Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 6:16

במסה IN MASSAH, when they went forth from Egypt: that they put Him to the test in respect to water, as it is said, (Exodus 17:7) that they asked, “Is the Lord amongst us or not?".

YE SHALL NOT TRY THE ETERNAL YOUR G-D, meaning AS YE TRIED HIM IN MASSAH. You are not to say “If the Eternal is among us to perform miracles on our behalf or, if we succeed when we worship Him and we have plenty of food, and are well,³⁰¹Jeremiah 44:17. then we will observe His Torah.” For that was the intent of the people there [in Massah]³⁰²Exodus 17:7. that they would see that if G-d would provide water for them through a miracle from Himself, they would follow Him in the wilderness, and if not, they would forsake Him. This was considered a great sin on their part, for, after it had been confirmed to them with signs and wonders that Moses was a prophet of G-d and that the word of the Eternal in his mouth was truth,³⁰³See I Kings 17:24. it was no longer proper to do anything as a test. Whoever does it, is not testing [the credibility of] the prophet, it is only G-d blessed be He, whom he is testing to determine whether the Eternal’s hand waxed short.³⁰⁴Numbers 11:23. He prohibited for all generations to test the Torah or the prophets because it is not proper to worship G-d by being skeptical or by requesting a wonder or some test, since it is not G-d’s will to perform miracles for all men at all times.³⁰⁵See Vol. II, p. 172 (at end of page). Nor is it fitting to serve Him in order to receive a reward.³⁰⁶Aboth 1:3. Instead, should one find suffering and misfortune [as a result of] serving Him and walking in the ways of the Torah, it is proper that he accept everything as a just judgment and he should not say, as the wicked ones of our people said, And what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked mournfully, because of the Eternal of hosts?³⁰⁷Malachi 3:14. Scripture states here Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Eternal your G-d, and His testimonies,³⁰⁸Verse 17. [alluding] that these are the miracles which He did for you of old in order that they be a testimony for you, such as the Passover, the Unleavened Bread, and the Booth. And you should keep His statutes³⁰⁸Verse 17. even though you do not know their purpose for, in truth, He will benefit you in the end. There is no need for verification of the Torah and the commandments since it has been confirmed to you that it is from Him, blessed be He. Similarly, if any prophet has [previously] been tested and confirmed as a true prophet with signs and wonders in accordance with the law of the Torah,³⁰⁹See Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Yesodei Hatorah 7:7. you must not challenge his words regarding any reward or punishment he tells you about, and have no doubt about His power, exalted be He, [to bring it about]. Rather, you are to believe in His Torah and believe in His prophets and you will prosper. Thus he has assured us that ultimately the honor will surely come through possession of the Land and triumph over the enemies, for this was the great beneficence that was necessary for that generation. Thereafter he said that for future generations there was no need for testing [the reward for] the observance of the commandments; instead, they are to inquire of their fathers and their elders and they [the fathers and elders] will tell them of the veracity of the Torah and the commandments, as he will explain [in the verse], When thy son asketh thee³¹⁰Verse 20. — up to the conclusion of the section.

לא תנסו את ה' אלוקיכם, “You shall not test the Lord your G’d.” The best known example of the Jewish people violating this commandment is found in Exodus 17,6 when the people tested “if the Lord is in our midst or not.” [The result of this insult to G’d was the attack by Amalek reported in the very next verse. Ed.] Making our loyalty to G’d dependent on His demonstrating His existence and His care to each one of us individually, is not only childish, but insulting to the Creator. How many times does G’d have to prove either His existence or His power to the Jewish people? Moses therefore warns the people not to stipulate that if they do not experience the hoped for results from their keeping the commandments they would abandon that path. Part of true faith is to accept even what appears to be a major, and sometimes irreversible setback in our aspirations with good grace, undiminished love for G’d, who by being the Creator, surely knows best and has His creatures’ best interests at heart. Moses makes this very point and that is why he continues with

לא תנסו את ה’ אלו-היכם, “Do not put the Lord your G’d to a test.” The Torah warns us not to make our service of G’d conditional on G’d responding to it as we expect Him to. We must not serve Him on condition that our undertakings succeed, thus trying to make Him fall in with our wishes instead of vice versa. One must be wholehearted in one’s service of the Lord. Our love of the Lord must not be conditional on His responding to it, requiting it according to our yardsticks. It may well happen that although a person serves the Lord sincerely, he experiences bad times; if this happens one must not conclude that G’d’s Justice and judgment are faulty but one must continue to serve Him even if one fails to always understand His ways.
This is why Moses adds as an example of the wrong kind of service: “as you tested Him at Massah.” When the people asked for water on that occasion they did not merely pray for water but they added the words: “in order to know if the Lord is in our midst or not.” We read there that Moses named the location where all this occurred מסה ומריבה, “Test and quarrel,” The test was to see if G’d could produce drinking water in which case the people would serve Him whereas if He would not they would not follow Him into the desert. This is why the word במסה here is spelled with the vowel patach under the letter ב, a reference to why that place had been named מסה. Psalms 78,18 also refers to this event describing it as “they tested G’d in their hearts.” This was an example of serving G’d with a doubting heart, something totally lacking in שלמות, integrity, and this why the Torah forbids it under the heading of “testing, experiment.” We do find that there is a single instance in which “testing” is permitted and that concerns whether in return for being very charitable one will find that G’d repays one.” In Malachi 3,10 we find a verse to this effect saying: “thus put Me to the test: ‘bring the full tithe into the storehouse and let there be food in My House, and thus put Me to the test, said the Lord of Hosts.” Solomon also said in Proverbs 3,9-10 “honor the Lord with your wealth, with the best of your income, and your barns will be filled with grain.”

V. 16. לא תנסו וגו׳ (siehe zu Bereschit 22, 1 und Schmot 17, 7). Im Vorhergehenden ist das ganze jüdische Privat- und Gesamtleben auf das Bewusstsein basiert, dass ד׳ א׳ בקרבך, dass Gott, der Lenker unserer Geschicke und der Leiter unserer Taten, בקרבנו, mit seiner allmächtigen Waltung unter uns gegenwärtig ist, und unsere kleinen und großen Anliegen nicht dem Ergebnis einer blinden physischen Naturnotwendigkeit überlassen sind, sondern Seinem freien, die Gänge der Natur- und Geschichtsentwicklungen leitenden Walten unterstehen. Bei dem Antritt unseres geschichtlichen Weltengangs durfte die Überzeugung von dieser Gottesgegenwart in den menschlichen Verhältnissen auf Erden noch der נסים, noch der Tatenproben bedürfen, war es, wenn auch nicht recht, doch noch entschuldbar, dass du noch "Gott versuchtest", noch erst seine Gegenwart beweisende Proben fordern und sprechen konntest: היש ה׳ בקרבנו אם אין, "ob wohl Gott in unserer Mitte ist oder nicht?" Alle die נסים, alle die Probetaten, mit welchen Gott von Mizrajim bis Kanaan dich in die Geschichte einführte, hatten ja gar keinen andern Zweck, als seine allmächtige freiwaltende Gegenwart in deiner Mitte zu bekunden. Diese נסים gehen jetzt zu Ende. Sie haben genügt, um die Überzeugung von Gott und seiner Gegenwart, auf Erden zu einer über allem Zweifel erhabenen Gewissheit für alle Zeiten zu erheben. An dieser Gewissheit sollt ihr fest halten und nicht erst noch neue Wunder zu einer Überzeugung fordern, vielmehr mitten im scheinbar gewöhnlichen Laufe der Dinge "Gott in eurer Mitte wissen" und in dieser Gewissheit leben und sterben.

כאשר נסיתם במסה, “as you have tried Him at Massah,” The letter ב in the word במסה, has the vowel patach under it, as Massah is the name of a place. At that place, the Israelites had questioned whether the Lord is in their midst or not (Exodus 17,7).