Rav Avigdor Miller on Moshe Rabeinu’s Tefillah and Punishing the Nile

Q:
At the end of last week’s parsha, why did Moshe Rabbeinu say to Hashem: למה הרעתה לעם הזה – “Why have You done bad to Your nation”? How could Moshe question Hashem’s actions?

A:
How could Moshe Rabbeinu say to Hashem, “Why have you done harm to your people”?  And the answer is, that’s the way tzaddikim pray.  Big tzaddikim pray that way because they actually feel like they are discussing their problem with Someone – it’s a form of speaking to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

Lesser people have to watch themselves to use more a moderate expressions, but Moshe Rabbeinu prayed from the bottom of his heart and he said to Hashem, “You have done harm to your people.”  Of course, he understood that in the long run, Hakodosh Boruch Hu would do only chesed, but when you really believe that you’re speaking to Hakodosh Boruch Hu – when you’re not merely rattling off words as a formality – so you speak from the bottom of your heart.

Q:
You stated that the reason why the Ribono Shel Olam punished Mitzrayim by the Nile was Pharaoh had a special admiration for the Nile and he relied on it. If I’m not mistaken, Rashi says in two places that Hakodosh Boruch Hu hit the Nile because He always punishes a nation by hitting their god. How do you reconcile these two statements?
A:
It’s exactly the same thing. The word god doesn’t have to mean somebody that they actually worship. Although it could be that they worshiped the Nile too, but the intent is that Hashem hits the one in whom they have trust, the thing they rely on. Since they trusted Nile, so they were smitten in the Nile. And the main purpose is to show that the thing they trusted – whether it’s an object or an idol — Hakodosh Boruch Hu demonstrates that it’s valueless.