The Once And Future Redemption

In the commentary of the Ben Ish Chai on V’Zot HaBracha, in the final passages of Moshe’s last bracha to Bnei Yisrael, he emphasizes repeatedly the symmetry in the patterns of time and the unfolding of redemption. The blessing of Zevulun (Devarim 3:19) he correlates to a repeated passage in Tehillim concerning the salvation of Israel and explains that all the promises made to Israel through the nevi’im past and future are destined to come true. This understanding is rooted in the specific language of Pharaoh to Moshe in negotiating the terms of the departure from Mitzrayim (prior to the events of the first Pesach). The communication between Pharaoh and Moshe is also significant in examining the final conclusion of the bracha (ibid. 29) where Moshe anticipates the final victory of Israel over our enemies who will be reduced and laid low by the power of Hashem. (May it happen speedily in our days.)

Rabbeinu Bachye points out that the nations of the world have an understanding of Hashem in their limited capacity through the manifestation of His power in the natural world. This aspect of Hashem is commonly represented by the name “Elokim.” When Moshe and Aharon tell Pharaoh that he is compelled to release Israel in the name of Hashem, Pharaoh quite understandably retorts that he is not familiar with this “Hashem” of whom they speak (Shemot 5:2). Certainly this is true in a literal sense because there would have been nothing in Pharaoh’s traditions or archives to teach him this name of our G-d. Indeed we don’t see recorded in any of Yosef’s interactions with the prior Pharaoh that he referred to Hashem by this name, and this makes sense. So Moshe and Aharon’s decision to address Pharaoh on behalf of Hashem at first glance seems a strange one, especially since it was clearly within the power of Hashem to bring about the redemption of Israel through natural means – with His name Elokim.

The reason they chose (or more accurately were instructed) to use the four-letter name “Hovaya” in initiating the process of the redemption from Mitzrayim is connected to the name Hashem told Moshe to employ when Israel asked who had sent him: Eheye Asher Eheye. For the power of Hashem, and in particular the exercise of His mercy that effects our redemption, there is no relevance to the passage of time. Haya, hoveh, v’yihiyeh is the clear implication of that name – He was, is, and always will be. When Hashem sent Moshe to free Israel from the bondage of Mitzrayim, it wasn’t His intention only to temporarily liberate us until our next exile, but He was setting in motion the process that would lead inevitably to our final redemption at the end of time. The power unleashed in Mitzrayim wasn’t only that of a vengeful and just G-d, offended by the persecution of His chosen people, but it was the infinite power of the Master of the Universe whose will to bestow good on mankind cannot be thwarted by any natural force.

In fact, the Ben Ish Chai correlates the unfolding events of the Exodus with the emergence of the Divine Name. He says the initial miracle occurred on the tenth of Nissan, on Shabbat HaGadol, when the lamb was taken as a sacrifice and the Egyptians were too frightened to interfere. Ten is the numerical value of yud, the first letter of the Name. The actual exodus occurred, as we know, on the fifteenth of the month, or yud–heh. Finally, the splitting of the Red Sea happened a week later on the 21st, or yud–vav–heh. On the one hand this clearly establishes the Name of Hashem being gradually “inscribed” onto historical events, but it also remains unresolved as if in anticipation of future events.

For when Hashem finally redeems His people from all our afflictions, crushing our enemies and “their high places” beneath us, then we will encounter the final unfolding and unfurling of His Name over all of creation. On that day will He be one and His Name one (Zecharia 14:9). Perhaps not coincidentally, this was the text of the haftara we just read on the first day of Sukkot.