Parshas B’shalach: Seeing the Whole Picture

Rabbi Yair Degani

After the Bnei Yisroel witnessed the drowning of the Egyptians, the passuk says (Shemos 14:31) "ויאמינו בה’ ובמשה עבדו," “and they believed in Hashem and Moshe His servant.” The D’rashos Haran (d’rush 11) points out, that when Moshe first showed the B’nei Yisroel the various signs that Hashem would take them out, the passuk also says (Shemos 4:31) "ויאמן העם", “and the nation believed.” If the Torah testified earlier, before the Makos, that the nation believed, why does it say again after Kriyas Yam Suf that they believed in Hashem and Moshe His servant?

The Ran answers: although it was true that when they saw the signs, the B’nei Yisroel believed that Hashem would redeem them, there were a couple of things which made them suspect that Moshe was not going to be the one through whom the redemption would come. Every time Moshe went to Pharaoh, he said “send out my nation and let us serve Hashem for 3 days” (Shemos 3:18). The B’nei Yisroel were perplexed; if Moshe was really the messenger of Hashem to take them out of Mitzrayim, why is he telling Pharaoh that B’nei Yisroel would only leave for three days, and not telling him that they are leaving and not coming back?

After makas b’choros, when the B’nei Yisroel were about to leave Mitzrayim, Moshe Rabbeinu told them to ask the Mitzrim to please lend them gold and silver vessels. The B’nei Yisroel were bewildered; there is a known halacha that slaves have to be paid for their work. At that point, the B’nei Yisroel were slaves for 210 years, and were owed whatever the Mitzrim gave them, therefore they shouldn’t have to borrow the gold or silver vessels. If Moshe was really the messenger of Hashem to free the B’nei Yisroel from slavery, why did he tell them to ask the Mitzrim to borrow the money? Shouldn’t Moshe have told the B’nei Yisroel to tell the Mitzrim to give them the gold and silver vessels which were rightfully owed?

These questions remained with the B’nei Yisroel until the events of Kriyas Yam Suf unfolded, when they saw Pharaoh himself lead his nation to their destruction. At that point, the entire picture finally became crystal clear and they realized that Moshe Rabbeinu was truly an eved of Hashem which is why the Torah says "ויאמינו בה’ ובמשה עבדו” (Shemos 14:31). The B’nei Yisroel remembered the events which led them to become slaves. Pharaoh went out and started building with bricks and asked the B’nei Yisroel to help him build Pisom and Ramses. The B’nei Yisroel willingly helped him and brought themselves into slavery. Now, Hashem told Moshe to say that they would only go out for three days, and that they would borrow the gold and silver vessels. This way Pharaoh would believe that it was only a temporary hiatus from their slavery and, measure for measure, end up causing his nation to willingly travel into the Yam Suf and cause their ultimate demise.

There are many situations throughout life when one may begin to wonder, “why did Hashem cause me to go through all this hardship?” If we look back at the sequence of events of our Exodus from Mitzrayim, it can help us realize that Hashem loves us and has a master plan which will ultimately be for our good. May we all merit to have the clarity that everything Hashem does is for the good and see the final picture come to fruition with the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days!