וַיֵּ֥שֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בַּשִּׁטִּ֑ים וַיָּ֣חֶל הָעָ֔ם לִזְנ֖וֹת אֶל־בְּנ֥וֹת מוֹאָֽב׃
이스라엘이 싯딤에 머물러 있더니 그 백성이 모압 여자들과 음행하기를 시작하니라
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 18,3. “do not just pass by your servant.” Avraham was overcome with a sense of prophecy as soon as he saw these men. We have a tradition (Rashi, Baba Metzia 114) according to which the prophet Elijah was a priest; and that when Pinchas avenged the insult to G’d (Numbers 25,1-9, 11-15) perpetrated by Zimri and the people at Shittim, his soul linked up with those of Nadav and Avihu (who had been priests) and the letters in the word נא in our verse allude to the first letters in the names נדב, אביהו, so that he became henceforth identified with the prophet Elijah, who similarly was jealous on behalf of G’d. The words: תעבור מעל עבדך, “pass by your servant,” are an allusion to Elijah’s traditional role of briefly attending every circumcision of a Jewish baby, as a symbol of the importance of that covenant between the Jewish people and G’d.