JANUARY 2019/5779 FRIEDMAN REVIEW PARASHAT BO
Torah Reading Schedule Torah : Shemot/Exodus 10:1-13:16 Haftarah : Jeremiah 46:1328 Gospels : Luke 2:2224; John 19:3137; Acts 1316,17; Revelation 8:6-9:12; 16:1-21
This week’s reading is entitled “Bo” (‘Come’) and starts at Exodus 10:1. In our string of events, the last three plagues come upon Egypt, culminating in the death of the first born, and in the release of Israel. God sets things up for a “final showdown” against Pharaoh; it’s the God of Israel pitted against Pharaoh and the idols of Egypt.
An often-repeated phrase in the beginning of Exodus is this one: “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”. Whatever that looks like, Pharaoh vacillated in his willingness to let his slaves go free; he also changed his mind, he didn’t listen to his advisors, and he led Moshe astray. In other words, he tried everything he could to walk the thin line between being a victim of the plagues and still staying in control of events. But each plague weakened Pharaoh all the more, and he slipped more and more “out of control.” As our text progresses, Pharaoh ‘snaps’ at Moshe:
But God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. Pharaoh said to Moshe, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” “Just as you say,” Moshe replied, “I will never appear before you again.” (Ex. 10:27-29).
In the long dialog between Moshe and Pharaoh, Moshe leaves with his words, "I Shall Not See Your Face Again!" (Ex.10:28). Pharaoh, trying to be the ‘one in control’, sets the condition—don’t ever come back here or you will die. Moshe has no real choice but to accept these terms, and does so in words that I will paraphrase as such: ‘If that’s what you want…be careful what you are asking for!” Moshe is being raised up by God to lead the nation out of bondage. Pharaoh must have been struck with the realization that Moshe’ leadership was being strengthened. The plagues that destroyed Egypt’s infrastructure did not hit Goshen, where Moshe and the Jewish people lived. Pharaoh was losing control, another leader was being raised up and blessed. Pharaoh could not ‘take it’, so he expels Moshe from his court.
How can it be that Pharaoh and Moshe agreed not to meet again? Yet in chapter 12, verse 32, they meet up again at Pharaoh’s request!
In v. 28, Pharaoh uses the expression “see my face.” So we should ask the question, ‘what does it mean in the Bible when this phrase is used?’
When Scripture refers to “seeing a person's face”, it means to appear before an honorable audience. Indeed, Scripture usually uses this phrase in reference to the Creator or to kings, to indicate the importance of a meeting. Thus when Moshe said to Pharaoh that he would no longer "see his face," he meant, to see him in a manner showing respect and importance; but when Pharaoh called Moshe and Aaron in the middle of the night, he was a person admitting failure and defeat, coming out of his palace to beg for mercy from his adversary. For Moshe to see Pharaoh in this position was not "seeing the face" [which he declared that he would never do].
Moshe himself described this groveling which Pharaoh would be reduced to, saying, "Then all these courtiers of yours shall come down to me and bow low to me, saying, 'Depart, you and all the people who follow you!'" (Exodus 11:8). —quoted from Prof. Greenberg, Bar Ilan University.
So the Hebrew idiom, ‘to see someone’s face’, meant to receive them with honor and respect. This did not happen in 12.32:
During the night Pharaoh summoned Moshe and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the 32 LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” (Ex. 12:32-33).
Pharaoh showed no respect--he groveled and was humiliated, asking Moshe the leader of the slaves, to bless him!!(What an incredible show of humiliation: the proud Egyptian king asked the Canaanite slaves’ leader to bless him!) So, this summoning of, and reception of Moshe, was not done in honor and with respect; it was done out of desperation. Therefore Moshe did not ‘see his face’.
I could also envisage that in 11.8 (quoted above), Pharaoh sent his royal officers to relay the message in this verse to Moshe. They are recorded by Moshe as being expected to come to him (and not Moshe coming to them in the palace). So, maybe Moshe never saw Pharaoh at all, only the messengers. Perhaps this was what is meant by not seeing Pharaoh’s face again.
Another possibility is that Pharaoh summons (or passed on the message) to Moshe “during the night”. It is written in 10.28, “The day you see my face you will die.” Maybe all 3 of these possibilities above occurred!
Pharaoh is defeated by a knockout blow in today’s reading, via the continual plagues. His idols are judged, his own claim to divinity is crushed, and God emerges as Israel’s liberator and Father. This was an ancient showdown at the OK Corral. It was a struggle to the death over the life, destiny and lives of Israel, the people of God. God won, hands down, period. He gave birth to His people who were now set free to follow Him.
Shabbat Shalom, David & Margalit Friedman