Did Paroh and the Egyptians Do Teshuva?

After the plague of hail, there is a big surprise. Paroh exclaimed: "I have sinned this time. Hashem is righteous, and I and my nation are the wicked ones" (Shemot 9:27). That is quite a change from Paroh’s normal approach, but is it what it seems to be?

Rashi does not comment on this pasuk, which might imply that he did not see it as a major divergence from the obstacles Paroh put before the wheels of liberation. According to Rashi, then, there is no trust put in Paroh or his kind, as we see from the continuation, that Paroh did not yet let the people go.

There are two ways to read the pasuk from a linguistic perspective: 1) Now I understand that I am the one who has been wrong; 2) Only this time was Hashem in the right. The trop, which puts the major pause after "hapa’am" (this time), implies that the second way is correct – it was a minor admission and not an act of repentance and reverence of His ways. What is it, if so, that Paroh was noting?

The Chizkuni explained that Paroh was impressed by the fact that Hashem did not try to surprise them but warned the Egyptians to bring their cattle in before the hail fell (ibid. 19). This was not a sweeping admission that Hashem’s overall demands of him were proper or that his enslavement of the people had been immoral but a small nod to the fact that Hashem had "fought fairly." Ibn Ezra posited that there was somewhat of a fuller admission of guilt but that it was done only out of fear for his life and not out of remorse. The Ramban and the Bechor Shor explain the pasuk as a (temporary) sincere admission of wrongdoing over time.

This machloket also finds expression in the commentary on a surprising pasuk in Yeshayahu (19:25). The prophecy, which speaks harshly about the prospects of Egypt and relates to its struggles against Assyria, ends as follows: "Hashem blessed, saying, ‘Blessed is My nation, Egypt, and the work of My hands, Assyria, and My inheritance, Israel." The Radak explains that Egypt became His nation again when they repented. Although it is difficult to fit into the words, Rashi explains that Hashem was blessing Israel who became Hashem’s nation when they were in Egypt. In other words, Rashi did not believe that Egypt was capable of repenting to a significant degree.

Let us pray that just as we, who as a nation merited seeing the liberation from Egypt in the time of Moshe and the ingathering of the exiles in our generation, will likewise see the nations of the Arab world, especially Egypt, repent and recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish nation, and thereby, the spiritual center of the whole monotheistic world.