Brothers Bringing Redemption
Moshe and Aharon
play complementary roles in communicating God’s message of redemption to both
the Children of Israel and to Pharaoh.
By Rabbi Avraham Fischer
The following article
is reprinted with permission from the Orthodox
Union.
Things have gone from bad to worse. As intense as the slavery had been, now the
Children of Israel must produce their quota of bricks without being provided
with the straw they need. Although at
first they believed that the redemption was imminent, now they have lost
hope. Moshe repeats Hashem’s promises
to save them, “but they did not hearken
to Moshe out of impatience and out of hard bondage” (Exodus 6:9).
And, when Hashem insists that Moshe return to speak to
Pharaoh, Moshe’s reaction is understandably full of frustration:
Behold, the children
of Israel [who have a vested interest in listening] have not hearkened to me;
how then shall Pharaoh [who has a vested interest in not listening] listen to me, I who am of uncircumcised lips?! (Exodus
6:12).
Nevertheless, Hashem renews the command to appear before
Pharaoh (Exodus 6:13). Suddenly, and quite abruptly, the narrative is
interrupted, in order to provide us with a genealogy of the tribes of Reuven,
Shimon and Levi. This genealogy
includes the life-span of Levi, his son Kehat and his grandson Amram; and the
family of Amram and Yocheved, including Aharon and Moshe, ending with Aharon’s
grandson Pinchas (Exodus 6:14-25).
Then, before resuming the narrative, we are reminded:
These are Aharon and
Moshe to whom Hashem had said: “Bring out the Children of Israel from the land
of Egypt according to their hosts.”
These are they who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring out the
Children of Israel from Egypt, these are Moshe and Aharon (Exodus 6:26-27).
Now that we have returned to the narrative, the Torah
reiterates the last part of the story before the interruption (Exodus
6:28-30). Thereupon the Torah
continues:
And Hashem said to
Moshe: “See I have made you as a god to Pharaoh, and Aharon your brother shall
be your prophet. You shall speak all
that I command you, and Aharon your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he
send the Children of Israel out of his land” (Exodus 7:1-2).
A number of problems present themselves in this passage, but
first among them is to explain the unexpected excursus on the tribes’
genealogy. In dealing with this issue,
however, Rashi’s explanation (Exodus 6:14) is puzzling:
“Since [the Torah]
needed to trace the lineage of the tribe of Levi until Moshe and Aharon,
because of Moshe and Aharon, it began to trace them via their descendants from
Reuven.”
(Some commentaries elaborate that the Torah wants to show
Levi’s special qualities of loyalty to Hashem and Torah in contrast to the two
other, older, tribes.) But this begs
the questions: Why does the text
need to list the lineage of Moshe and Aharon?
And, why now, in the midst of charging Moshe and Aharon with their
mission?
Rashi addresses this in his commentary on verse 6:13:
“Since Moshe said I
who am of uncircumcised lips, the Holy One, Blessed be He joined Aharon to
him to be his spokesman and interpreter.”
But, this further complicates matters: Have not the brothers
been together ever since the first revelation to Moshe (Exodus 4:14-16), with
Moshe saying what he heard from Hashem and Aharon repeating it as a prophet?
A comprehensive approach to this
passage is to be found in the Malbim
(Rabbi Meir Leibush, 19th century commentator). He notes carefully the changes that occurred
in the mission to free the Children of Israel. Originally, Moshe was to
discharge the mission alone: the voice of Hashem would emanate directly from Moshe’s throat (Exodus
4:12). Once Aharon was enlisted as Moshe’s spokesman, such that the word of
Hashem was heard indirectly, the
effect of the prophecy was diminished.
However, this was true only insofar
as the mission to speak to the Children of Israel was concerned. Thus, we are told that, at first, both
Moshe and Aharon spoke to the Children of Israel, And Aharon spoke all the words which Hashem had spoken to Moshe (Exodus 4:30). To their credit, the people
believed that Hashem would save them, even though they heard so only through
the intermediary Aharon (Exodus 4:31).
Afterwards, when the oppression was intensified, even the
children of Israel refused to listen (Exodus 6:9).
The mission to speak to Pharaoh, on the other hand, had not
changed: alone, without Aharon’s mediation, Moshe was to speak in Hashem’s
name:
And Hashem spoke to
Moshe, saying: “ Go, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the Children
of Israel go out of his land” (Exodus 6:10-11).
But, Moshe thought that it was his own power of speech that
was inadequate to convince the Children of Israel, all the more so Pharaoh
(Exodus 6:12). In response, Hashem
makes both Moshe and Aharon responsible for both missions:
And Hashem spoke to
Moshe and Aharon and commanded them concerning the Children of Israel and concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt to
bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 6:13).
This is what Rashi meant when he said that Hashem “joined
Aharon to him to be his spokesman and interpreter.” From this moment, the true
process of Israel’s redemption through the brothers’ collaboration begins. Therefore, only now must we become fully acquainted with the ancestry of Moshe and
Aharon, who are uniquely qualified for this mission. Furthermore, after
concluding their lineage, the Torah reminds us that Moshe and Aharon were sent
as Hashem’s emissaries to Pharaoh (Exodus 6:26-27).
Although Moshe receives the word directly from Hashem and Aharon repeats
it, both to the people and to Pharaoh, there is a difference in specialization.
Aharon is dominant in relating to the people, explaining the physical and
spiritual process of redemption, while Moshe is dominant in relating to
Pharaoh, presenting the signs and wonders, which will demonstrate Hashem’s
control of the world and liberate Israel.
Moshe represents the absolute, the principles of justice and
sanctity. Aharon is the man of implementation.
Both will now work together--each one’s aspect complementing the other,
to bring the promised redemption to fruition.
