2021/5781
In this week's Parsha, Parshat Bo, the last three Makot are brought upon Egypt. The main Makah, the one that completes the ten Makot, is Makat Bechorot. Interestingly enough, the punishment for the Egyptians is so harsh that it impacted every living Egyptian being, beast and human. Why does Hashem kill every first born in Egypt? Wouldn’t it suffice to just kill the Egyptian first born children?
To answer this question, Rashi offers an interesting approach. First of all, the Pasuk says that even the captives in Egypt were affected by this makah. This doesn't seem to make sense, shouldn’t these captives not be included in the Makah? Rather, Rashi writes that too were affected by the makah to show them that it was Hashem who performed the miracle and not their gods. Furthermore, why does the Pasuk tell us “from the first of Paroh to the firstborn of the handmaid?” This shows that even the lowest of the low in Egypt, treated the Jews harshly, so they too were involved in the Makah. Finally, Rashi asks why were the beasts also involved in the Makah? Rashi answers that the animals were the Egyptians gods and when Hashem punishes a nation, Hashem also punishes their gods. Tosafot adds that everyone in Egypt was affected from the lowest sinner to the highest. Therefore, these three groups were involved in treating the Jews harshly, so they were all affected by Makot Bechorot.
The Chizkuni however differs from Rashi, as he writes that even the mothers of the first borns were killed in Makat Bechorot. Many Egyptians were not faithful to their wives. Therefore, Hashem killed not only the mother’s first born children, but Hashem also killed the Father’s first born. The Chizkuni also adds to Rashi and says that the captives in Egypt that were punished, weren’t truly captives. Rather, when the Egyptians heard the words of Moshe, they didn’t think that the captives’ would also be included in this Makah. So to try and evade this Makah, the Egyptian women threw themselves into captivity. As a result of this, Hashem killed all the first born, including the captives. Furthermore, The Chizkuni writes in agreement with Rashi, that Hashem struck down the animals whom the Egyptians worshipped. This is very Similar to Makat Dam when Hashem turns the Nile into blood because it is an Egyption deity.
The Ohr Hachaim adds that the language of Hashem’s words in the Torah shows that He had compassion for the beings He created. When Hashem tells Moshe that he will bring the Makah, he doesn’t say that he is going to kill the Egyptians. Rather, Hashem says that all the firstborns in Egypt will die. This is because Hashem didn’t directly kill the first born sons, He instead orchestrated who would die. Ultimately, the punishment was executed through Hashem’s agents of evil to show the compassion of Hashem. In addition, Hashem kills the Egypitan first born because they are the special children. On multiple occasions, Hashem calls Bnei Yisrael as His very own first born.
From this Makah, we learn that even when something terrible might happen, Hashem is always looking after us. Even when things aren’t going right Hashem acts with compassion. This is especially true when things are challenging. It is very important that we hold on to our belief that Hashem is always watching us. Even though it hasn’t been easy to see the bright side of the pandemic, one can see Hashem’s miracles on a day to day basis with the creation of the vaccine in such rapid time, and Im Yirtzah Hashem bringing it all to an end.