moses’ discretion. According to the plain meaning of the text, Pharaoh was in the habit to take his daily exercise walk near the banks of the river Nile. Some commentators, focusing on the words הנה יוצא המימה, ”here he is going out towards the waters,” suggest that Pharaoh was given an opportunity to discuss the Israelites’ concerns with their leader, for there were guards at the entrance to his palace which prevented Moses from securing an interview with the king.

הנה יוצא המימה, as do most ministers, in order to take their morning stroll. Sometimes they go for a short gallop on their horse.

And you shall say to him: Hashem, the God of the Judeans, has sent me to you, saying: Send out My people that they may serve before Me in the wilderness — but behold, you have not hearkened until now.

עד כה means UNTIL NOW. A Midrashic explanation (taking this sentence to mean, “thou wilt not hearken until (עד) thou hearest the word “כה”) is: until thou hearest from me the announcement of the slaughter of the first-born, which I will begin with the words, (Exodus 11:4) “Thus (כה) saith the Lord, About midnight etc.”

AND, BEHOLD, HITHERTO THOU HAST NOT HEARKENED. Because this was one of the [ten] plagues and henceforth He will begin to smite him, He therefore said to him that it was his wickedness which was responsible for the bringing of the punishment upon him since he hearkened not to the command of his Creator. Now at this time, [i.e., when the warning about the first plague was given to him], Pharaoh did not declare to Moses and Aaron that he will neither hearken to G-d’s words nor let the people go. It was only at the first time [when they came before him] that he said, I know not the Eternal, and moreover I will not let Israel go. At present, he did not rebuke them; he only heard their words and remained silent, for since they performed the wonder of the serpent before him and Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods, he was already afraid of the plagues, except that during the first plagues he attempted that the magicians do likewise, that is, by means of deeds of sorcery. Thus he was afraid, and yet he hardened his heart. This is the sense of the expression, And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

"And you shall say" — Say to him thus, that this is the beginning of the plagues if you do not obey; for the staff that turned into a tannin was not a plague.

ואמרת אליו ה׳..שלחני אליך, "Say to him: G'd.. has sent me to you, etc." This entire verse appears to be superfluous. Verse 17 would have been quite adequate. Pharaoh did not need to be told that G'd had sent Moses! Perhaps the Torah wanted to tell us that Pharaoh had objected to being met by Moses at a time when he performed his morning ritual. Moses was to explain that he had not intended to invade Pharaoh's privacy but had been commanded by G'd to do so. Moses was to imply that instructions from the Supreme G'd must be carried out immediately. G'd may have intended another lesson for Pharaoh, one which is alluded to in Shemot Rabbah 8,1 based on Ezekiel 29,3 where Pharaoh is described as claiming that he had made the river Nile and that he owned it. Since Pharaoh had thus elevated himself to the level of a deity, he had to leave the palace every morning and answer a call of nature where he would not be seen in order that he could maintain the myth of being a god. G'd exploded this myth by sending Moses to him at the time and place Pharaoh had reserved for his very human needs. Moses first told Pharaoh that the G'd of the Hebrews was well aware of his whereabouts and wanted him to know this and embarass him with this knowledge. Pharaoh was now under threat that his myth might be shattered if Moses were to tell his servants of their master's weakness. When G'd added that so far Pharaoh had not listened to him, He wanted Pharaoh to know that though the latter had not specifically refused Moses' latest demand, G'd could read his thoughts. The words "the G'd of the Hebrews has sent me to you," may also be a way of telling Pharaoh that the demand to release the Israelites need not be repeated before Moses would strike the river Nile and turn it into blood. The word כה was quite enough to show us that the plague that follows was the result of the demand to let the Israelites go which Pharaoh had thus far ignored. After all, Moses had previously identified himself and Pharaoh had ignored the demand to dismiss the Israelites. If Pharaoh thought that the fact that he had not yet been smitten for his refusal was a sign that G'd's threats were not to be taken seriously, he would find out immediately how wrong he had been.

ואמרת אליו, “and you will say to him, etc.” some commentators believe that the purpose of this private talk and warning to Pharaoh near the river was that it was a ritually pure area, as opposed to his palace which was filled with abominations and therefore not a place where G-d’s sacred name is to be spoken.

והנה לא שמעת עד כה, “seeing that thus far you have not been willing to listen.” The meaning of these words, which appear at first glance as if they do not tell us something we did not learn from the narrative thus far, is that until I begin to carry out My threats, to bring on the plagues, you will not begin to listen.

Thus says Hashem: By this you shall know that I am Hashem — behold, I am about to strike with the staff that is in My hand upon the water that is in the river, and it shall turn to blood.

ונהפכו לדם AND THEY SHALL BE TURNED INTO BLOOD — Because rain does not fall in Egypt but the Nile rises and irrigates the land and the Egyptians on this account worshipped the Nile, therefore God first smote their deity and afterwards smote them (Exodus Rabbah 9:9).

"Thus" — A messenger speaks in the name of the sender. [Moses] spoke briefly, because the word "his messenger" is implicit: "Behold, I [am] his messenger — [and I] strike with the staff that is in my hand." He says "that is in my hand" even though it was in Aaron's hand, because the two are equal and share equally in the sign.

'בזאת תדע כי אני ה; I will turn something that never changes in nature and never ceases to flow, into something else. This will demonstrate My power over natural law.

בזאת תדע כי אני ה׳, "In this you shall know that I am י־ה־ו־ה." The reason G'd used the plague of blood to prove to Pharaoh that He was who He said He was, is understandable when we consider Shemot Rabbah 9,9 according to which the Egyptians looked upon the Nile as a benevolent deity. By striking this deity first and turning it into a source of curse instead of a source of life, G'd demonstrated that He owned the Nile. According to the Zohar volume 3 page 297 the tetragram implies the eternity of G'd. He had preceded the river Nile just as He had preceded every other phenomenon in the world. G'd also hinted at His attribute of Mercy when He smote the river. He wanted to give Pharaoh a chance to repent when the latter realised His awesome power as manifested by His turning the river into blood. If not for the attribute of Mercy as represented by the tetragram, G'd would have already killed Pharaoh outright at this stage. The words בזאת תדע therefore refer to G'd's attribute of Mercy.

בזאת תדע, “by the way the punishment fits the crime you will know;” seeing that you have said: “I don’t know a deity called Hashem, I will give you proof of the existence and power of such a deity.” The precise meaning of the word תדע here is: “you will begin to know.” ונהפכו, “and they will be turned (into blood);” the letter ה is written with the vowel segol.

בזאת תדע כי אני ה', “through this you shall know that I am Hashem.” You have claimed “I do not know of any “Hashem.” I am going to perform something which will make sure that you do know Me.” We know from Exodus 14,18 that in the meantime the Egyptians would find out who Hashem is There are several verses making a similar point. Another explanation of 'בזאת תדע כי אני ה based on the plain meaning: Through this wondrous sign and similar ones you will come to recognize Me. A kabbalistic approach: The Ineffable Name which had been “hidden” up until now would be revealed by an attribute known as זאת. This was the יד הגדולה, “the great hand” which G’d displayed in His treatment of the Egyptians. The words describing Pharaoh’s obstinacy most clearly are found in verse 23, ולא שת לבו גם לזאת, “he did not take to heart even זאת, “G’d’s manifesting Himself as the attribute זאת,” i.e. the Ineffable Name. הנה אנכי מכה במטה אשר בידי, “I am about to strike with the staff which is my hand, etc.” The words הנה אנכי mean “at my command,” (seeing Aaron was doing the actual striking of the river, verse 20); The verse teaches that the water was transformed not only in appearance but also in taste as well as in smell. We know that the appearance changed from verse 20 where the miracle is described as occurring before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants. We know that the taste of the river changed from the words: “the fish in the river died.” Fish live in a cool environment. When the water turned into blood it also became warmer. The fish drank from it and died as they could not survive in the warmer temperatures. We know that the smell of the river changed from the words: “the river stank.”

“Thus says the Lord: ‘By this you shall know that I am the Lord.’” This language is stated in the first plague of the DeTZaKh series, and similarly in the first plague of the ADaSh series it states that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land, and likewise in the first plague of the BaAChaB series it states that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. The Abarbanel was also alerted by this and explained that Pharaoh disputed three things: The first was the existence of the Holy One, blessed be He, as he denied the Lord and said, He is not (Jeremiah 5:12) and I do not know the Lord (Exodus 5:2). Therefore, in the first plague it states By this you shall know that I am the Lord. The second was that he argued that even if you were to say there is a God in existence, nevertheless He does not supervise the lower beings. Regarding this it states that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. The third is that he disputed the ability of the Holy One, blessed be He, saying that He cannot change nature at all. Regarding this it states that there is none like Me in all the earth, meaning that He can act according to His will. And I say to add an explanation to his words, to include all three plagues under one category, for the first three plagues came to confirm the existence of the Holy One, Blessed be He. This is because the Egyptians said that the Nile was their god, and there was none other besides it. Therefore, God executed judgments against their deity to demonstrate that there is One higher above all that is high. And so it is concluded in Genesis Rabbah (89:4): “The wicked are sustained over their gods,” as it is said, And behold, he was standing over the Nile, which implies that they considered it a deity. Therefore, regarding the plague of the Nile, it is stated, By this you shall know that I am the Lord, etc. And regarding the frogs that swarmed from the Nile, this showed that even the Nile would bring forth things that confirm the existence of the Holy One, Blessed be He. For Pharaoh was desecrating God’s Name and said, I do not know the Lord. Therefore, the Nile made known that it is proper to sanctify the Name, for the frogs sanctified God’s Name publicly, as it is found (Pesachim 53b) that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah gave their lives for the sanctification of God’s Name, and they learned a kal vachomer [a fortiori argument] from the frogs that went into the ovens. Therefore, those frogs that were in the ovens did not die, as is concluded in the Yalkut on this portion. And regarding the lice, it is said, This is the finger of God. This shows that with this plague even the magicians acknowledged and crowned His name, blessed be He, saying that this plague was from Him, blessed be He. And the admission of a litigant is equivalent to a hundred witnesses. In the order ADSh [referring to the plagues of Blood, Pestilence, and Boils] is hinted that the Blessed One supervises below in all the details of individuals, to counter those who say that the Holy One, blessed be He, only supervises the general species and not particularly on all the ways of each person. According to their words, everything is mixed in confusion because there is no distinction between one person and another, and between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. Therefore, the mixture [of wild animals] came upon them in confusion. And it is written: And I will set apart on that day the land of Goshen, where My people dwell, that no swarm of flies shall be there — and this is decisive proof that there is a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, and that the Holy One, blessed be He, supervises every individual person. Therefore, it is said there: so that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth — meaning that My particular supervision extends even to the lower realms. Similarly, with the plague of pestilence, it is written: And the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. This is due to His blessed supervision over particulars. Likewise with boils, where the dust was flying throughout all the land of Egypt, and nevertheless He distinguished between Israel and Egypt. Therefore, the magicians could not stand before Moses — meaning they could not stand in the argument they had with Moses because of the boils, for they gave a reason for every plague except this one for which they could not give a reason. For all the plagues came at once upon all Egypt, and the magicians were included in the plague, but the plague of boils first came upon the magicians and afterward upon all Egypt, as it is said: for the boils were upon the magicians and upon all Egypt. Therefore, they could not stand in the argument, for Moses argued against them that their sin caused them to be stricken first, because until then the magicians had caused Pharaoh’s heart to harden with their magic and their lies. In the order of Ba’ach’b, Abarbanel explained that they came to confirm the ability of God. And to me it seems that Pharaoh claimed that there are two [divine] authorities. Therefore, in the first plague of the Ba’ach’b order, it says so that you know that there is none like Me in all the earth. This means there is no other authority besides Him, blessed be He, implying that Pharaoh claimed there is another god. And it seems that he claimed this about the constellation of Aries and the sun, for we find that [these] three plagues prevented the light of the sun and the constellations. For when the hail fell, presumably the skies were darkened with clouds so that they could not see the sun during the hail’s descent. And in the plague of locusts it is written and it covered the eye of the earth — that is, the sun, which is the eye of the earth, thus the land was darkened. And likewise in the plague of darkness, and also the plague of the firstborn at night. All this is evidence that Pharaoh claimed that the sun and the constellation of Aries also have great power. Therefore, regarding the hail it says there had never been anything like it, and similarly with the locusts it says before it there were no locusts like it. All this demonstrates the statement for there is none like Me in all the earth. And all the more so the plague of the firstborn, which symbolizes the subjugation of Aries, the firstborn of all the constellations. And this is clearer than Abarbanel’s explanation, and the language of the text proves it by saying for there is none like Me. “Behold, I will strike with the staff, etc.” Regarding the ten statements of these ten plagues, there are many opinions about why and for what reason these plagues came upon them. All the commentators have gone out to gather reasons, each according to their understanding. I too will not hold back my mouth from bringing thoughts close to the plain meaning of the scriptures. And behold, the plague of the Nile, was for the sin of Pharaoh saying My Nile is my own, and I have made it myself (Ezekiel 29:3) and for the sin of casting the children into the Nile. And the death of the fish was because they wanted to nullify from Israel the blessing of and let them multiply abundantly like fish in the midst of the earth. The frogs came, because he [Pharaoh] denied the Lord and said I do not know the Lord. Therefore, the frogs came, which knew the Lord and sacrificed themselves for the sanctification of His blessed name as mentioned above. And the Nile swarmed with these frogs because the admission of a litigant is equivalent to a hundred witnesses, for they [the Egyptians] said that the Nile had an aspect of divinity. “Lice came upon them,” because everyone who does hard labor is full of lice that come from the sweat that is common due to physical exertion and the heating of the body. And the reason that the dust of the earth turned into lice was because all of their work was in the field, meaning in the dust of the earth, and this is what caused them the sweat and the lice. Therefore, the dust of the earth brought lice also upon the Egyptians. Wild beasts came upon them, because they had enslaved the Israelites who were compared to animals, as Rashi explained on the verse for they are like animals (Exodus 1:19). And in all the land of Goshen there were no wild beasts, for an animal does not harm its own kind. There was a plague on the livestock of the Egyptians — Since the tribes [of Israel] were livestock owners when they came to Egypt, and now their occupation was changed to work with mortar and bricks, consequently their own livestock was lost. Therefore, all the livestock of Egypt died. Boils came upon them, because they separated their wives from their husbands, therefore they were struck with boils for which intercourse is problematic, as it is written and God afflicted Pharaoh, and our Sages explained (Genesis Rabbah 41:2) that he was afflicted with boils for which intercourse is problematic, and this was for Pharaoh like a sign of what was to come. God caused hail and thunder to be heard by his ears, because he sinned with his voice by saying Who is God that I should listen to His voice? And because he did not want to listen to God’s voice, therefore God forcibly made him hear His voice, the voice of God upon the waters, the voice of God hewing flames of fire which came down to earth. As if to say, if willingly you did not want to hear God’s voice, now hear His voice — the voice of God that frightens Pharaoh and all his army. The locust plague [arbeh] came upon them, because they attempted to nullify from Israel [the promise of] I will greatly multiply [harbeh arbeh] your descendants (Genesis 22:17), and they said lest they multiply [yarbeh]. Therefore, He sent upon them locusts, since the word arbeh [locusts] also denotes multiplication, as it is written (Judges 6:5) They came like locusts in abundance, and it is written (Jeremiah 46:23) They are more numerous than locusts. Darkness came upon them, because they caused Israel to hide their children in darkness, just as they hid Moses, therefore in dark places God made them dwell (Lamentations 3:6). And likewise the midwives did all their deeds in darkness, and likewise the Israelites were swallowed up in the ground in darkness, as is stated in the tractate Sotah (11b). The plague of the firstborn came upon them, because they wanted to destroy His firstborn son, Israel, but the waters of the sea — God did not bring them upon [the Egyptians], rather they themselves, in the wickedness of their hearts, rushed towards it, as will be explained, God willing, in the verse For in the very matter that they plotted against them (Exodus 18:11).

כה אמר ה'.....הנה אנכי מכה במטה אשר בידי, “Thus says the Lord….behold I am about to strike with the staff which is in my hand, etc.” According to Ibn Ezra this verse is only a short summary of what is going to happen, the missing ingredient being the name of the One Who had entrusted Moses with this mission. The verse really should have read: “here I, the Lord’s messenger, am about to strike the waters in the river Nile with the staff which is in the hands of Aaron.” Moses described the staff as being in his own hand, although Aaron would use it to turn the water into blood, the reason being that he wanted to make plain to Pharaoh that both he and Aaron were equally involved in what was going to unfold before his eyes. Personally, I do not see why Ibn Ezra had any difficulty with the wording as it is, seeing that, as we already explained, it was always Aaron who addressed Moses’ words to Pharaoh. It is natural therefore that he referred to the staff as his staff.

'בזאת תדע כי אני ה, to teach you who have said: “I do not know any god by the name of Hashem.” (5,2)

The fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the river.

ונלאו מצרים THE EGYPTIANS SHALL WEARY THEMSELVES in seeking a cure for the waters of the river that they may become fitted for drinking.

"And the fish" (ve-ha-dagah) — a generic collective noun for everything that swarms in the water. "And they will weary" (ve-nileu) — from the nif'al conjugation, from the root la'ah, meaning "they will not be able."

והדגה אשר ביאור תמות, the river will not retain the appearance of a river, part of it has been turned into blood; but the entire river bed will be filled with blood so that the fish have no habitat in which to survive. ונלאו מצרים, digging around the river bed trying to find water. This referred to what the Torah described in verse 24 ויחפרו כל מצרים סביבות היאור, “all the Egyptians dug all around the river.”

ונלאו, I explained the origin of this word already on Genesis 19,11. It is a reinforced version of saying “they could not.” It is an expression of being powerless.

ובאש, “and it will become foul smelling;” if it had not turned evil smelling, the Egyptians might not have desisted from trying to drink its waters. The fact that the waters had assumed the colour of blood would not have been enough to discourage them. We witness people drinking the waters of polluted rivers nowadays, as long as the waters have not become putrid. The fish in the river Nile had to die in order to ensure that the river became putrid. Our author wonders why in light of this the name of the plague is not באש, “stench,” instead of דם, “blood.” He concludes that the reason this is so is that stench is not something visible, and it was important that the plague be something visible to everyone’s eyes.

Hashem said to Moses: Say to Aaron — take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their pools, and over every gathering of their waters, and they shall become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.

אמר אל אהרן SAY UNTO AARON — Because the river had protected Moses when he was cast into it, therefore it was not smitten by him neither at the plague of blood nor at that of frogs, but it was smitten by Aaron (Exodus Rabbah 9:10). נהרתם THEIR STREAMS — These are the flowing rivers, just like our rivers in France. יאריהם — These are canals which convey water being made by human agency and extending from the river bank into the fields. The waters of the Nile increase in volume and rise by way of these canals and so irrigate the fields. אגמיהם — A collection of waters that neither spring up from beneath the ground nor flow along, but which remain in one spot. In old French they call it étang. בכל ארץ מצרים [THERE WILL BE BLOOD] THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT— also in their bathing establishments and in the baths in their houses. ובעצים ובאבנים — the water which happened to be BOTH IN vessels of WOOD AND in vessels of STONE.

"And He said" — In my view, the plain meaning is that Aaron stretched out his hand and struck the Nile, then stretched his hand toward all the directions at the borders of Egypt to turn all the rivers in the land of Egypt — meaning, in the entire kingdom of Egypt. The phrase "the waters of Egypt" is a general term, and the specific [examples] are "their rivers" — these are not the Nile, but the Shihor and other rivers in the land of Egypt — since the blood was throughout their entire land. "And their canals" (ye'oreihem) is a plural form, because the Nile [branches out] in many places. "Their pools" (agmeihem) — waters naturally collected from rainwater. "Every gathering of their water" (u-mikve meimeihem) — these are the springs, wells, and cisterns. The Gaon [Saadia] said that "water" (mayim) is doubled [in meaning]: fresh water and bitter water, like the water of the sea — hence [the verse,] "who summons the waters of the sea" (Amos 5:5). But he has forgotten "the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off" (Josh. 3:13). The word mayim, when attached to a pronoun suffix referring to a speaker, is always in the doubled [dual] form, as in meimay (1 Sam. 25:11) and meimecha (Ezek. 12:15) — even as a plural — since one cannot say meimo or meimah. We do find mi used in the singular: "for the water of lustration (mei nidda) was not sprinkled" (Num. 19:13). The meaning of "in wood and in stone" is: the water that was in houses, in wooden vessels or in stone basins.

Moses and Aaron did so, just as Hashem had commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water that was in the river in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the river turned to blood.

AND HE LIFTED UP THE ROD, AND SMOTE THE WATERS THAT WERE IN THE RIVER IN THE SIGHT OF PHARAOH. That is to say, Aaron lifted up the rod and stretched out his hand over the land of Egypt in all directions, and afterwards he smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh. In Pharaoh’s sight, all the waters that were in the river turned to blood, and the blood was furthermore throughout all the land of Egypt. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that Scripture mentioned the smiting of the river but found it unnecessary to mention the stretching out of the hand [in all directions] over the entire land of Egypt.

"And they did" — [The text] mentions the plague of the Nile and did not trouble to mention the stretching of his hand over all the waters of Egypt.

ויעשו כן משה ואהרן, Moses and Aaron did so precisely, etc. This means that when Moses and Aaron smote the river the result was that G'd's will was done and the result was the same as if G'd Himself had struck the river. Please read what I have already written on verse six concerning such expressions in the Torah, as well as what I shall be writing on the verse following. לעיני פרעה ולעיני עבדיו, before the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of his servants. Although Moses issued the warning to Pharaoh when the latter was unaccompanied because he hid his need to answer calls of nature, the Torah tells us that G'd delayed implementing the plague until it could be done publicly in the presence of Pharaoh's servants. While it is true that the text does not mention this, it is most likely that G'd had mentioned this to Moses for reasons of maximum effect. It is even possible that the words כן כאשר צוה, "exactly as He commanded," refer to words G'd had told Moses but which were not spelled out in our text.

ויהפכו כל המים אשר ביאור לדם, “all the water in the river had been turned into blood.” The river had been turned into blood only temporarily, and the fish died immediately on account of being unable to survive in a river of blood. As soon as all the fish had died, the river reverted to being water. As to the Torah having written that “the Egyptians could not drink water from the river,” this was not on account of the blood, for we do not find that they even tried to reverse the plague, but that was, as the Torah writes, because the stench of the water on account of all the dead fish. The proof of this is that the Torah writes: ויעשו כן כל חרטומי מצרים, “all of the sorcerers of Egypt performed a similar miracle;” if the waters had not first been restored, how could they have demonstrated their sorcery? Some commentators claim that the plague lasted for slightly over a week, a quarter of a month, for all waters visible to the people during that period. During that period, the sorcerers busied themselves with subterranean water. Their proof is that the Torah writes that “the Egyptians dug all around the river to find water as they could not drink the water from the river.” (verse 24). The subterranean waters had not been turned into blood.

וירם במטה, “he held the staff aloft, etc.” Nachmanides explains the construction וירם במטה as meaning that Aaron raised the staff with his hand extending it in all the directions of the globe, exactly as commanded, i.e. קח את מטך ונטה את ידך, and after having extended his hand in every direction he proceeded to strike the waters of the river Nile. Ibn Ezra also writes that the Torah mentions the fact that the river was struck, but there was no need to mention the motions made with the hand or arm in all directions of the land of Egypt, as the raising of the staff automatically includes the raising of the hand holding the staff.

לעיני פרעה, this was a big boost for Moses’ stature, that Aaron, merely his messenger, was able to accomplish this and use his staff on a regular basis.

The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

והדגה…מתה, and the fish…died; the Torah reports this detail to show that the Egyptians realised that the plague was not just a sleight of hand, i.e. make-believe. The blood would kill the people who drank it (in quantities). The fact that the river stank proved that the plague was for real. When the Torah adds ויהי הדם בכל ארץ מצרים, "the blood persisted throughout the land of Egypt," the reference is to bath-houses, bathtubs, etc. Perhaps the Torah wanted to tell us that the Egyptians took the "blood" from one location to another. If the "blood" had been the result of witch-craft it would have reverted to water as soon as it had been removed from the sphere of the sorcerer who had performed the trick (compare Zohar volume 2 page 192). The Torah tells us that the Egyptians realised that this phenomenon was something over and above the kind they were used to see their own sorcerers perform.

מתה, the accent is on the first syllable as the verb is in the past tense. When the same verb occurs in the present tense/future tense, as in Genesis 30,1 the accent is on the last syllable. In Genesis 48,7 when Yaakov describes Rachel having died on him, the accent is also on the first syllable.

But the sorcerers of Egypt did the same with their incantations, and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not hearken to them, just as Hashem had spoken.

בלטיהם SECRET ARTS — magic formulas which they utter secretly and in a whisper. Our Rabbis stated that בלטיהם refers to the work of demons, בלהטיהם to witchcraft (Sanhedrin 67b; Exodus Rabbah 9:11). ויחזק לב פרעה AND PHARAOH’S HEART WAS HARDENED so that he said: You are doing this by witchcraft: “You are bringing straw to Afarayim”— a city that is full of straw; thus you bring sorcery to Egypt, a land that is full of sorcery (Menachot 85a; Exodus Rabbah 9:6-7).

"And they did likewise" — The word be-lateihem derives from "and she came to him in secret" (be-lat, Judg. 4:21) — things hidden from the eye. The word is not missing a heh, for the heh is not a root-letter when it appears in the middle of a word. One may ask: if Aaron had turned all the waters of Egypt to blood, where did the chartummim find water to turn? The answer is that Aaron turned only the water that was above the ground, not the water that was below the ground. The chartummim dug and drew up water and showed that it turned to blood. But there is a great difference between Aaron's act and their acts: Aaron turned the entire Nile that was before him, and all the water throughout the entire border of Egypt that he could not even see; moreover, he turned water that was not standing still but flowing constantly, with new water always arriving; and furthermore, the plague lasted seven days. The chartummim, by contrast, showed only a small quantity of still water in a vessel, and that lasted only a moment — until Pharaoh returned to his house.

ויעשו כן חרטומי מצרים, The Egyptian sorcerers did likewise, etc. If we follow the sages in Shemot Rabbah 9,11 according to whom all the waters in Egypt were struck, where did the Egyptian sorcerers practice their art and convert water into blood? Perhaps only visible sources of water had been turned into blood, whereas subterranean water had remained in its original state. This would explain why the Torah described the Egyptians as digging for water in verse 24. It is also possible that the sorcerers used the water which the Israelites had sold to the Egyptians according to Shemot Rabbah 9,10. Although we have explained that the average Egyptian had already realised that the miracle performed by Moses and Aaron was real, Pharaoh's attitude remained obstinate and he refused to see a qualitative difference between the magic of his own magicians and that of Moses and Aaron. This is why he did not examine if what his magicians had done was more than make-believe.

ויעשו כן חרטומי מצרים, “the sorcerers of Egypt did likewise.” Seeing that all the water had turned into blood, where did the sorcerers take water from? We must therefore assume that Moses and Aaron struck only the waters of the Nile. This is supported by the words “the waters in the river” in our verse. Most of the verses dealing with the subject do not describe Moses and Aaron as striking “all the waters in Egypt.” Even verse 18 speaks only of the inability of the Egyptians to drink water “from the river.” It follows that the sorcerers had ample sources of water to draw on in order to demonstrate their skill. If we adopt this line of reasoning, how do we understand the words in verse 19 that Moses and Aaron were commanded to stretch out their hands over “all the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their ponds over their canals and over all their gathering of waters and they shall become blood?” How do we account for the fact that apparently Moses and Aaron did not comply fully with G’d’s command and struck only the waters in the river (verse 20)? We may answer this apparent omission by Moses and Aaron by remembering that the Nile was the primary source of water in Egypt and that all the ponds and canals were in the nature of tributaries receiving their water supply from the Nile. This, of course, brings us back to the question of “where did the חרטומים take water from to demonstrate their tricks?” The answer is that they started digging in the ground. They found some water which they proceeded to turn into what looked like blood. Moses’ decree applied only to waters which were already visible as such not to subterranean pools of water. Alternatively, seeing that the sorcerers had heard the warning announcing this forthcoming plague, they had hastened to some areas where the water had not yet turned into blood, had taken some water out of its natural habitat and had then proceeded to demonstrate their skill in turning such water which had been divorced from its source into blood. They claimed that they had done this by their own efforts, though in fact, these waters also turned into blood once Moses and Aaron decreed that the waters in the Nile and those supplied by the Nile should turn into blood. You will note that Moses’ deed is attributed by the Torah to having occurred while Pharaoh and his servants were watching, i.e. לעיני פרעה ועבדיו, whereas it is not mentioned anywhere that Pharaoh or his servants actually watched the water used by the sorcerers changing into blood (verse 22). Another possible approach to this short paragraph is that G’d actually gave two separate instructions. 1) He commanded that the river be struck with the staff in order that its waters turn into blood. 2) Stretching out of Aaron’s hand while he was holding the staff without actually striking the waters of the tributaries, the ponds the canals, etc. When we read in verse 17 “here I am about to strike the waters in the Nile with the staff in my hand,” this referred to the river Nile only and was addressed to Aaron. Moses was not permitted to strike the river Nile seeing it was the instrument which had saved his life when he was in the basket. He was not permitted to strike the Nile to produce the frogs either (compare 8,2.) When the Torah reports (in the plural) “Moses and Aaron did so just as G’d had commanded them; he raised his staff and struck the waters in the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh, etc.,” this means that Aaron raised his hand with Moses’ staff and inclined it in all four directions over all the waters in Egypt. Moses’ part in all this was to warn Pharaoh of the forthcoming plague. This, after all, was what G’d had commanded in verse 19. When the Torah appears to repeat in verse 21 ויהי הדם בכל ארץ מצרים, “the blood was throughout the land of Egypt,” this means that by merely stretching out his hand whilst holding the staff the other sources of water in Egypt were turned into blood also.

ויעשו כן חרטומי מצרים, “the sorcerers of Egypt did likewise.” From where did these sorcerers take the water to duplicate Aaron’s turning the water into blood? They must have either used water that the Egyptians had dug up surrounding the areas that contained water, or they must have taken water in possession of the Israelites. Some commentators claim that the waters that Aaron had turned into blood reverted to being water in short order, so that there was no shortage of water anywhere. This would account for the fact that Pharaoh failed to be impressed with this miracle. This is why Moses and Aaron were not called in to reverse the plague, (as they were on the next occasion).

ויעשו כן, “and the sorcerers of Pharaoh did something similar (with the aid of their witchcraft)” Where did they take water from to duplicate such a feat? Either they brought the water from outside Egypt, or they must have dug for it. Also, the fact that the Egyptians are reported to have dug for water, something reported in verse 24 also seems out of place. We do not apply the principle of the Torah reversing historical sequences within the same paragraph.

Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.

גם לזאת [NEITHER DID HE SET HIS HEART] TO THIS ALSO — to the wonder of the staff which was changed into a serpent and also not to that of the blood.

NEITHER DID HE SET HIS HEART TO THIS ALSO. I.e., to the wonder of the rod turning into a serpent, nor to that of the waters turning into blood. [Thus the language of Rashi.] A more correct interpretation would appear to be that to this also means “to this also which was indeed a plague,” [as distinguished from the wonder of the rod turning into a serpent, which was not a plague at all], and he should have feared lest the power of G-d be upon him from now on.

"And he turned" — The meaning of "even to this" is that [the text] has already mentioned the sign of the staff that became a tannin and swallowed the [other] staffs.

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת, to recognise the difference between what G’d had done and what his sorcerers had done. G’d’s activity had produced a total change in the nature of the river Nile, a phenomenon which had been considered as inviolate, constant, incapable of being abolished. It had now been turned into “real blood,” so much so that all the fish had died. The changes effected by the tricks of the sorcerers were performed on phenomena that were unstable to begin with. Possibly, all the sorcerers produced was make believe, an illusion of blood.

ויפן ..ולא שת לבו, He turned…and did not take due notice of this, etc. The Torah is careful not to write that Pharaoh expressly refused to let the Israelites depart; Pharaoh was very anxious not to expose himself to additional retribution. We will explain on 8,4, why Pharaoh had not asked Moses and Aaron in this case to pray on his behalf and to remove the plague.

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת, “his heart did not become perturbed even by this.” Rashi understands the word גם, “also,” as referring to both the miracles of the staff and that of the water turning into blood. Nachmanides explains the words גם לזאת, as meaning that although the water having been turned into a blood was not a mere trick, but a real plague, Pharaoh refused to display any emotion at what he had witnessed. Normal people would have reacted by becoming afraid that the next plague would hurt them, personally.

גם לזאת, seeing he had already made himself obstinate, vayechezak, (verse 13) at this time also, he relied on his own resources of self confidence to ignore what he had seen. However, when it came to the plague of frogs Pharaoh already began to waver and external stimuli in stiffening his attitude were required. Hence we read there (8,11) vayachbed Paroh et libbo, that Pharaoh had to draw on external stimuli to maintain his obstinate pose. The same was true with the fourth plague, that of the wild beasts invading civilised urban regions. (8,28)

All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink, for they could not drink from the water of the river.

"And they dug" — Many say that the water was red as blood in the hands of an Egyptian but turned white in the hands of an Israelite. If so, why is this sign not written in the Torah? In my view, the plagues of blood, frogs, and lice encompassed both Egyptians and Hebrews alike — we follow the written text — and these three caused only minor harm. It was only the plague of the swarms, which was severe, that Hashem differentiated between the Egyptians and Israel; and likewise the plague of pestilence and of hail, on account of their livestock. Not so with the plague of boils, nor with the locusts, since [the locusts] come from outside Egypt. And since the Egyptians dug [for water], the Hebrews dug too.

מים לשתות, “water for drinking.” It is clear from the wording that they did not succeed in drinking the water they found. Had they done so, the Torah would have written: מים וישתו, ”water which they drank.” Seeing they did not succeed in drinking the water mentioned in our verse, how did they manage for seven days without water? We are therefore compelled to interpret the verse to mean that they did indeed drink water they found as a result of digging for it. The meaning of the word לשתות maybe interpreted in two ways: whereas they did drink it this was still as if they could not drink it as the water was salt-water. This is the meaning of the additional words: “for they could not drink the waters from the river.” Seeing they could not drink regular water, they were forced to drink water which tasted very salty. כי לא יכלו לשתות מים ממימי היאור, “for they could not drink the waters of the river Nile,” which were sweet and fit for drinking. This is the explanation of the gaon Rabbi Saadyah. He makes the point that there is a difference in meaning between the word מי and the word מימי. The word מימי is used only for water which is fit to drink. We find proof of this in Numbers 20,8 ונתן את מימיו, “and it will yield its waters.” Or, Exodus 23,25: וברך את לחמכם ואת מימיך, “He will bless your bread and your water.” Another example is found in Chronicles II 32,30 יחזקיה סתם את מוצא מימי גיחון, “King Chiskiyah stopped up the sources of the waters from the river Gichon.” The word מי is used to describe waters unfit for drinking in Genesis 7,7 מפני מי המבול, “on account of the waters of the deluge;” another example of the word מי referring to waters not fit to drink is Exodus 15,19 וישב ה' עליהם את מי הים, “G’d turned back upon them the waters of the sea.” The author quotes additional verses making the same point.

לא יכלו לשתות מים מן היאור, “they could not drink the waters from the river.” Even when the river again flowed with water, they could not drink those waters as they had become putrid from the dead fish that had died when the water had turned into blood. This explanation does not appear to stand up in light of what the Torah writes, as we have been told specifically (verse 25), that “seven days elapsed after the Lord had struck the river.” In other words, the plague ran its course for a whole week, unless we must understand that line to mean that after the blood reverted to being water the Egyptians still could not drink from the river for a full week.

Seven full days passed after Hashem had struck the river.

וימלא AND THERE WAS COMPLETED (the verb is singular) שבעת ימים the number of SEVEN DAYS during which the river did not return to its original condition. For each plague functioned a quarter of a month and for three quarters He warned and cautioned them (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 13; Exodus Rabbah 9:12).

And seven days were fulfilled after that the Eternal had smitten the river. This is connected with the verse above, and the purport thereof is as follows: And with this — namely, the Egyptians’ digging round about the river for they could not drink of the water of the river, [as stated in Verse 24] — with this was filled the seven days after the river had been smitten.

"And [seven days] were fulfilled" — [The text] mentions this because this plague lasted many days, which was not the case with the other plagues.

וימלא שבעת ימים, Seven days went by, etc. The word וימלא, "became full," refers to the pre-arranged length G'd had ordained for the plague. After that period had elapsed, G'd told Moses to go and see Pharaoh again (verse 26). The Torah tells us this detail to show us the obstinacy of Pharaoh who could let an entire week go by without making an effort to somehow have this plague terminated. All of this is in accordance with an opinion expressed in Shemot Rabbah 9,12 that Moses spent 24 days warning Pharaoh of the impending plague whereas once the plague materialised it remained in effect for seven days. According to the opinion that it was the other way around, i.e. that Moses warned Pharaoh of the impending plague for seven days running, whereas once the plague materialised it lasted for 24 days, the seven days mentioned here refer to the period of warning. The plague then would have remained in effect for the remainder of the month. The problem with this explanation is the plague of darkness which is described as being intense for three days (10,22). Perhaps both the plague of darkness and the plague of blood were exceptions and the author of the opinion that the plagues remained in effect for 24 days agrees that the water in the river did not remain blood for 24 days on end. This would account for the fact that the Torah mentions a time frame only in the case of those two plagues. I believe that even though G'd had set a time-limit for each plague, Moses' prayer would have sufficed to terminate the plague sooner.

וימלא שבעת ימים, “seven days were completed.” The Torah spells out that the duration of the first plague was seven days, the length of time a menstruating woman is bleeding or is considered impure due to bleeding. The ritual state of the Egyptians was comparable to that of a menstruating woman. The Torah did not bother to give us data for the length of subsequent plagues as they lasted seven days unless otherwise reported. The interval between one plague and the next was 21 days so that a plague and its aftermath lasted approx. a month. We find this confirmed by Rabbi Eliezer Hakalir in his liturgical poem (recited in Ashkenazi congregations on the eighth day of Passover, commencing with the words מה מועיל רשע רשע בעליו) He says there that a full month was allocated to each plague and that three quarters of the month was allowed for warning and waiting. The fourth part of the month was the actual duration of the plague.

וימלא שבעת ימים, “seven days had elapsed.” This verse is a continuation of the previous verse that had told us that the Egyptians had been unable to drink the waters of the river without telling us for how long such a condition continued. For seven whole days the Egyptians, in order to secure drinking water for themselves, had to dig in the neighbourhood of the river’s embankment Ibn Ezra writes that many people claim that the waters which, while in the hands of the Egyptians had turned red, immediately resumed normal colour as soon as the Jews held it in their hands. If that were true, why did the Torah not mention this additional miracle? Personally, [Ibn Ezra speaking, Ed.] I believe that the first three plagues, i.e. blood, frogs, and the vermin, struck not only the Egyptians but also the Israelites, seeing that these three plague caused relatively little damage to either property or life. I believe we are duty-bound to pay careful attention to the text, and seeing that the first three plagues were more of a nuisance than a real danger to life and property, and the Torah did not spell out, as it did later- that the Israelites were immune, we must assume that they were not. Only the fourth plague, wild beasts invading urban areas and wreaking havoc, were major disasters, and the fact that these beasts would not invade the province of Goshen, home to most of the Israelites, was predicted at the time when Moses warned Pharaoh of the impending plague. (verse 18) All subsequent plagues struck only the Egyptians, as testified by the Torah. Therefore I conclude, that just as the Egyptians had to dig for water- but they secured it for themselves- so did the Israelites. Ibn Ezra’s determination to follow the plain meaning of the text prompted him to even assume that the locust and the boils (8th and 6th plague), which did not pose serious danger to people, afflicted also the Israelites. [Our author not only accuses him of ignoring the approach of our sages, but considers this as unnecessarily accusing G’d of afflicting His own people as if He were not able to immunize them. Ed.]

שבעת ימים, this was the duration of the plague that struck the river.

וימלא שבעת ימים, “seven complete days had passed.” According to Rashi, this was the pattern of all the plagues, that a plague lasted for one quarter of the month, whereas the warning that preceded it was in effect for the other three quarters of that month, so that each plague was relevant for a whole month. This interpretation is derived from Psalms 135,9: שלח אותות ומופתים בתוככי מצרים, “He sent signs and miracles against Egypt.” The last two letters in the word בתוככי, whose numerical value is 30 were unnecessary, and are the hint that each plague was relevant for 30 days. Our author raises the point that according to the wording in Rashi, the month had only 28 days then. He suggests as a possible solution, that the Egyptians were given the extra two days after the completion of each plague as a sort of “relief” before the warning of the following plague was issued. A further question is raised concerning the length of the plague of darkness, where the Torah described the most intense portion of that plague as having lasted for three days. (Exodus 10,22-23). He suggests that when we read in Exodus 14,20: ויהי הענן והחושך, “there was both the cloud and the darkness,” (as the beaches of the sea of reeds) the missing days were made up. (Compare Sh’mot Rabbah 14,3.) It is notable that in the Haggadah shel Pesssach, the text we read on the first night of Passover, where Rabbi Yehudah sums us the plagues on an acronym- דצ'ך עד'ש באח'ב, and everyone asks what he contributed to our understanding of those events by doing so, that Rabbi Yitzchok son of Rabbi Asher, who was born on the same calendar date as the death of his father, so that he was given the same name as that of his late father, they applied to him the words of the verse: וזרח השמש ובא השמש, “a new sun began to shine as soon as the sun had set,” (Kohelet 1,8) pointed out that when we place the three acronyms of Rabbi Yehudah one on top of the other like this: דצך, עדש, באחב you will find both at the beginning, the middle and the end the acronym for the three plagues of כנים, שחין, and חשך. [Our author adds that he will not elaborate further, presumably because he had not figured out how this is arrived at by Rabbi Yitzchok. This editor remembers his father of blessed memory explaining to him, that these were the three plagues not preceded by a warning. Ed.] Rabbi Yehudah may have wished to remind the reader that the order in which the plagues occurred was the one listed in the Torah, and not the order in which the plagues are listed in the Book of psalms (chapter 105). The Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin, folio 81 [Mishnah] relates that it was customary if people had been administered 39 lashes for having committed sins that qualified for such a penalty, if they sinned repeatedly, to lock them up and feed them a diet of barley until the sinner’s intestines collapsed and he died. אחרי הכות ה' את היאור, “after the Lord had struck the river Nile;” the reason why G–d smote the river Nile first was that the Egyptians considered it as providing the backbone to their economy, its waters irrigating their fields. G–d reasoned that He would first smite the Egyptians’ deity and, if this did not help, the Egyptians themselves. This principle is described as a parable in the Tanchuma section 13 on our portion: a layman decides to destroy the idol first, which will make it easier subsequently to destroy its priests.

Hashem said to Moses: Come to Pharaoh and say to him: Thus says Hashem — send out My people that they may serve before Me.

"And He said" — "Come to Pharaoh" — together with Aaron your brother — and inform him of the second plague if he does not send My people.

ויאמר ה' אל משה בא אל פרעה, Moses warned Pharaoh twice before a plague materialised, whereas before the third plague he did not give any warning. This remained the pattern throughout all the plagues which occurred in groups of three. Before the plague of blood and frogs Pharaoh was warned, not so before the vermin. Before the plague of free roaming beasts and pestilence Moses extended a warning, whereas he did not warn Pharaoh of the plague of boils and carbuncles. Pharaoh was warned both before the hail and the locust, whereas the plague of darkness occurred without prior warning.

!בוא, “Go!” our author wonders why in some instances the command to visit Pharaoh is introduced by the word: השכם “rise early,” whereas on other occasions it is simply: בא, “go!” (Compare Exodus 8,16) I have heard from Rabbi Yitzchok [presumably the Rabbi Yitzchok hakadosh resident in the Rhineland died in 1196 based on Refael Halperin, Ed.] that when the expression בוא is used it means “Come with Me,” i.e. I’ll be on your side. When the expression השכם is used it means that Moses was to surprise Pharaoh when he went to the river early in the morning to maintain the fiction amongst his people that he did not need to excrete as do ordinary human beings. It would not be appropriate for the holy presence of G–d to attend such a performance. I find this whole approach puzzling, as we know that Moses would not even offer the simplest prayer while on the ritually contaminated soil of Egypt, so why would G–d accompany him on his audiences with Pharaoh? (Compare Exodus 9,29-33 where he refused to call off the plague of hail while on that contaminated soil)

And if you refuse to send them out, behold, I will strike all your territory with frogs.

ואם מאן אתה — AND IF THOU BE A REFUSER. מאן — The word has the same meaning as ממאן, refusing, (the Piel participle) only the difference is that it is a description of a person having reference to the action he always does (i. e. it is an adjective and the full phrase would be איש מאן) similar to שָׁלֵו “a man at ease” (Job 16:12); שָׁקֵט “a man at ease” (Jeremiah 48:11); וְזָעֵף [סר] “a man displeased” (1 Kings 20:43), whilst מְמאֵן merely describes the person as refusing at some particular moment. נגף את כל גבולך I WILL PLAGUE ALL THY BOUNDARIES — נוגף means smiting. So, too, wherever a form from the root נגף occurs, it does not necessarily denote killing but it may mean merely smiting. Similarly, (Exodus 21:22) “and if they hurt (ונגפו) a woman with child”, does not mean they kill (as the context shows); so, too, (Jeremiah 13:16) “and before your feet stumble (יתנגפו)” (i. e. hit against something); (Psalms 91:12) “lest thou dash (תגף) thy foot against a stone”; (Isaiah 8:14) ”and for a stone of stumbling (נגף)”.

"And if" — The word ma'en ["refuses"] is an active participial form, like "and I praise (ve-shabe'ach) the dead" (Eccl. 4:2). The meaning of nagof is "to smite," as in "destroyer," for it is written "and the frog [sent] to destroy them" (Ps. 75:45). Commentators disagree about the word tzefarde'im: many say it is a type of creature found in Egypt, called in Arabic al-timsah, which emerges from the river and seizes people. Others say they are those found in most rivers that make a sound [i.e., frogs]. The latter view seems correct to me and is the well-known [meaning].

ואם מאן אתה, "if you should refuse, etc." We learn from here that for a warning to be legally valid it must be delivered immediately preceding the sin.

את כל גבולך, “your entire territory.” The word “your territory” excludes the territory of Cham. The sons of Cham (the kushim?) and the sons of Mitzrayim had a territory גבול, between their respective territories. According to Shemot Rabbah 10,2 this area had remained disputed between them until that time. Due to the plague of the frogs they made peace amongst themselves. They came to the realisation that the area not invaded by the frogs belonged to the territory of Cham. We derive this from the words of Moses’ warning “your entire territory,” i.e. not anyone else’s territory.

נוגף, another word for makkeh, “strike, smite.”

The river shall swarm with frogs, and they shall come up and enter your house, into the chamber of your bedroom, onto your bed, into the house of your servants and among your people, into your ovens and into your kneading-troughs.

ועלו AND THEY SHALL GO UP from the river בביתך — first into thine house and afterwards, בבית עבדיך — into the house of thy servants; he took the first step in counselling evil against Israel, as it is stated (1:9) “He spake to his people, “[Behold, the children of Israel are more numerous and powerful than we]”, and with him, therefore, did punishment begin (cf. Sotah 11a and Exodus Rabbah 10:3).

"And the river shall swarm" (u-sharatz ha-ye'or) — a transitive verb, like "let the waters swarm" (yishretzu ha-mayim, Gen. 1:20). The meaning of "and they shall come up" is that the river is always lower than the city.

And the river shall multiply frogs, and they shall ascend and come up into thy house, and into the bedchamber where thou sleepest, and upon thy couch; and into the house of thy servants, and among thy people, and into the ovens, and into thy baking-troughs,.

Upon you, upon your people, and upon all your servants the frogs shall come up.

ובכה ובעמך AND UPON (or in) THEE AND THY PEOPLE [SHALL THE FROGS COME] — they made their way right into their bodies and crowed (Exodus Rabbah 10:3).

"And upon you and upon your people" — Yefet said that since the text says "upon you and upon your people," it implies that [the frogs] would come upon him and his people alone and not upon the people of Israel. But this is no proof, for [the text] has already stated they would come up upon him and upon all his people — there is no need to also mention Israel.

ובכה ובעמך, “and against you as well as against your people, etc;” the word: ובכה is to be read as if it had been spelled as ובך.

ובכה ובעמך, “against you as well as against your people.” The unusual letter ה at the end of the word ובך “and against you,” indicates that every one of the ten plagues was subdivided into 5 plagues [compare Haggadah shel Pessach Rabbi Yossi Hagalilee].