Take Your Flocks and Bless Me Too in Pharaoh's Final Plea

"Your flocks" — "also your flocks" (Exodus 12:32): these are your own. "Your herds" — "also your herds": these belong to the officials. "Take them, as you have spoken, and go" — your own stance, as it is said, "And Moses said: You too shall give into our hands sacrifices and burnt offerings" (Exodus 10:25). "And bless me also" — even for the women and the little ones. Another interpretation: "And bless me also." From here you say that Pharaoh knew that he was lacking prayer, and that the Omnipresent does not pardon a person until he appeases his fellow. What reward did he receive for this? "On that day there shall be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt" (Isaiah 19:19). The mouth that said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice?" (Exodus 5:2) is the very mouth that said, "The LORD is the righteous one" (Exodus 9:27). What reward did it receive for this? "You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land" (Deuteronomy 23:8). The mouth that said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil" (Exodus 15:9) is the very mouth that said, "Let me flee from before Israel" (Exodus 14:25). What reward did it receive for this? "You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them" (Exodus 15:12) — they merited to be buried, so that beasts and birds would not devour them.