Moshe’s fear
With this understanding, the significance of the simple meaning of the verse is understood. Moshe had become frightened when the Israelite whom he chastised responded insolently towards him, threatening to inform on him to Pharaoh. The verse is not irrelevant, as it imparts the fundamental concept of trusting in G-d. It was because Moshe did not trust G-d on the level that was demanded of him that the story played out in the way that it did. Were Moshe to have conducted himself according to the appropriate level of trust in G-d, he would have been saved from his predicament and would not be forced to flee Egypt.
R. Yehudah ben Nossan used to follow R. Hamnuna. Once he sighed, and the other said to him: “This man wants to bring suffering on himself, since it is written: ‘For the thing which I did fear has come upon me, and that which I was afraid of has overtaken me.’”
Talmud, Berachos 60a
When a person sighs and is worried about his situation, this itself is what brings hardship upon him. If the person is not scared, and instead trusts in the Almighty, then this very reliance causes G-d’s salvation. It is for this reason that all worry is destructive, as when a person worries, they are actually preventing G-d’s salvation.
This is the meaning of the verse, when it relates that “Moshe became frightened and said, ‘Indeed, the matter has become known!’ Pharaoh heard of this incident, and he sought to slay Moshe...”
It was Moshe’s fear and his lack of trust in G-d, which brought about Pharaoh’s desire to kill him. This as well is the reason that the Torah points out that Moshe said these words, as the verse recounts, “Moshe became frightened and said.” This accentuates Moshe’s deficiency of trust in G-d. Not only did he think these words, he expressed them verbally as well. Were he to have trusted in the Almighty completely, and not to have worried about the situation that was before him, this itself would have caused the matter to have been forgotten.
The lesson
From here we can glean an important lesson in our own lives. When a person is faced with obstacles which hold him back from performing mitzvos, he should know that in order for his troubles to dissipate, it depends on his actions and his trust in the Almighty. If one has complete trust in G-d, in a manner in which he removes all worry, then he is assured that through thinking good, it will indeed be good!
Concerning the redemption from Egypt it says, that the Jewish people were redeemed through the merit of their trust in G-d.
In the merit of their trust, the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt.
Kad Kemach, Bitachon
So too concerning the future redemption. When the Jewish people will trust that their redemption is near, this itself will bring it about in actuality. May it be speedily in our time!
(Based on Likutei Sichos 36, Shemos 1, reworked by Rabbi Dovid Markel. To see other projects and to partner in our work, see: www.Neirot.com.)
