창세기 32:18의 인용 해설

THUS SHALL YE SAY UNTO MY LORD ESAU: THUS SAITH THY SERVANT JACOB. He commanded them that they should say “to my lord Esau we belong,” or “we were sent to him,”¹¹The intent of Ramban is to state that Jacob, speaking to his servants, did not refer to Esau as “my lord Esau,” but rather he commanded them to use the expression in Esau’s presence. and to say to him, Thus saith thy servant Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban. A similar example in this section is the verse: When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou?¹²Further, Verse 18. The verse concludes that they are to tell him that it is a gift “to my lord Esau.” Again Jacob is telling them what to say. It may be that in their presence Jacob called Esau “my lord Esau” in order to caution them not to mention Esau in any other but a respectful way even when not in his presence, inasmuch as their lord calls him “my lord.”
Know that this respect which Jacob showed for his brother by fearfully saying “my lord” and “thy servant” was due to it being the custom of the younger brother to give recognition and respect to the firstborn as if he were his father, just as the Torah also hints to us on this matter:¹³Kethuboth 103a. Commenting on the letter vav in the expression, ve’eth imecha (“honor thy father ‘and’ thy mother“), our Rabbis said: “This includes your oldest brother!” “This includes your oldest brother.” Now Jacob had taken his birthright and his blessing, for which Esau hated him, and now he is acting towards Esau as if the effect of that sale was nil as far as he was concerned, and he is conducting himself towards him as to a firstborn and father in order to remove the hatred from his heart.

It is also possible to interpret this verse as a promise for the future. G’d is saying: “if you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord there will not be any murders of innocent people.” This in turn will serve to hasten the arrival of a period when murder, warfare, etc., will be banished from this earth. At that time the prophecy of Isaiah 2,4: ”and they beat their swords into plowshares,” will be fulfilled. People will no longer teach the art of warfare; no nation will raise a hand against its neighbor. There will be an abundance of peace and serenity, as alluded to in Song of Songs 7,1. People will offer their sacrifices to the attribute Hashem which is also known as שלום as we know from Genesis 32,18 ויבא יעקב שלם. The author cites a few more verses implying that G’d’s name is שלום.

This excludes that of an animal. Meaning that once it is written “a corpse” it is obvious that it is “a soul”! Rashi answers that this is an explanation of the word “corpse,” meaning that the verse says “whoever touches a corpse” and [then explains] which type – “the corpse of a human soul…” [One might ask:] Above it is also written, “The corpse of any human soul” (v. 11)! The answer is that above it is written במת לכל נפש (lit. "The corpse to any [human] soul") and this is the equivalent of writing במת של כל נפש האדם ("The corpse of any human soul"). There the meaning of the lamed is like the lamed in Parshas Vayishlach (Bereishis 32:18-19): למי אתה (lit. "To whom are you?") meaning, “Of whom are you?” Also like the lamed in [the verse following] לעבדך ליעקב (lit. "To your servant, to Yaakov") meaning “Of your servant, of Yaakov.” But here the word מת ("corpse") and the word נפש ("soul") are both prefixed by a beis, thus it appears that the phrase “whoever touches” refers to both, [implying that they are independent of each other], as in the manner of a verb in a construct with a subsequent beis. Therefore, Rashi says that even so, the phrase “whoever touches” refers only to the word מת (corpse) and consequently he comments that “soul” is an explanation of the word “corpse.”