Not Without a Doubt
In preparing Moshe and Aharon for their encounter with Pharaoh, God lays out in advance exactly how the confrontation will unfold:
The Lord said to Moshe and Aharon: When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, “Show a wonder for you (lakhem),” you shall say to Aharon, “Take your rod and cast it down before Pharaoh.” (Exodus 7:8–9)
Some of the sages wondered why it was necessary for God to anticipate Pharaoh’s request. Would it not have sufficed simply to equip Moshe and Aharon with compelling miracles, regardless of how Pharaoh might respond? A midrash in Tanhuma offers a rabbinic attempt to address this question:
“When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying: ‘Show a wonder for you’ (Exod. 7:9). He will be making a reasonable request of you. For we find with regard to Noah that after God saved him from the Flood, He said to him, ‘Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood’ (Gen. 9:11). Nevertheless, Noah demanded a sign, and God assured him, ‘I have set My bow in the clouds’ (ibid., v. 13).” (adapted from Tanhuma, Va’era 3)
At first glance, the midrash reassures us that it was perfectly reasonable for Pharaoh to request proof from Moshe and Aharon. Yet the reference to the story of Noah introduces an additional layer. Noah had already experienced God’s saving power; even so, the midrash insists that it was reasonable for him to seek reassurance that God’s promise would indeed hold.
The same logic, the midrash implies, applies to Moshe and Aharon themselves. Despite their divine mandate, they may well have felt uncertainty about the mission they were undertaking. The miracle, then, was not intended only to convince Pharaoh, but also to steady Moshe and Aharon and to shore up their courage. This reading is likely prompted by the phrasing of Pharaoh’s anticipated request: “Show a wonder for you (lakhem).”
Faith, in this light, does not eliminate uncertainty; it makes room for it. Even those chosen to lead, Noah after the Flood, Moshe and Aharon on the brink of redemption were not immune to doubt. Leadership in the biblical imagination is not grounded in unshakable confidence but in the willingness to move forward despite insecurity.
The wonder or miracle, then, is not only a sign for the skeptic standing across from them, but a reassurance to strengthen the faithful so that they might carry out their mission. For this midrash, God anticipates the request for a sign not to indulge weakness, but to sustain human agents, of flesh and blood, who must act despite uncertainty. True leadership, the midrash suggests, is forged not by the absence of doubt, but by faith that persists even when reassurance is still needed.
