כה אמר הי אלהי העברים עד מתי מאנת לענות מפני שלח עמי ויעבדני.
"So said G-d, the G-d of the Hebrews, 'Until when will you refuse to be humbled before Me? Send out My people that they may serve Me!" -Exodus 10:3
When looking at the text, Rashi picks up on the Hebrew word לענות (to be humbled). He thought it meant "to be afflicted," (see Exodus 22:21), but concluded that it means "to be humbled." The Hebrew לענות has the same root as the word עני (poor person). Rashi concluded that it did not mean "to be afflicted." Rashi tells us to look at the previous plague of hail. G-d gives the Egyptians a way out of the plague without having to even free the Israelites: go inside (Exodus 9:19-20). Those who heeded G-d's word were spared, and those who were defiant were afflicted. For Rashi, the question asked in Exodus 10:3 is asked at this moment to remind us that G-d ultimately wanted to humble the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
I'm not sold on the idea that the question was asked at this time because G-d's sole intent was to humble the Pharaoh, but it does bring up an important point about humility. In order to accept G-d, it takes humility. Even in a completely secular or humanistic context, it is very difficult (if not downright impossible) to see the truth if you think you are always right and can never do any wrong. That is the crux of R. Bachya's commentary on this passage. Pharaoh was so haughty that he could not utter the words "I was wrong." By continuing to harden his own heart (see my commentary on what it meant to have Pharaoh's heart hardened), Pharaoh continued to stroke his own ego and assumed that he was right about everything. He dug his heels in so deeply that it ended up devastating his country, wiping out his army, and costing him his own life by the end of the Exodus story.
Because the Pharaoh could not humble himself, he paid a steep price. How we can learn from the Pharaoh's mistake is asking ourselves what it means to be humble. Yes, the verb "to humble" shares a root with עני (poor person). At the same time, we have to be reminded that Moses was considered to be ענב מאד, or "very humble" (Numbers 12:3). It brings us a lesson in what constructive humility looks like, and it's not meekness. After all, Moses led a group of Israelites through the desert and stood up to G-d at least twice in the Torah. Humility was about understanding one's place and where they fit. As R. Jonathan Sacks points out, humility is about honoring others: "it does not mean holding yourself low; it means holding others high." Moses understood the concept of humility well, but Pharaoh was oblivious. There was so much evidence in front of him that there was someone more powerful, and he could not see past his ego.
Truth was an elusive concept for Pharaoh, and that is what happens when we cannot admit or utter the words "I don't know," "I can't," or "I screwed up." If you cannot see your errors, you cannot see truth. By being incapable of seeing this truth, you cannot repent and work on yourself to grow as a person. Pharaoh was so oblivious that he could not recognize that G-d controlled the very air that Pharaoh needed to breathe (Sforno on Exodus 10:3). Pharaoh is the personification of arrogance, and his demise is a literary device as to what happens when cannot make any space to admit we were wrong or that we can grow. As Moses and Abraham teach us, we are not meant to be doormats. At the same time, we are not meant to get so caught up in ourselves that we think are immune from error. When can we become humble? As Pirkei Avot (1:14) asks, if not now, when? Our ability to be humble can start now by learning what not to do from the Pharaoh's example. We can ask ourselves how we can hold ourselves in high regard while still holding others in high regard. That way, we don't have to repeat the fate of Pharaoh by drowning in a sea of hubris.
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