Midrash su Genesi 12:14

R. Joshua of Sikhnin was of the opinion that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Abraham a sign that whatever happened to him would likewise happen to his descendants. He chose Abraham from among all those in his father’s house, as it is said: Thou art the Lord God who didst choose Abraham, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham (Neh. 9:7). And He selected Abraham’s sons to be His chosen ones among the seventy nations, as is said: For thou art a Holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be His own treasured nation out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth (Deut. 14:2). He said to Abraham: Get thee, and to Abraham’s sons, He said: I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Emorite, etc. (ibid. 3:17). He promised Abraham: And I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing (Gen. 12:2), and He told his sons: The Lord bless thee, and keep thee (Num. 6:24). To Abraham He said: I will make thee a great nation (Gen. 12:2), and to his descendants He said: And what great nation is there (Deut. 4:8). Concerning Abraham it is written: Abraham was one (Ezek. 33:24), and of Israel it is said: And who is like thy people Israel, a nation one in the earth (I Chron. 17:21). In reference to Abraham it is said: and hunger was in the land (Gen. 12:10), and about his descendants it is said: When they returned to Egypt, hunger was already in the land (ibid. 43:1). Abraham descended to Egypt because of famine, and his sons, also, descended because of famine, as is said: And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn from Egypt (ibid. 42:3). When Abraham descended the Egyptians approached him, and the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair (ibid. 12:14), and concerning his descendants, the Egyptians declared: Come, let us deal wisely with them lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there befalleth us any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land (Exod. 1:10).

(Deut. 25:18, cont.:) And he cut off (rt.: znb) all who were lagging behind you. He smote them with a blow to the tail (rt.: znb).⁵¹The word can also denote the penis. See PR 7:3; 12:10, 13; 13:1. And this agrees with what R. Hanina bar Shilqa, said, “What did the House of Amalek do to Israel?⁵²Below, section 14. They cut off their penes and flung them heavenward, as they said, ‘This is what You have chosen, take for Yourself what You have chosen.” As Israel did not know what the nature of spit was, until Amalek came and taught them, as stated (with reference to Ezek. 8:17), “here they were sending the spit in their faces.” From whom did he learn it? From his grandfather Esau, as stated (in Gen. 27:36), “And he said, ‘Is he not (hky) rightly named Jacob?’”⁵³Gen. R. 67:4. He rubbed (rt.: hkk) his throat and brought out the spit. (Deut. 25:18), “All who were lagging behind you.” R. Judah, R. Nehemiah, and the masters [differed]. R. Judah said, “They said, ‘If He is master over all of out deeds, we will serve Him; but if not, we will revolt against Him.’” R. Nehemiah said, “They said, ‘If He furnishes us with our food like a king who is living in the province, such that the province lacks nothing at all, we will serve Him; but if not, we will revolt against Him.’” And the masters said, “They said, “’If we have a thought in our hearts and He knows what we are thinking, we will serve Him; but if not, we will revolt against Him.’” R. Berekhyah said in the name of R. Levi, “In their heart they had a thought, and the Holy One, blessed be He, granted them their request.” And what is the evidence? (Ps. 78:18:) “They tested God in their heart by asking food for themselves.” See what [else] is written there (in vs. 29), “So they ate and were very full.” Another interpretation (of Deut. 25:18), “all who were lagging behind you”: R. Judah, R. Nehemiah and the masters [differ].⁵⁴PRK 3:12; PR 12:13, cont.; PRE 44; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Exod. 17:8 and Deut. 25:18. R. Judah says, “Whoever was overcome was discarded.” R. Nehemiah says, “Whomever the cloud vomited up was discarded.” And the rabbis say, “It was the tribe of Dan that the cloud vomited up, [as] they all served idols, as stated⁵⁵The reference is to the idol which the Danites took from Micah. See Jud. 17–18. (Deut. 25:18, cont.), ‘when you were tired and weary, and did not fear God.’” [You were] tired from thirst and weary from the road, and you did not fear God.⁵⁶Above, Gen. 7:15; 8:5; 12:13; Tanh., Gen. 12:14; Deut. 6:10, cont.; PRK 3:13; PR 13:4; Gen. R. 73:7; cf. BB 123b. R. Pinhas said in the name of R. Samuel bar Nahman, “It is a transmitted aggada [that] Esau will fall at the hand of the children of Rachel (Joseph and Benjamin), as stated (in Jer. 49:20), ‘Surely the youngest of the flock shall drag them away.’ Why does it call them the youngest of the flock? Because they were the youngest of the tribes.” Hence, Moses said to Joshua (Exod. 17:9), “Choose men for us.” As he was [descended from] Joseph, about whom it is written (Gen. 42:18), “I fear God.” And about Esau, it is written (Deut. 25:18), “and did not fear God.” Youth is written with reference to the one and small is written with reference to the other (i.e., with reference to Esau). Youth is written with reference to the one (in Gen. 37:2), “since he (Joseph) was a youth with the children of Bilhah [and with the children of Zilpah].” And small is written with reference to the other (in Obad. 1:2), “I will surely make you (Edom) smallest among the nations.” The one (Esau) grew up with two who were righteous (i.e., with Isaac and Rebekah) and did not learn from their deeds, while the other grew up with two who were wicked (i.e., Potiphar and Pharaoh) and did not learn from their deeds. The one received the birthright as a result of his good deeds, while the other lost his birthright from his evil deeds. The one supported his brothers, while the other sought to kill his brother. The one fenced himself away from sexual immorality and from the spilling of blood, while the other sullied himself with sexual immorality and the spilling of blood. The one conceded to the revival of the dead, as stated (Gen. 50:24), “God will surely remember you”; while the other denied the revival of the dead, as stated (Gen. 25:32), “Behold, I am going to die.” The one offered his life for his mother’s honor, as stated (Gen. 33:7), “and after, Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed”; while the other sought to kill his mother, as stated (Amos 1:11), “and he destroyed his uterus.”⁵⁷This is a homiletical translation of the verse, which would otherwise be translated as, AND HE REPRESSED HIS PITY. Therefore, the one (Esau) will fall by the hand of the other (Jospeh). And R. Johanan said, “All of the ministering angels sought to battle with the ministering angel of Esau, but he would not fall by their hand, as he would remove each and every one with a response: To Reuben, he says, ‘You were suspected about your father’s concubine.’ To Simeon and Levi, ‘You also killed [the inhabitants of] Shekhem.’ To the other tribes, ‘You sold your brother and sought to kill him.’ To Judah, ‘You were also suspected about your daughter-in-law, Tamar.’ To Benjamin he said, ‘You were suspected about the concubine in Giveah.’ When the ministering angel of [Joseph] came and battled with him, he immediately fell in front of him, as he had no response to answer him. This is what is written (Obad 1:18), “And the House of Jacob shall be fire, and the House of Joseph flame, and the House of Esau shall be straw.”

(Gen. 49:27:) BENJAMIN IS A RAVENOUS WOLF. This text is related (to Amos 3:7): SURELY THE LORD GOD DOES NOTHING WITHOUT HAVING REVEALED IT UNTO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS.⁶⁶Tanh., Gen. 12:14; also 4:6; Gen. R. 49:2; 97, New Version, on 49:27 (= pp. 1224—1225 in the Theodor-Albeck edition); M. Pss. 25:13. In the beginning the counsel of the LORD was for those who feared him, as stated (in Ps. 25:14): THE COUNSEL OF THE LORD IS FOR THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. Later he gave it to the upright, as stated (in Prov. 3:32): BUT HIS COUNSEL IS WITH THE UPRIGHT. < Still > later he gave it to the prophets, as stated (in Amos 3:7) SURELY THE LORD GOD DOES NOTHING WITHOUT HAVING REVEALED IT UNTO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS.

Everything that the righteous do they do through the Holy Spirit. When Jacob blessed Judah, he blessed him with < the qualities of > a lion, as stated (in Gen. 49:9): JUDAH IS A LION'S WHELP. < Thus he paired him off > ⁶⁷The bracketed words come from the parallel versions in Tanh., Gen. 12:14; Gen. R. 97, New Version, on 49:27 (= pp. 1224—1225 in the Theodor-Albeck edition). against the kingdom of Babylon, of which it is written (in Dan. 7:4): THE FIRST WAS LIKE A LION.⁶⁸Gen. R. 99:2. So Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (descendants of Judah) attacked it (i.e., Babylon). As for Joseph, he paired him off against this < present > wicked kingdom of Rome. R. Samuel bar Nahman said: There is a tradition handed down that Esau will only fall at the hands of Rachel's children. [Thus it is stated (in Jer. 49:20): SURELY THE YOUNGEST OF THE FLOCK SHALL DRAG THEM⁶⁹THEM refers to Edom, which had come to be identified with Rome in Jewish tradition. AWAY.] And Moses paired off the tribe of Levi against the kingdom of Greece, since the children of the Hasmoneans stem from Levi. Also Levi is the third tribe, and this kingdom of Greece is the third < kingdom >.⁷⁰According to Dan. 7 as the tradition interprets it. Moreover, Levi (LWY) has three letters, and Greece (YWN) has three letters. The former sacrifices bulls, and the latter writes on the horn of an ox. They have no portion in the God of Israel. The former are many, and the latter are few. Moses saw them and blessed them, as stated (in Deut. 33:11 with reference to Levi): BLESS, O LORD, HIS VALOR… < SMITE THE LOINS OF THOSE WHO RISE UP AGAINST HIM >…. And Jacob paired Benjamin off against the kingdom of Media. Thus it is written about the kingdom of Media (in Dan. 7:5): THEN HERE WAS ANOTHER BEAST, A SECOND ONE, LIKE A BEAR.⁷¹Aramaic: dov. Cf. the parallel versions of Tanh., Gen. 12:14; Gen. R. 97, New Version, on 49:27 (= pp. 1224—1225 in the Theodor-Albeck edition), where dov is written without a vowel letter and so allows one to read the word as dev, which means “wolf.” So here is an analogy with it (Media) over against the tribe of Benjamin to which it is likened, as stated (in Gen. 49:27): BENJAMIN IS A RAVENOUS WOLF. Just as the wolf seizes < its prey >, so did the tribe of Benjamin seize < something >, as stated (in Jud. 21:21): WHEN YOU SEE {THE DAUGHTERS OF SHILOH} [AND BEHOLD, IF THE DAUGHTERS OF SHILOH COME OUT]… < THEN YOU SHALL COME OUT OF THE VINEYARDS >, SEIZE FOR YOURSELVES < EACH ONE HIS OWN WIFE FROM THE DAUGHTERS OF SHILOH, AND GO TO THE LAND OF BENJAMIN >.

(Deut. 25:18, cont.:) WHEN YOU WERE TIRED AND WEARY, AND HE DID NOT FEAR GOD. <You were> TIRED from thirst AND WEARY from the road, AND HE DID NOT FEAR GOD.⁶⁸Above, Gen. 7:15; 8:5; 12:13; Tanh., Gen. 12:14; Deut. 6:10, cont.; PRK 3:13; PR 13:4; Gen. R. 73:7; cf. BB 123b. R. Pinhas said in the name of R. Samuel bar Nahmani: It is a transmitted aggada <that> Esau (i.e., Rome) will fall at the hand of the children of Rachel (Joseph and Benjamin), as stated (in Jer. 49:20): SURELY THE YOUNGEST OF THE FLOCK SHALL DRAG THEM AWAY. Why does it call them THE YOUNGEST OF THE FLOCK? Because they were the youngest of the tribes, for YOUTH is written with reference to the one and LEAST is written with reference to the other (i.e., with reference to Esau). YOUTH is written with reference to the one (in Gen. 37:2): SINCE HE (Joseph) WAS A YOUTH WITH THE CHILDREN OF BILHAH <AND WITH THE CHILDREN OF ZILPAH>. And LEAST is written with reference to the other (in Obad., vs. 2): I WILL SURELY MAKE YOU (Edom, i.e., Rome) LEAST AMONG THE NATIONS. The one (Esau) grew up with two who were righteous (i.e., with Isaac and Rebekah) and did not learn from their deeds, while the other grew up with two who were wicked (i.e., Potiphar and Pharaoh) and did not learn from their deeds. Therefore, the former will come and fall by the hand of the latter. The former, of whom it is written (in Deut. 25:18): AND HE DID NOT FEAR GOD, will come and fall by the hand of the latter, of whom it is written (in Gen. 42:18): I FEAR GOD.