Exodus 11:3 – The Man Moses

God has brought 9 plagues on Egypt. In a shocking development we learn that Moses is respected and the Jewish people are not hated by the Egyptians.

God had demanded that Pharaoh let the children of Israel leave Egypt. Pharaoh refused and caused Egypt to be devastated with 9 plagues.

Then we read:

My Questions

I have 2 big questions on this verse.

1. Why did God give the people favor?

2. Why is he called “the man Moses” and not just Moses?

There are two verses where a similar phrase is used:

The phrase “the man” (Hebrew: ha’ish) appears more than 180 times in the Bible. Usually it’s used in a general sense or without stating the name of a known person.

The only times it used with a name is in these 3 verses where we have the phrase “Moses the man” and “the man Moses.”

God Grants Favor

Exodus 11:3 is one of three mentions of God granting the children of Israel favor in the eyes of Egypt.

Here is how most commentators understand these 3 mentions. At the end of this article we will see that Ramban disagrees.

Exodus 3:21 – Promise Made

God promises in the future to grant favor to Israel.

Exodus 11:3 – Promise Being Fulfilled

In our verse we read that God is now fulfilling his promise.

In this verse the past tense verb indicates that favor has been granted. This granting of favor will lead to the Egyptians giving gifts to the Jewish people.

Exodus 12:36 – Promise Kept

In this verse a simple past tense verb is used to indicate that the action is already completed.

The Jewish people have left Egypt and have received everything from the Egyptians.

Exodus 11:3 Explained

Now let’s look at each phrase in our verse.

And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians – Ibn Ezra states this is the fulfillment of the promise God made in Exodus 3:21.

Malbim adds that the Egyptians gave objects to the Jewish people even without being asked for them.

Rabbi Sorotzkin writes that during the plague of darkness, the Jewish people could have taken any precious object they wanted from the Egyptian homes. But they did not do this. This caused the Egyptians to see the Israelites as honorable people.

R. Steinsaltz suggests another reason for this finding of favor: “… the Israelites were now treated favorably by the Egyptians, who had become aware that a Great Power stood behind Israel.”

(My speculation: Could what R. Steinsaltz writes explain the phrase “the man Moses”? The Egyptians realized that Moses was not that “Great Power” but he was a man used by God to be His messenger to Egypt.)

moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt – Chizkuni writes this is a partial explanation for why the Jewish people were able to empty out Egypt. The Egyptians gave them many precious objects to show honor to Moses.

R. Sorotzkin: “the man Moses” annoyed and angered the king of Egypt. Pharaoh even threatened to kill him. Moses should not have have found favor with either the people or the servants of Pharaoh. But, due to the help of God, his honor was so great that all of Egypt favored him.

Neither of these comments explains why Moses was considered to be great. Daat Mikra suggests two related ideas:

1. Egypt viewed Moses himself as a great individual.

2. They viewed Moses as a great leader.

in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants – but not in the eyes of Pharaoh [Ramban].

Netziv writes that Pharaoh’s servants already agreed that Israel should leave, but Pharaoh refused.

Also, they saw that Moses had entreated God to have mercy on them and let some of the plagues end early.

and in the sight of the people – Ibn Ezra, Chizkuni, and Cassuto explain that these are the people of Egypt.

Cassuto adds that because of the people’s respect for Moses he was able to speak before Pharaoh the way he did.

Netziv makes the observation that even though the people as a whole had no idea what Moses and Pharaoh said, they still understood the greatness of Moses.

Ramban’s Approach

Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Nachmanides) offers a contrary perspective on two of the key phrases in Exodus 11:3.

And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians

The consensus opinion above is that God influenced the Egyptian people so that they would willingly give gifts to the children of Israel.

Ramban states that this phrase is NOT about the Egyptians being moved to give things to the Jewish people.

Rather, it means the Egyptians did not hate the Jews because of the plagues. They had affection toward them and realized that they, the Egyptians, were the wicked ones.

and in the sight of the people

All of the opinions cited above agree that “the people” in this phrase are the Egyptians.

Ramban disagrees and states they are the children of Israel. He finds support from what the officers of the Jewish people had said to Moses and Aaron:

In addition we read:

These two verses are from the time when Pharaoh increased the oppression but before the plagues began. The standing of Moses among the children of Israel was not high.

But now, before the 10th plague, the Jewish people saw that Moses was a great man.

Picture Credits
Unknown artist/maker, illuminator and Rudolf von Ems (Austrian, about 1200 – 1254), author Moses and the Elders before Pharaoh, about 1400–1410. Digital image courtesy of Getty’s Open Content Program.