Speech Reaching the Heights

הן בנ"י ל"ש אלי.

“Behold, the Children of Israel did not listen to me.”

Moses states that even Israel, for whom the message of redemption was intended, did not heed his words.

מקשים כי בנ"י ל"ש מרוב עבודה.

They raise the difficulty that Israel did not listen because of the oppressive labor.

Here the Sefat Emet cites the common explanation that physical and emotional exhaustion prevented Israel from absorbing Moses’ message.

אבל נראה כי לא הי' יכול פרעה הרשע לקבל דבורו של משה אם לא ע"י בנ"י וכיון שבנ"י לא שמעו איך ישמעני פרעה.

But it seems that the wicked Pharaoh could not receive Moses’ words except through Israel; and since Israel did not listen, how then would Pharaoh listen to me?

The Sefat Emet suggests a deeper idea: Pharaoh’s capacity to hear Moses at all depended on Israel’s prior reception of the message. If the sanctity of Israel did not serve as a channel for the divine word, there was no pathway by which Pharaoh—spiritually distant and resistant—could perceive it.

ולכן צירף עמו אהרן:

Therefore Aaron was joined with him.

Aaron becomes the additional conduit through whom the divine message can reach Pharaoh when Israel is unable to serve that function. Aaron’s presence restores the needed spiritual channel.

Summary: The Sefat Emet teaches that Israel’s ability to hear Moses was not only for their own sake, but a necessary spiritual conduit enabling Pharaoh himself to receive Moses’ words. When Israel could not fulfill this role due to their suffering, Aaron was added to compensate and reopen the channel of communication.