Devar/5769/Va'era
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< Devar | 5769
עברית
English
come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there befalleth us any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land (Ex 1:10)
What is Pharaoh talking about? He is afraid that the foreigners will rebel against him and join his enemies. Why should they rebel? They were still free and not slaves! Their situation was very good, and they had no reason at all to rebel. He further says, "and get them up out of the land". One would have thought that if they rebelled against him, he would be happy to see them leave!
Let's begin at the end: he knows that because of the Children of Israel, Egypt not only survived the great famine of Joseph's time, but prospered and became a very great power. Egypt was one of the greatest powers in the world. Perhaps, he thinks, that if the Israelites leave Egypt, she will lose all her glory and power. Therefore he does not want them to leave Egypt.
Therefore he "deals wisely" with them, and slowly but surely changes them into slaves, in order that they not have any freedom to choose another dwelling place. He implants in his people a fear and hatred towards the Israelites, in order that they find it easy to think of them as slaves and not citizens. And then he made them labor befarech: what kind of work is parech? It is that kind of work which is never-ending, or work which is unnecessary -- rather the point of it is just to make him work, so he is not idle (Laws of Slaves 1:8). The purpose was to keep their thoughts and all their strength busy so they would not have the strength to rebel.
Pharaoh was the first propagandist. He waged a media battle against an innocent people, in order to achieve his goals. Because of the cruel manner in which he worked, he received the punishment he received, and God willing I will talk about this later on.
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