출애굽기 15:9의 주석

אמר אויב THE ENEMY SAID to his people, when he was persuading them with words (cf. Rashi on 14:6), I WILL PURSUE and I WILL OVERTAKE them and I WILL DIVIDE THE SPOIL with my captains and my subjects.

THE ENEMY SAID. “I.e., to his people, when he [Pharaoh] was persuading them with words: ‘I will pursue them and I will overtake them, and I will divide the spoil with my captains and my servants.’” Thus the language of Rashi. Now I have seen in the Midrash Chazita:¹⁴⁵I have not found this Midrash in Shir Hashirim Rabbah, (see above in Seder Shemoth, Note 317), but in Koheleth Rabbah 1:31 and also in the Mechilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai on the verse here. “Thus did Rabbi Yishmael teach: ‘The enemy said: I will pursue, I will overtake. This should fittingly have been at the beginning of the Song, and why was it not written there? It is because there is no strict chronological order in the narrative of the Torah.’” Now Onkelos is of that opinion, for he translated, “the enemy had said,” referring to the beginning of his plan to pursue after them.
In my opinion, by way of the plain meaning of Scripture, this is to be understood in connection with the preceding verses, [all of them together explaining how the destruction of the enemy came about.] First, Scripture said that they sank in the sea and that they went down into the depths.¹⁴⁶Verse 5. This happened when the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen.¹⁴⁷Above, 14:28. After that, Scripture reverts to tell how this came about. With the blast of Thy nostrils, which is a reference to the strong east wind,¹⁴⁸Ibid., Verse 21. the waters were piled up, and the deeps were congealed¹⁴⁹Verse 8. from the beginning. It was because of this that the enemy thought that he would pursue and overtake them in the sea and divide their spoil, and that his lust would be satisfied upon them. But Thou didst blow¹⁵⁰Verse 10. upon them with Thy wind, and the sea covered them.
Now Moses mentioned this for in this thought of Pharaoh too were discernible the wonderful causation of G-d, Who strengthened the hearts of the Egyptians and turned their counsel into foolishness to come after the Israelites into the sea, as I have explained above.¹⁵¹Above, 14:21. It is for this reason that following that verse, Moses said, Who is like unto Thee, O Eternal, among the mighty,¹⁵²Verse 11. doing great and wondrous things in ways mutually opposed to each other, [such as was done here: with the same hand, He sank the Egyptians and delivered Israel, as mentioned above].

אמר אויב ארדף אשיג, The enemy had said to himself: "I will pursue, I will overtake, etc." The reason that the Israelites repeated what we knew already about the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites was to extol the manner in which G'd performed the miracle at the sea. G'd had succeeded in lulling the Egyptians into a sense of false security so that they did not consider the pursuit into the sea as hazardous.

אמר אויב, when they saw the sea turn into dry ground

אמר אויב ארדוף אשיג, “the enemy had said: “I will pursue and catch up, etc.” Rashi says that Moses quoted the words used by Pharaoh to encourage his people to join him in pursuit of the Israelites. This is also the understanding of our verse by Onkelos who translates אשיג as סגאה, progressing, marching. Nachmanides writes that it seems to him that the verse, basically, is a repetition of the theme of the beginning previous verse and does not refer to the decision made in Egypt to pursue the Israelites, but to the decision made at the sea to enter into the sea that had been split and stood like walls of ice. Pharaoh ignored or misinterpreted G’d’s having worked this miracle and that it was reversible and that these very waters would spell their doom. The end of verse 8 had explained that the whole phenomenon was an outgrowth and demonstration of G’d’s anger at the Egyptians.

My spirit and my will. [Rashi explains that the expression of] מלא (to fill) can be used relating to one’s “will,” as in: “To fill ( למלאות ) the will of your Father in Heaven.” Also: “To fulfill ( למלאות ) his friend’s will.”

V. 9. Der Gesang geht rückwärts. Der mächtigste Eindruck war der letzte und der fand zuerst seinen Ausdruck in סוס ורוכבו רמה בים, und in ihn sich versenkend wird Gott als איש מלחמה gegen alles Menschenfeindliche, Gott widerstrebende begriffen. Pharaos Macht, weil sie אויב, weil sie eine menschenfeindliche gewesen, war von Gott in die Fluten begraben. Und (V. 8) dieselbigen Fluten hatten sich doch auf Gottes Geheiß, Bahn gewährend, zurückgetürmt! Und (V. 9) es hatte der Feind doch eben diese Bahn zur siegreichen Vollbringung seiner feindseligen Absichten benutzen zu können vermeint! Der Feind erblickte in dieser plötzlich mitten im Meere entstandenen Bahn ein Naturereignis, das dem Verfolger wie dem Verfolgten zu Gebote steht. Es steht auch hier אויב, nicht האויב, um auch diese den Gehorsam der Natur im Dienste des frei gebietenden Gottesgerichtes völlig verleugnende Gesinnung Pharaos zu generalisieren. Diese Gesinnung wird geschildert: ארדף ,אשיג usw. —

'אמר אויב וגו, “the enemy had said, etc.; ”when he saw that the sea had had turned into a dry surface through the waves having frozen in the heart of it, the enemy considered this as an opportunity to catch up faster with the Israelites.

תמלאמו means SHALL BE FILLED WITH THEM (not it shall fill them). נפשי MY SOUL — my spirit, my desire. Do not be puzzled at a word, that expresses an idea usually expressed by two, viz., תמלאמו for תִּמָּלֵא מֵהֶם, for there are many examples of this way of speaking; e. g., (Judges 1:15) “the south country נְתַתָּנִי”, which is the same as נָתַתָּ לִי, “thou hast given to me”; (Genesis 37:4) “And they were not able דַּבְּרוֹ peaceably”, which is the same as דַּבֵּר עִמּוֹ “to speak with him”; (Jeremiah 10:20) “My children יְצָאוּנִי which is the same as יָצְאוּ מִמֶּנִי “have gone away from me”; (Job. 31:37) “the number of my steps אַגִידֶנּוּ which is the same as אַגִּיד לוֹ “I would declare unto him”. Similarly here: תמלאמו means תִּמָּלֵא נַפְשִׁי מֵהֶם “my soul shall be filled with them”.

אריק חרבי, I will empty my sheath by drawing forth my sword. This round about description of someone drawing his sword is not unique. We find something similar in connection with bows and arrows. In Psalms 38,3 כי חציך נחתו בי, literally: “for Your arrows have landed on me,” the meaning is, obviously, “Your arrows have struck me.” David, using poetic language, describes that when the bow has been placed flat on a solid surface in preparation for the arrow to be shot after the bow has been tensed sufficiently, it is aimed and shot so that its arrival at the target represents a “landing.” Psalms 18,35 uses similar language to describe the action of a bow and arrow.

Do not wonder about a word that expresses something expressed by two words. . . I.e., it is one word that is like two words.

אחלק שלל, "I will divide the spoils." The wicked Pharaoh intended to accomplish three things. 1) Something in which all would share equally, i.e. division of the spoils. 2) He wanted to take the Jews back as slaves as they had been before. He said: "my lust shall be satisfied upon them." He referred to the sense of accomplishment he would feel once he captured the Israelites to make them slaves again. He also hinted that he would treat them at will and oppress them more harshly than previously. 3) He planned to kill Moses and Aaron as well as the elders and leaders of the people. This is what he referred to when he said (in the words of the Israelites) "I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them." We have an example of the previous Pharaoh attempting to kill Moses by the sword (Exodus 2,15) where Shemot Rabbah 1,31 describes Pharaoh as unsuccessfully attempting to kill Moses by the sword.

In eigentümlicher Weise steht hier אחלק שלל, das Beuteverteilen, doch sicher das letzte nach völlig errungenem Siege, in der Mitte, ja als das erste unmittelbar nach dem Einholen, wo ja erst der Kampf zu beginnen hätte; wir hätten es zuletzt, nach תורישמו ידי erwarten sollen. Er scheint daher sein Heer durch die Aussicht und das Versprechen der Beute zu ermutigen, oder doch zu noch größerer Kühnheit haben anstacheln wollen, oder müssen, und es sind hier nicht Pharaos Gedanken, sondern Pharaos Ansprache an sein Heer ausgedrückt: "Ich will nach, will sie einholen, — ihr sollt alle Anteil an der Beute haben! — ich will meinen Mut ganz an ihnen kühlen und sie dann mit gezogenem Schwerte wieder in unsern Besitz bringen."

אריק חרבי, “I will bare My sword;” our author feels that the letter ב before the word חרבי is missing here, and he quotes similar instances, so that as a result, the line would mean that by using His sword G-d separates body from soul; and blood from breathing; [personally I had no problem with the word חרבי as is. Ed.]

אריק חרבי Translate this as the Targum: I WILL DRAW [MY SWORD]. Because one empties the scabbard when one draws out the sword and it (the scabbard) then remains empty (ריק), the, expression “emptying” is appropriate to it (to the act of drawing the sword), as in (Genesis 42:35) “emptying (מריקים) their sacks”; (Jeremiah 48:12) “And they shall empty (יריקו) his vessels (of wine)”. Now do not say that the expression “emptiness” in these examples does not apply to the thing which comes out, but that it applies to the scabbard and the sack and the vessels from which these things come out and not to the sword and to the wine (it is the scabbard, the sack and the vessels which are empty not the sword, the corn and the wine), — and consequently give a forced explanation of אריק חרבי in the sense of the verb in (Genesis 14:14) “He armed (וירק) his trained servants”, saying that it means, “I will arm myself with my sword”, for we do, indeed, find the expression “empty” applied also to the thing which, comes out of a receptacle; e. g., (Song 1:3) “oil which is emptied (תורק)”; (Jeremiah 48:11) “it (the wine) hath not been emptied (הורק) from vessel to vessel”. It does not say here “the vessel hath not been emptied”, but “the wine has not been emptied (הורק) from vessel to vessel”; consequently this expression is applied to the wine. Exactly like the phrase in this verse, is (Ezekiel 28:7) “And they shall draw their swords (והריקו חרבותם) against the beauty of thy wisdom”, in the chapter about Hiram.

The same meaning as: “And he armed his trained servants”. . . See Bereishis 14:14.

מַלֵא נֶפֶש ,תמלאמו נפשי heißt ein Verlangen sättigen, ונפש רעבה מלא טוב (Ps. 107, 9), וגם הנפש לא תמלא (Pred. 6, 7), למלא נפשו כי ירעב (Prov. 6, 30) und sonst. Mein Verlangen soll an ihnen satt werden. Ich will meine ganze Rache an ihnen nehmen. — ירש ,תורישמו ידי verwandt mit גרש, heißt hinausdrängen, sowohl den Besitzer aus dem Besitze, als den Besitz aus den Händen des Besitzers, sowohl daselbst 23) וירשתם גוים (Dewarim 11, 8) als וירשתם את הארץ תירוש: der aus seiner Hülle getriebene Rebensaft —). Ähnlich kommt auch der Hiphil von der Person und von der Sache vor. Da aber hier Pharaos Absicht nicht die Vertreibung des Volkes war, so kann wohl תורישמו nur in der Bedeutung zu verstehen sein, wie: והורשתם את הארץ. (Bamidbar 34, 53): ihr werdet das Land in Besitz geben, es unter euch verteilen, והורשתם את העיר (Josua 8. 7): ihr sollt die Stadt zum Besitz erben, את אשר יורישך כמוש (Richter 11, 24): was er dich in Besitz nehmen lässt. So auch hier תורישמו ידי: meine Hand wird sie uns wieder in Besitz nehmen lassen.

תורישמו ידי, “My hand shall destroy them;” the root of the word is ירש, so that the meaning in our verse is “Will disinherit them in favour of My people”

תורישמו This is an expression for poverty and need, (meaning “my hand shall make them poor”), just as, (I Samuel 2:27) “He maketh poor (מוריש) and maketh rich.”