When G-d first commands Moshe to address Pharaoh, the first words he is commanded to utter are “So says the L-rd, My firstborn son Israel – Beni Bechori Yisrael” (Shemot 4:22).
It is a peculiar opening statement. The reason it is strange is because Pharaoh is undoubtedly going to scoff at it (which he did). Israel? The firstborn son of G-d? Long before Israel became a nation, the nation of Egypt existed. In the book of Bereishit (10:6) the Torah lists the descendants of Cham, son of Noach and one of them is Egypt. The Egyptian nation preceded the Israelite nation chronologically. So how can Moshe claim that Israel is G-d’s firstborn nation?
Rashi (Bereishit 25:26) answers that there are two types of firstborn – first by conception and first by emergence. If you have twins in a mother’s womb, who is the true firstborn, the one who was first conceived, or the one that emerged first? Rashi compares it to a narrow tube. If you have two stones in the tube, one below the other, the first one in will be the last one out.
Rashi’s explanation pertains to the twins Yaakov and Eisav, that although Yaakov emerged second, he was conceived first. Although the nation of Egypt emerged first, the first nation by conception was Israel. When G-d created the world, Bereishit, His intention was to create the world for Am Yisrael who are called “Reishit.”
This is why Yaakov was obsessed with acquiring the birthright from Eisav, to formalize it in history, that the true firstborn nation is Israel. When G-d tells Pharaoh “My firstborn son Israel,” He is ratifying the sale of the birthright from Eisav to Yaakov, that there can be no doubt.
At the dawn of time, we have another, similar case – with Kayin and Hevel, also twin brothers. According to the Zohar, Hevel was conceived from Chava’s intercourse with Adam and Kayin by Chava’s intercourse with the serpent. Although Kayin emerged first, the first by conception was Hevel. Egypt is a descendant of Kayin and Israel a descendant of Hevel.
As we know Kayin killed Hevel, so Hevel’s neshama had to remerge when Adam and Chava later gave birth to Shet. The Ari, z”l, says that Moshe Rabbeinu was a “Gilgul,” a reincarnation of Hevel/Shet, while Pharaoh was a reincarnation of Kayin (the Hebrew name Moshe is an abbreviation for Moshe-Shet-Hevel).
Moshe’s opening statement to Pharaoh is “I am the true firstborn, by conception, not you!”
Sefer Meir Panim describes the sin of Adam and Chava with the Tree of Knowledge, according to the opinion of Rebbi Yehuda in the Gemara (Brachot 40a), that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was wheat. Meir Panim says that Chava’s sin was taking that fruit, grinding it up into flour and baking it into a chametz bread. Chava ate from this bread and later also caused Adam to sin by eating from it.
According to Meir Panim, the entire episode of Am Yisrael in Egypt and the Exodus, was to atone for this sin.
This is why we are commanded to eat matzos when we left Egypt, to atone for the chametz bread baked by Chava.
All Ten Plagues are measure for measure against Pharaoh, who is called the “large serpent” (Ezekiel 29:3), a reincarnation of the serpent in Gan Eden.
Blood; for causing Chava to emit blood (virginal/menstrual). Until the sin, the childbirth process was painless and blood free.
Frogs; for causing Adam and Chava to acquire knowledge when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge. The word “Tzefardeia,” frogs in Hebrew, is a combination of two words “Tzareif” and “Deia” – “acquire” and “knowledge.” Also, the Torah tells us that the frogs in the plague also invaded the ovens and the bread (Shemot 7, 28). Why specifically mention the ovens? To atone for Chava baking chametz bread in an oven.
Lice; for causing Chava’s braided hair (Brachot 61a) to become wild when the serpent had intercourse with her.
Wild animals; for reducing Adam and Chava to the level of animals (Kohelet 3:19).
Pestilence; for introducing death to the world, making Adam and Chava mortal. G-d in His mercy first wiped out the animals in the plague and not the humans.
Boils; measure for measure for the serpent defiling Adam and Chava’s skin. Until the sin they were clothed with coats of light, but following the sin G-d had to make for them clothes of skin (Bereishit 3:21).
Hail; fire inside the ice, reminiscent of the “flaming sword flashing back and forth” (Bereishit 3:24). The Da’at Zekeinim (ibid.) says that this is referring to hell which flips between fire and ice.
Locusts; for destroying Adam and Chava’s source of food – “By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread” (Bereishit 3:19).
Darkness; after the sin, Adam was exiled to a region called “Eretz,” a place of darkness (New Zohar, Sitrei Otiyot, Bereishit, 217).
Slaying of the firstborn; retribution for the firstborn of the serpent, Kayin, slaying the firstborn of Adam, Hevel. All the firstborn were killed, even those of the “maidservant next to the grindstone” (Shemot 11:5), reminiscent of Chava who ground the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, wheat into flour to make bread.
Why did G-d allow the other nations to emerge chronologically before Am Yisrael?
G-d wanted Am Yisrael to emerge into a “ready-made” world. That all the other nations would tame and build the world so that that when Am Yisrael would appear, they would not have to occupy themselves with building the world. As it was with Egypt, so will it be when Am Yisrael appear as the dominant nation in the time of Mashiach, we will assume control over a world already built by the other nations.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: What is the first mitzvah in the Torah?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: Why did Hashem command Aharon to throw the staff on the ground and turn it into a snake in front of Pharaoh? The Egyptians were experts in black magic and “tricks” like these were trivial for them and unimpressive. Answer: To impress upon them that their witchcraft was mortal, while G-d’s miracles are limitless. Aharon’s staff swallowed the other staffs, a trick no Egyptian could perform.
