My Musing
The Torah teaches that the Plague of Darkness was so powerful it paralyzed the Egyptians. The text attests that the Egyptians could not stand nor sit when they were encompassed by the plague. The midrash wants to understand how difficult this was and also wants to understand a difficulty inherent in the meting out of the plague. In the tractate Sanhedrin, the standard for a Jewish court is that there must be a dissenting opinion which takes the side of the defendant and argues passionately for exoneration before the punishment is decided by a majority vote. But here, the midrash informs, there were no arguments. Even the angels could not muster a defense of the Egyptians.
The Midrash continues that since there was no dissenting opinion, God understood, so to speak, that the Egyptians were deserving of even more punishment. Perhaps we can learn from here that we need argue for the defendant so that human punishment is not meted out with extra measure.
The Torah teaches that the Plague of Darkness was so powerful it paralyzed the Egyptians. The text attests that the Egyptians could not stand nor sit when they were encompassed by the plague. The midrash wants to understand how difficult this was and also wants to understand a difficulty inherent in the meting out of the plague. In the tractate Sanhedrin, the standard for a Jewish court is that there must be a dissenting opinion which takes the side of the defendant and argues passionately for exoneration before the punishment is decided by a majority vote. But here, the midrash informs, there were no arguments. Even the angels could not muster a defense of the Egyptians.
The Midrash continues that since there was no dissenting opinion, God understood, so to speak, that the Egyptians were deserving of even more punishment. Perhaps we can learn from here that we need argue for the defendant so that human punishment is not meted out with extra measure.
מדרש תנחומא (ורשא) פרשת בא סימן א
(שמות י:כא) "וַיֹּאמֶר יְדֹוָד אֶל מֹשֶׁה נְטֵה יָדְךָ עַל הַשָּׁמַיִם וִיהִי חֹשֶׁךְ עַל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וְיָמֵשׁ חֹשֶׁךְ"
The verse implies that there was an added dimension to the plague of darkness. That it could be felt. The midrash offers a verse from Psalms to augment the verse from the chumash. The verse has two components. "He sent darkness and made it dark'; "They did not rebel against his words"
זה שאמר הכתוב (תהלים קה:כח) "שָׁלַח חֹשֶׁךְ וַיַּחְשִׁךְ וְלֹא מָרוּ אֶת <דבריו> דְּבָרוֹ"
The verse from Psalms seems to buttress the midrash's argument that the darkness had an added dimension. The midrash asks why was the plague of darkness much more debilitating?
חשך ששלח הקדוש ברוך הוא על המצרים קשה היה.
למה?
The midrash answers that the Egyptians did not truly accept the authority of the Holy One Blessed be He and there fore were deserving of a better quality of darkness.
על שלא קבלו מרות דברו של הקדוש ברוך הוא.
The midrash relates that God, so to speak, consulted with the angels (not a totally uncommon motif in midrash if one looks at the Creation) and they all agreed an no one "rebelled" against His word.
אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למלאכים, 'המצרים ראויין ללקות בחשך' מיד הסכימו כולן כאחת ולא המרו את דברו.
The midrash now applies the verse from Psalms to understand the unique quality of the plague of darkness. It had physicality. It could be felt. To understand why the plague needed an added dimension, the midrash offers a parable.
"שָׁלַח חֹשֶׁךְ וַיַּחְשִׁךְ", אותו חשך נתן בו ממש. מלמד למה הדבר דומה?
This episode is similar to a king, who finds displeasure with his servant. He says to another servant, whip him 50 times and the servant goes and whips the guilty party 100 times, 50 of his own initiative. The midrash explains that this added dimension is as if, the darkness took on the quality by itself.
למלך שסרח עליו עבדו. אמר לאחד 'לך והכהו חמשים מגלבין' והלך והכהו מאה והוסיף לו משלו. כך הקדוש ברוך הוא, יתברך שמו, שלח חשך על המצרים ונתוסף החשך משלו. הוי "שָׁלַח חֹשֶׁךְ וַיַּחְשִׁךְ".
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה