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Text Study - Shabbat Morning Va'era - January 28, 2017

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Text Study - Shabbat Morning Va'era - January 28, 2017
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ByRabbi Marina Yergin
שמות ז׳:א׳

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה רְאֵ֛ה נְתַתִּ֥יךָ אֱלֹהִ֖ים לְפַרְעֹ֑ה וְאַהֲרֹ֥ן אָחִ֖יךָ יִהְיֶ֥ה נְבִיאֶֽךָ׃

Exodus 7:1

The LORD replied to Moses, “See, I place you in the role of God to Pharaoh, with your brother Aaron as your prophet.

רש"י על שמות ז׳:א׳:א׳

(א) נתתיך אלהים לפרעה. שׁוֹפט ורוֹדה, לרדּוֹתוֹ במכּוֹת ויסּוּרין:

Rashi on Exodus 7:1:1

I have made you a lord over Pharaoh: Heb. אֱלֹהִים, a judge and a chastiser/ruler, to chastise/dominate him with plagues and torments/sufferings.

God empowers Moses with the ability to punish Pharaoh
אבן עזרא על שמות ז׳:א׳:א׳

(א) ויאמר. טעם ראה שעשיתי לך מעלה גדולה שתהיה נחשב בעיני פרעה כמעלת מלאך וזהו אלהים. והוא מדבר אל הנביא והנביא מדבר אל אנשי דורו. והאומרים כי נביא. מגזרת ניב שפתים. איננו נכון כי שורש ניב מהשניים לפי דעת חכמי צרפת. ומעלומי העי''ן לפי דעת חכמי ספרד. ושרש נביא שלש אותיות והעד נביאים. ויתנבאו. כי האל''ף שרש. ועוד כי ניב שפתים כמו פרי. כי הוא מגזרת תנובה. עוד ינובון בשיבה. והעד הנאמן. וניבו נבזה אכלו. ועוד מה טעם השב אשת האיש כי נביא הוא. אם פירושו דברן הוא. רק פירושו הוא נביא שאגלה לו סודי. כדרך כי אם גלה סודו אל עבדיו הנביאים. והוא מתענג עלי ע''כ ויתפלל בעדך וחיה

Ibn Ezra on Exodus 7:1:1

The word "see" is significant: "I have given you a degree of grandeur, so that Pharaoh will perceive you at the level of angel." This is Elohim. And the angel speaks to the prophet, and the prophet to the people of his generation.

God imbues Moses with an aura of majesty.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that God is assuring Moses that he would be able to invoke God's power to overcome Pharaoh.
Rabbi Stephen Robbins, Congregation N'vay Shalom, Beverly Hills, CA
Moses does not understand his role. It is not Pharaoh whom he must convince. It is the people of Israel who must be taught that Pharaoh is no good, that all the Egyptian deities are lifeless stone and that their slavery is political oppression, not Pharaoh's divine will. The plagues serve as the device to teach that Pharaoh is only a man willing to sacrifice anything to keep up the charade of his own divinity. Moses must become a god to dethrone a god....
The Israelites couldn't see God and so had trouble believing in something they couldn't see -- hence the "see" piece of Ibn Ezra's commentary. As Rashi says, Moses is given this level of authority to make things happen. And Rabbi Robbins explains that the ISraelites were so blinded by their physical slavery that they were enslaved spiritually as well.
Moses is not being told to pretend to be God, but that he must stand up and show that his God is better than Pharaoh (is the real deal).
God feared that if the Israelites were convinced right away of God, it would be replacing one idol for another, so, instead, Moses took that place in order to show them it's not a replacement, God is so much more than that.