What are the implications of the words, "V'Sharatz ha'Ye'or Tzefarde'im"?
Oznayim la'Torah: It implies that the Nile will actually produce frogs 1 - bearing in mind that all the fish that lived there died.
Ibn Ezra: As the Torah writes in Bereishis 1:20.
Rashi (to 8:2) cites a Midrash that at first, just one frog emerged from the river; but when the Mitzrim hit it, it swarmed and filled Egypt. Why then does our verse say, "the river will teem forth frogs"?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem, beg. Ch. 33, p. 124): If not for the Nile, the eventual swarming could not have taken place. The river was to the frogs, as land is for sprouting seeds.
Why did the plague of frogs begin specifically with Pharaoh?
Rashi: They attacked Pharaoh first, 1 because it was Pharaoh 2 who had initiated the plan to enslave Yisrael. 3
Oznayim la'Torah, citing Midrash: They bit him, wounded him, and castrated him. See Oznayim la'Torah.
The plague of Arov too began with Pharaoh, as the Pasuk records later - in 8:17.
Rashi: See Shemos 1:9. However, this seems to clash with the Midrash that initially, Pharaoh refused to listen to the wishes of the people to enslave Yisrael, and it was only after they deposed him for three months that he relented.
What is the meaning of "uv'Mish'arosecha"?
Rashi (to Yechezkel 20:40): It means 'and in your food.'
Pesachim 53a: It means 'and in your kneading-bowls.'
Why does the Torah need to mention that the frogs will enter the kneading bowls?
Pesachim 53a: The bowls are mentioned after the ovens, to teach that the frogs entered the ovens while the kneading troughs were placed next to the ovens - i.e., when the ovens were hot. This teaches us that the frogs were Moser Nefesh 1 to fulfill Hashem's command. 2
A lesson which Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah took to heart, when they sanctified Hashem's Name by allowing themselves to be cast into the furnace in the days of Nevuchadnetzar (Daniel 3:16-23).
Torah Temimah: In spite of the fact that frogs are water creatures - to whom fire is anathema.
Here the Torah mentions Pharaoh's slaves before his nation. Why does it reverse the order in the next Pasuk (7:29)?
Moshav Zekenim: This Pasuk discusses the order of entering the houses; they first arrived at the slaves' houses. But the next Pasuk discusses the frogs entering their bodies; in this regard Pharaoh and his nation were stricken before his slaves, since they were in the plot to enslave Yisrael. 1
Moshav Zekenim: As the Pasuk wrote earlier, "va'Yomer El Amo" (1:9).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'They shall ascend' - from the Nile." Why explain this way? (Perhaps it means the frogs will ascend the steps into the palace?)
Mizrachi: Ascending means from a low place to a high place. Dry land is higher than water on the conceptual plane. 1
Rashi writes: "'... Into your home' - and only afterwards into the homes of your servants." How is this derived?
Mizrachi: The verse could have written briefly, 'they shall ascend into all the houses of Egypt.' It goes out of its way to specify that Pharaoh would suffer first.
Rashi writes: "Pharaoh began the idea (of enslaving the Bnei Yisrael) initially (see 1:9) ... and so the punishment began with him." Why in fact did their slavery begin with Pharaoh?
