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Parshas Bo 5760 In the possuk when Moshe came to Pharaoh to tell him about the plague of Arbe [locusts], it says he turned and left. What was different about this plague that it specifically says he left? Ramban--- explains that this was true by all the plagues. Moshe would tell Pharaoh about the plague and leave. To shorten the text, the posuk only says it the one time. Rabeinu Bachayaa—says that this was only true for this plague. He explains by the previous plague of hail, Pharaoh had realized for the first time they were all going to die since the hail was ruining all the crops. Now that locusts were coming, Moshe wanted the wise men to convince Pharaoh that they would be totally finished if they don’t give in, since there would be no more food at all. Moshe quickly left, before Pharaoh could answer that he would not let them go, to give them a chance to mull it over. --------------------------------------------------------------- 5759 When Moshe warned Pharaoh about the plague of "Arbeh’, locusts, the posuk states "Vayeefen vayeitzai meiyim Pharaoh"; and he turned, and he departed from Pharaoh’s presence. The Midrash explains ‘and he turned’ refers to Pharaoh turning and making eye contact with his servants. Moshe observed this visual communication indicated a belief in his words, so he departed to allow them to determine on their own how best to do teshuva, Even an idol worshiper like Pharaoh realized that something is wrong when his idols did not prevent all those nasty plagues from occurring. It poses the question of what Pharaoh and the Egyptians actually believed when Moshe delivered the warning for Arbeh. Did they accept that Hashem was the Almighty and that no others exist? The Chassam Soffer explains that Pharaoh believed Hashem had sent the plagues through Moshe but only because his idols chose to allow it. When Moshe departed, leaving Pharaoh and the Egyptians to contemplate doing teshuva before the next plague would come, they could not embrace the notion that their idols had no power at all. With the arrival of the Arbeh, it became apparent that teshuva had not been done. Proving Hashem’s might with the previous plagues did not work for Pharaoh; so ingrained was his belief in idols. If someone cannot renounce his avoda zara when it obviously abandoned him, the solutions are either; employ the Midas Hadin (justice) of Gehenim or present him with a part of Hashem’s very essence. Choshech, darkness, the Midrash relates, came either from Gehenim below or from above where Hashem surrounds himself with darkness. The Midrash further characterizes darkness as the total separation from light. Klal Yisroel in contrast, pursues the light of Torah as a total separation from the darkness of the idol worshipers. The plague of darkness, therefor, was a just punishment for the Egyptians, who intended to destroy the light of this ‘separate’ nation. Pharaoh, who now acknowledged the power of Hashem, was still missing a basic yesode in emunah (foundation of belief). He could not detach his belief in idols from his newly acquired comprehension of Hashem. To assist him, Hashem sent the plague of darkness to demonstrate the need to separate the true light from the darkness. |
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