In this week’s reading Pharaoh pursues the Israelites into the desert. The Red Sea splits, the Israelites cross the sea while the Egyptian army is drowned. Moses and the Israelites sing a special song thanking God for this miracle. The Israelites complain about a lack of food and drink. God sends Manna and quail for them to eat, and miraculously produces water from a rock. Amalek attacks the Israelites and is soundly defeated.
Please stand with me while I read from the parsha.
Exo 14:1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
Exo 14:2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.
Exo 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
Exo 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
Exo 14:5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
Exo 14:6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him,
Exo 14:7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
Exo 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.
This commentary is based on an article by Levi Avtzon
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) poses a question. There is says: “Ben Zoma said who is wise? He who learns from every person.” If this is true, what is a lesson that we can learn from Pharaoh?
He saw sticks turn into snakes. He didn’t budge.
He saw water turn into blood. His heart remained closed.
He felt and smelled the invasion of the frogs. Nothing.
He itched from lice and ran fright from the wild animals. He barely blinked.
You might think that at some point he would give up. He might have even had a talk with himself. “I should let them free? Are you out of your mind?” He saw the corpses of Egyptian livestock strewn all over the city and rolled on the floor to ease the burning pain of his boils. Who cares?
He watched in awe and fright as balls of fire and ice pounded the landscape. “Who is this God?“
He woke up in the morning to find empty drawers, all the food consumed by grasshoppers. He sat in total darkness for three days, then for the next three days was unable to move. “I should let them free? Are you out of your mind?“
He cried as his firstborn dropped dead, and became fearful for his own life: after all he was also a firstborn…
Okay, finally he gave in; he let the Jewish people go. It had taken a while, but now his heart had softened.
Or so it seems.
The story continued.
A few days after the Israelites left, when they were already far away near the Red Sea, Pharaoh regretted his decision. He begged for volunteers to join his mission, and, all invigorated, he chased after his former slaves, in an attempt to bring them back.
As he approached the camp, God blocked off the Egyptian camp with a cloud, causing all the arrows and spears aimed at the Israelites to bounce back.
Think he cared?
He saw the waters split. He decided to chase after them.
No “miracles shmiracles” were going to change his mind.
A stubborn mule. Nothing, absolutely nothing could push him off his path. To put it in the words of Evil Roy Slade, “He had a stick to-it-ivness that you just had to admire.”
This is what we can learn from Pharaoh. It’s a lesson that could serve us all well in days to come. He taught us a great lesson in defiance. He had a way that he was going and nothing, absolutely nothing was going to change his mind. Will we have the defiance of Pharaoh when we need it?
Article. This is defiance in the face of terrible persecution. This we can learn from Pharaoh.
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