הכתב והקבלה — ויגד למלך מצרים כי ברח העם

Q — 'ויגד למלך מצרים כי ברח העם' — but Pharaoh *himself* sent them out! How can the report say they 'fled'? Rashi, Rashbam, Ramban offer various readings (the three days had passed; the people reversed course toward Mitzrayim). HaKtav offers a tentative but striking alternative.

A — HaKtav VeHaKabbalah prefaces his reading 'ולולי יראתי' ('were I not afraid to say it'): 'ברח' here may not be from the root meaning 'flee' but from the root 'בריח' — bolt, bar, lock-and-key. 'כי ברח העם' would then mean 'the people are bolted in' — i.e., enclosed, trapped. The setting at Pi HaChirot supports this exactly: the geography placed Yisrael in a narrow pocket between the sea-pour, the migdal, and the idol Ba'al Tzephon. Pharaoh's report was geographic, not motivational: the people are *boxed in*, ripe for slaughter ('בנקל יהרגם כולם כאיש אחד'). The verse 'הארץ סגר עליהם המדבר' is its immediate parallel. The tentative tone is HaKtav's hallmark — proposing a chiddush while marking it as exploratory.