Nearing the end of their forty year sojourn in the desert, the quickest way for the Jews to arrive at the Promised Land went through the kingdom of Edom.
Moshe sent messengers asking to be able travel through Edom. He described what happened to the Jews since they last encountered Edom more than two centuries earlier. The Jews were enslaved in Egypt and G-d freed them.
“... and He sent an angel and He took us out of Egypt.” (20:15)
Who is this angel that Moshe is referring to?
Rashi explains that Moshe is meaning himself.
The obvious question is how could Moshe have the chutzpah to call himself an angel? Moshe was the most humble of all people.
A story making the rounds at the moment concerns a former President of the US who was planning to withdraw troops from a region which saw US army deaths on a regular basis. He and his Secretary of State met with the enemy leader and told him of his plan to withdraw troops once all appropriate conditions had been met. In the interim, the President warned the rebel that no soldier would be harmed or the rebel and his family would be eliminated.
To back up his pledge he pulled out a satellite image of the rebel’s home and handed it to him. The President then left the room.
Until the President’s term ended, no US soldier was killed.
R’ Yitzchak of Vorka explains that when you talk to an enemy, you need to let them know who they are really talking to. Sure, Moshe was humble, but he knew that he was Moshe who led the Jews from Egypt, who split the Red Sea, who gave the Jews the Torah. To the Edomites, he was indeed an angel.
R’ Zalman Sorotzkin tells of a Vilna Dayan (Rabbinical Judge) who came across a yokel having an ox and donkey pulling his wagon – the archetypal case of kilayim, a Torah prohibition.
When the Dayan alerted the man, he was ignored, so the Dayan told him that as he was a Vilna Dayan, he had the power and would punish the yokel. Immediately the man obeyed from fear of punishment.
If you want to be heard, you need to tailor the message so that the desired result is achieved.
