Then Again
A picture is worth a thousand words, and we have been so blessed to have some of those this past week. Analogously a word can be worth a thousand pictures. There is such a word that makes a brief though dramatic appearance in the closing verses of last week’s portion of Shemot, which becomes the harbinger perhaps that carrier of the countless pictures.
After finally acquiescing to take the job, convinced that his intervention will bring the desired results or at the very least not make matters worse, Moses sees that things do indeed get worse and taking it personally and feeling responsible he despondently cries to God, 5:23
וּמֵאָ֞ז בָּ֤אתִי אֶל־פַּרְעֹה֙ לְדַבֵּ֣ר בִּשְׁמֶ֔ךָ הֵרַ֖ע לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֑ה וְהַצֵּ֥ל לֹא־הִצַּ֖לְתָּ אֶת־עַמֶּֽךָ׃
From that moment when I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has dealt worse with this people; and still You have not delivered Your people.”
Astonishingly the term also makes an appearance earlier in the protracted conversation between God and Moses in trying to prevail on him to take the assignment,4:10;
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֣ה אֶל־יְהֹוָה֮ בִּ֣י אֲדֹנָי֒ לֹא֩ אִ֨ישׁ דְּבָרִ֜ים אָנֹ֗כִי גַּ֤ם מִתְּמוֹל֙ גַּ֣ם מִשִּׁלְשֹׁ֔ם גַּ֛ם מֵאָ֥ז דַּבֶּרְךָ֖ אֶל־עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֧י כְבַד־פֶּ֛ה וּכְבַ֥ד לָשׁ֖וֹן אָנֹֽכִי׃
But Moses said to God , “Please, O my lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
The expression Az cryptically makes appearances and will accompany Moses and the Jewish People from their suffering as slaves to them becoming a free people.
As we open this week’s portion of Va’era, God reaffirms His promise and uses the iconic expressions of redemption to reassure Moses. Yet we are told that, 6:9 “… when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.” Their cries from the depth of torture reflect their persistent reality, and as such their inability to be comforted nor convinced. They implore as we do, – when? It surely must be NOW. It appears that the response continually hovers…Az, then, not necessarily now. These familiar tropes make the accounts of the plagues all the more painful, – not just for the Egyptians. How can God abide the suffering, the indescribable horrors and torture being meted out to His people. Must the confrontation impede the urgency of what surely needs to happen now?
Ultimately the Az will occur and with it unabashed joy and singing, אָ֣ז יָשִֽׁיר־מֹשֶׁה֩ וּבְנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל Then Moses and the Israelites shall sing and indeed sang. Let us be ready with tambourines in hand to please God welcome more and more home.