Parshas Bo continues the story of the ten plagues which strike Egypt. It starts with the eighth plague. In instructing Moshe, G-d tells him that He has made Pharaoh stubborn so that he will refuse. The reason is so that Pharaoh will be made into a fool. Rashi comments that Pharaoh is being disgraced because he and Egypt denied and hardened their hearts on religion. Therefore religion is going to trap them, strike them, and laugh at them. In addition they won't have any idea why it's happening, so there humiliation will last for generations (see HaPardes page 336).
The vehicle bringing the plague will be the contempt and denial an apostate expresses for true faith. First Moses says to Pharaoh in the name of the G-d of the Hebrews, “how long will you refuse to submit to Me? Let My people leave and serve Me”. This is the tone of antireligious boss saying to a believer, how long are you going to do this nonsense, I have no patience for Shabbos, holidays, and junk like that. If you don't come into work you're fired. Pharaoh quickly recognizes the mockery and certainly will not consent after being treated like that. The term “Hebrews” invokes the contempt of the arrogant towards the faithful.
Moshe continues to tell him that if they don't agree they will be struck with the worst attack of locusts imaginable. Pharaoh knows this is for real. His response is to haggle and ask Moshe who will be participating. Moshe’s reply is somewhat flippant; young and old, men and woman, cattle and sheep, it's a big holiday. This mocks the flippant sophistry that is given to legitimate religious proofs and philosophy.
Pharaoh’s response is to agree only to let the men go, put words in Moshe’s mouth, and throw him out. These are the actions of a vain incorrigible chiseler. As a result even in a time of crisis and from a position of weakness will still play for pride. Not only that he will bring on disaster in a failed attempt to squeeze out a small amount of money.
HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not accept Pharaoh’s offer and strikes Egypt with locusts. Pharaoh then tells Moshe that if the plague is stopped that he will free the people of Israel. Moshe agrees, but once the plague is over, Pharaoh smugly reneges. This is the approach of a deadbeat who does not pay for merchandise already delivered. The problem is that it sets up Egypt for the next plague.
How did Pharaoh and Egypt get into this mess? The answer is that a new pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. Rashi brings various explanations. They are more or less that pharaoh acted like he didn't know who Yosef was and did not accept his precepts.
It comes out that without a connection to the tsadik, Egypt abandoned its moral compass. With this they could think they were great and do whatever they feeled liked including all sorts of horrible disgusting things. In the end they had no idea what was going on and thought they were being very clever when in fact they were being very stupid.
From this we learn that if a person acts stupid and forgetful, he becomes prone to being genuinely stupid and forgetful. The proper path is to chase after wisdom and trust in the goodness of G-d that He will deal with His creations kindly and fairly.
לע"נ הסבא אהרן בן יוסף ז"ל נלב"ע כז טבת תשכו
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com
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