Midrash sur L’Exode 4:16

R. Simon said: See what is written (in Gen. 18:22): AND THE MEN TURNED FROM THERE AND WENT TO SODOM, BUT ABRAHAM WAS STILL STANDING BEFORE THE LORD. Should it not rather have said, "And God was still standing"? < There is here >, however, a scribal emendation.¹²Such an emendation (Heb.: tiqqun soferim) occurs where the biblical text was perceived as offensive or lacking in respect for the Divine. For lists of passages with these emendations, see Tanh., Exod. 4:16, which attributes them to the scribes; also Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Shirah 6; Sifre to Numb. 10:35 (84), both of which regard the “emendations” as euphemisms belonging to the original text. See Encyclopaedia Judaica 15(1971), cols. 1139—1140; and especially Saul Lieberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine, 2nd edition (New York: JTSA, 1962), pp. 28—37. Ergo {it says} (in Ps. 18:36 = II Sam. 22:36): AND YOUR HUMILITY HAS MAGNIFIED ME.

5.

When Pharaoh shall speak unto you (Exod. 7:9). Scripture says elsewhere: A fool spendeth all his spirit; but a wise man stilleth it within him (Prov. 29:11). That is, the fool says everything he has to say at one time, while quarreling with his neighbor, and the wise man eventually is able to refute him. A fool spendeth all his spirit refers to the wicked Pharaoh, while a wise man stilleth it within him alludes to Moses and Aaron, as it is written: But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods (Exod. 7:12). Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron, etc. (Exod. 7:9). Aaron will perform all the miracles while you stand by like a prince who instructs the elders and they do it. Hence the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses at the bush: He shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him in God’s stead (ibid. 4:16).