Pharaoh Encroached

 Passover - 7th Day (Sermon)

by Rabbi Avi Billet

The Torah doesn’t give us a timeline for the events of today’s Torah reading. Chazal do – but the Torah does not. 

 In all likelihood, the timeline that is given, of the Bnei Yisrael traveling three days and getting stuck at the sea, and then Pharaoh giving chase and catching up within a day or a day and a half (depending which version of that Midrash you like) comes from the parallel of Yaakov running away from Lavan’s house. There are many parallels between the two stories. Just to give the most obvious one. 

 The section begins with the words בשלח פרעה את העם, when Pharaoh “SENT” the nation. And a few verses later, we are told, without telling us when or how much time after he SENT THEM, וַיֻּגַּד֙ לְמֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרַ֔יִם כִּ֥י בָרַ֖ח הָעָ֑ם. The king of Egypt was told that the nation had fled. 

 When Yaakov leaves Lavan’s house, after 20 years of servitude, we are told

 בראשית פרק לא 

(כא) וַיִּבְרַ֥ח הוּא֙ וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר־ל֔וֹ וַיָּ֖קָם וַיַּעֲבֹ֣ר אֶת־הַנָּהָ֑ר וַיָּ֥שֶׂם אֶת־פָּנָ֖יו הַ֥ר הַגִּלְעָֽד:

 (כב) וַיֻּגַּ֥ד לְלָבָ֖ן בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֑י כִּ֥י בָרַ֖ח יַעֲקֹֽב:

 (כג) וַיִּקַּ֤ח אֶת־אֶחָיו֙ עִמּ֔וֹ וַיִּרְדֹּ֣ף אַחֲרָ֔יו דֶּ֖רֶךְ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֑ים וַיַּדְבֵּ֥ק אֹת֖וֹ בְּהַ֥ר הַגִּלְעָֽד: 

That’s a three day and seven day timeline that we are given. 

And there’s much to be said about the parallels between the Exodus from Lavan’s house and the Exodus from Pharaoh’s house. None other than the Haggadah famously compares the two experiences, even noting that Lavan was WORSE THAN PHARAOH. And WHY was he worse? Because even in giving chase, Lavan’s aims were לעקר את הכל. He even said as much to Yaakov – הבנות בנותי והבנים בני – your children are mine. 

What were Pharaoh’s aims in chasing after Bnei Yisrael? Unclear. 

Did he want to recapture them? 

Did he want to kill them with the sword? 

Did he want to push them into the sea? 

Or did he want – as Rabbi Menachem Leibtag points out – to make sure they left all land that might be identified as Egyptian? Did he want to make SURE that they left? 

Again. Unclear. 

But Chazal look at Pharaoh’s encroachment and come away with a very different message about – not so much Pharaoh’s goal, but what Pharaoh achieved. And they hinge their interpretation on two words. And those two words are ופרעה הקריב. 

 With your indulgence, I’ll weave together the different messages, to create a picture of what was accomplished in Pharaoh’s encroachment. 

 RASHI 

 Pharaoh made the effort to pass his soldiers so he would be in front, as he had promised them. 

 MIDRASH AGGADAH 

 The way of the world is that the soldiers lead in battle, and the king follows. Pharaoh led. His soldiers asked him why? He said “If we were fighting mortals, I’d follow that practice. But since I am fighting their king, there is no room for me to follow my troops.” The Midrash concludes this passage quoting the verse כי מכבדי אכבד – Pharaoh honored God, so he was honored. 

 A different Midrash has Pharaoh going to GREET their king. Of course that is much “nicer” than the confrontation approach. In either case, Pharaoh is given credit for giving כבוד to HKBH, though obviously his soldiers are destroyed in the encounter. Chazal tell us Pharaoh survived this encounter and lived out his life in Nineveh.

 That interpretation has a religious undertone to it. The next interpretation, and here I’m just giving the MIDRASH SECHEL TOV, but it appears in several places (ie. Mechilta), has religious OVERTONES.

 When Pharaoh saw them at the sea לפני בעל צפון, he remembered that Baal Tzfon is the God of the sea, who “agreed” with his decree to have babies thrown in the river. Thinking now that he’d have the opportunity to throw ALL of them into the sea, the word הקריב means he brought offerings before Baal Tzfon! Targum Yonatan says the same thing: וּפַרְעֹה חָמָא טַעֲוַות צְפוֹן מִשְׁתְּזֵיב וּקְרֵיב קֳדָמוֹי קָרְבָּנִין 

 The other side of the Religious Overtone is offered by the Pesikta Pharaoh הקריב, he brought Bnei Yisrael closer to their father in heaven. He encroached, which led to - וישאו בני ישראל את עיניהם – they lifted their eyes to their Father in Heaven. 

MALBIM and NETZIV describe stages of how Bnei Yisrael perceived Pharaoh’s efforts here. 

First he came with a few chariots. That did not frighten the Bnei Yisrael [they expected ואכבדה בפרעה ובכל חילו.] But then… 

 מצרים was pursuing – all out pursuit of והנה מצרים נוסע אחריהם, which is ultimately what caused the fear, panic, etc… 

RABBENU BACHAYE summarizes a few of the ideas we have seen until now, noting that the idea of his bringing KOrbanos to Baal Tzfon wasn’t such a great idea. 

1. Brought himself closer to Bnei Yisrael (than his soldiers) 

2. Brought puranus upon himself (through bringing offerings to Baal Tzfon) 

3. [Arama says this one too] - Brought Bnei Yisrael closer to doing Teshuvah - הקריב את ישראל בתשובה לאביהן שבשמים. This is reflected in the Pasuk (תהלים כ, ח) "אלה ברכב ואלה בסוסים ואנחנו בשם ה' אלוהינו נזכיר": 

And finally, the approach championed by Pesikta is enhanced by the Midrash Rabba 

 He brought Bnei Yisrael to Teshuvah. R Berachia says “Pharaoh’s hakravah of Yisrael was greater than 100 fast days and tefillos.” Mechilta and others imply from here that the Bnei Yisrael once again grasped on to the methods of Tefillah that had been introduced to them by Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. 

 There are a number of lessons we can take from this general approach to the events of the sea. While acknowledging, of course, that there are so many aspects of the splitting of the sea that we could focus on. 

1. Acknowledging the God of the heaven 

If Chazal could see in Pharaoh’s personal pursuit a subliminal or even open acknowledgement that he is going to confront or approach God, at the very least, than can serve as a reminder that the guy who started off his reaction to the name of God with מי ה' אשר אשמע בקולו, ends with approaching God and noting אמותה מפני בני ישראל כי ה' נלחם להם במצרים. If he knows and comes to understand there is a God in this world, then certainly the BNEI YISRAEL should be mindfully aware and acknowledging that. 

2. The zeal of idolatry is self-destructive 

If at the same time that he is going to greet or confront God, THE God about Whom Moshe has surely told Pharaoh there is no other, and the one who defeated all of Pharaoh’s perceived gods: the river, the ground, the animals, the land of Egypt, the sun, the sheep, etc, it would behoove him to abandon his god of Baal Tzfon, especially at a time when he sees the splitting of the sea, something he knows his gods never do. Alas, this is the way of idolatry. It’s only as the water comes down when clarity ensues, and the Egyptians see כי ה' נלחם להם במצרים

3. An army versus an army is a war that has a beginning and an end.

If one army surrenders or is routed, the war is over. But when it’s an all out war of the people against the people, that is frightening indeed. 

 This is perhaps most relatable when we think of what Israel is against when it comes to Hamas and the Arabs of Gaza. Protests against Hamas – too little too late, and too much crocodile tears – are meaningless when the fact remains that every citizen in Gaza wants every Jew dead and wants Israel to disappear. This is why there is no end in sight. I imagine most Israelis don’t want to see a genocide of every Arab of Gaza. The idea is abhorrent to just about every Jew. But when the civilians accompany the fighters to rape, murder and pillage, Israel understands that it’s not just a fighting force that needs to be defeated. It’s an entire mindset of generations – and that is a frightening prospect. Because what will it take for that to come around? 

4. Pharaoh inspired Tefillah and Teshuvah 

A few months ago, OU’s Jewish Action magazine had a feature “welcoming home the October 8th Jew.” There has been a resurgence of Jewish pride in some circles, in particular with Jews who understand that Israel is just one piece of a larger piece of Jew hatred around the world. 

 The real outrage is the so called “As a Jew” Jews who foolishly believe that their advocacy on behalf of Jew-haters demonstrates their compassion, and that when push comes to shove, their love of the Arabs will bring about a more peaceful world. 

 Ha! I am obviously not knocking the Jewish victims who did not deserve their fate. But among them were the biggest peace activists, which included “friends” of their Gaza neighbors, Gazan neighbors who turned around 4 days after celebrating peace activist gatherings and helped the terrorists hunt down and kill these naïve Jews who thought they had found "the good Arabs." [There may very well be Good Arabs. But those that take your trust and turn around and murder you are not the good ones.] 

Aviyada Becher, an Israeli leftist from Be’eri, who lost his wife and son on October 7 and was personally injured as well, said in an interview a year later, “Mazal that it happened in Be’eri and no in Gush Etzion.” He went on to explain had it happened there, he projects what HE WOULD HAVE SAID. “Why are they living there in the first place? They had it coming!” He acknowledges that he would have said the harshest and most critical things about “them” had it happened there. “Mazal that it happened in Be’eri. Even though I suffered terribly and paid a heavy price, Mazal that I learned the lesson in this way.” 

Did he become a “Baal Teshuvah” in the traditional sense. I have no idea. I doubt it. But I believe he learned that the Jews with whom he disagrees politically, have a very similar love for their fellow Jew and love for the land. And that those who he thought he could trust are not trustworthy. That too is a kind of Teshuvah. 

5. While Moshe tells the people now’s not the time to pray… 

God tells Moshe דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו, in other words it is not the time to pray, that does not take away from the reality that וישאו בני ישראל את עיניהם. Raising one’s eyes heavenwards and acknowledging the place and role of אבינו שבשמים is one of the most fundamental takeaway lessons of this entire narrative. One of the most famous verses in the Torah reading, and fascinatingly the only mention of Moshe in the Haggadah, is the pasuk of ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו. 

That entire process was put into play because of Pharaoh’s encroachment. 

Let us acknowledge that our enemies have the power to unite us. 

 Let us acknowledge that our response to enemy provocation is to double down on our relationship with God. 

Let us pay attention to the reality that far more unites our people than divides us. 

 On this day that we celebrate the defeat of the Egyptians, whether it actually happened on this day or did not, we bask in the acknowledgement that our inspiration towards God and godliness can come from the most bizarre places, if only we have the strength to pay attention and heed the call.