פרשת בשלח תשי"ב - רדיפת המצרים אחרי ישראל

And he made ready his chariots, and took his people with him.

ואת עמו לקח עמו AND TOOK HIS PEOPLE WITH HIM — he drew them on by fine words, as follows: “We have been stricken and they have taken our money and yet we have let them go free. Come with me and I will not behave with you as other kings. It is the way of other kings that their subjects go in front of them into the battle, but I will go in front of you” — as, indeed, it is said, (v. 10) “And Pharaoh הקריב” (the Hiphil): which signifies he brought himself near and hastened in front of his army. — “It is the way of other kings to take the booty at the beginning as he chooses (to have first pick of the booty), but I will be equal to you in the division of the booty” — as, indeed, it states that he said, (Exodus 15:9) “I will divide the spoil”Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:6:2.

ואת עמו לקח עמו AND TOOK HIS PEOPLE WITH HIM — he drew them on by fine words, as follows: “We have been stricken and they have taken our money and yet we have let them go free. Come with me and I will not behave with you as other kings. It is the way of other kings that their subjects go in front of them into the battle, but I will go in front of you” — as, indeed, it is said, (v. 10) “And Pharaoh הקריב” (the Hiphil): which signifies he brought himself near and hastened in front of his army. — “It is the way of other kings to take the booty at the beginning as he chooses (to have first pick of the booty), but I will be equal to you in the division of the booty” — as, indeed, it states that he said, (Exodus 15:9) “I will divide the spoil”Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:6:2.

And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud removed from before them, and stood behind them;

ויסע מלאך האלוקים, the one that was guiding the pillar of cloud and the column of fire respectively in front of the marching columns of Israelites, changed positions and moved behind the columns of marching Israelites instead.

ויסע עמוד הענן מפניהם ויעמוד מאחריהם, this was the result of the angel repositioning himself. The purpose of the angel’s move now was to create a barrier between the Israelites and the Egyptians approaching from behind. The angel created a barrier of darkness, impenetrable to artificial means of lighting up the area in front of the Egyptians. (as described in Joshua 24,7). As a result, the Egyptians did not draw nearer to the Israelites during the entire night.

ויסע מלאך האלוקים, “G-d’s angel travelled, etc.” the Torah speaks of the angel that moves the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. (Compare comment on 13,21) Previously the Torah had simply spoken of Hashem walking ahead of the Israelites, without mentioning the word “angel.” Seeing that an angel is always a messenger of G-d, the Torah had simply referred to him a “G-d.”A different interpretation: whereas initially the Torah had not given us specifics about what medium G-d employed, it now gives us more detail. [Possibly, seeing we have been told that one angel normally is charged with only one task at a time, here the same angel performed what could be interpreted as more than one task. Ed.] At any rate, as a result of the angel’s activity there was absolute darkness between the camp of the Israelites and that of the Egyptian pursuers. This will be spelled out clearly in the verses following.