창세기 12:6의 유대 사상

Problems in the text of the story. 1) Both Moses and Miriam commence with "He tumbled horse and rider into the sea." Since this subject is elaborated on later, what was the need for this caption? 2) Why did Moses use the name of G-d at the beginning, but relied on kinnuyim, attributes of G-d in the rest of the song? 3) Why are statements about events which had not yet taken place couched in the past tense? (Examples: "You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy dwelling;" or " nations have heard") 4) Why is the name used for G-d "aleph dalet nun yud" when the Temple is referred to? 5) Why did G-d subject these people to a lack of basic means for survival such as lack of water, almost immediately after the crossing of the sea? 6) Why are the details of the laws given at Marah not spelled out? 7) In chapter fifteen, verse 26, G-d makes very detailed demands on the Jewish people. The reward for complying, namely that they would not be afflicted with the plagues that G-d had visited upon the Egyptian, seems quite paltry by comparison. Besides, what is the point of G-d telling us at that stage "I the Lord, am your Healer?"

Perhaps this is to be resolved along the lines suggested by the Ramban (Lech Lecha 12:20) that the concretization by an act of an image presaging a future state is to be taken as a guarantee of the inevitable occurrence of that state. And it is for this reason that the prophets accompanied their prophecies with acts, as in the case of Jeremiah, who commanded Seraya (Jeremiah 51:63-64): "And it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of Perat. And you shall say: 'Thus shall Bavel sink…'" And, similarly, with Elisha who, when King Yoash had placed his hand upon the bow, said to him (II Kings 13:17): "'…shoot.' And he shot. And he said: 'The arrow of the L-rd's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Aram…'" And it is further written there (Ibid 19): "And the man of G-d was angry with him and said: 'You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have smitten Aram until they would have been consumed. But now you shall smite Aram three times.'" It is seen, then, that when one performs an act at G-d's bidding symbolic of what is prophesied for the future that symbolic act is to be taken as a guarantee of the occurrence of what is prophesied. Therefore, the Blessed One, in his chastisement of Jacob, is telling him that He has performed a kindness for him by guaranteeing His word and confirming His decree that Jacob will seize an existing kingdom in the end of the days of Esau's reign. Before that reign will have expired he will already have seized it, grabbed it by the heel, as it were.