In just three short chapters, the Torah walks Moses, Aaron, and Pharaoh through the first seven plagues — an exhausting back-and-forth between God and a ruler who refuses to budge. By the sixth plague, I imagine Moses and Aaron trudging back to Pharaoh muttering something like, “same 💩, different day.”
This weeks parsha opens with God speaking to Moses – 6:3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai… – reiterating who He is – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the covenant He established with them, to give them the land of Canaan, and He hears the moaning of the Israelites. He will do something about it.
The next statement from God to Moses is quite extraordinary, see if you can catch the four promises He makes: 6:6-6:7 Say, therefore to the Israelite people: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God.
Did you catch the four promises? I will free you. I will deliver you. I will redeem you. I will take you as My people. These four declarations are the traditional source for the four cups of wine we drink at the Passover seder — each one a step toward freedom.
The Lord implores Moses to go speak with Pharaoh, and Moses pushes back once more: 6:30 Moses appealed to the Lord, saying, “See, I am of impeded speech; how then should Pharaoh heed me!” God tells Moses again, to have his brother Aaron help him, to use Aaron as His spokesperson.
Three Generations Later…
The rest of chapter 6 outlines the lineage from Jacob through Moses and Aaron; Amram (father), Kohath (grandfather), Levi (great-grandfather). Jacob is Moses’ and Aarons great-great-grandfather. I really love that the Torah takes a moment to go through the lineage. And it still fascinates me how quickly everything went south for the people of Israel, barely three generations later, in Egypt, and their lives are bitter through harsh labors.
It makes me think of my own grandfather, who fled the former country Czechoslovakia during World War II, his arrival in America in the 1940s, raising five children in Washington, DC, his twenty grandchildren, and fifty-four great-grandchildren (and still counting). How almost all of us, three generations later, have faired quite well in America and Israel.
**Huge shout out to my cousin Deb, who helped throw together the final count of great-grandchildren our shared grandparents have, as I was only able to count the numbers from my generation and above **
One of the fascinating things about each of the ten plagues, each plague directly undermines an Egyptian deity — the Nile, fertility, healing, the sky, even the sun itself — systematically dismantling Egypt’s belief system. This isn’t random punishment; it’s theological confrontation.
- Water turned to blood – the gods associated with the Nile River
- Frogs – the frog god and goddess, fertility
- Lice – the earth god
- Flies / Insects – the fly-god and the beetle god
- Diseased cattle – Gods associated with bulls and cows
- Boils – Gods of healing
- Hail – Gods of the sky, atmosphere, and agriculture
- Locusts – Gods who protected against locusts and human disease
- Darkness – The sun god and moon god
- Deaths of the firstborn – All of Egypts gods; and in direct response to the mass killings of Hebrews’ sons.
Dennis Prager makes a really lovely point, “One of the Torah’s primary purposes in Genesis 1 – the opening chapter – is to disassociate God from nature, and to make it clear God is outside of nature and rules it. Here in Exodus, the plagues are all directed against the nature gods of Egypt, reinforcing Genesis 1 and demonstrating the One True God who created nature rules over it.”
And So, It Begins
Moses and Aaron, at eighty and eighty-three years old respectively, go to Pharaoh, as the Lord commanded them to do. They throw down Aaron’s rod which turns into a serpent. Pharaoh summons his magicians, they do the same, though Aaron’s rod swallowed them up. Pharaoh’s heart stiffens, just as the Lord said it would. God asks Moses and Aaron to return with the same rod, meet Pharaoh in the morning at the edge of the nile. Ask again to “Let My people go that they may worship Me in the wilderness.” The plan is to strike the Nile with the rod, turning the water into blood, the fish will die, the Nile will stink, the Egyptians will not be able to drink from the Nile. And, so it was. The magicians did the same with their spells. Pharaoh’s heart stiffened, and he did not heed them. After a solid week of no clean, fresh water, the Lord asked Moses to go to Pharaoh, ask him to “let My people go,” if not, the Nile shall swarm with frogs.
With the arrival of frogs – 🎵 frogs here! frogs there! frogs were jumping everywhere! 🎵- the magicians were able to replicate the trick, though something interesting shifts. Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron for once, and asks them to plead with the Lord to remove the frogs. Moses agrees, and does so. But… 8:11 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he became stubborn and would not heed them, as the Lord had spoken. Without warning Pharaoh, God tells Moses to tell Aaron to bring on the next one! Strike the dust of the earth, and it shall turn to lice throughout the land. The magicians tried, but they could not replicate this one. Pharaoh’s heart hardens, he will not heed Israel.
God asks Moses to meet Pharaoh in the morning, by the Nile again. Same script, but with a twist. Swarms of insects are coming this time, and He plans to set apart the region of Goshen – where Israel dwells – so the insects will not swarm there, proving another miraculous element to the already harrowing plagues. The swarm of insects was so heavy that it destroyed the land, only Egypts land. Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron again, and finally concedes to allow the people of Israel the chance to go sacrifice to their Lord, though on the condition that they stay within the land. Moses pushes back, explaining that the animals they plan to sacrifice is a big no-no in the Egyptian culture, surely Egyptians will kill the people of Israel for the offensive crime. Pharaoh agrees – go a distance of three days int he wilderness, Moses agrees – plead to the Lord to allow the swarm of insects to depart. A gentleman’s agreement! Moses holds up his end of the bargain, insects gone, but Pharaoh’s stubbornness proceeds again. He will not let the people go.
Now God, ever patient, has Moses do the same song and dance. You all know the lingo by now… the plague this time, will be striking the livestock with a pestilence – horses, asses, camels, cattle, and sheep – and similar to the insects, this will only effect Egyptians livestock, Israelites livestock shall live. And it was so. Pharaoh inquires to verify this is true, and yet, remains stubborn. Without warning, the Lord commands Moses and Aaron to bring on the next plague; BOILS! An inflammation breaking out in boils on man and beast. The magicians were unable to do anything, because of their boils. Interestingly, 9:12 But the Lord stiffened the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not heed them, just as the Lord had told Moses. This is the first time the Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart….
Again, Moses is asked to go back to Pharaoh. The threat of hail is now here, and a friendly reminder from God, that He could have wiped Pharaoh and the Egyptians off the face of the earth, as he did with the livestock, to prove to them His power. And so it was; heavy-firery hailstorm comes down, killing anything left outside – man, livestock, grasses, trees. But not in Goshen. Moses is summoned to Pharaoh again. More false promises, another gentleman’s agreement, another empty delivery on Pharaoh’s part once Moses asks God to cease the firey-hail.
The Similarities between Pharaoh and an Alcoholic
At this point, Pharaoh’s behavior feels almost unbelievable — until you’ve encountered addiction. Rabbi Abraham Twerski makes this connection explicitly
Anyone who has had any experience in working with an alcoholic has no difficulties understanding Pharaoh, because virtually every alcoholic behaves similarly. Alcohol causes some type of disaster – for example, hospitalization – and the person swears that he will never go through such distress again, and will never touch another drop. There is a wide array of possible consequences of his drinking: His wife leaves him, or he loses his job, or he is imprisoned for disorderly conduct, or he wakes up to find his house in shambles, and has no recollection of the destructive behavior during a drunken rampage. Any or all of these may occur, and the person will cry bitterly, asking for forgiveness. He pleads with his wife to return, or with his employer to reinstate him. He has learned his lesson, and will never drink again. Never! To the alcoholism therapist, the story is familiar. The resolution and promise to abstain are worthless. Alcoholic remorse is invariably followed by another drinking binge. – Abraham Twerski
Takeaways for the Week
- Freedom unfolds in stages
- Stubbornness can look like strength, until it becomes self-destruction
- God doesn’t just defeat false gods, he exposes their limits