The Archangel of Egypt “And Pharaoh drew near...and Mitzrayim chased them” (14:10)
The Ohr HaChaim is puzzled why the pasuk begins by describing Paro chasing Bnei Yisrael and then says that Mitzrayim was chasing them. Furthermore, why is the verb “chasing”, referring to Mitzrayim, which consisted of many individuals, in the singular form and not in the plural?
In order to answer these questions, the Ohr HaChaim points out another puzzling thing: Bnei Yisrael complain to Moshe that Paro and Mitzrayim are chasing them, and voice their protest: “Why did you take us out here to die? Aren’t there enough graves in Egypt to bury us?” Why did they protest in such wonder? Didn’t Moshe warn them already previously that Hashem would harden Paro’s heart and that afterward he would chase them? If so, they should have expected this, so why were they so afraid? Didn’t they already know that this was all about to happen?
The Ohr HaChaim first suggests that perhaps it was the great and vast numbers of the Egyptian army whose force Bnei Yisrael hadn’t properly fathomed or imagined. But finally the Ohr HaChaim answers that the reason for Bnei Yisrael’s great fear was that they saw an angelic being, the Sar Mitzrayim, chasing them together with Paro. He cites the Medrash (Shemos Rabba ch. 21), where Chazal point out the singular form used for chasing in reference to Mitzrayim. Chazal say there regarding the word nosei’a that “this refers to the Sar of Mitzrayim, whose name is Mitzrayim.” According to Chazal, this word refers to the archangelic heavenly minister or patron of the Egyptian nation, and because it is customary, explains the Ohr HaChaim, that each patron angel aids his nation, this heavenly minister accompanied Paro and the Egyptian armed forces to chase Bnei Yisrael.
The Ohr HaChaim cites another Maamar Chazal in Yoma 69b, where Alexander the Great saw heavenly angels at war. Explains the Ohr HaChaim: usually the angelic minister stands next to the king at his right side, and not before the people, and usually the soldiers and the people stand in front of the king and he brings up the rear. However, the pasuk says, “Paro drew near” – in his zeal he went out to war chasing Bnei Yisrael in front of and ahead of his people. “And Bnei Yisrael lifted up their eyes and behold, there was Mitzrayim” – the Sar, the patron angel of Mitzrayim, was there alongside Paro – and this is why Bnei Yisrael saw the angelic minister, because Paro had drawn near, ahead of his people, and the angel stood at his side.
Bnei Yisrael did not know that the angel always stands beside the king, since usually the king stands at the rear, hidden behind the people. This is why they were so frightened; they thought heavenly angels had been sent down to wage war against them. When they saw an angel, they believed it was a sign that perhaps Hashem had forsaken them and allowed this angelic force to attack them. This is what caused them to cry out in distress.
The Ohr HaChaim gives two reasons why Hashem frightened them in this way. First, the pasuk says later that Bnei Yisrael saw Mitzrayim dead on the seashore. There, the Zohar II 52b also comments that this refers to the patron archangel of Egypt, whose name is Mitzrayim. Hashem wanted them to see the angel dead and defeated. Second, Hashem wanted them to do teshuva, and this event frightened them into repentance, as it says in Shemos Rabba ch. 21, “Paro drew near – Paro hikriv es libom le’ovinu shebashomayim – Paro drew their hearts close to their Father in Heaven.
