Ézéchiel 16:9 Commentaire : Rashi

and I anointed you Heb. וָאֲסֻכֵך, a word expressing anointing. Now the entire episode is only a parable, and Jonathan explained it all, leaving nothing to add to the Targum, and he explained it in this manner:

[3] Your dwelling place and your birthplace, etc. Your dwelling place and your birthplace are from the land of the Canaanites; there I revealed Myself to your father Abraham [in the covenant] between the parts, and I let him know that you are going down to Egypt. With an arm raised on high, I redeemed you, and through the merit of your fathers, I drove out the Amorites and destroyed the Hittites.

[4] And as for your birth, on the day you were born, etc. And also, when your forefathers went down to Egypt, sojourners in a land that was not theirs, they subjugated them and oppressed them. The assembly of Israel was like a newborn infant abandoned in the open field, whose navel was not cut, and who was not rinsed with water to be cleansed, and not salted with salt or swaddled with swaddling clothes.

[5] No eye pitied you, etc. The eye of the wicked Pharaoh did not pity you to do you any favor, to lighten your bondage, [or] to have pity on you, and he decreed upon you a decree of annihilation, to cast your males into the river to destroy you at the time you were in Egypt.

[6] And I passed by you, etc. And the remembrance of the covenant of your forefathers came before Me. I revealed Myself to redeem you because it was known to Me that you were being oppressed in your bondage, and I said to you, “With the blood of the circumcision I shall spare you,” and I said, “With the blood of the Passover, I shall redeem you.”

[7] Myriads, like the plants of the field I have made you Myriads, as the plants of the field, I have made you, and you have increased and become strong, and you have become families and tribes, and with the good deeds of your forefathers, the time of the redemption of your assembly arrived because you were subjugated and oppressed.

Myriads, like the plants of the field I made you as it is said (Exod. 1:7): “And the children of Israel were fruitful and increased.”

but you were naked and bare of the commandments.

[8] And I passed by you, etc And I revealed Myself to Moses in the thorn bush because it was revealed to Me that the time of your redemption had arrived. I shielded you with My word, and I removed your sins, and I swore by My word to redeem you as I swore to your forefathers, said the Lord God, that you should be a people serving before Me.

and I swore to you (Exod. 6: 6): “Therefore (לָכֵן), say to the children of Israel: I am the Lord! I shall take you out, etc.” “Therefore” means only an [introduction to an] oath, as it is said (I Sam. 3:14): “therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli...”