In his very first comment on the Torah, Rashi cites a Midrash in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak that the section in the middle of Parshat Bo should have been the first Parsha in the Torah because it includes the first Mitzvah provided to the Jewish people -- the Pascal Lamb. The section on the Pascal Lamb begins with a mini-mitzvah, that Nisan, the month in which the Exodus occurred, should be the first month of the year. While Rosh Hashana, which takes place on the first day(s) of Tishrei, marks the beginning of the new year, Jewish law also assigns the ‘first-month’ status to several other dates which each represent a special type of beginning. Due to the Exodus, Nisan is designated the first of all the months. This explains why some poskim say that when you write a date in January, you should use the name of the month instead of denoting it with the number 1 because Nisan is the only true first month.
This Mitzvah, that Nisan should be the first in the sequence of months, is puzzling because it is based on Nisan being the month of the Exodus. However, the Exodus had not yet taken place when this first mitzvah was given to the Jewish people. How can a mitzvah commemorate an event that had not yet occurred? We find a similar conundrum with the mitzvah of eating matzah: One reason given for that mitzvah is that it commemorates the way the Jewish people left Egypt בְּחִפָּזוֹן [in a hurry], but, once again, this mitzvah was given prior to the Exodus.
In my Pesach book, Bringing Order to the Seder, I explain that although the Exodus had not yet occurred when these mitzvot were provided, our liberation was guaranteed by God from the outset, and the only question was when it would take place. This is the important lesson in the paradoxical timing of the mitzvot of Nisan and matzah; we learn that when they were given, the Exodus was already a foregone conclusion.
The message that the Exodus was predetermined is also brought out by the concept of לֵ֣יל שִׁמֻּרִ֥ים, the guarded night (Shemot 12:42). This phrase refers to the Exodus, which occurred at night, but what does שִׁמֻּרִ֥ים, or guarded, mean? A common explanation is that it alludes to a time when God protects us, and for one thing, we are not required to recite the entire Kriat Shema or, according to some, we need not lock our doors. Our Sages in Mesechet Rosh Hashana provide a deeper explanation: Leil Hamishumar Uba Misheishet Yimei Breisheet – that the Exodus was predetermined from the time of Creation. We say the night is guarded because God did not just confront the Jewish people with the problem of slavery and then abandon us to figure out a solution. He guarded us by ensuring that our problem already had a remedy, and our only challenge was to discover it for ourselves.
This reinforces an important principle that we referred to in Parshat Shemot, based on the words of the Talmud in Mesechet Megillah 13b: אין הקב"ה מכה את ישראל אא"כ בורא להם רפואה תחילה – God does not smite Israel unless He creates the cure first. In other words, God brings the solution before the problem. The result is a powerful paradigm shift about our challenges: They are not reasons for despair, but opportunities for us to discover the solutions God has already embedded. Therefore, when we pray to God to help us with a problem, we must only pray for the ability to discover the solution as easily and effectively as possible, and not simply for God to rescue us.
Understanding this concept can change our perspective on freedom. It can lift the burden of hopelessness we may feel sometimes in our personal lives or when we contemplate the pervasive hardship in the world. When we take the lesson of our Parsha to heart and internalize the guarantee that all our problems ultimately have discoverable solutions, then, God willing, we will be able to face whatever challenges life may bring.