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rhuTani wasn't sure what to make of the quote from Exodus 12:12 in the seder, "וּבְכָל אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים". The rest of the verse is clear: God says "On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt; I will kill all the first-born, both man and beast; וּבְכָל אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים; I am God." The first-order translation of the problematic phrase is "and on all the gods of Egypt I will pass sentence." or maybe "I will execute judgment."
What I found interesting was that when I looked this verse up in Michael Carasik's excellent translation of the Miqra'ot Gedolot (JPS, 2005), the commentators all have widely divergent understandings of what this means. First, what does the word elohim mean? (Recall that it doesn't necessarily mean a deity; it could mean a powerful person.) Second, does e-eseh sh'fatim mean decreeing a sentence or the actual execution of that decree?
[I've re-translated the commentaries below to avoid infringing on Michael's copyright.]
Rashi takes a simple approach: this means the physical destruction of the idols directly by God: "The wood ones rotted, the metal ones melted to the ground." (In a footnote to Rashi, Carasik suggests that the first-born beasts were killed because they, too, were worshipped as gods, and so our difficult phrase could be understood in apposition to the preceding word.)
Ibn Ezra agrees that the idols would be destroyed, but by human hands: "Some say that after the death of their first-born, the Egyptians destroyed their idols in anger. Clearly, this is how God fulfilled this threat, even though it is not explicitly stated."
Ramban brings down several opinions. (1) He starts by quoting Rashi. (2) Ramban then adds his own position, that this refers to the princes who were worshipped as gods. It is possible to read this position of Ramban in two ways: (2a) God slew not only all the first-born but also the princes; (2b) The Egyptians, once they realized that their leaders had been powerless to defend them, rose up and killed the princes themselves. (3) Ramban then, as is his wont, goes astrological, saying that another interpretation of these words is that God caused the constellation that governed the fate of Egypt to be brought low; (4) or for those who prefer to consider each nation to be represented on high by a designated angel, Ramban says that God deposed the "heavenly beings" associated with Egypt.
The Bekhor Shor agrees that elohim here means "the great ones of Egypt", and Chizkuni understands elohim to mean "the officials of Egypt".
Abarbanel, on the other hand, explicitly rejects the idea that that elohim means officials or judges of Egypt, "as some of our people have explained", and also rejects by name Rashi's understanding. Instead, he subscribes to the understanding that elohim refers to the astrological force that support Egypt.
So, in summary: elohim could mean (1) idols made of wood and metal, (2) animals that were worshipped, (3) astrological forces/constellations, (4) patron angels, (5) princes who were considered divine, or (6) princes or other leaders of great importance. And e-eseh sh'fatim could mean (A) physical destruction performed directly by God, (B) physical destruction decreed by God but to be performed by the Egyptians, or (C) metaphysical demotion performed by God. Since 3 and 4 cannot be performed by mortal hands (B), we have only 16 and not 18 possible combinations. That's still a pretty fertile set of words.
What I find most interesting about this, though, is the light that it sheds on each of the commentators and what angle each of them sees in these few words.
What I found interesting was that when I looked this verse up in Michael Carasik's excellent translation of the Miqra'ot Gedolot (JPS, 2005), the commentators all have widely divergent understandings of what this means. First, what does the word elohim mean? (Recall that it doesn't necessarily mean a deity; it could mean a powerful person.) Second, does e-eseh sh'fatim mean decreeing a sentence or the actual execution of that decree?
[I've re-translated the commentaries below to avoid infringing on Michael's copyright.]
Rashi takes a simple approach: this means the physical destruction of the idols directly by God: "The wood ones rotted, the metal ones melted to the ground." (In a footnote to Rashi, Carasik suggests that the first-born beasts were killed because they, too, were worshipped as gods, and so our difficult phrase could be understood in apposition to the preceding word.)
Ibn Ezra agrees that the idols would be destroyed, but by human hands: "Some say that after the death of their first-born, the Egyptians destroyed their idols in anger. Clearly, this is how God fulfilled this threat, even though it is not explicitly stated."
Ramban brings down several opinions. (1) He starts by quoting Rashi. (2) Ramban then adds his own position, that this refers to the princes who were worshipped as gods. It is possible to read this position of Ramban in two ways: (2a) God slew not only all the first-born but also the princes; (2b) The Egyptians, once they realized that their leaders had been powerless to defend them, rose up and killed the princes themselves. (3) Ramban then, as is his wont, goes astrological, saying that another interpretation of these words is that God caused the constellation that governed the fate of Egypt to be brought low; (4) or for those who prefer to consider each nation to be represented on high by a designated angel, Ramban says that God deposed the "heavenly beings" associated with Egypt.
The Bekhor Shor agrees that elohim here means "the great ones of Egypt", and Chizkuni understands elohim to mean "the officials of Egypt".
Abarbanel, on the other hand, explicitly rejects the idea that that elohim means officials or judges of Egypt, "as some of our people have explained", and also rejects by name Rashi's understanding. Instead, he subscribes to the understanding that elohim refers to the astrological force that support Egypt.
So, in summary: elohim could mean (1) idols made of wood and metal, (2) animals that were worshipped, (3) astrological forces/constellations, (4) patron angels, (5) princes who were considered divine, or (6) princes or other leaders of great importance. And e-eseh sh'fatim could mean (A) physical destruction performed directly by God, (B) physical destruction decreed by God but to be performed by the Egyptians, or (C) metaphysical demotion performed by God. Since 3 and 4 cannot be performed by mortal hands (B), we have only 16 and not 18 possible combinations. That's still a pretty fertile set of words.
What I find most interesting about this, though, is the light that it sheds on each of the commentators and what angle each of them sees in these few words.