Parshas Va’era - three days in the midbar
מיכאל ריטש
How will Israel leave?
I want to begin by reviewing the verses that I think are relevant.
ג(ח) וארד להצילו ׀ מיד מצרים ולהעלתו מן־הארץ ההוא אל־ארץ טובה ורחבה אל־ארץ זבת כו‘.
3(8) “I will come down to save [Israel] from Mitzrayim, and to bring them up from this land to a good, wide land, a land flowing...” From the very beginning, Hakodosh Baruch Hu told Moshe that when Israel left Mitzrayim, the plan was to bring them not just three days journey, but to their proper home.
Nevertheless, he commanded Moshe:
ג(יח) ואמרתם אליו כו‘ נלכה־נא דרך שלשת ימים במדבר ונזבחה לה‘ אלהינו.
3(18) “Say to [Par’oh]...‘Let us go three days in the wilderness to bring sacrifices to G-d.’ ”
Moshe did that - but he offered an excuse:
ה(ג) ויאמרו כו‘ נלכה־נא דרך שלשת ימים במדבר ונזבחה לה‘ אלהינו פן־יפגענו בדבר או בחרב.
5(3) “They said... ‘We will go three days in the midbar and sacrifice to Hashem, lest we be smitten by plague or sword.’ ”
Par’oh tried to prevent it:
ח(כא) ויקרא פרעה כו‘ ויאמר לכו זבחו לאלהיכם בארץ.
8(21) “Par’oh summoned... and said, ‘Go, sacrifice to your G-d - in the land.’ ”
And Moshe offered another excuse:
(כב) ויאמר משה לא נכון לעשות כן כו‘ הן נזבח את־תועבת מצרים לעיניהם ולא יסקלנו
(22) “Moshe said, ‘It wouldn’t be appropriate to do that... if we would sacrifice the abomination of Mitzrayim in front of them, would they not stone us?’ ”
Later, Par’oh offered to let them go, but not all of them. Again, Moshe offered an excuse - and Par’oh was angry about it:
י(ח-יא) ויאמר אלהם לכו עבדו כו‘ מי ומי ההלכים. ויאמר משה בנערינו ובזקנינו נלך בבנינו ובבנותנו בצאננו ובבקרנו נלך כי חג־ה‘ לנו. ויאמר אלהם יהי כן ה‘ עמכם כאשר אשלח אתכם ואת־טפכם ראו כי רעה נגד פניכם. לא כן לכו־נא הגברים ועבדו כו‘.
10(8-11) “He said to them, ‘Go, serve... but who is going?’ Moshe answered, ‘Our young and our old, our sons and our daughters, our flocks and our cattle must all go, for it is a festival to Hashem to us.’ He said to them, ‘Let G-d be with you if I would you let you and your children go as well! See the evil that is before your faces! No - take your adult men and serve...’ ”
In the end, Par’oh wanted at least to hold back the animals. Again, Moshe offered an excuse - and again Par’oh grew angry.
י(כד-כח) ויקרא פרעה אל־משה ויאמר כו‘ רק צאנכם ובקרכם יצג גם־טפכם ילך עמכם. ויאמר משה כו‘ וגם־מקננו ילך עמנו לא תשאר פרסה כי ממנו נקח לעבד כו‘ ואנחנו לא־נדע מה־נעבד את־ה‘ עד־באנו שמה. כו‘ ויאמר־לו פרעה לך מעלי השמר לך אל־תסף ראות פני כו‘
10(24-28) “Par’oh called to Moshe and said... ‘Just leave your flocks and cattle here - even your children may go with you.’ Moshe said, ‘Our animals must come too, we may not leave behind one hoof: we are taking them to serve... and we can’t know how many we need until we get there...’ Par’oh said to him, ‘Leave me! Beware if you ever see me again...’ ”
יב(לא) ויקרא למשה ולאהרן לילה ויאמר קומו צאו מתוך עמי כו‘ ולכו עבדו את־ה‘ כדברכם (פירש“י הכל כמו שאמרתם, ולא כמו שאמרתי אני, בטל לא אשלח, בטל מי ומי ההולכים, בטל רק צאנכם ובקרכם יצג.) (לב) גם־צאנכם גם־בקרכם קחו כאשר דברתם כו‘.
12(31) “Par’oh called to Moshe and Aharon in the night, and said, ‘Get up and leave my nation... go and serve G-d as you have spoken.’ ” (Rashi: Everything as you have said and not as I said; cancel “I will not send them.” Cancel “Who will go?” Cancel “Leave your flocks and cattle here.” (32) “Take your flocks and cattle as you have spoken.’ ” Even after the plague of the first-born, it is clear that Par’oh never allowed more than Moshe asked - 3 days in the midbar.
יד(ה) ויגד למלך מצרים כי ברח העם כו‘ (פירש“י וכיון שהגיעו לשלשת ימים שקבעו לילך ולשוב, וראו שאינן חוזרין למצרים, באו והגידו לפרעה כו‘).
14(5) “The king of Mitzrayim was told that the nation had fled...” (Rashi: when the three days arrived that they had set to go and return, and they saw that [Israel] wasn’t returning to Mitzrayim, they came and told Par’oh...)
It is very clear from all this that Par’oh was afraid that Israel would not return after the three days. That is why he constantly tried to hold back hostages. [See also B’reishis 50(8), where Par’oh does exactly the same thing to Yosef by his father’s funeral: “Only their children, their flocks and their cattle they left behind in the land of Goshen.”] Note that Par’oh never asked for any promises from them.
This is why I don’t see how one can even ask the commonly-asked question, “How could Moshe fool Par’oh?” Par’oh was not in any way fooled.
But it is also clear that Moshe did not want to tell him explicitly that they were not returning. He consistently refused to leave hostages or collateral, but he always avoiding giving the actual reason.
What was the purpose of this maneuvering? Was it some kind of diplomatic game? And what is the explanation of what Moshe was actually saying to Par’oh?
[See the Rashbam on 3(11): “I’m commanding you now to serve Hashem on this mountain and to bring sacrifices... and every time Moshe spoke thus to Par’oh. So too we find by Shmuel, when Hashem commanded him to annoint David... so too here he commanded Moshe in a clever way (דרך חכמה)...” (See all his words. The Rashbam doesn’t seem to be saying that Moshe lied, only that he spoke in a way that was more likely to be accepted.) Also see Ibn Ezra on 10(10).]
3 for chazakah
To answer this, I need first to discuss chazakah in the Torah.
It is well known from the gemara and poskim that three is the number that establishes a chazakah. Three implies קביועות, something permanent and established. This theme is used a lot in the Torah; I will bring numerous examples. And if it is possible to disagree with some of them, indeed maybe with most of them, still I want to bring them for the reader’s examination. The principle is true in any case.
What was Moshe asking?
If three times is a chazakah in the Torah, then when Moshe asked Par’oh for Israel to go three days into the winderness, he was asking that they leave בקביעות, outside the reshus of Egypt. Three days in the midbar means: completely out. It is impossible to serve Hashem properly when under the hand of Par’oh. It seems to me that even though Moshe was making excuses and avoiding an explicit statement, that is what he was saying and it was all true as well.
Now what about coming back? Did he say or imply that they would? Compare these cases:
Now, which of these two examples is closer to our subject? For that, I need a brief explanation.
There is a fundamental difference between the law of individuals and the law between nations. The laws of individuals are based on rights and evidence. The individuals live under a society, with courts over them, and the courts have the power to compel the individuals to listen. If someone owns something, and someone else takes it, the courts will recognize the first person as the real owner and make the second person give it back.
It doesn’t work that way with nations and governments. Their law is based on strength; there is no higher (human) authority over them. This is why there is no prohibition on making war, and it is not called גזל, robbing another nation. And even though the whole world is really under the heavenly beis din, still the Torah works according to the nature of the world and its ways. Nations are different.
Even though Israel was enslaved to Par’oh, Egypt had no קנין, no legal ownership of them, the way a person owns his axe, or even his slave. Rather, one nation enslaves another by force and by holding them under control; the second nation is enslaved as long as they remain under control of the first. But the minute that they leave the other nation’s control - they are no longer slaves, and have no obligation to return to the control of the first, even לפנים משורת הדין. The first nation no longer has any hold on them.
It seems to me that there was no deception in Moshe’s words to Par’oh. He was insisting that Israel be allowed to move entirely out of the control of Egypt, to a place where they would no longer be their slaves. There was therefore no implication that they would have to return, rather, they would be completely free, and they would return only if they chose (or if Egypt could force them).
If Moshe and Israel would have returned, they would have gone back to being slaves. But if they did not return, they would not be slaves any more; the matter was up in the air, מתלא תלי וקאי.
As we have seen, Par’oh understood all this perfectly. The head of that nation knew well how nations work. He knew that if Israel left his control, comparisons to individual ownership would not get them back. He tried to keep hostages or collateral to give him some degree of control. He didn’t try at all to get promises; he knew that wouldn’t help a bit in the laws of nations: “בדברים לא יוסר עבד.”
[One chacham suggested to me that it was likely that Par’oh did assume that they would come back anyway. He was afraid to let them out of his control, but: such a numerous nation, so heavy with possessions, perhaps he thought that they surely could not go far and would have to return. But when he saw that they did not turn at the critical time, he came to take them by force and with war - which may have been part of Hashem’s plan to draw him in.]
(אמנם ע‘ דברי יפתח למלך עמון שמביא זכות ודיני שמים לגבי כיבוש סיחון. וע‘ המדרש שבא מצרים לפני מלך הגוים אחר כמה מאות שנה, וטענו הכסף ששאלו מהם ישראל. וע‘ רש“י ריש ספר בראשית על טענת העממים על ישראל על כיבוש הכנעני. וישראל שאני וצ“ע.)