[Avodah] Moshe, his staff and following directions

[Liron Kopinsky]

Hi all,
Has anyone seen an interesting commentary on the following?

   - Dam
      - The Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and *stretch
      forth your hand *over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over
      their canals, over their ponds, and over all their bodies of
water, and they
      will become blood, and there will be blood throughout the entire land of
      Egypt, even in wood and in stone.' "
      - Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord had commanded, and he raised the
      staff and *struck the water *that was in the Nile before the eyes of
      Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all the water
that was in
      the Nile turned to blood.
         - There was no command to "smite"
      - Tzefardea
      -  The Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, *stretch forth your hand *with
      your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds,
and bring
      up the frogs on the land of Egypt."
      -   And Aaron *stretched forth his hand *over the waters of Egypt, and
      the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
      - Directions followed exactly. Stretching only.
         - Kinim
      -   The Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, '*Stretch forth your staff
      and strike *the dust of the earth, and it shall become lice throughout
      the entire land of Egypt.' "
      -   They did so, and Aaron *stretched forth his hand with his staff
      and struck *the dust of the earth, and the lice were upon man and
      beast; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout the
entire land of
      Egypt.
      - Directions followed exactly. Stretching and striking.
      - Arov
      - No action by Moshe and Ahron
   - Dever
      - No action by Moshe and Ahron
   - Shchin
      -   The Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, "Take yourselves handfuls of
      furnace soot, and Moses shall cast it heavenward before Pharaoh's eyes.
      -   And it will become dust upon the entire land of Egypt, and it will
      become boils, breaking out into blisters upon man and upon beast
throughout
      the entire land of Egypt."
      -   So they took furnace soot, and they stood before Pharaoh, and
      Moses cast it heavenward, and it became boils breaking out into blisters
      upon man and upon beast.
      - Directions followed exactly. Just hand.
      - Barad
      -   The Lord said to Moses, "Stretch forth your hand heavenward, and
      hail will be upon the entire land of Egypt, upon man and upon
beast and upon
      all the vegetation of the field in the land of Egypt."
      -   So Moses stretched forth his staff heavenward, and the Lord gave
      forth thunder and hail, and fire came down to the earth, and the
Lord rained
      down hail upon the land of Egypt.
      - Directions followed exactly. Just hand.
      - Arbe
      -   The Lord said to Moses, "*Stretch forth your hand *over the land
      of Egypt for the locusts, and they will ascend over the land of
Egypt, and
      they will eat all the vegetation of the earth, all that the hail has left
      over."
      -   So Moses *stretched forth his staff *over the land of Egypt, and
      the Lord led an east wind in the land all that day and all the night. [By
      the time] it was morning, the east wind had borne the locusts.
      - Used staff when he was told to only use hand.
         - Choshesh
      -   The Lord said to Moses, "Stretch forth your hand toward the
      heavens, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, and
the darkness
      will become darker."
      -
         So Moses stretched forth his hand toward the heavens, and there was
      thick darkness over the entire land of Egypt for three days.
      - Directions followed exactly. Just hand.
         - Makat B'chorot
      - No action by Moshe and Ahron

This week's Parsha:

   - 17:5 And the Lord said to Moses, Pass before the people and take with
   you [some] of the elders of Israel, and *take into your hand your staff,
   with which you struck the Nile*, and go.
   - 17:6 Behold, I shall stand there before you on the rock in Horeb, *and
   you shall strike the rock, *and water will come out of it, and the people
   will drink *Moses did so *before the eyes of the elders of Israel.
      - All the Meforshim I saw comment about how the reason this command to
      take the staff is given is to show that the same staff that was used for
      puraniyot can also be used for good.

My Questions:

   1. Why didn't Moshe listen exactly during Dam and Arbe?
   2. Is it possible that the message Hashem is giving Moshe when telling
   him to take the staff in this week's parsha is: "Follow my directions
   exactly. This time I want you to strike the rock, but in the future I will
   want you to do something different. You already "messed up" with the Nile,
   so don't do so again"?
   3. Why did hashem ask for striking of the dirt during Kinim when it
   wasn't in front of Pharoh?
      1. Why does he specify striking for kinim when he only mentions
      stretching forth for Dam and Tzefardea?
      4. Why wasn't the staff used for Schin and Barad?
   5. Why was there no action for Arov and Dever?
   1. This question doesn't need to be asked for Makat B'chorot




All text from JudaicaPress.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/63255/jewish/The-Bible-with-Rashi.htm
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