Moshe Rabbeinu Says “Around Midnight”
Moshe Rabbeinu warns Pharaoh that the firstborn will die “around midnight,” not “at midnight,” so Pharaoh’s astrologers cannot call him a liar.
A classic example can be demonstrated from a Gemara learned this week. Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu that he would kill every firstborn in Egypt at midnight. When Moshe repeated Hashem’s warning, he made a slight change. Instead of saying “at midnight,” he said “around midnight.”
Rebbe Zeira explains that Moshe Rabbeinu was able to pinpoint the exact time of midnight. However, he was afraid that Pharaoh’s astrologers would not be able to be so precise. Consequently, when the plague did not start precisely at midnight (according to their calculations) on the 15th of Nissan, they would call Moshe Rabbeinu a liar. Therefore, Moshe Rabbeinu said that the plague would start “around midnight,” to preclude this possibility.