Parshas Bo

The moment has arrived. After months of plagues that devastated Egypt–destruction of crops, horrible pain, and death of much of the population–Moshe gives Pharaoh his last warning in preparation to deliver Hashem’s tenth and most devastating plague: the death of the firstborn. Passing on Hashem’s final ultimatum, Moshe relays the two options: release the Jews from captivity, or every single firstborn, the leaders of their respective households, the pillars of Egyptian families, will die.

By this time the limitless might of Hashem’s power has been on full display for months, and when Hashem says “there shall be a loud cry in all the land of Egypt, such as has never been or will ever be again” (Exodus 11:6), there is no doubt in any Egyptian’s mind that this will happen exactly as stated. Yet when Moshe relays this message to Pharaoh, he changes one small, seemingly innocuous detail. While Hashem said it would happen precisely at midnight, Moshe said to Pharaoh that the firstborn would be struck around midnight.

The question is obvious: why did Moshe change such a trivial detail? Perhaps even more powerful: how is it appropriate for Moshe to change the word of the Creator of the Universe? The famous commentator Rashi picks up on this discrepancy and gives a mind-blowing answer. Of course Moshe completely believed the plague would happen at midnight, but he feared that Pharaoh’s astrologers might err by a few minutes in calculating when it actually occurred and would say, “Moses is a liar!”

But why would the Egyptians think that? Wouldn’t they resolve a conflict of seconds between Hashem–who has been showing for the past year and is showing right now, by killing the firstborn, complete mastery over all of creation–and their astrologers in favor of Hashem? How can a person be so blind in the face of such total upheaval of the natural order?

We see a remarkable lesson from our Sages: while we imagine we would be swayed by overwhelming Divine evidence, it is human nature to cling to the comforting threads of falsehood no matter how thin they might be. May we merit to use the Torah to work on our character so when Hashem shows us His loving hand in our own lives, we have the clarity to reach out and grasp it with connection and devotion.