Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Bilangan 32:12

You ought to appreciate that this paragraph contains an explanation of what exactly did happen to Yaakov as a result of his encounter with Esau. There is also a hint of what would be a correct form of relationship between the respective descendants of Esau and Yaakov during the long course of Jewish history. It is worth our while to consider Yaakov’s preparations for his fateful encounter with Esau as something to use as a model for ourselves in our dealings with the descendants of Esau. Basically, Yaakov used a three-pronged approach. 1) He prepared to wage war if it were forced upon him. 2) He prayed to G’d for deliverance. 3) He prepared gifts to soften the mood of his adversary. The first stage of his preparation, mobilising for war, is described in our paragraph in verse eight when the Torah writes that he divided the camp in two to give himself the maximum chance for at least one camp to escape unharmed. He then engaged in prayer when he appealed to G’d, saying (verse 12) “please save me from my brother, from Esau.” The third part of his preparation, i.e.. sending gifts (or bribes if you will), is found in verses 14-21. A great Jewish King, the King Chiskiyah learned from Yaakov when Jerusalem was under siege when he faced Sancheriv, [who during his time was the foremost conqueror of the world who had already liquidated the Northern Kingdom and exiled the Ten Tribes, Ed.]. We read in Kings II 18,15 that Chiskiyah gave all the silver that was in the treasury of the Temple and in his own vaults to Sancheriv in accordance with that King’s demands. He also readied what few forces remained at his disposal for war (Chronicles II 32,6). Finally, he prayed (Kings II 19,15) asking G’d to demonstrate His power to the world at large by saving the Kingdom of Yehudah. We have to act similarly whenever we find ourselves threatened by hostile Gentile forces. However, nowadays when G’d’s displeasure with us has become manifest seeing we are still in exile, we must not provoke war against our enemies as is evident from Song of Songs 2,7 השבעתי אתכם בנות ירושלים וגו', “I have made you take an oath o daughters of Jerusalem, etc.” One opinion in the Talmud Ketuvot 111 understands the oath as an undertaking by Jews in exile not to rebel against the local rulers and try and recapture the land of Israel by force of arms.

ומשה אהרן וחור, “and Moses, Aaron as well as Chur, etc.” according to Rashi, Chur was a son of Miriam, although in Exodus 24,14 he describes Chur as being a son of Miriam and Calev. This is based on Chronicles II 19 where Calev is described as having married Efrat, another name for Miriam, as stated in the Talmud tractate Sotah, folio 11. Why then was she called עזובה, when according to the Talmud quoted, Calev is described as having married Efrat after Azuvah, his first wife had died? How could Chur have been the son of Miriam seeing that he was the son of Efrat? I believe that Rashi’s commentary is correct and that there is no contradiction here at all. The verse in Chronicles I 2,18 described Calev the son of Chetzron siring Azuvah, “Ishah” [as if she were his wife, Ed.] and Yeriot, who in turn gave birth to Yashar, Shovav and Ardon before Azuvah had died. Thereupon Calev married Efrat who gave birth to Chur for him. Chur in turn became the father of Uri, etc. In the Talmud Sotah, Rashi states that Calev was the son of Chetzron, something that needs explaining, seeing that the Torah describes him as being the son of Yefuneh. (Numbers 13,6) Rashi considers the name “Yefuneh” as an acrostic praising the bearer of that name as not having made common cause with the spies. Still, he is also described as the son of K’naz in Joshua 15,17) According to Rava in the Talmud Sotah, folio 11, he was an adopted son of K’naz. This makes sense when we compare it with what is written in Numbers 32,12 where the name Yefuneh is linked to a member of the house of K’naz. Azuvah is identified as the same person that also appears with the name of Miriam. The reason that she was also known as Azuvah, “the abandoned one,” is because of the traumas she had experienced in her personal life. She had been afflicted with the dread disease tzoraat, as a result everyone abandoned her while she was thus afflicted. Her son had been murdered by the mob demanding to worship the golden calf. Another question concerning her is that the Torah described her as הוליד “he sired!?” She was his wife! How could she have sired anyone? Our sages say that if one marries a woman for religious reasons, in order to have G–d fearing children from her, one is considered as if one had physically sired such children.

מלאו ידכם היום, “dedicate yourselves this day!” as if the line had been written in the past tense, as if the word כי had preceded the word מלאו, expressing approval of their loyalty. Rallying to the call of Moses and carrying out his instructions was equivalent to offering a sacrifice to G’d.