Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Bilangan 4:19

BLESS, ETERNAL, ‘CHEILO’ — that they be a great chayil (army). And the meaning thereof is that they should increase and not decrease when they enter the Holiness, similar in meaning to the verse, Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites.¹⁸⁶Numbers 4:18. It is similarly stated in the admonitions concerning [the Levites], and that they may not die.¹⁸⁷Ibid., Verse 19. And Onkelos rendered cheilo — “his possessions,” from the expression and all their flocks, and all ‘cheilam’ (their possessions).¹⁸⁸Ibid., 31:9. He means what our Rabbis have said concerning the incense — that it bestows a blessing [upon the priest that performs that service].¹⁸⁹Yoma 26a. The phrase [before us] is connected with the expression in [the preceding verse], they shall put incense before Thee,¹⁸⁵Verse 10. because, as a result of it, his possessions will be blessed, as we have been taught:¹⁸⁹Yoma 26a. “Fresh priests come and draw lots for the incense.”¹⁹⁰Four lots were drawn to determine the priests who would be privileged to minister in the Service of the Daily Whole-offering. Three of these lots were open to any priest whose family served that day. But prior to the lot for the burning of the incense the officer announced, “Fresh priests etc.,” i.e., those who had never yet performed the incense service were to come forward. The reason for this arrangement was to give as many priests as possible the opportunity to participate in the burning of the incense, because those who did so became wealthy. And in the Sifre it is stated:¹⁹¹Sifre, Brachah 352. “Bless, Eternal, ‘cheilo’ — his possessions. From here the Rabbis have deduced: Most priests are wealthy. In the name of Abba the Preacher the Rabbis have said: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken¹⁹²Psalms 37:25. — this refers to the seed of Aaron.”

כן עשו להם, “so they did unto them.” The Levites did so to the priests. An alternate interpretation: “so did Aaron and his sons to the Levites.” This interpretation is based on Numbers 4,19: וזאת עשו להם וחיו, “this is what you are to do unto them so that they will live.”

ויהי בדרך במלון,”It was on the journey, at the inn, etc.” The word ויהי refers to Moses, as if to say: “when Moses was on the way at the inn, etc.” [The alternative is that it could have referred to the baby]. The meaning of the words ויפגשהו ה' is that an angel met him. This angel is described by the holy name of G’d although it was one of the lower ranking angels [a category that was not in constant touch with the highest sphere in the heavens. Ed.] as it had been dispatched in order to complete a specific task G’d wanted to be carried out. This is also confirmed by Shemot Rabbah 5,8 which writes that the performance of the rite of circumcision is so dear to G’d that Moses was not allowed to delay it unnecessarily for even a single hour.”
ויפגשהו ה' ויבקש המיתו, “G’d confronted him and wanted to kill him.” The angel wanted to kill Moses (not Eliezer, the baby). Even though this angel was dispatched by the attribute of Mercy, he tried to kill Moses. Rabbi Yossi adds: “on no account must you presume that Moses had been negligent (lazy) in performing this rite. The delay had been due to Moses deliberating if to circumcise the baby immediately and to wait before moving on for three days until the baby was no longer in danger, or if to proceed without delay seeing G’d had commanded him “go back to Egypt” (verse 19). If we accept Rabbi Yossi’s comment the question is why Moses was punished and almost lost his life? The answer is that he first concentrated on matters related to his lodgings at the inn instead of circumcising Eliezer immediately. We have a rule (Pesachim 64) that one does not delay the performance of a commandment once the time has arrived for it to be performed.
When we referred to the angel as being an “angel of Mercy,” this means that he was a messenger of the attribute of Mercy.