Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Mazmur 29:11

Another Midrashic comment in Tanchuma 3 remarks on the words באהל מועד, that previously G’d had spoken to Moses at the burning bush, as we know from Exodus 3,4. Later He spoke to him in Midian (Exodus 4,19). Subsequently, He had spoken to him in Egypt (compare Exodus 12,1). Still later He spoke to him at Sinai (Leviticus 25,1). As soon as the Tabernacle had been erected G’d changed the venue, preferring the privacy of the Tabernacle to any of the other locations from which He had addressed Moses previously. This concept is reflected in the words of Micah 6,8 that the Lord desires that we relate to Him “by walking modestly with your G’d.” As of now, G’d began to converse with Moses in the Tent of Meeting. When David said in Psalms 45,14 that “the honour and glory of a king’s daughter is observed only within the home,” he merely used a metaphor to describe that matters between the Lord and man are to be conducted in private. The fancy garments worn by the princess are not meant for show. In that verse the בת מלך is a reference to Moses as we know from Isaiah 19,4: “I will place the Egyptians at the mercy of a harsh master.” This was a reference to the Ten Plagues they were to endure. Isaiah continues: “and a ruthless king shall rule them.” This refers to Moses who represented the Kingdom of Torah known as עוז, the same word used by Isaiah in that verse. We know that Torah is called עוז, from ה' עוז לעמו יתן “the Lord gives עוז to His people” (Psalms 29,11). It is also written in Proverbs 8,15: “Kings reign through Me.” He who realizes that all mortal authority is dependent on G’d’s approval will be modest. Our sages (Tanchuma Bamidbar 3) say that any woman who practices modesty is entitled to marry a High Priest even if she is not of priestly or Levitic descent; she is fit to bear children who in turn will become High Priests. They base this on the end of the verse in Psalms 45,14 where the psalmist says: “her dress is embroidered with golden mountings.” The words “golden mountings” are also used in the garments of the High Priest (compare Exodus 28,11). It is the mark of the modest woman not to display her fancy garments outside her home. When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak to G’d he would hear the heavenly voice (Numbers 7,89).
Rabbi Joshua son of Levi said: “if the Gentiles would realise how much benefit they derive from the existence of the Temple (ours) they would place armed guards around it in order to protect it. In fact it is of greater benefit to them than it is to the Jewish people. Even Solomon included the importance to the Gentiles of his Temple when he prayed to G’d to respond favourably to the prayers offered by them in the Jewish Temple (Kings I 8, 41-42). He asked for outright acceptance of the prayers of the Gentiles whereas he asked only for qualified acceptance of prayers offered by Jews, i.e. deserving Jews only. As a result of this it is clear that seeing a Jew is aware of G’d and His power, he will search his heart for sins he may have committed when he finds that G’d did not respond to his prayer. A Gentile, who does not know G’d, would react angrily if he finds his prayer rejected. He would point to the fact that after having taken all the trouble to cross the seas in order to pray at such a world-famous shrine, he had wasted his time and money. As a result he would cause G’d’s image to become tarnished among other human beings. Not only is the Temple (of the Jews) more beneficial to them than to the Jews, but even the Jewish people’s existence is of great importance to them. Were it not for the Jewish people they would not be the beneficiaries of rain and dew at the appropriate times of the year. Even the sun dispenses its light and warmth only for the sake of the Jewish people as we know from Jeremiah 33,25: “Were it not for My covenant day and night, I would not have set the statutes of heaven and earth”. The message is that destruction of the Jewish people would make the continued existence of mankind pointless. In the future the Gentiles will see that the Lord G’d speaks to the Jewish people and as a result of this they will come and flock to establish close ties with Israel. This is what Zecharyah 8,23 spoke about when he said (the Gentiles speaking) “let us go with you for we have heard that G’d is with you.”

Therefore...blessed you as it is stated (below 29:11): “The Lord shall grant strength to His people.” And what is their reward? “The Lord shall bless His people with peace.”

וקראת אליה לשלום, “you shall first offer peace to that city. According to some sages the rule mentioned here even included nations who the Israelites had been ordered by G–d to kill every “soul.” However, this command did not apply if the inhabitants agreed to vacate the town and relocate outside the Holy Land. We know that peace is superior to war, i.e. hostility, from when G–d Himself changed what Sarah had thought about her husband when she considered him too old to impregnate her with effective sperm. (Genesis18,12) He did not tell him about that part of her reaction to the angel’s prediction that by the following year she would have a son. We have a verse in Hoseah 4,17: חבור עצבים אפרים הנח לו, “Ephrayim is addicted to images,- let him be.” This verse is quoted by Rashi in connection with the verse we just quoted from Genesis, where he says that this cannot be understood at face value, i.e. that the prophet should not predict doom for idol worshippers. Our author cites several additional examples of where we cannot take a quotation at face value, especially when the brothers after Yaakov’s funeral quote their father as having commanded them to ask Joseph for forgiveness. (Genesis 50,17) The Torah wrote this in order to preserve harmony between Joseph and his brothers, not because Yaakov had actually said these words. Both the blessings by the priests end with bestowing the blessing of peace and the last of the 19 benedictions in the amidah prayer that we recite at least three times daily, concludes with the blessing of shalom, peace. Our sages in the Talmud, tractate Gittin folio 61, bid us to greet a gentile with the blessing of shalom before waiting for him to greet us, and in the event that he does to respond with using the expression shalom twice. Seeing that this might appear insincere on our part, the Talmud urges us to greet him before he can greet us so that we can avoid using the word shalom twice when greeting him, something that is forbidden in the Talmud, tractate Gittin folio 62. On folio 59 in the same tractate we are also told not to accept something that had been found by a deaf person or a minor, as it might have come into his possession illegally. We are also to feed the poor of the gentiles, all in order to maintain harmonious relations with the gentiles, generally. For all these reasons Hashem blessed His people with shalom (Psalms 29.11)