Va-Era: Identifying the Divine

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am יהוה. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name יהוה. I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. I have now heard the moaning of the Israelites because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am יהוה. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, יהוה, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I יהוה.” But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.

Perhaps we can understand G'd manifesting Himself simultaneously as the attribute of Justice and the attribute of Mercy through reference to Bamidbar Rabbah 3,6 where we find a discussion about what merit led to the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. One of the sages quotes Psalms 68,7 מוציא אסירים בכושרות to mean that the word כושרות is a combined form of בכי, weeping, and שיר song. Accordingly, two attributes of G'd were at work during the Exodus. G'd applied His attribute of Justice to the Egyptians, hence weeping, whereas He applied His attribute of Mercy to the Israelites, hence song. In our verse we find a parallel to that when G'd is introduced as אלוקים i.e. His attitude to the Egyptians, and immediately afterwards as י־ה־ו־ה i.e. as His attitude to the Jews. We have a principle that once G'd allows the destructive forces free reign, those forces do not distinguish between the guilty and the innocent. This principle is especially apparent when the innocent and the guity dwell in close proximity to one another, something that was certainly the case with Jews and Egyptians at that time. Moses would have assumed that when G'd would bring the plagues on the Egyptians there would be a negative fallout also on the Israelites. This is why G'd hinted already at this time that whereas He would act as אלוקים against the Egyptians, He would at one and the same time act as השם towards the Jews so that they would not suffer from any of these plagues. All of this is spelled out later in greater detail such as that even in the midst of such a plague as darkness no darkness engulfed a single Jew (compare Exodus 10,23). The same occurred in 9,6 during the plague of pestilence when not a single one of the animals owned by Jews died.

(1) וגם אני שמעתי את נאקת בני ישראל, "I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, etc." The word וגם, "and also," refers to something over and beyond the prayers of the Israelites to the attribute of Mercy. In addition to the prayers of the Israelites and G'd's love for the patriarchs, there was a third consideration which had a bearing on G'd's timetable for the redemption, namely the outcry of the Israelites due to the torture they were experiencing. This third element is referred to by G'd in our verse by the words: וגם אני, "also I." G'd reveals His name of אני as an aspect of the attribute of Mercy. Previously, this name had only appeared in conjunction with the tetragram. G'd revealed that there are occasions when people's groanings even when not accompanied by verbalised prayer reach the attribute of Mercy and evoke a response. This is why He added אשר מצרים מעבידים אותם, "the manner in which the Egyptians have enslaved them." I refer the reader to my comments on Exodus 2,23 in this respect.

Rabbi Saadiah Gaon says that the word le-vado (only) has been omitted from the end of our clause. Our text should be read as if written: but I made Me not known to them only by My name YHVH. On the contrary, I at times appeared to them with the name El Shaddai (God Almighty) and at other times with the name YHVH. In my opinion, thy name shall not be called any more only Jacob, but Israel shall be used with it (Gen. 35:10) is similar. Really, there is no need for Saadiah Gaon’s reconstruction because we know that El Shaddai and the blessed and glorious Lord are one and the same, except that the term El Shaddai is an adjective and the glorious and revered name is, as I have explained, sometimes a noun and sometimes an adjective. Now we find it written with regard to Abraham, I am the Lord (YHVH) that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it (Gen. 15:7). We similarly find with regard to Jacob, I am the Lord (YHVH), the God of Abraham thy father (Gen. 28:13). Rabbi Joshua says that Abraham and Jacob did not know the name YHVH. Moses used it when writing the Torah. However, Rabbi Joshua is incorrect, for how would Moses dare to write a name that God did not utter. There is no doubt that the patriarchs knew the name YHVH as a proper name. However, they did not know it as an adjective.

'לכן אמור לבני ישראל אני ה. The Torah speaks of three reasons (stages of the redemption) why G’d at this time reveals knowledge about Himself which He had not revealed previously. 1)והוצאתי אתכם מתחת סבלות מצרים there will be an immediate cessation of the Israelites performing slave labour for the Egyptians. 2)והצלתי, on the day the Israelites would depart from Ramses, when they would cross the border out of the land of Egypt. 3)וגאלתי, on the day the pursuing Egyptians would be drowned in the sea, as testified in Exodus 14,30 ויושע ה' ביום ההוא, “on that day the Lord orchestrated salvation, etc.” After the death of the ones who enslaved, the enslaved are obviously free.

מקצר רוח THROUGH ANGUISH (lit. shortness) OF SPIRIT — If one is in anguish his breath comes in short gasps and he cannot draw long breaths. In a somewhat similar manner to this I heard this section expounded by Rabbi Baruch the son of Rabbi Eliezer, and he cited the following verse to me in proof of his explanation: (Jeremiah 16:21) “This once will I cause them to know My hand and My might, and they shall know that My Name is the Lord”. Rabbi Baruch said: we may learn from this text that when the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfils His words, even when it is a matter of punishment, He makes it known that His Name is the Lord; and, of course, this is all the more so, when He fulfils His words in a matter of bestowing reward. — Our Rabbis explained it (this section) as having reference to what precedes it — that Moses said (5:22): “Wherefore hast thou done so evil [to this people]”. Whereupon God said to him, “Alas, for those that are gone (i. e. the patriarchs) and are no more to be found! I really have reason to deplore the death of the patriarchs. Many a time did I reveal Myself to them by the name ‘God Almighty’, and not once did they ask Me, What is Thy Name? (i. e. what is the name that describes Thy true essence); but thou hast at once said (Exodus 3:13) “[If they ask] ‘what is His name’, what shall I say unto them?!” (Exodus Rabbah 6:4; Sanhedrin 111a).

ולא שמעו אל משה, to mentally absorb all this, so that they would have full trust in the salvation of G’d and give Him credit for this. This is where they were different from Avraham in his time, who believed implicitly in an impossible-sounding promise, and who gave credit to G’d for making such a promise. This was eventually the reason why this part of G’d’s promise was not fulfilled in the lifetime of the people who were being addressed at this time.