Parashas Va'eira - A Battle Between G-ds?

Pharoh, the king of Egypt, liked to be known as 'god'. In fact, he told the Egyptians that he was indeed a god. He woke up earlier than anyone else in order to relieve himself in the Nile River – to keep his secret discreet. Before makkas dam, Hashem asked for Moshe to meet Pharoh by the Nile River, early in the morning, to give him a message and simultaneously put him in his place.[1] (He might be able to fool the Egyptians, however, nothing is hidden from Hashem.)

The posuk says, "Moshe and Aharon came to Pharoh and they did exactly as Hashem commanded them... Pharoh too called his wise men and magicians..." [2] Why does the posuk need to say the word 'too' – which means 'as well'? The word seems extra because the posuk would have read well without it anyways and we know the Torah never adds any unnecessary words.

Incidentally, every year I hear the same question, "How is it that Bnei Yisroel sinned with the golden calf? They witnessed Hashem's hand and saw miracles happen right before their eyes! Why did they feel like they needed to make another 'god' just because Moshe was no longer with them?!

I believe both of the above questions can be answered by one posuk in this week's Parasha: Hashem said to Moshe, "See, I have made you a G-d to Pharoh; and Aharon, your brother will be your spokesman." [3] Yonasan ben Uziel says on this posuk, “Why are you afraid of Pharoh? On the contrary! He's afraid of you, because I have turned you into a G-d.” His definition of 'G-d' is literal.

According to Yonasan ben Uziel, Pharoh perceived Moshe as a 'god' and he had a 'spokesman' (Aharon) who took care of what he (Moshe) instructed. Since Pharoh , too, viewed himself as a 'god' to the Egyptians, it seemed fit that he, 'too', called his spokesmen (wise men and magicians) to perform witchcraft.

Since the posuk mentioned the extra word, 'too', the Torah showed us how much Pharoh believed that Moshe was a god in his eyes. And perhaps we can assume that to some level, Bnei Yisroel felt the same way, which is why they felt they must "create a new god (leader)" once they saw that Moshe was dead.

Pharoh was stubborn and ignorant. He made it seem as if he was a god, ignoring the fact there's Someone more powerful than him - Someone legitimate. One who knows all and sees all. Moshe, on the other hand, was the humblest of all men. He knew his success was from Hashem. He never let the 'power' get to his head. In addition, Moshe had tremendous amounts of Hakaras HaTov. An example is when Moshe did not want to hit the river to turn it to blood or the ground to turn it into lice. He felt that since he was saved by the river and the ground, he couldn't be the one to smite it. Therefore he felt the need to delegate it to Aharon.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

[1] 7:15

[2] 7:10-12

[3] 7:1