Pharaoh hastened to call to Moses and to Aaron, and he said, “I have offended before the LORD your God and before you. And now, forgive, pray, my offense, just this time, and entreat the LORD your God...When Pharaoh confesses his sin, first he mentions God and then Moses and Aaron. When asking for forgiveness,
Maimonides posits that a sinner can lose their free choice. This is how he explains the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. Sforno takes the opposite view – if Pharaoh’s heart was not hardened, he would have immediately freed the people but he would not have been acting freely. Pharaoh’s servants advise him: “Send off the men,
Before Jacob dies, he apportions a double inheritance to Joseph. And then, he apologizes to him: As for me, when I was coming from Paddan, Rachel died to my grief in the land of Canaan on the way, still some distance from Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way.” Why does Jacob offer Joseph
Before he dies, Jacob blesses all his children and to Joseph he apportions a double inheritance. Joseph’s children, Manasseh and Ephraim, will inherit equal portions along with Jacob’s children. And then Jacob offers Joseph an apology: As for me, when I was coming from Paddan, Rachel died to my grief in the land of Canaan
