Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Torah

L’MATHAI’ (AGAINST WHAT TIME) SHALL I ENTREAT FOR THEE? Rashi commented: “If the text said mathai (when) — [not l’mathai] — shall I entreat, it would signify ‘when shall I pray?’ But now that it said l’mathai, it means ‘Today I will pray for you that the frogs be destroyed by the time which you will set for me. Say then by what day you wish that they shall be destroyed.’” In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, the removal of the plagues took place at the time of Moses’ prayer, as it is written, And Moses cried unto the Eternal, etc., and the Eternal did according to the word of Moses and it is not written “and the Eternal did so tomorrow.” The letter lamed in the word l’mathai is no proof that Moses prayed immediately, for the word l’mathai is equivalent to mathai, there being many verses where the lamed occurs [just for elegance of language], thus: ‘l’min’ (from) the day that thou didst go forth out of the land of Egypt; in the word l’min is superfluous. until ‘l’minchath’ (the offering) of the evening; in l’minchath is a superfluous style. the wing of the one cherub was five ‘l’amoth’ (cubits). in l’amoth is superfluous. There are many other such cases.
THAT THE FROGS BE DESTROYED. This is an allusion to their death, just as the expressions: that soul shall be cut off; and I will cut off from Ahab every man-child. The intent of Moses’ repeating the promise to Pharaoh, And the frogs shall depart, etc., was to state that as soon as he will have prayed, the frogs will all be removed, and that Pharaoh should not fear that when these frogs die, others will come up from the river. Rather, the plague will be completely removed even though some of them will remain in the river. All this was to inform Pharaoh that the plague came from G-d for the sake of Israel alone.

AND HE SAID, FOR TOMORROW. It is a known fact that it is man’s nature to pray that his misfortune be removed from him at once. [The question then arises: Why did Pharaoh say that the frogs were to be removed tomorrow?] In the name of the Gaon Rav Shmuel ben Chophni, they have explained that Pharaoh thought that perhaps some heavenly constellation brought the frogs upon Egypt, and that Moses [by his knowledge of astrology] knows the time when they will disappear, and therefore Moses had said to him, Have thou this glory over me, thinking that Pharaoh will now tell him to destroy them immediately. Therefore Pharaoh extended the time until the morrow. The correct interpretation appears to me to be that because Moses had said, Against what time shall I entreat for thee, Pharaoh thought that Moses was desirous for time, and so he fixed the shortest time limit, And he said, For tomorrow. Moses answered him, “According to thy word, let it be so, for since you did not ask that they be removed immediately, they shall not be removed until tomorrow.”

AND THE MAGICIANS DID SO WITH THEIR SECRET ARTS TO BRING FORTH GNATS. The purport of the expression, and the magicians did so, [when it immediately says afterwards, but they could not], is that they hit the dust of the earth and incanted the demons and performed their secret arts, as they used to do at other times, in order to bring forth the gnats, but they could not. It is possible that the expression, and the magicians did so, teaches that they did indeed do the correct things which do bring forth the gnats, but they were not successful this time, [for G-d thwarted their plans]. The learned magicians knew what they could do and they had tried to do so at other times [and succeeded. Hence they tried to do it now, but they failed “because it was now the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, to remove that power from them henceforth],”. See my Kithvei Haramban, I, p. 146.

AND THE MAGICIANS SAID UNTO PHARAOH: THIS IS THE FINGER OF G-D. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that because the magicians had done as Aaron did with the serpent and also with the plagues of blood and the frogs and now they could not do so, they therefore said to Pharaoh: “This plague of gnats has not come through Aaron for the sake of Israel. Rather it is a plague of G-d due to the particular [evil] stars under which the land of Egypt found itself at the time.” Pharaoh did not deny the existence of the Creator 5:3. but only the Divine Name which Moses mentioned to him. This is similar in sense to the verse, It was not His hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us. Therefore Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. And Ibn Ezra brought proof for his explanation from the fact that Scripture does not state that the magicians said, “This is the finger of the Eternal,” which would have been a reference to the G-d of Israel, just as Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron, Entreat the Eternal. Another proof [which Ibn Ezra brought for his explanation] is that in the case of the smiting of the river, Moses had forewarned Pharaoh,, Verses 27-29). but he mentioned nothing to him about the plague of gnats. [Therefore the magicians felt justified in saying that it was not a plague for the sake of Israel but merely due to the evil stars.] Ibn Ezra’s interpretation does not appear to me to be correct. “A chance” is not called “the finger of G-d.” Only a plague which comes directly from Him as a form of punishment is called the hand of the Eternal and the finger of G-d, just as it is written in the verse which [Ibn Ezra] mentioned: It was not His hand that smote us. And it is furthermore written: And Israel saw the great hand; And the hand of the Eternal shall be against you;, 5:11. the hand of G-d was very heavy there., 5:11. Moreover, in the next plague of swarms, as well as in the following ones, Pharaoh no longer called upon the magicians to stand before Moses to do the same things, even though there had been a forewarning of their coming! But the subject, in accordance with the simple explanation of Scripture, is as follows: When the magicians saw that they could not bring forth the gnats, they admitted Aaron’s deed to be through an act of G-d, and this is why Pharaoh no longer called upon them from that time on. They [the magicians] said, This is ‘the finger’ of G-d, and not “the hand” of G-d [as is the customary way of the Scriptures to refer to plagues, as e.g., It was not His ‘hand’ that smote us] in order to minimize the plague, that is to say, it is but a small plague from Him [which we can easily endure]. They did not, however, say to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of ‘the Eternal,’” [but instead they said, “This is the finger of ‘G-d’”]. Pharaoh and his servants would not mention the Proper Divine Name except when speaking to Moses because he mentioned that Name to them. [In addressing Pharaoh, however, the magicians would not use that Name since that would be an open recognition on their part of His existence and power. Therefore they said to Pharaoh, “ This is the finger of ' G-d, ’” although their intent was to say, “This is the finger of ‘the Eternal.’ “] That the magicians could not bring forth the gnats was [not because they really could not do it, but it] was by reason of the fact that G-d so caused it to happen to them. He confounded their counsel in accordance with His Will, for everything is His and it is within His power to do all. It appears to me further that in the first two plagues — in the one of blood, where the water naturally changed into blood, and in the one of the frogs, which consisted of bringing them up from the river — since they did not involve the creation of some new phenomenon out of nothing or some act of new formation,. See Vol. I, p. 23, that only the term bara (or bri’ah) signifies “bringing forth something from nothing.” the magicians could do [as Aaron did]. Scripture does not say, “and the frogs came into existence,” but only, and the frogs came up; they assembled and came up. In the plague of gnats, however, there was an act of creation, for it is not in the nature of dust to turn into gnats. Therefore He said, that it may become gnats. The verse, And the magicians did so with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, is similar in intent to: Let the earth bring forth the living creature, etc., and it was so. But only the Creator, praised and magnified be He, can perform such a [new] act of creation. The verse, And the magicians did so…but they could not, means they incanted the demons to do their command, but they were powerless. Confirming me in my opinion concerning the frogs, [i.e., that there was no new act of creation there], is the following text [of the Talmud]: ‘Rabbi Akiba said that there was only one frog (and the frog came up), in the singular. which swarmed and filled the whole land of Egypt. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azaryah said to him: ‘Akiba, what have you to do with Agadah (homily)? Turn from these matters and go instead to [delve in the difficulties of] Negaim and Oholoth. It was only one frog croaking to all other frogs, and so they gathered.’” Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah could not accept the opinion [of Rabbi Akiba] that the magicians should have been able to bestow a new nature upon the frog, i.e., that one frog should give birth to so many, which is contrary to its nature, but rather they gathered them in order to bring them up. In the opinion then of Rabbi Akiba, the verse And the river shall swarm with frogs, means that the river should swarm with them more than its due. But according to Rabbi Eleazar ben Azaryah, the sense of that verse is like, ‘shirtzu’ in the earth, which connotes movement, as I have explained in Seder Bereshith,, 1:20 (Vol. I, pp. 47-48). and here its meaning is that the frogs gather and move about in the river and from there go up upon Egypt. Now with regard to the gnats, our Rabbis have said that the demon [through whose power this was to be done by the magicians] is powerless in the case of a creature that is smaller than a lentil., must hence mean as explained in the text. Such is Ramban’s intent as explained by Rabbeinu Bachya. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 313. The expression, but they could not, must therefore mean that they could not assemble gnats from their [breeding] places and bring them. In Midrash Rabbah, the Rabbis have further said: “Perceiving that they cannot bring forth the gnats, the magicians at once recognized that [Aaron’s deed] was an act of G-d and not an act of the demons. From that moment on, therefore, they were no longer anxious to liken themselves to Moses by bringing forth the plagues.” Now with regard to Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra’s statement that Moses did not inform them of the coming of the plague of gnats, it appears to me that Aaron struck [the dust of the earth] with the rod in the sight of Pharaoh, just as he did in the case of the soot of the furnace. (Verse 13), it was done in the sight of the king. However, there was no forewarning here, since the Holy One, blessed be He, warned Pharaoh only of those plagues which entailed the death of people. In the case of the frogs, [there was also death involved], as it is written: And [He sent among them] frogs, which destroyed them, which is an allusion to death or to the kind of destruction mentioned by our Rabbis, i.e., that the frogs made them impotent. Similarly, [He warned him of] the locusts, [which destroyed the crops], because it would cause the Egyptians to die of hunger, for they ate up the residue of that which escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail. All this reflects His mercies towards man, just as it is said, Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn not from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. Therefore, He did not warn Pharaoh of the plagues of gnats, boils, and darkness, [as these did not entail the loss of human lives]. He warned him only of the pestilence of cattle because it involved death which should have taken effect also on man, as He told him afterward, For now I might have stretched out My hand and I might have smitten thee and thy people with pestilence. But in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, etc., Verses 15-16. Therefore He informed him of what was to happen.

In the case of certain plagues, [i.e., blood, swarms, and hail], G-d said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning … lo he cometh forth to the water. In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, to ease himself. Pharaoh claimed to be a god and asserted that [because of his divine powers], he did not need to ease himself. Therefore he would rise early and go forth to the Nile to ease himself in secret.” This interpretation of Rashi which is based upon a Midrash (Tanchuma Va’eira, 14) is alluded to by Ramban’s words that his own explanation is “in line with the plain meaning of Scripture,” thus implying that there is a Midrashic or homiletic interpretation of the verse, namely, that of Rashi mentioned above. this was the time when the kings were wont to go forth in the morning to enjoy themselves in the waters, and the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Moses to go there. The reason for it is that since the plague of blood was the first one [of the plagues], He wanted Moses to do it in the sight of the king and without fear of him. This is the sense of the expression, and thou shalt place thyself towards him. Similarly, in the plague of swarms it is said, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water, and also in the case of hail it is said, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, which likewise took place when the king went forth to the water. He wanted these two plagues to be wrought [at that particular time] because since swarms and hail brought death and punishment upon the people, the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted the warning to be given in the sight of all people. When the king went forth to the water, a multitude of people followed him, and when Moses will then forewarn him in their sight, perhaps they might plead with their master to return from his evil way. In case they do not do so, they will deserve punishment. But in the case of the other plagues, the warning given to the king alone was sufficient, and therefore in connection with them it is said, Go in unto Pharaoh, meaning that Moses was to go into the palace. In the case of gnats and boils, it does not say [that Moses was to go into the palace] because Aaron had to strike the dust of the earth [to bring on the plague of the gnats], and in the king’s palace there is no dust, as it has a pavement of green and white marble. In the case of boils, Moses had to throw the soot of the furnace heavenward. Thus [we must say that] these two plagues, [i.e., gnats and boils], were done in the sight of Pharaoh when he was in the court of the garden of the king’s palace, or some similar place.

AND I WILL SET APART IN THAT DAY THE LAND OF GOSHEN. Due to the fact that the first plagues were not migratory in nature, it was no wonder that they were confined to the land of Egypt and were not to be in the land of Goshen, [Israel’s habitation]. But this [plague of swarms] was a migratory plague. Thus when the wild beasts came up from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards, and brought ruin upon the whole land of Egypt, it was natural that they also come into the land of Goshen, which contained some of the best of the land of Egypt. of Egypt. Therefore it was necessary for Him to say, And I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, so that it would be completely saved [from the wild beasts] because My people dwell in it, as the majority of its inhabitants were Israelites. And I will put ‘p’duth’ (a division) between My people and thy people. The intent thereof is that even in the land of Egypt, if the beasts will find a certain Jew, they will not harm him. Instead they will devour the Egyptians, as it is written: He sent among them swarms of beasts, which devoured them. This is the sense of the word ‘p’duth’ between My people and thy people, which is similar to the verse, I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
I AM THE ETERNAL IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained it as being a figure of speech, emblematic of the nature of kings to establish their seat of government in the center of the kingdom in order to be near to the remote comers thereof. This explanation makes no sense. Rather, its intent is to state that He rules and supervises in the midst of the earth, and not, as some think, that thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He seeth not; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven. It is possible that the sense of the expression is similar to the verse, For My name is in him, and the secret thereof is sublime and recondite.

AND MOSES SAID: BEHOLD, I GO OUT FROM THEE, AND I WILL ENTREAT THE ETERNAL THAT THE SWARMS WILL DEPART FROM PHARAOH, FROM HIS SERVANTS, AND FROM HIS PEOPLE, TOMORROW. (Verse 24)? Ramban proceeds to answer this question. Just as Pharaoh, during the plague of the frogs, had asked that it be removed tomorrow, so did Moses want to do it in this case as well; he would pray that the swarms [of beasts] shall depart tomorrow. And then G-d removed the swarms, and they vanished completely, unlike the case of the frogs, [where Scripture states that they died]. This was for the reason, as stated by our Rabbis, that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to afflict them with plagues from which they would derive no benefit. Now Moses guarded himself when he spoke to Pharaoh, saying to destroy the frogs, which alludes merely to their death, as I have explained there, [while here in the case of swarms, he said that the swarms will depart].