There is a remarkable teaching here: when Moshe announced to Pharaoh that the firstborn would die, Pharaoh mocked him and said, "How many firstborn are there in Egypt – two or three hundred?" He did not realize that most of Egypt's children were firstborn, because the Egyptians were so immersed in immorality and sexual transgression. When the plague struck, even the heads of households died in place of their firstborn.
The Midrash HaGadol tells the story of an old woman. When Moshe said, "And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt," this old woman came out to meet him and said to him: "You are a false prophet. An old woman who has neither father nor mother, neither brother nor sister, neither son nor daughter – on whom will she cry?" He said to her: "Your servitude will precede your cry to their cry." She had one son who had already died, and she made an image of a lion in the form of her dead son, and every day after she ate and drank, she would stand and dance before it. That night the dogs came and knocked it down, and she was weeping and crying and wailing over it, to fulfill Moshe’s words.
Another Midrash tells of a woman who thought Moshe's decree applied only to those in houses, but not on roofs; so, she hid her son on the roof! Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent a dog that ate him. At midnight, she found her son in the dog's mouth and cried out with such force that her cry filled the entire land.
This re-raises Rav Chaver’s question. If the Haggadah, in Dayeinu, says אִ לּוּ עָ שָׂ ה בּ ָ הֶ ם שׁ ְ פָ טִ ים – If He had executed judgments upon them, which includes all ten plagues, why do we need to mention Makat Bechorot separately?
The Brisker Rav answers beautifully. Brought in his commentary on the Haggadah and also in his novellae on the Torah, he says the nine makkot were in the category of 'judgment and justice' upon Pharaoh and Egypt. All were measure for measure – middah k’neged middah. But Makat Bechorot different; it came to take Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt, as is explicit in Parashat Shemo during the initial warning given to Pharaoh: And I said to you, send out My son that he may serve Me, and you refused to send him out; behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.
This makes clear that Makat Bechorot existed for the purpose of taking Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt – through killing the Egyptians’ firstborn, they were freed.
Now we can understand what we recite in the Haggadah of Pesach: "If He had brought us out of Egypt and not executed judgments upon them – it would have been enough for us. If He had executed judgments upon them and not struck their gods – it would have been enough for us. If He had struck their gods and not killed their firstborn – it would have been enough for us."
At first glance this is puzzling. The 'judgments' already include all ten makkot, so Makat Bechorot is already included. Why does the Haggadah single it out again separately?
The answer is this: the Haggadah first says, "If He had brought us out of Egypt and not executed judgments upon them"—meaning the 'judgment and justice' that was owed to them. Then it says, "If He had executed judgments upon them and not struck their gods," and only afterward, "If He had not killed their firstborn" – meaning, if He had not done what was necessary to take Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt. Makat Bechorot and the other makkot are two separate categories of judgment entirely.
We can bring additional support from the Pasuk in Shemot: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt? At first glance, it is puzzling why Moshe said, "and I should bring them out,” which suggests another matter. It should have said, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh to bring out Bnei Yisrael?" Reference to himself taking them out doesn’t fit our story at all. But it becomes clear from the words of the Brisker Rav, that in truth these are two separate things in play. Firstly, there is ‘judgement and justice’ which is applied to Pharaoh and the Egyptians through the nine first makkot, and secondly, there is the matter of taking bring Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt through Makat Bechorot.
So, R’ Yitzchak Isaac Chaver asked: Why do we separate Makat Bechorot from the other judgments? The answer is that the nine plagues were punishment for Egypt, while Makat Bechorot was in order to bring them out of Egypt! And so writes the Malbim
