‘Let My People Go’ (Ex. 5:1) As an Expression of the Human Spirit Aspires to Dignity and Freedom
Dr. Lea Mazor, The Hebrew University
The Exodus from Egypt is the most prominent event in the Bible's description of Israel’s history. It appears in poetry, prophecy, the law, and the psalms. The Ten Commandments open with God’s self-presentation as ‘I the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage’ (Ex. 20:2; Deut. 5:6).
Moses stands before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and demands that he send Israel out of his land in the name of the God of Israel. This strong demand is repeated again and again and it has two components: 'Let My people go' (Ex. 5:1; 7:16, 26; 8:17; 9:1,13; 10,4) and the spiritual-faith purpose of the sending - ‘that they may celebrate a festival for Me in the wilderness’ (5:1) or 'that they may worship Me in the wilderness’ (7:16).
The claim to liberation is based on the right of ownership. Israel is not Pharaoh's people but God's people. Israel is called 'my people'. And since they are 'my people', says God, they should serve Me, not Pharaoh.
Pharaoh, who enslaved the Israelites, made them work hard and tortured them. The image of 'an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen' (2:11) summarizes the story of slavery.
Moses' historical role was to bring Israel out of slavery and into freedom. But freedom will not be the release of a yoke and a departure into a life of idleness. Freedom will have an inner content, accepting God's laws and commandments, which will regulate the lives of individuals and the community based on morality, justice, and law.
How will the tortured slaves be freed from Pharaoh's tyrannical rule? By using a means that the weak have always used in their confrontation with the stronger - trickery. As stated in the instruction of the wise man in the book of Proverbs, 'For by trickery you shall make war' (24:6). And so did the women in Egypt: the midwives who rebelled against Pharaoh's order to kill the boys, acted cunningly - and won (Ex. 1:15-21); Little Moses' sister, who wanted to save his life, played a trick on Pharaoh's daughter - and succeeded (2:7-10).
But, amazingly, the one who started the trick was the strong side, Pharaoh, who declared, "He has become wise" (1:10). But his cunning is destined to fail, and through the same path he chose - cunning! For with the wise, you become wiser. Measure for measure.
As it is said in the Psalms: "With the righteous, you will show mercy... but with the stubborn, you will be destroyed" (18:26-27). Moses planted in Pharaoh's heart the understanding that the Israelites had gone out for a limited period to worship their God, but his real intention was that they had gone out not to return.
The long years of slavery left their mark not only on the bodies but also on the souls of the Israelites. Their souls had become the souls of slaves who no longer sought freedom.
For this reason, Moses had to not only bring Israel out of their slavery but also bring their slavery out of them. Not only to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, but also to get Egypt out of Israel. This effort is addressed in verses 2-3 of chapter 11 of the Book of Exodus, according to the interpretation I wish to propose. Thus the text begins: 'Speak in the hearing of the people, and let them ask each of his neighbor, and each of her flock, for vessels of silver and vessels of gold.' The Samaritan Torah and the Septuagint complete it: 'Ushmalot.' That is, 'silver and gold and jewels.' This instruction was given to Moses by God at the burning bush. There it is said, 'And a woman shall ask of her household and her household for silver and gold and jewels, and you shall put them on your sons and your daughters, and you shall be saved from Egypt' (3:22). From the words, "And you shall put them on your sons and your daughters," it is understood that the silver and gold in question are primarily body ornaments that will be added to the clothes that the Israelites will receive from their free neighbors. The text about the bush prefaces the borrowing of property with the explanation of the instruction: "And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed" (3:21). The words "You shall not go empty" echo the language of the Hebrew slave emancipation law in the Book of Deuteronomy, which commands the granting of an emancipation grant to a slave, which will help him begin his independent life: "If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, and in the seventh year you shall send him away empty-handed. And when you send him away empty-handed from you, you shall not send him away empty-handed." You shall give him of your substance, and your substance, and of your substance, which the LORD your God has blessed you with, and you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today” (Deut. 15:12-15). The allusion to the Hebrew slave law means that when Israel left Egypt, a divine law would apply to the Israelites, which, according to the narrative sequence, they did not yet know, which grants rights to the slave. Rights are something new that aims to create a change in the consciousness of slavery among those who left Egypt.
The property they will bring out of Egypt, thanks to the intervention of God, who will give the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, is some compensation for the hundreds of years of forced labor in Egypt. From this property, the Israelites will be able to bring a contribution in the future 'for the maintenance of the Tent of Meeting and all its service and the holy garments' (Ex. 35:22). And the text goes on to say that the men and women did indeed bring jewelry: 'Earrings, and necklaces, and rings, and bracelets [of jewelry], all gold articles' (ibid.).
In the account of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, the fulfillment of the plan to save property from Egypt is recounted: "And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and borrowed of the Egyptians vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and turbans" (Ex. 12:35).
The taking of "garments," that is, clothing, is of special importance. Before the Industrial Revolution and mass production, clothing was an especially precious commodity in those distant days.
The necessity of almost always wearing the same garment gradually created an identification between a person and his garment (as with Samuel with the coat he wore, or Elijah with the leather belt girded around his waist). The identification between a person and his garment became so close that the custom of "wearing a turban" developed. For example, we recently read in the Megillah, "And Esther was clothed with royal robes" (Esther 1:11).