Let My People Go...three days in the wilderness- Tricking and Leaving Egypt

(18) They will listen to you; then you shall go with the elders of Israel to the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, manifested Himself to us. Now therefore, let us go a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God’

(1) ושאלה אשה משכנתה, as an outright gift. After all, G’d had encouraged the people to ask for these gifts, the Torah telling us in verse 21 that G’d would make the people favourably disposed towards the Israelites so that they would not refuse such requests. The expression שאל in the same sense as here occurs also in Psalms 2,8 שאל ממני ואתנה גוים נחלתך, “Ask it of me, and I will make the nations your domain.” This is the principal meaning of the verse and it effectively silences the heretics who speak of the Jews borrowing and not giving back these trinkets

(31) And when Israel saw the wondrous power which the LORD had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD; they had faith in the LORD and His servant Moses.

(1) Moses our Master was not believed in by Israel because he delivered tokens, for whosoever bases his belief contingent upon tokens retains suspicion in his heart, for it is possible that the token was delivered by means of enchantment and witchcraft. But all the tokens delivered by Moses in the wilderness were responsive to necessities, and not as testimony for prophecy. When it became necessary to have the Egyptians sunk, he divided the sea and drowned them therein; when our need was food, he brought down for us Manna; when they became thirsty, he split open the rock for them; when the Korah confederacy denied him, the earth swallowed them up. Likewise came to pass all the other tokens. Wherein, then, did they believe in him? In being present at Mount Sinai; for our own eyes saw and not through a stranger's, and our own ears heard and not that of another; the flame, the thunder and lightning, and he drew near the thick cloud and the Voice speaking unto him, we listening, saying: "Moses, Moses, go and tell them thus and such," for so he also said: "The Lord spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire" (Deut. 5.4); and it is moreover said: "The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us" (Ibid. –31). Whencefrom do we know that the standing at Mount Sinai alone is the evidence which makes his prophecy true without a shadow of suspicion? Because it is said: "Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak unto thee, and may also believe thee forever" (Ex. 19.9). Evidently, hitherto they did not believe in him with an everlasting belief, but with a belief wherein there is after-thought and reflection.¹See Ikarim I.18. C.

(46) But there is a question here, for after the splitting of the Red Sea we find it written (Ibid 14:31): "And they believed in the L-rd and in Moses, His servant," the implication being that before this their belief was not perfect.

(47) The answer: As soon as Moses performed the signs they believed in him implicitly, as it is written: "And the people believed." For why should they believe in him any more after the splitting of the sea than they did after all of the signs that he performed in Egypt, all of which were highly supernatural occurrences? But herein are resolved many of the great doubts which attach to the exodus from Egypt. That is: in the beginning, when he performed the signs, they believed in him implicitly. But afterwards, they saw with their own eyes confounding things which could only be explained retroactively. For after the L-rd remembered the Children of Israel, and desired to rescue them from the hand of Egypt and cause them to inherit the land that He had promised to our forefathers, and after He had commanded Moses to speak to the elders of Israel, viz. (Ibid 3:16-17): "Go and gather the elders of Israel and say to them…I have remembered you… and I have said that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt… to a land flowing with milk and honey…" — after all this, what reason was there to practice deception upon Pharaoh and tell him (Ibid 18): "The G-d of the Hebrews has called upon us, and now let us go three days in the desert and sacrifice to the L-rd our G-d"? This is the way of underlings who do not have the upper hand and who, desiring to flee, must scheme against their master. Why should Moses and Aaron, the messengers of the L-rd, not have declared peremptorily to Pharaoh that the time of Israel's redemption had arrived and that he would enslave them no longer? Does the L-rd lack the power to humble the heart of Pharaoh and force his submission even to an ultimatum? If ten plagues would not suffice for this, He could multiply them more and more. And this is, indeed, reason for the Jews to begin doubting the embassy of Moses though they had believed him in the beginning on the basis of the signs, as it is written: "And the people believed." For they could entertain the legitimate doubt: "If he is really the Blessed One's messenger, why is he afraid to tell Pharaoh the truth?"

(48) This is certainly a recondite matter which requires explanation. Even if we accept the forced answer that this was done in order to demonstrate the stubbornness of Pharaoh, his refusal to heed the word of the L-rd even in the granting of a relatively simple request, there is still great cause for doubt in the directive (Ibid 11:2): "Speak, I pray you, in the ears of the people that they ask, each man of his [Egyptian] neighbor, and each woman of her [Egyptian] neighbor, vessels of silver and vessels of gold." This is, indeed, great cause for wonder. For though the people of Egypt owed them the wages of their servitude, as stated in tractate Sanhedrin (91a), it did not befit them to take what was due them by stealth and deception. Even if they did not have the upper hand this would be unbecoming in them. How much less warranted was it now that the hand of the L-rd had asserted itself. Why did they not simply say: "Give us this and this amount of money that you owe us for our work"? Our sages of blessed memory have said (Bava Kamma 27b): "Do not enter your neighbor's property without permission even to take what is rightfully yours, so that you not appear to him as a thief — but 'break his teeth' and tell him: 'I am taking what belongs to me!'" All of these things are cause for wonder in themselves and could certainly cause the Jews to begin to doubt Moses' embassy.

(49) The resolution of these two difficulties is one. It is among the ways of the L-rd to bring counsel from afar to cast His enemies into our hands and to take His revenge of them, as the prophet states (Isaiah 25:1-2): "You are the L-rd my G-d. I will exalt You. I will praise Your name. For You have wrought wondrously, counsels from afar in faithfulness and truth. For you have made of a city a heap…" That is, the L-rd brings counsels from afar to avenge himself wondrously of His foes in the manner that He chooses. Now the Blessed One desired to punish the Egyptians with the same element [water] whereby they conspired against the Jews, as stated by Jethro (Ibid 18:11): "Now I know that the L-rd is greater than all gods, for [He punished them] by the very thing wherein they conspired against them." He, therefore, desired to manipulate events in such a way that they, through their own free choice, would enter the water and perish there. Now if Moses had apprised Pharaoh in the very beginning that the time of Israel's redemption had arrived, he would undoubtedly have given in under the weight of the plagues and have pursued them no further. For why should he pursue them after having let them go and sent them away when they were still in his hand? For this reason the Blessed One did not desire that Moses tell Pharaoh the truth, but rather that the Jews were going to offer sacrifices for three days, so that when he would later be told that the people had fled he would think as he did, indeed, think, and as it was right for him to think under the circumstances — that all that had been done by Moses came not from the Blessed One but from stealth and deceit. For if not so, why should he have "stolen his heart" by saying that they were going only to sacrifice? And it is for this reason itself that He directed "that they ask each man of his neighbor…" For though the Egyptian money was theirs and they could have taken it by force, He directed that they take it by stealth, even though this would seem exceedingly strange to the Jews. This is the intent of: "Speak, I pray you [na], in the ears of the people." "Na" is a term of imploration (Berachoth 9a). It is as if to say: "I know them to be courageous men, who are averse to deceit and guile. Still, implore them in My name that they do as I ask and not ask the reason." And when the king of Egypt and his people were told that the Jews were fleeing, there is no doubt that they suspected them of being "men of blood and deceit." For if this were not the case, why should they have schemed against them in this manner? And all of this was certainly cause for them to pursue the Jews. For if Moses had commanded at the outset that they send the Jews away and not pursue them and give them their wages as well, there is no question that they would not have stirred from their places. And the motive for all of these things was hidden from the Jews — and possibly, even from Moses himself. For this reason there was certainly cause for them to begin to doubt the embassy of Moses, though they had believed in it implicitly in the beginning. And this is intimated in (Ibid 14:31): "And Israel saw the mighty hand…" That is, then they recognized that all that had been hidden from them until then and had given them cause for doubt was only a ploy to cause the Egyptians to enter the sea of themselves. And this itself is the intent of what is written concerning the splitting of the sea (Ibid 21): "And the L-rd caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night…" Now, unquestionably, this wind would not suffice to split the sea; but the Blessed One desired to mislead Pharaoh into thinking that what was transpiring was natural and not miraculous. For if he regarded it as a miracle, he would not pursue them. And it should not be wondered how it could be among the ways of the L-rd to mislead him thus — for He misled him even more by commanding the Jews to encamp before Pi Hachiroth, thereby leading the Egyptians to think that their idol would avenge their shame (Mechilta, Beshalach 1). Hereby are resolved many doubts which every thinking person should entertain.

(50) What emerges from all we have written is that in the beginning the Jews believed in Moses on the basis of the signs. We thus know the criterion by which a prophet is to be believed; and it was, therefore, sufficient for him to say: "A prophet from your midst, from your brothers, such as I." That is, one whose prophecy is substantiated in the same way that mine was. And as far as its being written in relation to the splitting of the sea: "And they believed in the L-rd and in Moses, His servant," this is in point of the resolution of their doubts and the unraveling of the intervening perplexities with the resultant realization that "the ways of the L-rd are just" and extremely lofty, so that "if the sage would seek to know them, he could not find them." We thus find in the redemption from Egypt that at the very time the redemption was unfolding itself and the Jews were witnessing themselves being redeemed, and, together with all this, observing acts and deeds which were the very reason for their redemption — in spite of all this, they could not fathom the motive for what was occurring until the Blessed One revealed it to their very eyes. How much more understandable, then, is our own ignorance of our future redemption. This is the intent of the Rambam's statement (Hilchoth Melachim 12:2): "It will not be known how these things will come to pass until they come to pass."

The next verse states that Pharaoh said: “Come, let us deal wisely with him [lo], lest he multiply, and it come to pass that when there befalls us any war, he will also join our enemies, and fight against us” (Exodus 1:10). The Gemara comments: He should have said in plural: With them [lahem], rather than the singular: “With him.” Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says that Pharaoh was saying: Come, let us deal wisely with regard to the savior of Israel, referring to God. His advisors asked: With what form of death shall we judge and decree upon them? If we shall judge them with fire, perhaps we will be punished measure for measure by fire, as it is written: “For behold, the Lord will come in fire” (Isaiah 66:15), and it is written in the verse that follows it: “For by fire will the Lord contend” (Isaiah 66:16). Similarly, we cannot judge them with the sword, as it is written in the continuation of that verse: “And by His sword with all flesh” (Isaiah 66:16). Rather, let us come and judge them with water, by drowning the Jewish babies. God will not punish us with water, for the Holy One, Blessed be He, already took an oath that He will not bring a flood upon the world, as it is stated: “For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth” (Isaiah 54:9). The Gemara comments: And Pharaoh’s advisors did not know that He will not bring a flood upon all the world, but He may bring destruction by water upon one nation. Alternatively, there is an additional way to punish the Egyptians with water: He does not bring a flood upon them, but they may come and fall into water, and so it says: “And the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled toward it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:27), indicating that the Egyptians fell into the water. And this is what Rabbi Elazar says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, for in that which they conspired [zadu] against them” (Exodus 18:11)? The phrase means: In the pot in which they cooked, they themselves were cooked, as they were punished through drowning, measure for measure, for drowning the Jewish babies. The Gemara asks: From where may it be inferred that this word “zadu” is a term meaning a pot? The Gemara answers: As it is written: “And Jacob simmered a pot [vayyazed Ya’akov nazid]” (Genesis 25:29).