Image: Joel Filipe There is no fight left in this people. No fight and no faith. They are like children, like sheep that in the morning bleat their complaints, but at noon obediently trot to slaughter. How does a people grow up to become defenders of justice, doers of good—a light to the nations? They must know that I love them fiercely so they remember promises made, and learn to walk tall and with love to spare, and be as fierce in their loyalty to Me as I am to them--even when life is not perfect. I will make an example of Pharaoh. Demonstrate that I have heard them, that I will guide them to freedom—if only they do their part to help themselves and bravely choose the covenant I first made with Abraham over material comforts. “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them ... in order that you may know that I am the Lord.” (Ex.10:1-2) Bloo
Just what it says: a little midrash, a filling in of some of the lacunae Torah leaves in the lives of its characters. The stories lay no claim to being right, but they do explore what is possible. Texts don't sit still long enough to have fixed meanings; too often we assume that Torah is done and finished. It is never finished.