What are the connotations of ?Mi Hashem asher Eshma be?Kolo?
Rashbam: "Who does Hashem think He is that I should obey Him, to release Yisrael, my slaves, from my land, to worship Him? What rights does He have over this people that they should worship Him?"
R. Bachye #1 (citing Sh?mos Rabah and Tanchuma): and Targum Yonasan: The Name of Hashem is unknown to me, that I should be obligated to obey Him to release Yisrael! I did not find the Name Hashem in the catalogue of deities. 1 (What he failed to realize however, was that Hashem is superior to all the deities and that their powers are granted to them by Him). 2
R. Bachye #2 (cont. from answer #2 note 2): ?And what are His achievements?? - ?He formed the heaven and established the earth; 3 He smashes mountains and breaks rocks!?; 4 ? He removes kings and appoints kings? 5 -?I am the master of the world! The River Nile is mine and I created myself!? 6 - ?Rasha! (You boast about water?!?) ? So He turned his water into blood.
R. Bachye #3 and Moshav Zekenim: ?If Hashem was upset that Yisrael are here, He would have revealed Himself to me, like He revealed Himself to Avimelech He did so for the one night that he kept Sarah (and declared him innocent ? R. Bachye). 7 All the more so should He do so for all of Yisrael! 8
Oznayim la'Torah: 'Who is Hashem that I should obey even the smallest request of His, and even if I knew Hashem, I would not carry out such a major request!'
See R?Bachye, who elaborates on Par?oh?s vast knowledge of the deities.
R. Bachye: It can be compared to an Eved of a Kohen who was looking for his master in a cemetery or in an abattoire ? So too, Par?oh?s catalogue of deities comprised names of dead gods, and it was hardly surprising that Hashem?s Name was not to be found there, since ?He is a Living G-d, King of the world? (Yirmiyah 10:10).
R. Bachye: Vayeira Bereishis 20:6. ?But me he smote with ?great plagues? - as the Torah recorded in Lech L?cha Bereishis 13:17 ? so why hould I listen to Him?
Moshav Zekenim: Targum Onkelos - "Lo Isg?li li" - supports this explanation.
What was Hashem's reaction to Pharaoh's declaration, "Mi Hashem ... "?
Sanhedrin 94b: Because Par?oh personally blasphemed Hashem when he declared "Mi Hashem," Hashem personally punished him at the Yam-Suf, where the Torah writes "va'Yena'er Hashem Es Mitzrayim b'Soch ha'Yam" (14:27). 1
Chulin 89a: 'I yearn for you (Yisrael - says Hashem), because even when I bestow greatness upon you, you make yourselves small. 2 But the nations of the world do not do that - I bestowed upon Par?oh greatness, and he declared "Who is Hashem?" 3
Not like Sancheriv, who blasphemed Hashem via a Shali'ach, and whom Hashem therefore punished via a Shali'ach. See Torah Temimah note 3.
Torah Temimah note 5: Like avraham who said ?ve?Anochi Afar va?Eifer?, Moshe and Aharon who said ?ve?Nachnu Mah?? and David who said ?ve?Anochi Tola?aas ve?Lo Ish!?
Torah Temmah note 6: And so we find by Nimrod, who said ?Havah Nivneh lanu Ir? (No?ach Bereishis 11:4 ? Refer to 11:4:2:2); Sancheriv, who said ?Mi be?Chol Elohei ha?Aratzos asher Hitzilu es Artzo mi?Yadi?? (Melachim 2, 18:35) and Nevuchadnetzar, who said ?E?eleh al Bamasei Av, Edameh la?Elyon!?) and Chiram king of Tyre, who said ?Moshav Elokim Yashavti? (Yechezkel 28).
What is the gist of the second half of Pharaoh's response, "Lo Yada'ti Es Hashem... "?
Seforno: I never heard of a being who can create something out of nothing; 1 and even if there is such a being, I will not release Yisrael!
Targum Onkelos: The Name of Hashem is not known to me; neither will I release Yisrael!
Targum Yonasan: I am not afraid of Hashem; neither will I release Yisrael.
Which is apparently one of the connotations of the Name Havayah.
