Commentaire de citation sur Isaïe 14:10

And he transferred the people to cities. Rashi explains that this was to remove shame from his brothers so that people wouldn’t say they were exiles. However, this explanation is difficult to accept, as it seems unlikely that Joseph would disrupt the entire land for such a minor benefit. Furthermore, the term “exile and outcast” only applies to someone who had an inheritance of field and vineyard and was exiled from them. But Jacob was not a permanent resident anywhere, and all the Patriarchs were sojourners, as the state of being foreigners had already begun from Isaac’s birth. We don’t find that the Patriarchs were concerned about this. It is more reasonable to explain all this upheaval based on the verse And you shall love the stranger because you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:19). For anyone who has never been a stranger does not feel the pain of the stranger and does not have compassion for the stranger’s soul. But one who has himself been a stranger knows the pain of the stranger, and what is hateful to oneself, one should not do to others. Therefore, Joseph transferred the people to cities so that they would all be strangers in a land not their own, so that they would feel the pain of the stranger. It’s possible that this was also Rashi’s intention, as this is the shame he refers to — that they would be reproached by being called exiles, with people saying “If God desired your welfare, why are you exiles?” and thus feeling justified in mistreating them. Therefore, Joseph transferred them to cities so they could respond, “You too have become weak like us” (based on Isaiah 14:10).

V. 21. ותען, da hier להם mascul. folgt, so kann sich hier das להם auf Mosche und Israel beziehen und das ענה in gewöhnlicher Bedeutung: entgegnen, erwidern, stehen. Mosche und Israel sangen, Mirjam und die Frauen entgegneten ihnen. ענה steht jedoch allerdings auch im Anfange der Rede, wo es nicht die Gegenrede, die Antwort bedeuten kann, da noch keine Rede vorangegangen, wie: וענית ואמרת. (Bamidbar 26, 5), כלם יענו ויאמרו (Jes. 14, 10), ויען איוב (Job 3, 2). In solchen Stellen behält gleichwohl) ענה die ursprüngliche Bedeutung des Entgegnens. Wie ענה sonst das durch eine Anrede hervorgerufene Gegenwort bedeutet, so ist es in diesen Stellen das durch den Moment, durch die Gelegenheit hervorgerufene, das dem Moment, der Gelegenheit "entsprechende" Wort. Sollte es auch hier in diesem Sinne stehen, dann müßte sich das להם auf die Frauen beziehen, und es wäre zu ermitteln, warum sie hier gen. masc. bezeichnet sind. Vielleicht um, obgleich den Männern im begeisterten Gesange nachfolgend, sie dennoch in der ganzen Bedeutung dieses Gesanges und der darin bekundeten hohen Bestimmung des Volkes den Männern völlig ebenbürtig gleichzustellen.