Commento su Esodo 15:1

אז ישיר משה THEN SANG MOSES — with regard to the usage of the future ישיר, the meaning is: THEN — i. e. when he saw the miracle it entered his mind that HE WOULD SING a song. Similar is, (Joshua 10:12) “Then Joshua would speak (אז ידבר)”; and similar, (1 Kings 7:8) “and a house he would make (יעשה) for Pharaoh’s daughter”, which signifies “he purposed in his heart that he would make it for her”. So, also, ישיר here signifies: his heart told him that he should sing, and thus did he actually do, as it states, “and they (Moses and Israel) spake as follows, ‘I will sing unto the Lord’”. And in the same way, in the case of Joshua, it means: then (או) — when he saw the miracle mentioned in that narrative — his heart told him (prompted him) to speak, and thus did he actually do, as it is stated, “and he spake before the eyes of all Israel”. The same applies to the Song of the Well (Numbers 21:17) which begins with the words: אז ישיר ישראל, “then would Israel sing”; it expresses the intention quite plainly in the following words, “Come up, O Well — sing ye unto it” (i. e. these words are a call to the people to sing to it after Israel had expressed their intention so to do and are not part of the song itself which begins with the words that follow). With regard to (1 Kings 11:7) אז יבנה שלמה במה our Rabbis explained that He proposed to build a high place for Chemosh but actually did not build it (Sanhedrin 91b). This, too, teaches us that the י as a prefix of the imperfect is used in reference to intention to do a thing. This explanation serves to settle the literal meaning of the text. But so far as its Midrashic explanation is concerned our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said: from here (i. e. from the fact that the future tense is used) we may derive an intimation that the tenet of the Resurrection of the Dead is from the Torah (is alluded to, although only by inference, in the Torah) (Sanhedrin 91b). And thus, also, do they explain in the case of all them (all of the examples quoted) except in the case of that referring to Solomon which they explained in the sense that he purposed to build a high place but did not build it. — One cannot say that this can be appropriately explained in the same way as one explains other passages which are written in the future tense, but which really refer to an immediate action (i. e. to a then present time); for example, (Job. 1:5) “Thus was Job doing (יעשה)”; (Numbers 9:18) “At the command of the Lord were they encamping (יחנו)”; (Numbers 9:20) “And there were occasions when the cloud was (יהיה) upon the tabernacle”, because these were each of them something that was continuously happening, and there is proper to it either the future tense or the past tense (cf. Rashi on Genesis 29:3). But this (אז ישיר and other passages quoted) which happened only at the particular moment mentioned (once and once only), one cannot fittingly explain in this sense (i. e. of continuous action).

AZ YASHIR MOSHEH'(THEN MOSES WILL SING).⁹¹It is of course translated as a past tense: “Then Moses sang.” Rashi and Ramban will discuss why the future tense is used here by the Torah. Rashi comments: “[Then], when Moses saw the miracle, the thought came to his heart that he would sing a song,⁹²According to Rashi, this explains why the future tense — yashir (he will sing) — is used here by the Torah, since the expression denotes Moses’ thought that he should sing. Rashi thus interprets yashir to be a pure future. Ramban will differ with this interpretation. and thus he actually did, [as it is said], and they spoke, saying. Similarly, az yedabeir Yehoshua⁹³Joshua 10:12. Literally: “Then Joshua will speak.” means that when he saw the miracle [mentioned there], his heart prompted him to speak, and thus he actually did, [as it is said], and he said in the sight of Israel.⁹⁴Ibid. The same interpretation applies to the Song of the Well, which begins with the words, az yashir Yisrael,⁹⁵Numbers 21:17. Literally: “Then Israel will sing.” and Scripture explains after that, Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it.⁹⁶Ibid. This part of the verse shows that the preceding expression, az yashir Yisrael, denotes intent of heart to sing, thus: “Then, when they saw the miracle, their hearts told them that they should sing,” and so they did, as is indicated by the expression sing ye unto it, which is the call to the people to sing. Likewise: az yivneh Shlomoh,⁹⁷I Kings 11:7. Literally: “Then Solomon will build [a high place].” which the Sages of Israel explained it as meaning⁹⁸Sanhedrin 91b. that he proposed to build but did not build it.⁹⁹“Thus we learn that the yod as a prefix of the imperfect verb, [i.e., the future tense of a verb], indicates an intent to do a thing” (Rashi). This explanation serves to clarify the literal meaning of the text.”
But what will the Rabbi [Rashi] say concerning these verses: ‘Ya’asu’ [literally: “They will make”] a calf in Horeb;¹⁰⁰Psalms 106:19. How oft ‘yamruhu’ [literally: “will they rebel”] against Him in the wilderness, and ‘ya’atzivuhu’ [literally: “they will grieve Him”] in the desert!¹⁰¹Ibid., 78:40. The entire psalm is so written [in the future tense]: yaharog [literally: “He will destroy”] their vines with hail;¹⁰²Ibid., Verse 47. y’shalach [literally: “He will send”] among them swarms of flies¹⁰³Ibid., Verse 45. — [when all of these verbs refer to past events]! Similarly: And from whence ‘yavo’u’ [literally: “shall they come”] unto thee?¹⁰⁴II Kings 20:14. Of the wounds which the Arameans ‘yakuhu’ [literally: “shall smite him”].¹⁰⁵Ibid., 8:29. Likewise, Now Moses ‘yikach’ [literally: “will take”] the tent¹⁰⁶Further, 33:7. does not denote a continuous event,¹⁰⁷At this point, Ramban’s intent is directed to another statement in Rashi’s explanation, namely, that where an action is continuously happening, it is proper to use either the future tense or the past tense. Where the action is mentioned once and once only, the future cannot be used. However, Ramban points out, in the verse, Now Moses ‘yikach’ the tent, where the future tense “shall take” is used, the action is not one of continuous happening and still the future tense is used! since he took it only once.¹⁰⁸See Rashi further, 33:11, towards the end (“The Midrash explains, etc.”), that Moses’ removing his tent to pitch it outside the camp happened only once. Instead, [we must conclude that] it is the way of Scripture to use the future tense in place of the past form, and in many places the reverse is quite usual. The reason for this is that it is a distinctive way of language for a narrator of an event to place himself at a certain point of time which he desires, and he then alludes to the event. At times, he places himself at the moment of the action, and he speaks of it in the present tense as if he is watching it from its very beginning. He would say, “Israel is singing,” as if they were singing right before him, and so also in other cases. However, at times the narrator places himself after the event and says, “This has already been done.” It is all a matter of conveying an event realistically. It is for this reason that this interchangeable use of the tenses occurs in matters of prophecy.

אז ישיר, he agreed to sing this song.