| JSN Parsha Team Just when you think it’s over, it all begins again. After Pharaoh finally sent the Jews out of Egypt, going so far as to actually escort them out, he changes his mind yet again and rallies his people together to chase after the Jews. Although a simple reading of the text invokes Divine Intervention to explain Pharaoh’s latest change of heart, the Midrash sees a natural component to the change, also. Rabbi Yose the Galilean likened the situation to a person who inherited a field and sold it for a small amount of money. The buyer dug wells and planted gardens and orchards. The seller began to choke because he sold his inheritance for such a small amount of money. Similarly, the Egyptians The Midrash asserts that Pharaoh originally did not appreciate the true value of the Jews. However, much like the seller who, after seeing what the buyer did with his land, regrets the sale, Pharaoh now regrets freeing the Jews. However, this is problematic. The Midrash seems to be implying that this new value has already become evident six days after the Exodus. What change does Pharaoh see that is significant enough to make Pharaoh regret freeing the Jews and chase after them? The Jews haven’t even gone through the lifealtering experience of the Splitting of the Sea yet! How are they any different now than they were when they left Egypt six days earlier? The answer seems to lie in the words of the prophet Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah). God gives Yirmiyahu a message for the entire nation: “So said God: I remember your kindness of your youth… your following after Me into the desert, an unsown land” (Jer. 2:2). God is praising the Jews for a kindness they performed for God, as it were. At this early point in their history, the people gave God the only thing they had to give Him- their faith. They showed God that they had learned the lesson of the plagues, recognizing God’s omnipotence, and that they were willing to rely on Him. While we can understand why this newfound depth in the people’s relationship with God, would interest God, what is surprising is that the Midrash indicates that this newfound value interests Pharaoh. Wasn’t Pharaoh’s main interest in the Jews as slaves, people whose main use was the ability to build storage cities? What did Pharaoh see now that made him want the people back? Perhaps we must deepen our understanding of Pharaoh’s agenda. After all, if Pharaoh’s whole issue was the financial benefit of having slaves, at some point during the plagues one of his advisers should have told him that the cost of holding onto the Jews outweighed the benefit of having them stay. In reality, there was much more at stake. While Pharaoh definitely appreciated the free slave labor he was receiving from the Jews, his main goal was the total subjugation and domination of the Jewish people. Maintaining them as slaves of Pharaoh and Egypt was primarily in order to avoid their becoming servants of God. The fight between God and Pharaoh is over who is going to be the master of the Jews. Indeed, the Midrash comments that when Pharaoh ultimately sent the Jews out of Egypt, Moshe would not agree to take the Jews out of Egypt until Pharaoh said, “Behold you are in your own This moment is the culmination of the entire process of the plagues and Exodus. The plagues, one by one, proved to Pharaoh that God is continually involved with the world, and has enough interest and ability to perform miracles and free the Jews. Pharaoh has been transformed, in his own eyes and in the eyes of his people, from a demi-god, believing that he is the most important and powerful being in the world, to being just another human being whose must recognize the all-powerful God. As the Jews leave Egypt, they follow God into the desert with implicit faith, trust in their Master. Pharaoh sees the level of commitment that they have to their new Master, and how their relationship has flourished like a garden in a previously barren land, and he begins to appreciate how much God will reap by having the Jews as His servants. He sees how strong and deep the connection runs between God and the Jewish people, and, in the words of the Midrash, it was enough to make him choke. The good news is that his loss is God’s gain. Shabbat Shalom |
