The Torah describes the struggle of Pharaoh against Moses and Aharon, G-d's messengers seeking the release of the Jewish People.  The drama of this conflict reflects the story of universal man, and has lessons to teach us which are valid at all times, right down to our own twenty-first century.

Parts of Pharaoh's fascinating tale read like the saga of a typical hero, written in consecutive ten acts that cover three different weekly portions of the Book of Exodus.  The main character, Pharaoh, ruled over the world's mightiest power at the time.  He was an "Obama" of ancient times, the sovereign of the most sophisticated, most advanced, and most prosperous state on the face of the globe.  On assuming the throne, he took into hand the keys to treasuries that housed fortunes accumulated over centuries of hard work, brilliant planning, and industrious statesmanship.

Egypt was also fortunate in the blessings showered on it by the Creator.  The waters of the Nile not only irrigated the farmland, but also fertilized it when they overflowed their banks each year and inundated the fields.  The Egyptian farmer worked the fertile soil diligently and made his country wealthy.  With an abundance of food, even a surplus, Egypt was able to engage in trade.  Landowners acquired rich profits and paid the government substantial taxes, filling Pharaoh's coffers even more.   

Aristocrats owned large estates which were managed by overseers; thus they were free to devote a good part of their time to philosophy, art, literature, and science.  Egyptian power and prosperity were a source of great pride to the upper classes. The people were proud of their country and its status as the world leader. 

Indeed, they used their prosperity wisely and added to their successes.  The people believed in their future, and transformed their success and power to a god.  Conveniently, they contrived to create a system of gods which did not demand a great deal of those who worshiped them.  Neither were the Egyptian gods particularly concerned with philosophy or theology, ethics or codes of conduct.  On the contrary, the deity of the Egypt was modest in the demands it made of its believers, easily pleased and placated.

Built up over decades, the entire system was destined to disintegrate within a single year.  What started as a seeming fiasco proved otherwise; it grew into a national disaster.

When the two old men, both in their eighties, first visited the palace, they were regarded with disdain and mockery.  They petitioned Pharaoh for three days' leave to offer sacrifices to G-d, and were brushed aside abruptly.  "Who is G-d, that I should hearken to His voice?" he asked the pair, rhetorically. 

At the time, neither Pharaoh nor the members of court who witnessed the encounter had the slightest inkling that within twelve months, Egypt would be ruined economically, and Pharaoh's throne collapse under him.  It was the beginning of what the contemporary populace might well have called "Egypt's Black Year."

Let's observe Pharaoh and his reactions to Moses' messages from G-d.   He deserves our attention if only because his reactions to this episode are typical of the majority of the human race; as such, they afford us an insight into the inner workings of our own personalities. 

When we review the first several chapters of the Book of Exodus, we will find that a substantial portion of the text is devoted to Pharaoh and his responses to the demands of Moses and Aharon on behalf of the Jewish People. We find not only the words he spoke, but also what he thought and felt.  We see him persevere in his obstinate refusal to release the Hebrew slaves, and hear him promise time and again that he will, indeed, release them.  Even so, time and again, he reneged on his promises. 

The detailed descriptions of Pharaoh's behavior include psychological insights.  The Sages sum up his reactions by quoting a verse from Proverbs:

"(There is the) heaviness of stone, and the burden of sand – but the anger of the fool is more difficult than them both" (Proverbs 27:3).

There are some individuals who are hard and unbending as stone.  The wise rely on their understanding.  It is difficult to change the opinions of a man of principles.  His strong point is that, if he is sincere, he will be won over when his error is pointed out to him.  Then he will maintain his new position with the same steadfast devotion as he had for his previous stand. 

In contrast, there is another type of person who is flexible to a fault.  Rather than taking a firm stand on an issue, he wavers from side to side, changing his opinion back and forth.  Such a person is unreliable; he can be manipulated in any direction one chooses.

The third type is more difficult than either of the above.  This is the fool.  He is hopelessly stubborn, and hard as a stone to influence, but he has no hesitations about going back on his word.  He is the "maybe" man, never committing himself to one side or the other. He is plagued by doubts and hides in their shadow.  He is never completely convinced one way or the other.  That way, he always has an escape hatch should he wish to retreat into one corner or the other. 

When each plague came upon him, Pharaoh promised to meet Moses' demands.  A moment later, he went back on his word.  He suggested a compromise; he would release only the men, not the women and children; and then, only if they left their property behind.  Then he refused even this arrangement.  So it went, back and forth.

Even when his servants came to the conclusion that Egypt was lost, and pressed him to come to some agreement, he could not bring himself to concede defeat:

And Pharaoh's servants said unto him: "How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve the L-rd, their G-d.  Do you not yet know that Egypt is lost?" (Exodus 10:7)

Even the pleas of these desperate men could not bring Pharaoh to take a clear stand.

 Already at the time of the third plague, lice, Pharaoh's servants had warned him that this was no sorcerer's trick, but the intervention of a Supreme Power, greater than even Pharaoh himself:

Then the sorcerers said to Pharaoh: "This is the finger of G-d" and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not to them..." (Exodus 8:15)

Had Pharaoh only heeded their warning about "...the finger of G-d", he might yet have spared himself and his nation from the suffering of the remaining seven plagues and at the Red Sea.  But the mighty ruler of all Egypt had a theory of his own.  He declared "Who is G-d that I should hearken to his voice?" His thoughtless, instinctive responses built up to the faith of the fool, namely, that it is possible to ignore a truth which does not suit my immediate purposes, and to flee the consequences. 

Had Pharaoh agreed to Moses' original request, Egypt stood to lose three days' labor.  This would have been a loss, but not a calamity for the Egyptian economy.  Why, then, didn't Pharaoh give in and accede to Moses' request?  Didn't it make good sense?

For Pharaoh, however, it was not a question of minimizing a financial loss.  Acquiescing to the demands of the Hebrew's G-d meant losing the confrontation with another power.  Pharaoh, a self-declared deity, could not bring himself to give in to a true Deity.  It would be a victory for the "G-d of the Hebrews", something Pharaoh wanted to avoid at all costs.  If one must give in to this request of this foreign Deity, who could foresee the implications regarding further obligations this G-d might impose? 

Pharaoh was not willing to take the risk, even though he was warned in advance that he would be subject to dire consequences, should he refuse.

The Torah tells us that G-d gave Pharaoh ample warning of what was in store for him.  Moses was instructed to inform him what fate awaited him as a result of the path he had chosen to follow.  Even before the onset of the First Plague, which, in retrospect, was to prove a relatively mild one, G-d commanded Moses:

And you shall tell Pharaoh: "G-d says thus: 'Israel is My first-born son, and I say to you: "Send forth my son, and let him serve Me.  And you refuse to send him forth; behold, I shall slay your first-born son.'"  (Exodus 4:23)

With each additional plague, Pharaoh should have feared that the final blow, the slaying of all Egypt's firstborn sons – including Pharaoh himself – was that much closer.  Rather than drawing the obvious conclusion, Pharaoh wavered and dilly-dallied, unable to decide one way or the other.

Such indecision is the result of flight to imagined security.  It is the mechanism of those who seek the convenience of the moment even at the price of eventual downfall and destruction.

Is this personality type familiar?  Does not Pharaoh's character remind us of other figures who played decisive roles in history and led their people to disaster?

The drama of Pharaoh's dilemma and indecision were played out over twelve long, eventful months.  The Torah devotes several full chapters to describing the events in detail.  For those who might wonder why, the verse states the reason explicitly:

"...and so that you shall tell over in the ears of your son, and of your son's sons, what I wrought upon Egypt, and My signs which I have performed among them; that you might know that I am G-d." (Exodus 10:20)

For the Jews of the Exodus, who witnessed these events firsthand, the year of the plagues was only a preparation for what was to follow at Mount Sinai.  They had ample opportunity to observe the fate of those who chose to ignore G-d and the warnings He sent through Moses.  The consequences of disobedience were brought home to them most graphically, as they witnessed the downfall of Egypt and their defeat at the Red Sea.

In the final act of the drama, even Pharaoh came to know and acknowledge the sovereignty of G-d, but what a price he paid for the lesson!