Dvar Torah for vaera (please verify for yourself any factual statement that I make, by looking it up.)
Question 1: What was special about the separation of the Yidden by Arov and Dever that the Torah mentions this point by them. Were not the Yidden separate by the first three plagues also?
Question 2: For the first three plagues, Pharaoh did not listen to them. For Arov and Dever it states that he (just) did not send them. Why then by Shechin does it go back to say that he did not listen to them. What caused his reversal?
Question 3: The magicians are mentioned by the first three plagues but not by Arov and Dever. Why are they again mentioned by Shechin?
Question 4: Why did HaShem by Shechin tell Moshe to specifically throw the ashes up in front of Pharaoh’s eyes?
Believe it or not, I will answer all these questions (and more).
The reason why the seperation of the first three plagues is not important is because Aharon used the stick to bring them about. It seemed to Mitzrayim that HaShem did not care about the Yidden, but that Moshe and Aharon were channeling the power of HaShem, through the stick, for their own purposes. The first three plagues thus proved the first lesson “that I am HaShem,” but they did not prove the second lesson (stated by Arov) “that I am HaShem in the land,” namely, that HaShem Himself was controling the situation on the ground and separating between them.
Arov and Dever, on the other hand, came to prove the second lesson (that HaShem was in control). This is why there is no mention of the stick or any intermediary being used by them.
HaShem wanted to harden Pharaoh’s heart by Shechin and get him to go in reverse, so he therefore told Moshe to throw the ashes up in front of Pharaoh’s eyes. This use of an intermediary made Pharaoh reject the second lesson, which was based on not using an intermediary. This is why Pharaoh went back to not listen to them, as by the first three plagues. This is also why the magicians were called back again, just like the first three plagues.
The reason HaShem wanted Pharaoh to reverse (by Shechin) was to make the next lesson (by Barad) more powerful. Pharaoh thought he could analyze and understand how the makos should continue, such that when he “caught” a flaw, he thus rejected the second lesson. Pharaoh similarly questioned why HaShem needed his permission to let the Yidden go. The next lesson by Barad “that there is none like me in all the land” came to prove that HaShem is beyond prediction and understanding. Moreover, HaShem (by the warning for Barad)specifically answered why He “needed” Pharaoh’s permission. HaShem said that He really didn’t need it, but that he wanted to show His streangth through the makos, which would come about through Pharaoh’s refusal.
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