Just Between You and Me

(17) For if you do not let My people go, behold, I will incite against you and against your servants and against your people and in your houses a mixture of noxious creatures, and the houses of Egypt will be filled with the mixture of noxious creatures, as well as the land upon which they are. (18)And I will separate on that day the land of Goshen, upon which My people stand, that there will be no mixture of noxious creatures there, in order that you know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And I will make a redemption between My people and your people; this sign will come about tomorrow." '

I will make a distinction between My people and your people: Even within Egypt, if the animals found a Jew, they would not harm him--but would eat the Egyptians, as it is written (Psalms 78:45): God inflicted upon them swarms of beasts to devour them. The word used here for "distinction," is the language of 'p'dut', the root that means "to redeem."

I will make a distinction: This too will be a sign within a sign: for the swarms to be able to distinguish between My people and your people. (The "distinction" applies to those of the Israelites who were living among the Egyptians, not those who lived separately in Goshen, which was "set apart" in v. 18)

But on that day, I will set apart... There are those who say that the word is missing an "alef," and I will explain why. It was obviously this setting apart that was responsible for Pharaoh's first concession (see 8:21). Once he saw that God had made a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians, he feared to do them any evil...