In this week’s reading the last three plagues – Locust, Darkness, and Death of the Firstborn – are inflicted upon the Egyptians. Moses commands the Israelites concerning the Passover Offering and the laws of the seder. After the final plague, Pharaoh unconditionally releases the Israelites from his land.
Please stand with me while I read from this week’s parsha.
Exo 10:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them,
Exo 10:2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”
All of our English Bibles translate God’s command to Moses as ‘Go in to Pharaoh’. The word bo in Hebrew can just as easily and correctly be translated come. This gives a very different sense that go. There is an implication that we should take a look at.
The following commentary is based on an article by Rabbi Ben A. He is the most famous anonymous rabbi. Using his pen name, Ben A. he draws from his personal experience in recovery to incorporate unique chassidic philosophy into the practice of the 12 Steps.
When God summoned Moses to confront Pharaoh, God did not say to him, “Go to Pharaoh,” but rather, “Come to Pharaoh,” as if to say that He, God, was already there and by approaching Pharaoh, Moses was actually approaching God.
In this God revealed to Moses the secret of Pharaoh’s power and the power of all evil—that, in essence, it is truly nothing more than the brazen misappropriation of the power of God. In other words, the source of evil is the independent ego and the ultimate independence of ego is not the rejection of God but the belief that God’s power is your own.
“Come, enter the essence of evil and confront it in its source“ After all, who was Pharaoh—tyrant, dictator, killer of children and oppressor of slaves? All of these were but aspects of Pharaoh—particular character defects, if you will. But the essence of Pharaoh – the thing that made all of these other behaviors possible – was nothing more or less than the worship of self, as Pharaoh so outrageously exclaimed (Ezekiel 29:9), “I created myself.“
So, God told Moses “Come to Pharaoh,” as if to say, “Come, enter the essence of evil and confront it in its source, as it really is. You will find that I am there already, for I am the power that evil so boldly claims as its own.“
So it is with us. Our inner Pharaoh is the ego that claims God-like powers. He may be called by various names such as self-control, will-power or intelligence, but his message is always the same. He insists that he has our sin under control. By the time we realize that this Pharaoh’s claims are untrue, his domination over us is already complete. We stand face to face with evil, and it seems that there is nothing that we can do.
But then God calls us, “Come. Come face the sin as it really is. The ego is not as powerful as it claims (your will power or your self control), but to the contrary, completely powerless. When you can see this – that the power of ego is nothing but a complete and total lie – it is then, and only then, that you will see true power, the power of God.”
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