This Shabbat we study the Parsha Va’eira, meaning “and I appeared” (Exodus 6:3). G-d reveals Himself to Moses. Employing the “four expressions of redemption”:  take out the Children of Israel from Egypt, deliver them from their enslavement, redeem them, and acquire them as His own chosen people at “Mount Sinai”; He will then bring them to the land He promised to the Patriarchs as their eternal heritage. Moses and Aaron repeatedly come before Pharaoh to demand in the name of G-d. Pharaoh repeatedly refuses. Aaron’s staff turns into a snake and swallows the magic sticks of the Egyptian sorcerers. G-d then sends a series of plagues upon the Egyptians. The waters of the Nile turn to blood; swarms of frogs overrun the land; lice infest all men and beasts. Hordes of wild animals invade the cities; a pestilence kills the domestic animals; painful boils afflict the Egyptians. For the seventh plague, fire and ice combine to descend from the skies as a devastating hail. Still, “the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he would not let the children of Israel go, as G-d had said to Moses.”

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Chabad.org

This week's haftorah begins with a mention of the ingathering of the exiles, echoing G-d's promise mentioned in the Torah portion: "I will take you out of the suffering of Egypt." The prophet then goes on to discuss the decimation of Pharaoh and Egypt, reminiscent of the primary theme of the Torah portion—the devastation G-d wrought upon Egypt.

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Ezekiel begins with a description of what will occur during the ingathering of the exiles. "When I gather in the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they have been scattered, and I have been sanctified through them in the eyes of the nations, then shall they dwell on their land that I gave to My servant, to Jacob. And they shall dwell upon it securely..."

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The prophet then proceeds to convey a prophecy regarding Pharaoh and Egypt, foretelling the fall of the Egyptian empire. Egypt merited this punishment for two reasons: a)  They had reneged on their promise to come to Israel's aid against the attacking Babylonians. b) They had incredible arrogance, considering themselves un-reliant on G-d, instead attributing their success to the bounty their deified Nile afforded them. Therefore, Ezekiel warns: "And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and in ruins, and they shall know that I am the Lord! Because he [Pharaoh] said, 'The river is mine, and I have made it.'" G-d warns that the land of Egypt will be empty and desolate for forty years, after which G-d will return the people to the land to reinhabit it, but it will no longer be an important nation to be reckoned with.

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The haftorah ends with another prophecy wherein G-d informs Ezekiel that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, will be the one to conquer Egypt and take its spoils. This as a reward for his effort in defeating the wicked nation of Tyre.

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Chabad.org

Pharaoh’s advisers tried hard to explain away all the plagues. Even when the Red Sea split, allowed the Jews free passage, and drowned their enemies, there were those who ascribed the entire event to natural causes. Such is human nature, to reflexively seek out a natural explanation for every event. But a Jew, quite the opposite, ponders a natural occurrence and sees a miracle. Because a Jew has an innate inner conviction that there is nothing else but G-d. There is no nature—it is all by His hand.

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Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

The basic and universal term for Israel’s redemption from the galut is ge’ulah. When the inherent and pervasive presence of the Aleph (the “Master of the Universe”) is revealed and manifested, this will remove all the concealing obstacles of the galut which screen and cover its true reality and intent. There will be a revelation of Divinity within the world and in all mundane categories, to the point that “Everything that has been made will know that You have made it... and every besouled being will declare that G-d, the G-d of Israel, is King, and that His Kingship rules over all” (Liturgy of Rosh Hashanah). Golah is transformed into ge’ulah!

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From an article by Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet

Every once in a while my children ask me to help them with one of the many puzzles in the cupboard. The usual routine has us sit down on the floor where I examine the shape, color and picture fragment of a puzzle piece to determine where it belongs. Invariably, my little daughter will grab the piece from my hand and place it exactly where it is meant to go, leaving me to conclude that it was my company she desired more than my skills. The reason she is so much better at it than I am is that she knows the entire picture. When she looks at a puzzle piece she visualizes the complete puzzle and knows exactly where that fragment fits in. I must content myself with examining the piece and deducing from it what the surrounding pieces must look like. In other words, her knowledge flows from the picture to the fragment while my knowledge flows from the fragment to the picture. Where I see incomplete images she sees portions of a perfect picture.

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This was precisely the difference between Moses and the many prophets who followed him. Moses was familiar with the divine master plan and saw each prophecy within the context of that plan. Later prophets struggled to understand the details of what they were given and attempted to deduce the wider implications of the master plan from them. 

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Moses did not view himself as a separate entity from G-d; he was completely detached from himself with no sense of independent ego. His entire consciousness was absorbed within G-d. Because Moses was, also in his own consciousness, not an entity separate from G-d, he was never overwhelmed by prophecy. He could easily relate to the words G-d spoke to him and understand both the prophecies themselves and their wider context. The later prophet was not fully one with his prophecy. The actual prophecy phase always overwhelmed him and upon its conclusion he would need to step back and examine the vision he had received. Once he stepped back and returned to his usual self, the transcendent vision would appear enigmatic. To decipher it he would need to apply himself intellectually. Where Moses saw a perfect portion of a greater image, the later prophet he saw an incomplete fragment and struggled to make sense of it. Later prophets transmitted their prophecy in their own words; but Moses' prophecy would become an instant "live feed" through which G-d's words were broadcast to the Jewish people. 

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It was not always this way for Moses. When he first started he also struggled to understand his prophetic experiences. Moses' defining moment came with the most enigmatic of all his prophecies, which appears at the end of last week's Parsha. G-d instructed Moses to demand that Pharaoh set the Israelites free. In response, Pharaoh defiantly increased the pressure on the people by refusing to provide building supplies yet demanding the same work quotas as before. Moses, yet unschooled in matters of the divine plan, couldn’t accept this development and turned in anger to G-d, "Why have you harmed your people?" G-d's seemingly unsatisfactory response is found in the beginning of this week's Parsha. "I am G-d. I have revealed myself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and have not shown them my intimate name.” G-d was telling Moses that he would now be permitted to see what no prophet ever would: G-d's essence. When G-d's essence is revealed it completely absorbs the viewer, for it's not possible to see G-d and remain detached. 

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From here on Moses could no longer receive his prophecy as a separate entity, outside from G-d. He would now become fully absorbed within the divine. Like my daughter who knows her puzzle, Moses would now know the full scope of G-d's plan. Now he would clearly understand the reason for the harm his mission wrought. He now understood that in manipulating Pharaoh to issue this cruel decree, G-d sealed Egypt's fate and triggered the onset of the Ten Plagues.

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From an article by Rabbi Lazer Gurkow