Our parashah this week describes the first seven plagues that were imposed on Egypt after Pharaoh’srefusal to send away the Children of Israel. The names of those plagues echo in our ears from their ritual recitation at Seder night: dam/blood, tzefardea‘/frogs, kinnim/vermin, ‘arov/beasts, dever/cattle plague, sheḥin/boils, barad/hail…. Each plague brings horrible suffering for all the Egyptians. The detailed depiction of each successive plague is almost enough to make us forget the reason for Egypt’s disaster: they have subjugated the Children of Israel, and Pharaoh, their leader, refuses to accede to Moses’ and Aaron’s demand to free the Hebrew slaves.
What is the goal of the plagues? First and foremost, they were intended to convince Pharaoh to release the people. Were this the only goal, however, there would have been no need for plagues that have a collective, across-the-board impact on the entire Egyptian people. It would have sufficed to strike at Pharaoh and his house alone, leaving the wider Egyptian populace unscathed. In democratic regimes, where the people can influence their leaders’ decisions, plagues inflicted on the masses are likely to bring them into applying pressure above and change policy, but in a royal regime like that of Egypt, that would seem pointless.
Perhaps the plagues are inflicted upon the mass of Egyptians in order to punish them. At the beginning of the book of Exodus, it seems that the Egyptians at large had signed on gladly to carry out Pharaoh’s decrees (with the exception of outstanding women in the person of the midwives and the daughter of Pharaoh himself) and cooperated with his monstrous plans.
Therefore, one can justify the suffering that the Blessed Holy One imposed upon them in the form of the plagues as punishment for their misdeeds.
Alternatively, perhaps the collective plagues were intended to influence the consciousness of the whole Egyptian nation.
Indeed, just before the sequence of plagues begins, the Blessed Holy One explicitly lays out an additional goal, beyond the liberation of the Israelites:
(ה) וְיָדְע֤וּ מִצְרַ֙יִם֙ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י יהוה בִּנְטֹתִ֥י אֶת־יָדִ֖י עַל־מִצְרָ֑יִם וְהוֹצֵאתִ֥י אֶת־בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מִתּוֹכָֽם׃
(5) And the Egyptians shall know that I am יהוה, when I stretch out My hand over Egypt and bring out the Israelites from their midst.”
Beyond extricating the Children of Israel, the Blessed Holy One wants to bring Egypt to a recognition of the LORD’s greatness.
If so, is this punishment or a means to change consciousness? What is the difference between those two? A few verses in our parashah offer a clue to a solution. When Moses comes to Pharoah to announce the impending arrival of the plague of hail, he adds some advice and a recommendation:
(יט) וְעַתָּ֗ה שְׁלַ֤ח הָעֵז֙ אֶֽת־מִקְנְךָ֔ וְאֵ֛ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְךָ֖ בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה כׇּל־הָאָדָ֨ם וְהַבְּהֵמָ֜ה אֲשֶֽׁר־יִמָּצֵ֣א בַשָּׂדֶ֗ה וְלֹ֤א יֵֽאָסֵף֙ הַבַּ֔יְתָה וְיָרַ֧ד עֲלֵהֶ֛ם הַבָּרָ֖ד וָמֵֽתוּ׃
(19) Therefore, order your livestock and everything you have in the open brought under shelter; every human and beast that is found outside, not having been brought indoors, shall perish when the hail comes down upon them!’”
The Bible even goes on to report,
(כ) הַיָּרֵא֙ אֶת־דְּבַ֣ר יהוה מֵֽעַבְדֵ֖י פַּרְעֹ֑ה הֵנִ֛יס אֶת־עֲבָדָ֥יו וְאֶת־מִקְנֵ֖הוּ אֶל־הַבָּתִּֽים׃ (כא) וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹא־שָׂ֛ם לִבּ֖וֹ אֶל־דְּבַ֣ר יהוה וַֽיַּעֲזֹ֛ב אֶת־עֲבָדָ֥יו וְאֶת־מִקְנֵ֖הוּ בַּשָּׂדֶֽה׃ {פ}
(20) Those among Pharaoh’s courtiers who feared יהוה’s word brought their slaves and livestock indoors to safety; (21) but those who paid no regard to the word of יהוה left their slaves and livestock in the open.
Along with the warning about the impending plague, Moses offers a way to be saved from it, advice by which those of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the LORD kept their property safe from destruction.
Rabbi Ḥayyim Ben ‘Attar in his commentary, Or Ha-ḥayyim, explains that passage as follows:
וְעַתָּה שְׁלַח הָעֵז. וְאִם תֹּאמַר, אִם כֵּן מַה מַכָּה זוֹ עוֹשָׂה? הֲרֵי שֶׁלְּךָ לְפָנֶיךָ מַה שֶׁהִקְדִּים יהוה לוֹמַר לוֹ שֶׁאֵין תַּכְלִית הַכַּוָּנָה בַּמַּכּוֹת לְהָרַע, אֶלָּא בַּעֲבוּר הַרְאוֹתוֹ כֹּחוֹ הַגָּדוֹל וְיָדוֹ הַחֲזָקָה, וְלָזֶה הוֹדִיעוֹ שֶׁיֶּאֱסֹף אָדָם וּבְהֵמָה מִן הַשָּׂדֶה. וְעַל כָּל פָּנִים תַּעֲשֶׂה הַמַּכָּה רֹשֶׁם בְּהַשְׁחָתָה מַה שֶׁהוּא מְחֻבָּר לָאָרֶץ, שֶׁכֵּן כְּתִיב: ״וְאֵת כָּל עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה הִכָּה הַבָּרָד וְאֶת כָּל עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה שִׁבֵּר״ (שמות ט:כה).
ועתה שלח העז את מקנך, "And now, send, and bring in your cattle, etc." And should you ask: well, then what does this plague accomplish?” [the answer is:] Here is your own property. What God stated in advance was that the point of the plagues was not to cause difficulty but rather to demonstrate His great power and His strong hand.
That is why he told them to gather in people and animals from the field. In any case, the plague would make an impression by destroying what was connected to the ground, as it is written, “The hail struck down all the grasses of the field and shattered all the trees of the field” (Ex. 9:25).
It seems, then, that beyond convincing Pharaoh to liberate the Children of Israel from Egypt, the aim of the plagues directed at the entire Egyptian people is not punishment, but rather a change of outlook toward knowledge of God. Thus, the Egyptians are warned in advance, before each plague, in order to make it possible for them to be prepared for them. Before the plague of hail Moses even adds practical advice as to how to minimize the damage from it. Despite the long enslavement, the torture, the murder of children that the Egyptians imposed—the Blessed Holy One tries to limit their suffering from the plagues. Why does He do so? Perhaps because even the crimes committed by an entire nation against another do not justify collective punishment—for such punishment always strikes innocent people as well, including babies and children, the elderly and the infirm, and ordinary mean and women who took no part in the evils that were perpetrated.
Shabbat shalom.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sigalit Ur is an Israeli rabbi, a lecturer and group moderator across Israel’s north. She lives in Moshav Shorashim.