Literary Devices – Shemot 8/0

Literary Devices – Shemot 8

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Key Words

"כבד" (heavy) and "חזק" (strong)

The roots "כבד" and "חזק" appear only a couple of times in the chapter, but might be key words throughout the narrative of the Exodus.

• Concordance – Tracing the usage of both the verb and adjective "כבד" in Torah¹ reveals how they appear throughout the Exodus narrative,  from the initial "heavy" famine that causes the nation to descend to Egypt to the "great" wealth with which the nation leaves Egypt.² Similarly, both the adjective and verbal root "חזק" repeat in the narrative, referring on one hand to Paroh's obstinance in preventing the Exodus and on the other to God's mighty hand which brings it about.

Secondary Literature

See Prof. Yonatan Grossman's Leitwort who discusses the phenomenon of keywords as a whole, bringing "כבד" as one example, and R. Nathaniel Helfgot שתי מילים מנחות בסיפור יציאת מצרים, who explores the usages of the two roots כבד and חזק.  Both authors note how the repetition of the roots demonstrates Hashem's measure for measure actions during the Exodus.³

Allusions

Examples

• באש – See the concordance that this root is somewhat rare. It is used  in the plague narrative to describe the foul smell let off by the dying fish and frogs (Shemot 7:18, 7:21, and 8:10) and recalls Shemot 5:21, when the Israelites worried that Moshe’s advocacy would sour their reputation with Paroh: "הִבְאַשְׁתֶּם אֶת רֵיחֵנוּ בְּעֵינֵי פַרְעֹה". 

Sources

• The allusion might hint to a measure for measure punishment. Paroh’s viewing of the nation as befouled is punished by the land reeking during the plagues.See the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tanchuma, Eliyahu Rabbah and others who all view the plagues as measure for measure punishments.⁴ 

Secondary Literature

• See Purpose of the Plagues for discussion of various approaches regarding the choice of plagues including both the idea that they were an undoing of creation with an educative goal, and that they were measure for measure punishments.

Wordplay

Examples

• Shemot 8:17 contains a wordplay with the root “שלח”. Hashem says: "כִּי אִם אֵינְךָ מְשַׁלֵּחַ אֶת עַמִּי הִנְנִי מַשְׁלִיחַ בְּךָ... אֶת הֶעָרֹב". Like many of the other literary devices in the story of the Exodus, the purpose of the wordplay is to emphasize that the plagues are just recompense for the Egyptians’ obduracy and persecution of the Israelites.

Secondary Literature

• As above, see Purpose of the Plagues for discussion that the plagues might have been brought as measure for measure punishment of Egyptian crimes.

¹ One can check both the adjective and verbal forms of the root.

² The first four instances of the adjective relate to the oppressive famine that initially sent the Israelites to Egypt. The word is then used to describe the shared Israelite and Egyptian mourning for Yaakov, representing the point at which the Israelites were welcomed into Egyptian society. In the narrative of the Exodus in Shemot, the word is used in several contexts: to describe Moshe’s lack of eloquence, the oppressive, unparalleled nature of the plagues, the obduracy of Paroh, the wealth with which the Israelites left Egypt, and the honor which is given to God through His miracles.

³ See also J. Jacobs, "Midda Keneged Midda Be-Sippur Ha-Mikra'i," (Alon Shevut 5766), pp. 138-140

⁴ They do not point to these specific examples, but to the general concept or measure for measure punishment.  The various sources have different plagues corresponded to different crimes.