Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Torah

AND I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH’S HEART. The Rabbis said in Midrash Rabbah: “G-d revealed to Moses that He was destined to harden Pharaoh’s heart in order to bring judgment upon him for he caused them to work in cruel bondage.” It is also stated there [in Midrash Rabbah]:, 13:4. “For I have hardened his heart. Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘This provides a pretext for the heretics to say that G-d did not allow Pharaoh to repent.’ Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, ‘The mouths of the heretics be closed! Only, if it concerneth the scorners, He scorneth them. When He warns one on three occasions and he does not turn from his ways, He closes the door of repentance on him in order to punish him for his sin. Such was the case with wicked Pharaoh. After the Holy One, blessed be He, sent him five times [the request to let His people go] and he paid no attention to His words, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You have stiffened your neck and hardened your heart; I will double your defilement.’” The Rabbis [in the above Midrash] have thus discussed the question which all ask: “If G-d hardened his heart, what then was Pharaoh’s sin?” For this there are two explanations, and both of them are true. One is that Pharaoh in his wickedness had unjustifiably perpetrated such great evils against Israel that justice required that the ways of repentance be withheld from him, as is so indicated in many places in the Torah and in the Writings., where he quotes from the Prophets and Writings to substantiate this point. He was judged according to his wickedness which he had originally committed of his own will. The second explanation is that half of the plagues came upon him because of his transgressions, for in connection with them it is only said: And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened; And Pharaoh hardened his heart., 8:28 and 9:7. Thus Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go for the glory of G-d. But when the plagues began bearing down upon him and he became weary to suffer them, his heart softened and he bethought himself to send them out on account of the onslaught of the plagues, not in order to do the will of his Creator. Then G-d hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, so that His name may be declared [throughout all the earth]. Similar in meaning is the verse, Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Eternal. And that which He said before the plagues, And I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go, was merely His warning to Moses of that which He was destined to do to Pharaoh in the last [five] plagues, it being similar to that which He said, And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go., 3:19. This then is the meaning of the verse [before us], And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs. That is to say, “I will harden his heart so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt,” since in the last five plagues, as well as at the drowning in the sea, it is said, And the Eternal hardened the heart of Pharaoh,, 14:8. for the king’s heart is in the hand of the Eternal; He turneth it whithersoever He will.

AND THEY ALSO, THE MAGICIANS OF EGYPT, DID IN LIKE MANNER ‘B’LAHATEIHEM’ (WITH THEIR SECRET ARTS). Our Rabbis have said that these are deeds of sorcerers who perform their arts through angels of destruction, the word b’lahateihem being derived from the expressions: eish loheit (flaming fire); the flame ‘t’laheit’ (burned up) the wicked., 106:18. The purport [of the saying of the Sages] is that these deeds of sorcery are done by means of “the flaming ones,” angels of a fire that burns in man, and he does not know that the fire burns in him and pays no attention to it. It is similar in sense to the expression, “And the Eternal opened the eyes of the young man of Elisha, and behold there were horses of fire and chariots of fire.”. Perhaps these are identical with the angels that dwell in the atmosphere of the spheres of the [four] elements, which are called sarim (lords). (lords), the word should be sheidim (demons). The first reading seems to be more correct here. I will explain this theme again [in the Book of Leviticus 17:7] with the help of the Rock. But the word b’lateihem, [mentioned further in 8:3 — And the magicians did in like manner ‘b’lateihem’] — is explained [by the Rabbis] as meaning sheidim (demons) — the word being derived from the Hebrew word lat (secret): Speak with David ‘balat’ (secretly) — since the demons come quietly inasmuch as they are ethereal bodies whose presence is not felt. This is why Scripture states [in Verse 11 before us] that Pharaoh called for the wise men and the sorcerers, for the wise men who knew [the art of] incanting and assembling the demons were the leaders and elders of the Egyptians. The term chartumei mitzrayim (the magicians of Egypt) includes both of them, [i.e., the wise men and the sorcerers]. We do not know the root of the word chartumei. Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says that it is either an Egyptian or Chaldean word since we find it only mentioned in their accounts. The more likely explanation is that of Rashi, who said that it is an Aramaic compound-word: char tami (those who excite themselves by means of the bones [of the dead]). It is known that the greater part of this craft is one with the bones of dead persons or the bones of animals, just as they mentioned in the case of the yid’oni. takes the bone of a bird [or a beast] called yido’a, puts it into his mouth, burns incense, recites certain prayers, performs a certain ritual until he is in a condition akin to fainting, and falls into a trance in which he predicts the future” (Maimonides,”The Commandments,” Vol. II, p. 10).

AND, BEHOLD, HITHERTO THOU HAST NOT HEARKENED. Because this was one of the [ten] plagues and henceforth He will begin to smite him, He therefore said to him that it was his wickedness which was responsible for the bringing of the punishment upon him since he hearkened not to the command of his Creator. Now at this time, [i.e., when the warning about the first plague was given to him], Pharaoh did not declare to Moses and Aaron that he will neither hearken to G-d’s words nor let the people go. It was only at the first time [when they came before him] that he said, I know not the Eternal, and moreover I will not let Israel go. At present, he did not rebuke them; he only heard their words and remained silent, for since they performed the wonder of the serpent before him and Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods, he was already afraid of the plagues, except that during the first plagues he attempted that the magicians do likewise, that is, by means of deeds of sorcery. Thus he was afraid, and yet he hardened his heart. This is the sense of the expression, And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

AND HE LIFTED UP THE ROD, AND SMOTE THE WATERS THAT WERE IN THE RIVER IN THE SIGHT OF PHARAOH. That is to say, Aaron lifted up the rod and stretched out his hand over the land of Egypt in all directions, and afterwards he smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh. In Pharaoh’s sight, all the waters that were in the river turned to blood, and the blood was furthermore throughout all the land of Egypt. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that Scripture mentioned the smiting of the river but found it unnecessary to mention the stretching out of the hand [in all directions] over the entire land of Egypt.

NEITHER DID HE SET HIS HEART TO THIS ALSO. I.e., to the wonder of the rod turning into a serpent, nor to that of the waters turning into blood. [Thus the language of Rashi.] A more correct interpretation would appear to be that to this also means “to this also which was indeed a plague,” [as distinguished from the wonder of the rod turning into a serpent, which was not a plague at all], and he should have feared lest the power of G-d be upon him from now on.

And seven days were fulfilled after that the Eternal had smitten the river. This is connected with the verse above, and the purport thereof is as follows: And with this (And it was fulfilled) seven days, using a singular verb when the verb actually required is a plural: vayimal’u (and they were fulfilled). Rashi explained it by adding the word minyan (number) in the singular, explaining it thus: “and the number of seven days was fulfilled.” Ramban suggests that the verse is connected to the preceding one and is to be understood with the additional word of bazeh (with this), thus rendering the sense of the verse: “and with this activity — i.e., with the Egyptians’ digging, etc., as stated in the above Verse 24 — was filled (or completed) seven days.” — namely, the Egyptians’ digging round about the river for they could not drink of the water of the river, [as stated in Verse 24] — with this was filled the seven days after the river had been smitten.