What did Pharaoh mean when he said, "Ki Ra'ah Neged Peneichem"?
Rashi (citing the Midrash) and Targum Yonasan: Pharaoh was telling Moshe that the stars foretold bloodshed and destruction for them in the desert. 1
Ramban #1 (citing Targum Onkelos): He meant that 'their intentions' - i.e., to flee - 'were plain for all to see.' 2
Ramban #2 (citing the Midrash): He meant that anyone who claims that small children and babies need to sacrifice can only be planning to escape. 3
Ramban #3: He meant that the look on their faces cannot hide what they are intending to do in their hearts, since the look on their faces revealed their intentions.
Rashbam: He meant that the wicked thoughts in their hearts did not match what they were saying. 4
Seforno: He meant that they were heading towards 5 evil, and it would find (destroy) them.
Hadar Zekenim: Since they were asking to go out with their households, cattle and flock, it was clear that they had no intention of returning.
Rashi: The evil was brought on by the star Ra'ah (Mars) that faced them in the desert. And that is why, when, after the sin of the Golden Calf, Hashem wanted to annihilate Yisrael, Moshe argued that the Egyptians would say that Hashem took them into the desert with (the star) Ra'ah, in order to kill them there - thereby creating a tremendous Chilul Hashem. So Hashem turned the bloodshed that the stars foretold, to the blood of the Bris Milah, which they performed before entering Eretz Cana'an, as the Pasuk in Yehoshua (5:9) relates - because the astrological message of the stars cannot be ignored, though it is not always fully accurate. Also refer to 10:10:1.1, and 10:10:151:1.
The Ramban cites three Perushim based on different texts of Onkelos.
Ramban: And that will rebound on Moshe, since Pharaoh would not allow them to go at all - measure for measure.
Rashbam: As in Yeshayah 5:21.
Seforno: As we find in Bereishis 25:32, and in other places.
Pharaoh did not object to the grown-ups being stricken by Ra'ah. Why did he object to the children leaving?
Oznayim la'Torah: 'Pharaoh the Tzadik' had the gall to declare himself self-appointed champion of the Jewish children, to protect them. 1 Perhaps he needed them to provide him with blood for bathing whenever he was stricken with leprosy.
Oznayim la'Torah: Professing to know what is best for them even better than their own parents (and leaders).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'See that Ra'ah is opposite you!' - ... A Midrash Agadah -- there is a certain star called Ra'ah, symbolic of blood and killing... Hashem turned it into the blood of Milah, when Yehoshua circumcised them." But Chazal teach that Bnei Yisrael need not be concerned about astrology at all; as the Navi says "From the signs of the heavens, have no dread" (Yirmeyahu 10:2)! So why did Hashem have to "turn around" the star's meaning?
Gur Aryeh #1: Indeed, the star would not have affected us adversely; but it would not have foretold any good either. Hashem wants to give every possible good to Bnei Yisrael, so He "turned around" its meaning to give us the Mitzvah of Milah.
Gur Aryeh #2: The Mitzrim did believe in astrology, and they would surely assume that some Jews were killed in the wilderness due to the star's effects. Hashem turned around its meaning, so that the Mitzrim would realize that the star meant only Dam Milah. 1
Maharal (Chidushei Agados Vol. 1, p. 89, to Shabbos 156a): "Mazal does not apply to Yisrael" means that astrology does not have full hold of them, as it does to the other nations. But even Bnei Yisrael need great merits to overcome their Mazal; and in this case it was turned around due to the merits of the Avos. 2
Gur Aryeh: According to this approach, it was not to save Bnei Yisrael that the fortune was overturned. Rather, the Milah "removed the disgrace of Egypt from upon them" (Yehoshua 5:9), in the sense that the Mitzrim should not even think that Ra'ah caused them any harm.
Maharal (ibid.): Prayer can certainly change one's fortune, even aside from the rule of "there is no Mazal over Yisrael." (If so, prayer will be effective for other nations as well.) Also refer to Bereishis 15:5:1.4:1.
Rashi writes: "... Pharaoh said, 'I see with my astrology, that this particular star (Ra'ah) is ascending towards you in the wilderness!' ... Hashem turned it into the blood of Milah, when Yehoshua circumcised them." But that Milah did not take place in the wilderness, but rather at Gilgal, after we had crossed the Yarden into Eretz Yisrael! In the wilderness, Milah was not performed!
Gur Aryeh: The reason that Milah was not performed in the Midbar, was because the north wind did not blow (so as not to disperse the clouds -Yevamos 72a), and the wound would not have healed properly. Thus, even the blood of the Milah in the Land of Israel, came about due to the sojourn in the wilderness.
Rashi writes that Hashem turned the bloodshed that the stars foretold, to the blood of Milah. But perhaps it really was the blood of those who died in the Midbar - due to the Egel, or Korach or the Meraglim!
Rosh: Because the Egyptians would ridicule Yisrael for circumcising in Egypt, but not in the desert. 1 The 'blood of Milah' that the star alluded to was not the Milah in the time of Yehoshua, but rather the Milah prior to leaving Mitzrayim (see Rashi to 12:6) - which preceded any loss of life in the Midbar.
Rosh: Hence, when Yehoshua circumcised them as they entered Cana'an, Hashem said, 'Today I have removed from you the shame of Mitzrayim' (Yehoshua 5:9).
