At the Very Middle of the Night God Split the Hour Like a Hair

"And it came to pass at midnight" (Exodus 12:29). Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says: Moses, who does not know the night's appointed times, its moments, and its exact hours, said "about midnight" (Exodus 11:4); but the Holy One, blessed be He, who knows the night's appointed times, its moments, and its exact hours, said "And it came to pass at midnight." Another interpretation: Moses said to Israel, "And I will pass through the land of Egypt in this night" (Exodus 12:12), and he did not fix for them a precise time, so that they would not sit and brood with evil thoughts, saying, "The hour has already arrived and we have not been redeemed." But when Moses spoke to Pharaoh, what does he say? "Thus says the LORD: About midnight" (Exodus 11:4) — meaning, the matter hangs in the balance; when the night is halved, whether a hairsbreadth above or a hairsbreadth below. But the Holy One, blessed be He, said "And it came to pass at midnight," for He sits upon the stone of the hours and aims at the hour to a hairsbreadth, so that no kingdom encroaches upon its fellow even by the breadth of a thread; rather, when the time of a kingdom has come to fall — if by day, it falls by day; if by night, it falls by night. And so it says, "And at Noph there shall be distress by day" (Ezekiel 30:16), and it says, "At Tehaphnehes the day shall be darkened" (Ezekiel 30:18), and it says, "In that night Belshazzar the king was slain" (Daniel 5:30). And even when the time of our fathers came to fall, what is said of them? "Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen" (Jeremiah 6:4). "And the LORD struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:29) — and not by an agent. "From the firstborn of Pharaoh" — I might hear that this means his son. When it says "who sat upon his throne," his son is already mentioned; what then does "from the firstborn of Pharaoh" teach? It teaches that Pharaoh the wicked one was himself a firstborn, and yet the punishment did not touch him. Why so? In order to seduce the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they would say, "Pharaoh is mighty, for the punishment did not touch him." Of him it says, "He misleads the nations and destroys them" (Job 12:23). And so it says, "And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments; I am the LORD" (Exodus 12:12). Was not Baal-zephon among the gods of Egypt? Why did the punishment not touch it? In order to seduce the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they would say, "Mighty is Pharaoh, that the punishment did not touch him; mighty is Baal-zephon, that the punishment did not touch it." Of this it says, "He misleads the nations and destroys them." But in the end, what does it say? "The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left" (Psalms 106:11) — teaching that even Baal-zephon was ground to pieces. "Unto the firstborn of the captive" (Exodus 12:29) — and elsewhere it says, "unto the firstborn of the maidservant" (Exodus 11:5), teaching that by this measure they had enslaved Israel. "The firstborn of the captive" — this is the one placed in a dungeon. "Who was in the prison-house" — this is the one bound in the house of confinement. "The pit" — this is the one placed in a deep cell. Why were they struck along with the Egyptians? Because they would say, "Our god will exact vengeance for us from the Egyptians who enslave us." Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yose the Galilean says: Why were they struck along with them? Because they would say, "It is our wish that we remain in our enslavement [of Israel], that Israel remain enslaved." "Unto the firstborn of the captive" — teaching that they had taken them captive. "Unto the firstborn of the maidservant" — teaching that they had subjugated them as male and female slaves. "Who is behind the millstones" — teaching that they crushed them with hard labor. "And every firstborn of beast" — if man sinned, what did the beast sin? Rather, woe to the wicked, and woe to those attached to them.