We all have impeded speech

Va’era

Ex. 6:2 - 9:35

Précis: God reiterates His intention to free the Israelites from bondage and to create a covenant with them. Moses goes back to Pharaoh to seek release of the Israelites. Pharaoh refuses and we see the first seven of the fabled plagues: blood, frogs, fleas, beetles, cattle disease, boils, and hail. Pharaoh relents after each plague begins, deciding to let the people go, but then God “hardens Pharaoh’s heart” and he refuses to allow them to leave.

Ex. 6:10-13 “Adonai spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites depart from his land.’ But Moses appealed to Adonai, saying, ‘The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech. So, the Lord spoke to both Moses and Aaron in regard to the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, instructing them to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt.’”

            We focus our study this week on the phrase “impeded speech.” Pharaoh has already increased the burdens on the Israelite slaves due to Moses’ previous demands. Moses goes back to God and pleads to be excused, citing in part his “impeded speech.”  The meaning of the Hebrew is a bit uncertain, but can also be translated as “uncircumcised lips.”

            Tradition is not clear whether this means that Moses had an actual speech defect (recalling the midrash of his placing a coal in his mouth in lieu of a jewel as a babe when Pharaoh tested his loyalty). Others suggest that he was self-conscious and inarticulate.

            Nahum Sarna suggests a third option. While he grew up speaking Egyptian, he was away for so long that he lost his fluency in that language. Sarna then concludes that the real meaning is irrelevant, because Moses felt inadequate to speak on behalf of God to Pharaoh.

            But this, Sarna suggests is the “essence of Biblical prophecy.” The messenger is not conveying his own words, but rather those of God.

            None of us can be another Moses, but each of us can take up the challenges we face with humility and determination. We may even take a bit of courage from the story that God sent Moses, a man of impeded speech, to deliver His message. We, too, are limited, but with God’s help we can act.

            On the other hand, we cannot doubt that this means that we lose the ability to demur and to defer. If God could send a man of impeded speech to deliver His message, what possible excuse do we have to avoid our obligations?