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The following is from the commentary of RSRH on Shemos 10:29
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><b><i>Thereupon Moshe said: You have
spoken well; I will not come before<br>
your face again.</i></b></font> <br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>If Moshe could give this reply, the
information about the final plague<br>
that would bring a quick end must have
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>already
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>been given to him.<br>
This is confirmed by study of the next two chapters, in which the
chronological<br>
sequence of events requires elucidation.<br><br>
It appears that verse 4 of the next chapter is the continuation of<br>
our verse here, of Moshe’s reply to Pharaoh. But since this reply
announces<br>
the death of the firstborn at midnight, this announcement<br>
clearly could not have been made earlier than after midnight of the<br>
night of the 14th, for the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>following
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>night had to be the 15th.
This<br>
would date the three days of darkness as the 11th, 12th, and 13th of<br>
Nissan.<br><br>
Chapter 12, however, teaches us that, already on the 1st of Nissan,<br>
Moshe and Aharon — and, through them, the people — were told that<br>
the death of the firstborn and the resulting exodus would occur on
the<br>
night of the 15th. They were also commanded to take a lamb and
dedicate<br>
it for an offering in sight of the Egyptians on the 10th of the<br>
month — i.e., before the onset of the darkness.<br>
If, then, what is told in chapter 12 preceded, in any case, Moshe’s<br>
last mission to Pharaoh, the contents of 11:1–3 could also have
preceded<br>
this mission; their interpolation here is only for the sake of
providing<br>
the rationale for Moshe’s reply to Pharaoh.<br><br>
On the other hand, the words <i>Od Nega Ehud
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>(below, 11:1) could<br>
not possibly have been spoken before the end of the plague of<br>
darkness. But the fact that the people were ordered (below, 11:2)<br>
to ask the Egyptians for articles of gold and silver, which was
possible<br>
to do at the latest only until midday of the 14th, indicates that
this<br>
order must have been given not long after the ending of the
darkness.<br><br>
According to all of the foregoing, the chronological order of the<br>
events seems to be as follows:<br><br>
Already on the 1st of Nissan, the month was designated as the<br>
month of redemption, orders were given for taking the Pesach
offering<br>
on the 10th and for offering it on the 14th in the afternoon, and
the<br>
death of the firstborn on the night of 15th was announced. The
instructions<br>
regarding the demand of gold and silver articles, and the<br>
precise time of the slaying of the firstborn, were not yet given.
Both<br>
of these were given only after the darkness had ended. The darkness<br>
receded on the night following the 13th. (After the intense darkness<br>
of the plague, the Egyptians greeted the ordinary darkness of night
as<br>
though it were the dawn.) It was at this point that God said to
Moshe<br>
what is recorded in verses 1–3 of chapter 11 regarding the demand of<br>
articles, and He also set the precise time for the death of the
firstborn<br>
at midnight. (The latter is not mentioned in verses 1–3, because we<br>
learn of it immediately from the continuation of Moshe’s reply to<br>
Pharaoh.)<br><br>
On that same night (following the 13th) Moshe relayed these<br>
instructions and this precise information to the people, and then<br>
after midnight he was summoned to Pharaoh (v. 24). When Moshe<br>
came to Pharaoh, God had already revealed to him the complete<br>
picture.<br><br>
<Snip><br><br>
In any case, the first half of chapter 12 and the first three verses
of<br>
chapter 11 are out of chronological order. The reason for this lies
in<br>
the function assigned to the narrative. First it describes the whole
course<br>
of the plagues and the results of their effect on Pharaoh. Only with<br>
chapter 12 does the narrative focus on Israel and their preparations
for<br>
the exodus. Hence chapter 12 is of necessity retrogressive. The
events<br>
related in verses 1–3 of chapter 11 occurred almost simultaneously
with<br>
Pharaoh’s summons to Moshe; the events immediately preceded the<br>
summons and are interposed in the middle of Moshe’s reply in order<br>
to explain his reply.<br>
came to Pharaoh, God had already revealed to him the complete<br>
picture.<br>
The foregoing</font></body>
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