This week Jews study Parashat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16).
Joe* emails: I always wondered why Pharaoh did not just have Moses killed. Or Moses and Aaron both.
It would have quickly ended the political rebellion of the slaves because it would seem that Moses/Aaron were the only instruments of god’s will. For whatever reason, god chose not to appear to Pharaoh directly (he has done so to non-jewish luminaries – see Bilaam), but rather use a mortal.
Well, why not kill the mortal, and then, at the very least, it would take some time to groom a successor and buy Pharaoh some time. It is as if Pharaoh, who was a descendant of the earlier Pharaoh who liked the Jews, seemed inclined to countenance the Jewish god and his messengers.
One reasons might be the Arafat theory. Why kill Moses (why kill Arafat, until he died of AIDS), who had a predictable M.O. (see the king to make a demand, have the demand rejected, impose a plague, come see the king to reiterate the demand, pray for end to the plague in exchange for agreeing to the demand, then keep the Jews slaves anyway).
Another reason might be that it was part of gods taking away of free will, that Pharaoh had to act stupidly so as to allow for multiple plagues so that the story could be told.
Finally, the prophecy stated that the Jews would come out of Egypt with great wealth, and god chose moses to implement the prophecy and told him so, ergo a loss of moses would call into question the divine. So, Pharaoh had to be made to play along. Contrast (or compare) that with Purim – Haman did go after Mordecai, and it made the situation worse (he thought better) for him. But clearly, killing the mortal is the smart move (unless he happens to be the one who saved the king’s life).
This last point almost proves the divine from the story without the need for revelation or crossing the red sea, no mortal king would have suffered the BS from Moses without at least an attempt at killing Moses. The mafia “wacks” people over a missed drug shipment, and the head of the most powerful country (whose predecessor had all baby boys killed on a whim) in the world does nothing?
What is clear is that at some point, Pharaoh lost his patience, and after the plague of darkness, told Moses that if he came back again, he would be killed. All of a sudden, Moses got uppity and proclaimed that Moses would not be coming back, as if he took Pharaoh seriously. And god was offended too, as god immediately launched into the first born extermination. Read the text
Just wondering if there is a good explanation out there?
