[Avodah] Should we have returned after 3 days?

[Akiva Miller]

Sometimes people ask whether we were wrong for not returning to Mitzrayim
after three days, given that Moshe Rabeinu never asked Paro for more than
that.

Many answers have been given (none of which come to mind at the moment, I'm
sorry to say), but I just saw two answers, both in the peirushim on Shemos
11:1. In that pasuk, Hashem tells Moshe what will happen after the next
plague, number ten:

יְשַׁלַּ֥ח אֶתְכֶ֖ם מִזֶּ֑ה כְּשַׁ֨לְּח֔וֹ כָּלָ֕ה גָּרֵ֛שׁ יְגָרֵ֥שׁ
אֶתְכֶ֖ם מִזֶּֽה

"He will send you out - a complete sending - he will totally drive you out
from here."

Netziv remarks on the word כלה that "You shouldn't think that this is
another 3-day sending. Rather, it will be a complete exit to freedom."

Malbim (at the very end) explains that one of the differences between שלח
and גרש is that גרש means "never to return".

Either way, even if later portions don't tell us exactly what Paro's
intentions were, we are now being told in advance, exactly what those
intentions will be.

Akiva Miller
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