창세기 18:21의 주석

ארדה נא I WILL GO DOWN NOW — This teaches the judges that they should not give decisions in cases involving capital punishment, except after having carefully looked into the matter — all as I have explained in the section dealing with the dispersion of the nations (11:5). Another explanation of ארדה נא is: I will go down to the very end of their doings (I will fathom the depths of their wickedness).

עשו כלה, the vertical line after the word עשו is like a comma between these words, i.e. “if they have done as reported, I will put an end to them.”

I will descend now. I will plumb the depths of their wickedness to see what will come of it in the end.

ארדה נא ואראה, "I will descend and have a look Myself, etc." We need to understand why G'd had "to descend." Is not the whole world like a grain of mustard in size compared to G'd so that the term "descend" loses its meaning when applied to G'd? The word הכצעקתה, "if as its outcry," also needs clarification. Does G'd have doubts about the accuracy of His own knowledge? Rashi says that the word teaches that a terrestrial court must not judge capital crimes except on the basis of eye-witnesses. If that is so, could we not have learned this already from Genesis 11,5 when G'd is described as descending prior to judging the generation which had built the Tower? Rashi himself made the same comment there as here!

ארדה נא ואראה, we explained the meaning of G’d’s “descending” already on 11,5. This time the text says ואראה, “I shall see,” instead of לראות, “to see.” The Torah writes in this vein although we know that G’d is perfectly aware of all that goes on here on earth. The reason why the Torah describes G’d’s activity in this manner is only to remind people on earth that He is not in a hurry to mete out retribution, but is patient, and even when His patience is exhausted, He does not act impetuously, but is always in complete control. He examines if there is any way in which delaying retribution can be justified. It was this very phrase which provided Avraham with an opening to engage G’d in a dialogue concerning His Justice and man’s perception of Divine justice. He did this not because he doubted G’d’s justice, but in order to be able to teach man something about how G’d’s justice works.

ארדה נא ואראה הכצעקתה הבאה אלי עשו, כלה,”I will descend and investigate if they have indeed done in accordance with the outcry that has come to Me; that would be the end.” If all of them have sinned that will be the end of them, but if only a part of the inhabitants have been guilty of such sins, אדעה, I will take note of this and act accordingly. From Avraham’s intervention at this point it is clear that G’d had left him an opening to plead on behalf of those who had not actively been guilty. Avraham only asked to spare the righteous. An additional meaning of the words ארדה נא ואראה sees in the wording a change by G’d from invoking the attribute of Mercy to invoking the attribute of Justice. G’d is saying that if things are as bad as He has heard, the time has come to invoke the attribute of Justice, as a result of which there will be total destruction of these cities. If not, He will take note of this and employ the attribute of Mercy. We find a parallel verse to this in Exodus 2,25 when G’d tells Moses that now that the Jewish people themselves have turned to Him to complain about the outrageous treatment of them by the Egyptians, He will employ the attribute of Justice against them, i.e. וידע אלוקים, G’d’s attribute of Justice had now taken notice. After the Torah had revealed to us G’d’s thinking, it reverts to the story involving the three angels who had visited Avraham, and how these angels after having looked down on Sodom (in the deep valley) arrived there, and what happened next. During all this time, Avraham was still standing in the presence of the Lord, pleading for those who might qualify for survival. G’d had made it clear to him that the men who had visited him were His agents and had been dispatched to carry out the decree against these 5 cities.

As a lesson to judges not to rule on capital punishment unless they see it... Rashi does not mean that it is learned from ואראה; rather, fromארדה . It is like a person descending from his seat, to go and see a matter and to investigate it. Otherwise, why does Rashi then say: דבר אחר ארדה נא לסוף מעשיהם? If Rashi is explaining ואראה, would he say דבר אחר ארדה נא? Furthermore, should he not have written his explanation about the judges on ואראה, not on ארדה נא? Both explanations are needed. The difficulty with the first is: Hashem did not yet judge them. His descending was to see whether they sinned. Thus Rashi brings the second explanation. The difficulty with the second is: It should say אראה נא וארדה. That is why the first explanation is also needed. (Maharshal)

.הכצעקתה הבאה אלי עשו, If they really have acted as wickedly as the complaints that have reached Me;” while it is true that everything is an open book for Me, nonetheless the attribute of Mercy has requested that I exercise My power of Mercy for them;

הכצעקתה WHETHER ACCORDING TO THE CRY OF IT (literally, of her) — i.e. the cry of the country (מדינה which is feminine).

And see. I will allow their true colors to be seen by allowing them to attack Lot for his generosity. Then the world will know that it was not for naught that they were punished.

הכצעקתה, if in accordance with the outcry that has come to My attention, they have indeed done, כלה, they deserve to die, but if not, אדעה, I will know about it, and I will welcome the fact that Avraham appreciates this and will ask Me about how I administer justice. The mappik heh is a hint that Sodom was the city which determined the fate of the others. Its satellites patterned their lifestyles on that of the city of Sodom. A comment in the Midrash (quoted by Rashi) suggests that the mappik heh underscores a specific incident in which a young girl who had a soft heart and gave bread to a stranger was found out and punished most cruelly, being smeared with honey and suspended between two trees, so that the bees killed her in the process of licking the honey off her body.

Of the country (מדינה). Rashi is answering the question: Scripture should have written הכצעקתם, as it is written before, וחטאתם? Why then is it written in the feminine form?

G'd informed Abraham of the sequence in which he employs kindness and mercy with His creatures. Fairness would require that punishment takes into consideration the relative stature of the person who has been sinned against and that of the sinner. When a human being transgresses any commandment of his Creator, the Supreme Being, he and all his entourage deserves to be destroyed because of the stature of the One whom he sinned against. If G'd proceeds simply on the basis of the enormity of the crime because of the stature of the מתביש, the one who has been slighted, the outcome of such proceedings is a foregone conclusion. If, on the other hand, G'd considers the relative insignificance of the מביש, the human being who committed the crime, and He bases the judgment on arguments presented by both litigants, things might appear in a different light. In such a case even the people of the generation of the deluge might not have been found guilty of extinction. This is why G'd explains here to Abraham ארדה נא, "I will descend, i.e. I will not judge on the basis of My superior stature." I will keep in mind the inadequacies of the sinners themselves. We find something of this nature in Isaiah 43,26 where G'd offers: נשפטה יחד, "let Us judge on an equal basis," keeping in mind the inadequacies of the creatures. G'd says: "If, after making full allowance for the inadequacies of any creature and ignoring My superior stature, the defendant still emerges as guilty, כלה, there is no escape for him. If not, I will know if they deserve to be judged by this or any other yardstick. G'd does not literally descend to earth to gain knowledge He did not have, but G'd lowers His profile in order to give the defendant an additional chance to downgrade his sin.

ואם לא אדעה, but it not, i.e. if some excuse can be found for their behaviour, I will take note of it, “and will have mercy on them at this time.” The formulation here is parallel to Exodus 2,25, when G-d took pity on His people.

הבאה אלי עשו WHETHER THEY HAVE DONE [ACCORDING TO THE CRY OF IT] WHICH IS COME UNTO ME — If they persist in their rebellious ways, (כלה) an end will I make of them; if, however, they do not persist in their rebellious ways, I shall know what I shall do — punishing them only with suffering, but I will not make an end of them. — A similar phrase we find elsewhere, (Exodus 33:5) “There- fore now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to do unto thee”. — For this reason there is a separation marked by a פסיק between עשו and כלה, in order to separate in sense one word from the other. Our Teachers explained the word הכצעקתה “the cry of her”, to refer to the cry of a certain girl whom they put to death in an unnatural manner because she had given food to a poor man, as is explained in the chapter Chelek (Sanhedrin 109b).

If their wailing … is indicative … destruction [shall come]. Alternatively, “If all of them participated” — I will see whether any of them protests

And if they maintain their rebelliousness... Otherwise, what is the meaning of עשו, i.e., whether they had sinned? Scripture had already written, וחטאתם כי כבדה מאוד, indicating that indeed they had sinned.

Another meaning of these words could be that though at the time G'd heard the outcry of the victims of the Sodomites and their guilt was then beyond doubt, He wanted to ascertain if their situation had remained the same and they continued their wicked lifestyle. The word ארדה נא then would indicate an immediate examination if these people had continued as before. If they intended to perform more such heinous acts their destruction would be imminent. This is why the angels spoke about destroying the cities in the present tense, i.e. משחיתים אנחנו (19,13). Until the attempt to sodomize Lot's guests, G'd used only the future tense about the fate of Sodom. Perhaps we may view the function of the angels in part as similar to that of the messengers of the court who warn a rebellious wife of the loss of her כתובה, the financial settlement she receives in the event her husband dies or divorces her without cause. We learn from Ketuvot 63 that public warnings were issued four weeks in a row before action was taken in such a case. The proclamation was designed to induce the wife to change her ways. The same may have been the case here. When the Torah describes the journey of the angels (18,22) as ויפנו משם, "they turned from there," the reference may have been to the heavenly tribunal where the decree had been issued. This may explain the two successive statements ארדה נא and ויפנו משם.

Our Sages explained: The cry of a certain maiden... with a horrible death. They stripped her bare and smeared her with honey, and the bees stung her to death. You might ask: How did Rashi know she was a maiden? The answer is: From a gezeirah shavah to (Devarim 22:24): “על דבר אשר לא צעקה בעיר, which speaks of a betrothed maiden. There is a question on the first explanation: How could Hashem be unsure of the facts, not to know whether it was indicative of their conduct so that they should be destroyed? Thus Rashi explains, “The cry of a certain maiden,” [according to which the verse means:] If they killed her unjustly, as she claimed [when she cried out, then they will be destroyed]. And even if they killed her justly, “I will know” what to do [as to punishing them for their other sins]. But the actual deed was well known to Hashem. (Maharshal)