Shabbat Parashat Bo - 5783

Shabbat Parashat Bo - 5783

Rabbi Hal Miller He called to Moshe and Aharon at night and said, "Rise up, go out from among my people, even you, even the children of Israel, go and serve God as you spoke. [Shemot 12:31] Earlier, Pharaoh had sent Moshe from the palace, telling him, "Go from me, beware do not see my face again for on the day you see my face you shall die." [10:28] To which Moshe responded [10:29] "I shall never see your face again." But now in [12:30] we find Pharaoh "arose at night" then our verse where he calls out to Moshe to give permission to leave Egypt. How does this occur if both Pharaoh and Moshe had already agreed they would no longer see each other? The Brisker Rav begins by wondering why Pharaoh had chosen to state the "you shall die" in the first place. He answers that Pharaoh had become aware of the Torah rule that punishment could not be inflicted unless there had been a warning prior to the wrongful act, so by preventing Moshe from giving warnings, Pharaoh thought he could avoid further plagues. But immediately afterward, in the verses beginning chapter 11, God appears to Moshe, gives the warning about the firstborn plague, and Moshe repeats it to Pharaoh, before departing after the comment of "I shall never see your face again." Pharaoh's plan was nullified. Yet, our verse is still to come. Rav Hirsch indicates that the verses in chapter 10 are chronologically out of order and that the "not see my face again" discussion actually occurred after the meeting indicated in our verse. Onkelos reads the earlier verses a little differently. While Pharaoh told Moshe that he was not to see him again, Moshe's response did not exactly concur, which Onkelos translates, "I will not try further to see your face." This means Moshe would not go to Pharaoh, but left open that Pharaoh would be able to come to Moshe. Shemot Rabbah in 18:1 seems to agree with this. Ramban takes it a step further, that Moshe would not see Pharaoh only in the palace again, but that leaves open a meeting elsewhere. But all of these are really attempts to get around the plain meaning of the verses. A plain reading is that Pharaoh sent Moshe away with a warning not to see him again and Moshe agreed to that. So how do we explain our verse? There appear to be two trains of thought, one on the words "at night" and one on the words "called to". Brisker Rav asks why "at night" is repeated in 12:30 and 12:31. If Pharaoh arose at night and ran out calling to Moshe and Aharon, do we not know that the latter part occurred at night? He answers by noting the text of Pharaoh's warning in 10:28, "on the day you see my face again you will die". Pharaoh specified day, but this is now night, so outside of his vow. Rashi and others explain that Pharaoh was running around calling out for Moshe and Aharon, not knowing where they were. From this it could be understood that Pharaoh never found them, never met in person, but merely called out his message to Moshe, which was then relayed to wherever he was. But Malbim gives a more solid explanation of the "called to" argument. In the prior verse during the plague of darkness, Pharaoh called to Moshe to relieve the plague, and the Torah uses the phrase "vayikra el moshe". Here the Torah uses "vayikra l'moshe". Both mean "and he called to Moshe", but there is a difference. The first is used when the one being called to is nearby and can hear the call. The second is used when the one being called is not nearby. Thus, Moshe had in fact left town after Pharaoh's warning in 10:28, Pharaoh was now using a form of "telegraph" to "email" a note to Moshe, and they never did meet again, which is what Moshe had said in 10:29.