The pasukim say (4:3-5) "And He said 'send it to the ground' and he sent it to the ground, and it was a snake and Moshe ran from it. And Hashem said to Moshe 'send your hand and grab it's tail.' He sent out his hand and he held it, and it was a stick in his hand. 'So that they will believe that Hashem, the God of your fathers, the God Avraham God of Yitzchak and God of Yaakov appeared to you.'
From seeing the stick turn into a snake and then switch back the Jews will believe. But there is a problem, the Mitzrim also have the ability to change sticks into snakes. So how can this act possibly prove that Moshe was sent by Hashem? The Jews can see the acts of Moshe and say that just as the Mitzrim can do magic, so can Moshe. This should not help prove Hashem's hand at all.
We learn from here a very valuable lesson. Two people can see the same thing while for one it could be so obvious that it was the hand of Hashem and for the other it could just be nature. When someone believes that there is a God in the world everything they see is different then a person who does not.
Every morning the sun rises. If one where to look at the sky at sunrise they would see a spectacular light show. A person can look at this and see the marvels of Hashem or just light reflecting at an angle to produce a horizon of orange and red. The only difference is that one person believes, while the other is oblivious to it all.
Rav Shach came back from a visit to the hospital with a large smile on his face. His talmidim ask him why he was so happy. He explained that for years he never understood the first mitzvah according to the Rambam. The Rambam holds that it is a mitzvah to believe that Hashem exists. Rav Shach could not understand why that would need to be a mitzvah, isn't it so clear? So his talmidim ask him what he had learned at the hospital. Rav Shach told them that he had been speaking to one of the best doctors in the country. Rav Shach admitted to the doctor that he was jealous that the doctor could look into the insides of a person and see the wonders of Hashem. Rav Shach told the doctor how much he would love to see the heart, lungs and other internal organs working perfectly in order to keep the person alive, and how much it would strengthen his emunah. The doctor stared at Rav Shach with a puzzled look. The doctor said to Rav Shach that he had no clue what he was talking about. "How does this prove Hashem's existence?! The perfection of the internal organs is not a work of God, it is a work of nature." Rav Shach told his talmidim that until he had met this doctor he could not believed that an intelligent person could possibly think that there is no God, now that Rav Shach knows that there exists a smart person who does not believe, he can now finally understand the Rambam.
When DNA was first discovered by man it was the work of two scientists, one a religious christian, the other an atheist. When the christian was interviewed he was asked if the discovery of DNA disproves God. The christian answered that not only does it not disprove God, rather it is so much more clear now of God's existence, how could nature perfectly construct something so detailed and so exact? When the atheist was asked the same question, he answered that it proves to him, without any reasonable doubt, that there is no god in the world.
After the ten makot were all over, and the Jews had left, there were still Mitzrim in the thousands that came to the Reed Sea to kill the Jews. How could this be? Had they not witnessed the miracles? Had they not seen everything that had transpired over the last year? How could it not be so clear to them that Hashem is protecting the Jews? The answer is quite simple, when you don't believe in a creator nothing can possibly convince you. Even if God Himself were to come for a visit to your house you would not believe He exists.
But someone who does believe does not have to go anywhere to prove His existence. Every breathe a person takes is from Hashem. Every piece of food a person eats is from Hashem. Everything single thing that happens to a person is from Hashem, all you need to do is look around.
Hashem was telling Moshe that the Jews would believe him after seeing the stick turn into a snake because they are believers the sons of believers. Therefore, any act performed by Moshe would have been enough of a proof for them.
Have a good shabbat!
No comments:
Post a Comment