God's Might in Midrash

(5) Rabban Gamliel used to say:...In every generation a person must regard himself as though he personally had gone out of Egypt, as it is said: “And you shall tell your son in that day, saying: ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.’”
Therefore it is our duty to thank, praise, laud, glorify, exalt, honor, bless, extol, and adore Him Who performed all these miracles for our ancestors and us; He brought us forth from bondage into freedom, from sorrow into joy, from mourning into festivity, from darkness into great light, and from servitude into redemption. Therefore let us say before Him, Hallelujah!

What does it mean, [Moses] Man Of God? Rabbi Tanchuma says, perhaps Moses was part man, part God. When Moses was cast into the Nile, he was a man, but when he turned it to blood he was a God. When he fled from before Pharaoh he was a man, but when he drowned Pharaoh in the sea, he was a God. Another idea: Said Rav Avin, from his waist down, he was a man, and from his waist up he was a God.

(6) Ten things were created on the eve of the [first] Shabbat at twilight. And these are they: ... and the rainbow; and the manna; and the staff [of Moshe];...and the letters; and the writing; and the tablets. And some say, also the destructive spirits, and the burial place of Moshe, our teacher...

And Avitul the scribe said in the name of Rav Pappa: The Pharaoh who lived in the days of Moses was a cubit tall, his beard was a cubit long, and his penis [parmashtako] was a cubit and a span, i.e., a cubit and the distance between the thumb and the little finger, in length, in order to fulfill what is stated: “And He sets up over it the lowest of men” (Daniel 4:14), which teaches that Pharaoh was extremely short and lowly.

"For I have hardened his heart". What does "I have hardened" imply? That G-d made his heart like a liver (כבד) into which even if boiled a second time no juice enters; so also was the heart of Pharaoh made like a liver, and he did not receive the words of G-d. Hence, "For I have hardened his heart".

And really, shouldn't God have be able to save the people of Israel right away, with just the first plague?!

It is stated with regard to the plagues of Egypt: “And the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt” (Exodus 8:2). Noting that the term “the frog” is written in the singular, Rabbi Elazar says: At first it was one frog; it spawned and filled the entire land of Egypt with frogs. The Gemara comments: This matter is subject to a dispute between tanna’im: Rabbi Akiva says: It was one frog, and it spawned and filled the entire land of Egypt with frogs. Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya said to him: Akiva, what are you doing occupying yourself with the study of aggada? This is not your field of expertise. Rather, the verse is to be understood as follows: It was one frog; it whistled to the other frogs, and they all came after it.

God brought the frogs to them until they were everywhere. The Mitzrim even heard them croaking in their bellies. And what did they say? KavKav [measure for measure] - and not only this, but when the Mitzrim would go to the bathroom, there would be frogs in there, and they would come out and bite their asses, and there's nothing more awkward than that!

"And God turned a West wind" - Why did not one locust remain? Rabbi Yochanan said, "Look, when the locusts first came, the Mitzrim were super happy. They said to each other - Great! Let's gather these all and pickle them! Then God said, haha suckers, you shouldn't be so happy with what I'm giving you! At that moment the West wind came, and it lifted up all the locusts. So when the pasuk says that not even one remained, that's to let you know that even the ones in pickling pots left.

These are [the] ten plagues that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought on the Egyptians in Egypt and they are:

Blood - Frogs - Lice -[The] Mixture [of Wild Animals] - Pestilence

Boils - Hail - Locusts - Darkness

Slaying of [the] Firstborn

Rabbi Yehuda was accustomed to giving [the plagues] mnemonics: Detsakh, Adash, Beachav.

Rabbi Yose Hagelili says, "From where can you [derive] that the Egyptians were struck with ten plagues in Egypt and struck with fifty plagues at the Sea? In Egypt, what does it state? 'Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh: ‘This is the finger of God' (Exodus 8:15). And at the Sea, what does it state? 'And Israel saw the Lord's great hand that he used upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord; and they believed in the Lord, and in Moshe, His servant' (Exodus 14:31). How many were they struck with with the finger? Ten plagues. You can say from here that in Egypt, they were struck with ten plagues and at the Sea, they were struck with fifty plagues."

Rabbi Eliezer says, "From where [can you derive] that every plague that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt was [composed] of four plagues? As it is stated (Psalms 78:49): 'He sent upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and fury, and trouble, a sending of messengers of evil.' 'Wrath' [corresponds to] one; 'and fury' [brings it to] two; 'and trouble' [brings it to] three; 'a sending of messengers of evil' [brings it to] four. You can say from here that in Egypt, they were struck with forty plagues and at the Sea, they were struck with two hundred plagues."

Rabbi Akiva says, says, "From where [can you derive] that every plague that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt was [composed] of five plagues? As it is stated (Psalms 78:49): 'He sent upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and fury, and trouble, a sending of messengers of evil.' 'The fierceness of His anger' [corresponds to] one; 'wrath' [brings it to] two; 'and fury' [brings it to] three; 'and trouble' [brings it to] four; 'a sending of messengers of evil' [brings it to] five. You can say from here that in Egypt, they were struck with fifty plagues and at the Sea, they were struck with two hundred and fifty plagues."