ויאמר ד' אל משה בא אל פרעה, כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו למען שתי אתתי אלה בקרבו
Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu go through this process of the ten makkos and hardening Pharaoh’s heart so that He should be able to perform more miracles and bring more makkos upon Mitzrayim? Why not just bring one long and severe makkah for a long time until Paroah could not bear it at all and would have been forced to immediately free Klal Yisroel? Why not just bring Makkas Bechoros first, the makkah that caused Pharaoh to send out Klal Yisroel, and then there would have been no need to bring the other makkos?
This can be explained with a moshol. There was a man traveling in the desert, and he found ten thousand gold coins. He was ecstatic about his find. There was another man also traveling in the desert who found one thousand gold coins and was very excited about his find. He continued traveling and kept on finding bags of one thousand gold coins. By the time he reached his destination, he had found a total of ten thousand gold coins. Although both of these people ended up with ten thousand gold coins, the one who found one thousand at a time had greater joy. The one who found the ten thousand was very happy once; however, the second person became happy ten times, for each time he found another thousand gold coins, he was happy all over again.
So too with Klal Yisroel, had there been only one severe extended makkah, or right away Makkas Bechoros, Klal Yisroel would have had one great simcha for the great miracle that occurred for them. However, now that there were ten makkos, they had joy ten times, for each miracle that was performed on their behalf, and this was greater joy than had there been only one. (עוד יוסף חי)
Now we can understand why Hakadosh Boruch Hu freed Klal Yisroel the way He did. Hakadosh Boruch Hu has a plan for everything, and nothing is happenstance. Hakadosh Boruch Hu acts middah k’neged middah, and while one does not see all of the details of every situation, all must know that everything is perfectly calculated so that everything is done to the liking of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Pharaoh needed to be afflicted by ten makkos for the sake of Klal Yisroel; Klal Yisroel needed to remain in Mitzrayim during that time to create a tikkun. Both sides of the coin, Pharaoh and Klal Yisroel, received exactly as they deserved.
Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to give Klal Yisroel more joy, so He inflicted the Mitzriyim with ten makkos instead of one, which still would have been joyous for Klal Yisroel, but not as joyous as having the Mitzriyim afflicted with ten makkos. The Torah is teaching us here that everything that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does is exact, and we must never question anything He does. Emunah is not something we can clearly see, for that would not be called emunah. Emunah is believing even when we can say and convince ourselves that it is nature and not Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is really no such thing as nature. Rather, nature is just the clearly revealed part of the Ribbono Shel Olam.
May we be zoche to have true emunah in Hakadosh Boruch Hu.
