As a biblical Hebrew teacher, I like to (try to) get my students excited about the Hebrew shoresh and binyan system. When they learn the meaning of certain shorashim in בנין פָּעַל and then understand that the meaning of these roots becomes passive in בנין נפעל and (usually) becomes causative in בנין הפעיל, they have a powerful tool at their disposal.
But then, every once in a while, the Torah seems to break the rules and buck the system, and my carefully-organized lessons seem incorrect, or at least misleading!
Such as is the case with the words ופרעה הקריב. According to the rules of בנין הפעיל, the meaning of the words should be, "and Pharaoh brought close," a transitive verb. Instead, most p'shat translations assume that the meaning of the text is, "Pharaoh came close" or "drew near," an intransitive verb, which is generally the translation of the word קָרַב in בנין פָּעַל.
So what's going on here?
Many commentators offer an explanation along the lines of Sforno, below:
(א) ופרעה הקריב את חיל ההמון של כל רכב מצרים:
Sforno and others say that the Torah is indeed following the rules of grammar. The verb הקריב is indeed causative, and it refers to Pharaoh's army, which he brought close to reach B'nei Yisrael.
Phew, the sanctity of the binyan system is safe! Of course, we still may wonder why the Torah uses a transitive verb without mentioning the object of that verb, but...
But here is another, more creative answer to this question, offered by the Mechilta. It does not solve the problem of the missing verbal direct object, but it does has the advantage of embedding the word הקריב with lots of added meaning, in addition to addressing a seemingly random detail mentioned in an earlier pasuk.
Here is the earlier pasuk, with its seemingly random detail:
What is the Torah's purpose in telling us that the Israelites were to encamp before Baal-Zephon, a god of Egypt?
Rashi offers an answer, and it is expanded upon by Kli Yakar. See below:
(3) לפני בעל צפון BEFORE BAAL-ZEPHON — It (the idol of this name) alone had been left by God of all the gods of Egypt and, this, too, in order to mislead them — that they should say that their god was a difficult one to overcome. It was with reference to this that Job expressly said, (Job 12:23) “He causes the nations to err (מַשְׂגִיא, is taken in the sense of מַשְׁגִיא from root שגה to err) and then destroyeth them”
(א) לפני בעל צפון. הוא נשאר מכל אלהי מצרים כו', ויש לנו ליתן טעם למה נשארה זו יותר משאר אלהות, ונראה מזה שהיו להן הרבה עבודה זרות שעבדו להרבה מזלות כי כל מזל יש לו כח והשפעה על איזו ענין מיוחד, ובעל צפון היינו הע"ז אשר חשבו כי ממנו יושפע להם זהב ורב פנינים כמ"ש (איוב לז כב) מצפון זהב יאתה, והשאיר הקב"ה דווקא ע"ז זו להטעותם שיאמרו שע"ז זו תתבע עלבונם על מה שנטלו ישראל ממונם שלא כדין, כי בכל שאר המכות הצדיק פרעה את הדין עליו לומר שבדין באו עליו ובדין לקו גם שרי מעלה שלהם, אבל הממון חשב פרעה שלא בצדק ולא במשפט נטלו ישראל ממונם ע"כ נשאר בעל צפון שיאמרו קשה יראתם ויתבע מן ישראל ממונם שהשאילום, וז"ש ויהפך לבב פרעה וגו' פירש"י בשביל ממונם שהשאילום, ומה שאמרו כי שלחנו את ישראל מעבדנו לפי שכל מה שקנה עבד קנה רבו ועיקר דבריו היה בעבור הממון, ותלה פרעה דבריו במה שראה שנשאר בעל צפון מכל אלהי מצרים.
Responding to Rashi's comment that Ba'al Zephon was the only remaining Egyptian god after God's intervention, he explains that Ba'al Zephon was believed to be the god with power over gold and other riches. Hashem allowed this god to "survive" so that Egyptians would think that they would soon be compensated for the shame they had endured when their slaves had left the country with much of their gold and other wealth. Kli Yakar says that then it came to the plagues that his country (and his gods) had suffered, Pharaoh had ultimately admitted that each measure-for-measure punishment had been justified. But he could not find any justice in the fact that his country had been "robbed" of its riches. When he saw the presence of Ba'al Zephon, god of gold, he was convinced that he was correct.
But actually....
The Mechilta D'Rabbi Yishmael addresses Pharaoh's assumption in his comment/explication of the words ופרעה הקריב. Here is an English translation:
ופרעה הקריב": He 'brought the disaster close' to him. When Pharaoh saw that (the idol) Ba'al Tzefon had remained, he said: Ba'al Tzefon has concurred with my decree. I thought to destroy them by water, and Ba'al Tzefon has concurred — whereupon he began sacrificing, offering incense, (=הקריב as well) and bowing down to his idol.
Thus the Mechilta actually offers two explanations for the presence of הקריב- he brought close his own demise, and "he brought offerings," which is another meaning of the word.
Despite the complete physical and emotional devastation that his country was suffering, and depite every sign that there was a Creator above all of his gods, Pharaoh clung to his pantheon and his way of life until the last moment, refusing to see what was in plain sight, and clinging to the smallest shred of justification for his own worldview.
We live in similar times. As Steven Colbert said this week (I may remember it wrong...) "Right is wrong and up is down and Kansas is Missouri." People cling to outdated nations of what is right and what is great, and they will say anything.
What can we do when things seem so upside down and so hard to explain? Have faith that good will ultimately prevail and that light will ultimately shine through: