The climax of the intense negotiations between Moses and the Egyptian king ends in a complete breakdown. After enduring a series of devastating plagues and issuing repeated refusals, the king's anger boils over. He drives Moses away with harsh words and a severe death threat, warning him never to return [קאסוטו, ביאור שטיינזלץ].
It seems strange that the king would suddenly dare to threaten the life of the very man who repeatedly proved his power and brought such heavy ruin upon the land. One explanation is that God intervened at this exact moment, actively hardening the king's heart [אבן עזרא הקצר]. Another perspective suggests that the king believed he had already fulfilled God's will by agreeing to certain conditions and allowing some of the people to leave. Because of this, he assumed any further demands were simply Moses's personal inventions. In the king's mind, Moses's divine mission had expired, completely removing his heavenly protection [מלבי״ם]. Additionally, the king might have thought that Moses had lost the support of the Israelites. Believing Moses was vulnerable, the king assumed he could easily harm him by handing him over to wicked members of his own nation who wished him ill [העמק דבר].
The specific phrasing of the king's dismissal reflects the physical reality of the moment. He ordered Moses away without directly referencing his visual presence because, at that time, he was not even looking at him; he was only listening to his voice. His warning about seeing his face again applied to the mere attempt to initiate any future meeting [העמק דבר].
The primary approach among commentators is that the warning of death was a direct royal threat. If Moses were to return, he would be treated as a rebel against the crown and immediately executed [אבן עזרא, אבי עזר]. However, a unique conceptual approach completely flips this understanding. Instead of a threat directed at Moses, the words are seen as the king begging for his own life. The king felt that every time Moses looked at him, he drained the few remaining sparks of holiness keeping him alive. In this light, his demand for Moses to leave was a plea to take only his external life forces. His warning not to see his face again was a desperate request to stop draining his internal energy. According to this thought process, the mention of death was not directed at Moses, but at the king's own soul, warning that if his inner life force were drained any further, he would instantly die [אדרת אליהו].