"And Hashem said to Moshe, 'Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart'." (Exodus/Shmos 10:1)
In every generation, there are mighty empires, whose emperors self-style themselves as "kings of kings", because they have influence over other world leaders, and everyone seeks their favor.
Jews however, must always remember that Hashem is the King over all kings, because He decides who will be king, and He influences and imparts guidance into the hearts of kings how to run their kingdoms, as we say during the High Holiday liturgy in the hymn "And All Believe" that Hashem is "the One Who coronates kings, and Kingdom is His".
Over the years, it often happened that Jews forgot this fundamental idea, and they tried to follow the ways and ideologies of the kings and prime ministers of mighty countries like Ancient Greece and Ancient Persia, trying to imitate them. They thought this would gain them favor in their eyes and they would benefit from it. In the end, however, they achieved the opposite of their goal. Evil decrees were dictated against them anyway, because in the end, everything depends on the Supreme King.
This happened in Egypt, which was a great and mighty empire. This caused many Jews to desire to be close to the Egyptian culture, and they began to attend the Egyptian theaters and circuses. This is when Hashem turned around the heart of Pharaoh to hate the Jews and to enslave them.
Through the subjugation in Egypt, the Jews were inspired to repent and to cry out to Hashem, and then Hashem performed many signs and wonders in order to strengthen and inspire the Jewish hearts toward faith in Divine Providence, and then they were worthy to the redemption.
Therefore, when we meditate deeply upon the Torah portion which speaks of the Exodus from Egypt, we see that Hashem commanded the Jews at least four times to do the opposite of what seems logical, to violate the will of the Pharaoh and his mighty people, and each time they saw that Hashem controlled their hearts.
When Pharaoh enslaved the Jews with difficult labor, it would have made sense to send a skilled politician to lobby for the Jews to make the burden of slavery a bit easier to manage. Hashem however sent Moshe Rabbenu, who was a simple shepherd with no political experience, an immigrant from a foreign country without assimilation into the Egyptian culture, not a leader from any country or party, and worst of all a man with a speech impediment! This man with no qualifications approached Pharaoh's throne, with the king surrounded by his ministers, to tell him a message in the Name of Hashem, when the Pharaoh deified himself, to release millions of slaves to serve a God other than himself.
Common sense would dictate that such a person would naturally be considered an insurgent and a rebel to the royal authority, and would be executed immediately, yet this miracle demonstrated that the hearts of kings and prime ministers is in the hand of Hashem, as the Pharaoh did no harm to Moshe.
After 9 plagues ravaged Egypt, the beleaguered Pharaoh angrily told Moshe Rabbenu that "on the day you see my face, you shall die!" Common sense would dictate that all hope would be lost at that point, because Moshe Rabbenu would no longer have any avenue to approach the king to ask permission to leave Egypt, and they would have to show more honor and respect to their Egyptian overlords. However, Hashem commanded the Jews to slaughter the Egyptian god, the lamb, and to paint the doorposts of their homes with the blood, and to eat a large meal before the Exodus. This is incredibly dangerous, as throughout Jewish history, Jews have been the victims of persecution, murder, pogroms, and genocides out of claims that the Jews insult the religions of their host countries, and here Hashem commanded the Jews to insult the Egyptian religion publicly!
In the end, the Jews performed Hashem's command joyously, and even though the Egyptians were offended and angry at the Jews for killing their god, they did not harm even one Jew.
When the Egyptians were angry about the slaughter of their idol, common sense would dictate to stay far away from the Egyptians until their anger passed, and certainly not to ask any favors of them. However, Hashem commanded that in the midst of the Egyptian wrath the Jews should ask the Egyptians to give them gold, silver, and expensive garments. This is totally against any common sense to the opposite extreme, because slaves do not even ask to borrow small things. In the end, the Egyptians emptied their treasure storage for the Jews, to the point where every Jew leaving Egypt had at least ninety donkeys laden with their treasures, as Chazal explain.
When the Egyptians were worried about their money in the hands of the Israelites, there was a tremendous danger that the Egyptians would regret giving the Jews their treasures, and would stand in the way of the Jews leaving with their treasures. Common sense would dictate that they should leave Egypt immediately at midnight when Pharaoh said to do so, and leave right away, especially when there was a worry that Pharaoh would regret his decision and prevent them from leaving, as he did during the last 9 plagues.
However, Hashem commanded that even if Pharaoh begged them to leave immediately, they would not leave Egypt until morning, in order to demonstrate that Pharaoh was not in charge, but only Hashem.
This is how the amazing history of the Exodus actually took place. In the middle of the day, millions of slaves left the bondage of the major world power, without any fear that they Egyptians would force their return, but rather only with the power of faith in Hashem.
This is what we say in the Passover Hagadah that "the King of the kings of kings was revealed to them and redeemed them", that it was revealed that Hashem was indeed the King of the kings of kings, and in this merit were they redeemed.
It is possible to say that this is what Hashem said to Moshe, "come to Pharaoh", I chose you specifically, because you are not a skilled politician, because I want everyone to know that "I hardened Pharaoh's heart" , that the entire decree came from My Hand and I put it into Pharaoh's heart to be crooked until this point, "in order to tell into the ears of your children and grandchildren that which I was elevated in Egypt and the signs which I placed in their midst in order to know that I am Hashem", that the Jews should know and remember for all generations that the hearts of kings and prime ministers is in the Hand of Hashem, and thus we should only seek to find favor in Hashem's Eyes.
Comments
Post a Comment