Parshat Bo - Comforted by Calm
by Rabbi Lobel

Rabbeinu BeChaya (Exodus 10:1) comments that Pharaoh was warned before seven of the ten Plagues. Pharaoh was also warned in a special sequence. The third, sixth, and ninth plague did not receive a warning. Furthermore, for the first plague, Pharaoh received the warning at the Nile River and the second in his palace. By the fourth plague, pharaoh again received a warning at the Nile and the fifth in his palace. The seventh and eighth followed the same sequence as the fourth and fifth respectively.

Rabeinu Bechaya explains that after each plague, and during Moses' warnings, when all was calm, Pharaoh came to the realization that he was the king and he is the one to make all final decisions. Even though Moses, through the plagues, seemingly proved to Pharaoh that he had no control, when the situation calmed between the plagues, Pharaoh would forget who is in charge.

Why would Pharaoh forget? the Rabeinu Bechaya asks. Pharaoh was warned when he was comfortably sitting in his palace or enjoying a swim in his Nile River . These materialistic surroundings gave him the emotional security that he was King of the most powerful empire in the world and no one was going to tell him what to do.

No matter how severe suffering or distress may be, emotions allow a person to forget and think that he is in control when all is calm. Our surroundings sometimes lead us to believe that we are safe and ignore the warning signs.