Citazione Commento su I Samuele 25:17

In the phrase deserves flogging the Hebrew word bin is vocalized with a ḥiriq , as it is in the phrases “the son of Nun” [Joshua 1: 1], and “the son of Yaqeh” [Proverbs 30: 1]. It is used in the sense of “a base man” [I Samuel 25: 17] and, similarly, “it was a creature of a night” [Jonah 4: 10]. The reason he deserves to be flogged must be, in my opinion, that he struck his companion.

And He saw our affliction (Deuteronomy 26:7): This refers to the forced separation of the husbands and wives by the Egyptians, as it is written, “And the God saw the children of Israel and God knew. (Exodus 2:25)” How does the verse from Exodus illustrate the idea that the Egyptians forced the Israelite husband and wives to separate? The word “affliction” already implies the “forced separation of the sexes” without an additional verse from Exodus. We see this in other places in the Bible including Genesis 31:50. In this verse, Laban warns Jacob not to take other wives when he returns to the land of Canaan, “If you afflict my daughters by taking other wives beside my daughters...” The implication of the word “afflict” is that by taking other wives, Jacob would be ignoring his obligations to his first wives, Rachel and Leah and thus afflicting them. So the word “affliction” would appear to have a sexual connotation. The word “afflict” “Vayanunu” in the Deuteronomy verse can have two different meanings. It can mean hard pressed and physically suffering, and it can also mean denying one spouse the normal needs for intimacy and physical contact. When we read Deuteronomy, “He saw our affliction,” we do not know which way the Torah wants us to understand this expression. The verse from Exodus implies a sexual connotation! How do we know this? Whenever the Torah says “God saw” and does not tell us what he saw, we can assume that the text is being discreet by not discussing a delicate subject such as intimate relations between husband and wives. Rabbi Epstein offers two other reasons why we should understand the word “Vayanunu,” “and they oppressed us” as a reference to intimate relations between the sexes and not just physical oppression. First, Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, the Spanish commentator, suggested that the expression “ya’anu oto” “they oppressed us,” has this connotation in Exodus 1:12: “But the more they afflicted (“ya’anu oto”) Israel, the more they increased.” This verse associates affliction and population increase. It implies that the Israelites were afflicted to keep them from having children but the plan failed since the Israelites continued to increase in number. And second, in Exodus 2:24, the Torah says, “God heard their moaning and remembered His covenant...” This verse implies affliction in the sense of physical oppression. So the next verse which says, “And God saw....” must imply some thing other than physical affliction.

a valiant man בֶּן אִישׁ חַַיִל, similar to בֶּן בְּלִיַּעַל, an unscrupulous man, and in Samuel (II 23:20) it is written: בֶּן אִישׁ חַי for it is customary for people, when they see an agile person, to say, “This one is full of life.”