Exodus · Chapter 9

And Hashem said to Moses: Go in to Pharaoh and speak with him thus: So says Hashem, the God of the Jews — send forth My people, that they may serve before Me.

"Go to Pharaoh" — to his palace. R. Judah ha-Levi said: there were two plagues involving water — one in which [the water] turned red and the fish died, and the second in which the frogs came up from it; two plagues on the earth — one the lice, and the second the wild beasts (arov), which are a mixture of creatures, as Scripture writes, "and the earth brought forth living creatures" (Gen. 1:24); and two plagues in the air — for pestilence is nothing other than [corrupted] hot or cold [air], different from the normal [condition], and in a single moment countless animals die, because the spirit of all living things, which resides in the heart, depends on the air; and the second [airborne plague] was the plague of boils. For Scripture calls the firmament that is above [creatures'] heads "heaven," and the seventh plague was a compound of the sphere of the storm and the sphere of fire, as Scripture writes, "and fire flashing in the midst of the hail" (Exod. 9:24). The eighth plague, the locusts, came from afar by means of the wind. The ninth was a wondrous plague in which the light of both luminaries and the stars was removed from the land of Egypt. And the tenth was the descent of the Destroyer from the spheres of Glory to slay the firstborn.

בא אל פרעה, "Go to Pharaoh, etc." You may consider it a rule that whenever G'd told Moses to go to Pharaoh, He meant that Moses should enter Pharaoh's palace without waiting for permission to do so. No doubt Pharaoh had the usual complement of bodyguards at the entrance to his palace. Nonetheless Moses was commanded by G'd to ignore the presence of those guards. We have reason to believe that Moses acted in accordance with these instructions since Yalkut Shimoni item 175 describes that Pharaoh not only had armed guards but also trained lions at his palace gate but that Moses walked in without being challenged. I have found conclusive proof for the opinion expressed in the Yalkut in 10,28 where Pharaoh for the first time warns Moses not to attempt to enter the palace again. Why would Pharaoh have had to warn Moses about entering the palace unless Moses had been in the habit of doing so unchallenged up until then? Clearly, even the trained lions had respected Moses and not challenged his entry, a great miracle indeed. If G'd had to command Moses to enter Pharaoh's palace i.e. בא אל instead לך אל, "go to," the reason was that he assured Moses he would not be challenged by either the palace guards or the lions. On the other hand, whenever G'd told Moses to meet Pharaoh near the river Nile, He used the expression לך אל פרעה as there were no guards near the river Nile where Pharaoh desired privacy. The only reason G'd told Moses to go to Pharaoh there was that Moses would not have done so on his own initiative seeing Pharaoh went there to answer calls of nature, as already explained elsewhere.

For if you refuse to send them forth, and you still hold fast against them —

מחזיק בם means WILT KEEP HOLD OF THEM, as in, (Deuteronomy 25:11) “and layeth hold of him etc. (...והחזיקה ב)”.

"And you still hold fast" — [this is] lacking [the word] hand or something similar, as in "one who grips a dog by the ears" (Prov. 26:17).

behold, a blow from before Hashem will be upon your livestock that are in the field: the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the oxen, and the flocks — a very severe pestilence.

הנה יד ה׳ הוֹיָה BEHOLD THE HAND OF THE LORD IS — The verb הויה is in the present tense, for so one says in the feminine gender of the past היתה, “she was”, of the future, תהיה, “she will be” and of the present, הוֹיָה, the latter form being similar to עוֹשָׂה and רוֹצָה and רוֹעָה (Fem. part. sing. Kal of ל"ה verbs).

BEHOLD, THE HAND OF THE ETERNAL IS UPON THY CATTLE WHICH ARE IN THE FIELD. Scripture speaks of the ordinary custom that most cattle are in the field, but the plague was also upon the cattle in the houses, just as it is said, And all the cattle of Egypt died. It is possible that because every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians, the Egyptians removed the cattle from the cities except for the use of horses for riding and asses for loading. Thus the cattle were located far from Egypt, grazing in the fields bordering upon Goshen, and in those pastures the cattle of the Egyptians and of the Israelites would intermingle. Therefore it was necessary that it be said, And the Eternal shall make a division between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. It may be that the division was necessary because since the pestilence was caused by the change of air, it should naturally spread over the whole district, [affecting the cattle of the Israelites as well], but G-d dealt wondrously with them.

"Behold, the hand of Hashem is" (hovah) — we find that the yod [of הויה] alternates with a vav: "and you became (hove) a king over them" (Neh. 6:6); and the reverse — the vav of "those who wait for Him (kovav) shall not be ashamed" (Isa. 49:23) alternates with a yod, as in "those who wait for (kovei) Hashem shall renew their strength" (Isa. 40:31). As for the word dever [pestilence], it is a noun used in a general sense; we do not find it used as a verb except in one place: "and she destroyed (va-tedabber) all the royal seed" (2 Chron. 22:10), while in the book of Kings it is written va-taved ["she destroyed"] (2 Kings 11:1). The explanation [of the verbal use] is difficult, but we know nothing better than it.

אשר בשדה, which are in the field, etc. This is to be taken literally; they all died because the Egyptians left them in the fields as mentioned in 9,6.

הנה יד ה' הויה, “here the hand of Hashem will be active;” according to normal logic there is a reason for people to believe and to say that neither the plague of hail or the plague of pestilence could have lasted for a week each. (death of the afflicted would have occurred immediately) במקנך אשר בשדה, “against your livestock that are out in the fields;” even the beasts that had been saved by their shepherds during the plague of the free roaming beasts could not stand up against the plague that follows next.

הנה יד ה' הויה, “here the hand of the Lord is about to be, etc.” In introducing the fifth plague the Torah mentions “the hand” of G’d, the word הויה representing the attribute which forms the last letter ה in the Ineffable Name, the tetragrammaton. This is a name which allows for 12 permutations [different spellings using the same letters, a widely accepted kabbalistic method. Ed.]. The words זה שמי לעולם, in 3,15 provided an allusion to this concept, the word לעולם hinting at concealed methods of writing this name. Seeing that this was the fifth plague, the Torah makes a point of listing five species of animals which would be afflicted, i.e. horses, donkeys, camels, cattle and flocks. במקנך אשר בשדה, “amongst your cattle which are out in the field.” He warned them about those animals which are normally out in the field. This is a typical construction similar to when the Torah wrote in Exodus 22,30: ובשר בשדה טרפה לא תאכלו, “you must not eat the flesh of an animal that was torn in the field.” The example the Torah cites is one that is commonplace; the legislation includes animals which are diseased in the stable. Similarly, here; the Torah singles out the animals which are usually in the field. This does not mean that the other animals would be safe from the plague. When the Torah reports how the plague affected the Egyptians it writes that all the cattle of Egypt died (verse 6), i.e. including the cattle kept at home. Nachmanides writes that the reason the Torah mentions the word בשדה in connection with the cattle is that the Egyptians kept their cattle outdoors on a permanent basis. The reason was that shepherds of cattle were considered an abomination in Egypt (compare Genesis 46,34). These cattle were grazing far from Egypt proper, on the border of the province of Goshen, so that the cattle of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians intermingled. The fact that none of the Israelites’ cattle were affected by the plague was therefore all the more remarkable. Another reason why this was remarkable could have been that the bacteria causing the plague came from the same airspace so that it could have been expected to affect all the animals in equal measure.

הנה יד ה' הויה, “behold, the hand of Hashem is about to afflict, etc.” Our sages have derived from the word יד ה' “the hand of Hashem,” as opposed to the previous mention of אצבע אלוקים, ”a finger of G’d,” that G’d orchestrated five times as many miracles while the Israelites and the Egyptians were at and in the sea of Reeds, as He had done in Egypt proper. Even though mention of G’d’s finger occurred only in connection with the plague of vermin, the meaning of that had been that whereas previously the Egyptians had related to the plagues as a variant of the magic performed by sorcerers, at that point they had realized that they were confronted with something Divine in origin, the “finger” of the Creator. Although, now that the word יד, “hand of Hashem’” appears in connection with a plague that occurred in Egypt proper, this appears to invalidate the sages’ comment, this is not necessarily so, as the Torah here uses the word “hand” to describe the five categories of creatures which will become the victims of the pestilence about to occur, i.e. horses, donkeys, camels, cattle and sheep. The word יד is really extraneous in our verse as everyone can count that five species of creatures are mentioned. It is therefore reasonable to contrast the 10 plagues in Egypt with the 50 plagues which Rabbi Yossi Haglili told us occurred at the Sea of Reeds. Personally, I believe that the sages based themselves not so much on the word אצבע and יד respectively, when they extrapolated from its appearance, but from the addition of G’d’s name. Whenever the Torah uses the term יד or אצבע by itself, it is to be understood as such, and nothing additional needs to be read into it. When mention of the organ is followed by a reference to who is the owner of that ”hand” or “finger,” this is an invitation to the reader to investigate an additional message contained in the verse. The author, (Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher) feels that the fact that the word יד ה' is followed by precise details of who will be the victim of this hand, means that nothing beyond what meets the eye is to be read into our text. במקנך אשר בשדה, “against your cattle that are exposed in the field.” According to Rashi the pestilence struck only the beasts left in the field in spite of the warning. This explains why there were beasts left that perished during the plague of hail. They were the beasts that had been sheltered by their owners during the plague of pestilence. Nachmanides writes that the Torah chose the present tense to narrate this plague and that the beasts which were indoors died also, and that this is why the Torah writes (verse 6) “all the livestock of the Egyptians died.” The word כל usually translated as “all,” is not to be understood literally, as whenever the majority of something died this is described as “all” of it dying. Some commentators understand the line וימת כל מקנה מצרים, “all the livestock of the Egyptians died,” as meaning that all the dead beasts were found to have been owned by Egyptians, and not Israelites, the Torah adding this by writing that not a single beast owned by an Israelite died during that period, in order to emphasise it still further. The Israelites had kept their sheep well apart from the Egyptians, seeing that these considered sheep raising as an abominable occupation. It is possible that seeing that the microbes that infected the animals were carried through the air, the Torah had to write that G’d performed a miracle so that none of the animals owned by the Israelites would be victimized.

And Hashem will set apart between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a single thing of all that belongs to the children of Israel shall die.

והפלה means HE WILL SEPARATE.

"And He shall set apart" — davar [thing/word]: it is used of matters involving connected things, as in "the word (davar) that Hashem spoke" (Jer. 46:13); and it is also used to denote existence, as in "this and the like — you lacked nothing (davar)" (Deut. 2:7).

והפלה, “He will make a distinction;” [the word is spelled with the letter ה at the end, not the letter א. Ed.]

And Hashem set a time, saying: Tomorrow Hashem will perform this word in the land.

"And He set" — He set a fixed limit and a time for the beginning of the sign.

וישם ה׳ מועד לאמור, G'd appointed a set time, etc. He informed the Egyptians of when the plague would strike to enable them to bring their livestock indoors as we also find when the plague of hail struck (9,19). In that instance G'd told the Egyptians outright to bring their animals indoors to protect them, whereas here He only hinted at this. The hint is expressed in the Torah by the word לאמור. This meant that Moses and Aaron were to inform both Pharaoh and the Egyptians of the timing of that plague.

וישם ה' מועד לאמור מחר יעשה ה' הדבר הזה בארץ, “G’d appointed a set time, saying: “G’d will carry out this matter in the land tomorrow.” Why this cumbersome language? All the Torah had to write was: “Tomorrow I will do it.” The plain meaning of this verse is that G’d gave Moses the date on which this plague would occur and he was to tell the Israelites the date, i.e. on the following day. A kabbalistic approach: The apparent repetition וישם ה', ה' יעשה, “G’d (set) determined, G’d will do,” refers to G’d Who together with His celestial tribunal would orchestrate this plague. G’d’s celestial tribunal had already been mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph with the word הנה יד ה' הויה. This is not the only time when mention of G’d in the third person rather than quoting G’d in the first person means that the reference is to G’d’s celestial tribunal. Another example of this is found in Exodus 16,29 where the words ראו כי ה' נתן לכם השבת, “see, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath,” instead of “I have given you the Sabbath” refer to the same thing. There are many such examples. .

מועד לאמר, Moses announced the timing of the plague so that the Egyptians could not claim that the plague was a natural disaster.

And Hashem performed this word on the following day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the children of Israel not one died.

"And Hashem did [so]" — the meaning of "all the livestock of Egypt died" is: the majority of it, for indeed it is written, "send out your livestock" (v. 19), and similarly you find with the hail, "all the vegetation of the field" (v. 25). The proof is the plague of the locusts: "and it ate what remained of the survivors" (below, 10:5).

.כל מקנה מצרים, all the cattle of Egypt. This refers to the cattle the Egyptians had not brought indoors, this is why the words "in the field" are missing here. וממקנה בני ישראל, and of the cattle of the Israelites none died. They owned cattle going back to the time Jacob had come to Egypt. On the other hand, they may have acquired cattle from the money they received from the Egyptians when they sold them water during the plague of blood. It is even possible that some smart Egyptians "sold" their cattle to the Jews before the onset of the plague [much as we sell chametz to the Gentiles before Passover Ed.] so as to escape the plague and not interfere with their cattle's grazing outdoors. The Torah then would tell us that such "sales" did not protect such cattle; only the cattle which were truly Jewish-owned survived the plague without having been indoors. We ought to understand what the verse tells us: 1) "All the cattle of the Egyptians as well as some of the cattle "owned" by the Jews died;" the Torah added the extra letter מ in the line וממקנה בני ישראל to tell us about these so-called Jewish-owned cattle which died. The letter מ applied only to part of the cattle and not to part of the sheep and goats. To sum up: animals owned outright by Jews did not die; animals owned by Jews in name only, died.

וימת כל מקנה מצרים, “all the domesticated livestock of Egypt died.” The Torah means to emphasize that all the livestock which died belonged to the Egyptians. The verse does not mean that all the livestock in Egypt died, as it states specifically in our verse that of the livestock owned by Israelites not a single animal died. This is why the Torah could write in verse 20 that the livestock of G-d fearing Egyptians who had brought their beasts into shelter did not die.

And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died; yet the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not send forth the people.

"Even one" — meaning: not even one, as I will explain in the Song; and the sense of this verse is that even though he sent [messengers] and saw that Hashem loves Israel and struck down his livestock on their account, he was not moved by [the loss of] the livestock in this plague to send his people — perhaps the plague had not lasted very long.

וישלח פרעה והנה לא מת, “Pharaoh dispatched people to check on the livestock of the Israelites, and not a single one had died.” The reason for this was Moses’ prediction in verse 4 that G-d will make this distinction between Egyptian and Israelite owned beasts. ויכבד לבו; “but his heart remained obstinate;” he did not ask Moses to pray, as the dead beasts could not be brought back to life. The beasts that had survived did not need to be prayed for.

And Pharoh sent certain to look; and, behold, not one of the cattle of the sons of Israel had died, not even one. But the disposition of Pharoh, heart was aggravated, and he would not release the people.

And Hashem said to Moses and to Aaron: Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a furnace, and Moses shall scatter it toward the expanse of the heavens before the eyes of Pharaoh.

מלא חפניכם HANDFULS (more lit., as much as will fill your fists), old French joincheiz; Engl, double-handfuls. פיח הכבשן SOOT OF THE FURNACE — the word פיח denotes a thing which is blown away (נפוח) from coals that have become extinguished after being burnt in a furnace; in old French oulvis. פיח is derived from a root that signifies blowing, and it so called because the wind blows it about and scatters it abroad. וזרקו משה AND LET MOSES THREW IT — Since anything which is thrown with force must be thrown with one hand only, there were here several miracles: one, that Moses’ closed fingers (קמץ) held as much as would fill his two fists and those of Aaron, and another, that this dust spread itself over the entire land of Egypt (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 14; Exodus Rabbah 11:8).

לעיני פרעה. In order that he would see that the plague was not the result of mixing something moist with something else, i.e. something subject to the influence of the sun or the atmosphere. Both of these phenomena sometimes produce what are known as “natural disasters.”

מלא חפניכם, “your handfuls,” this would not be enough soot to bring the plague on the entire land of Egypt; this is why the Torah does not attribute this plague as resulting from the fire that the soot was taken from. G-d did not want to change natural law at this point, and that is why He commanded Moses and Aaron to perform a symbolic act. פיח, remnants of coal, cinders. Compare Isaiah 54,16. וזרקו משה השמימה, “and let Moses throw it heavenwards.” This is one of many occasions when the term שמים, usually translated as “heaven,” is used as meaning simply: “air, or atmosphere.” Seeing that what is thrown into the air subsequently falls to earth, just like rain or lightning, the description is not that inaccurate.

וזרקו משה השמימה, “and Moses is to throw it heavenward.” It is a well known fact that each one of the ten plagues contained within it a number of miracles. In this instance the expression “your (pl) handfuls” combined with the singular “let him throw it heavenward” poses a problem. Why did they both have to fill their hands with the soot if only Moses was to throw it? The verse teaches therefore that Moses took in his one hand the combined four handfuls of soot, both his own and that of his brother Aaron. If one throws something upwards one uses only one hand; otherwise it is hardly called “throwing.” The ability of throwing all this soot with one hand then was one of the miracles. Another miracle was the fact that the whole land of Egypt became filled with dust which had originated only in the palms of two pairs of hands. The third miracle, of course, was the plague itself, the fact that this soot turned into erupting boils infecting man and beast alike in the whole of Egypt.

ויאמר ה' אל משה ואהרן קחו לכם מלא חפניכם פיח הכבשן, “the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ‘take for yourselves two handfuls of furnace soot;’” According to Ibn Ezra the reason that no demand was made to release the Israelites prior to decreeing that plague was that it did not last long.

פיח, ash, dust particles remaining at the bottom of the furnace light enough to be carried by the wind.

And it shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it shall be upon people and upon animals as a severe inflammation of boils throughout all the land of Egypt.

לשחין פרח אבעבעת A BOIL BREAKING FORTH INTO BLAINS — Render it as the Targum does: a boil growing blains, — the idea is, that through it (the boil) blains burst out on them (on the people). שחין has the meaning of “heat”. In the Mishnaic Hebrew there are many examples of its use; e. g., (Yoma 53b) “a hot (שחונה) year”.

AND IT SHALL BECOME SMALL DUST OVER ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT. According to the opinion of our Rabbis, [the small quantity of] soot [in the hands of Moses] became the dust which settled over the whole land of Egypt, and that dust, coming upon man and upon beast, caused them to break forth with boils and blains throughout all the land of Egypt, since it was a burning hot dust. Perhaps the wind caused the dust to enter the homes as well, and there was thus no escape from it. This is a correct [conjecture]. Many times during a drought, the fall of the dew is accompanied by a sort of dust, and it is furthermore written, The Eternal will make the rain of thy land powder and dust. It is also possible to say, in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, that the purport of the expression, And it shall become small dust, is that the dust which will be produced in that place from the soot will bring the boils over all the land of Egypt, as He infected the air to do so, it being a decree of the Supreme One.

"And it shall be" — this was a miraculous act: this soot, which was [only] a small amount, became dust over the entire land of Egypt and yet did not [need to] set Israel apart [from its effects — they were untouched nonetheless]. "Blisters" (av'abu'ot) — the alef is a prefix, for [the root] derives from "fire set the waters ablaze" (Isa. 64[:2]), and the word is doubled [a reduplicated form], like tisha'she'u (Isa. 66:12) and tishgasheigi (Isa. 17:11).

לאבק “into dust;” the letter ל has the semi vowel sheva, whereas the letter א has the vowel kametz.

והיה לאבק, “it will turn into dust.” According to our sages this minute amount of furnace dust scattered over the entire land of Egypt and descended wherever there was a human being or beast that it could land on, and these would break out in painful boils on their skin. Perhaps the wind carried this dust even into the houses of the Egyptians. A similar phenomenon is well known as occurring during periods of drought when dust is brought even into the houses with the nightly dew. Perhaps a straightforward explanation of the verse is that the words והיה לאבק, “it will turn into dust,” means that this soot from the furnace will immediately be turned into dust that in turn would turn into boils the moment Moses and Aaron threw it into the air. G’d decreed that this soot [normally the antithesis of anything septic. Ed.] will pollute the air and spread this painful series of boils. This was a heavenly decree not accounted for by any of the scientists.

פורח, chemically active, producing spontaneous growth of bacteria.

So they took the soot of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered it toward the expanse of the heavens; and there was a severe inflammation of boils upon people and upon animals.

באדם ובבהמה UPON MAN AND UPON CATTLE — If you ask, “Whence did they obtain these cattle”? Has it not already been stated, (v. 6) “And all the cattle of Egypt died”? I reply that this judgment was decreed only against the cattle that were in the fields, as it is said, (v. 3) “[The hand of the Lord is] upon thy cattle which is in the field”, and everyone who feared the Lord took his cattle in-doors. So it is taught in the Mechilta in the comment on (Exodus 14:7) “And he took six hundred chosen chariots.”

"And they took the soot of the furnace" — [as much as] two handfuls, as he mentioned, and Moses threw it all. It is plausible that the magicians had not been struck by the plague of frogs and the arov on account of their wisdom; they sought through their knowledge of natural science to gain some relief for themselves — and now their wisdom was confounded, which is why [Scripture] mentions this. And because the plague did not last long, Pharaoh did not ask [Moses] to pray [for its removal]. And since the first plague [blood] lasted seven days, we cannot learn from it by way of plain meaning (peshat) that every plague lasted equally long. Moreover, we should pursue what Scripture [actually] says: it is known that the plague of pestilence lasted one hour, and the plague of darkness lasted three days; therefore we have no way of knowing in which month Moses came and the plagues began, unless our holy Sages had a received tradition — in that case we accept and heed it.

אדם ובבהמה “Upon man and upon cattle” – Rashi asked how it was possible that there were still animals around when it had already been stated in v.6 “And all the cattle of Egypt died”? Rashi answered this question by citing v.3 that only the animals in the fields were killed while everyone who feared the Lord had taken his cattle in-doors. But this is Rashi’s language since it does not say so in v.3.

And the sorcerers were unable to stand before Moses on account of the inflammation, for the inflammation was upon the sorcerers and upon all the Egyptians.

AND THE MAGICIANS COULD NOT STAND BEFORE MOSES. They were ashamed, and confounded, and covered their heads since they were full of boils and could not rescue themselves. Therefore they made no appearance in the royal palace, nor did they appear before Moses in the streets. And so they were imprisoned in their homes.

ולא יכלו החרטומים לעמוד, “and the sorcerers could no longer stand before Moses, etc.” This is a description of the embarrassment of the sorcerers at their impotence, so that they withdrew to their private quarters so as not to have to face any hostile or disrespectful audience.

And Hashem hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not accept from them, just as Hashem had spoken with Moses.

AND THE ETERNAL HARDENED THE HEART OF PHARAOH. It is possible that during the first plagues, the magicians hardened Pharaoh’s heart in order to pride themselves in their wisdom. But now that they did not come before him and there was none to help him and none to uphold him in his folly except his iniquities that ensnared him, [it was G-d Who hardened his heart]. It is possible that Scripture is alluding to that which our Rabbis have explained, i.e., that during the first plagues, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was his own doing, and now it was [rightfully] caused by G-d, as I have explained above. This is the true explanation.

"And Hashem hardened [Pharaoh's heart]" — therefore he did not ask [Moses] to pray.

.'ויחזק ה, G’d needed to reinforce Pharaoh’s heart as without this he would not have been able to endure this plague without his resistance collapsing. We know how Satan expected Job to react to the same affliction, from Job 2,5 “if You lay a hand on his bones and flesh he will surely blaspheme.”

ולא שמע אליהם, “but he paid no heed to them.” [This was also a plague that had not been announced beforehand to Pharaoh. Ed.] An additional reason why Pharaoh paid no heed to this plague was that the boils proved responsive to medical treatment.

ויחזק ה' את לב פרעה, “G’d hardened the heart of Pharaoh.” This was the sixth plague already and it is the first time that the Torah writes that it was G’d who made Pharaoh’s heart strong. Up until now he had hardened his heart unassisted by G’d but due to other considerations as we explained. Now there were no sorcerers who would have lent backbone to Pharaoh by their very presence and would have caused him to remain obstinate. They were ashamed to appear in public as they themselves were suffering from the symptoms of this שחין פורח אבעבעת. Had G’d not interfered at this point, Pharaoh might have capitulated and perhaps would have decided to let the Israelites go.

ויחזק ה', “the Lord strengthened the heart of Pharaoh.” It is possible that during the preceding plagues the presence of and encouragement by the sorcerers had helped Pharaoh to maintain a defiant posture. Now G’d had to strengthen his heart so that he would not capitulate prematurely, and G’d could not complete the whole series of plagues He had planned. Ibn Ezra writes that Pharaoh did not ask Moses to pray to G’d on this occasion because the plague did not last long, and we should not assume that because the first plague had lasted for seven days, that all the subsequent plagues also lasted for a whole week. We should be guided by the text, so that the plague of pestilence lasted only for an hour, whereas the plague of darkness continued for three whole days. This being so, we have no way of calculating during which month of which year these plagues commenced. If what the sages have handed down to us is based on tradition, we are, of course, bound to accept this, if not, we may pursue our own speculations.

And Hashem said to Moses: Rise early in the morning and station yourself before Pharaoh, and say to him: Thus says Hashem, the God of the Jews — send forth My people, that they may serve before Me.

"And He said" — Scripture does not mention here that [Moses] was to go out to the water; perhaps he had some other need [to go there].

השכם בבוקר, "rise up early in the morning, etc!" Moses was given three separate instructions here. 1) To go to see Pharaoh early in the morning. 2) To adopt an erect posture when facing Pharaoh, not to bow down as was customary. G'd needed to command Moses to do this as his natural habit was to appear deferential before Pharaoh. Moses was not do discard his natural humble stance except in the presence of Pharaoh. 3) He was to communicate G'd's message to Pharaoh.

השכם בבקר, “arise early in the morning!” Ibn Ezra draws our attention to the fact that the Torah did not command Moses this time to meet Pharaoh at the banks of the river Nile. Perhaps there was some other reason why Moses was commanded to arise early on that day.

For this time I am sending all My blows against your heart, and against your servants, and against your people, so that you may know that there is none like Me who holds dominion over all the earth.

את כל מגפתי [FOR I WILL THIS TIME SEND] ALL MY PLAGUES — We may gather from this that the plague on the first ripe ears outweighed all the previous plagues.

"For" — [the word] "my plagues" (mageifotai) is mentioned here because of the thunder, hail, rain, and fire that combined [in this plague]; and we have not seen that Pharaoh feared any of the preceding plagues as he feared this one — [it was then that] he said, "Hashem is the righteous one." The meaning of "for there is none like Me in all the earth" is: according to Egypt's thinking, their gods were capable of doing harm or good [on their own].

כי בפעם הזאת, this time when I demonstrate My power over the third category of phenomena, the atmosphere and what it contains, אני שולח את כל מגפותי אל לבך ובעבדיך ובעמך, every plague which I am about to send will affect each one of you even after the plague itself departs. The damage caused by the plague while it was active will be felt long after the plague has departed. The after-effect could be felt because of the vegetables remaining having suffered damage from the hail. The unnatural type of darkness would also leave behind it unpleasant after-effects, as the whole atmosphere would have been affected during the period of no light. If we consider that for three days running no one could even rise from his chair or bed, we can imagine that this was not merely an absence of daylight. The plagues that had preceded the hail had not left behind them permanent after-effects. בעבור תדע כי אין כמוני בכל הארץ, this realisation will come to you when you observe how I enjoy complete mastery of the atmosphere. G’d reserved the demonstration that He also had complete control of all the phenomena in outer space, or in extra terrestrial regions for the time when He split the Sea of Reeds. When the Egyptians observed the movements of the pillars of fire and the columns of cloud, all of which moved in a manner which reflected that they were being directed by a higher power.

כי בפעם הזאת…את כל מגפותי, "for this time… all My plagues." G'd informed Pharaoh of the powerful impact of the impending plague of hail. This is why the warning was as severe as the death that would follow if it were not observed. This was in accordance with the rule that if someone guilty of a sin carrying the death penalty by stoning was warned of a lesser death penalty such as strangulation, the court would not be able to convict. כל מגפותי, "all My plagues, etc." The obvious question here is that we observe that this was not the last plague but was followed by three more plagues; what did G'd mean then when He described hail as "all My plagues?" One would have been tempted to say that the severity of that plague made it qualify for the description "all My plagues," were it not for Rashi who said that the plague of the dying of the firstborn was equal in severity to all the other plagues combined. Perhaps we have to understand this plague as being equal in severity "to all the preceding plagues together." If we accept such an interpretation the plague of the dying of the firstborn would then be equivalent to 14 plagues, something that does not seem to make too much sense. I therefore feel that G'd meant to tell Pharaoh that the impact of this particular plague would change his attitude to all the plagues G'd had brought upon him thus far. Up until now Pharaoh had not really attributed the plagues to G'd's superior power, but had seen in them a display of powerful magic, the work of ghosts and demons. One of his reasons was that his own magicians appeared able to duplicate those plagues. Although his magicians had told him that they could not duplicate (or remove) the plague of כנם, insects, and this was a "finger of G'd," Pharaoh chose to interpret this as an admission that they felt outclassed by Moses and Aaron in their craft. Pharaoh was still convinced that somewhere there were magicians who could do what Moses and Aaron had demonstrated. G'd wanted to disabuse Pharaoh of such ideas and that is why He said "this time," etc., meaning that even Pharaoh would be forced to admit that no human being was capable of producing the kind of hail he was about to experience. G'd added that He would bring this to the attention of Pharaoh's heart, לבך. Up until that moment Pharaoh may have reacted only with his eyes or with his mind. G'd stressed the word מגפותי, "My plagues," to emphasise that these phenomena emanated directly from G'd. No demon or sorcerer could possibly wield such power.

את כל מגפותי, “all My plagues;” according to Rashi what we are to learn from this verse (“all My plagues”) is that the plague of killing the Egyptians’ firstborns is considered as equivalent to all the plagues. [There are different errors in different manuscripts of Rashi, as a result of which it is not clear whether Rashi spoke about the plague of hail, or the last group of plagues commencing with hail and concluding with the slaying of the firstborn. I will not speculate, therefore [I omit speculations quoted by the author also. Ed.] אל לבך, “against your heart;” not only trees can be broken, but hearts can also be “broken.” This occurs when the heart is overwhelmed by fear. The letter ב in לבך has a dot, dagesh.

את כל מגפותי, “all my plagues.” According to the plain meaning of the text the reason G’d referred to the plague of hail as “all My plagues” is that this plague contained within it most of the plagues that man and beast suffer from. This is why the Torah added the words מאדם עד בהמה, “from man to beast” in verse 25 when the impact of the plague is being described. All the trees were broken by the hail, not to mention any crops which were ready or close to harvesting. The ice, i.e. the cold which accompanied the phenomenon of this hail froze all plants which were already above ground. We find confirmation of this thought by Assaph in Psalms 78,47 “He killed their vines with hail, their sycamore with frost.” The word חנמל in that psalm is a variety of hail. It is a strong frost which breaks the blossoms of the trees and dries out their moisture. Shemot Rabbah 12,4 explains that the reason why this kind of hail is called חנמל is because when it came נח מל, “it settled on the trees and cut them (as if ‘circumcised’) a cut which does not grow back and regenerate itself.” This hail which contained destructive fire within it was even more damaging. A Midrashic approach based on Shemot Rabbah 12,4: The words “all My plagues” refers to the hail which broke the trees whereas the fire contained within it burned the roots. The force of the cold did not extinguish the fire, nor did the heat of the fire melt the hail (ice). You may understand the phenomenon when you consider the following parable: a king has two dukes who hate each other. After a number of years of such feuding between the dukes war broke out in the kingdom and the king required the services of both dukes in order to defeat the enemy. He needed to see to it that the two feuding dukes stopped fighting each other and combined to help him win the war. This is the deeper meaning of Job 25,2: המשל ופחד עמו,עושה שלום במרומיו, “Dominion and dread are His; He imposes peace in His heights.” The word המשל refers to the archangel Michael, the word פחד, to the archangel Gavriel. Michael is in charge of water, Gavriel in charge of fire. G’d imposes peace between them in order for His war against evil to be fought successfully. We find a similar concept in Ezekiel‘s vision of the מרכבה, “G’d’s heavenly entourage.” The prophet described a vision of the angels supporting G’d’s throne as respectively fiery and icy (1,13 and 1,22). If we consider that water or ice usually descends whereas fire usually rises, it becomes clear that we speak of natural forces with opposite characteristics, not to mention heat and cold which are opposites also. G’d arranged for water, i.e. the sky to have its habitat in the heights, whereas fire has its habitat down below. You will observe that our paragraph contains the word ברד, hail 14 times. [The word יד equals 14 in the numerical value of its letters. In other words, ברד was a manifestation of G’d’s “hand, יד.” Ed.] According to the author the reason that the word ברד appears 14 times is that it reflected the power of water. It is generally known that the planet moon exercises a force upon the water similar to the planet sun exercising its force upon fire. The moon is responsible for the phenomenon of the tides receding and rising respectively. During the first 14 days of the month the moon appears to increase in size, whereas during the last 14 days of the month the moon appears to decrease in size. A kabbalistic approach: The word כל, “all,” in the expression את כל מגפותי, “all My plagues,” may be understood as similar to the word “all” in ולא יעיר כל חמתו, “and did not give vent to all His fury” (Psalms 78,38). The meaning of the word in that context is the attribute called כל. This attribute describes G’d’s anger. Here too the Torah describes that this plague will be the result of G’d’s anger at Pharaoh having failed to respond to earlier methods to discipline him. Henceforth this attribute would be employed in order to humble him. This is why Moses needed to raise his hands (verse 29) when he prayed for the removal of this plague when the time came. He had not had to do this when he prayed for the removal of any of the preceding plagues. People had actually been dying from fear when they merely heard the sound of the hail. Seeing this plague was the result of the combined efforts of G’d and His celestial court it was more severe than the plagues preceding it. This fact is alluded to in the Torah especially mentioning the word קולות as part of the actual plague in verse 23: “and G’d sent thunder and hail.” Seeing this had been so, Moses had to make an increased effort in his prayer to stop the plague by using also his outstretched hands in prayer. He needed to sanctify all his ten fingers. The symbolism contained in raising one’s hands heavenwards in prayer is that it is an expression of one’s awareness of the source of the disaster which one wants to prevent by one’s prayer and by invoking G’d’s attribute of Mercy towards what transpires on earth. The plague’s effect on Pharaoh was that for the first time he publicly acknowledged that he and his people had sinned, that G’d was righteous (verse 27). As soon as Moses engaged in this kind of prayer the hail, etc. ceased (not on the next day as in previous plagues). בעבור תדע כי אין כמוני בכל הארץ, “so that you will appreciate that there is no One like Me in the whole universe.” Moses informed Pharaoh by means of this short line that G’d in His capacity as Hashem exists, exerts power over the fate of man on earth and that He has the ability to make things happen or to even reverse them. Moses had already demonstrated that Hashem exists when the plague of frogs occurred, when the Torah had introduced it by the words: “in order that you should know that there is none like Hashem” (8,6). This had meant that there is no Existence comparable to that of Hashem. The fact that this Existence exercises its dominion over creatures on earth was the purpose of the fourth plague, the wild beasts roaming at will through urban areas had been introduced with the words: “in order that you should appreciate that I am an Existence active in the very midst of the earth” (8,18). The message was that G’d acted on earth just like a king within his realm. At this point Pharaoh was taught the additional lesson about the uniqueness of every aspect of that Being known as Hashem. The reason that Moses had to repeat all this was that initially, Pharaoh had denied all three aspects of the meaning of Hashem, His existence, His impact on events, and His uniqueness. This meant simply that no other power in the universe commanded this range of abilities. According to Pessikta Zutrata on our verse, whenever we encounter such expressions as למען תדע, בעבור תדע “in order that you will know, so that you will know,” this is Moses’ reminder to Pharaoh of his original sin which consisted of his denial of the existence of Hashem. We have a proverb in Proverbs 27,22 “even if you pound the fool in a mortar, with a pestle along with the grain, his folly will not leave him.” Moses reminded Pharaoh constantly of his sin. Pharaoh’s problem was that the constant pounding he received was such that it completely deadened his ability to react. He needed the weeks of relief between plagues to reassert his former obstinacy.

“For at this time, I will send all My plagues.” Rashi explained that we learn that the plague of the firstborn is equivalent to all the plagues. The Re’em [Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi] explained that “bechorot” [firstborn] has the letter bet with a patach vowel [which would mean the early crops], because in the hail, only the early-ripening [crops] that had ripened early were struck, as it says, For the barley was aviv [early-ripening]. Rashi explained: “It had already ripened.” Some versions read “betzarot” [famines] instead of “bechorot” [firstborn], because the hail caused them hunger and famine, and this is the version that Abarbanel taught. Nevertheless, the questioner’s concern was not satisfied as to why this plague was greater than all the other plagues. One cannot say that it was greater because of the great terror that came from “the voice of God hewing flames of fire,” for these are truly terrifying things, because if so, why did Rashi attribute the matter to the striking of the early crops or to famine? Weren’t the thunderous sounds the main cause of terror? On the contrary, it appears they weren’t so concerned about the crops, for if they were, the plague of locusts would be equivalent to all the plagues, since it consumed what the hail left behind. Rather, certainly they weren’t so concerned [about the crops] since the wheat and spelt were not struck. So why would this plague be greater than all the plagues? According to the simple interpretation, we can resolve this by saying that it is actually referring to the plague of the firstborn, because we need to examine why it states for at this time I am sending all My plagues to your heart — why isn’t the phrase “to your heart” used in any plague except this one? Rather, it means that in the sequence of the last three plagues, I am sending you one plague that will cause you, if you are wise, to take to heart the plague of the firstborn which will come at the end of this sequence. This is because from the beginning, God warned Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborn, as it is written And you refuse to send him, behold I will kill your firstborn son (Exodus 4:23), as Rashi explains there. And because at that time he had not yet felt how great this calamity would be, since he had only heard verbal warnings but had not seen it, therefore he did not take it to heart and did not repent because of mere words. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, said that now I am sending you a plague on the firstborn of the produce of the ground, and I know that this plague will cause you much more pain than all the previous plagues, because all fruit that ripens first is especially beloved to a person, as will be explained, God willing, in Parshat Ki Tavo (26:2) regarding the reason for the first fruits. And the proof is that with this plague, he admitted and said, I have sinned this time, which he did not say in any of the previous plagues, because truly it pained him greatly that the fruits that had ripened first were struck, since they are especially dear to a person. And if this is so with the fruit of the ground, how much more so with the fruit of your loins — how great is the pain at the death of your firstborn son! And if until now you have not felt this, behold at this time when I strike the firstborn of the produce of the ground, then you will take to heart all My plagues, that is, the plague of the firstborn of human offspring — how great the pain is. And regarding this it is said, For at this time I am sending all My plagues, meaning the plague of the firstborn of human offspring, to your heart, that you should set your heart to contemplate and infer a fortiori: If for the firstborn fruits of the ground the pain is so great because they are dear to a person, how much more so for the firstborn fruit of your loins. Therefore, Rashi properly states that the plague of the firstborn itself is equivalent to all the plagues, for the verse calls it all My plagues. And this is the truth, for in all of them Pharaoh did not submit except with the plague of the firstborn. And with this is resolved why the verse needed to say And the flax and the barley were struck because the barley was in the ear and had already ripened, and this is a very precious explanation. And by way of allusion, it seems to me, along the lines I wrote above (7:17), that the plague of hail and the thunder came to Pharaoh because he refused to listen to the voice of God in majesty. Therefore, God made terrifying and frightening sounds reach his ears. That is why he would specifically confess this particular sin, saying The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. This was because he had denied God, saying, He is not [the Lord], thus sinning with his voice and speaking evil about his Creator. Therefore, he was judged with thunderous voices, similar to what they said (Leviticus Rabbah 16:7) about the person with tzara’at [skin disease] who brings birds that make vocal sounds to atone for the voice of evil speech. Therefore, it says here The sounds will cease and there will be no more hail. One might question: why not combine them and teach The sounds and hail will cease or there will be no more [sounds and hail]? Rather, this is what Moses said to Pharaoh: “Why do you cry out to me saying ‘Plead with the Lord’? If you turn from your ways and stop making your voice heard in public — a voice of strife with insults and blasphemies against the Almighty, saying Who is the Lord? — then automatically the hail will be no more, because when the cause is removed, the effect will also be removed.” This is what it means: “When your thunderous voices cease, then automatically the hail will be no more, so that you will know that the earth belongs to the Lord when you return in repentance, not as you said at first, Who is the Lord?” And because this sin was with the tongue, and it is known that the sin of the tongue magnifies sins equivalent to the three cardinal sins, which are idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder, and the entire Torah in general. For anyone who acknowledges idolatry is like one who denies the entire Torah. Therefore, it is appropriate that the one who sins with their tongue should be judged with all forms of capital punishment, because the punishment for idolatry is stoning, as is the punishment for blasphemy, and the punishment for murder is beheading, and the punishment for general sexual immorality is strangulation, and for a priest’s daughter who commits harlotry it is burning. Thus we find that all four forms of execution by the court apply to these three cardinal sins. Therefore, it is appropriate that one who sins with their tongue should be judged with all these plagues, for it is equivalent to all of them. This is what is meant by For this time I will send all My plagues, because we find in the plague of hail examples of all four forms of capital punishment by the court: Stoning with stones — corresponding to this, hail descended upon them along with hailstones, and he shall surely be stoned. Burning — as it says, fire went along the ground. Beheading — as it says He killed their vines with hail (Psalms 78:47), and the term “killing” is not normally used with vines, but rather it alludes to their important people who are compared to vines, as it says You removed a vine from Egypt (Psalms 80:9). And strangulation — this refers to the abundance of water that fell with the hail, for perhaps some of them drowned in the field in the rain of the hail, for anyone who is liable to strangulation will drown in a river, etc. (Ketubot 30b). And the hail struck that which ripened first, because Pharaoh sent forth his tongue against the Holy One, blessed be He, who is the Firstborn of the world, as is mentioned in the book Neveh Shalom. And incidentally, the scripture informs us that the flax and the barley were struck, etc. Although its simple meaning suggests that it comes to inform us incidentally that just as the flax was struck because it was standing in its hardness, so too was Pharaoh struck for his stiff-neckedness like this stalk. Nevertheless, along the way, it also comes to inform us who the afflicted ones are who receive damage from the slanderers, and who is free from the slanderers, in a way that everything is measure for measure. Anyone who receives damage from the voice of the slanderers, correspondingly those plants resembling him were also struck by the sound of the hail. And anyone who was saved from the voice of the slanderers, those plants resembling him were also saved from the voice of the hail. For it is known that two groups receive damage from slanderers: The first group are those who are superior in rank, whom many jealous people harm because they envy their great stature. Moreover, because of their elevated status, they are more affected by slander. This excludes those of lesser rank, whom others do not envy as much and do not direct the arrows of their tongue at as much. And even if their arrows do strike him, nevertheless he is not as affected and it does not harm him as much as slander harms people of high rank, who have the right of the firstborn, who sit foremost in the kingdom of heaven. Indeed, this trait is common among many of our people, for slanderers leave no one innocent; any man of valor with many accomplishments — with their tongues they bring down every high wall, and every mighty cedar of Lebanon is pierced by the worm of Jacob. The second group are those who stand up against the slanderers like this stalk and are not subdued by them, to hear their reproach and not respond, but rather want to stand against them to answer their revilers, or one who prides himself on his stature, for his height is compared to a palm tree — then slander harms him even more. And the one who is saved from evil speech is, the one who is among those who obscure themselves, who do not show themselves before others, to fulfill what is said Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide for a little while until the fury passes (Isaiah 26:20). Even though their tongue is a sharpened arrow that passes through many walls; and [even] one who sits in the innermost chambers who is protected from all weapons, nevertheless he is not protected from these archers. However, there is at least a small protection when a person does not display his virtues before them and does not respond to those who insult him, and is like a man who does not hear. Therefore, the Torah tells us that the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. It is difficult to understand what this is teaching us. If it is to inform us that because the wheat and the spelt were not struck, Pharaoh hardened his heart, why did the Torah need to give a reason why these were struck and those were not struck? Rather, it is to hint to us that just as the voice of the tongue harms those of first-rate importance and those who stand tall like a stalk, so too by the sound of the hail, the flax and the barley were struck, because the flax was a stalk standing in its hardness, and the barley was early, it ripened first. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck. Similarly, all those who obscure themselves and are not seen by others in their greatness, and who make themselves as if they do not hear, these are not struck. And this will be explained, God willing, in the portion of Ki Tetze And you shall have a spade among your tools (23:14). For silence is the main weapon of a person to defeat those who insult him. And with this is resolved, what is written When I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord (Exodus 9:29). Rashi explains that it was because the city was full of idols. And people question why he [Moses] was particular specifically about this plague, even though according to the simple meaning one could say that certainly he was particular about this in all the plagues, and Moses did not need to inform Pharaoh when he would pray, and whether inside the city or outside it, except for this plague where Pharaoh said, Enough of these divine sounds, which indicates that he was so terrified by the thunders that he wanted them to stop immediately. Therefore, Moses needed to inform him that it was impossible for them to stop immediately, since he [Moses] needed to first leave the city and there he would entreat the Lord. Nevertheless, even according to our approach, he [Moses] hinted to him [Pharaoh] that the sin of the tongue caused the Lord to turn away from Pharaoh, and He did not want to be seen even by Moses as long as he was in the same space as Pharaoh, in the way that our Sages said (Arakhin 15b): “Whoever speaks evil speech [lashon hara], the Holy One, blessed be He, says, ‘He and I cannot dwell together,’ as it is said Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him I will destroy; him who is haughty of eye and proud of heart, him I will not tolerate (Psalms 101:5) — do not read ‘him’ [oto] but ‘with him’ [ito].” Therefore it is said, When I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord, because the city is full of idols. For just as He sent all His plagues against him because evil speech magnifies sins comparable to idolatry, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed, so too He mentioned the phrase full of idols to indicate that this sin encompasses many idols and fills the entire city with all types of idols. And there are those who say, that he needed to pray in the field, the place where the plague was most active. And it seems further to say that he needed to say when I go out of the city so that Pharaoh would not suspect that out of fear of the sounds and the hail, he would go to some house to pray. Therefore, he said to him when I go out of the city to show him the greatness of the miracle, that in every place where the sole of his foot would tread, there would be no hail.

את כל מגפותי, “all My plagues.” The Torah describes the phenomenon of this hail as “G’d’s plagues,” (plural mode) although it is listed as only one of ten plagues. The reason is that it consisted of so many different components, i.e. thunder, rain, hail, and fire. This clearly was the plague that shook Pharaoh more than any other so far, as he reacted by admitting that the Lord was righteous and that he as well as his people were the wicked ones.

מגפותי, different damage causing plagues, such as fire, hail, and brimstones, snow and heavy smoke.

For it was already near before Me to send forth the blow of My power and to strike you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been annihilated from the earth.

כי עתה שלחתי את ידי וגו׳ FOR NOW I MIGHT HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HAND etc. — For had I so desired it, when My hand was upon thy cattle which I smote with pestilence I could have stretched it forth and smitten thee and thy people together with the cattle, ותכחד מן הארץ AND THOU WOULDST HAVE BEEN EXTERMINATED FROM THE EARTH, BUT (this word אבל corresponds to ואולם in the Hebrew text) בעבור זאת העמדתיך FOR THIS REASON I MADE THEE REMAIN [IN LIFE IN ORDER TO SHOW THEE MY POWER], etc.

"But" (va-akh) — lacking a nun, as in "va-et elav okhi'l" (Hos. 11:4), both [forms] being equivalent, and their root is natah [to stretch out] / nakkah [to strike]. The meaning [of the verse] concerns the well-known plague [of pestilence], through which [it is implied]: with it I slew your livestock; I could have slain all of you along with them.

כי עתה, at the time when I afflicted the livestock, I had actually considered also afflicting you personally with the same plague. I meant to wipe you out from earth. The only reason I did not do so as yet was בעבור הראותך את כחי, to show you My power and to convince you of the nonsense you uttered when you had said that you do not know of My existence (5,2).

But indeed for this very reason I have preserved you — in order to show you My power, and so that the might of My name may be proclaimed throughout all the earth.

"But for this very reason I have let you stand" — the meaning is: what is the purpose of "this"? It is in order to show you My power. Comparable to it: "and from within it, the likeness of the electrum from within the fire" (Ezek. 1:4). And Yefet said: "for this" refers to this plague, namely the plague of hail. The meaning of "and in order that My name be recounted" does not refer back to Pharaoh [i.e., that Pharaoh would personally recount it]; rather, "recount" (sapper) is an infinitive, like "for I will greatly honor you" (ki kavedekha akabbedkha, Num. 22:17). The meaning is not that Pharaoh would travel through the world to recount the glory of the Name; rather, His name would be recounted in every generation because of these signs that He performed.

בעבור הראותך את כחי, so that you may finally display repentance. In the final analysis, I am not interested in the death of the sinner but in his rehabilitation through his own efforts. (Ezekiel 18,31) ולמען ספר שמי, which will result in repentance by the multitude.

בעבור תדע..ולמען תספר שמי בכל הארץ….בעבור הראותך את כתי. "In order that you should know….in order to show you My power…and in order that you will proclaim My name in the whole land, etc." You who have said: "who is G'd?" will now be the first one to proclaim My name all over the earth. Obviously, Pharaoh did not have the kind of communications media which are at our disposal today. The Torah means that as a result of what would happen to Pharaoh he would be the instrument through which the whole of mankind would become aware of what G'd does to those who refuse to accept His orders. Even nowadays kings have been heard to say that if the Jewish Messiah arrives and performs a miracle they would not repeat Pharaoh's mistakes.

ולמען ספר את שמי בכל הארץ, “and in order to spread My fame in the whole country, (or on the whole earth).” G-d continues to respond “tit for tat,” seeing that Pharaoh had denied His existence, not to acknowledge His power, G-d will make sure that he will see how wrong he had been, and he would have to do so publicly.

בעבור הראותך את כוחי, “in order to demonstrate to you My power.” G’d did not also display His גבורות, as this was an aspect of His which He did not display in Egypt. However, during the redemption of the future G’d will display this aspect of His power also as testified to by Ezekiel 40,4 who mentions this in connection with his vision of the building of the Third Temple. The key word in Ezekiel’s vision is the words הובאתה הנה הראותכה spelled with the letter ה at the end. This is a hint that at that time additional dimensions of G’d’s power and greatness will become manifest. The letter ה is absent in the word הראותך used by Moses to describe what G’d had shown Pharaoh.

NEVERTHELESS I HAVE SPARED YOU FOR THIS PURPOSE: IN ORDER TO SHOW YOU MY POWER, ETC. To inform you of your foolishness, in your saying (5:2), "I do not know Adonai.

You still press down upon My people, so as not to send them forth.

עודך מסתולל בעמי Understand this as the Targum does: THOU TREADEST DOWN MY PEOPLE. The word מסתולל is of the same derivation as מְסִלַּה which we render in the Targum by “a trodden path”: old French caucher. I have already explained at the end of Sedrah ויהי מקץ (see Rashi on Genesis 44:16) that in the case of every word (verb) whose first root letter is ס (or ש), when it is intended to express the idea of acting upon itself (our Hithpael conjugation) one puts the ת of the prefix (הִתְ or מִת or יִתְ etc.) between the root letters, just as in this case, and as in, (Ecclesiastes 12:5) ‘‘and the grasshopper shall drag itself along heavily (ויסתבל)” which is derived from סבל “to carry a load”; (Numbers 16:13) “that thou wouldst make thyself altogether a prince (השתרר תשתרר) over us”, of the same derivation as the word שר in (II Chronicles 32:21) “a prince (שר) and noble”; (Daniel 7:8) ‘‘I was considering (מסתכל)” from the root סכל, “to reflect on.”

"You still exalt yourself" (mistolel) — like mitshtabbeah [glorying], from the root of "esteem her and she will exalt you" (salselah va-teromemekha, Prov. 4:5). And if it is a doubled [root], with the first radical doubled, it belongs to the class of doubled-root verbs, like "make a highway for Him who rides through the deserts" (sallu, Ps. 68:5), and "I will roll you down" (ve-gilgeltikhah, Jer. 51:25), like mitgolel (2 Sam. 20:12), and also galo (Josh. 10:18). R. Marinus said that the meaning is "strengthening oneself," from the root of "highways to the house of Hashem" (mesillot le-veit Hashem, 2 Chron. 9:11), while in another place it is written missa'ad le-veit Hashem (1 Kings 10:12).

. עודך מסתולל, “seeing that you still brag about being able to thwart My people,” boasting that you can prevent them from leaving;” The word סולל reminds us of Psalms 68,5, where G-d is extolled as riding the clouds. למן היום הוסדה, “from the day it was founded;” the letter ה at the end is “weak,” i.e. does not have a dot. [which would have made it a pronoun. Ed.]

עודך מסתולל בעמי, “seeing that you still continue to act as an obstacle against My people. etc.” According to Ibn Ezra the word מסתולל has its origin in סלסלה, a word describing something exalted, superior, etc. Pharaoh is accused as still considering himself and his people as superior to the Israelites. The root letters are repeated as originally it would have sufficed to write the word as in סולו לרוכב בערבות, “exalt the One Who rides the highest celestial regions.” (Psalms 68,5) Some commentators understand the word as describing reinforcement as in נשמו מסילות, “the paved (reinforced) highways have become desolate.”(Isaiah 33, 8)

מסתולל, the reflexive mode of the verb סלל as in סולו סולו דרך הרימו מכשול, “pave, pave a way and remove every obstacle, etc.,” (Isaiah 62,10). Just as the stones are pressed together to remove them as obstacles, so Pharaoh squeezed the Israelites so that they could not offer any resistance. Compare also Jeremiah 34,11 ויכבשום לעבדים ולשפחות, they “compressed” them into becoming male and female slaves. Concerning the grammatical principles underlying the use of the reflexive conjugation mitpael, every time this conjugation appears it has the letter ת preceding the first root letter, except the ones that have that letter at the end instead of at the beginning. Examples of the former are Psalms 94,4 יתאמרו כל פעלי און Words such as יתברך, יתגדל or in Ezekiel 38,23 והתגדלתי והתקדשתי, or Jeremiah 9,23 יתהלל המתהלל, or מתפלל in Exodus 10,2. The author lists a few more examples, showing that all of the letters of the aleph bet except the 7 letters ד'זט ס'ץ ש'ת, follow this pattern. When the first root letter is either a ש or a ת, the letter ת is appended at the end instead of at the beginning. The exception is a word whose root begins with the letter ס. One such example is our verse, the root being סל. The basic meaning is parallel to Numbers 16,13 תסתרר עלינו, where the word תסתורר is derived from the root שר. In examples such as ישתבח, ישתמר or משתכר, all of which have roots beginning with the letter ש, the letter ת signaling the conjugation התפעל is deferred until after the first root letter. In roots commencing with the letter ז or צ, no such letter ת signaling the reflexive conjugation appears at all. Instead, after the letter צ the letter ט is added to show us that we deal with the reflexive conjugation. Well known examples of these constructions are found in Genesis 44,16 נצטדק from the root צדק, and Joshua 9,12 הצטיידנו from the root ציד, provisions. Concerning the words with the first root letter ז, the letter signaling the reflexive conjugation is a ד, as in Daniel 2,9 הזדמנתון. The letters ד-ט-ת, by themselves when they appear at the beginning of the word, do not get an additional letter to indicate that the construction in which they appear is a reflexive conjugation. A prominent example of this is Numbers 7,89 וישמע את הקול מדבר, where the Torah did not write מתדבר. Another such example is Leviticus 21,4 לא יטמא בעל בעמיו, where because the root טמא begins with the letter ט the Torah did not write יתטמא, although the verb is in the reflexive mode, of course. The same is true in Samuel II 22,27 where the word תתפל in the line ועם עקש תתפל, does not have another letter ת at the beginning in order to signal that the verb is in the reflexive mode. [The author illustrated his point with still more examples, but I think he made his point adequately with the examples I have cited. Ed.]

Behold, at this season tomorrow I will cause very severe hail to rain down, the like of which has not been in Egypt from the day it was established until now.

כעת מחר means AT THIS TIME (כָּעֵת not כְּעֵת) TO-MORROW — He scratched a mark on the wall, saying, “To-morrow when the sun-rays reach here the hail will descend” (Exodus Rabbah 12:2; cf. Rashi on Genesis 21:2). הוסדה means [FROM THE DAY] WHEN IT WAS FOUNDED (נתיסדה). Every word (verb) the first root-letter of which is י, as יסד and ילד and ידע and יסר, when it is used in the Hithpael sense (Rashi means our Niphal which often is the reflexive of the Kal), a ו replaces this י; e. g., הוסדה here, from יסד; (Hosea 2:5) “her being born (הִוָלְדָּהּ)”; (Esther 2:22) “and it was known (ויודע)”; (Genesis 66:20) “and there was born (ויולד) to Joseph”; (Proverbs 29:19) A servant will not be corrected (יוסר) by words”.

In view of the fact that Scripture states, A very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the day it was founded, and repeats it again, Very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation, there is an allusion that there are other places in the world where such hail did come down, such as is mentioned in the verse, And the Eternal cast down great stones from heaven upon them, or as is mentioned in connection with [the destruction of] Sodom, brimstone, and salt, and fire. But in the land of Egypt, where there is no rain or hail, this was a great wonder. I have not understood what is said in Midrash Rabbah: “The verse does not say, ‘as hath not been in Egypt like it,’ but instead it says, ‘as hath not been like it in Egypt,’ which means there has neither been like it in the world nor in Egypt.” And the expression, since the day it was founded, is equivalent to saying: “Your fathers and your grandfathers have never seen the like of it.” But it is not possible to say that it suggests that the like of it occurred before the world was founded or before the inception of nations. Perhaps because this hail came as a punishment upon the inhabitants of Egypt and was not in the natural order, [the verse] is saying that nothing like it has ever occurred because of the sins of the fathers, for before the inception of Egypt as a nation, surely there was no [reason for] such hail to come. BEHOLD, TOMORROW ABOUT THIS TIME I WILL CAUSE IT TO RAIN A VERY GRIEVOUS HAIL, etc. 19. NOW THEREFORE SEND, HASTEN IN THY CATTLE. All this is G-d’s word to Moses, and it is self-understood that Moses came and told Pharaoh all the words of G-d that He sent him to speak, and there was no need to prolong the account [of Moses’ going to Pharaoh and so telling him]. Scripture only states, He that feared the word of the Eternal among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses, from which it is clear that Moses had told them [G-d’s words]. This advice was on account of G-d’s being merciful to them, since the plague of hail was sent only against the produce of the earth and not against man, therefore doth He instruct sinners in the way to save them from the plague.

"Behold, I am about to rain down [hail]" — it is known that to this day hail and rain do not fall on Egypt, and there is no need to explain why this is so — and likewise in other places [Scripture notes something as true] "until this day." It was for this reason that [the Egyptians] were greatly afraid, for in Egypt only something like dew descends.

אשר לא היה כמוהו במצרים, “the like of which had never occurred in Egypt.” Moses did not say אשר לא היה במצרים כמוהו, but אשר לא היה כמוהו במצרים. This means that in the whole world there had never been a plague of hail comparable to the one that would strike Egypt. The reason that he added the word “in Egypt,” was that even in Egypt in which there is never any rain, i.e. precipitation, such a precipitation would now be experienced in its most catastrophic form.

אשר לא היה כמוהו בארץ מצרים, “the like of which never occurred in the land of Egypt.” The wording suggests that this phenomenon had never been experienced in Egypt, although it had occurred elsewhere. We have a verse in Joshua 10,11 where G’d is described as raining down large stones on the Canaanites. Seeing that rain does not normally fall in Egypt, this would be a frightening experience in that country. Seeing that hail consists of frozen rain particles, that experience was new in Egypt also. למן היום הוסדה ועד עתה, “from the day it was founded until now.”

And now, send and gather in your livestock and all that you have in the field; every person and animal found in the field who is not gathered into the house — the hail shall descend upon them and they shall die.

שלח העז translate it as the Targum: SEND, GATHER. Similar examples of this sense are, (Isaiah 10:31) “The inhabitants of Gebim gather together (העיזו)”; (Jeremiah 6:1) “Gather together (העיזו), ye children of Benjamin”. ולא יאסף הביתה The verb denotes “bringing into a place” so that the translation is: AND WHICH IS NOT GATHERED INTO THE HOUSE.

"Send out the livestock" — remove it, or gather it in. Comparable: "the inhabitants of Gebim have fled" (he'ezu, Isa. 10:31).

ועתה שלח העז את מקנך, in order that also the servants supervising the cattle would escape the hail together with their herds.. If G’d cared about the beasts, He most certainly cared about the human beings, as we know from Avot 3,18 חביב אדם כי נברא בצלם, “man is beloved as he (alone) has been created in G’d’s image.”

ועתה שלח העז את מקנך, "And now, send, and bring in your cattle, etc." You may well ask that if the Egyptians heeded Moses' warning, what effect would the forthcoming plague have? Remember, G'd's purpose in bringing plagues upon the Egyptians was not to inflict pain and suffering on them. The pain was only one way of demonstrating G'd's power. If this could be achieved by making the Egyptians obey, so much the better. At any rate, the crops would be destroyed by the hail even if there would be no deaths amongst the livestock. The Torah states specifically that both the grass and the trees were destroyed by the hail (9,24). We still have to understand why G'd said: ועתה, "now," when He issued the warning. If the meaning was "immediately," then it is difficult to understand as the hail was not meant to occur until the following day at about the same time. Perhaps the warning had to emphasise that immediate action be taken as most of the cattle were grazing far from home and would not be able to find shelter at once. We also need to understand to whom G'd addressed the advice to let the animals and people take shelter. Those who feared the word of G'd would do so immediately after they heard that there would be hail on the morrow. They did not need advice on that matter. The advice therefore was directed only at those Egyptians who did not yet fear the Lord. We therefore may interpret the call ועתה as a call to repentance. In fact Midrash Tehillim 100,2 claims that this expression always denotes repentance. G'd gave these people a chance to repent. When they failed to do so in spite of having been warned, G'd punished them.

ועתה שלח העז וגו, “and now hasten to send word to bring your cattle under cover;” this was an advice Moses had not given Pharaoh before the onset of the plague of pestilence. It is possible that the “advice” to Pharaoh to have his people gather in their remaining livestock is not a concession, but on the contrary, is an additional hardship. People failing to take this “advice,” would experience also the death of their livestock, not only the destruction of their crops. Another interpretation: our verse proves that the plague of hail was aimed not only at trees and crops but also at living creatures, including human beings.

שלח העז את מקנך, “send, gather in your cattle.” Did they not die already during the plague of pestilence? Did not the Torah state in 9,6: “all the cattle of Egypt died?” Perhaps the cattle in our verse had been replacement cattle which the Egyptians had imported after the plague of pestilence. This may have accounted for the fact that Moses advised the Egyptians to bring these cattle home to save them from the hail. Alternatively, the meaning of 9,6 could have been that “most of the cattle died,” seeing that we have a Talmudic principle of רובו ככולו, that when most of something is affected we treat it legally as if all of that something had been affected. (Midrash Sechel Tov to 9,6 stipulates that such comments as the word “all” are not to be taken literally.) A third alternative: previously the animals which were owned in partnership between Jews and Egyptians did not die.

All the preceding comments were part of what G’d announced to Moses, as Moses would not have been in a position to make such statements not having lived that long in Egypt. There is no need to tell us that Moses would deliver every word to Pharaoh which G’d had told him to convey to him. There is therefore no need to repeat his telling this to Pharaoh in detail, and the Torah made do with reporting that there were people who took Moses’ warning at face value, whereas those who did not paid with their lives. According to Rashi who claims that the pestilence only struck the beasts which had been left outside in the fields, why did Moses not warn the Egyptians at that time to take their beasts indoors to protect them, as he did here, to offer them protection against the hail? The answer, no doubt must be, that if the Egyptians had heeded Moses’ warning against leaving their livestock outside, the pestilence would not have a target to attack. In the case of the hail, the hail struck the earth, the orchards, etc, so that there were plenty of targets left even if the livestock had been salvaged. The livestock had only been considered a secondary target of the hail.

העז, “gather in!” (as a form of escaping the hail) We find this word in a similar sense in Jeremiah 6,1העיזו אנשי בנימין!, “flee for refuge O people of Binyamin!” A similar verse in Isaiah 10,31 reads יושבי הגבים העיזו, “the dwellers of Gevim sought refuge.”

Whoever among Pharaoh's servants feared the word of Hashem gathered his servants and his cattle into the houses.

הניס means HE MADE THEM FLEE.

"Who feared" — he evacuated [his livestock]. And this happened on that same day.

הירא את דבר ה' הניס, G’d continues explaining to Moses that the reason He had told Moses to advise the Egyptians to bring their cattle under cover was that he knew that anyone genuinely afraid of G’d’s warnings would avail himself of this warning and save himself and his herds.

Hiob, (Job,) who reverenced the word of the Lord, among the servants of Pharoh, gathered together his servants and his flocks within the house.

But whoever did not set his heart to the word of Hashem left his servants and his cattle in the field.

"But whoever did not take to heart" — in the Arabic language there is a sense of "but" [carried by] the vav of va-ya'azov ["and he abandoned"], yet we are unable to translate the matter into another language [with that nuance]. So too: "on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes" (Gen. 22:4), and many [other cases] are like this.

ואשר לא שם לבו חטא ויעזוב, it would become clear that he who sinned paid with his life. This is why I warn you now to save your lives.

ואשר לא שם לבו…ויעזב, and whoever paid no heed…left his cattle outdoors, etc. The extra letter ו in ויעזב, is to draw to our attention that those people who had up to now refused to heed G'd's warning added to their previous sin by continuing in their ways, deliberately exposing their livestock and servants to death by hail despite G'd's warning. Their obstinacy was such that though they could have saved their property by the simple expedient of bringing it indoors for a while, they defied G'd and did not do so. It is clear from the Torah's report that what motivated the Egyptians was not so much their economic need of the cheap labour that the Israelites represented and which made them refuse to liberate them, but their defiance of the Jewish G'd. Even those who doubted G'd's ability to orchestrate a plague of hail such as Moses had predicted preferred to demonstrate their defiance by risking their property. Perhaps the reason they took such a chance was that the previous six plagues had not been severe enough so that they did not believe that G'd could suddenly bring such a terrible plague.

“and whoever did not take the word of G-d to heart” – even those who did not fear G-d had cattle if they did not take their animals unto the fields on the day of the plague of the Epidemic.

And Hashem said to Moses: Lift your hand toward the expanse of the heavens, and there shall be hail throughout all the land of Egypt — upon people, and upon animals, and upon all the grass of the field in the land of Egypt.

על השמים signifies towards the heavens (i. e. על is the equivalent of אל). A Midrashic comment is that the Holy One, blessed be He, raised Moses high above the heavens see Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 15).

"And He said" — by logical inference it appears that [Moses'] stretching out his hand was with the staff, for it is written afterward, "and Moses stretched out his staff toward the heavens" — that is, toward the air, as in "over the face of the firmament of the heavens" (Gen. 1).

And Moses lifted his staff toward the expanse of the heavens, and Hashem gave forth thunderclaps and hail, and fire traveled along the ground; and Hashem rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

"And fire walked" (va-tihalakh) — in the qal [simple] binyan, in the language of walking. "Earthward" (artzah) — contrary to its [fire's] nature, for naturally it rises upward.

ותהלך אש ארצה, the atmosphere which had already been heated descended earthward with the same speed as the hail. [Normally, fire has a tendency to rise into higher levels of the atmosphere. Here, the reverse happened. Ed.]

וה' נתן קולות, “and the Lord had unleashed thunder, etc.,” against Pharaoh and his counselors. ותהלך אש ארצה, “and fire streamed to the ground.” From the words: ואש מתלקחת we know there was fire. Fire is mentioned because fire usually rises but this fire descended from heaven.

קולות וברד ותהלך אש ארצה, “thunder and hail; the fire traveled earthward.” It is a well known fact that atmospheric changes occur during periods of hail. All diseases strike creatures composed of the four basic raw materials. The underlying reasons for such diseases afflicting man are the atmospheric changes which affect the four basic materials fire, water, wind, and earth. As long as these four materials maintain their respective balance the bodies of the human beings consisting of them remain healthy. If one of those materials becomes stronger at the expense of the others, disease will manifest itself amongst human beings. In this instance two of these raw materials were in imbalance. The words “and the fire traveled earthward” expresses the reaction to this imbalance by the other two basic raw materials. The Torah describes fire as doing the reverse of its normal function, i.e. as traveling downwards instead of upwards, i.e. as doing the same as earth which always has a downward tendency. All of these phenomena demonstrated how G’d could change at will all the scientific axioms accepted by man as immutable.

ויט משה את מטהו על השמים, ”Moses stretched his staff heavenwards.” According to Ibn Ezra, the word שמים here is an alternate for the word “atmosphere.” We also find the expression רקיע השמים as referring to the atmosphere and not to celestial regions. ותהלך אש ארצה, “and the fire traveled earthward;” the reverse of the natural behaviour of fire which strives upwards.

And there was hail, with fire blazing within the hail — very severe, the like of which had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

מתלקחת בתוך הברד [AND FIRE] FLASHING UP AMIDST THE HAIL — a miracle within a miracle! Fire and hail mingled, although hail is water! But in order to perform the will of their Creator they made peace one with the other (Exodus Rabbah 12:4).

"And fire flashing in the midst of the hail" — a wonder within a wonder.

ואש מתלקחת בתוך הברד. Driven by the immense velocity and pressure of the descending hailstones. The heat generated in the atmosphere resulted in unnatural sounds being heard everywhere. Both hard and soft plants were destroyed by the hail. Verse 25 spells all this out in detail.

ויהי ברד ואש, there was hail and fire simultaneously, etc. The word מתלקחת is used to inform us that though water and fires are opposites, one of which is bound to prevail over the other in any encounter, in this instance they demonstrated the ability to co-exist. This was possible since both were performing G'd's will by so doing.

ואש מתלקחת בתוך הברד, “and fire was contained within the hail stones,” it is clear that after the hail had hit the ground, that this fire started conflagrations. [Otherwise who would have known that there was fire inside the hail stones? Ed.]

And the hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt everything that was in the field, from people to animals; and all the grass of the field the hail struck, and every tree of the field it shattered.

"And it struck" — this was a severe plague, for it killed man and animal and shattered the trees of the field; yet Hashem had mercy on [Israel] and their livestock. Moses did not mention this to Pharaoh, since he [Moses] saw that Pharaoh had [already] sent [messengers] and that not even one of Israel's livestock had died, yet he did not take it to heart.

Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

ONLY IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN, WHERE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE, WAS THERE NO HAIL. Because Moses had stretched forth his hand toward heaven and brought down the hail, it should have followed that it came down also upon the land of Goshen, as the air thereof and that of Egypt are the same. Therefore Scripture explained that the air over the land of Goshen was saved [from the hail] because the children of Israel were there.

רק בארץ גשן אשר שם בני ישראל לא היה ברד “only in the land of Goshen, the area in which the Israelites lived, was there no hail.” Seeing that Moses raised his staff toward the atmosphere generally, not in any specific direction, we would have expected that the hail would strike indiscriminately. The Torah therefore reports the additional miracle that the district in which the Israelites lived was not struck by the hail or rain.

And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them: I have sinned this time — Hashem is righteous, and I and my people are guilty.

I HAVE SINNED THIS TIME. The explanation thereof is: “This time I will acknowledge the Eternal, for I have sinned against Him, and He is the righteous One, and I and my people are wicked, for we have rebelled against His word from then until now.”

"And he called" — he said "I have sinned," out of his great fear of being wiped out by the pestilence as [Moses] had told him.

ה' הצדיק, it is Hashem who is righteous. During all of the plagues, the only one which resulted in Pharaoh acknowledging that G-d was righteous, hail was the only one. What prompted Pharaoh to make such a confession? When someone is at war with someone else and wants to liquidate him, he arranges to do this when his adversary does not suspect it, and he jumps him suddenly. Here, G-d, instead of bringing on the plague without warning, gives His creatures a chance to escape with their lives. He Himself urged them to take shelter.

ה' הצדיק ואני ועמי הרשעים, “Hashem is the righteous One whereas I and my people are the wicked ones.” Pharaoh said to Moses in effect: ‘“you who are the messenger of Hashem are righteous and Hashem is righteous in His application of judgments. I and my people are wicked in that we refused to obey His commandments.” Seeing he had repeatedly denied even Hashem’s existence, Pharaoh now spelled out his mistake in detail as befits people confessing a sin. Actually, he only had to confess his own personal sin. However, seeing he was afraid he might be held responsible for the sins of his people because he was their king and he could have restrained them, he confessed their guilt also saying: “I and my people are the wicked ones.”.

ה' הצדיק, “the Lord is righteous;” a reference to the warning issued by G’d to Pharaoh. When human beings exact vengeance they do not, as a rule, first warn the victim and provide him with a means to escape the impact of the punishment.

חטאתי הפעם, now, this time I admit that I have sinned.

ה' הצדיק, “the Lord is the righteous One;” the reason why Pharaoh acknowledged this in connection with the plague of hail more than with any other plague, was that G–d had issued a warning to the people that G–d had issued a warning to the people to take refuge from the lethal effects of the hail if they did not move indoors. (verse 19) When he added: “I and my people are wicked,” this was an admission that by not bringing their livestock indoors they themselves had caused them to die. (Shmot Rabbah 12,5)

Pray before Hashem, and let there be abundant relief before Him, that there may no longer be upon us thunderclaps of threatening like these from before Hashem, and hail; and I will send you forth, and you shall not continue to stand here.

ורב AND IT IS ENOUGH — let it suffice Him with what He has brought down already.

"Entreat Hashem" — [Pharaoh] invoked the honored Name and said "thunders of God" (kolot Elohim), for he acknowledges that there is a God, as I have noted. And because he did not say "thunders of Hashem," Moses combined the proper name and the appellative and said, "on account of Hashem God" (Hashem Elohim, v. 30). The meaning is: Hashem alone is God. You will not find [Moses] using this expression in any other passage of his throughout the Torah — and there is no counter-argument from the phrase "Lord God (Adonai Elohim), You have begun" (Deut. 3:24), for there it is written with alef-dalet [Adonai], not with the [four-letter divine] Name.

קולות אלוהים, heavenly thunder; he acknowledged that there is a G-d (in heaven). Seeing that he had not acknowledged the existence of Hashem, Moses stressed that when he would pray for the plague to end, he would not address his prayer to elohim, but to the tetragram, i.e. to Hashem. (compare verse 30) When Moses, at the end of verse 30, combines the two names of G-d, he wants Pharaoh to know that these two attributes are not two separate deities, but that there is only one “elohim,” i.e. Hashem. You cannot argue by citing Avraham, who in Genesis 15,2 had asked: ה׳ אלוהים מה תתן לי, “o Lord, G-d what can You give me?” and a few more such examples, that there appear to be two separate deities. In all such examples the reading of the word for elohim is the word adonay.

ורב מהיות קולות אלו-הים וברד, “there has been plenty of heavenly thunder and hail.” The word רב is an entreaty or allusion to the One who is “great” in providing salvation, i.e. G’d. Onkelos also translates the word in that way, i.e. וסגי קדמוהי רווחא. The meaning of the words העתירו אל ה' are an introduction, i.e. “entreat Hashem who is capable of providing such great relief.” It is noteworthy that while Pharaoh asked Moses and Aaron to plead with Hashem, he attributed the thunder to elohim, a different attribute of G’d. This may have been because the sound of this thunder inspires fear and leaves a palpable effect on one’s body. Our sages (Berachot 59) said that thunder was created in order to break the crookedness of the heart. Pharaoh mentioned the thunder before the hail seeing that in verse 23 when the plague first began, the thunder was the first manifestation of what was to come. After the people had become suitably frightened the hail began to fall and man and beast who were outside died. You will find the same sequence occurring after Moses’ prayer to G’d to stop the plague (compare verse 33). That which had come first also ceased first. According to this principle we would have expected the Torah to write: וירא פרעה כי חדלו הקולות והברד והמטר ויוסף לחטוא, “when Pharaoh saw that the thunder, the hail and the rain had stopped, he continued to sin.” The fact is that the Torah writes the verse in such a way that the words “he continued to sin” are adjacent to the word “thunder.” This shows that the only factor which had caused him previously to agree to dismiss the Jewish people was the fear which the thunder had inspired in him. This testifies to the obstinacy of Pharaoh. Even the damage caused by the hail would not budge him; the only thing which he responded to was personal fear inspired by the sound of the thunder. As soon as this fear evaporated as a result of the cessation of the thunder, he continued to sin.

And Moses said to him: When I go out from the city, I will spread my hands in prayer before Hashem; the thunderclaps will cease and the hail will be no more, so that you may know that the earth belongs to Hashem.

כצאתי את העיר — This is the same as מן העיר [AS SOON AS I AM GONE OUT] FROM THE CITY. But he did not pray within the city because it was full of idols (Exodus Rabbah 12:5).

AS SOON AS I AM GONE OUT OF THE CITY, I WILL SPREAD FORTH MY HANDS UNTO THE ETERNAL. In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, it is possible to say that [on other occasions] Moses prayed in his house, [which was within the city]. However, this time He saw fit that his hands be spread heavenward so that the thunders and the hail cease immediately, and that was impossible to be done in the city [because it was replete with idols]. Hence he said, As soon as I am gone out of the city. And so it is said further on, And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread forth his hands. But at first, [i.e., during the plague of swarms], Moses said to Pharaoh, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the Eternal, [for as soon as he left the palace he went to his house in the city and prayed].But our Rabbis have said that Moses “did not pray within the city because it was full of idols, and all the more He did not converse with him except outside the city.” If so, we must say that since Pharaoh now pleaded with Moses that he remove the hail immediately, Moses found it necessary to explain to him that he must go out of the city first and after that he will spread forth his hands to the Eternal, and He will remove it on account of his prayer. This is the true explanation.

"And Moses said to him: When I go out of the city" — the commentators have said that he could not spread his hands in Egypt because it was full of idols. "For the earth belongs to Hashem" — and not to you.

כצאתי את העיר, even though you have said to me that you have endured already enough of this the plague will not cease until I have left the boundaries of the capital and only then הקולות יחדלון והברד לא יהיה עוד למען תדע כי לה' הארץ, all of these phenomena will occur simultaneously, in contrast to the natural order of things. This will not happen as a result of My thinking that you have already become a penitent, regretting his sins; on the contrary your education has not yet been completed, ידעתי כי טרם תיראון, I am fully aware that you still do not relate to the Creator with reverence and awe.

והברד לא יהיה עוד, "and the hail will cease to be, etc." No new hail will fall, whereas the hail which had descended already will cease to be. Moses' promise was essentially what is described in verse 33, i.e. that the hail and rain stopped in mid-air. According to an aggadah in Berachot 54 the function of that hail which was arrested in mid-air was completed in the days of Joshua when the latter was engaged in the conquest of the land of Canaaan (Joshua 10,11) when hail stones fell on Israel's adversaries. למען תדע, "so that you will realise, etc." Moses told Pharaoh that he did not pray for Pharaoh in order that he should release the Israelites from bondage, he did not believe Pharaoh's assurances. The only reason he prayed was so that Pharaoh would acquire greater respect for the power of G'd.

כצאתי את העיר, “as soon as I leave the boundaries of the city;” seeing that earlier the Torah had written (verse 19) that anyone who will still be found outdoors will become a target for the hail, now, at the time when the plague was in full swing, the people might say that Moses was afraid to venture outside on account of that hail, Moses announces that he will open his hands in prayer as soon as he is beyond the borders of the city, and that the hail will not stop him from leaving the city. An alternate explanation for this phrase: Moses announces that as soon as he leaves the palace to go into the city, he will spread out his hands in prayer while inside the city. This is also what the Torah reports in verse 33: ויצא משה מעם פרעה את העיר וגו', “as soon as Moses left the presence of Pharaoh and went into the city, etc;”Yet another explanation: according to the plain meaning of the text the plague of hail was far stronger in the fields than in the city, [as there were no trees and grain fields inside the city to destroy, Ed.]. Moses said that he would leave the city to observe the damage caused by the hail and will then begin his prayer as necessary.

כצאתי את העיר, “when I will leave the city, etc.” According to Nachmanides, normally Moses prayed in his house when calling upon G’d to stop the plague. Seeing that on this occasion he wanted to spread out his hands in prayer towards heaven imploring G’d to stop the hail, the thunder and rain immediately, this kind of prayer could not have been offered inside the city which was so full of the abominations that the Egyptians worshipped. Our sages say that Moses always prayed outside the city, period. The only reason that the Torah mentions this specifically at this point was that Pharaoh demanded an immediate prayer with immediate consequences. The Torah therefore had to explain that all of this could not occur immediately, in the strict meaning of the term, as Moses first had to leave town in order to pray to G’d. Some commentators understand the words כצאתי את העיר as meaning: ”when I leave your presence in order to go back to the city, etc.”

כצאתי את העיר, “as soon as I leave the capital, etc.” The reason why Moses had to pray more in order to stop the plague of hail than any of the other plagues, that the Torah had written that the G–d fearing people had taken his advice (verse 20) and had been saved. The Torah had stated that the capital was full of beasts which served the Egyptians as deities. Had Moses raised his hands in prayer in the capital this might have been misunderstood as his praying.

But as for you and your servants, I know that you have not yet submitted before Hashem God.

טרם תראון means YE DO NOT YET FEAR. Wherever occurs in Scripture it signifies ״ not yet”, and does not mean “before”. For example: (Genesis 19:4) טרם ישכבו, which the Targum renders by “whilst yet they had not lain down”; (Genesis 2:5) טרם יצמח which the Targum renders by “not yet sprung forth”. This, too, has the same meaning: I know that ye do not yet fear the Lord, and that as soon as there will be respite you will continue in your moral corruption.

I KNOW THAT ‘TEREM’ (NOT YET) WILL YE FEAR THE ETERNAL G-D. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra correctly criticized Rashi [for explaining that wherever the word terem occurs in Scripture, it signifies “not yet” and does not mean “before”]. It is the opposite: it does not mean “no,” but rather it means “before.” And Ibn Ezra explained that the verse here is missing one word, [namely, zeh (this), making it read]: terem zeh tir’un. That is to say, “Before I will spread forth my hands and the thunders and hail will cease, ye do fear G-d, for after the removal of the plague you will return and rebel against Him.”It is furthermore correct to explain that Moses is also alluding to the first occasions, saying: “I know from your [former actions] that before [I pray on your behalf] you fear G-d, and in the end, [after I pray], you rebel against Him. Before the plagues are removed from you, you fear G-d as you did in the plague of frogs and of swarms, and then you returned and ye rebelled against the commandment of the Eternal, and so will you continue to be forever.” It was for this reason that when Pharaoh recanted [his promise to let the people go], Moses no longer warned him of that but instead knowingly prayed on his behalf during the plague of the locust, in order that he continue to sin.

"But you" — Rabbenu Shelomo said that terem tire'un ["before you fear"] means lo tire'un ["you will not fear"]. Comparable, he says, to "terem yishkavu" ["before they lay down"] (Gen. 19:4). But this usage is not as he understood it, for the word [terem] always introduces what does in fact occur after it: after "before they lay down" it is written, "the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house" — the meaning being: at the time when they would be lying down, [the men of Sodom] surrounded the house. Likewise, "before they call, I will answer" (Isa. 65:24), and likewise "before they burned the fat" (1 Sam. 2:15 [beterem yaqtirru]), and so with every instance of terem. Terem is therefore not equivalent to lo ["not"]. R. Saadia Gaon z"l connected the passage together and explained it thus: Moses said to Pharaoh — I will pray to remove the plague of hail, but what has already been destroyed has been destroyed.

ואתה ועבדיך, "for both you as well as your servants, etc." Moses mentioned the servants because he saw that they too had not paid heed to G'd's warning and had left their livestock outdoors together with their shepherds. Should you query this by asking how did Moses know this, seeing the servants had accepted G'd's judgment when Pharaoh said: "G'd is righteous whereas I and my people are the evildoers," remember that I have explained that G'd had already revealed His intention to bring on the plague of killing the Egyptians' firstborn. He had also warned in 7,4 that Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and Aaron. As a result, Moses was entitled to consider all the protestations of Pharaoh that he addmitted being a sinner, etc. as being merely a maneuver to gain time. If Pharaoh and his servants had truly repented it is hardly likely that G'd would punish them by the plague of killing the firstborn. Moses was therefore on safe ground when he said that he knew that Pharaoh and his advisers were not yet G'd-fearing people. ידעתי כי טרם חיראון, "I know you do not yet fear, etc." Moses meant that Pharaoh's fear of G'd lasted only as long as the latest plague had not yet been removed. As soon as they would experience relief they would continue in their rebellious ways against G'd as previously. Moses referred to previous examples of Pharaoh reneging on his promise to let the Israelites go as proof for his present lack of faith in Pharaohs protestations. Moses made it plain that he did not consider that Pharaoh was deliberately being deceitful in trying to convince Moses that he should pray on his behalf; he was simply under psychological pressure at that time. This induced temporary fear of G'd in him and in his people. Moses wanted Pharaoh to know that he himself could read Pharaoh's mind, as Pharaoh would be the first to acknowledge. He added that even if Pharaoh were to try and prove that Moses was wrong in his prediction that he, Pharaoh, would renege after the hail had stopped, he would not be able to control his spirit sufficiently to keep his undertaking.

ידעתי כי טרם, “I am well aware that before you have even dismissed me you will start to really be afraid, תיראון, much more so than now; An alternate explanation: I am well aware that you are still not sufficiently afraid because the hail did not destroy two major crops, i.e. the wheat and the spelt, so that you still will have what to eat;

ידעתי כי טרם תיראון. והפשתה והשעורה נכתה. “I am aware that you have not yet developed reverence for the Lord G’d. The flax and the barley had been struck down.” These words are connected to the words: “you still have not developed reverence, etc.” They applied to a situation preceding Pharaoh’s confession that he was the sinner and G’d the righteous One. When Pharaoh spoke those words the flax and barley had already been struck, seeing their stalks were hard and the hail would break them. They were beyond reprieve, could not recover. However, the wheat and the spelt whose stalks were softer were able to recover after cessation of the plague. They could be saved if Pharaoh and his people would not continue to sin. This is the view of Rabbeinu Saadyah Gaon. והפשתה גבעול, “the flax was in its stalk.” The word may be split into גבו על. The seed had already entered its stalk so that it grew. This is why it broke.

For before you will fear, etc. Rashi explains, “still you will not fear.” He needed to say this to him specifically in removing this plague because Pharaoh only asked for the removal of the sounds and hail, as it is written, enough of God’s sounds and hail. But regarding the rain, he did not say it should cease because the land of Egypt needs rain more than other lands. And thus Moses promised him, as it is written, the thunder will cease and the hail will be no more. But in the end, it was not so, rather the sounds and hail ceased, and rain did not pour to the ground. Moses thought that perhaps Pharaoh would consider him a liar and say that this is not what he had promised him. Therefore, Moses said, “If I had known that from today onward you would fear God, I would have done all your will, for the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfills the desire of those who fear Him. But I know that still you do not fear the Lord with a complete heart, therefore the Lord will not fulfill all your desires so that a sinner should not profit. Therefore, everything will cease at once and there will be no rain, for He only gives to those who fear the Lord, as it is written And they did not say in their hearts, let us fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, the early and late rains in their time, etc. (Jeremiah 5:24).”

ואתה ועבדיך ידעתי כי טרם תיראון, “I am well aware that both you and your servants do not yet relate with awe and reverence to Hashem.” According to Rabbi Saadyah gaon, this verse must be understood as part of the verse following, in which we are told tat the hail destroyed only the flax and barley crop. The wheat and spelt crops had not been harmed. He hinted to Pharaoh that as long as he had these crops to fall back on, he did not expect him to become a true penitent. He could promise that the hail would not again destroy any crop. Ibn Ezra directs our attention to the absence of any mention of what was supposed to happen before Moses would pray. Normally, after the word טרם, the Torah reports the event or activity which followed next. (compare Genesis 19,4, Isaiah 65,24, Samuel I 2,15) Here we may assume that Moses conditioned his prayer on the Egyptians first confessing their guilt and their willingness to make amends. The Torah wrote that Pharaoh continued to sin, and that this was because G’d had hardened his heart, i.e. his penitence was only from the lips outward. Nachmanides writes that there is no need to put words in the Torah’s text which are not there. Moses referred to his experience with Pharaoh, i.e. that as long as the plague had not been called off he maintained a posture of penitence, which vanished as suddenly as the plague itself.

כי טרם תיראון, as per Onkelos: “you have still not acquired an awe and reverence for Hashem.”

And the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in ear and the flax was in stalk.

והפשתה והשערה נכתה AND THE FLAX AND THE BARLEY נכתה — i. e. were broken; it has the same meaning as in, (2 Kings 23:29) “Pharaoh-Necho (נכה)”, which denotes Pharaoh the lame i. e. broken in so far as the power of his legs is concerned (cf. II Samuel 9:3); (Isaiah 16:7) “brocken (נכאים)”, and so too לא נכו (v. 32), “they were not broken”. It would not be correct to explain that it is connected in meaning with the word that signifies “smiting”, הכאה, for a נ cannot take the place of a ה that one may explain נֻכָּתָה as being equivalent to הֻכָּתָה, and נֻכּוּ to הֻכּוּ, but the נ is a root-letter in the verb, and the word נֻכּוּ is of the same grammatical form as the verb in, (Job. 33:21) “and all his bones are laid bare” שֻׁפּוּ (i. e. Pual of כי השערה אביב כי השערה אביב FOR THE BARLEY WAS IN THE EAR — it had produced its first ears and it stood on its stalks; these were therefore broken and fell. So, too, the flax had already grown and had become hard enough to stand in its capsules. השערה אביב means [THE BARLEY] STOOD IN RIPE STATE, similar in meaning to, (Song 6:11) “[to look at] the ripe plants (באבי] of the valley”.

AND THE FLAX AND THE BARLEY WERE SMITTEN, etc. Scripture narrates what happened, but I do not know why these two verses were entered in this place before the subject of Moses’ prayer and the removal of the hail was completed. In the name of Rav Saadia Gaon, the commentators have said that these [two verses are also part of] Moses’ words to Pharaoh. He said to him: “Before you had feared G-d and said, The Eternal is the righteous One, the flax and the barley were already smitten and these can no longer be saved. But the wheat and the spelt were not smitten yet, and henceforth you will no longer suffer damage.”I find no sense in this explanation. The hail smote every herb of the field and broke every tree, and the wheat and the spelt were saved only because they had not sprouted at all or because they were so tender that they were not destroyed completely by the hail since they could sprout again. That being the case, even if the hail had continued for days more to come down upon them, there would not be a loss. There was thus no need for Moses to inform Pharaoh of what he lost and what he did not lose, for when the hail will be removed, he will himself see!In my opinion, these are Moses’ words to Pharaoh. Moses said to him: “I know that before the plagues are removed, you fear G-d, and afterward you repeat your folly. Now the flax and the barley were smitten while the wheat and the spelt which are your livelihood were not smitten in this plague, but it is within G-d’s power to destroy them if you return and sin again before Him.” Thus Moses alluded to them that which G-d said later [of the locust], And they shall eat the residue of that which escaped. Bo.

The reason for writing "and the flax and the barley were struck" is: this will not be restored, and I will not pray for their repair. The meaning is therefore: before you fear and acknowledge and say "Hashem is righteous," the flax and the barley had already been struck — and this vav is used in the Arabic manner, as I have noted. In my view, however, a word is missing [and the implied sense is]: before I spread my hands — [know that] you are those who fear Hashem, you and your servants. This is the way of moral instruction; the meaning being that once the plague is removed, you will rebel — which is why it is written afterward, "and his heart was hardened, he and his servants" (v. 34), which is not found elsewhere [stated this way]. "The flax and the barley" — Scripture recounts what happened. It is further made clear from the form nukkatah ["was struck"] and likewise nukku (v. 32) that the root of makkah [blow/plague] is n-k-h, just as [in the verse] "his bones, which were not seen, are [ground down]" — shuffu (Job 33:21) [demonstrating a similar hollow-root pattern].

והפשתה והשעורה, even though both the flax crop and the barley crop had been wiped out by the hail, something which caused tremendous damage to the Egyptian economy.

והפשתה והשעורה נכתה, both the flax and the barley were smitten, etc. Why did the Torah tell us of this detail before describing Moses as concluding his prayer? According to normal practice the Torah should have reported that Moses did as he had said, namely that he prayed to G'd for the plague to stop. Perhaps the Torah wanted to provide us with a reason why the Egyptians had not really become penitent. Whereas the hail had destroyed the flax crop and the barley crop, it had not caused more than minimal damage to the wheat and the spelt which ripened at a later date. According to Midrash Tanchuma the reason that the Torah uses the letter ו in front of the word הפשתה where it could not possibly be understood as a conjunctive is that a miracle within a miracle happened so that only these two crops were smitten. Had nature taken its course, both the wheat and the spelt should also have succumbed to the hail. Basing themselves on the strange phenomenon that the wheat and spelt had escaped unharmed, Pharaoh and his servants concluded that G'd's authority did not include the wheat and the spelt. This encouraged them to continue in their obstinate ways. This is why Moses was able to say that he realised that Pharaoh had not yet come to fear G'd truly. He cited as the reason what happened to the wheat, or rather, what did not happen to the wheat. G'd had spared the wheat in order to encourage Pharaoh to remain obstinate.

נוכתה, “had been ruined;” the word is in the plural mode, as we also find in Exodus 17,12: ויהי ידיו אמונה “his hands were steadfast;” not ויהיו [as we might have expected; Ed.] or Samuel I 4,15 where after Eli’s sudden inability to see, his eyes are described as: עיניו קמה, not קמו or similar examples. כי השעורה אביב, “for barley grows in spring;” what is missing here are words referring to the linking together the flax and the barley as the Torah linked the wheat and the spelt. The reason is that the farmers’ crops no matter when they were planted, will not ripen until later in the season. This is why the flax is mentioned separately. When wheat and spelt were sown at the same time, they will also ripen at the same time. והפשתה גבעול, “but the flax ripens later; if not for that fact it would have been ruined by the hail also. The Torah needed to spell this out as it had written that the hail struck “ail the grass in the field.” (verse 25)

הפשתה והשעורה נוכתה, “the flax crop and the barley crop had been destroyed;” Nachmanides writes that he does not understand why these verses have been inserted here, at a point when Moses had not yet completed his prayer. According to Rabbi Saadyah gaon these comments are not part of the Torah, but are a Torah recording of what Moses had thought at the time. Nonetheless he himself is unhappy with this interpretation, seeing that the Torah had stated that the hail struck all the grass in the field (verse 25), i.e. even underdeveloped grain seedlings. [we must remember that we do not possess an original manuscript of Rabbi Saadyah gaon on this, but only Ibn Ezra’s quote. Ed.] In light of this, how could the wheat and the spelt have escaped serious damage by the hail? We must therefore assume that the comments which we find disturbing were part of Moses telling Pharaoh that he knew that his posture of penitence while under the influence of the destruction all around him, may have been sincere, but it would not last as not all the crops have been destroyed, and that is why as soon as he would experience relief he would promptly forget about his having acknowledged that G’d was righteous and that he was the sinner. [When one looks at the plagues with the benefit of hindsight as we do, Pharaoh’s continued obstinacy appears foolish and self-destructive in the extreme. When one tries to put oneself into the realities of his time, one can appreciate that he felt that any G’d who does not kill a rebellious creature, as does a mortal king with a rebellious subject, probably does not have the power to kill. The plagues were tools at his disposal, but sooner or later he must run out of such tools, and the survivor of God’s plagues would stand tall as a hero. Ed.] Moses explains that the reason that the wheat and spelt crop was undamaged had nothing to do with G’d’s inability to ruin them, but was an integral part of their developing later in the season, and remaining pliable even after lengthy exposure to hail and rain. Moses may have presented these words as an inspiration he had received from G’d, although he had not been told specifically to reveal this to Pharaoh. It is an implied warning not to renege on his penitence as G’d has other means at His disposal to also ruin these crops without which the Egyptians could not sustain any meaningful standard of living.

But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late crops.

כי אפילת הנה means FOR THEY WERE LATE in growing and they were still soft and able to resist the blow of anything hard. It is true that it is stated, (v. 25) “and every herb of the field did the hail smite”, but one must explain the real meaning of that verse as referring to herbs that stood on their stalks and were therefore liable to be broken by the hail. In the Midrash of Rabbi Tanchuma 2:2:16 some of our Rabbis differed in their explanation of this, and explained the words כי אפילת to signify that most remarkable wonders (פלאי פלאות) happened to them in that they were not smitten.

"Late-ripening" (afilot) — an adjective; close to it [in sense] is "and darkness (afel) without any brightness" (Amos 5:20). The meaning is that [the wheat and spelt] were still underground and had not yet appeared.

והחטה והכסמת, take note of the extent of the wickedness of Pharaoh and his servants. Even though the wheat and the spelt had not yet been destroyed, and Moses had prayed for the removal of the plague of hail, and Pharaoh had observed that all the destructive forces had ceased to be active as an immediate result of Moses’ prayer, something which made plain that but for Moses’ prayer the destruction would have continued, Pharaoh heaped more sins on top of the ones already committed, so as to make the ultimate retribution he would suffer even more terrible.

והחטה והכוסמת לא נוכו, “but the wheat and the spelt had not been ruined;” this is emphasized because later on (10,5) the Torah writes that the locusts will devour anything that the hail had not ruined. Somebody might have argued that what is written here has already been included in the words describing all the grass in the field as having been destroyed; in order to forestall such an interpretation, the Torah first exempts the wheat and the spelt by explaining why these species of plants had not been ruined by the hail; they had been too small and soft to be affected. Basically speaking, hail destroys hard plants and locusts consume soft plants. The word אפילות, derived from אופל, “darkness,” means that the plants under discussion are as yet invisible, not have broken through to the air above the ground as yet.

כי אפילות המה, “because they would ripen later.” As the stalks had not yet started growing they were not struck down by the hail. According to Tanchuma Vaeyra 16 the words אפילות הנה are related to פלאי פלאות, that miraculous things happened to them. The fact that they were saved from the hail was not due to their being in a less advanced state of growth than the flax. Their natural state was such that they should have fallen victim to the hail. The roots beneath the ground should also have been fatally struck. The fire inside the hail would have seen to this. A miracle occurred. Instead of reading the word אפילות the meaning of it is פלאות, miracles.

כי אפילות הנה. “for they ripen later in the season.” Rashi, offering also the view of the Midrash Tanchuma 16, writes that this was an exceptional miracle i.e. the word אפילות is a rearrangement of the word פליאות, ”miracles.” The Midrash quasi begs the question why we need to resort to miracles when the Torah itself had offered a rational explanation why these crops had not been destroyed by the hail. Perhaps, although these crops had not been ruined by the hail, they could have been ruined by some other natural disaster. The Torah therefore may have wanted to inform the reader that Pharaoh was aware that there had been no other reason to fear for that crop. Some people question that if we accept the view that the time frame of each plague, including the preceding warning, lasted for a month, and we count backwards from the plague of the dying of the firstborn which occurred in Nissan, that the plague of hail must have occurred in the month of Tevet, and how could any crop be sufficiently advanced at that time to suffer damage or even be ruined through hail? Even in the land of Israel only barley ripens by Nissan? In light of this calculation, most commentators came to the conclusion that each cycle involving any of the plagues could not have lasted longer than two weeks, including the preceding warning when such occurred. Accordingly, the hail would have occurred during the month of Adar. Possibly, seeing that Egypt’s crops never had to wait for irrigation, thanks to the river Nile and its canals, the grains ripen there at a time which for us is the deep of winter.

לא נוכו, to inform us that whatever the hail had not destroyed would be destroyed by the locusts. The hail demolished everything hard, the locust everything soft.

And Moses went out from Pharaoh's presence, out of the city, and spread his hands in prayer before Hashem; and the thunderclaps ceased, and the hail and the rain that had been falling did not reach the ground.

לא נתך means [RAIN] DID NOT REACH the earth (i. e. no fresh rain came down) — that rain, too, which was alredy in the air at the moment when Moses was praying remained there and did not reach the ground. In a similar sense is “ותתך עלינו the curse and the oath” — a passage in the book of Ezra (really, Daniel 9:11) — which signifies, “the curse and the oath have reached us”. But Menachem ben Seruk classified it in the same section as, (Ezekiel 22:22) “כהתוך כסף” which has the meaning of melting (pouring forth) metal. I agree with his opinion, because in the Targum we render ויצק, (Onkelos Exodus 38:5) “And he cast (metal)”, by ואתיך, and (Onkelos Exodus 38:27) לצקת, “to cast (metal)” by לאתכא, each of these Aramaic words being of the same root as our word נתך. Therefore לא נתך ארצה would mean: rain was not poured out to the ground.

"Was poured out" (natakh) — in the manner of "as silver melts in the midst of a furnace" (Ezek. 22:22). It is in the nif'al [passive] binyan, like "and [Moses] drew near to the thick darkness" (nig'ash el ha-arafel, 20:18).

ומטר לא נתך ארצה, “and the rain did not reach the earth.” The Torah did not write that the rain did not descend to earth; it wrote לא נתך ארצה, “it was not allowed to complete its descent” (even after it had melted to become like regular rain). Our sages in Tanchuma 17 state that the descent of the rain was arrested in mid-air for 41 years until Joshua 10,11 when it finally descended in the form of large (hail)stones from the sky. The prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 13,11) commanded these stones to fall. These stones were then called אלגביש, seeing that during these many years they had been “standing” on the back of איש. The איש in question was Moses who has been described in Numbers 12,3 as והאיש משה. Seeing that the hailstones give the illusion to the onlooker that they are pearls, they are called אבני אלגביש, as pearls are described in these terms in Job 28,18. The thunder also was suspended in mid-air only to descend to earth in the days of Elisha (Kings II 7,6) where we are told: “the Lord had made the camp of Aram hear the sounds of chariots, a sound of horses, a sound of a mighty army.” [The sound was equated with thunder. Ed.]

נתך, an expression similar to יציקה, “pouring.” We find this root on this sense in Ezekiel 22,22 כהתך כסף בתוך כור כן תותכו בתוכה, “as silver is melted (poured into for refining) in a crucible, so you shall be melted in it.”

And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunderclaps had ceased, and he continued to sin and hardened his heart — he and his servants.

"And he saw" — [Scripture] now notes that he continued to sin, despite the fact that he had acknowledged and said "I have sinned" — this time. The meaning of "and his heart was hardened, he and his servants," is that what Moses said — "you and your servants" (v. 30) — has been confirmed.

וירא פרעה כי חדל המטר, Pharaoh saw that the rain had stopped, etc. The Torah mentions this to show that Pharaoh's repentance already evaporated; he continued to sin almost immediately. When the Torah reports him as ויוסף לחטא, "he continued to sin," this does not refer to his continuing on his previous path; it means that Pharaoh added additional sins to the ones he had committed already. He now made a commitment not to release the Israelites under any terms and conditions.

כי חדל המטר, “for the rain had ceased;” seeing that Moses had only promised that the hail and the thunder would cease, Pharaoh said to himself that now he had proof that Moses was only a charlatan. Hence he continued to sin. ויכבד לבו הוא ועבדיו, “both he and his servants hardened their hearts,” arguing that the G-d of the Hebrews will not bring on the same plague a second time. הוא ועבדיו, we do not find this expression anywhere else in the Bible. The only reason that it has been used here is, that the Torah had written in verse 30: אתה ועבדיך, “you and your servants,” so that here it had to match that expression when reporting on how correct Moses had been when he had said that Pharaoh and his servants were still not in awe of the Lord. It was especially important to contrast this with Pharaoh’s previous statement in verse 27: חטאתי הפעם, “this time 1 have sinned.” It is the usual way of confirmed sinners if due to extreme distress they have been forced to pay lip service to a confession, that as soon as the emergency has passed they revert to their accustomed attitudes. We know from their own words that they had felt hard pressed, when the Torah referred to such people by writing that they took their beast indoors to escape the plague. (Verse 20) Now that relief had come, they reverted to “business as usual.”

ויוסף לחטא, “he continued to sin.” When the wicked experience troubles they are temporarily humbled; as soon as their troubles disappear they continue on as previously. When the Torah (verse 27) wrote that Pharaoh had exclaimed: “and Hashem is the righteous One,” this was an example of such a short-lived repentance. The very arrogance of the wicked is the cause of their eventual downfall. The pride which had originally caused Pharaoh to say: “who is Hashem that I should listen to His instructions” was the reason that ultimately he perished in the Sea of Reeds. We find a parallel with Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon who had said (Daniel 4,27) “Is this not the great Babylon which I have built up into a royal house with my powerful strength and for the glorification of my splendor?“ It did not take long for him to be humbled as we read in verse 29 of the same chapter that a heavenly voice announced that he would be driven from mankind and would have to live amongst the wild beasts. The righteous, on the other hand, do not display arrogance but humble themselves. They attain whatever glory and prominence they achieve as a result of their very humility. This is what Solomon said in Proverb 29,23: ”the pride of a man will humiliate him, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.”

וירא פרעה כי חדל המטר והברד והקולות, “when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, etc.” Note that in the previous verse the Torah had described the cessation of the plague as occurring in a different sequence of steps, i.e. 1) thunder, 2) hail; 3) rain. The latter was described as being arrested in mid-air. The sound of Moses’ prayer resulted in the sound of thunder ceasing, the spreading out of his hands resulted in the hail and rain stopping to fall. Pharaoh’s perception of the sequence of these events was different, however. He first noticed that the rain and the hail had stopped. Only later did he realize that also the thunder had ceased. ויוסף לחטוא, “he continued to sin.” All this in spite of the fact that he had publicly acknowledged that G’d was righteous and that he and his people were the wicked ones. ויכבד לבו, “his heart became strong;” in spite of the fright that he had experienced during the progress of the plague of hail. הוא ועבדיו, “as well as his servants.” The Torah mentions his servants as they had a tradition that Moses would impose 10 plagues, and hail had been the seventh plague. We had pointed out earlier that the plague of hail contained elements of four plagues (hail, fire, thunder and rain) so that the Egyptians clung to the illusion that they had weathered the last of the plagues. This was also the reason why, when Moses threatened an additional plague, the servants finally lost their cool, and challenged Pharaoh, asking rebelliously, for how long he would allow Moses to become the snare that would ruin them. They had realized that these plagues would continue endlessly until Pharaoh would release the people of Israel. Alternatively, seeing that Moses had said that both Pharaoh and his servants had yet to humble themselves in true penitence, they reacted by making Moses’ statement a self-fulfilling prophecy and they stiffened their attitude.

ויוסף לחטוא, up until now he had not been a deliberate sinner, not having acknowledged that what he had been doing had been sinful. Now, after having acknowledged this, reneging constituted a deliberately committed sin. This is why the Torah now describes Pharaoh as a deliberate sinner.

And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not send forth the children of Israel, just as Hashem had spoken through Moses.

"And [the heart of Pharaoh] was hardened" — after he had feared this plague more than the earlier ones.

ויחזק לב פרעה, not without an assist from external forces. What happened was precisely as G’d had told Moses and Aaron at the time when G’d appointed Aaron as Moses’ helper; “and I know that the King of Egypt will not voluntarily allow you to leave Egypt.” G’d had even added: “ולא ביד חזקה, I do not want him to give his consent as a sign of his impotence against My strong hand.” G’d wanted Pharaoh to become a penitent while believing he could still offer resistance if he chose. Pharaoh had convinced himself after every plague that G’d had already exhausted the punitive means at His disposal, and that He could do no more to him. [When Maimonides in the third chapter of hilchot Teshuvah enumerates 24 categories of sins which result in the sinners either being unable to do teshuvah, or to face almost insurmountable obstacles in doing so, one of them is this belief that if G’d instead of liquidating them had stopped short of that, this is proof that He could not do any more than He had already done. Pharaoh made this fatal mistake out of his arrogance. Ed.]

כאשר דבר ה, “as the Lord had said.” G-d had said in Exodus 3,19: “I know that the King of Egypt will not permit you to leave.” ביד משה, by means of his prophecy that he had been instructed to proclaim. This is the meaning of the expression ביד משה, wherever it occurs.