Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Bilangan 27:20

יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך, anyone who interprets these words to mean that the brothers ought to praise Yehudah is grossly mistaken. The reason that Yaakov transfers the status of leader of the brothers, and, ultimately, hereditary royalty to Yehudah, was not his excellence as much as his older brothers’ unfitness. Yehudah’s elevation to this status would be initiated by his own brothers by their own volition, not through his father imposing him on the rest of the brothers. (compare the end of our verse “and the sons of your father will prostrate themselves before you.”) In Numbers 26,20 when Moses appoints Joshua as his successor, G’d suggests that he on his own account transfer his mantle of leadership to Joshua, [although G’d could have removed it from Moses and then Himself have bestowed it on Joshua. Ed.]

אלה יעמדו לברך. “These are to stand (on Mount Gerizim) to bless the people.” Our sages (in Sotah 32) state that the blessing consisted of: “Blessed be the man who has not made a hewn image, etc.,” whereas the curse consisted of the words spelled out in verses 15-26. Six tribes whose ancestors were sons of either Leah or Rachel stood on the mountain facing which the blessing was pronounced, whereas the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah as well as Reuven and Zevulun stood on Mount Eyval, in whose direction the curses were pronounced in order to complete the number of six tribes required to stand there. The reason the tribe of Shimon was also associated with the tribes in whose direction the blessings were pronounced was that the Torah lists here eleven different curses and the Torah wanted to avoid pronouncing a curse in his direction. Moses decreed that all the tribes receive a blessing, seeing, however, that the tribe of Shimon was not deserving of a blessing on account of Zimri its leader who had caused so much death amongst his own people, he wanted to at least not make it appear as if he were being cursed, i.e. of associating the word ארור with something pronounced in his direction. Had he allowed this to occur Shimon would have been beyond redemption (Rashi in the name of Rabbi Moshe Hadarshan).
Our sages in Sifri Vezot Habrachah item 348, claim that the blessing of the tribe of Yehudah contained within it an allusion to a blessing for the tribe of Shimon, seeing that Shimon’s tribal territory was described as an enclave within that of the tribe of Yehudah. The fact that the tribe of Reuven was placed on the mountain in whose direction the curses were pronounced does not constitute something negative against this tribe. I believe that this was the final part of the apology for the episode described in the Torah involving Reuven and Bilhah. Cursing someone who sleeps with the wife of his father (verse 20) was meant to draw our attention to the fact that actually Reuven had never been guilty of that sin. This is why the sages of the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni Vayechi 157) claim that Yaakov, his father, had already told him that the stigma which had attached itself to him on account of what is described as יצועי עלה in Genesis 49,4 would not be totally removed from him until the one (leader Moses) of whom the Torah had written עלה, “arise!” would come. As soon as Moses arranged for the tribe of Reuven to take his place among the tribes facing the pronouncement of the curses, Reuven’s stigma had been completely wiped out. What occurred at Mount Eival enabled our sages to say (Shabbat 58) that anyone accusing Reuven of having committed the sin of sleeping with his father’s wife is in error.
What precisely was the arraignment of the respective tribes like on these two mountains? Our sages in Sotah 32 have described it in these words: “6 tribes ascended the top of Mount Gerizim whereas 6 other tribes ascended the top of Mount Eyval. The priests and Levites took up their position in the valley separating these two mountains. The priests would surround the Holy Ark. The Levites would surround the priests. The Israelites would be on either side of them (on the mountain). This is the meaning of ‘and all of Israel its elders and law-enforcers and judges would stand on either side of the Holy Ark facing the Priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant’ (Joshua 8,33). The Priests and Levites turned their faces in the direction of Mount Gerizim, beginning to recite the blessing, commencing with the words: ‘blessed be the man who has not constructed a hewn image, etc.’ The tribes standing on both mountains would respond by chanting “Amen.” The blessings were followed by the curses, a similar procedure being followed.” After completion of this ceremony they brought the stones and built an altar of them, covering the altar with plaster and inscribing on it the entire Torah in seventy languages. This is proven by verse 8, i.e. באר היטב. After this they took the stones with them returning to their assigned place for the night (Gilgal). Thus far the wording of the Mishnah. [The difficulty in all this is the distance from Gilgal to Mount Eival and the impossibility to accomplish all this within a day without miracle. (Compare the various commentators of the Mishnah), Ed.]

A Midrashic approach to the above. The eleven sins listed here correspond to eleven virtues mentioned by King David in Psalms 15 as determining who is entitled to sojourn in G’d’s tent, i.e. Temple. Anyone residing outside the land of Israel is obligated to practice these virtues; they are the very opposite of the sins listed in our chapter here. When David demands that the person be הולך תמים, live without blame, this parallels the Torah’s demand in Deut. 18,13 תמים תהיה עם ה' אלוקיך, “you shall be wholehearted with the Lord your G’d.” David’s demand to be פועל צדק, “do what is right,” means he must not rob or steal anything belonging to his fellow. Our sages (Baba Batra 88) phrased it as “righteousness should emanate from you, you should give a little extra to your customer rather than a little less than called for by the scales.” This is the opposite of adjusting boundaries in one’s favor. The next stipulation of David, i.e. “speaking the truth in one’s heart,” means that one’s heart and one’s mouth, one’s pronouncements, should by in harmony with one another. This is the reverse of steering the blind person the wrong way, pretending to be helpful to him. The words לא רגל על לשונו, “his tongue is not given to evil,” is the opposite of “striking his fellow in secret” (verse 25). This is a form of slander, הולך רכיל. The words לא עשה לרעהו רעה, “he has not committed any harm to his fellow,” is the reverse of perverting justice, listed in our chapter in verse 20. The words וחרפה לא נשא על קרובו, “he has not brought shame on his relative,” mean that he has not perpetrated deeds which result in his relative becoming guilty of a sin, i.e. the reverse of the sexual acts described in our chapter. The words נבזה בעיניו נמאס “a contemptible man is abhorrent in his eyes,” mentioned by David (verse 4) as a qualification required to entitle one to be at home in the Temple, is the opposite of the sin of belittling one’s father and mother. The cause of such belittling is that one feels haughty and superior. Honouring those who are G’d-fearing, another prerequisite listed by David as part of the entrance fee to the Lord’s Sanctuary, is the reverse of belittling one’s parents. “Not having lent money to a fellow Jew and charging interest on it nor accepting a bribe against the innocent” (verse 5), is in stark contrast to the sin of spilling blood. People who take David’s moral/ethical demands to heart will be sure not to become shaky in their faith and fair conduct, ever.

הדר לו HONOUR TO HIM — i.e., honour is given unto him, as it is said, (Numbers 27:20) “And thou shalt give of thy honour (הודך, a synonym of הדר) unto him” (Joshua).

and He bestowed upon him such regal majesty The meaning is: He bestowed upon him royal favor; an example of this is (Num. 27:20): “And you shall bestow some of your majesty (מֵהוֹדְךָ) upon him,” that everyone said, “This one is fit.” And in Daniel (11:21) it says: “And a contemptible person will stand on his base, upon whom they have not bestowed regal majesty.”