וַיְדַבֵּר אֱ-לֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי ה’׃
God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD.” (6:2)
Why does this verse begin using one name of Hashem (which we pronounce Elokim) and then switch to another (the name we don’t pronounce as it is written but as A-do-noy)?
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, of blessed memory, offered the following explanation. The name Elokim at the beginning of this verse is the name that depicts Hashem as the ultimate judge who metes out strict justice. The name mentioned at the end of the verse is the name that depicts Hashem as the G-d of mercy.
The verse begins with Elokim because that is how Moshe perceived Hashem’s actions towards the Jewish people. At the end of last week’s parsha we read, “Then Moshe returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why did You bring harm upon this people? Why did You send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has dealt worse with this people; and still You have not delivered Your people.” (5:22-23) The end of the verse switches over to the name that depicts His mercy because Hashem is telling Moshe, “I am the G-d of mercy and that is the true essence of how I am treating the Jewish people at this time.” How’s that?
Hashem told Avrohom, (Bereishit 15:13) “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.” The 400 years of actual slavery had not yet passed, but the Midrash teaches us that the Jewish people as slaves in Egypt were spiritually in a downward spiral and were heading towards a point of no return to the Almighty. Something needed to bring this to a halt so that Hashem could fulfill his promise to Avrohom that his descendants would leave Egypt and become His nation.
That was accomplished in last week’s parsha when Pharoah decreed, “You shall no longer provide the people with straw for making bricks as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves.But impose upon them the same quota of bricks as they have been making heretofore; do not reduce it…..Let heavier work be laid upon the men; let them keep at it and not pay attention to deceitful promises.” (5:9) This tremendous increase of labor condensed four- hundred years of slavery into a shorter period of time. Now they could be redeemed from Egypt before it was too late.
What appeared to Moshe as strict judgment (hence the name Elokim at the beginning) was really Hashem’s mercy on the Jewish people (hence Hashem’s name of mercy at the end).
Here’s another example.
The story is told of a young man who received a draft notice from the Russian army. His father had everything he needed to influence the doctor examining his son to find him unfit for military duty. Before they went they approached Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, famously known as the Chofetz Chaim, for a blessing. When they explained the situation to the Chofetz Chaim he said, “What’s so bad if he learns how to shoot a gun?” The father and son were astonished and asked the Chofetz Chaim for a blessing that the young man should be released from being drafted. Again the Chofetz Chaim said, ”What’s so bad if he learns how to shoot a gun?” They left without the blessing they sought.
The young man appeared before the doctor and the father succeeded in convincing the doctor to write a report deeming the young man physically unfit for duty. Suddenly, a Russian army officer walked into the room, took one look at the young man, and declared, “I want him!” After the officer left the doctor told the father that such a thing has never happened to him before. He has no more option to have the young man released.
The young man was drafted into the Russian army where he became an expert marksman and an expert at fixing guns.
Years later during WWII this young man and his friends escaped into the forest and sought to join a group of Partisans. He told them about his marksmanship and ability to fix guns. When they didn’t believe him he proved himself so well that they were eager to accept him but not his friends. He told them that it has to be the whole group or no one. They agreed and this was how this young man survived the war. As the Chofetz Chaim said years earlier,” What’s so bad if he’ll learn how to shoot a gun.”
Even when Hashem does not reveal his mercy to us, we strive to live with and find comfort in the principle stated in the Talmud, כל מאי דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד – whatever Hashem does is for our good.
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak