The answer to the foremen's despair comes from the Holy One, not from Moses. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the divine reassurance: Now have I seen what Pharoh hath done: for by a strong hand shall he release them, and with a strong hand drive them forth from his land.
The Aramaic doubles the phrase. By a strong hand he will release. With a strong hand he will drive forth. Two strong hands, two verbs, one trajectory: Pharaoh will first let Israel go, and then — when he realizes what he has lost — expel them in panic. The Exodus will not be a negotiated departure. It will be a panicked eviction.
The Grammar of Eventual Haste
This is the Targum's quiet promise. Pharaoh, who just doubled the quota, will one day stand at his palace gate screaming at Moses to leave faster (Exodus 12:31-33). The same hand that refused a three-day festival will shove an entire people across the border.
The phrase Now have I seen what Pharoh hath done is also striking. God had, of course, seen everything all along. But the now marks a turning point — the accumulation of cruelty has reached its threshold. Refusing the festival, doubling the bricks, withholding the straw — Pharaoh has just filled the ledger.
The sages of the Targumic tradition read this as a promise addressed to Moses, who is still reeling from the foremen's rebuke. The Holy One does not argue. He simply reframes: You think your mission failed? You have no idea what strong hand is about to descend.
The takeaway: the Jewish imagination separates divine timing from human timing. What looks like a catastrophic setback is often the last prerequisite to redemption. Pharaoh's doubled cruelty is not a delay of the Exodus; it is the final piece of its justification. The strong hand is already on its way.