Semester 2, First Quarter Test
From the Burning Bush to the Plagues
Question: How do Moses, the Pharaoh, and B'nei Yisrael change?
Before After
Moses
• The first thing that Moses does is give B'nei Yisrael the ototh1 that he was given by God (Exodus 4:30).
• We see that Moses seems fearless when he appears before the Pharaoh (Exodus 5:1).
The confidence that Moses exhibits does not last. Moses complains to God several times about his choice to appoint him as the leader of B'nei Yisrael. He also says that it was unfair to put B'nei Yisrael in their current position (Exodus 5:22, 6:12).
B'nei Yisrael
B'nei Yisrael bow in acceptance of Moses; they accept his as their savior (Exodus 4:31).
When the B'nei Yisrael see that Moses failed in his mission to free them, they lose faith in Moses and stop listening to him. B'nei Yisrael also seem to become more and more afraid (Exodus 5:21, 6:9; Rashi 5:1)
The Pharaoh
•The Pharaoh openly denounces his belief in God (Exodus 5:2).
•The Pharaoh commands B'nei Yisrael to work harder; he thinks that they are have too much free time and are thus able to fathom freedom (Exodus 5:9).
The Pharaoh remains relatively static throughout the whole ordeal and does not seem to change throughout this entire episode.
Rabbi Hindin's Grammar-Fest
Chapter VI, verses 3: “and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name YHVH I made Me not known to them.”
Question: Why did God reveal Himself to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) as a qel shaqai2, but He revealed Himself to Moses as both a qel shakai and as YHVH?
Answer (via Rashi)
Rashi says that God has multiple personalities:
• When God calls himself Elokim3, he refers to the persona of judgment.
• YHVH refers to God's abilities to always make good on a promise that He makes.
• Qel Shaqai refers to God's ability to always fulfill promises, no matter what.
1 תותוא
2 י דש ל א-
Rashi tells us that God uses the YHVH persona when he give us a mitzvah, hinting at his ability to punish us if we do not fulfill it. Rashi also explains that the Patriarchs did not see God's fulfillment of the promises, and thus never knew God as a Qel Shaqai. However, Moses will see the fulfillment of the promises as well as the making of future promises that Moses will not see being fulfilled.
Answer (via RaMBaN)
The RaMBaN first summarizes Rashi's main points about distinguishing between God's making and fulfilling promises. The RaMBaN notices, however, that Rashi's interpretation of the pasuk would make it grammatically incorrect. The pasuk says noda'ati4, however, if Rashi is correct than the verse should have:
• עדונ
• יתעדוה
The RaMBaN tries to justify Rashi's (grammatically incorrect) explanation, and says that, perhaps, Rashi read the pasuk differently.
The RaMBaN then offers the explanation of the Ibn Ezra, who says the same thing as the RaMBaN, but uses the letter ב in י דש ל א- -
ב
ו, instead of the word noda'ati. The RaMBaN then concludes that, through this, God is trying to rebuke Moses; God reveals Himself in a way that no one has ever seen, and then Moses has the audacity to complain — the chutzpah!The Second Mission: Exodus, Chapter VI
Chapter VI: This section discusses all of Chapter VI.Question #1: Why is Moses' second mission repeated so many times in Chapter VI?
Question #2: Why are we given Moses' genealogy at this seemingly arbitrary time?
Question #3: What does verse 13Ŋ have to do with anything?
Answer (via Rashi)
Rashi addresses questions 1, 2, and 3 (sort of).
Because we are know talking about both Moses and Aaron, we must trace back their genealogy to show their relation. Because of the long break of talking about Moses' genealogy, we must say what his mission is again. Answer
(via Rabbi Grossman)
Rabbi Grossman addresses question 2.
There are two times that Moses is commanded to go to Pharaoh:
• at the Burning Bush
• now, in chapter VI
While at the Burning Bush, Moses saw God's having mercy on B'nei Yisrael; now, he is seeing the fulfillment of a promise that God made to the Patriarchs. Thus, by giving us Moses' genealogy in connection with his
4 יתעדונ
second mission, the Torah is drawing a connection between Moses and the Patriarchs.
Answer (via some random
person at Gush)
This answer addresses questions 2 and 3.
The Jews were supposed to be an active part in Yetzi'ath Mitzrayim5. As a punishment for not listening to Moses before, the B'nei Yisrael were excluded from this process. Thus, we must change focus to solely Moses and Aaron, which is why the Torah focuses on solely Moses and Aaron's genealogy. Additionally, all of the B'nei Yisrael were supposed to go to the Pharaoh and demand their freedom; because they are not, the Torah must explicitly say that only Moses and Aaron are commanded to go to the Pharaoh.
The Hardening of the Pharaoh's Heart
Chapter VII, verse 3: “And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.”
Question: How can God “harden” the Pharaoh's heart? Isn't this a violation of our free will?
Answer (via Shemoth Rabbah6)
By hardening the Pharaoh's heart, God is keeping the Egyptians from being able to repent, making them warrant the Ten Plagues as a punishment. There are limits to how “bad” you can be before you lose your free will; the Pharaoh and the Egyptians have surpassed these limits. According to the Shemoth Rabbah, free will is a privilege, not a right. According to the Shemoth Rabbah repentance is also a privilege. The Pharaoh has lost these privileges.
Answer
(via the RaMBaM) The RaMBaM, here, says the same thing as the Shemoth Rabbah.
Answer (via the RaMBaN)
The Pharaoh and the Egyptians previously had the choice to either sin or be righteous. They chose to sin for no good reason by torturing the B'nei Yisrael; as a result, God took away their free will. Here, the RaMBaN says that the actual punishment was not the Ten Plagues — it was the loss of their free will and their ability to do anything about it.
Answer (via R' Yosef Albo)
According to Rabbi Yosef Albo, God hardened the Pharaoh's heart not as a punishment, but to force him to survive the plagues. In essence, God is giving Pharaoh the ability to stay on the path that he began on — he is giving the Pharaoh what he wants.
The System to the Plagues
Question: Is there any order to the plagues?Who gave the plagues?
5 םירצמ תאיצי
• Blood, Frogs, Lice, were begun by Aaron
• Wild beasts, Pestilence, Hail, Locusts, and Darkness were begun by Moses
• The last plague, death of the firstborn, was begun by God
Can the Magicians do it too?
• The Pharaoh's magicians can repeat only the first two plagues.
• The other plagues cannot be repeated by the magicians
Where do the plagues take place?
• Blood and Frogs take place on the water.
• Lice, Wild Beast, and Pestilence took place on the dust/land.
• Boils came from dust that was thrown in the air
• Hail and Lice take place from the air.
• Darkness and Death of the Firstborn came from the heavens.
What was the Pharaoh's reaction to the Plagues?
• During the first five plagues, the Pharaoh's heart was hardened.
• Later, the Pharaoh begins to admit that he is wrong.
The Reasons for the Plagues
Question: What is the reason for the Ten Plagues?Answer (via Rashi)
According to Rashi, who is quoting a Midrash the Plagues were brought in the order that a king wages war on the enemy:
• The king would first cut off the water supply to the enemy, just like God did in םד
• The attacking army then makes loud noises and a ruckus to make their army seem bigger and scare the enemy, like the frogs did during the plague of עדרפצƿ
The Midrash continues on and on for all of the plagues.
According to Rashi, the Ten Plagues were like a war.
Answer (via the Tz'rur
Ha'maor7)
Day of
Creation What is discusses Plague it parallels
5, 6 Creation of animals בורע
1 Differentiation between light & dark ךשוח
6 Creation of Man תורוכב תכמ
ƿ We see that this tactic was used by Gideon in the Book of Judges when he attacked the Midyanim. He placed glasses on his soldier's torches that they shattered before the attack. The loud noises made the army of merely 300 men seem much larger than it actually was, causing panic inside the Midianite camp.
2 Separation of oceans from the dry land םד
According to this opinion, God is showing his power to create & destroy.
Answer (via the Abarbanel)
The Egyptians did ten bad things to the B'nei Yisrael; the Ten Plagues mirror these bad deeds:
• Because the Jewish males were thrown in the Nile, God brought the plague of Blood
• Because of the Jewish women crying because of their dead babies, God brought the plague of Frogs, which croack loudly.
