What is the connection between this Parshah and the previous one?
Rashi: At the time that Moshe was living in Midyan, the King of Egypt died, and Yisrael needed salvation (as we will now see). Moshe was the medium through whom the salvation would come about.
Why does the Torah use the expression, "And it came to pass in those many days"?
Ramban #1 (citing the Midrash): Because it was a time of great suffering. 1
Ramban #2, Seforno and Rashbam: Because many years elapsed between the time Moshe fled from Egypt, 2 and the birth of Gershom, when he was close to eighty. 3
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 21, p. 93): Chazal explain that they were days of pain. Maharal explains - In joyous times, Hashem sets the world in order; such days are unified, rather than "many." But when Hashem allows the world to follow chance, disorder results, and each day is disconnected from the previous one. Thus, they were "many days." 4
Refer to 2:23:3:1. Presumably this is because when a person suffers, time seems to drag on interminably.
Ramban: In fact, after he fled from Egypt, he wandered from one place to another, and it was only when he was almost eighty that he arrived in Midyan, and everything that the Torah records now happened in the last year. According to the Midrash, Moshe spent forty years as king of Ethiopia (Kush) before moving to Midyan.
We may explain that at times when Hashem's guiding Hashgachah is revealed, we see how all the details fit into one pattern and towards one goal. But when Hashem hides His face, it seems that each event goes its own way, without any one purpose to connect them. (EK)
Why should the fact that the King of Egypt died cause Yisrael to moan?
Rashi and Targum Yonasan: He did not really die; he contracted leprosy, 1 and as a cure, he slaughtered Jewish babies and bathed in their blood.
Ramban: They had suffered so much under the reign of the previous king, that when he died, they moaned in anticipation of even a worse tyrant taking over the throne.
Da'as Zekenim, Hadar Zekenim, Moshav Zekenim, Riva: In his lifetime, they hoped that when he died, the decree [of slavery] would end. 2 When he died and it did not end, they despaired. 3
Divrei Eliyahu, Kol Eliyahu: A king needs to conduct according to Mishpat, lest people rebel against him - "Melech b'Mishpat Ya'amid Aretz" (Mishlei 29:4). Pharaoh told the midwives to kill the babies before birth, so it would not be evident. Now that he died, there was anarchy and the Avodah was without Mishpat.
Divrei Eliyahu: Shemos Rabah (1:34) expounds similarly regarding "bi'Shenas Mos ha'Melech Uziyahu" (Yeshayahu 6:1), it must refer to the year he contracted Tzara'as, for when a king truly dies, he is not called king. (Midrash Zuta on Koheles 8:8 - "v'Ein Shilton b'Yom ha'Maves"). See also Oznayim la'Torah, who learns it from the fact that the Torah does not say "Va'Yamos... va'Yimloch," as it usually does.
Hadar Zekenim, Moshav Zekenim: The practice was to free prisoners and release servitude when the king dies. Moshav Zekenim - they freed the other slaves, but not Yisrael.
But see 2:23:3.01:1*.
Why did they moan now, more so than by the previous decree of throwing the babies into the water?
Oznayim la'Torah: They probably moaned at that time as well; only here Hashem listened to their moans - because the time had come to end the Galus 1 - which was not yet the case then. 2
Maharal: Refer to 2:23:3.05:1.
Oznayim la'Torah: Which was to the intensity of the back-breaking labor - as hinted in the words "min ha'Avodah" - which rendered the two hundred and ten years that they had been enslaved in Egypt equivalent to the four hundred years of regular labor that was initially decreed upon them at the Bris Bein ha'Besarim.
Why does the Torah add "Min ha'Avodah"?
Seforno: To teach us that it was not on account of their Teshuvah and Tefilos that their cries reached Hashem, but on account of their suffering. 1
Gur Aryeh: Refer to 2:23:3.03:1 and 2:23:3.04:1.
What is the correlation of all the issues mentioned in these three Pesukim" (2:23-25)?
Yerushalmi, Ta'anis 1:5: They incorporate the five merits upon which Yisrael were redeemed from Egypt: a) "Va'Yehi ba'Yamim ha'Rabim ha'Heim;" b) The severity of the suffering - "Va'Yiz'aku;" c) The Tefilos - "Va'Yishma Elokim Es Na'akasam;" d) Zechus Avos - "Va'Yizkor Elokim es Beriso... "; e) Teshuvah - "Va'Yar Elokim... va'Yeida Elokim."
There are three different terms for Bnei Yisrael's outcry in these verses (2:23-24); a. "va'Yiz'aku" (they screamed); b. "Shav'asam" (their outcry) ascended before Hashem; c. Hashem heard "Na'akasam" (their death-moan). Why three expressions?
Maharal #1 (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 54, p. 240): Three factors cause prayer to be accepted; a. The person crying out is in much pain; b. he is screaming for a valid reason; c. he is not distanced from Hashem.
Maharal #2 (ibid. p. 241): There are three prerequisites for one's prayers to be accepted; a. He must pray with full focus; b. the (heavenly) accusers must not cause their rejection; c. it must be a time of favor before Hashem. 1
See Maharal (ibid. p. 242) further, as to how to interpret the Pasuk according to Chazal (i.e. that the outcry came because of Pharaoh's slaughtering their children).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "The king of Egypt died - He became a Metzora; and he would slaughter Jewish babies to bathe in their blood." Why doesn't Rashi translate "he died" literally?
Gur Aryeh: If Pharaoh had died, why would it cause Bnei Yisrael to moan in their work? On the contrary, it would be a cause for happiness! Rather, Pharaoh became a leper, and the Bnei Yisrael moaned due to his horribly cruel decree against their children. 1
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 54, p. 240): A person does not scream when he has given up hope! (Thus, one can still interpret in the literal sense - only when Pharaoh died did they cry out, in the hope that a better king would now arise.) (EK)
Rashi writes: "The king of Egypt died - He became a Metzora." If so, why is it written this way?
Gur Aryeh: A Metzora is akin to the dead 1 (Nedarim 64b, based on Bamidbar 12:12).
Maharal (Chidushei Agados Vol. 2, p. 22, to Nedarim 64b): Tzara'as is deficiency of the Guf.
Rashi writes: "The king of Egypt died - He became a Metzora, and he would slaughter Jewish babies...." Mizrachi asks - But the Pasuk says that they moaned "from the work;" not from any other decree!
Gur Aryeh: Their moaning was in fact due to the decree upon their children, and it came in combination with the difficulty of their servitude. The verse's conclusion tells us this as well, "Their outcry (over the decree) ascended to G-d, from (amidst) the work." 1
Also see Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 54, p. 242).
Rashi writes: "[Pharaoh] ... would slaughter Jewish babies...." Why was this combination of two factors (the difficult servitude, and the slaughtering of their children) necessary, in order to initiate the process of the Geulah?
Gur Aryeh: The decree upon their children was more likely (to let their outcry) to ascend before Hashem, due to its cruelty; yet it would not bring the Geulah, only spare them from that death-sentence. The difficulty of their servitude was the reason they needed to be redeemed completely; that they should no longer be under Pharaoh's dominion at all.
Rashi writes: "... [Pharaoh] ... would slaughter Jewish babies to bathe in their blood." Why was this worse than when he threw their babies into the Nile (1:22)?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 54, p. 241): When Pharaoh decreed to drown the babies, he had no contact with them personally. Bathing in their blood, however, was unparalleled cruelty.
Rashi writes: "[Pharaoh] became a Metzora, and he would slaughter Jewish babies to bathe in their blood." Does blood actually heal Tzara'as?
Maharal #1 (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 54, p. 241): This prescription was not from the doctors, but rather from the necromancers (Chartumim), via their spirit of Tum'ah. They told Pharaoh it was time to close the final decree against Yisrael.
Maharal #2 (ibid. p. 242): A Metzora is as if he is dead, and blood means life. Pharaoh went specifically for the blood of Jewish children, who the Torah calls "all alive" (Devarim 4:4).
Rashi writes: "[Pharaoh] became a Metzora, and he would slaughter Jewish babies to bathe in their blood." Chazal say that he would slaughter 150 children every morning, and 150 every evening. Why specifically this number?
Maharal #1 (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 54, p. 241): To counteract a nation that is whole, Pharaoh needed a whole number (no units), a set of hundreds. He used three (sets of 100 daily); as three is the first number that is numerous enough to be counted. 1
Maharal #2 (ibid. p. 242): (Graphically speaking,) a group of two points has limits, and limits signify death. A third point placed in the middle does not see limits; this represents life. 2 (Thus, Pharaoh was advised to use three sets of 100 daily, to signify that he wanted life/healing).
Maharal (ibid.): While the digit 1 is the basic number, it is not "a count." The digit 2 is also not very numerous, for it forms merely a pair, with nothing extra.
Maharal (ibid.): We find the number three by Yaakov Avinu, third of the Avos; hence, "Yaakov Avinu did not die" (Rashi to Bereishis 49:33). (Refer to Bereishis 49:33:4.1:2*. Also see Bereishis 48:16:3.1:2, and Bereishis 49:26:2.1:4**.)
