Parashat Bo 5770
The Profound Word
Howard S. Joseph
http://TheProfoundWord.com
The Mighty Hand and Outstretched Arm
Already in Moses’ first encounter with God at the Burning Bush he is told:
3:19. However, I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except through a mighty hand.
In other words, Moses’ is correct in his hesitations. Pharaoh will not treat this as a negotiation between equals leading to an easy resolution. Pharaoh will take a power position on the issue: how many legions does God have. There will ultimately be a power contest which will necessitate God demonstrating superior power to that of Pharaoh.
At the end of Parashat Shemot, after the initial failure of Moses’ mission and in a moment of despair, God again raises the issue as words of reassurance are offered to Moses:
6:1. And the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a mighty hand he will send them out, and with a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”
Power will definitely be a necessary factor in this struggle. The mighty hand of God will engage and defeat the mighty hand of Pharaoh. Only then can redemption proceed.
A few verses later, in Parashat Vaera, another image is presented:
6:6 …I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
Through this:
… you will know that I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
In the book of Deuteronomy, when Moses prescribes the recitation for the First Fruits offering we are told to recite:
26:8. And the Lord brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great awe, and with signs and wonders.
Both images appear in this formulation: the hand and the arm.
Initially, the use of force is described as directed at the Egyptian first born:
4:22,23 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.’ ”
In this week’s parashah, the first born issue, the bekhor, assumes prominent place. The final plague is the destruction of the Egyptian first born. Then, when out of Egypt, the status of the first born Israelite is consecrated and various practices are instituted regarding even the bekhor in the animal kingdom.
13:1-16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
- Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast; it is mine.
Based on this directive, Moses addresses the people. Major practices are instituted as part of the commemoration of the Exodus experience. Moses is here developing many of the acts by which we still commemorate the Exodus. We will look at these next week. What interests us now specifically, and Neziv as well, are the continual references to the ‘mighty hand’ and ‘outstretched arm’ by which the redemption was accomplished. [We will assume that hozek yad (=strength of hand) and yad hazakah (= mighty hand) are synonymous.]
We saw last week that Neziv believes that the initial failure and subsequent despair were necessary components of the redemption process. Moses was told not to despair at the ups and downs. In fact, the failures brought to the fore the necessity for the mighty hand to be exercised. [Midrashim and commentators note that the mighty hand had to be used not only against Pharaoh and Egypt but also against reluctant Israelites unwilling to participate in the redemption and wanting to remain in Egypt.] The dire circumstances will lead Israel to understand that only through God’s power lies their redemption. The display of power will be a way of glorifying God in the eyes of Israel who will come to know that I am the Lord your God, as well as the Egyptians who will also come to know that I am the Lord. [7:5, 14:4]
How is this all to come about? How will the outstretched arm and mighty hand effect the glorious results? How will they be commemorated in the future? Let’s see how Neziv moves through these issues over the course of the parashiyot that deal with them.
6:6 I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments?
Neziv: It is necessary to explain the various changes that occur in these verses. Sometimes we find only ‘a might hand’; sometimes we find ‘a mighty hand and an outstretched arm’; and here we find only ‘an outstretched arm’ and not ‘a mighty hand.’ This is not a random matter, God forbid.
To understand this we must first see the comment of the Mekhiltah in Beshalah at 14:30: ‘On that day the Lord saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dying on the seashore.’
This is as a person holding a bird [in hand]; if he wishes he can instantly choke it. And, like a person trying to knock the fetus from a cow as it says [in Deut. 4:34]: Or has any god performed miracles to come and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, with trials, with signs, and with wonders, and with war and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great awesome deeds, as all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
The explanation for all this is that besides the power of Egypt a that time there were two other factors as obstacles for the Exodus: One was that all Israel was in one place. Therefore, when Pharaoh would see that the the hand of God is superior to his, he could choose to kill all Israel at once. Our Sages already taught [in Pesahim 87b]:
R. Oshaia said: What is meant by the verse, Even the righteous acts of His Ruler in Israel? [Judg. V, 11.] The Holy One, blessed be He, showed righteousness [mercy] unto Israel by scattering them among the nations.
However, it was not this way in Egypt where they were all in one place. This is the meaning of the simile of the bird in one hand. If a more powerful opponent comes and strikes him a few times in order to release the bird, what will he do when he realizes that he cannot prevail against him? He will squeeze and choke the bird to anger his opponent and all the opponent’s power will be useless. This was the worry in Egypt. However, the Holy Blessed one saved them.
The strength of the blows [makkot] was not what was most effective here. There was a strategy behind them, just as we might advise the opponent hitting the holder of the bird: do not leave any reprieve between the blows for then he can plan how to respond how to anger the opponent. He should strike him blow after blow with an outstretched arm until the bird is released alive. The holder has no time to think but only to release.
This is what the Holy Blessed One did. Between the makkot there was no complete reprieve so that Pharaoh and his advisers could plan a response against God’s will. The passing blow would leave death and destruction among the Egyptian leaders and Pharaoh’s advisers…. [Presumably this would leave them in confusion and chaos-hsj] All this so that Pharaoh and his advisers would not have any reprieve to respond to the event. This is what is called ‘with an outstretched arm.’ In the Passover Haggadah, the Maggid [narrator] called this the sword, that is, the death that occurred between the makkot.
The second factor preventing the Exodus was that the power of the blows is ineffective to deliver the persecuted unless the latter cries to go out, for if not what good would hitting the persecutor do?
This too prevailed in Egypt. There were some who refused to go out for they were wealthy and among Pharaoh’s officers. Or, they did not want to serve God or accept the Torah. Nevertheless, God took them out through a plague [dever] that affected them during the plague of darkness.
This is the explanation of the simile of the fetus. If the fetus does not wish to go out the blows to the cow will be ineffective…. This is called ‘with a mighty hand’: against one’s will….
Now we understand the changes of expression in various verses. Here it is impossible to say beyad hazakah for they at this point all had free choice to wish to go out. [Therefore, only 'outstretched arm' is mentioned here- hsj]
Neziv treated us to a lengthy and profound psychological-military-strategic explanation on the uses of power as reflected in these verses. The Exodus story for him is really a military contest. He would probably object to our translation of the ten makkot as ten plagues. They are blows, strikes against an enemy, not epidemics or other natural mysteries.
Power issues and struggles are constant features of life. Certainly, the lessons of power are valuable for the future We must remember them as we move on in history. Next week we will look at the commemorations that were established to remember these lessons.
Shabbat Shalom
Hayyim Shemuel Yosef
Shevat 8, 5770
January 23, 2010
A weekly parashah essay based on the writings of Rabbi Naphtali Zvi Yehudah Berlin, the Neziv, in Ha’amek Davar [HD] and Harhev Davar [HRD]. Please feel free to distribute this material for educational purposes. All rights reserved.