The
ten plagues raise perplexing questions. Why was it necessary to have
ten of them? Why were they spread out, with breaks between them? If
Par'oh was so obstinate, why did HaShem harden his heart after five
plagues? If he did not give in after one, two or even three, would
he ever give in? True, he relented after the final plague. But for
the sixth through the ninth would he not have continued his
obstinacy? And what was it about the hail that got to Par'oh, that
he showed temporary signs of changing his tune?
HaShem had a plan. He wanted to show
Egypt, the world, and specifically the Jewish people, the hollowness
of all that Egypt stood for. He wanted to shatter, for once and for
all, the superiority complex that Egypt symbolized. For all time,
this would teach a lesson. In fact, we still need to learn this
lesson in our own times, adapted for our situation.
The obstinacy present in Egypt at the
time did not only apply to Par'oh. The entire nation, who followed
his decrees eagerly, was all of the same frame of mind. They all
practiced and believed in occult and magic. They found the plagues
uncomfortable, but were not impressed.
Even after the Egyptians were 'pushed to
the wall,' and relented, they did so as a concession. They were not
convinced to accept their fallibility or the supremacy of HaShem.
They were cowered into resentful submission. When the emergency was
over, they quickly picked up where they had left off.
While the plagues were on, they did
concede defeat. They had to purchase water from Jews. They saw with
their own eyes the demarcations, the distinctions between Jew and
Egyptian. They understood that humility could save them from some of
the plagues, and some of them (those who 'feared' the word of G-d)
actually tried. But as soon as the plagues passed, even these people
went back over to the other side. Even Par'oh himself was scared
into submission during the plague, or multiple plagues, of hail.
But, as Moshe foretold, he 'repented' from his lapse as soon as it
passed. What got into them to vacillate? Why did they keep asking to
be punished?
Egypt was steeped in a culture rooted in
immorality, occult, unbridled haughty belief in their own greatness,
and the erroneous belief that a human can choose and manipulate his
gods or forces controlling the world and nature. These root
lifestyles made it nearly impossible for them to change.
They were addicted to immorality, and
had no concept of restraint. Yet, due to their superiority complex,
they pretended to have laws of morality. Thus, when Avraham came to
Mitzrayim, he feared that they would kill him to take his wife as a
widow, rather than take her in sin, as a married woman. How did the
Egyptians live in such hypocrisy? They were blinded by their
lifestyle, and would never listen to rational arguments.
The evil of practicing the occult lies
in the denial of Divine control and design. Nowadays, this would be
the same as scientists attributing acts of G-d to human
intervention. People feel they can challenge HaShem's natural law
and act freely. The occult was very much a part of their reality.
When the Nile turned to blood or swarmed with frogs, Egypt looked
for the 'cause,' their equivalent of science – magic. It shifted the
blame and saved them from facing the truth just as well as any
environmental cause would. This was the way they lived day to day.
They never needed to acknowledge anything Divine until the third
plague. [No doubt, nowadays, even lice would never be attributed to
'the finger of G-d.' It would be chalked up to 'industry' and
chemicals destroying their predators.] Inconvenient, but, this god
has one better type of magic! Belief in their own greatness made it
impossible for Egypt to face the possibility that their culture
might just not be the way humanity was meant to be. They could not
be objective. No matter how many other ways of life were shown to
them, they would never give up their own culture. How could plagues
make them objective? In the short term, they would be a bother. As
soon as the danger passes they would continue their life as before.
The belief that they could manipulate
nature would make it even harder to impress them. Plagues are also a
manipulation of nature. This was no theory. It was fact, in that
part of the world. They lived with the belief that they could do it,
so why couldn't Moshe and Aharon do it? They would just have to
outsmart them.
As the plagues came and went, the
Egyptian mentality adjusted. 'Unusual news' became routine. They
would live through an epidemic, a storm, foot and mouth, tainted
water, overpopulation of wildlife. Then they would clean up, collect
insurance, point the blame, and get back to 'normal.' They got
deeper and deeper into their fallacies until they were ready for the
big bursting of their bubble. Par'oh's heart would need to be
hardened so that he would not give in to momentary weakness in the
middle of a plague and let the Jews go without ever being convinced.
The one plague that unnerved them was
the hailstones. The miracles were so outlandish. The worst part was
the incessant noise. Thunder was created to straighten the
crookedness of the heart. (Brochos 59a). This had a shaking up
effect – for a while. Par'oh felt forced to concede that he had
sinned. Then it was gone, and everything went back to normal! When
the final plague hit, killing so many clandestine firstborn, their
immorality was shown up and their pride shattered at the same
moment. With their livestock and their gods [all but baal zefon]
struck in the same manner, they were suddenly faced with the reality
that they had absolutely no control or power over those forces.
HaShem 'played' with Par'oh and the Egyptians. More than being
totally crushed, they would come around to a full recognition of
HaShem and His supremacy. This would not happen with a quick
'operation shock and awe.' There was a need for continuous teaching,
ending with the final lesson. It was also part of HaShem's preparing
the Jewish people to leave Mitzrayim, in all senses of the word.
They would have to leave behind the culture. They had undoubtedly
become used to the idea that there was nothing greater than Egyptian
culture. The Egyptians kept saying it themselves!
This lesson applies to us personally.
The Talmud tells of Alexander of Macedonia, who came to a city of
women. In his interaction with them, they taught him much wisdom. He
was so humbled by them that he engraved on the gates of their city,
“I, Alexander of Macedonia, was a fool [all my life] until I learned
wisdom from these women!” (Tamid 32b). Why is this recorded in the
Talmud? Rav Yaakov Galinski, shlit'a, points out that admission of
mistakes is hard. But it is the hardest thing in the world to admit
that one's entire outlook on life has been wrong.
Engraving it on the gates showed true
greatness. This is the reason it was so difficult for Egypt to come
to recognize HaShem. This is often our own problem. We are shown
sign after sign that we have been mistaken, possibly for our whole
life, in matters of basic Hashkafah, not just Halachic details. We
are warned not to value the wrong culture. And we stubbornly hold on
to our erroneous values! Then, one day a massive earth-shattering
event has to happen. We finally admit, and with hindsight we realize
that all along we should have picked up the continuous signs.
Shabbat Shalom!
