“Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs before the eyes of the people” (Exodus 4:30). “Aaron spoke all the words” – he acted in accordance with what the Holy One blessed be He had said: “He will speak for you to the people” (Exodus 4:16). “And performed the signs before the eyes of the people” – as [God] had said [to him] above.23Exodus 4:17 “The people believed; they heard that the Lord had remembered the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, and they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves” (Exodus 4:31).
“The people believed” – they acted in accordance with what the Holy One blessed be He had said: “They will heed your voice” (Exodus 3:18). Could it be that they did not believe until they saw the signs? No, rather, “they heard that the Lord had remembered”; they believed because of what they heard, and not the seeing of the signs. What led them to believe?
It was the sign of the remembrance that he said to them, as they had a tradition from Jacob that Jacob passed the secret to Joseph, and Joseph to his brothers, and Asher son of Jacob passed the secret to his daughter Seraḥ, who was still alive. This is what he said to her: Any deliverer who will come and say to my descendants: “Pakod pakadti etkhem,” he is a genuine deliverer. When Moses came and said: “I have remembered you [pakod pakadti etkhem]” (Exodus 3:16), immediately, “the people believed.”
What led them to believe? It was because they heard the remembrance. That is what is written: “That the Lord had remembered [pakad] the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, and they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves.” “They bowed” – for the remembrance, “and they prostrated themselves” – for “that He had seen their affliction.”