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Why Does Moshe Say That the Last Plague Will Begin Around Midnight? ‐
Goldie Serwatien (12th Grade)
Shemot 11.4 - :םִי ָר ְצ ִמ ךְוֹת ְבּ אֵצוֹי יֲִא הָלְיַלּ ַה תֹצֲחַכּ 'ה ר ַמ ָא הֹכּ ה ֶשׁמ ר ֶמאֹיַּו
“And Moshe said ‘so said G-d, at around midnight I will go into Egypt’”
Many people don’t make it to this point awake, but there is a song at the end of Nirtzah that mentions all the
things in Jewish history that happened around midnight. The song mentions events from Avraham defeating the
five kings, to Haman’s decree against the Jews. The above pasuk quotes Moshe as saying to Pharaoh that the last
plague will happen “around” midnight.
Why say “around” midnight? When G-d spoke to Moshe, He said that the plague would happen at midnight.
Rashi comments on this and says that Moshe realized something. After growing up in the palace, Moshe knew
that Pharaoh's astrologers would take any chance they could to discredit the miracles. It was possible that the
astrologers would miscalculate the time, and when the plague doesn’t happen exactly at midnight, they would
claim that it was “chance.” Many times people miss what is right in front of them, simply because they don’t
want to see it. The astrologers did not want to see the miracle, so they wouldn’t. Open your eyes, and you’ll be
surprised at what you see.
Noah Ackerman—1st Grade
