Exodus 18:11 – Now I Know

Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, came to meet the Jewish people camped at Mount Sinai. Moses told him everything that had happened to them in Egypt and at the Sea.

Jethro rejoiced when he heard what Moses told him. He exclaimed:

The Translations

The above image of Exodus 18:11 is for any readers of this article who know Hebrew.

These 3 translations are almost identical for the first half of the verse. But they differ dramatically for the second half.

The end of Exodus 18:11 (the last 5 words in Hebrew) is not a complete thought.

The literal translation of the verse is my attempt to show in English the ambiguity of the last 5 Hebrew words.

The Silbermann translation (from Chumash with Rashi’s Commentary by Rabbi A. M. Silbermann) inserts the words in italics into the text.

Most of this article will investigate the different ways to understand the end of Exodus 18:11.

Some Grammar

The last two Hebrew words in Exodus 18:11 are “zadu aleihem.”

Zadu is from the 3-letter root zayin-vav-dalet. The Jastrow dictionary offers these definitions: to plan evil; to act with premeditation in full consciousness of doing wrong.

(Some of the commentators we will look at point out which acts of the Egyptians are meant by this word.)

Aleihem is the preposition ayin-lamed with the third person plural pronoun suffix. Some of the possible translations of this word are: on them, upon them, over them, against them.

Most of the translations I’ve seen of this verse translate aleihem as either “on them” or “against them.”

Rabbi Silbermann translates aleihem as “upon them” meaning “upon the Egyptians.”

Hirsch translates aleihem as “against them” meaning “against the Jewish people.”

Exodus 18:11 – First Phrase

Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods

Rashi writes that Jethro had tried every form of idolatry. As part of that research and exploration he had already recognized and knew the greatness of the Lord. But now he recognizes His greatness even more.

According to Daat Mikra “gods” means those created things that the nations of the world attribute to them a certain power and worship them as a god.

Daat Mikra seems to be saying that Jethro no longer considered them to be real gods.

Now let’s look at how some of the commentators treat the end of Exodus 18:11.

Targum Onkelos

Onkelos was a convert who lived about the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. Targum Onkelos is an Aramaic translation of the Torah that is attributed to him (Megillah 3a).

Here is his translation of the end of Exodus 18:11: for by that very thing with which the Egyptians thought to judge Israel, they themselves were judged.

Onkelos understands “aleihem” to mean the Egyptians. His approach is adopted by Rabbi Silbermann and many other translations.

Ramban

God told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved and afflicted.

If the Egyptians had only acted in this way, then they would not been liable for a great punishment.

But God’s decree did not include the Egyptians attempting to destroy the Jewish people. Their actions were excessive and they conspired to destroy the Jewish people.

Here are verses that demonstrate their desire to destroy the Jewish people:

• Let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply (Exodus 1:10)
• Pharaoh commanded the midwives to kill the baby boys (Exodus 1:16)
• Pharaoh commanded to throw the baby boys into the Nile (Exodus 1:22)

God was aware of their intentions and as a result punished them. This is made clear in the verse from Nehemiah:

Ramban agrees with the Hirsch translation of our verse.

Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno

God saved the Jewish people with the thing that Egypt conspired against them with.

The Egyptians (Exodus 1:22) threw the male Jewish babies into the Nile. God drowned them in water at the Sea.

He killed their firstborn because the Jewish people have the status of God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22-23).

In this God showed His greatness over all other gods. Prior to this no nation thought that any of their gods were able to act measure for measure (Hebrew: middah k’neged middah) in every matter. They thought their god could act this way only according to its unique ability.

But God acted measure for measure in a number of aspects when He dealt with the Egyptians.

Malbim makes a similar point: Only an omniscient God can judge measure for measure. The other “gods” have limited power and work in only one way. Lightning produces fire. The ocean works through the power of water only.

But the punishment of Egypt required every power. Only God controls all powers. No matter what Egypt conspired against the Jewish people, God was able to punish them precisely for it.

Sforno and Malbim both agree with the Hirsch translation.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch

“[Jethro] recognized God’s greatness precisely in those miracles that showed that the Egyptian’s hidden machinations against Israel were well known to Him… The plagues thus revealed to [Jethro] not only God’s omnipotence, but also His omniscience: He sees the inner thoughts of men, nations and princes, and fashions their fate so as to teach and educate them.”

Jethro recognized that God acts measure for measure when He repays a person. The concept of measure for measure means “the nature of the punishment reveals the essential nature of the crime.”

Rabbi Moshe David Cassuto

Rabbi Cassuto suggests a radically different approach to Exodus 18:11.

According to him, who was plotting evil? The “gods” of the Egyptians.

In grammatical terms, the subject of the verb “zadu” is “the gods.”

Here is my translation of his comment:

And precisely in those things that the gods of Egypt were proud of (such as the divine power of the Nile, the divine light of the sun, the divine might of the sea) He is greater than them. His power is greater than their power, and He performed judgments against all the gods of Egypt.

It seems to me, according to R. Cassuto, Jethro had not completely accepted the idea that these “gods” had no independent power.