See, I Have Set Thee in God's Stead to Pharaoh

"See, I have made you a god" (Exodus 7:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: The wicked Pharaoh made himself a god; let him know that he is nothing. Behold, I am making you a god over him. And from where do we know that he made himself a god? As it is said: "The Nile is mine, and I made myself" (Ezekiel 29:3). Therefore he will see you and say that this one is a god. Pharaoh was one of four men who made themselves gods and were violated like women, and these are they: Hiram, Nebuchadnezzar, Joash, and Pharaoh. Hiram, from where? As it is written: "Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord GOD, Because your heart is haughty and you have said, I am a god" (Ezekiel 28:2). And from where do we know that he was violated like women? As it is said: "Your heart was haughty in your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor; I cast you to the ground; before kings I gave you up, that they might gaze (le-raavah) at you" (Ezekiel 28:17). "Le-raavah at you" [read as le-ra'ava] means: they performed their will (desire) upon you. Nebuchadnezzar, from where do we know that he made himself a god? As it is written: "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Wicked one, "Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit" (Isaiah 14:15). What did He do to him? He exiled him to the wilderness while he was still in his kingdom, and fed him grass like cattle, as it is said: "They shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven periods of time shall pass over you" (Daniel 4:22). And the beasts and the wild animals would see him in the likeness of a beast, and they would come and violate him, as it is said: "And the destruction of the beasts shall terrify them (yechitan)" (Habakkuk 2:14). "Yechitan" is like the matter of which it is said: "You shall not intermarry (titchaten) with them." And despite all this, "a man's heart was given to him" (Daniel 4:13), for he knew that he was king over all the world, and now he is violated by the wild animals and the cattle. And it is written concerning him: "And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored the One who lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and whose kingdom endures from generation to generation" (Daniel 4:31). Joash, from where do we know that he made himself a god? As it is written: "And after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king; then the king listened to them" (II Chronicles 24:17). What is the meaning of "they bowed down to the king"? That they made him a god. They said to him: Were you not a god, you would not have come out after seven years from the Holy of Holies. He said to them: It is so, and he took upon himself to be made a god. And from where do we know that he was violated like women? As it is written: "And it came to pass at the turn of the year that the army of Aram came up against him, and they came against Judah and Jerusalem, etc., and upon Joash they executed judgments (shefatim)" (II Chronicles 24:23-24). Do not read "shefatim" (judgments) but rather "shipputim" (acts of abuse). And it is written: "And when they departed from him, for they left him in great diseases, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him on his bed and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings" (II Chronicles 24:25). Pharaoh, from where do we know that he was violated like women? As it is said: "Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving Pharaoh Hophra (Chofra) king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies" (Jeremiah 44:30). What is the meaning of "Chofra"? That he was a male yet uncovered himself (para) like a female. "Chofra" is as you say: "And he shall uncover (para) the head of the woman" (Numbers 5:18). And likewise the prophet says: "On that day Egypt shall be like women" (Isaiah 19:16). And what caused this for him? Because he said, "The Nile is mine, and I made myself." Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh." Why? "For one higher than the high watches, and there are higher ones over them" (Ecclesiastes 5:7). He said to him: See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh; go and deal with the one who made himself a god, who is haughty (shach) in the world because he exalted himself, as it is said: "He beholds all that is lofty; he is king over all the proud ones (benei shachatz)" (Job 41:26). And does the lofty one see while the lowly one does not see? But is it not written: "The eyes of the LORD, they range over all the earth" (Zechariah 4:10)? Rather, Rabbi Berekhiah said: These are the arrogant ones who make themselves gods; the Holy One, blessed be He, makes of them haughty ones in the world, such as Nebuchadnezzar: "And he was driven from among men, and his heart was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild asses; they fed him grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He wills" (Daniel 5:21). And likewise Sennacherib became proud and was made haughty in the world, as it is said: "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out and struck in the camp of Assyria a hundred eighty-five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses" (II Kings 19:35). Therefore it is written, "He beholds all that is lofty," for the Holy One, blessed be He, displays the haughtiness of the arrogant ones to all creatures. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: "Can a man hide himself in secret places that I cannot see him? says the LORD, etc." (Jeremiah 23:24). Rabbi Binyamin bar Levi said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Let a person sit in the corner of his house and occupy himself with Torah, and I will display him to the creatures. All the more so, if a person conceals himself to perform idolatry or to commit a sin, I will display him to the creatures, as it is said: "Can a man hide himself in secret places that I cannot see him? says the LORD." And what is the meaning of "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" (Jeremiah 23:24). Rabbi Chama bar Chanina said: I fill from him both the upper worlds and the lower worlds, and I display his praise to the creatures. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh." Why? "For one higher than the high, etc." (Ecclesiastes 5:7). He said to him: See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh; go and exact retribution from him and bring upon him ten plagues. He said to Him: How shall I bring the plagues upon him? He said to him: This staff you shall take in your hand. Rabbi Yehudah said: The staff was forty se'ah in weight, and it was of sapphire, and the ten plagues were engraved upon it as an acronym: DeTzaKh, ADaSh, BeAChaB. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: With this order bring the plagues upon him.