Comentario sobre Génesis 14:20

אשר מגן WHO HATH DELIVERED [THY ENEMIES INTO THY HANDS] — מגן means who has handed over or surrendered, as (Hosea 11:8) “How shall I give thee over, (אמגנך) Israel”

AND HE GAVE HIM A TENTH OF ALL. Abraham did not wish to take for himself from a thread even to a sandal tie.²⁰²Verse 23 here. But the part of the Most High he set aside in order to give it to the priest. Now the king of Sodom went out to meet Abraham at the vale of Shaveh²⁰³Above, Verse 17. in his honor, and he accompanied him to the city of Salem where Melchizedek brought out bread and wine for the people that followed him. The king of Sodom did not ask anything of Abraham, but when he saw his generosity and righteousness in giving the tithe to the priest, then he also asked for the souls²⁰⁴The prisoners. Verse 21 here. by way of charity. Abraham, trusting that his G-d will give him riches, possessions and honor, did not wish to take anything from him, and so he returned all the wealth of Sodom which belonged to him, and all the wealth of Gomorrah for it to be returned to its owners. The king of Sodom had asked above all for the souls,²⁰⁴The prisoners. Verse 21 here. but Abraham’s consideration above all was that they should not say that they made Abram rich.²⁰²Verse 23 here. Now the other places mentioned²⁰⁵Admah, Zeboim and Bela. Verse 2. had been destroyed by the enemy in battle; only the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah, among the cities of the five kings, fell into the hands of the enemy because since their kings were lost in the slime pits, their cities remained defenseless.²⁰⁶Hence the four kings were able to plunder Sodom and Gomorrah, and when Abraham recaptured it from them he restored it to its original owners. The other three cities (see preceding note) defended themselves and were completely destroyed in battle.
It is possible²⁰⁷Ramban is now suggesting that the four kings had taken plunder from the other three cities as well and that is alluded to in the verse, as will be explained. that [the plunder from the other three cities is alluded to] in the words of Abraham: “If from a thread even to a sandal tie²⁰²Verse 23 here. will remain with me of all the wealth that has come to me from all of you;²⁰⁸“From all of you,” i.e., from all the five cities. and if I take anything that is thine²⁰²Verse 23 here. of your wealth which you, the king of Sodom, gave me.”

וברוך אל עליון, this power G’d gave to Avram to enable him to overcome his enemies, is a blessing for the Lord. He is able to rejoice in the deeds of His creatures when the wicked perish, and when He makes the righteous rejoice in their success. David expressed it in these words in Psalms 117,1-2 שבחוהו כל האומים גי גבר עלינו חסדו, “Praise the Lord all you nations. Extol Him, all you peoples; for great is His steadfast love toward us;”

וברוך אל עליון, "And blessed the Supreme G'd, etc." As already mentioned our sages say that Malki Tzedek was punished for putting G'd second in his list of blessings. He lost his priesthood because of this error. We must try and understand what prompted Malki Tzedek to commit such an error. Perhaps he thought that inasmuch as Abraham had come to recognise G'd without parental or anyone else's guidance, he deserved to receive a blessing first and foremost. Afterwards he blessed the Lord who had found pleasure in a human being such as Abraham. Malki Tzedek may have wanted to teach us that G'd only truly enjoys human beings who have first made it their business to please Him. He expressed this thought by saying: "Blessed Abraham to the Supreme G'd because he made himself be fit to be a servant of the Lord. As a result he is blessed by the Supreme G'd who has committed your enemies into your hands." [according to this Malki Tzedek's error consisted in using chronology as a guideline for the order in which he formulated his blessing. Ed.] Despite the good intention of Malki Tzedek, this was an improper way of blessing. The servant never takes precedence over his Master.

וברוך אל עליון, he described G’d in terms of a different attribute, i.e. “the supreme G’d.” In due course, Avraham also used this attribute to describe G’d in order to make plain to any listener that any other so-called deities are all subservient to this G’d, so that they are totally unfree and cannot be considered deities.

ויתן לו מעשר מכל, “He gave him a tithe from all of it.” According to Ibn Ezra Avraham gave these items to Malki Tzedek as tithe because the latter was a priest of Almighty G’d, and he did not want to hold on to anything which he felt was belonging to a higher power. Once he had given the tithe, the balance belonged to him rightfully, so that all the property which had once been that of the five Kings, was now returned to them by Avraham as a gift from him, not as something that was theirs legally. According to local law, spoils of war belonged to the victor, so that from that point of view Avraham did not need to return anything to the King of Sodom and his companions. This is also why the Torah reports this tithing before it reports what Avraham said to the King of Sodom concerning the oath he had sworn to the supreme Lord of heaven and earth (verse 23) that he would never allow the King of Sodom to take credit for having enriched himself (at his expense) If it had not been legal to do so, such an oath would be completely irrelevant! As soon as the King of Sodom became aware of the generosity and righteousness of Avraham, he also demanded return of his נפש, his human slaves. The entire sequence illustrates that Avraham and the King of Sodom walked all the way to the Jordan valley back together, during which time the King of Sodom had become better acquainted with Avraham. He had not even dared to ask to have the נפש restored to him until he had learned how generous a man Avraham really was. From a halachic point of you, i.e. that one does not give something to someone else unless it was halachically completely above board, Avraham had to tithe the loot so that when he would give the remainder (back) to the King of Sodom, he gave him something which was beyond question his own. Some commentators feel that if the conversation about who the loot belonged to had occurred only now, what did Avraham’s soldiers eat in the meantime? To forestall such an embarrassing question, the Torah made certain that we know that prior to Avraham tithing everything to Malki Tzedek the latter had provided bread and wine for Avraham’s soldiers so that they did not have to partake of something that their master did not yet consider his to give. Still other commentators see in the words ויתן לו מעשר מכל, a veiled rebuke to Malki Tzedek who, instead of receiving a tithe, gave a tithe to Avraham as penance for having first blessed Avraham instead of first blessing the Lord. These commentators quote as their source the verse in Psalms 110,4 נשבע ה' ולא ינחם אתה כהן לעולם על דברתי מלכי צדק, “the Lord has sworn and will not relent, “You are a priest forever, a rightful king by My decree.” [also an oblique reference that G’d had killed the people slain in that war, not Avraham, who otherwise would have been disqualified as a priest. Alshich.] Rabbi Joseph Karo claims that Avraham did not give any tithe to Malki Tzedek, as it is conceptually impossible to give a tithe of something one had never owned, and Avraham had rejected the entire booty so that the King of Sodom could not boast of having made Avraham wealthy. He had already sworn an oath rejecting the entire loot. How could he have violated such an oath? Rabbi Karo also rejects the notion that Malki Tzedek gave a tithe to Avraham. What possible reason could Malki Tzedek have had to give a tithe to Avraham when he had come forth to welcome him with bread and wine? If he gave him a tithe, he would have sold this to him. According to Rabbi Karo this is what happened. The King of Sodom came forth to greet Avraham. When Malki Tzedek arrived he found them dividing the spoils, the King of Sodom asking for the living human beings, and offering Avraham the inert property (and the livestock, presumably). At that point, Avraham swore an oath that he would not accept anything by grace of the King of Sodom, the exception being the expenses he had incurred in feeding his men. Seeing that these men had fought a war in order to save the King of Sodom among others, they were entitled to at least that. Not only that, these men had also saved Sodom’s property, and as such were entitled to a reward. He, Avraham, was not entitled to waive the reward due to Oner, Eshkol, and Mamre. Malki Tzedek then gave Avraham a tithe of what he had received, something that Avraham accepted as being completely legal, as he first and foremost was entitled to that.

He gave him. Avram. Rashi is answering the question: Who gave to whom? Thus Rashi explains that Avram gave to Sheim. And why did Avram do so? Because Sheim was a Kohein.

מִגֵן, ebenso אמגנך ישראל (Hosea 11, 8) völliges Preisgeben. Findet sich noch in dem chaldäischen מַגָן für das hebräische חנם, das, wofür man nichts fordert, was man als wertlos dahingibt. Demgemäß kann auch das ProRaw Hirsch on Genesis 14: 4, 9 von der Wahrheit gesprochene: עטרת תפארת תמגנך nicht wohl heißen: sie schenkt dir eine prächtige Krone. Vielmehr: חחן לראשך לוית חן usw., "sie verleiht deinem Haupte selbst die, stete Begleitung des Liebreizes und macht dir die prächtigste Krone wertlos, überflüssig". Das Haupt der Weisen strahlt von selbst in herzgewinnendem Zauber, es braucht zu seiner Herrlichkeit und Macht keiner äußeren Krone.

ייתן לו, “he gave him;” Malki Tzedek gave Avram a tithe of everything. Our sages in Nedarim 32, interpret this verse as an allusion by the Torah to Malki Tzedek having forfeited his status of being G-d’s priest, and it being transferred to Avram, as he had committed the error of blessing a mortal human being, Avram, before blessing the immortal Lord. Avram himself had criticised Malki Tzedek for having mentioned him first in blessing both G-d and him. The latter accepted the reproof and treated Avram as the priest by tithing to him all that belonged to him. The Talmud cites a verse from Psalms: 110,4, as its source; there we read: נשבע ה' ולא ינחם אתה כהן לעולם על דברתי מלכי צדק, “The Lord has sworn and will not relent, You are a priest forever a rightful king by My decree.” [Rabbi Moshe Alshich explains there that G-d actually killed all the people Avram fought, as a priest who has killed does no longer qualify for priestly duties. Ed.]

ויתן לו AND HE — Abraham — GAVE HIM מעשר מכל A TITHE OF EVERYTHING that he had, because he was a priest.

מגן צריך, “He delivered them into your hands.” We find this verb used in a similar sense in Hoseah 11,8 אמגנך ישראל, “How can I surrender you, Israel? The choice of the word צריך”your oppressors,” is strange, seeing that no one had mistreated Avram or oppressed him. Since the 4 kings had singled out one of Avram’s relatives their action was interpreted as a potential attack on Avram, to lure him to come to the defense of his nephew.

מעשר geben, dem wir hier zuerst begegnen, ist eine Handlung, wodurch derjenige als Spender des Verzehnten anerkannt wird, in dessen Namen der Empfänger des Zehnten dasteht. Mit der Zehntabgabe an Malkizedek erkennt Abraham den "höchsten Gott׳, in dessen Namen Malkizedek dastand, als denjenigen an, der ihm den Sieg verliehen hatte.

ויתן לו מעשר מכל, according to most commentators, Avram was the subject in this verse and Malki Tzedek was the recipient. Avraham supposedly gave Malki Tzedek 10% of the cattle captured, in his capacity of being a priest of G’d. My late revered father, Rabbi Joseph Kimchi, explained that actually Malki Tzedek “gave” Avram the tithe as a legal claim. He pronounced it as Avram’s by right, seeing that the King of Sodom had had the effrontery to claim that which Avram had captured as his. In the conversation between Avram and the King, Avram had insisted that he would not accept anything for himself from the King of Sodom, not even a shoelace. What he meant was that the King was in no position to even make an offer of something that was not his. (verse 21) At that point, Malki Tzedek intervened, telling Avram (and the King) that at least 10% of the loot was Avram’s by right, as it is the right of anyone who frees property stolen or forcefully taken from its rightful owner to retain this as a kind of fee for services rendered. This interpretation is correct; if we accept the interpretation of the commentators, by what legal right Avram could give away to Malki Tzedek property that legally belonged to the King of Sodom an d had been illegally taken from him? If he did not think it was right for him to accept same, why would it be in order to give it instead to Malki Tzedek?

Die Form מְַעַשֵר kommt nur in dieser weihenden Beziehung vor. Sonst heißt 1/10-alle diese Wurzeln be ;עזר ,אזר ,עצר ,אצר ,אסר verwandt mit 6 עשר .עשירית deuten ein Zusammenbinden, Zusammenhalten. עשר: zehn, weil mit zehn eine Summe abgeschlossen, ein abgeschlossenes Ganzes wird. 10 ist die erste Gruppe, die ein Ganzes bildet. Die ganze Körperwelt zählen wir nach Zehnen. Haben wir zehn, so haben wir ein Ganzes. Auch unsere Nationalrepräsentation, die kleinste Vertretung unseres Ganzen, besteht aus zehn. Hieße es nun עשירית הכל, so hätte das 10/1 keine besondere Bedeutung. Es hätte ebensogut ein anderer Bruchteil sein können. Allein da die Form מעשר ausschließlich in dem Gott weihenden Sinne vorkommt, so dürfte die Eigentümlichkeit dieser Bedeutung in der Form zu suchen sein. Die Form מִעשֵר ist wie מִשעֵן ,מַפְתֵחַ usw. eine aktive und bezeichnet somit nicht den Teil sondern das Abschließende, das eine Summe zu einem Zehn, zu einem Ganzen macht. Dass es nicht bloß ein Zehntel sei, sehen wir an מעשר בהמה, wo uns das sich von selbst als "das zehnte" darbietende Schaf מעשר ,קדש wird, also das, womit man ein Ganzes hat. Dies ist allerdings nur bei lebendigen Wesen möglich. Aus dem Satze, dass המרבה במעשדות מעשרותיו מקולקלים scheint jedoch hervorzugehen, dass man auch bei leblosen Dingen nicht erst das ganze Quantum gemessen und dann 1/10 davon zu מעשר bestimmt habe, sondern auch da das je zehnte Maß zu heiligen pflegte, obgleich dies nicht unumgänglich war. מעשר heißt also nicht sowohl ein Zehntel als: das je Zehnte. Um Gott als den eigentlichen Spender und Herrn unserer Güter, auch nachdem sie uns geworden, uns gegenwärtig zu halten, haben wir demnach nach zwei Seiten hin eine Weihe: das erste: ראשית, wie תרומה ,ביכורים ,בכור, und das letzte, Abschließende: מעשר. Der erste Gulden, der uns wird, findet uns noch mit weichem Gemüt, noch mit der frischen Erinnerung an die vorangegangene Leere, noch mit dem lebendigen Bewusstsein: den hat Gott gespendet. Das erste kommt von Gott; allein das 10te, 100ste, 1000ste usw. erscheint schon als ganz natürliches Produkt der vorangegangenen 9, 99 usw. Dass das Zehnte, Hundertste, Tausendste noch ebenso unmittelbare Spende der השגחה פרטית sei wie das erste, das ist die Wahrheit, die wir uns mit מעשר vergegenwärtigen.