Commentators interpret the meaning of the words used to foretell the Exodus and the Israelites' becoming G-d's chosen nation.
Our Parasha opens, with the glad tidings from Hashem to Moshe:(6:5-8)’I have heard the groans of Bnei Israel whom Egypt enslaves and I have remembered My covenant’ with the Avot.
‘Therefore, say to the Bnei Israel:’I am Hashem, והוצאתי: and i shall take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; והצלתי : I shall rescue you from their service; וגאלתי and I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ולקחתי: I shall take you to Me for a people and I shall be a G-d to you; and you shall know that I am Hashem your G-d who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt. והבאתי : I shall bring you to the land which I raised My hand to give to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, and I shall give it to you as a ירושה: heritage - I am Hashem.’
This passage is universally referred to, as the ארבע לשונות גאולה: ‘the four ‘expressions’ - or, perhaps more felicitously: ’the four stages - of redemption’.
Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch expounds:’The ‘four languages of redemption’, are four aspects of the redemption.
‘To understand them, we need to expound on them - the first three are stages in the freedom from the existing servitude, whilst the fourth: ולקחתי: ‘ and I shall take’, is the destiny which Hashem will establish for them, the objective of all of the process.
‘There are several faces to galut: being a stranger: enslavement, and the absence of a redeemer, where there is a need for redemption.
‘In the Covenant between the Halves, this galut was described to Avraham, as: גרות: being a stranger, עבדות: servitude and עינוי: affliction. These were all fulfilled - in the cheapness of the life of Bnei israel, in the servitude that was their lot - one can be in servitude without being subject to affliction, just as there can be affliction without servitude.
‘Servitude is the deprivation of freedom - as occurred in Egypt; גרות was fulfilled by the absence of a redeemer, who is usually a relative, who comes to one’s aid, in times of need.
‘The stateless slaves, who lacked any civil rights, were easy and natural prey for subjugation.
‘In the prophetic vision of the Covenant, גרות precedes affliction and subjugation, as it is what enables them.
‘Now, in the news of the redemption, this order is reversed : first, affliction, then servitude, and then גרות - first that which was their daily lot, and then, its root - and its uprooting.
‘I will rescue’: I will cause the release of one who is held, without being able to release himself - I, said Hashem, will bring about your release, and your escape, from your state of helplessness.
‘Redeem’: you had no relative in Egyot, who would feel as if it was he that was being tormented - I, said Hashem, will be that ‘relative’, as any hurt suffered by one of My sons is felt by Me.
‘I shall take’: once you have regained your upright stance, free and with the rights of men, I will take you to Me, as a people.
‘This expresses, for the first time, the objective and destiny of Israel.
‘I will take you to me, as a people’ - by the exodus from Egypt, ‘and I shall be to you, a G-d’: by the giving of the Torah: ‘and you will know that I am Hashem, your G-d, who takes you out..’: by your travels in the desert, as only there will you know in their hearts, as a result, of your trials there, that - not just once, when He took them out of Egypt - but that He will always be their G-d.
‘And I shall bring you to the land..’ - Israel, therefore, will become a nation, before they merit to have their own land, and its existence as a nation is not dependent on a land - rather, our ownership of a land is conditional on our faithful observance of our national role.
‘מורשה it was already given in thought, to the Avot, and we only receive it, as an inheritance.’
The Kli Yakar comments:’ Several things occurred to Bnei Israel - as was foretold in the Covenant between the Halves- (Lech Lecha 15:13):’your seeds shall be גרים: strangers’ - geirut - ‘in a land that is not theirs’ - distancing them from the Shechina, as (Ket’ 110:): ‘Whoever lives outside the land, is as if he has no G-d’ - juxtaposing the distancing from the Shechina, with being strangers, in a land not theirs.
‘And they shall enslave them’- an additional element, to gerut, as a stranger is not necessarily, by virtue of that a ‘slave’ - nor is he necessarily ‘oppressed’ as a result of this.
‘In redeeming them, Hashem saw to saving them, by gradation, little by little: first, from the most dangerous state, being the oppression - as to which, He said:’And I shall take you out of the oppression of the Egyptians’, this being the affliction.
‘After this, He rescued them from their subjugation, in respect of which, it says:’And I shall rescue you from their service’.
‘He then saved them from the lightest of their burdens - being strangers, as to which He said:’And I shall redeem you’, as a stranger has no redeemer.
‘Since being a stranger’ causes distancing from the Shechina, it is followed by ‘in a land not theirs’, which alludes to distancing from the Shechina - against this, He said here, that when the geirut is nullified, they will merit to cleave to the Shechina:’I will take you, to Me, to be a nation, and I shall be, to you, a G-d’ -:literally, as by way of union - which will lead to ‘you shall know that I am Hashem, your G-d, Who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt’ - the greatest of the burdens.
‘He then elucidates the result of this ‘union’, saying:’I shall bring you to the land..’- against which, the drinking of four cups was established, at the Seder of Pesach, against the redemption from these things.
‘In these ‘four languages of redemption’, the appellation Elok-im is used - in the passuk (3:15), mentioning the relationship separately to each of the three Avot - to teach that: in the merit of Avraham, we were redeemed from geirut - bring strangers, in a land not ours, as he left his homeland and the house of his father, to a strange land, when bidden to do so, by Hashem; and in the merit of the service of Yitzchak, who was bound on the altar, for the service of Hashem- in the merit of which, we were redeemed from the servitude in Egypt; and in the merit of Yaakov, who suffered torment all his life, we were redeemed from these four oppressions of Egypt.
‘In respect of cleaving to Hashem, the Avot were all equal, which is why they were all bound together, in the words:’The G-d of your fathers’ - as in the merit of all of them, they merited to cleave to the Shechina.’
The Abarbanel notes that the Cause of All, opened his words to Moshe, by saying: I am Hashem -the cause of causes, and the all-able: ’I shall take them out of the burden of Egypt’.
Adds the Sage: Because He heard their groans and cries, He will redeem them , and take them out of the land of their suffering.
Because the affliction of Egypt was of several kinds: the first, the imposition of taxes, as it says:’(3:11) 'They appointed over them tax collectors, to afflict them with their burdens’; second, the harsh physical labor, which was their daily lot - being engaged in building, and in the fields - as well, as to whatever labor individual Egyptians demanded of them.
In respect of this, Hashem said:’I shall rescue you from their service’.
Third: the killing of the male new-borns, who were cast into the river - which was the harshest of all - as to which Hashem said: ’I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments’ - alluding to the plague of the first-born, and the parting of the Sea, which was judgment for their actions, as Yitro said:’in the very thing that they intended for you, they themselves were afflicted.’
Thereby Hashem responded to their cries and groans, and this was attended to first, as it preceded the exodus from Egypt.
However, as to what He said: ’I am Hashem, I appeared to the Avot as El-Shadai.. - His opening words to Moshe, He said: ’And I shall take you to Me as a people, and I shall be, to you, a G-d, and you shall know that I am Hashem, your G-d, who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt’, meaning: After you leave Egypt, you will come to Har Sinai, and receive the Torah face-to-face, and you will then know the sanctified Name, and prophecy in it without an intermediary - which the Avot did not merit - this being: ’And you will know that I am Hashem’, adding:’Who takes you out of..Egypt’ - as the exodus from Egypt, and the giving of the Torah, were both without an intermediary.
The Malbim adds: Therefore say to Bnei Israel: ‘I am Hashem’ - therefore tell them that there are three things that I have to do for them, not by My Name of El-Shadai or Elokim, meaning: by concealed miracles within nature, but by revealed miracles by the name Hashem.
These are the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah, and the gift of the land.
As to the exodus, He said: ’I am Hashem, and I will take you out..’, and this by the Name Hashem.
This will be by three things: First, ‘I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt’ - alluding to the harshness of the labor imposed on them by Pharoah - no longer giving them the straw - this being nullified immediately the plagues began to be inflicted on Pharoah.
Then: I shall redeem you from their service’ - this was after the plague of the first-born, when their servitude ended, as they became free men, and left the land.
The redemption was not complete by this, as the Egyptians pursued them, as to which He added: ’I shall redeem you’, which was when their servitude ended, when the Egyptians drowned in the Sea.
Only then, was the redemption completed, as we say: ’On that day Hashem rescued Bnei Israel from the hand of Egypt’ - and this was by His mighty Hand, and revealed miracles, thereby punishing the Egyptians measure-for-measure, in their drowning in Yam Suf, as Yitro said: ‘In the thing that they did’.
The second thing: ‘I shall take you..’ - this was the giving of the Torah, as thereby was fulfilled: ’I shall take you, to Me as a people’. This was also by the Name: Hashem, as it says: ’You shall know that I am Hashem your G-d, - as the first of the Ten Commandments says: ‘I am Hashem, your G-d, who took you out the land of Egypt’, and from that, you will know that this was by the Name: Hashem, as it was by awesome and miraculous deeds.
‘I shall bring you to the land': this was the third thing - the conquest of the land - in the Name: Hashem, as it, too, was by miraculous deeds which are attributable to the Name: Hashem, and which you shall inherit as an inheritance from your forefathers.
He thereby elucidated that all these three things we have mentioned, were by the Name: Hashem - which refers to revealed and famous miracles.
Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger brings a further matter regarding the subjugation in Egypt, noting: There was a subjugation of the body - on the one hand - but there was, at the same time, also a subjugation of the spirit.
The two are intertwined, as due to the physical subjugation, there is no ability to feel the absence of the service to Hashem - or indeed, to devote any thoughts to spiritual matters.
This was exacerbated by the impure surroundings, which further precluded any thoughts of matters of the spirit.
In our psukim, we find that the first two languages of the redemption, related to the physical subjugation: ’Therefore say to Bnei Israel: I am Hashem, and I shall take you out of the burdens of Egypt, and rescue you from their service’.
The last two - on the other hand - concerned the spiritual subjugation: ’I shall redeem you with an outstretched hand..I shall take you to Me for a nation, and I shall be a G-d to you; and you shall know that I am Hashem your G-d’.
The fifth language of redemption is an answer, both to the physical subjugation and the spiritual subjugation: ’I shall bring you to the land which I raised My hand to give it to your forefathers and I shall give it you as an inheritance’ - and there, of course, you will be free of physical subjugation, and also from the spiritual subjugation, from which you inevitably suffered, in the spiritual impurity of Egypt.
The Torah makes clear, that the physical subjugation, deprived Bnei Israel, from even being aware of their spiritual subjugation - Hashem ‘heard their groans..’from the harsh physical enslavement, but only He - and not they - remembered the spiritual subjugation: the Covenant with the Holy forefathers.
Therefore, Hashem said to Moshe; (3:7) ’ראה ראיתי את עני עמי’’ I saw, did surely see two things - the physical straits, and the spiritual poverty.
A parting gem from the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh: ‘ I shall bring you to the land..’ - this raises a difficulty, as all that comes from Above, is true - yet, the generation that left Egypt did not enter the land - their children did.
The answer is that the Divine wisdom foresaw this issue, and before saying:’I shall bring you to the land’, said: ’You shall know that I am Hashem your G-d, who takes you out.. from Egypt’ meaning: bringing them to the land, was conditional on them not disobeying Hashem - there is not an absolute promise.
For this reason, the passuk of ‘knowing Hashem’, is said in the midst of the promises of redemption - and not after all of them - to teach that all that is said before it, is by way of an oath - and not subject to a condition - but the bringing into the land, is subject to a condition: to them ‘knowing that I am Hashem..’ - and, as occurred, when sadly this was not the case, they did not merit to enter the land.
Dedicated with love and gratitude to my darling Liz, on the occasion of our sixtieth wedding anniversary. Arutz Sheva adds: ad 120.
