민수기 21:34의 미드라쉬

29 (Numb. 20:17) “Please let us pass through your land.”⁸⁹As Buber suggests in note 370, the citation is probably a misreading for Numb. 20:22: LET ME PASS THROUGH YOUR LAND. This alternate reading better fits the context. As he had sent to inform the king of Edom that he would do no damage to him, so did he send to this one. (Deut. 2:28) “You shall sell me food for money, and water with money….”: It is customary for water to be given gratis, but I am giving payment for it. (Numb. 21:22) “We will go by the king's highway [until we have passed through your territory]”: But in another place it is written (in Deut. 2:29), “until I have crossed [the Jordan].” To what is the matter comparable? To one guarding a vine or fig tree. When someone comes and says, “Let me pass through here, so that I may gather grapes from the vineyard,” he says to him, “It is only because of you that I am sitting on guard, and you would come to gather [the grapes]?” So it was with Sihon. He received wages from all the kings of Canaan; and they would bring taxes up to him, for he would crown them. Moreover he and Og were considered the equivalent of them all, since it is stated (in Ps. 136:19-20), “Sihon, king of the Amorites…; and Og, king of Bashan, and all the royalty of Canaan.” Israel said to [Sihon], “Let us pass through your land⁹⁰“Let us pass through your land” is similar but not quite equal to either Numb. 20:17 or Numb. 21:22. to conquer the kings.” He said to them, “I am sitting here to guard them from you.” (Numb. 21:23) “So Sihon did not allow Israel to cross on his territory; instead Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel”: The Holy One, blessed be He, only did this to deliver him into their hand without trouble. As it is written (in Numb. 21:34 = Deut. 3:2), “to Sihon, king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon (i.e., with calculation).”⁹¹The stress on the Holy One acting with fore-thought was suggested by the words, IN HESHBON, which can also be translated WITH CALCULATION. If Heshbon had been full of mosquitos, no mortal could have conquered it; and if Sihon had been in a valley, no mortal could have overpowered him. And it goes without saying [that it could not be conquered], since he was a warrior and dwelt in a fortified city. [Ergo,] (in Numb. 21:34 = Deut. 3:2), “who dwelt in Heshbon.” If he and his troops⁹²Gk.: ochloi. had dwelt [scattered about] in his towns, Israel would have worn themselves out to prevail against him and conquer each and every town. Instead the Holy One, blessed be He, gathered them together so as to deliver them into their hand without trouble. And so it said (in Deut. 2:31), “See I have begun to give Sihon [and his land] over to you.” They killed all his warriors who had come out against them. Then they returned for the women and infants without exertion. It is therefore written (in Numb. 21:23,25), “Sihon gathered all his people together […]. And Israel took all of these cites.”

..."Do not fear him" - this is [the meaning of] that which Scripture stated (Proverbs 28:14), "Happy is the man who always fears." And this is the trait of the righteous: even though the Holy One, blessed be He, reassures them, they do not relinquish fear. And so [was it] with Jacob - "and Jacob feared" (Genesis 32:8). Why did he fear? He said, "Maybe I have been tarnished by something [when I was] with Laban... so the Holy One, blessed be He, abandoned me." And so too did Moses take hold of fear corresponding to his [fore] father. And why did he fear? He said, "Maybe Israel misappropriated [some goods] in the war with Sichon or became tarnished with a sin." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Do not fear"...

(Numb. 21:34:) BUT THE LORD GOD SAID UNTO MOSES: DO NOT FEAR HIM…. This text is related (to Prov. 28:14): BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO IS ALWAYS AFRAID…. Such is the nature of the righteous.²¹¹Tanh., Numb. 6:25. Although the Holy One assures them, they do not cast off fear. And so it is written about Jacob (in Gen. 32:8 [7]): AND JACOB WAS <GREATLY> AFRAID. Why was he afraid? He said: Perhaps I was tainted by something at Laban's, since it is written (in Deut. 23:15 [14]): <AND YOUR CAMP SHALL BE HOLY;> SO <THE LORD> IS NOT TO SEE ANYTHING INDECENT AMONG YOU AND TURN AWAY FROM YOU. Thus the Holy One may have forsaken me. Moses also acquired fear in the manner of his ancestor. Why was he afraid? He said perhaps Israel sinned in the war with Sihon or became tainted by a transgression. He said to him (in Numb. 34:21): DO NOT FEAR HIM, because a warrior more formidable than himself has never arisen in the world. Thus it is stated (in Deut. 3:11): FOR ONLY KING OG OF BASHAN <REMAINED FROM THE REPHAIM²¹²According to Deut. 2:11, 20-21, together with Numb. 13:33, the Rephaim were a race of giants. REMNANT>. Now he had been left from the warriors whom Amraphel and his colleagues (Gen. 14:1, 9) had slain, as stated (in Gen. 14:5): <CHEDORLAOMER AND THE KINGS WHO WERE WITH HIM CAME> AND SMOTE THE REPHAIM…. But this man was their refuse, like hard olives that come out as survivors from the bottom of the olive waste. It is so stated (in Gen. 14:13): THEN THE SURVIVOR CAME <AND TOLD ABRAM THE HEBREW> (about Lot's capture).²¹³Tanh., Numb. 6:15, specifically identifies the survivor by adding here: “This was Og.” It was this man's intention that Abraham would go out and be killed. The Holy One gave him a reward for <what> his feet <had earned>, in that he lived all those years, until he fell at the hand of < Abraham's> children. When Moses came to wage war with him, he was afraid of him. He said: I am a hundred and twenty years old, while he is five hundred years old. If he did not have merit, he would not have lived all these years. The Holy One said (in Numb. 21:34 = Deut. 3:2:) DO NOT FEAR HIM. {(Deut. 3:6:) AND WE SHALL UTTERLY DESTROY THEM…. } [(Numb. 21:34 = Deut. 3:2, cont.:) AND YOU SHALL DO TO HIM AS YOU DID TO SIHON….] Moreover, is it not written (in Deut. 3:7): BUT ALL THE CATTLE AND THE BOOTY OF THE TOWNS WE TOOK AS BOOTY FOR OURSELVES? The simple conclusion is that they utterly destroyed his body so as to leave none of it.

And Jacob became very frightened and distressed (Genesis 32,8). Rabbi Pinchos says in the name of Rabbi Re'uven that there were two people that Hashem promised them and nevetheless they were afraid. The chosen of the patriarchs and the chosen of the prophets. The chosen of the patriarchs is Jacob as it states (Psalms 135,4) "For Jacob, Y-H chose for Him" and and Hashem said to him (Genesis 28,15) "And behold I am with you" and at the end, he became frightened as it says "And Jacob became frightened". The chosen of the prophets is Moshe as it says (Psalms 106,23) "Were it not for Moshe His chosen one" and Hashem said to him "For I will be with you" and in the end he became frightened as it says (Numbers 21:34) "And Hashem said to Moshe, don't fear him" Hashem would only say "Don't fear him" to someone who has become afraid. Rabbi Brechiah and Rabbi Chelbo recited in the name of Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nachman who recited in the name of Rabbi Nassan "The Jewish people were worthy of being destroyed in the days of Haman, were it not that they relied on the knowledge of the parents' elder. They said "If Yaacov our patriarch, who was promised security by Hashem and Hashem told hi "And behold I will be with you" and HE became frigthened. How much moreso US. It is this that the prophet accuses Israel of and says to them (Isaiah 51,13) "And you forgot Hashem your maker the one who spread the heavens and founded earth." He said to those people what he would say to you (Jeremiah 31,36) "So said Hashem: If the heavens from above will be measured" if you see that the heavens quake and that the earth quakes, from the inclination of the heavens and earth you wouldn't learn anything other than (Isaiah 51,13) "And you are afraid all your days"

(Bamidbar 12:3) "And the man Moses was extremely humble": "humble" in his mind (i.e., complaisant). You say humble in his mind, but perhaps (the meaning is) "humble" in his wealth; it is, therefore, (to negate this) written (Shemot 11:3) "The man Moses, also, was very great" (in context, in wealth). We find that the second tablets made by Moses were of sapphire, it being written (Devarim 10:1) "Carve out for yourself ([the fragments of the first tablets were vouchsafed to Moses]) two tablets of stone like the first." Just as the first were of sapphire, so, these. And whence is it derived that the first were of sapphire? From (Shemot 32:16) "And the (first) tablets were the work of G-d," and (Ibid. 24:10) "… and under His feet, as the work of a pavement of sapphire." "work" is likened to "work." Just as "work" there (24:10) is of sapphire, so, "work" here (32:16). "more" (humble) than any man on the face of the earth": but not (more humble) than the forefathers. R. Yossi says: Even (more humble) than the forefathers. And what is the intent of than any man on the face of the earth"? — but not (more humble) than the angels.

(Bamidbar 27:17) "who will go out before them and who will come in before them": Not as others, who send others in the vanguard and who bring up the rear. But as Moses did, viz. (Bamidbar 21:34) "And the L-rd said to Moses: Do not fear him (Og, [to confront him in the vanguard]) for I have delivered him into your hand." And as Joshua did, viz. (Joshua 5:13) "And Joshua went up to him, and said: 'Are you for us or for our foes?'" And as Pinchas did, viz. (Bamidbar 31:6) "And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Pinchas (in the vanguard) etc." (Ibid. 27:17) "who will go out before them" — at the head, viz. (I Chronicles 11:6) "And Yoav ben Tzeruyah went up first, and he was at the head." "who will go out before them" — in a troop. "and who will come in before them" — in a troop. "who will go out before them" — on the way. "and who will come in before them" — on the way. "and who will take them out" — in his merits. "and who will bring them back" — in his merits. "and who will take them out" — with a count. "and who will bring them back" — with a count (i.e., none missing), as it is written (Bamidbar 31:44) "And they said to Moses: Your servants have counted the men of war who were under our charge, and not one of us is missing." And why did they need atonement (viz. Ibid. 50)? For they had "feasted their eyes" on nakedness (i.e., on the Midianite women [viz. Ibid. 16]). (Ibid. 27:17) "And let the congregation of the L-rd not be as sheep without a shepherd": On this the tradition comments (Song of Songs 1:7) "Tell me (Moses), O You, whom my soul loves, etc. for why should I be covered up," as in (Jeremiah 43:12) "And he (Nevuchadnezzar) will cover up the land of Egypt, as the shepherd covers up his cloak." (Song of Songs, Ibid.) "by the flocks of Your companions" — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Go out and see how the Holy One answers him (Song of Songs, Ibid. 8): "If you do not know, you fairest among the women (i.e., most exalted of the prophets), go out in the footsteps of the flock." (See) what I am destined to do for them in the end (of their "footsteps"), "and graze your kids by the tents of the shepherd" — whence it is derived that the L-rd showed Moses all the leaders who were destined to serve Israel from the day they left the desert until the resurrection. Thus, "Go out in the footsteps of the flock."