1 And the LORD said unto Moses:
'See, I have set thee in God's stead to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall
be thy prophet.
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ב אַתָּה תְדַבֵּר, אֵת כָּל-אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוֶּךָּ; וְאַהֲרֹן
אָחִיךָ יְדַבֵּר אֶל-פַּרְעֹה, וְשִׁלַּח אֶת-בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאַרְצוֹ.
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2 Thou shalt speak all that I
command thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he let the
children of Israel go out of his land.
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(For the record,
I’m copying mostly the English, so as to avoid the possibility that I might be
taking G-d’s [Hebrew] name in vain by posting it on my blog.)
When does Aharon speak to Par’oh?
7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and
three years old, when they spoke unto Pharaoh. {P}
Good grief, how
old was Moshe’s and Tziporah’s son when Tziporah circumcised him?! Or did Moshe just wait forever to get married
and/or have a kid?
9 'When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying: Show a wonder
for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before
Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.'
Hmm, I thought
Aharon was supposed to be doing the talking, not the acting. Yet he seems to do most of the rod-casting,
while Moshe seems to be doing most of the talking. Notice, too, that it’s Aharon’s rod, not
Moshe’s, that’s getting cast down.
15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto
the water . . .
If you’ll pardon
the indelicacy of this discussion, I heard or read somewhere that the Par’oh
waded into Nile every morning to hide the fact that he was human and had to
“relieve” himself. Heaven forbid that
the commoners should think that the mighty Par’oh needed to use the men’s room.
20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as
the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were
in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and
all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
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כא וְהַדָּגָה אֲשֶׁר-בַּיְאֹר מֵתָה, וַיִּבְאַשׁ
הַיְאֹר, וְלֹא-יָכְלוּ מִצְרַיִם, לִשְׁתּוֹת מַיִם מִן-הַיְאֹר; וַיְהִי
הַדָּם, בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.
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21 And the fish that were in the
river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink
water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.
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The plagues,
standing on one foot:
Highlight:
". . . it's all a matter of pollution--once the Nile turns red/becomes
polluted, all but the last plague (the death of the firstborn) pretty much
follow as a result. It's natural for the frogs to bail out if the water's
polluted, then die of whatever got under their skin (literally). The insects
follow the mass death of the frogs, and disease results from the insect
infestation. Naturally, I can't find the video, but the History Channel telecast
a theory that the death of the firstborn was caused when a natural body of
water released trapped gas, which killed only those privileged few who slept on
close-to-the-ground beds (firstborn sons and high officials) rather than those
sleeping higher up on rooftops (the majority of the population), who were at a
high-enough elevation that the poisonous gas passed under them. Traditionalists
shouldn't be alarmed by this interpretation--all of these natural phenomena
could have been caused by G-d."
15 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh: 'This is the finger
of God'; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as
the LORD had spoken. {S}
Is this the origin of the minhag/custom
among many folks to dip a finger in their wine, rather than pouring it, to
diminish the amount of wine in their cups at the seder in commemoration of the
plagues?
18 And I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in
which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end that
thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
19 And I will put a division between My people and thy
people--by to-morrow shall this sign be.'
- Parsha
catch-up: Vaera (Sunday, January 02, 2011) Included is a link to a
DovBear post containing more links than you can shake a stick at.
Highlight:
" . . . is it possible that the area then known as Goshen has or had
a microclimate different from the area of Ancient Egypt that was, according to
Torah, struck by the plagues, thus accounting for it having been spared most of
the plagues? To mix this theory with a more traditional perspective, could
HaShem have chosen shepherds to be our ancestors for the purpose of ensuring
that, when we went down to Egypt, we'd end up in Goshen and be spared?"
22 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Stretch forth thy hand
toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and
upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.'
Okay, this plague
doesn’t result from pollution of the Nile.
Could there be any connection between hail and a volcanic eruption, such
as that of Thera/Santorini?
.JPG)
