The Wickedness of Egypt: Spiritual Slavery in the Land of Pharaoh

Every Passover, Jews recall their miraculous escape from the land of Egypt and extol God for bringing about their liberation from slavery.  However, amidst the drama of the Passover story, it is possible to overlook that God’s purpose in delivering the Israelites includes not only their manumission but also Egypt’s recognition that God is Adonai^[1]: “And Egypt will know that I am Adonai when I stretch out my hand upon Egypt, and I shall take the children of Israel out from among them” (Exodus 7:5^[2]).  Throughout the Exodus narrative, “Egypt” (מצרים)—as differentiated from “the land of Egypt” (ארץ מצרים)—refers collectively to a people (much like “Israel”) rather than a country.  Who, then, is Egypt, and why does God seek to win its recognition?  To what degree are they evil, and what is their relationship to Pharaoh?  And why does God find it necessary to stretch forth God’s hand against them in the form of the ten plagues?  By closely studying the story of the Exodus and turning to the rabbinical authors of the texts in Exodus Rabbah,^[3]  we can add to our understanding of Egypt’s identity and its critical importance to God’s plan, ultimately arriving at the interpretation that an idolatrous Egypt is destroyed for its failure to turn from worshiping Pharaoh to worshiping God.

To begin our study, we must determine what is meant by the text’s usage of “Egypt.”  When addressing those who will be affected by the plagues—that is, everyone in the land of Egypt except for the Children of Israel—God refers to three levels of society: Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s servants (עבדים), and Pharaoh’s people (עם) (cf. Ex. 7:29, 8:27, 9:14, 12:30).  Although one might understand “Egypt” to include all three of these groups, several factors point to Egypt being only the “people.”  When this three-leveled trope is repeated in Ex. 10:6,^[4] “people” is replaced by the word “Egypt.”  An identical replacement in the parallel verses of Ex. 7:5 and 12:31^[5] also indicates that “Egypt” is synonymous with “people.”  Furthermore, in Ex. 10:7,^[6] Pharaoh’s servants talk about Egypt as an entity separate from themselves and Pharaoh.  Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that “Egypt” refers neither to Pharaoh nor his servants but rather to Pharaoh’s people, the mass of non-Israelites living in the land of Egypt.^[7]

Therefore, Egypt can be studied as separate from Pharaoh and his servants.  Because of Pharaoh’s identity as a king, a discussion about the role of the Egyptians^[8] can easily be framed within the context of Pharaoh’s power.  Throughout the narrative, Pharaoh’s power is a crucial component, providing the conditions for Israel’s enslavement and miraculous rescue.  As we shall discuss below, Egypt is utterly subservient to Pharaoh; however, to appreciate the significance of this total subjection, we will first explore the role of Pharaoh’s servants (עבדי פרעה), who are depicted as less constrained by Pharaoh than Egypt is.

The servants of Pharaoh seem to be represented by wise men (חכמים), sorcerers (מכשפים), and diviners (חרטים) (cf. Ex. 7:11).  All three are summoned to mimic the staff-snake transformation (Ex. 7:11), the diviners replicate the plagues of blood (Ex. 7:22) and frogs (Ex. 8:3), and the sorcerers attempt to duplicate the plague of lice (Ex. 8:14-15).  However, as the plagues progress, these servants lose their efficacy (cf. Ex. 8:14, 9:11).  In the face of powers beyond their own, they proclaim, “It is a finger of God” (Ex. 8:15).  In saying this, the servants are acknowledging a power that does not stem from Pharaoh and thus are exercising independence from Pharaoh’s power.  Moreover, the servants move from taking orders from Pharaoh to heeding the word of God: “Those from the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of Adonai helped his servants and his cattle flee to the houses” (Ex. 9:20).  Finally, their earlier challenge against Pharaoh’s power (Ex. 8:15) becomes a direct confrontation of wills during the plague of locusts: “And the servants of Pharaoh said to him, ‘Until when will this be for us a snare for us?  Send the men [אנשים] and they will serve Adonai their God.  Do you not yet know that Egypt is lost?’” (Ex. 10:7).  By this point, the servants have overcome their obedience to Pharaoh and their own hardened hearts (Ex. 9:34) and act on behalf of their sense of what is right: saving Egypt by giving in to God’s will.  In fact, their transformation is so complete that Moses decrees to Pharaoh, “All of these servants of yours will come down to me and bow down to me^[9] saying, ‘Go out!  You and the entire people which follow you.’  After this, I will go out” (Ex. 11:8).  Thus, Pharaoh’s servants evolve throughout the story from willing adherents to Pharaoh’s commands to independent voices that speak out against Pharaoh and do so with no recorded consequences administered by Pharaoh.

In the levels of Egyptian hierarchy, therefore, we see that the servants are in the middle.  They are expected to obey Pharaoh, but they also exhibit the freedom not to do so.  By contrast, most of the references to the Egyptians are passive; that is, the Egyptians are smitten by the plagues but do little on their own.  This may stem from their lack of ability to act without Pharaoh’s blessing and their total obedience to his command, for there seems to be a direct correlation between Pharaoh’s will and the people of Egypt.  It is in light of this that we turn our attention back to Ex. 7:5.^[10]  As demonstrated during the discussion of Pharaoh’s servants, the “signs and wonders” (cf. Ex. 7:3) that God sends against Egypt are sufficient to establish the fact of God’s power as opposed to Pharaoh’s power.  Thus, when God conflates the demonstration of God’s power with Egypt’s knowledge that God is Adonai, God is declaring God’s intention of disrupting Pharaoh’s power by winning the Egyptians’ recognition.  That is, God wants to prove that Pharaoh is powerless against God, and God will do this by means of the plagues against Pharaoh’s people.

However, this reading presents a challenge: if Egypt is completely under the control of Pharaoh, how can the Egyptians deserve the punishments delivered upon them?  The wisdom of the rabbis whose work makes up Exodus Rabbah teaches that the Egyptians were indeed an evil people and that God’s justice is not impugned in their suffering through the plagues.  Still, if Egypt is already evil, why would Pharaoh’s power play a role in their actions?  It stands to reason that God’s breaking of Pharaoh’s power over the people is intended to have an effect; yet if the people are evil one way or another, this effect is diminished.  Thus, there must be some good in the Egyptian people or else they would not be worth saving from Pharaoh’s power.  Perhaps then we are to understand Egypt’s evil as a willing enslavement to Pharaoh’s will.  We shall explore this possibility by first looking at the rabbis’ establishment of the Egyptians as evil, then by examining the power relationship between Pharaoh and Egypt, and finally by conflating the two.

For the rabbis, there is hardly a question as to the wickedness of the Egyptians.  When reading, for example, about the drowning of the Egyptians in the Sea of Reeds, one finds almost offhand references such as “the wicked Egyptians” (Exodus Rabbah XXII.1).  In Exodus Rabbah XII.5, the rabbis cite textual evidence of Egypt’s wickedness: “I [Pharaoh] and my people are the evil ones” (Ex. 9:27).  Later in this passage, the rabbis read Ex. 9:29^[11] as evidence “that Moses did not wish to pray in Egypt because it was polluted by idols and abominations” (E.R. XII.5).  Although idols are not mentioned specifically, the rabbis definitely assume that Egypt was a land of idols.  This is read from Ex. 8:22, which identifies the paschal lamb as “the abomination [תועבת] of Egypt.”   “Abomination” often refers to idols, so the rabbis see the Israelites’ Passover offering as one of slaughtering the gods of Egypt in order to prove that they hold no sway (E.R. XVI.3).  Thus, by virtue of their idolatry, the Egyptians are condemned as evil in the eyes of the rabbis.

Additionally, the rabbis hold the Egyptians accountable for their own actions, especially their enslavement of Israel (cf. Ex. 1:13).  Thus, the rabbis expound upon the Israelites’ slavery (Ex. 1:14) by writing that the Egyptians “used to exchange the work, giving women tasks suited only for men and men the tasks which women usually performed” (E.R. I.11).  This “excessively hard work” (ibid.) was one of the “outrageous decrees” (E.R. XVIII.9) that Egypt forced on Israel, giving vivid illustration to the evil actions of the Egyptians.

However, still remaining is the question of Egypt’s ability to act of its own will.  That is, are these evil actions born of the Egyptians’ intent or are they imposed upon the people by Pharaoh?  We note that, although “Egypt enslaved the Children of Israel with harshness” (Ex. 1:13), the Egyptians’ action is a result of Pharaoh’s words: “‘Behold, the people—the Children of Israel—is more numerous and mighty than we.  Come, let us deal wisely with it lest it become numerous…’  And they put over it chiefs of task-workers in order to afflict them with their burden” (Ex. 1:9-11).  The rabbis recognize Pharaoh’s culpability and perceive his punishment as occurring during the plagues of frogs^[12] and flies.^[13]  Nevertheless, this by no means absolves the Egyptians of responsibility in the eyes of the rabbis.  Though they (the Rabbis) recognize degrees of wickedness, the evilness of Pharaoh does not explain or excuse the evilness of Egypt.  On the other hand, the Exodus text itself may call into question the responsibility of the Egyptians for their actions.  Whereas a study of Pharaoh’s servants over the course of the story reveals their escape from Pharaoh’s control, a similar analysis of Egypt will show how the people can be seen as unable to act apart from Pharaoh’s will, even when they do act of their own accord.

The first mention of the Egyptian people in Exodus is when Pharaoh speaks to them regarding the numerous Israelites (Ex. 1:9).  Pharaoh convinces the Egyptians that the Israelites must be dealt with, and Egypt responds by imposing harsh slavery on Israel.  Thus, Egypt’s first act is one of compliance with Pharaoh’s will.^[14]  The next positive action the Egyptians take is in response to the plague of blood: “All of Egypt dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they were not able to drink from the water of the Nile” (Ex. 7:24).  This desperate reaction to the first plague depicts the Egyptians as the primary recipients of the consequences of the plagues.  Their role as victims continues throughout the rest of the plagues, as Egypt is targeted in all but two of them^[15].  Egypt’s victimization continues through the plague of slaying the firstborn when their voices is heard echoing through the land: “And Pharaoh rose at night—he and all his servants and all Egypt—and there was a great outcry in Egypt [במצרים], for there was no house which did not have a dead person there” (Ex. 12:30).  Having suffered as much as can be borne, Egypt at last takes the initiative when the Israelites are leaving the land of Egypt: “And Egypt imposed itself upon the people to hasten to send them from the land, for they said, ‘All of us are dying’” (Ex. 12:33).  However, this purely reactionary response is not contrary to Pharaoh’s will, for the previous verse records that Pharaoh has decided to let the Israelites go free.  Even the Egyptians’ desire to help the Israelites leave by giving them jewelry is caused by God’s putting “favor for the people in the eyes of Egypt” (Ex. 12:36).  Thus, Egypt, unable to escape the will of Pharaoh, has no opportunity to seek respite while bearing the full brunt of the ten plagues.

It must be noted, however, that the apparent “slavery” of Egypt to Pharaoh is intrinsically different from Israel’s slavery to Pharaoh.  The Israelites are said to be “enslaved”^[16] (cf. Ex. 1:13, 6:5), while no such term is applied to Egypt.  If we understand the Israelites’ labor as demanded through physical slavery, perhaps we can view the position of the Egyptians as one of spiritual slavery.  Israel clearly shows dissatisfaction with their situation (cf. Ex. 1:14, 2:23, 3:7, etc.) and even has the resolve and capacity to speak out against Pharaoh (cf. Ex. 5:15).  On the other hand, Egypt never speaks out against Pharaoh or his tyranny, remaining instead wholly absorbed in conformity to his will.  The Egyptians are inescapably concerned with Pharaoh and cannot establish independence.  Thus, though Israel’s body is temporarily under Pharaoh’s control, the much deeper personal selves of the Egyptians belong to their king.

Moreover, this relationship is dangerous—and finally fatal—for the Egyptians, for Pharaoh is no less wicked toward his own people than he is toward the Israelites.  This is most vividly established in the rabbis’ reading of Ex. 1:22^[17]: “He decreed against his own people too.…  It does not say ‘every son who is an Israelite,’ but ‘every son,’ whether he be Jew or Egyptian” (E.R. I.18).  According to this reading, Pharaoh commands the death of every newborn Israelite and Egyptian, showing the painful hold Pharaoh has over the lives of his people.  Thus, not only are the Egyptians essentially engrossed in Pharaoh’s will, but they are also subject to the same atrocities he imposes on the Israelites.

Nevertheless, the rabbis fail to acquit the Egyptians.  Even in the previous example of Pharaoh’s command to murder children in the land of Egypt, Israelite and Egyptian alike, the rabbis continue to maintain Egypt’s wickedness.  For the rabbis, the king-subject relationship does not limit the freedom of the Egyptians to act evilly:

And Pharaoh charged all his people (Ex. 1:22).  R. Jose b. R. Hanina said: He decreed against his own people too.  And why was this?  Because his astrologers told him, ‘The mother of Israel’s savior is already pregnant with him, but we do not know whether he is an Israelite or an Egyptian.’  Then Pharaoh assembled all the Egyptians before him and said: ‘Lend me your children for nine months that I may cast them in the river,’ as it is written: Every son that is born, ye shall cast into the river (Ex. 1:22).  It does not say ‘every son who is an Israelite,’ but ‘every son,’ whether he be Jew or Egyptian.  But they would not agree, saying: ‘An Egyptian son would not redeem them; he must be a Hebrew.’  …  And every daughter ye shall save alive; what need did Pharaoh have to save the girls?  What they said in fact was: ‘Let us kill the males so that we may take unto ourselves the females for wives,’ for the Egyptians were steeped in immorality’ (E.R. I.18, bold added).

Thus, the Egyptians first argue for the preservation of their own sons and then encourage the murder of the sons of the Israelites in order to marry the Israelite daughters.  Why?  “For the Egyptians were steeped in immorality.”  The rabbis maintain their trope that Egypt is evil through and through and thus might argue that any Egyptian subservience to Pharaoh is self-imposed.  In fact, despite acknowledgements elsewhere that Pharaoh does have power over the Egyptians (cf. E.R. I.9, etc.), this passage reflects an Egypt who is not subservient to Pharaoh but rather one who can change Pharaoh’s mind.  Therefore, the rabbis read Egypt as responsible for their own relationship with Pharaoh and as entirely accountable for their own evil actions.

Once again, though, we are able to find an alternate interpretation of the biblical text.  Pharaoh’s mental enslavement of the Egyptians is both harmful and sinful, and the text does not make attempts to show active acquiescence with their role as victims of plagues and Pharaoh alike.  Moreover, God seeks to undermine the king-subject relationship between Pharaoh and Egypt by earning recognition in the eyes of the Egyptians.  This attempt can be understood as a statement that Pharaoh’s power over the Egyptians is unacceptable to God.  Thus we return to Ex. 9:27,^[18] which serves as a concrete example of the identification of Egypt with Pharaoh and which was cited above by the rabbis to support the conclusion that Egypt is autonomously evil.  Although the passage seems unambiguous to the rabbis, it can be called into question when juxtaposed with a nearly parallel passage: “And Pharaoh hastened to call to Moses and Aaron, and he said, ‘I have sinned to Adonai your God and to you.  And now, please forgive my sin’” (Ex. 10:16).  In this latter passage, the people are no longer implicated.  Exploring the differences in the contexts of the verses will illuminate God’s desire that Egypt be freed from Pharaoh’s spiritual power over them.

Pharaoh’s plea in Ex. 9:27 is in response to the plague of hail, and Moses immediately identifies it as insincere: “And you and your servants—I knew that you are not yet afraid of Adonai God” (Ex. 9:30).  However, no such refutation follows Pharaoh’s second “repentance.”  Instead, we read that “Adonai strengthened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not consent to send them out” (Ex. 10:27).  Thus, the reliance upon divine intervention to maintain Pharaoh’s stubbornness indicates that Pharaoh’s repentance and that of his servants (cf. Ex. 10:7) is genuine.^[19]  In other words, at this point, Pharaoh has recognized the evils of his past and seeks to rectify them.  Thus, when Pharaoh fails to identify his people as wicked along with him, he acts justly.  Therefore, we are able to conclude that the people of Egypt are not wicked, as was stated by Pharaoh in Ex. 9:27, but rather that they are unjustly identified with Pharaoh’s evil because of their inability to break free from his will.

Thus we have established that one of Pharaoh’s sins is falsely accusing the Egyptians of being evil.  In this light, we read Ex. 5:15-16: “The officers of the Children of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, ‘Why do you do thus to your servants?  Straw is not given to your servants, but they tell us, ‘Make bricks!’’  Behold, your servants are being beaten, and it is a sin for your people.”  On the one hand, the officers of the Children of Israel are condemning the people of Egypt as sinners; on the other, they attribute the source of Egypt’s sin to Pharaoh.  Recalling the above argument that Egypt is unfairly associated with Pharaoh’s sin, we can further conclude that Pharaoh’s power over the otherwise innocent Egyptians causes them to sin.  Yes, the Egyptians do evil things, but the source of those actions and that desire is Pharaoh, and his complete power over the Egyptians is what makes the people evil.

Thus, we are able to revisit Ex. 1:9-10, 13^[20].  Whereas the rabbis read this passage as one of shared responsibility (see above), our current reading holds that the words of Pharaoh capture the Egyptians’ heart and dispose them against the Israelites.  In this way Pharaoh also entices the people of Egypt to join him when he pursues Israel: “And it was told to the king of Egypt^[21] that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was changed with regard to the people.  And they said, ‘What is this we have done?  We have sent Israel from serving us!’  And he harnessed his chariot and took his people with him” (Ex. 14:6).  We note that the hearts of Pharaoh and his servants was changed (ויהפך) and that Pharaoh took (לקח) the people of Egypt to pursue Israel.  Thus for the third time^[22] does Pharaoh put the Egyptians in mortal peril.  The result of this last evil appropriation of Egypt’s will is most disastrous, for after the sea crashes in upon the Egyptians, “not even one of them remained” (Ex. 14:28).  Thus through Egypt’s adherence to Pharaoh’s wickedness, the entire people of Egypt is tragically destroyed.

This destruction of Egypt raises numerous questions, especially in light of Ex. 7:5, which reminds us that one of God’s goals is that “Egypt will know that I am Adonai,” that He is God.  Whether to lure the Egyptians away from self-directed evil actions or to break down the powerful control Pharaoh holds over Egypt, God’s stated plan involves winning recognition from the Egyptians by means of the plagues.  Why, then, if Egypt is of such great importance to God, does God target the Egyptians with hardship after hardship?  Why does God even care about them at all?

One answer to this question is that the Egyptians failed to see God as God, continued in their evil ways, and were punished.  Supporting their thematic interpretation  of Egypt as evil agents, the rabbis argue that the Egyptians deserve their fate:

R. Johanan of Sepphoris said: What did the virtuous and pious daughters of Israel do?  They took their children and hid them in the cellars of their houses.  The wicked Egyptians would then bring babies into the houses of the Israelites and pinch them in order to make them cry; and when the hidden child heard the cry of the other, he would begin to weep with him.  Whereupon they seized the child and cast it into the river.…  Hence does it say, That the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, so that the wheel may come round upon them (E.R. XXII.1).

Rabbi Johanan’s teaching offers the simple solution of crime and punishment by depicting the Egyptians as cunning, calculated murderers of innocent Israelite children.  However, we have already seen how the straightforward understanding of Egypt as purely evil is incomplete, and Rabbi Ami provides an alternative interpretation:

And I will put a division between my people (Ex. 8:19)—this teaches that Israel too deserved to be smitten with this plague, but that God made the Egyptians their ransom.  Also in the time to come, God will cast the ancient idolaters and star-worshipers into Gehinnom in Israel’s stead, as it says: For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior; I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee (Isaiah 43:3) (E.R. XI.2).

In this interpretation, the Egyptians are punished for the Israelites.  That is, the Israelites deserve to be stricken by the plague of wild beasts, but the Egyptians suffer in their stead.  The Israelites’ culpability is addressed by Rashi when he studies Ex. 13:18: “And armed [וחמשים],^[23] the Children of Israel went up from the land of Egypt.”  Rashi^[24] writes, “An alternate explanation of va-chamushim: one of every five went out [of Egypt] and four-fifths died^[25] during the three days of darkness.”^[26]  This midrash shows the rabbis’ willingness to admit that the Children of Israel could deserve God’s harsh punishment while also giving opportunity to extol God’s grace and love for the people Israel.

The life-or-death nature of this precarious redemption of Israel is discussed further in the context of idolatry:

You will find that when Israel were in Egypt, they served idols, which they were reluctant to abandon…  God then said to Moses, ‘As long as Israel worship Egyptian gods, they will not be redeemed; go and tell them to abandon their evil ways and to reject idolatry.’  This is what is meant by: Draw out, and take you lambs, that is to say: Draw away your hands from idolatry and take for yourselves lambs, thereby slaying the gods of Egypt and preparing the Passover; only through this will the Lord pass over you (E.R. XVI.2). 

Here, the rabbis again show no hesitation at making the claim that Israelites could be worthy of death.  In this specific midrash, we learn that those worshiping idols in the land of Egypt do not stand to be redeemed.  We know already that Egypt can be interpreted to be a land of idols (see above); therefore, the Egyptians’ destruction could be merited by their idolatry.  However, this destruction is more than the simple punishment of a sinning people, for God tries throughout the narrative of the ten plagues to win the recognition of the Egyptians – in effect, to draw them away from their idols.  Additionally, when we integrate our discussion of Pharaoh’s power over the people of Egypt, we can conclude that the primary idol of the Egyptian people is Pharaoh.  He is their ultimate concern, and it is in him that the Egyptian people maintain their faith despite the signs and wonders sent by God.  Led astray by an all-consuming god-dictator, the Egyptians fail to turn to Adonai and are annihilated for their inability to recognize God as God.

So it is that the story of the Exodus from Egypt ends with the death of the Egyptians.  Although the text does not state that they were an idolatrous people, their unwavering association with Pharaoh’s evil will characterizes them as worshipers of him.  God attempts to save them from their idolatry by revealing Godself through the plagues.  However, Egypt ignores the signs and wonders that God manifests, continuing their self-destructive commitment to a man who has no regard whatsoever for their well-being.  By not “slaying the gods of Egypt and preparing the Passover” (E.R. XVI.2), the Egyptians consign themselves to the fate that otherwise would have awaited the Israelites.  Because of Egypt’s blindness to God and unquestioning obedience to an entirely evil man, the people of Egypt prepare themselves for retribution.  This retribution is delivered in one stroke of freedom and destruction as the walls of the Sea of Reeds and the blinders of the Egyptian people simultaneously and disastrously come crashing down.

ENDNOTES

^[1] In this paper, “Adonai” will be used to refer to the tetragrammaton.

^[2] All biblical citations not quoted within midrash have been translated from the Hebrew by the author.

^[3] Midrash Rabbah, Volume 3.  ed. Freedman, H. and Maurice Simon.  trans. S. M. Lehrman.  London: The Soncino Press, 1939.

^[4] “And they will fill your [Pharaoh’s] houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all Egypt.”

^[5] 7:5 – “I shall take the children of Israel out from among them [Egypt].”  12:31 – “Go out from among my people.”

^[6] “And the servants of Pharaoh said to him … ‘Do you not yet know that Egypt is lost?’”

^[7] For the purposes of this paper “Egypt” will refer only to the people and “land of Egypt” will refer only to the land.

^[8] For the purposes of this paper, “Egyptians” and “Egypt” will be treated as identical.

^[9] We are apt to take this to be a prediction of the servants giving themselves over to God, not worshiping Moses.  However, for further discussion of Moses in the role of God, see Benjamin Parziale’s treatment in this journal of Ex. 7:1 (“Adonai said to Moses, ‘See, I have given you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet”).

^[10] “And Egypt will know that I am Adonai when I stretch out my hand upon Egypt, and I shall take the children of Israel out from among them.”

^[11] “And Moses said to him [Pharaoh], ‘When I have gone out from the city, I will spread out my palms to Adonai…’”

^[12] “Both upon thee and upon thy people (Ex. 7:28).  Because Pharaoh transgressed first, as it says: And he said unto his people, the plague began with him; hence it says first ‘Upon thee,’ then, ‘and upon thy people’” (E.R. X.2).

^[13] “And there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh (Ex. 8:20).  He was smitten first because he was the first to counsel the evil thing, as it says: And Pharaoh charged all his people (Ex. 1:22)” (E.R. XI.3).

^[14] A comparison between this text and the similar exchange prior to pursuing the Israelites to the Sea of Reeds (Ex. 14:5-7), in which Egypt is taken along with Pharaoh, indicates that this act of compliance is not voluntary but rather compulsory.

^[15] Blood (Ex. 7:24), frogs (Ex. 7:28), wild beasts (Ex.8:17), cattle disease (Ex. 9:6), boils (Ex. 9:11), hail (Ex. 9:14), locusts (Ex. 10:6), and the death of the firstborn (Ex. 12:30).  Lice and darkness are throughout the “land of Egypt” (Ex. 9:12, 10:22).

^[16]It is interesting to note that the Israelites seem to be slaves to the same degree as are Pharaoh’s servants, for both complain against Pharaoh (cf. Ex. 5:15-16 and 10:7).  Still, a distinction is made between the Israelites and the servants of Pharaoh: “And they [the Israelites] said to them [Moses and Aaron], ‘May Adonai look upon you and judge that you have made our smell stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of his servants (עבדיו) to put a sword in their hands to kill us.”

^[17] “And Pharaoh commanded to all of his people saying, ‘Every son that is born, into the Nile shall you throw him.’”

^[18] “And Pharaoh sent and called to Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘I have sinned this time.  Adonai is the righteous one, and I and my people are the evil ones.’”

^[19] There is not space in this essay to explore the complicated issues of the strengthening of Pharaoh’s heart, so we will retain a very basic reading.  For more discussion on this topic, see Daniel Harris’ essay in this journal.

^[20] “And [Pharaoh] said to his people, ‘Behold, the people—the Children of Israel—is more numerous and mighty than we.  Come, let us deal wisely with it lest it become numerous…’  And they put over it chiefs of task-workers in order to afflict them with their burden.…  Egypt enslaved the Children of Israel with harshness.”

^[21] The use of the phrase “King of Egypt” here is noteworthy since Pharaoh has not been referred to as such since before the saga of the ten plagues began in Exodus 7.  Thus, the phrase hearkens back to the original enslavement of Israel, which is an enactment of Pharaoh’s power over Egypt.  Furthermore, the phrase “King of Egypt” refers to the consistent and total slavery of the Egyptian people to the will of Pharaoh.

^[22] Cf. also Ex. 1:22 and 10:20.

^[23]From the Hebrew root חמש, the number five.

^[24] The Metsudah Chumash/Rashi: A New Linear Translation.  trans. Avrohom Davis.  Lakewood: Israel Book Shop, 2002.

^[25] Because they did not desire to leave Egypt (Mechilta).

^[26] For more on this midrash and the Israelites’ deserving of death because of ungratefulness, see Jessica Kirzner’s essay in this journal.

© 2007, Society for Scriptural Reasoning