Pharaoh Confesses With the Same Mouth That Defied God

Another interpretation: With the very tongue with which he sinned, with that same tongue he repented. He had said, "Who is the LORD?"; later, "Who is like You, glorious in holiness?" (Exodus 15:11). The Holy One, blessed be He, rescued Pharaoh from among the dead and stood him up to recount the might of His power, as it is said, "But for this very purpose I have raised you up" (Exodus 9:16). He went and reigned over Nineveh; and when the Holy One, blessed be He, sent Jonah to Nineveh to prophesy its overthrow, Pharaoh heard, rose from his throne, tore his garments, and put on sackcloth and ashes. But after forty days they returned to their evil deeds and were swallowed like the dead in the lowest depths, as it is said, "From the city the dying groan" (Job 24:12). "I do not know the LORD." To what may Pharaoh be compared? To a king who went off to a country across the sea and entrusted all he had with his servant. After some days the king returned and said, "Give me what I deposited with you." The servant said, "I am not your servant; you deposited nothing with me." What did the king do? He seized him by the hair. Then the servant said, "I am your servant, and all that you deposited with me I will repay you." So too, at first the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "And now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh" (Exodus 3:10). Moses said, "Let My people go." Pharaoh said, "I do not know the LORD." But once He brought ten plagues upon him, he said, "The LORD is the righteous one" (Exodus 9:27). The plagues against the Egyptians lasted twelve months. "And the people scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble" (Exodus 5:12): when is the season for stubble? In the month of Iyyar, yet they went out in Nisan. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says: He began to grind his teeth against them and said, "You are lazy" (Exodus 5:17).