“God said to Moses, ‘Come to Pharaoh. I have made him and his advisors stubborn, so that I will be able to demonstrate these miraculous signs among them. You will then be able to relate to your children and grandchildren how I made a mockery of Egypt, and how I performed miraculous signs among them. Then you will know that I am God.’ ” (Exodus 10:1)
Rashi explains that the words “how I made a mockery of Egypt” mean “how I played and toyed with the Egyptians.”
In a well-known Midrash (Megillah 10b) we learn the following: That night, while the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea and the ministering angels in heaven wanted to sing their established song, the Holy Blessed One said, “The works of my hands drown in the sea, and you want to sing?” And so, on that day, the angels were forbidden to sing, because God does not rejoice in destruction, even when it involves the downfall of the wicked. So how can it be that in our text God is saying, “You will tell your children and grandchildren how I made a mockery of Egypt, and laughed at their downfall?”
The answer might be found in God’s words to Moses by the sea: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them to turn back and make camp. . . . I will triumph over Pharaoh and his entire army, and Egypt will know that I am God.” (Exodus 14:1–4)
At the Red Sea, we read, “Egypt will know that I am God,” whereas in the verse previously quoted (Exodus 10:1) it is written, “You will know that I am God,” meaning “Israel will know that I am God.”
Perhaps God does not refrain from rejoicing in the downfall of the wicked if the downfall also conveys an important lesson to Israel.
Throughout history, Jewish people have suffered so much anguish, on so many occasions, simply so that they would be purified in the process, and aroused to the fear of God. But during the Exodus from Egypt, as the Jewish people approached redemption, God said, “This time, it is My great pleasure and joy to bring awareness and knowledge of Myself to the Jewish people, through tormenting and afflicting plagues upon the Egyptians, and not the Jews.”
The situation at the sea, however, was different. There the Jews were told, “Turn back and make camp. . . . I will triumph over Pharaoh and his entire army, and Egypt will know that I am God.” In this case God did not rejoice, because His desire for the Egyptians to know Him is nothing like His yearning to be known by the Jewish people. In our tradition it is well known that the world was created because of God’s yearning to be known by the Jewish people—” Because I want them to know Me.” As well, God did not rejoice in the drowning of the Egyptians in the sea, because by the time the Jews had reached this point, they were no longer being tortured.
With this we can answer the question posed by our early sages, of blessed memory: Why was Pharaoh punished for being stubborn, when the text tells us plainly that he had no free will? God often says of Pharaoh, “I have hardened his heart, so that he will not obey.” But now we can understand it without too much difficulty. If the Jewish people can be punished, tormented, and abused so often without any fault to be found in them, but simply in order to make them aware of God and to awaken in them the fear of Him, then Pharaoh also can suffer a little, so that Israel may know that “I am God.”
“Come to Pharaoh . . .” says God, “And if you are wondering how I can punish Pharaoh when he really has no free will, as it is written, ‘I have made him and his advisors stubborn,’ then let me tell you. I will demonstrate these miraculous signs among them, and then you will be able to tell your children and grandchildren that I am God. And I do it with such glee and take such joy in Egyptian suffering, because through it I am teaching you and your children something new, for you will know that I am God.” From this it follows that Pharaoh can be punished regardless of his lack of free will.
I am unable to recall any more of my words on this matter.