Pensamiento judío sobre Isaías 52:13

Joseph is selected here as the stereotype of a Jew. Jacob's typical issue is described as "these are the generations of Jacob, Joseph..." (Genesis 37,2). Many other verses throughout the Bible express the same theme. Tanchuma at the end of Parshat Vayigash writes that whatever befell Joseph sooner or later befell Zion etc. Just as Joseph was tending the sheep near his brothers at the beginning of his historic career, so the Jewish people were close to the land of Edom their cousins at the beginning of its historic career when they received the Torah. By its acceptance of G-d’s law, Israel, so to speak, brought "evil" reports about other nations who had failed to accept the Torah when it was offered to them. When G-d says in Jeremiah 2,2, "I remember your love and kindness in your youth when you followed Me into the desert etc," this corresponds to Joseph being loved by his father more than his brothers. G-d gave Israel the Torah, accorded it special status, just as Jacob chose Joseph, gave him the colored coat and assigned him priestly duties (as Rachel's eldest). When the cousins (gentile nations) perceived this, they hated Israel just as the brothers had hated Joseph. Our sages point out that the reason the mountain on which the Torah was given was called Sinai, was because the word is reminiscent of hatred, i.e. events on that mountain accounted for the hatred of the Jewish people and Judaism by the gentile nations. Joseph's dreaming of the homage paid him reflects the homage paid the Jewish people during the early generations of their conquest of the land of Canaan, when most nations acknowledged Jewish achievements from afar in their respective countries. A time came when the nations became resentful of Israel's pre-eminence, and just as in Joseph's dream they challenged, "Do you want to rule over us or reign amongst us?" Joseph had dreamed of the more influential celestial bodies, since he foresaw Ishmael's and Esau's opposition, one of whom uses the lunar calendar whereas the other uses the solar system as basis for its calendar plus all the other eleven constellations excluding the constellation of Israel which does not revolve around the other constellations. The future will reveal that all these rival nations and destinies will submit to Joseph (Israel), resulting in shame and derision for sun and moon respectively, as we read in Isaiah 24,23, "And the moon will be ashamed, while the sun will feel disgrace."

There are occasions when the delegation of power by G-d to man does not signify partnership or the right to act independently. Isaiah 10,5 describes such an instance when he says, "Ashur is the rod of My anger, and the staff in the hand of My wrath." When G-d employs the might of Ashur to vanquish the ten tribes and lead them into captivity, He is not acting as melech hakavod, as the king who imparts His glory to mere mortals, but rather He employs Imperial Ashur as one would employ one's staff to do one's bidding. When Ashur boasts of its might, and imagines that it has acted on its own, the prophet sarcastically asks "Can the axe boast of the stonecutter? Whoever heard of such a thing? Since when does the saw brag about the person using it?" To enable us to know which kind of authority is wielded, remember the following: The former kind is usually wielded by a prophet, so that miracles can be recognized when they do occur, and the prophet prepares us for their occurrence, to strengthen our belief in the true nature of hashgacha peratit, Divine Providence. When events occur that we describe as being part of the natural order of things, this shows that G-d employs midat hadin, the attribute of justice. When they occur in what we call "supernatural order," the midat harachamim, i.e. the attribute of mercy is at work. Both methods point to the fact that history is supervised. Predictability of events points towards supervised management, whereas the occasional unpredictable abnormal occurrences confirm that the manager has retained freedom of action, which in turn enhances His stature.

34. The Rabbi: Do not believe that I, though agreeing with thee, admit that we are dead. We still hold connexion with that Divine Influence through the laws which He has placed as a link between us and Him. There is circumcision, of which it is said: 'My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant' (Genesis 17:13). There is further the Sabbath, 'It is a sign between me and you throughout your generations' (Exodus 31:13). Besides this there is 'the covenant of the Fathers,' and the covenant of the law, first granted on Hōreb, and then in the plains of Moab in connexion with the promises and warnings laid down in the section: When thou shalt beget children and grandchildren' (Deuteronomy 4:25). Compare further the antithesis: 'If any of thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven' (Deuteronomy 30:10); 'Thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God' (Deuteronomy 30:2), finally, the song: 'Give ear' (Deuteronomy 32:1); and other places. We are not like dead, but rather like a sick and attenuated person who has been given up by the physicians, and yet hopes for a miracle or an extraordinary recovery, as it is said: 'Can these bones live?' (Ezekiel 37:3). Compare also the simile in the words: 'Behold my servant shall prosper'; 'He has no form nor comeliness,' 'Like one from whom men hid their faces' (Isaiah 52:13; which means that he is, on account of his deformity and repulsive visage, compared to an unclean thing, which man only beholds with disgust, and turns away; 'Despised and rejected of men,' 'A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief' (Isaiah 53:3).