Commento su Esodo 13:17

ויהי בשלח פרעה... ולא נחם AND IT CAME TO PASS WHEN PHARAOH HAD SENT [THE PEOPLE AWAY] THAT GOD GUIDED THEM NOT — The word נחם means He guided them, just as, (Exodus 32:34) “Go, guide (נחה) the people”, and (Proverbs 6:22) “when thou goest it shall guide (תנחה) thee”.

AND G-D LED THEM NOT BY THE WAY OF THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES BECAUSE¹“Because.” Thus Rashi and Ibn Ezra render the Hebrew word ki, as will be explained. Ramban will suggest further on in the text that the word ki should be understood here as “although.” The J.P.S. translation follows Ramban’s explanation. IT WAS NEAR. “It would therefore be easy [for the Israelites] to return to Egypt by the same route. There are many Midrashic explanations, [but the above is the plain sense of Scripture].” Thus the language of Rashi. This is also the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, who explained the purport of the verse to be that G-d led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines “because” it was near. They might therefore be filled with regret [when they experience war], and they would immediately return to Egypt.
In my opinion, if their explanations were correct, the expression for G-d said would have been mentioned in first place in the verse, in which case the verse would read: “and G-d led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, for G-d said, Because it is near, lest peradventure the people repent!”²But actually the verse reads: and G-d led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines because it was near; for G-d said, etc. In other words, Ramban argues that according to Rashi and Ibn Ezra, the reason for G-d’s choice of the route by the wilderness and not by the land of the Philistines [because it was near], should have followed after the expression for G-d said. But the correct interpretation is that [the expression in question does not state the reason for G-d’s choice but merely] states that G-d led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines although it was near and it would have been advantageous to lead them by that route, for G-d said: Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.
The reason they would experience war if they went by the way of the land of the Philistines, is that the Philistines would surely not have given them permission to go peacefully through their land, and thus they might return to Egypt. But by the way of the wilderness, they would not see war until they came to the lands of Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites,³Deuteronomy 3:8. which were given to them [i.e. to Israel]. At that time, they were already far from Egypt, [and there was thus no reason to fear that they would be tempted to return to Egypt because of war]. The war of Amalek in Rephidim⁴Further, 17:8-13. was no reason for the Israelites to return to Egypt, since they did not pass through the land of the Amalekites. Rather, Amalek came from his country and warred against them because of his hatred of Israel. Even if they were to take their own course to return to Egypt, it would be to no avail since Amalek would fight them on the way. Besides, they were already far from Egypt because of the circuitous route which they had followed, and they knew of no other route.
Now Rashi commented: “When they see war. For instance, the war of the Canaanite and the Amalekite.⁵In Numbers 14:45 and so in Rashi here: And the Amalekite and the Canaanite came down. If they had proceeded by the direct route, they would have then turned back. For after He had made them go round by a circuitous way they said, Let us make a captain and go back to Egypt,⁶Ibid., 14:4. and how much more so would they have said it had He led them by a straight road!”⁷Mechilta on the verse before us.
The purport of that which Scripture states, and G-d led them not… But G-d led the people about, by the way of the wilderness,⁸Verse 18. is that when they journeyed from Succoth,⁹Verse 20. a pillar of cloud¹⁰Verse 21. began to go before them. It did not go by the way of the land of the Philistines but instead went by the way of the wilderness of Etham,⁹Verse 20. and the Israelites walked after it. The cloud then rested in Etham and they encamped there, and that was at the edge of the wilderness.⁹Verse 20.

ויהי בשלח...ולא נחם אלוקים דרך ארץ פלשתים, even though it had been G’d’s plan to lead the Israelites to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah there, and only from there to the land of Israel, as He stated Himself in Exodus 6,7-8 :”I will take you as My people, and I will bring you to the land, etc.,” at this point, G’d’s plan was to lead them to the Sea of Reeds, which was neither the route to the land of the Philistines, nor the route that led to Mount Sinai. [we must remember that Moses had stood at Chorev=Mt Sinai at the burning bush and he did not have to cross the sea to do this. Ed.] The major reason for this was to bring about the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in the sea. [it is important to always remember that due to man’s free will, G’d cannot deal with man in the way He deals with inert objects or even animals, none of which could oppose Him. G’d needs to create a scenario which gives man a chance to delude himself, thus bringing him to act in a manner enabling G’d to insure that His design will be carried out. Ed.] An example of G’d acting in this manner is described in Judges 4,7 where G’d Himself speaks about how He “dragged” Sisera and his army and 900 armoured vehicles across the river Kishon to face Barak. The simplest route to get to the Sea of Reeds was by traversing the land of the Philistines. דרך ארץ פלשתים, G’d did not want them to travel this route