In the closing scene of Parshas Shemos Moshe asks G-d, “Lama zeh shelachtani? Ume’az basi el Pharaoh ledaber bishmecha, herah la’am hazeh – L-rd, why did you send me. As soon as I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he made things worse for the people” (Shemos 5:23).
Moshe was not complaining to G-d that Pharoah did not agree to free the Jews or that he worsened their conditions. He was warned of that in advance when G-d told him, “Ve’ani yada’ati ki lo yiten eschem melech mitzrayim lahaloch velo beyad chazakah – I know in advance that that the Egyptian king will not allow you to leave unless he is forced to do so” (3:19).
To better understand Moshe’s words, one must look back at the dialogue between G-d and Moshe in Shemos chapter 3.
There, G-d meets Moshe by the burning bush and urges him to be His advocate before Pharaoh and convince him to let His people go. But Moshe is reluctant to take on the case. He comes up with all sorts of reasons why he believes he is the wrong candidate for the job.
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Mitzrayim?” (3:11). “They will not believe me nor listen to me, for they will say G-d has not appeared to me” (4:1).
Even after the three miracles that G-d taught Moshe to perform, transforming a stick into a snake, afflicting his hand with leprosy and immediately curing it again, and turning water into blood, all of which were designed to convince the people that Moshe was indeed G-d’s representative, Moshe persists. “Oh, my L-rd, I am not an eloquent man, I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (4:10).
So, G-d reassured him that his speech impediment would not stand in the way of success. “Who gave man a mouth, who makes a person dumb or deaf, who gives a person sight or makes him blind? Is it not I G-d? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say” (4:11).
But Moshe still insists, “You have many better candidates than me. Take Aharon. Send him” (Rashi to 4:13).
And G-d gets angry with Moshe and He has the last word, “Take this staff in your hand and with it you will perform the miracles” (4:17).
This is the background to Moshe’s complaint. “I warned you, G-d,” says Moshe. “I am the wrong person for this mission. You see, my very first attempt at persuading Pharaoh has backfired. You should have listened to me.”
And so, the curtain goes up on the next scene.
Va’era.
G-d encourages Moshe. “Don’t be despondent, you haven’t failed. The same thing happened to my greatest advocate ever, Avraham. I promised him that if he would represent Me, I would give his descendants the land of Israel (Bereishis 15:18). But, like you, Avraham was reluctant to be my advocate and he asked, “B’mah eidah ki irashena – How can I really know that the Jews will inherit the land?”
And G-d answered Avraham: you must be patient. You must endure four hundred years of suffering, during which time not only will the Jews have no land of their own, but they will be enslaved and persecuted in a foreign land. Only thereafter will your mission be successful.
There is a connection between suffering and success. The success of the Jews depends on their adherence to the Torah. Whenever they stray from it, the suffering they endure will guarantee their eventual repentance, be it the suffering in the days of Pharaoh, the suffering in the days of Haman or the suffering throughout the millennia of exile. “Hakodosh Baruch hu ma’amid lahen melech shegezeirosav kashos kehaman, veYisrael osin teshuvah umachziran lamutav – G-d will subject them to a king whose decrees are as harsh as those of Haman, and the Jewish people will have no choice but to repent. This will restore them to the right path” (Sanhedrin 97b).
Although G-d promised Avraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Israel, their right to the land is not a yerushah, a vested right, but a morashah (Shemos 6:8), a contingent right. Their right to the land is contingent on them passing on their allegiance to the Torah to the next generation in the spirit of “Torah tzivah lanu Moshe, morashah kehilas Yaakov – Moshe prescribed the Torah to us, as an eternal heritage for the congregation of Yaakov” (Devarim 33:4).
“Velo shame’u el Moshe mi’kotzer ruach ume’avodah kasha – but the Jews did not listen to Moshe because of their anguish of spirit and the cruel bondage” (6:9). Nevertheless, G-d commanded Moshe and Aharon to persist in trying to convince the people that G-d would redeem them, as it says, “Vayetzaveim el benei Yisrael – G-d commanded Moshe and Aharon regarding the children of Israel” (6:13).
The words “el Bnei Yisrael” seem out of place. It should have said, “vayetzaveim es Bnei Yisrael.” Why use the word “el” instead of “es?” Rashi explains this in the following way: “G-d instructed them to lead the people with tolerance and to be patient with them.”
When people are suffering and skeptical of G-d’s salvation, do not rebuke them and label them non-believers. They do believe, but they are consumed with suffering. Come towards them, “el” Bnei Yisrael, with kindness and compassion and do not come at them “es” Bnei Yisrael, with words of castigation.
After the Torah describes the lineage of Moshe and Aharon, it introduces us to them with the following language: “hu Aharon uMoshe”: this was the Aharon and Moshe to whom G-d said take the children of Israel our of Egypt (6:26), placing Aharon’s name before Moshe and referring to them both as one unit, in the singular.
But then in the very next verse, the Torah uses the plural term “hem”: “Hem hamedabrim el Pharaoh melech mitzrayim lehotzi es benei Yisrael mimitzrayim – They were the ones who spoke to Pharoah, King of Egypt, to take the Children of Israel out of Egypt.”
Then the Torah reverts again to the singular form: “hu Moshe Veharaon – this was the Moshe and Aharon,” and this time it places Moshe’s name before Aharon’s (6:27.).
In these subtle nuances of language, the Torah is describing both the relationship between the two brothers themselves and their respective individual roles in carrying out G-d’s mission.
First, by casting them in the singular with the word “hu,” the Torah tells us that Moshe and Aharon were an integral unit whose success depended on them working together. This echoes G-d’s previous words to Moshe, “Hu yeheyeh lechah lepeh, ve’atah tehiyeh lo lelohim – he will be your spokesperson and you will be his leader” (4:16).
But within this unit, G-d describes their individual responsibilities. It is Aharon who prepares the people for the Exodus and the Revelation by cajoling them softly and in a friendly way. But it is Moshe who sets the aggressive and threatening tone with Pharaoh. That is why Moshe’s name is put first when the Torah describes the meetings with Pharaoh and why the Torah uses the singular term “hu” when depicting Moshe in this role.
But even as Moshe addresses Pharaoh in terse and commanding phrases, he needs Aharon to act as his interpreter and to temper his words (see Onkelos to 4:16, who translates the word “peh” as “meturgaman”). That is why the Torah also describes them with the word “hem,” as an inseparable unit, even when talking to Pharaoh.
The first two plagues of blood and frogs should have convinced Pharaoh that these were the work of G-d, not the work of magic. True, Pharaoh’s magicians could turn the water in front of them to blood, but they could not do it all over Egypt, so that even a cup of water in the hands of an Egyptian would turn to blood. Yes, they could produce frogs, but not frogs that would inhabit all the nooks and crannies of Egypt and even be burnt to a crisp in Egyptian ovens, just to fulfil G-d’s commandment. Pharaoh should have been able to discern the difference between magic and miracles unfolding before him. But it was only when it came to Kinim, where something was created almost out of nothing (Rashi to 8:14) that even Pharaoh’s magicians had to concede that this was the hand of G-d.
But for Pharaoh, even creating something out of nothing was not enough. He needed to see G-d’s hand not only in miracles from above, but also in nature down here on earth. Could G-d alter the preordained course of nature?
So along came the next three plagues, wild beasts, pestilence, and boils.
The way G-d programmed nature was that wild beasts were to fear human beings. “Umorachem vechitchem yiheyeh ul kol chayas ha’aretz – There shall be a fear and dread of man instilled in all the wild beasts of the earth” (Berishis 9:2). What Pharaoh should have understood already from the fourth plague was that G-d could override the ordinary course of nature and that He could reprogram beasts not to be afraid of humans but to attack them even in their homes (Shemos 8:17).
Before a person is born, G-d preordains whether he will be rich or poor. Wealth in those days was measured by the number of heads of cattle a person owned (See Rashi on “Ashteros tzoneicha,” Devarim 7:12, based on Chullin 84b). By the fifth plague, Pharaoh should have understood that with a push of a button, G-d could override the Egyptians preordained wealth and destroy all of their cattle through an epidemic (Shemos 9:2).
Before a person is born, it is preordained whether he will be strong or weak. By the sixth plague, Pharaoh should have understood that G-d could override the Egyptians’ preordained might and render them weak through a simple plague of boils (9:8).
He should have been convinced that G-d can intervene here on earth and change the course of nature as it says, “Lema’an tedah, ki ani Hashem bekerev ha’aretz – so that you Pharaoh should know that I am G-d right here on earth” (8:18).
