Midrash sur L’Exode 3:17

When the Lord cuts down (Deuteronomy 12:29): The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, "By your lives, I will conduct your wars and write about you that you killed them." Come and see, the acts of the Holy One, blessed be He, are not like the acts of a king of flesh and blood: [When] a king of flesh and blood goes out to war, his legions go out in front of him. If they are victorious, they come and make a crown and crown him. But the Holy One, blessed be He, does not do like this, but rather He conducts the war, and give the crown to Israel, as it is stated (Psalms 136:17-20), "Who struck down great kings, [...]. Sihon, king of the Amorites,[...]. Og, king of Bashan." But He gave the crown to Israel, as it is stated (Joshua 12:5), "Moshe, the servant of God, and Israel smote them." And so [too], with Yehoshua, what is written? "And the Lord hurled huge stones on them from the sky" (Joshua 10:11). And [yet] it is stated (Joshua 12:7), "And these are the kings of the land that Yehoshua and the Children of Israel slew." So that we inherit their land, He cut them down from the world, in order that we would enter and inherit houses filled with all good things. As all the days that Israel was present, they were swept and wandering in the wilderness for forty years. Yet they had been fitting to go up [to the Land of Israel] immediately, as it is stated (Exodus 3:17), "I will take you out of the misery of Egypt," to a good and spacious land. But they did not go in immediately. As when they left from Egypt, the seven nations [inhabiting the land] heard that [the Israelites] were coming to inherit [the land]. What did they do? They cut down the trees, stopped up the springs and destroyed the homes, such that if [the Israelites] would enter, they would find nothing [worthwhile there]. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "If I bring them in right away, they will find it desolate, and I promised them that they would find it full of all of good things." What did He do? He held them up in the wilderness forty years, such that the Canaanites disregarded Israel, saying they are not coming. [Hence] they rose and planted trees, they fixed the wells and the cities, such that Israel would come when it was built, to fulfill that which is stated (Deuteronomy 6:11), "Houses full of all good things." This is [the meaning of] that which is written (Exodus 13:17), "God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines." Once they fixed everything, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe, "Why are you standing? 'Go up from here, you and the people' (Exodus 33:1). Make war with them and cut them down." And Israel said to Moshe, "When do we enter the land." [His answer was:] When the Lord, your God cuts down the nations within it shall you enter.

R. Joshua of Sikhnin was of the opinion that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Abraham a sign that whatever happened to him would likewise happen to his descendants. He chose Abraham from among all those in his father’s house, as it is said: Thou art the Lord God who didst choose Abraham, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham (Neh. 9:7). And He selected Abraham’s sons to be His chosen ones among the seventy nations, as is said: For thou art a Holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be His own treasured nation out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth (Deut. 14:2). He said to Abraham: Get thee, and to Abraham’s sons, He said: I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Emorite, etc. (ibid. 3:17). He promised Abraham: And I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing (Gen. 12:2), and He told his sons: The Lord bless thee, and keep thee (Num. 6:24). To Abraham He said: I will make thee a great nation (Gen. 12:2), and to his descendants He said: And what great nation is there (Deut. 4:8). Concerning Abraham it is written: Abraham was one (Ezek. 33:24), and of Israel it is said: And who is like thy people Israel, a nation one in the earth (I Chron. 17:21). In reference to Abraham it is said: and hunger was in the land (Gen. 12:10), and about his descendants it is said: When they returned to Egypt, hunger was already in the land (ibid. 43:1). Abraham descended to Egypt because of famine, and his sons, also, descended because of famine, as is said: And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn from Egypt (ibid. 42:3). When Abraham descended the Egyptians approached him, and the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair (ibid. 12:14), and concerning his descendants, the Egyptians declared: Come, let us deal wisely with them lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there befalleth us any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land (Exod. 1:10).

And the shepherds came and drove them away (ibid., v. 17). If he had been a great and powerful priest of Midian, would they have dared drive them away? This teaches us that they oppressed him and drove his daughters away just as a divorced woman is driven away, as Scripture states: So he drove out the man (Gen. 3:24). But Moses stood up and saved them (Exod. 3:17). You learn from this that the shepherds were about to attack them, as is stated in the verse: The betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her (Deut. 22:27). And when they came to Reuel, their father … they said: “An Egyptian saved us” (Exod. 2:18).

R. Joshua of Sikhnin said in the name of R. Levi: The Holy One transmitted a sign⁵⁹Gk.: semeion. to Abraham that whatever had happened to him would happen to his children.⁶⁰Cf. Gen. R. 40:6. Abraham was chosen from the whole household of his father. Israel also was chosen from seventy tongues. It was said to Abraham (in Gen. 12:1): GO … < FROM YOUR FATHER'S HOUSE >; and it was said for Israel (in Exod. 3:17): AND I HAVE SAID: I WILL BRING YOU UP < OUT OF THE AFFLICTION OF THE LAND OF EGYPT >. It was said to Abraham (in Gen. 12:3): I WILL BLESS THOSE WHO BLESS YOU; and also for Israel (in Numb. 6:24): THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU. It was said to Abraham (in Gen. 12:2): [THEN I WILL MAKE YOU INTO A GREAT NATION, BLESS YOU], AND MAKE YOUR NAME GREAT; and also concerning Israel (in Deut. 4:8): AND WHAT GREAT NATION IS THERE < WHICH HAS STATUTES AND ORDINANCES AS RIGHTEOUS AS ALL THIS LAW THAT I SET BEFORE YOU THIS DAY >? Abraham was called an individual, as stated (in Ezek. 33:24): ABRAHAM WAS ONE (ehad); and also Israel (in I Chron. 17:21): AND WHO IS LIKE YOUR PEOPLE ISRAEL, A UNIQUE (ehad) NATION ON EARTH? Just as with Abraham, when he came to the land, there was a famine in the land; with Israel also, when they had settled in the land of Israel, there was famine, as stated (in Gen. 43:1): BUT THE FAMINE WAS SEVERE IN THE LAND. Just as Abraham went down to Egypt because of famine, [as stated (in Gen. 12:10): NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND, AND ABRAM WENT DOWN TO EGYPT]; so with Israel, as stated (in Gen. 42:3): SO THE TEN BROTHERS OF JOSEPH WENT DOWN TO BUY GRAIN < FROM EGYPT >. Just as in the case of Abraham, when he went down to Egypt, the Egyptians provoked him; so in the case of Israel, as stated (in Exod. 1:10): COME, LET US (Egyptians) ACT SHREWDLY < TOWARD THEM (Israel), LEST THEY MULTIPLY >…. Just as in the case of Abraham, four kings engaged him in battle;⁶¹“Engage in battle” comes from the Hebrew root ZWG, which corresponds to the Greek zeugos or zugon. so in the case of Israel, the nations are going to make an alliance⁶²Gk.: omonoia. against them, as stated (in Ps. 2:2): THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TAKE THEIR STAND, < AND THE RULERS TAKE COUNSEL TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS ANOINTED >. Just as in the case of Abraham, the Holy One went out to fight before him and slew his enemies; so the Holy One has fought for Israel. In the age to come the Holy One is going out to fight their wars, as stated (in Zech. 14:3): THEN THE LORD WILL COME FORTH AND FIGHT WITH THOSE NATIONS AS WHEN HE FIGHTS IN THE DAY OF BATTLE.