시편 82:1의 인용 해설

literally, יֹשֵׁב WAS SITTING — The word is written ישב (without the ו) and therefore may be translated “he sat”: He wished to rise, but the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, Sit and I will stand. You shall form an example to your descendants — that I, in time to come, will stand in the assembly of the judges while they will sit, as it is said, (Psalms 82:1) “God standeth in the assembly of the judges” (Genesis Rabbah 48:7)

And regarding what Rashi explained, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, was standing while they were sitting — it appears that he learned this from what was stated and he was sitting, because the word and he seems superfluous, as it should have stated “And Abraham sat” at the beginning of the matter, and afterwards it should have said and God appeared to him. Rather, and he was sitting comes to exclude the Divine Presence from sitting, because the word “sitting” written without a vav can be understood as past tense, as if saying he sat previously but now was not sitting, while it can also be read as present tense, and thus both meanings are implied. The reason for this is based on what our Sages said (Pirkei Avot 4:22) that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the witness, the plaintiff, and the judge. Therefore, God stood first to teach us that He is the plaintiff and witness, as their practice is specifically to stand, as it is written For the Lord has a grievance with His people, and with Israel He shall dispute (Micah 6:2). This shows that He is the plaintiff, and therefore God stood so that others would learn from Him that every plaintiff and witness must stand in judgment, as they learned from the verse And the two men who have the dispute shall stand (Deuteronomy 19:17). Afterwards, the Holy One, Blessed be He, also became the judge and sat with the judges, as it is written God stands in the divine assembly (Psalms 82:1). This is during the time of debate, claims, and testimony, and afterwards in the midst of the judges He judges — He sits among them and judges. This is a precious and honorable interpretation.

מועדי ה' אשר תקראו אותם מקראי קודש, after the Torah had spoken on the subject of the animal offerings and the people offering them whose purpose it is to ensure that the Shechinah rests in/over the people of Israel. Compare Exodus 29,42 עולת תמיד לדורותיכם, פתח אהל מועד לפני ה' אשר אועד לכם שמה; “a regular burnt offering throughout the generations, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the Lord.” The Torah spoke of the festivals, days on which one abstains from the pursuit of secular matters. On some of these days one has to abstain from such activities completely, on others only partially. For instance, on the Sabbath as well as on the Day of Atonement there is a total cessation of everything which is called מלאכה, work, in the sense of a productive activity. These days are meant for us to occupy ourselves exclusively with Torah and other sacred tasks. To this effect the Torah wrote (Exodus 20,9-10) “you shall labour for six days and conduct all your activities, whereas the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your G’d.” On that day your activities should concern spiritual matters. On some of the days described as holy convocations there is a partial prohibition of work, desisting basically from the kind of activity related to the kind of labour involved in earning one’s livelihood. One is to enjoy these days. Concerning such days, our sages coined the phrase חציה לה' וחציה לכם, “half for G’d and half for you.” (Pessachim 68) There is no doubt that when the Jewish people conduct themselves in this fashion that the Divine Presence will be at home among them. Assaph expressed this thought in Psalms 82,1 which commences with the words אלוקים נצב בעדת א-ל וגו', “G’d stands in the divine assembly. Among the divine beings He pronounces judgment.” The meaning of the word מקראי קודש when applied to the days the Torah calls מועדי ה' אשר תקראו אותם מקראי קודש is: “days of assembles of the people for sacred undertakings.” The word מקרא refers to an assembly, just as the words שבת and חודש are understood as meaning assemblies both in Isaiah 1,13 and Isaiah 4,5