Parshat Bo: The Nation That  Refused To Get The Message

The weekly chapter Bo (“Come’) talks about the last three punishments that befell Egypt: The plagues of locusts, of total darkness, and the death of the firstborn children and livestock.

The events related here raise several questions:

Why did G-d punish Egypt with exactly ten plagues? Perhaps only eight or nine would have been enough? Or vice versa—why are 10 plagues, and not 12, just enough? Why did the Creator decide on these plagues as appropriate for His purposes? And why in this order? Why did the plagues begin with the transformation of the water of the Nile into blood? Why did they conclude with the death of the firstborn?

Let’s try to answer these questions.

We understand that a person with heart disease is given medicines to improve the functioning of the heart. If his lungs are also not in order, the doctor prescribes medication for the lungs. Should the patient’s eyesight be weak, he receives eye drops. The more diseases he suffers from, the more drugs his physician will prescribe for him. It can happen that doctors are forced to carry out not one, but two, or even three courses of treatment to achieve a total cure.

Obviously, the same must be done with people who are spiritually ill, with people who misunderstand the structure of the world.

Ancient Egypt consisted of 42 provinces. Each had its own deity: some had a bull, some a cat, others had a sheep, and so on. The Egyptians were not familiar with the concept of the One Creator and Ruler of the universe, namely, monotheism.

Unfortunately, this was true also of most Jews who lived there for 210 years; they, too, began to serve idols, and they, too, required a form of treatment that would cure their spiritual ills. To be successful, this “treatment” would have to conclusively demonstrate to them that there are not many G-ds, but one, unique and all-powerful Master of the World Who rules over the entire universe.

The main G-d of Egypt was the Nile, and we can easily understand how that came to be: Every year, when the snows on the mountains of Ethiopia melted and their waters reached the Nile, the river would rise and overflow its banks. This flooding covered vast areas, irrigating the desert soil, and fertilizing it with silt. As a result, the land produced excellent crops, year after year.

The Egyptians even set their calendar according to the timing of the nearly annual flooding of the Nile, which is why they lost one calendar year every 400 years.

To prove to the Egyptians how futile was the idol worship that held them in its grip, the first step was to demonstrate that even the mighty Nile, the supreme power in pagan Egypt, had no control over its own fate. How much less, then, could the “G-d of the Nile” control the lives of the people living on its banks.

Thus, the first plague, in which the waters of the supposedly divine Nile turned to blood, proved that there is a Power even greater than the river they had regarded as the source of their daily bread.

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In parashat Va’eira, we read: “This is what G-d said: ‘From this you will learn that I am G-d!’ Behold, I will strike with the staff that is in my hand on the water that is in the river (the Nile), and [the water] will turn to blood. And the fish in the river will die out…” (Shemot 7:17-18).

This was the first course of treatment: an irrefutable demonstration that the world has a Ruler who controls even the colossal Nile.

During a trial at court, decisions are reached based on the evidence each side brings forth. The testimony of one solitary witness may turn out to be an accidental coincidence, an error. To avoid any claims that the “bloody Nile” was just a stroke of good luck on the part of the leader of the Hebrews, Aharon was commanded to stretch forth his hand, with his staff, over the Nile a second time.

The result? Massive hordes of frogs attacked the houses of the Egyptians. Their very first target was the royal palace. But Pharaoh’s sorcerers were able to replicate the phenomenon. They, too, brought frogs out of the river and managed to turn the waters of the Nile into blood.

Thus, there was a need for a third punishment, the plague of lice. Both human beings and the livestock were stricken. Again, Pharaoh’s court sorcerers attempted to demonstrate that they, too, could bring about such a plague at will, but this time, they failed; witchcraft has its limitations. They themselves were forced to admit: This disaster is the finger of G-d!

So, the first stage of the Divine Cure for paganism concluded: One true G-d exists!

There are philosophers who realize that the world did not arise and “revolve” by itself, just as a house cannot build itself. But they did not reach the understanding that the fate of man and animals, the life and death of all the inhabitants of the “house” are also in the power of the Almighty. A second course of treatment was called for. It was necessary to prove that the life and health of every person and animal is in the hands of G-d (hashgachah pratit).

Now, wild animals came out of the forests: bears, wolves, snakes, and more—and attacked the Egyptians. Egyptians, but not Jews. The creatures seem to be illiterate, but they have a selective ability, and they do not invade the region called Goshen, which had been designated as the territory of the priestly tribe of Levi.

Let’s imagine what happened back in ancient Egypt. Let’s say that the Jews were wearing their own distinctive garb. (The Midrash says that they did, indeed, continue to dress as Hebrews, not like the Egyptians.) On this basis, the Egyptians might have assumed that the animals distinguished between Jew and native Egyptian by their attire.

Fearing for their lives, the locals decided they must disguise themselves as “Jews”! Imagine that they urgently sent airplanes to Meah Shearim, bought typical Chassidic garb, Jerusalemite robes and shtreimels, put on all this and paraded around Egypt with a triumphant air.

But it was not a matter of appearance. A bear would come up to a duly disguised Egyptian and bare his teeth: “No, brother, you can’t fool me!”

The same thing happened with the cattle. The herds of the Jews and those of the Egyptians grazed on the same meadows. Who can tell them apart? The Egyptian cattle are decimated by wild animals, but the flocks of the Hebrews remain untouched: “And the Lord will make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and between the cattle of Egypt, and of all that the children of Israel have, nothing will die” (Shemot 9:4).

Pharaoh investigated and it was true. None of the Jews’ livestock was attacked. The same with plague of boils: even Egyptian sorcerers developed excruciating boils, but the Jews did not. That is why it is said about this group of plagues (the invasion of wild animals, the death of livestock, boils): “So that you know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth” (Shemot 8:18), i.e., that I rule not only the galaxies, but the fate of all living things on earth—both humans and animals.

So, the second course of treatment has been completed successfully.

There were religions with two G-ds: one was evil, the other was good; or one oversaw water, the other of fire; or one controlled the eastern half of the world, the other, the western hemisphere; and so on.

A third course of treatment is required, to show that the world is ruled by one, and only one, Master.

Therefore, when Moshe warns Pharaoh about the impending hail, he says: “Because this time, I am sending all My plagues into your heart and into your servants and into your people, in order that you know that there is none like Me in the entire earth.” (Shemot 9:14)

The lesson this time was that there is no power in the universe like the Almighty. In other words, there is only one supreme power; G-d is one.

Now hail and fire (probably lightning) fell on Egypt. Next, the east wind brought the locusts, and the west wind carried them away through the prayer of Moshe, which opens this parashah.

And yet another plague: Egypt was engulfed in darkness because of fog that approached from the sea and from the Nile and clouds thickening in the sky. It was undeniably clear: There is one Ruler on earth, in the skies and at sea. The third course of “treatment” is completed.

Then comes the final warning: If you do not release the Jews, all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the prisoners, will die.

Of note: The first time G-d informed Moshe about this plague was when he was about to leave Midian and return to Egypt at G-d’s behest, to lead his people out of the land of their bondage. At that time, the Almighty commanded Moshe: “And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘So said the Lord, “My firstborn son is Israel.” So, I say to you, ‘Send out My son so that he will worship Me, but if you refuse to send him out, behold, I am going to slay your firstborn son.’” (Shemot 4:22-23).

We have already cited this verse, in the parashah of Toldot (in the Book of Bereishit), when speaking of Yaakov and the birthright.

As you know, any Egyptian could come to a Jew and demand that, after a grueling day of work, he goes to his field to sow, plough, or take the cattle out to pasture. The overseer of the Jews, as a rule, was the firstborn of the owner. Perhaps that is why it was the firstborns who were punished.

When Pharaoh’s firstborn died, the king rushed to Moshe and Aharon in the middle of the night, imploring them: “Leave! Go away quickly!”

Thus, after ten devastating plagues, the Jews were hastily driven out of Egypt.

 By Rabbi Yitzchok Zilber ztk”l,
Founder, Toldot Yeshurun