(4) כי אני הכבדתי את לבו, "for I have hardened his heart, etc." G'd means that Moses would realise as of now that He had indeed hardened Pharaoh's heart. Even the most obstinate person would have broken down by now if he had experienced what Pharaoh had endured during the last seven plagues. Only intervention by G'd could have accounted for his continued refusal to let the Israelites depart. G'd did not, of course, interfere outright with Pharaoh's free will; rather He performed a miracle such as the immunity of the wheat and spelt to the plague of hail, to give Pharaoh a chance to delude himself that G'd's power did not extend to those two categories of grain. When G'd said כי אני הכבדתי He referred to that phenomenon in the past tense. (5) It is also possible that G'd's words were directed primarily at Moses who must have despaired of the purpose of going to Pharaoh time and again without accomplishing his mission. G'd told Moses that Pharaoh's obstinacy was not that of an ordinary human being, but the reason he could not respond as he should was that G'd Himself had hardened his heart. The moment G'd decided not to interfere with whatever motivated Pharaoh's decisions he would relent and send the Israelites on their way. (6) ואת לב עבדיו, and the heart of his servants, etc. The reason G'd also had to harden the heart of Pharaoh's advisers was so that they would not urge him to release the Israelites. G'd had to do so in order to bring the plagues not only on Pharaoh but on the whole nation. If Pharaoh had been the only one punished, this would not have made an impact on the people. Although G'd had not mentioned this detail to Moses at the beginning of his mission, and He had spoken only of hardening Pharaoh's heart at that time, He had told Moses the essential part of what would happen. Perhaps G'd wanted to explain to Moses at this stage that not only one man was obstinate, i.e. Pharaoh, but also his servants. He may have been prompted to do so now because of Moses' gratuitous remark in 9,30 that both Pharaoh and his servants had not yet developed true fear of the Lord. Moses' comment had indicated that he had not previously understood the word "Pharaoh" to include also Pharaoh's entourage. Therefore G'd explained to him that the obstinacy of the servants could also be explained by the same phenomenon as that of their master, i.e. that G'd had interfered with their normal decision-making process. Up until now, Moses had assumed that the servants were naturally obstinate whereas Pharaoh had only remained obstinate because G'd had interfered. G'd was at pains to correct Moses' error. (7) למען שתי אותותי אלה בקרבו, "so that I might display My signs in the midst of them." Why did the Torah have to write אותותי אלה, "these My signs?" This implies that the main reason G'd hardened Pharaoh's heart was to have an opportunity to display miracles. Furthermore, why did the Torah have to add בקרבו, "in their midst?" Where else would G'd perform these miracles? We may understand these expressions on the basis of Shemot Rabbah 12,5 that the plagues in Egypt were to demonstrate that G'd is Ruler and Master. He is Master inasmuch that He desires to bring Israel closer to become His servants and to cleave to Him. In order to do this He had to demonstrate that it was foolish to put one's trust in anyone but Him. He had not yet shown them that He creates the wind and employs the wind as His angels (messengers). He had also not yet demonstrated to the Israelites that He created light and darkness. Having told Moses that He, G'd had made Pharaoh unresponsive, Moses would have been entitled to ask: "why bother?" G'd therefore justified the plagues which were yet to occur as designed to demonstrate His creative power in the spheres we have just mentioned. Regarding the chance of Pharaoh's responding to them, it was true that these miracles were somewhat wasted, but their impact on Israel was vital. The seven plagues which had occurred so far did not offer an answer to people who wanted to worship such powers of nature as the sun and the moon. Anyone who claimed that the force which created earth was not the same force which created the wind could not find proof that he had been wrong by experiencing any of those plagues. The plague of locusts would demonstrate G'd's power to employ the wind as His messenger, by the wind bringing the locusts and removing them. It would even carry away all the locusts which had died so that the Egyptians would not benefit from the dead locusts as mentioned in Shemot Rabbah 13,7. The plague of darkness would demonstrate that G'd had created the luminaries, and exercised control over them. The plague of the dying of the firstborn demonstrated that G'd creates every creature and can distinguish between who was the issue of the first drop of semen (Baba Metzia 61). This plague also generated the commandment in 13,2 to sanctify every firstborn. One of the reasons for that commandment was that it serve as a reminder that it is G'd who creates the firstborn out of the womb of his mother in order that he should be His servant. When G'd encountered this evil Pharaoh, He made use of him by hardening his heart and performing miracles which would make him taste the cup of retribution. Had it not been for these various considerations G'd would not have troubled Himself to orchestrate all these major changes in nature.