Kommentar zu Bamidbar 14:13

ושמעו מצרים WHEN THE EGYPTIANS SHALL HEAR IT — i.e. when they hear how you are killing them, [as stated in the previous verse].

AND THE EGYPTIANS SHALL HEAR ‘KI HE’ELITHA’ IN THY MIGHT. “And the Egyptians shall hear that you have killed them. Ki he’elitha. The word ki [here] means ‘that,’ [the meaning of the expression thus being:] ‘they have seen that Thou broughtest them up in Thy might from among them, and when they hear that You have killed them they will not say that [it is because] they sinned against You, but [they will say] that against them [the Egyptians themselves] You were able to fight, but not against the inhabitants of this land [of Canaan].’ And this is the meaning of [the phrase]: and they will say ‘el’ the inhabitants of this land¹⁰⁹Verse 14. ‘El’ usually means “to”, but in this context, as Rashi is pointing out, the Egyptians were not saying anything “to” the Canaanites, but “about” or “concerning” them. — what will they say concerning them? That which is stated at the end of the subject: Because the Eternal was not able to bring this people into the Land¹¹⁰Verse 16. — because the inhabitants of the land are strong and mighty, and Pharaoh [alone] is not like thirty-one kings [who ruled in the land of Canaan].” This is the language of Rashi. If so, the expression ‘el’ yosheiv [literally: ‘to’ the inhabitants]¹⁰⁹Verse 14. ‘El’ usually means “to”, but in this context, as Rashi is pointing out, the Egyptians were not saying anything “to” the Canaanites, but “about” or “concerning” them. will be like ‘al’yosheiv, (“concerning” the inhabitants), and there are also many such examples.
In my opinion, [however], Moses our teacher did not mean [to say] in [presenting] this argument that [the Egyptians will say that] the Canaanites are strong and mighty in battle and that Pharaoh [alone] cannot be compared to thirty-one kings — for G-d had smitten the Egyptians with a plague and killed their firstborns in one moment, and brought upon them great punishments out of heaven, [so they knew] that it is but a light thing in the sight of the Eternal¹¹¹II Kings 3:18. to destroy the strong and mighty by a plague, just as [He can destroy] the feeble and weak, [by means of special plagues]. But the meaning of this prayer [of Moses] was as if to say: “The Egyptians will think and say that the gods of Canaan have power to save the inhabitants from Your hand, since You executed judgments on the Egyptians and their gods before You brought this people out of their midst, but You could not do the same to the Canaanites and their gods. Thus this will constitute a profanation of G-d’s Name, and the hands of the idol-worshippers will be strengthened!” If so, it is possible that the expression, and they will say ‘el’ the inhabitants of this land¹⁰⁹Verse 14. ‘El’ usually means “to”, but in this context, as Rashi is pointing out, the Egyptians were not saying anything “to” the Canaanites, but “about” or “concerning” them. is to be understood literally, that is, the Egyptians will say “to” the people of the land of Canaan, “Because the Eternal was not able etc.,¹¹⁰Verse 16. for surely god is in you, there is no other god.”¹¹²See Isaiah 45:14, where foreign nations are saying this to Israel: Surely G-d is in thee, and there is none else, there is no other G d. Ramban, in following his customary style throughout his commentary, uses the verse with some change and thereby puts it in the mouths of the Egyptians who are saying it to the Canaanites about their idols.

ושמעו מצרים, Moses thought that when G’d had said: “I will smite them with pestilence” that He had in mind to strike all of them immediately, simultaneously. He therefore felt impelled to question what would this do to G’d’s great name? Surely, he argued, the Egyptians would ascribe this to G’d’s impotence in making good on His promise to this people, 'מבלתי יכולת ה' להביא את העם וגו, they would claim that G’d’s power did not include dealing with the Canaanites. Seeing that the Egyptians are aware of the effort You expended in liberating them from slavery in Egypt, and they are further aware that You have made the seat of Your residence on earth in their Tabernacle, the mere thought that You would now kill them on account of a sin would never occur to them

ושמעו מצרים, "and when Egypt will hear, etc." Why did Moses add the conjunctive letter ו at the beginning of the word ושמעו, seeing this is the first comment Moses permitted himself after He heard G'd's reaction? Moses simply should have said: ישמעו מצרים, "Egypt will hear, etc." Furthermore, what did Moses have in mind when he said כי העלית? If he meant that the Egyptians would hear about G'd having taken the Israelites out of Egypt this does not make any sense at all. The Egyptians had been the first to witness G'd's miracles and the Exodus, after all! Besides, how does the killing of the Israelites contribute to the Egyptians' hearing about the miracles G'd employed to orchestrate the Exodus? If Moses intended to describe who these Egyptians were who would hear about these miracles of G'd, the question is whether there were any other Egyptians who could have heard about G'd's actions at that time? Even assuming there were such Egyptians, Moses' words clearly referred to the Egyptians with whom we are familiar.

ושמעו מצרים, “when the Egyptians will hear (about this).” According to Rashi, Moses was referring to the Egyptians hearing abut G’d having killed the Jewish people.

That You killed them. They will not hear that You brought them up, as would be understood from the simple reading of the verse; rather they will hear about their being killed. Thus the word “כי” here is in place of “אשר” (that). It is as if the Torah had said “Egypt will hear that You in your might have brought up this people from among them” and having seen the great unbounded love, they will not say [that their being killed is because] they sinned, rather that “It is because of [Hashem’s] inability…” (v. 16).

V. 13. ויאמר משה וגו׳ Mosche geht ganz ein in den Gottesgedanken, und spricht nur die Folgen aus, die sich seinem Geiste als unmittelbare Wirkung für das Gotteswerk darstellen, dem er ja, wie das Volk, als Werkzeug angehören. Gottes Werk für die Zukunft der Menschheit wird mit dem Untergange des zeitgenössischen Geschlechts nicht verloren gehen; noch einmal vierhundert Jahre und es ist ein neues abrahamitisches Volk aus Mosche entstanden, das sich zum Fortträger der abrahamitischen Verheißung darbieten kann. Allein in der Gegenwart wird die Vernichtung des Volkes gerade der Erleuchtung der Völker entgegenwirken, die eine der Hauptabsichten bildet, welche mit der Erwählung Israels bezweckt worden. Schon sind die Augen der beiden Kulturvölker der damaligen Zeit, Ägypter und Phönizier, auf dieses Volk als "Gottesvolk" gerichtet, und sie verfolgen mit ängstlicher Spannung seine nationale Geschichte, aus welcher ihnen die Ahnung eines Einzigen, Allmächtigen, frei über alles zur Rettung des Rechts und der Menschlichkeit auf Erden gebietenden Gottes aufgegangen, der eben mit Einführung dieses Volkes inmitten der Völker deren Göttern den Krieg gekündet. Die Ägypter — denn sie haben deine Kraft unmittelbar geschaut und gefühlt, mit welcher du dieses Volk aus ihrer Mitte heraus und zu dir und für den Hinaufzug in das von dir verheißene Land emporgehoben —; die Phönizier — denn sie haben auch bereits von der, in diesem sie bedrohenden Volke, seinem Schutze, seiner Führung offenbar werdenden Gottesmacht gehört — כי העלית וגו׳ ist Parenthese bis מקרבו, ebenso שמעו bis לילה. Dies והמתה nimmt den Gedanken wieder auf, und wegen der längeren Zwischenrede, wiederholt den in אכנו בדבר gegebenen Vordersatz, dem Mosche sein ושמעו sofort angeschlossen hatte, dem Sinne nach in והמתה וגו׳, und setzt den Nachsatz mit wiederholtem ואמרו fort. Der Sinn ist: Wenn du dieses tust, so werden die Ägypter zu den Phöniziern — beide sind doch schon auf dich aufmerksam geworden und verfolgen mit Spannung deine Weiterführung dieses Volkes — es werden also, wenn du dieses Volk nun plötzlich, auf einmal tötest, diese Völker, welche die Kunde von dir vernommen, sagen: מבלתי יכלת usw. Ein solcher Ausgang wird somit, deinem ganzen mit Israel beabsichtigten Zwecke entgegen, die Völker nur in Leugnung deiner einzigen allwaltenden Macht bestärken. Und zwar wird die Initiative zu einer solchen beklagenswerten Auffassung des Ereignisses von Ägypten ausgehen, das bereits mit so empfindlichem Schmerz zur Anerkennung deiner Macht gezwungen worden.

כי העלית, “although You have brought them up, etc.;” according to our author, the meaning of the word כי here is the same as the word אשר, “which or whom.”

כי העלית — The word כי here is used in the sense of אשר, “that”, and the meaning is: they have seen that Thou broughtest them forth in Thy great strength from their midst, and when they hear that Thou art killing them they will not say that it is because they have sinned against Thee, but they will say that against them Thou wast able to fight, but against the in habitants of the Land of Canaan, however, Thou wast unable to fight; and this is the meaning of —

כי העלית, “whom You have brought up, etc.” According to Rashi the word כי in this instance means the same as אשר, which, whom. Nachmanides adds that if so, the word אל יושב in verse 14, normally understood as “to the inhabitants, etc.”’ must be understood as על יושב, “concerning the inhabitants.” He therefore prefers to interpret that Moses’ intention when giving this answer, was not that the Canaanites would conclude that they had been perceived as brave and powerful and could not be compared to the Egyptians who did not have 31 kings to lead them, and who on account of their having only one king could be defeated by the G’d of the Israelites. The Egyptians, according to Nachmanides’ interpretation of Moses’ argument, would assume that the demise of the Jewish people would prove that the deities of the Canaanites were more powerful than those of the Israelites. The Jewish G’d, they would reason, had prevailed only over relatively weak nations, nations whose deities had proved inferior. This would constitute a major desecration of G’d’s great name, and would strengthen all the pagan nations in their mistaken beliefs. When we consider matters in this light, the words אל יושב may be understood at face value, i.e. that the inhabitants of Egypt would say to the inhabitants of Canaan that what happened had revealed the weakness and inadequacy of the G’d of the Jews who had mistakenly been perceived as invincible.

The answer must be connected to why Moses did not use the same arguments he had used after the sin of the golden calf. It is true that I have explained on the words עד אנה ינאצוני that G'd had spoken these words to prevent Moses from again advancing an argument he had used successfully at that time. Nonetheless, Moses had been at liberty to use the argument of זכות אבות, the merit of the patriarchs in conjunction with the argument that G'd's effforts would be perceived as having been futile. The combined arguments would help ward off an evil decree at this time.

However, Moses was very clever; he used the conjunctive letter ו to indicate that this was only an additional argument to others he would present. He emphasised that the Egyptians would most certainly hear about the demise of the Jewish people. The reason was that G'd had expended so much effort at the time to remove the Jewish people who had been an integral part of Egyptian society מקרבו, from within its midst. Whereas the whole world knew about the miracles G'd had performed at that time, the impression it had made on the Egyptian neighbours of the Israelites was far more pronounced. They would certainly follow the fortunes of this people to find out exactly how they progressed ever since they left Egypt. The word כי in כי העלית must be understood to mean "because," rather than "that."

Another way of explaining the letter ו is to provide an answer to why Moses appeared concerned only about the impression the demise of the Jewish people were to make on the Egyptians and not on the other nations. He explained this by saying "for You have elevated this nation from amongst its midst." The Egyptians -as opposed to any other nation- were well aware that the Israelites could never have revolted successfully and have escaped from their enslavement if G'd had not literally "lifted the Jewish people out of their midst." Once they would hear about this people dying en masse they would never again credit G'd with defeating the Canaanites Supposing even that G'd's plan to create a new Jewish nation out of Moses would be carried out, any success of that new nation in overcoming the Canaanites would henceforth be attributed to the strength of Moses' genes, not to G'd's interference in their fate. It is nothing unusual for a strong nation to defeat a weaker nation. The present Israelites were known to be militarily weak. Their victory over the Canaanites would enhance G'd's image. Any future Jewish nation which had never exhibited weakness as had the present Israelite nation would not be a vehicle for G'd to demonstrate His power. בכחך את העם הזה, "with Your Power THIS NATION." The whole strength of Moses' argument lay in these four words. Only the Egyptians would be able to respond in this manner as they had known the Jewish people from all the many years the latter had lived amongst them. They had truly known them, i.e. ושמעו מצרים.