창세기 36:31의 유대 사상

This is what would be demanded by these cogent considerations and this is, indeed, corroborated by experience and by the testimony of the prophets. And this is the intent of the verse (Genesis 36:31): "And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the children of Israel." Why must Scripture state "before a king reigned…" if not to inform us that precisely because there was no king in Israel in those days there was a king in Edom. For if Israel had attained to kingdom there would be no king in Edom, kingdom indeed departing from them, as we see, when a king arose in Israel. For David, king of Israel, appointed deputies over them and did not allow them kings, this situation obtaining until the time of Yehoshafat, as it is written of that time (I Kings 22:48): "There was no king in Edom; a deputy was king." And this situation persisted until the time of Yehoram, of whom (because of his sins and his following the house of Achav) it is written (II Kings 8:20): "In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and they made a king over themselves." And they had kings until the exile, as it is written (Ibid 22): "And Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah until this day," the Jews not being sufficiently righteous to cut off a king from Edom. In the time of the second Temple, however, Edom was subservient to Israel, Hyrcanus making them guards of Jerusalem and causing them to enter the covenant of circumcision. And in the days of Agrippas, when Jerusalem was taken, Edomite regiments came to the assistance of Judah.

THERE are in the Law portions which include deep wisdom, but have been misunderstood by many persons.; they require, therefore, an explanation. I mean the narratives contained in the Law which many consider as being of no use whatever; e.g., the list of the various families descended from Noah, with their names and their territories (Gen. x.); the sons of Seir the Horite (ibid. 36:20-30); the kings that reigned in Edom (ibid. 31, seq.); and the like. There is a saying of our Sages (B Ṭ. Sanh. 99b) that the wicked king Manasse frequently held disgraceful meetings for the sole purpose of criticising such passages of the Law. “He held meetings and made blasphemous observations on Scripture, saying, Had Moses nothing else to write than, And the sister of Lotan was Timna” (Gen. 36:22)? With reference to such passages, I will first give a general principle, and then discuss them seriatim, as I have done in the exposition of the reasons of the precepts.

The kings that have reigned in the land of Edom are enumerated (Gen 36:51, seq.) on account of the law, “Thou mayst not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother” (Deut. 17:15). For of these kings none was an Edomite; wherefore each king is described by his native land; one king from this place, another king from that place. Now I think that it was then well known how these kings that reigned in Edom conducted themselves, what they did, and how they humiliated and oppressed the sons of Esau. Thus God reminded the Israelites of the fate of the Edomites, as if saying unto them, Look unto your brothers, the sons of Esau, whose kings were so and so, and whose deeds are well known. [Learn therefrom] that no nation ever chose a foreigner as king without inflicting thereby some great or small injury upon the country.