Pharaoh's Plot Against Israel and the Fate of His Three Counselors

"Come, let us deal wisely with him" (Exodus 1:10). It should have said "with them." Rather, this is what Pharaoh said: Come, let us deal cunningly against the Savior of Israel. By what means shall we punish them? Let us punish them with fire, as it is written, "Behold, the LORD will come in fire" (Isaiah 66:15). Let us punish them with the sword, as it is written, "and by His sword against all flesh" (Isaiah 66:16). Come, let us punish them with water, for the Holy One, blessed be He, has already sworn that He will not bring a flood upon the world, as it is said, "For this is to Me like the waters of Noah" (Isaiah 54:9). But they did not know this: that He does not bring a flood upon the whole world, yet upon a single nation He does bring one. Or alternatively: He Himself does not bring it, but they come and fall into it. And so it says, "and the Egyptians were fleeing toward it" (Exodus 14:27). This is what Rabbi Elazar said: "For in the very matter in which they plotted against them" (Exodus 18:11) [means]: in the very pot in which they cooked, they themselves were cooked. Three were in that counsel: Balaam, who advised it, was slain; Job, who kept silent, was sentenced to sufferings; Jethro, who fled, merited that his descendants sat in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. "And go up out of the land" (Exodus 1:10). It should have said "and we will go up." He was like a man who curses himself yet hangs his curse upon others.