Pharaoh's Agenda

Torah ominously warns, “After the wicked do not run.” 1

The Torah agonizes over the lure of the masses. Perhaps it is easy to latch on to what we see people covet and then place a great premium on possessing that for ourselves. In this simple paradigm, we are simply motivated to want to have what others have. If our civilization hungers for more possessions we may feel a competitive and driving hunger to get more so that we feel greater personal value. By having more we are worth more. Or, it may be inescapable that the language of a society holds nuances of values that are conveyed in the way we speak. That may be why the Torah exhorts us to be wary of how society moves and what it caves.

Either way it is only the strongest people who are able to maintain their principles when they are antithetical or different than everyone else. As Avot states, “In a place where people have lost their humanity strive to maintain your humanity.”

That is why the ancient rabbis understood Abraham being chosen as the elect one who would become the new Adam of civilization. When Adam and Havvah failed the test of Eden; as their offspring became murderers and victims; and Noah, while resolute in his cloistered good life, could not be counted on to begin a new lineage; Abraham succeeded. At the time of the great Tower of Babel Abraham saw the inherent flaw in humanity’s all-consuming interest to storm the gates of heaven. 2

At the time of the Tower of Babel civilization converged at the plains of Shinar to work together: “Come let us build a city…” declared Nimrod. And people flocked to the center site of construction. 3 Seeing the masses move in unison at the word of their master Nimrod, Abraham refused to have any part of the travesty. He knew it was wrong. Further, Abraham spoke out against injustice and for the universal God. That is why God chose him to be the progenitor of the people that would change history. God viewed Abraham’s strength of character as outstanding among the vast peoples of the earth.

The next time the Torah speaks of people banding together to form an alliance is in biblical town Shechem. As Joseph, the dreamer, approaches his brothers they use the key words to unite them in purpose, “Let us…” The delivery is compelling. In uniting for a single focused end, the group of brothers forms a small society in which each of them feels compelled to go along for the sake of the whole. The individual brothers willingly give up their self as they are swallowed by the larger mass. While Judah and Reuben have reservations about what they plan to do to Joseph neither one is strong or resolute enough to change the herd’s attitude. They are not Abraham.

What is the secret of Abraham? What does he have that the other lack? The Talmud labels it humility 4. What Abraham, David and Moses all bear in common is an impoverished heart which lets them know there is a Master of the endless universe and they therefore understand their place in the world. That humility, states Rabbi Yohanan, allowed them to make choices that were independent of the herd-mentality. These spiritual giants did not take direction from the surrounding society. They did not jettison their soulful self in the all-too-human quest for acceptance. They listened to their inner voice; the Voice which never ceases. 5

Much later in history the villainous Haman uses the same principle on the king. “There is a specific people….it is not in our interest to suffer them.” 6 The seemingly boundless power to influence the king and harness the subjects by Haman emanates from his inclusiveness. He galvanizes both the people and the king using the Babel principle: “Come let us…” The language is irresistible. If they work together, the people reason, all will be well. The inhabitants of the city of Shushan under his power are moved to work together in a lock-step that brings the country to the brink of genocide.

In the Torah, Pharaoh too understood the concept of rallying his people against the common enemy. This tale is most revealing of all the plots to subjugate a people and ultimately commit atrocities. A clue to the real motive behind Pharaoh’s edicts is a slip of tongue. The unparalleled human power says to his people, “Come let us deal wisely with him.” 7 So begins the years of deprivation, degradation and extermination Yet, Pharaoh’s words reveal his true intent.

Note that the Pharaoh ought to have said “Come let us deal wisely with them.” The mistake did not go unnoticed by the ancient ones. 8 The enemy was not the Jewish people. It would not have been enough for the ruler of Egypt to murder the Jews. He knew better than that. To utterly wipe out any vestige of those who would rebel against the boundaries of society Pharaoh would have to do more.

Just as the people of Babel knew that they must storm the gates of heaven to be truly powerful the Pharaoh also understood the idea that he would first need to destroy their God. Only then would the Jews disappear. That was his slip of tongue when he pronounced “Come let us deal wisely with him.” That was his goal as was every despot that sought to destroy his children throughout the long ages.

What the pivotal figures of Jewish history all understood- both the evil ones and the tzaddikim- is that the people are inextricably bound up with their God. The covenant that first bound Father Abraham to God and was re-covenanted time and again until the ultimate covenant, Sinai, is the animating force that feeds life into us. That relationship forever links our destiny and binds our souls to the One.

For as long this covenant remains we are called upon to listen to the word of God and not the word of man.


1 Exodus 22:3
2 Sanhedrin 109
3 Genesis 11:4, Hullin 89a
4 Hullin 89a
5 Berachot 3a
6 Esther 3:8
7 Exodus 1:10
8 Sotah 11a