Founder, Toldot Yeshurun Parshat Bo (“Come”) describes the last three plagues that befell Egypt: locusts, total darkness, and the death of the firstborn.
This raises several questions: Why did G-d send exactly ten plagues? Would fewer have sufficed, or were more needed? Why did He choose these specific plagues, and in this precise order? Why did He start with turning the Nile into blood and conclude with the death of the firstborn?
To answer these, let's consider a medical analogy: A doctor treating a patient with multiple illnesses prescribes medications targeting each ailment. Similarly, ancient Egypt was spiritually sick, riddled with idolatry, and a flawed worldview. The Egyptians worshipped numerous deities, with each province having its own. Even many Jews, after 210 years in Egypt, had adopted these pagan beliefs. They needed a profound lesson in monotheism.
The first and most revered Egyptian deity was the Nile. It was the lifeline of Egypt, flooding regularly and ensuring agricultural prosperity. The Egyptian calendar was even based on its cycles. The first plague, turning the Nile into blood, demonstrated the impotence of their most revered god.
As it says in Parashat Va’eira: "So said G-d: ‘From this you will learn that I am G-d! Behold, I will strike with the staff that is in my hand the water that is in the river, and it will turn to blood. The fish in the river will die…’" (Shemot 7:17-18).
This was the first "treatment"—proving that the world is governed by One Supreme Being, not by man-made deities.
Copyright© 2023 by The LaMaalot Foundation. Talks on the Torah, by Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber is catalogued at The Library of Congress. All rights reserved. Printed in China by Best Win Printing, Shenzhen, China.
By Rav Yitzchok Zilber ztk"l
Parshat Bo: The Spiritual Cure Of The Makot
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