Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Bilangan 2:20

ופרעה חלם. He was dreaming that he was standing by the river. The word על as meaning “besides, close to,” occurs for instance, also in Numbers 2,20 ועלי מטה מנשה, “and beside him (the army of the tribe Ephrayim) camped the army of the tribe Menashe.” The meaning certainly could not be that Menashe was “above, over,” the tribe of Ephrayim, a more common meaning for the word על. G’d directs all these various apparently unrelated little incidents in mysterious ways in order to promote the realisation of His overall plan in historical developments, both of His people, and of mankind generally. Pharaoh’s dream was inspired by G’d in order that the prophecy to Avraham that before his descendants would take possession of the land of the Canaanites which He had promised them could come true. He had spoken of a period of 400 years parts of which would be harsh treatment of Avraham’s descendants as slaves. In order for this to come about, Avraham’s descendants had to be in Egypt. In order for them to go there voluntarily G’d had to orchestrate the famine. In order for Egypt not to perish during the famine Joseph had to interpret Pharaoh’s dream correctly and make the Egyptians indebted to himself and his family, thus reducing the number of years the Jews would do slave labour there. David details these steps of G’d’s השגחה in Psalms 105. When we look at Pharaoh’s dream with hindsight, we cannot fail to wonder why this dream was so difficult to interpret, and why the collective wisdom of all of Pharaoh’s wise men failed them. The answer is that G’d withheld their normal sagacity in order to bring Joseph into the picture. This concept of G’d interfering sometimes with the thought processes of human beings [not with their will which is inviolate they having been created in the image of G’d, i.e. with free will. Ed.] is described by the prophet Isaiah with the words משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל, “He turns sages back and makes nonsense of their knowledge.” (Isaiah 44,25)

Therefore, it seems to me that Bar Kappara and Rabbi Eleazar both hold that what is stated And do not ascend with steps upon My altar — the word al [upon/on] has two interpretations: both literally “on top of” which is the simple meaning of the verse, and also meaning “next to” as in the verse and you shall sacrifice upon it which Rashi interprets as “next to it,” similar to and next to him the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 2:20). And we can learn the lower from the upper: just as upon him mentioned above means “next to,” so too upon mentioned below also means “next to.” The connection between these passages led them to this interpretation, because it says And these are the judgments with the connecting vav, which implies that above some statute and judgment was also given to the judges to instruct them in the way they should go. And regarding this it says And these, meaning in addition to the statute and judgment given to them above, you shall set before them these judgments as well. This raises the question: where above does it speak about the laws for judges? It must be that the place of the Sanhedrin is next to the altar, and above it states as a warning to those who sit next to the altar, And do not ascend with steps upon My altar — meaning next to My altar.

וירא והנה באר.. רבצים עליה, the word עליה means “near it,” just as in Numbers 2,20 when the positions of the various army groups of the Israelites are described and the Torah writes ועליו מטה מנשה. The meaning clearly cannot be that the tribe of Menashe was positioned on top of the tribe of the tribe of Ephrayim, but that the tribe of Menashe was positioned close to the tribe of Ephrayim. The term על in the sense of “near, close by,” occurs numerous times in Scripture.

נצבים עליו STOOD BY, or OVER HIM — before him; only this is a more fitting expression to use of angels

And next As in (Num. 2:20) “Next to him, the tribe of Manasseh”, near him, and such is its explanation, next to the construction, and Scripture was not particular in its choice of words. Sometimes it says ודי לע, and sometimes it says וילו. “And next to them he repaired.”