Who freed the slaves - Hashem or Pharaoh?
We read in Parashat Bo (12:29-33) that after ‘Hashem smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt..’ Pharoah ‘called to Moshe and Aaron at night and said: ’Rise up, go out from among my people..go and serve Hashem as you have spoken!.
‘Egypt imposed itself strongly upon the people to hasten to send them out of the land, for they said: We are all dying’.
Our Parasha - Parashat Beshalach - then relates (13:17-20) that ‘it happened when Pharoah sent out the people..Hashem turned the people towards the way of the Wilderness to the Sea of Reeds..they journeyed from Succoth, and encamped in Ethan, at the edge of the Wilderness.'
We further read: (14:1-9), that Hashem commanded that the ‘people turn back and encamp in front of Baal Zephon..by the sea. And Pharoah will say ..they are trapped..the desert has closed on them.And I will harden Pharoah’s heart and he will pursue them..And they did so.
‘It was reported to Pharoah that the people had fled, and Pharoah and his servants had a change of heart. and they said:What is this that we have done, that we have released Israel from serving us?’
The Torah then relates that the Egyptians pursued them, and met their decreed deaths in the sea.
The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh comments: ’We need to know why the Torah opens with ויהי: an expression of regret, instead of one of joy and rejoicing’, when it is relatimg the exodus, ‘and also why it credits the departure to Pharoah, and not to the Master of all Deeds, who was the One who took us out of the land of Egypt.
‘The psukim relate the reason that caused all the sorrow that Bnei Israel underwent - the pursuit by Pharoah - and expounded the reason, which was because Hashem did not take Bnei Israel out of Egypt against the will of Pharoah, but rather forced him to send them out, until he said: Go, and depart.
‘This led him to later have thoughts of pursuing them, and this is what was to cause sorrow to Bnei Israel - and also to bring destruction to himself and to his people.
Go and learn that precious in Hashem’s eyes is the death of His creations, as our Sages say, that Hashem chastised the angels who wished to say Shira, on seeing the Egyptians drowning, in the sea.
‘As against all this, the Torah uses the word ויהי, an expression of sorrow, and what caused it? That Pharoah sent the people out, as if Hashem had taken them out against Pharoah’s will, there would have not been place for him to pursue them.
‘However, his eye deceived him, which led him to think that it depended on him, and he therefore thought that he could retake them - this leasing to the ensuing travail to Bnei israel, from the pursuit.’
Rav Yosef Salant expounds: ’From our psukim, we read that it was Pharoah who ‘sent’ Bnei israel, and ‘let the people go’, and it does not say: ’And it was when Israel departed from Egypt, or: And it was when Hashem took Israel out if Egypt, the intention being to say that their departure was by Pharoah - that he personally sent them, and that because of this, Hashem did not lead them by way of the land of the Phillistines for it was near.
‘This requires understanding.
‘We read in the Gemara (Sotah 11.), that, when the Egyptians, decided to enslave Israel, they said: Let us outsmart them, meaning: Let us outsmart Him, their Redeemer, in a way, that He will not punish us measure-for-measure.
‘They decided: By water, as Hashem had sworn, after the Flood, that he would not again destroy the world by flood.
‘They, however, had misunderstood, for Hashem had forsworn destroying the whole world by water, but had not forsworn bringing it on a single nation, and - as we read later - He indeed punished them in the very thing by which they had afflicted Bnei Israel: by drowning in the sea.
‘There were here two ways to punish the Egyptians measure-for-measure: by flood, or by drowning in the sea.
‘The change of nature, in the splitting of the sea, and drowning them in it, was ‘more difficult’ than bringing a flood on them, more so as the Angel of the Sea ‘objected’ that Bnei Israel were - no less than the Egyptians - idol worshippers, and therefore did not merit that the sea be split, for them.
A flood would have been ‘an easier measure-for- measure punishment.
‘However, since Pharoah had said: And also, Israel I will not send out, Hashem wanted to show that, in fact, he - Pharoah, himself - would personally send them, and that he would do so willingly, and without being coerced by a flood, or the like.
‘Further, this led Pharoah and his servants to pursue Bnei Israel, and to drown by the miraculous parting of the sea, so that the salvation of Israel should be by a measure-for-measure fate of the Egyptians.
‘Had the exodus been against the will of the Egyptians - as by a flood - and not by Pharoah willingly sending them out - there would not have been the concern that they might wish to return to Egypt, more so - despite their suffering there - due to the goodwill of Pharoah, and the people, as Pharaoh showed them great honor - as our Sages relate - personally accompanying them from the land.
‘This might have led them to think that - softened by the blows and makot they suffered - the hearts of the Egyptians had turned, to ‘loving’ them, and that it might be good to return to the land they knew.
‘Because of this concern, Hashem caused Bnei Israel to go into the desert of Yam Suf, so that Pharoah and all his hordes should pursue them - Hashem having hardened their hearts - as one man with one heart, and Bnei Israel would learn the true feelings of the Egyptians, towards them - unchanged from their cruelty to them, in their subjugation, in Egypt.
‘Further, Hashem wanted to show Pharoah, that his proud boast: And also, Bnei Israel I will not send, were as nought, as he himself did send them - and yet chastised himself: Why did we send them from our service, this self-reflection being the very cause of his demise.’
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin expounds:’You would have thought that the increased harshness of their burden, after Moshe first approached Pharoah, to release them, would have - as Hashem intended - caused all of Bnei Israel to want to leave Egypt, even if that meant going into the desert, without food or sustenance, their only concern being to escape their cruel oppressors, and burden.
‘It would not cross our minds, that they might wish to return to Egypt!
‘However, since in the last days before their departure, the Egyptians showed them friendship - even lending them their valuable utensils - and Pharoah himself accompanied them, it was easy to forget what they had suffered.
‘This was the concern here, that ‘when Pharoah sent them… and accompanied them himself, should they see battle, they might decide to return to Egypt.
‘Hashem therefore ‘caused them to turn- despite they being impressed by the honor given them by Pharoah - to the way of the desert.’
Rav Gedalia Schorr adds: ’The midrash, on our opening passuk:’When Pharoah sent Bnei Israel’, asks: Did Pharoah in fact send them out - does not Balaam say: (Balak 23:22): G-d has brought them out of Egypt, whereas, in our Parasha, we read that Pharoah sent them out?
‘This comes to teach that Pharoah accompanied them, as they left, pleading with them to seek mercy for him, as we read in the preceding Parasha.
‘The ‘sending’ in our passuk, means ‘accompanying’, as we find (Vayera 18:16) ‘Avraham going with them, לשלחם: to send them’.
‘The Maharal expounds that the linguistic root of the word לויה: ‘accompaniment’, is ‘connection’ - by the accompaniment, there remains a connection between the two people.
‘Here, too, when our Sages state that Pharoah accompanied Bnei Israel ,it means that he remained ‘connected’ with them, as they had not, as yet, totally disconnected from the Egyptians - this being alluded to in the opening word of our Parashs: ויהי, which, our Sages teach, always alludes to צרה: regret, that the connection still remained.
‘For this reason, ‘G-d did not lead them by way of the land of the Phillistines for it was near’, as the Phillistines ways were very close to the impure ways of Egypt.
‘As Bnei Israel had not yet completely ‘disconnected’ from the Egyptians, they had not yet completely ‘left Egypt’, so they could not be permitted to travel through the land of the Phillistines, ‘because it was near’ - and this was not the way to break the connection with the Egyptians - added to which, there was a danger that they would adhere to the impurity of the Phillistines, should they travel through their land.’
The Chatam Sofer, on the passuk in Parashat Yitro:’All that Hashem had done for Israel, that He saved them from the hand of Egypt’, elucidates:’We say: ‘we were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt, and had Hashem not taken our ancestors out from Egypt, then we and and our sons and our sons’ sons would have remained enslaved’.
‘Expounds the Maasei Hashem, had Hashem Himself not taken us out of Egypt, through His miracles of the ten makot, but instead, had put in the heart of Pharoah to send us - out of the goodness of his heart -though we would have been free men, we would nevertheless be ‘enslaved’ to Pharoah, out of a debt of gratitude, that he sent us out to freedom.
‘This is the purport of Yitro’s words: ‘What Hashem had done for Israel’: that he afflicted Pharoah with the awesome ten plagues, so that he should be compelled to send Bnei Israel out, not from- but against - his will.
‘This was for the good of Israel, that ‘He saved them’, from any enslavement - including a debt of gratitude - to the Egyptians.’
A parting gem from the Shem miShmuel:’We need to understand Pharoah’s words:’What have we done, that we have sent them from serving us?’, as this suggests that the departure was by Pharoah’s consent, whereas the Torah relates that they were sent out - not from the goodwill of the Egyptians - but out of fear that ‘we will all die’.
‘How, then could the Egyptians say:’What have we done?’, as they were compelled to send Bnei Israel!
‘The Midrash adds, that when Pharoah told Moshe to depart, Moshe responded: Are we thieves, to leave in the night? We shall leave in the morning. Pharoah exclaimed: do you want all of Egypt to die, you are no longer my slaves, but the slaves of Hakadosh-Baruch-Hu, free men.
‘Thus, we see that the departure was not from Pharoah’s goodwill, but from the fear of the final plague —so how, then, could Pharoah now complain about freeing his slaves?
‘Further, could there be a greater insanity, than to pursue Bnei Israel, who, as the Egyptians saw, were guided by pillars of Fire and Cloud from Above, a wondrous sight the like of which was not seen.
‘The answer has to be that given by our Sages, that Pharoah’s heart was precluded from reacting to what his eyes saw.
‘Sforno adds: the ability of exercising choice, with which man is endowed, is a function of man being created in the divine image - therefore, if ,this image is lost due to one’s misdeeds, the ability to choose, is lost.
‘This is what happened to Pharoah, as a result of his impurity, and it was this that explains his senseless pursuit of Bnei Israel.
‘Consequently, it was not Pharoah who consciously said:’What have we done, to send them from serving s?’, but a force which had taken him over, so that he should meet his fate in the sea.
‘It was this same force that had earlier led him to send Bnei Israel out, and to deceive him into believing that he was doing so from his own volition.
‘Further, as it was not his goodwill that caused him to release them, he is owed no gratitude for their departure.’
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/403510
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