창세기 31:7의 인용 해설

They do not abandon their deeds Heb. יִתְּנוּ, lit. give. They do not abandon their evil way. Comp. (Gen. 31:7) “And God did not allow him (נְתָנוֹ)”; (Num. 21:23) “And Sihon did not permit (נָתַן)”; (Song 1:12) “abandoned (נָתַן) its fragrance.”

A Midrashic approach: Moses commenced explaining the Torah in the land of Moav explaining 49 facets of the Torah in a way that would yield authentic exegesis, [our sages call it טהור, ritually pure] and also demonstrating that one can pervert Torah exegesis by 49 ways and obtain 49 inadmissible, “ritually unclean” ways of exegesis. The number 49 corresponds to the numerical value of the word מואב. [This explains that the words בארץ מואב are not to be translated as “in the land of Moav,” seeing the people of Israel had been forbidden to violate the borders of Moav. Ed.]. We have a similar explanation on Song of Songs 5,10: דודי צח ואדום, where these words do not mean “my beloved (simile for Hashem) is clear-skinned and ruddy,” certainly not an appropriate description for G’d. The word דודי is a simile for the 24 Books of the Bible, seeing that its numerical value is 24. The word צח has a numerical value of 98, reflecting the 2 sets of 49 ways to interpret the Torah (pure & impure) discussed above. We also have an allusion to this kind of exegesis in Proverbs 2,4 כמטמונים תחפשנה, “search for it as you would for treasures.” The word מטמונים is understood as מ'ט טמונים, that the Bible or Torah contains 49 (מ'ט) “hidden meanings.” The word מונים as “times” appears already in Genesis 31,7 when Lavan changed Yaakov’s wages עשרת מונים, “ten times.”

because לא נתתיך I PERMITTED THEE NOT — It was not of your own will that you did not touch her, but it was “I” who withheld you from sinning, and “I” did not permit you the possibility to touch her (Genesis Rabbah 52:7). Similar examples of נתן in sense of permitting are, (31:7) “God permitted him not (לא נתנו)” and (Judges 15:1) “But her father did not permit him (ולא נתנו) to go in”.

לא יתן — Translate this as the Targum does: he will not give leave. Similar uses of נתן followed by ל with the infinitive in sense of permitting are: (Genesis 20:6) “therefore I did not permit thee (נתתיך) to touch her”; (Genesis 31:7) “And God did not permit him (נתנו) to do me evil”. Still all these passages really have the sense of giving”. Some explain the phrase ולא ביד חזקה to signify: “He will not permit you to go, and this will not be because his hand is strong”, for (v. 20) “As soon as I stretch forth My hand I will smite the Egyptians [… and afterwards he will let you go]”. And so the Targum renders it: and not on account that his power is mighty. This explanation was told me in the name of Rabbi Jacob the son of Menachem.

ולא יתן המשחית AND HE WILL NOT GIVE THE DESTROYER He will not give him power to come in. The phrase is similar to (Genesis 31:9) “And God did not suffer him (נתנו — give him the power) to do me evil”.