The Role of the Prophet in Producing Miracles: Part 2

What was the role of the Moshe in bringing about the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt? If Moshe was instrumental in bringing about the machot and the kriat yam, we can examine the accounts of these miracles in the Chumash for some insight into the prophet's role. It does seem that, in most cases, Moshe or Aaron perform a physical act to help bring about the miracle. Below is a chart of the machot and the kirat yam sof and the physical activity performed by Moshe and/or Aaron in connection with them.
　

Miracle	Action of the Prophet
First Plague: Blood	Aaron's hand with staff stretched out over “the waters of Egypt, over the rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood;" (Shem. 7, 19)
Second Plague: Frogs	Aaron hand with staff stretched “over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and bring up the frogs upon the land of Egypt” ; (Shem. 8, 1)
Third Plague: Lice	“And Aaron stretched forth his hand with his rod and he smote the dust of the earth, and there were lice upon the man and upon the beast, all the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. “ (Shem. 8, 13)
Fourth Plague: Animals	No specific act done by prophet. Specific time stated by prophet. “by tomorrow will this sign be.”(Shem. 8, 19)
Fifth Plague: Death of Livestock	No specific act done by prophet. Specific time stated by prophet. “Tomorrow shall the Lord do this thing in the land.” (Shem. 9, 5)
Sixth Plague: Boils	Moshe took “soot from the furnace, and they stood before Pharoh; and Moshe threw it heavenward; and it became a boil with blains breaking forth upon the man and upon the beast.”(Shem. 9, 10)
Seventh Plague: Hail	“And Moshe stretched forth his rod toward the heaven; and the Lord gave thunder and hail, and fire came down unto to the earth“. (Shem. 9, 23)
Eighth Plague: Locusts	“And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all the day, and all the night;” (Shem. 10, 13)
Ninth Plague: Darkness	“And Moshe stretched forth his hand towards the Heaven  and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.” (Shem. 10, 22)
Tenth Plague: Death of the First Born	No act by prophet. Nature and timing of plague stated by Moshe. “And Moshe said: Thus saith the Lord; About midnight will I go out into the midst ofEgypt; and there shall die all the first-born in the land of Egypt.” (Shem. 11, 4-5)
Splitting of the Sea of Reeds	“And Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea: and the Lord caused the sea to go (back) by a strong east wind all the night” (Shem. 14, 21)

　
At the end of the Perek 11 in Shemos the pasuk states:

“And Moshe and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharoah; and the Lord hardened Pharoah’s heart, and he did not send away the children of Israel from his land.” (Shem. 11, 10).

From this review, it does seem that an act of Moshe or Aaron was part of 7 of the 10 makkot and the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. The 4^th and 5^th makkot do not seem to have any act of Moshe or Aaron- at least not stated in the Chumash. With these plagues it does seem to be that Moshe and Aaron announced the timing and nature of the plague but were not instrumental in bringing them about. With the other makkot and the splitting of the sea, the language of the Chumash is consistent with Maimonides language in the "Guide for the Perplexed", as I understand it, of the prophets being part of the bringing about of the miracle (i.e. miracle worker).  With the 10th plague - the death of the first born- the nature of the makkah is understood by our tradition to have been brought about by G.. alone and not done through an angel or another other agent. This would be consistent with no act by Moshe or Aaron being associated with the plague.


   I am positing here is that the acts of Moshe and Aaron in conjunction with the miracles, were more than dramatic displays to draw attention to the miracle. They were not merely a way of psychologically connecting Moshe and Aaron to the miracles so that the Jewish people and the Egyptians would believe in the validity of Moshe’s prophecy. There seems to be  some type of technique involved by which Moshe and Aaron with the use of the staff were able to impact certain forces that existed in a potential, dormant state within the briah and required the act of the prophet to cause them to occur. When we look at the" non-miraculous" laws of nature, we observe here that  to achieve a change in state or position of matter,  the briah's structure requires the application of force by a person, or by some other source of force (animal, wind, heat, etc). Thought alone or knowledge alone will not achieve a change in the position or velocity of any particle or collection of particles or object as far as we currently understand the natural world. Force, often described as some type of “push or a pull“ is required.  Perhaps there is also a necessity of physical technique for the prophet to actualize a miracle and bring about the change in nature within a particular time and place. Thought or words of a prophet will not suffice. What is the technique involved with the staff or arms of Moshe and the stirring up of dust or ash to create changes? This technique would be something only revealed to a prophet, with the greater prophet understanding greater levels of technique and able to perform greater miracles.

Interestingly, the language of Maimonides in the “Guide for the Perplexed” when distinguishing the public miracles of Moshe with the miracles of other prophets, states: “The miracles done by prophets or for them, are witnessed by a few individuals…” This statement implies that there are two categories of miracles:

1) ones done by prophets
2) ones done for prophets.

This is not to say that any prophet does a miracle independent of G… The miracles of the makkot which are stated as being performed by Moshe and Aaron are clearly explained in the Chumash to have been brought about by G… It is fundamental for us to recount and praise G..'s performance of the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt.  So then what is the  category of miracles “done by prophets”? Perhaps this means that the prophet played some assistant role in bringing about the miracle in conjunction with G…   On the other hand,  the category of miracles “done for the prophet” would be miracles in which the prophet did not assist in bringing about the miracle, but only predicted or announced them. This would fit with the description of the 4^th, 5^th  and 10th makkot,  which do not seem to by accompanies by any action on the part of Moshe or Aaron.
    
We will continue this discussion in Part 3 of this series where we will interpret the statement of Maimonides of a miracle done “for the prophet”. At first glance this seems strange. The miracles are not done for the prophet but for the Jewish people to save them or inform them in some way. What does it mean that a miracle is done “for the prophet”?


End of Part 2: