You might expect that once Moses tells Pharaoh that Pharaoh will no longer see his face, Moses would leave. However, according to Rashi, the premier Torah commentator (11:4) and Rashbam (his grandson) in 11:1, G-d speaks to Moses whilst Moses continues to stand in the presence of Pharaoh! This is also surprising because we read at the end of last week’s Sidra that Moses went outside the city, away from Pharaoh, to pray to G-d (9:29) as the city was steeped in idolatry, thus being an inappropriate place for Moses to pray (see Rashi there).

Although this seems puzzling, verse 4 above seems to bear out Rashi’s opinion. Why does the verse not identify who Moses is speaking to? The answer, according to Rashi, would seem to be that the placement of the verse and its message can only be to Pharaoh. Therefore, rather than Moses leaving Pharaoh after Pharaoh’s threat, Moses receives a communication from G-d and also speaks to Pharaoh before leaving, so that both Pharaoh’s threat and Moses’ agreement not to come back to Pharaoh only start after the end of this episode and not in the middle of it. This is also the opinion of Ramban, another major commentator, in 10:29.

Ramban (11:1) also quotes a fascinating Midrash (homiletical teaching) that G-d, so to speak, changed His plans and communicated with Moses whilst Moses was with Pharaoh because Moses had said that he would not return to Pharaoh. This was to make sure that Pharaoh got the message about the plague of the firstborn without Moses reneging on his promise.