Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
God tells Moshe that he should warn Pharaoh about the plague of דָּם (dam, blood) at a specific time and place:
לֵךְ אֶל פַּרְעֹה בַּבֹּקֶר הִנֵּה יֹצֵא הַמַּיְמָה
וְנִצַּבְתָּ לִקְרָאתוֹ עַל שְׂפַת הַיְאֹר
וְהַמַּטֶּה אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לְנָחָשׁ תִּקַּח בְּיָדֶךָ:
Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he is coming out to the water. Stand before him at the edge of the river. Take the staff that turned into a snake with you in your hand.
What was Pharaoh doing at the river in the morning?
Rashi quotes a Midrash Tanhuma:
הִנֵּה יֹצֵא הַמַּיְמָה - לִנְקָבָיו. שֶׁהָיָה עוֹשֶׂה עַצְמוֹ אֱלוֹהַּ וְאוֹמֵר שֶׁאֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לִנְקָבָיו, וּמַשְׁכִּים וְיוֹצֵא לַנִּילוּס וְעוֹשֶׂה שָׁם צְרָכָיו.
“When he is coming out to the water” - to go to the bathroom. Pharaoh pretended that he was a god and he would tell people that he never had to go to the bathroom. But he would wake up early and go to the Nile River, and that’s where he’d relieve himself.
- What does this midrash teach us about Pharaoh? Why would he want people to think he was a god?
- Is there a hidden message God might be trying to tell Pharaoh by sending Moshe at this very moment - when he is trying to go to the bathroom in secret so no one notices he isn’t really a god? What could that be?
- Is there something else about the first plague that could explain why God sends Moshe to speak to Pharaoh specifically at the river?
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