Commentaire de citation sur Les Psaumes 105:23

בארץ לא להם IN A LAND THAT IS NOT THEIRS — It does not say here in the land of Egypt but in a land that is not theirs; for soon after Isaac was born it states, (Genesis 21:34) “And Abraham sojourned (ויגר) [in the land of the Philistines]”; in regard to Isaac it is said, (Genesis 26:3) “Sojourn (גור) in this land (Canaan)”, and of Jacob Scripture states, (Psalms 105:23) “Jacob sojourned (גר) in the land of Ham”, whilst of his sons it is said, (Genesis 47:4) “To sojourn (לגור) in the land (of Egypt) have we come”.

The story of Yosef and Potiphar’s wife a bit later shows that Avraham was not just imagining the problem. From her unusually forward advances, we note that even the women in Egypt were willing to blatantly ignore fundamental moral conventions when engaged in the pursuit of sexual gratification. Taking its cue from these and other Scriptural passages, rabbinic tradition further expands on the theme of Egyptian depravity in rather colorful fashion.¹⁹See, for example, Midrash Tanchuma, Parashat Lech Lecha 5 and Mechilta 13 on Shemot 12:33. Thus, when the Bible specifically refers to Egypt, as opposed to any of the other descendant nations of Cham, as the land of Cham, it appears to be emphasizing the ancestral roots of this particular people’s depravity (Tehillim 105:23, 27; Tehillim 106:22.²⁰Tehillim 105:23, 27; 106:22. In that case, Cham’s Egyptian descendents serve as an antithesis to the moral tikkun olam that God would want the Jews to bring to the world.