Shabbat Parashat Va'eira - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Va'eira - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

  Pharaoh sent and summoned Moshe and Aharon and said to them, "This time I have sinned.

  God is the Righteous One and I and my people are the wicked ones. [Shemot 9:27]

We often hear of Pharaoh hardening his heart and refusing to acknowledge God. But we have

a number of verses here where he seems to be doing just the opposite. in 8:4, 8:24, 9:28 and

next week in 10:17, Pharaoh asks Moshe to pray for forgiveness for his sins. How do we

reconcile these verses with the overall understanding? In each of the instances, Pharaoh asked

Moshe and Aharon to 'entreat' God for him. What does the word 'entreat' mean here?

The word is ha'atiru, which Rav Hirsch explains is related to ha'tar, forcing oneself against the

norm, such as rowing upstream or pushing in where one was not invited. In this case, he says

that it means begging someone ardently, that Pharaoh urged Moshe to press upon the angels

he thought were intermediaries between Moshe and God that they should ensure God will

forgive Egypt. In verses 8:4 and 8:24, Moshe recognized in this that Pharaoh was merely searching

for a way out of the situation, not that he believed in the power and mercy of God.

In our verse it appears that for the first time Pharaoh was actually recognizing God. However, he

uses the same word 'entreat' in the next verse, so Moshe realizes that Pharaoh is still just trying to

get out of the situation rather than truly submitting to God.

What does the "this time" mean here? Malbim notes that until now, Pharaoh thought he had done

no wrong. Kol Dodi explains that Pharaoh knew of the testimony to Avraham that his family would

be slaves for 400 years, and thought that he was justified in holding them in custody, having 190

years left to run. This time, when he begins to realize, when his own magicians could not fully

duplicate the feats of God through Moshe, that God was telling Pharaoh to let the people go early.

Why did Pharaoh sense now that God is righteous, but did not do so before? Nechama Leibowitz

cites Midrash Tanchuma that when one seeks to attack and overcome his fellow, he will take him

by surprise, overcome him and take his possessions. Here, God provided plenty of warning for

Pharaoh to preserve his possessions.

Or HaChayim reviews the plagues and notes that Pharaoh only asked Moshe to pray for God's

release after the plagues that involved great danger to the Egyptian people. He did not do so

with the plagues that involved discomfort to the people, falling upon the animals or the land. The

exception to this is the ninth plague, darkness. Pharaoh was unable during that plague to get out

and find Moshe or to otherwise get word to him until the darkness ended, and at that point, there

remained no reason to ask Moshe to pray for release.

What we can see from these explanations is that Pharaoh continued, even beyond our verse, to

act only in his own best interest, which included the lives of his people. All of his words about

accepting God were merely fodder designed to convince Moshe to relent. He did not at any

point accept God. Had he done so, the events at the Sea of Reeds would not have occurred.