Commentaire de citation sur Les Psaumes 68:26

אחר שלוחיה. The word אחר describes something happening later, as it did in Genesis 22,13 where Avraham only found the ram which had been caught in the thicket by its horns after the binding of Yitzchok was over. Similarly, in Leviticus 15,28 the word אחר תטהר, means that after the procedure described by the Torah previously the woman in question would become ritually clean again. [the point of our author is that in all the examples quoted by him the Bible had informed the reader of the background to the present happening. Why would it not have done so here also? Ed.]

אחר נאחז בסבך, “subsequently he saw a ram that had become entangled in the thicket.” We find a similar construction (using the preposition אחר) in Psalms 68,26: קדמו שרים אחר נוגנים, “the singers preceded the musicians,” or in Kohelet 12,2: ושבו העבים אחר הגשם, “and the clouds return after the rain.”According to Rashi, Avraham saw the ram as it became entangled. This is why he understood that it was not there accidentally, but that G-d had given him a hint to use it as a substitute for the offering he had been prevented by the angel to complete. If that ram had been standing there as did others, he would have thought it was privately owned by someone else and would not have touched it. A different interpretation: “he noticed it after it had become entangled by its horns.” (Ibn Ezra).

אחר נאחז בסבך בקרניו, getting enmeshed in the thicket with its horns after Avraham had seen it. He reasoned that surely this must be a message from the angel who had caused this ram to become entangled at the command of G’d so that he, Avraham, could offer it in place of his son Yitzchok. This is also the meaning of Psalms 68,26 קדמו שרים אחר נוגנים, “first come the singers, afterwards the musicians.” A similar meaning of the word אחר is found in Ecclesiastes 12,2 ושבו העבים אחר הגשם, “the clouds return after the rain.” Another example of the word אחר having the same meaning as here is found in Exodus 5,1 ואחר באו משה ואהרן, “after (what had occurred before) Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh.”