Komentarz do Wyjścia 18:11

עתה ידעתי NOW I KNOW — I indeed knew Him formerly, but now I know Him even more (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 18:11:2).

FOR IT IS IN THE THING THAT ‘ZADU’ UPON THEM. The meaning of this is that in the matter wherein the Egyptians premeditated⁶⁷Ramban thus explains the word zadu on the basis of zadon (premeditated, conscious sin), as is explained further in the text. [their wickedness] against Israel, I [Jethro] now know that the Eternal is greater than all gods. And the purport thereof is as follows: Due to the fact that G-d had decreed upon Israel, and they shall enslave them, and they should afflict them,⁶⁸Genesis 15:13. there would have been no great punishment meted out to the Egyptians. But they acted presumptuously against them, and intended to eradicate them from the world, just as they said, Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply.⁶⁹Exodus 1:10. Pharaoh commanded the midwives to kill the male children,⁷⁰Ibid., Verse 16. and he decreed upon [all his people, saying], Every son that is born [unto the Israelites] ye shall cast into the river.⁷¹Ibid., Verse 22. It was due to this that there came upon the Egyptians the kind of punishment which utterly destroyed them. It is this principle which is expressed in His words, And also that nation that made slaves of them will I judge,⁷²Genesis 15:14. as I have explained.⁷³Ibid. (Vol. I, pp. 203-205.) Now G-d saw their intentions, and He took vengeance upon them for the wickedness of their hearts. And thus does Scripture say again, And Thou didst show signs and wonders upon Pharaoh… for Thou knowest that they dealt insolently against them,⁷⁴Nehemiah 9:10. for the punishment was because of the wicked plans they devised to carry out against the Israelites. Thus the Eternal looketh on the heart,⁷⁵I Chronicles 16:7. and executeth justice for the oppressed,⁷⁶Psalms 146:7. avengeth and is full of wrath,⁷⁷Nahum 1:2. and no one can deter Him.
Now Onkelos translated [the above Scriptural expression] thus: “for by that very thing with which the Egyptians thought to judge Israel, they themselves were judged.” By this rendition, Onkelos meant to say that their punishment came because of the drowning of the [Hebrew] children in the river, which was not part of the Divine decree, and they shall enslave them, and they shall afflict them.⁶⁸Genesis 15:13. Therefore, He destroyed them by water.

כי בדבר אשר זדו עליהם. G’d saved the people by using the very means the Egyptians had used to harm them to harm their oppressors. The word זדו, past tense, occurs as future tense, יזיד in Exodus 21,14 describing the deliberate commission of a crime, a sin. The sin Yitro had in mind was that G’d had killed the Egyptian firstborn as a retribution for the male babies of the Jewish people having been thrown into the river to drown. (Exodus 1,22). The Egyptians died by drowning just as their victims the Jewish babies had died by drowning. Yitro recognised that the ability to make the punishment fit the crime is what put our G’d in a class all by Himself, unparalleled in any other religion. None of G’d’s agents in the celestial spheres, even, would be able to do this.

עתה ידעתי כי גדול ה׳ מכל האלוקים, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods;" Yitro acknowledged that although all other nations have spiritual representatives in the celestial regions, some of whom are very powerful and both protect their protegees and assist them in their wars, they do not exact retribution from the adversaries of their protegees as does G'd. Only G'd operates on the principle of the punishment fitting the crime. Only the G'd of Israel would drown people who themselves had drowned others, etc. When the celestial representatives of other nations act in defense of their protegees one cannot recognise this as what happens to their adversaries seems totally unrelated to what these people had perpetrated. In the case of the G'd of Israel, every one of the plagues He brought upon Egypt was retribution for a specific wrong committed by that people and their king.

מכל האלוהים. None of these other deities has the power to avenge their worshipers from unjust sufferings they have endured.

כי בדבר אשר זדו עליהם, “for He retaliated in the manner which corresponded to their deliberate sins.” Yitro explains that what had convinced him of the superiority of the G’d of Israel, was not that He punished the Egyptians for their unspeakable crimes, but for the manner in which G’d made the punishment fit the crime. Nachmanides writes that G’d only punished the Egyptians for the excess cruelty with which they drowned innocent infants, and that they made the work imposed on the adults intolerably and unnecessarily onerous. The fact that the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites and demanded that they perform hard labour was not a culpable offense.

עתה ידעתי כי גדול ה' מכל האלו-הים כי בדבר אשר זדו עליהם, “now I know that Hashem is greater than any deity for with the matter wherein they sinned He came upon them.” Yitro meant the factor which convinced him of the superiority of Hashem to any other deity was the matching of the punishment to the crime committed. Had the Egyptians not committed sins they would not have been punished for fulfilling G’d’s decree that the Jews be strangers or even bondsmen in Egypt. This had been decreed already in Genesis 15,13. They sinned by adding זדו. They decreed that every male Jewish baby be drowned; hence G’d paid them back by drowning them. G’d had never decreed for any of Avraham’s descendants to be murdered. The word כי is prelude to recognition that the Egyptians must have sinned. Their punishment by water gave Yitro the clue to the nature of their sin. We find a similar construction in Nechemyah 9,10 כי ידעת כי הזידו עליהם, “for You were aware that they had deliberately sinned against them.”

I was aware of Him in the past. . . [How does Rashi know this?] Because Rashi is answering the question: עתה is in the present tense. [Why is it followed by] ידעתי , which is in the past tense? Therefore Rashi explains, “I was aware of Him in the past, but now. . .” Alternatively, Rashi is answering the question: In 2:16, [Rashi explained] that Yisro had abandoned idolatry. Why then does it say here, “Now I know”? Perforce it means, “Now, all the more so.” [Another approach:] Re”m explains that it is because the verse does not say, “Now I know Hashem, and He is greater than all. . ..” Thus we may infer that Yisro knew Him in the past. But only now, after all these deeds [of Hashem], he recognized that His power is greater than that of all the gods.

V. 11. Dem Zusammenhange nach ist zu בדבר das ידעתי aus dem Vordersatze zu ergänzen. Er hat Gottes Größe gerade aus Tatoffenbarungen erkannt, die zeigten, wie Der, der sie schickte, das ganze Innere der Ägypter in ihren Beziehungen zu Israel durchschaute und dies durch die über sie verhängten Leiden und Strafen an den Tag legte. Jitro erkannte, wie alle die über Mizrajim gekommenen Plagen in engster Beziehung zu den Grundanschauungen des גרות עבדות und ענוי standen אשר זדו עליהם, die sie über Israel zu verhängen die Absicht hatten, wie wir dies in den Plagegruppen darzulegen versuchten. Diese Plagen offenbarten ihm daher Gott nicht nur als eine allerhöchste Macht, sondern als den die Tiefen der Menschen, Völker und Fürsten durchschauenden, durch seine Waltungen lehrenden und erziehenden Gott. Nicht nur die Hoheit, die Nähe Gottes, כי אני ד׳ בקרב הארץ ,כי לד׳ הארץ, ist das Charakteristische, ist die Größe, die Gott von allen Göttern unterscheidet, und die eben hebt hier Jitro hervor. Darum spricht er auch das bedeutungsvolle ברוך aus, das ja das unmittelbare Korrelat dieses Bewusstseins der die Menschheit prüfenden und wägenden Gottesnähe ist. In ברוך gibt sich eben der Mensch mit seiner sittlich freien Tat der Erfüllung des Gott Wohlgefälligen hin. (Siehe Bamidbar 14, 19). Der von Jitro erkannte Charakter der Golteswaltung wird von den Weisen durch מדה במדה, d. h. durch jenes Prinzip ausgedrückt, nach welchem in der Strafe der wesentliche Charakter des Verbrechens zu Tage tritt. (Siehe Sota 8 b u. ff.)

כי בדבר אשר זדו עליהם; Yitro explains what had prompted him to say that he now realises that the G-d of the Israelites is greater than any other deity. The reason is that when analysing the method by which G-d imposes penalties on the sinners, it becomes evident that the punishment matches the sin committed. The Egyptians’ crime had been that they drowned the Jewish babies; they had been punished by being drowned themselves. In Nechemya, chapter 9, where when a celebration of the Sukkot festival, after a Day of Atonement on which the people confessed their collective sin in Jerusalem is described in detail, the author also describes the greatness of G-d as being reflected in the manner in which punishment matches the sins committed. (verse 10)

מכל האלהים [GREATER] THAN ALL THE GODS — This tells us that he had a full knowledge of every idol in the world — that he left no idol unworshipped by him (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 18:11:1).

כי בדבר, meaning that G’d requited for every sin committed by the Egyptians in an appropriate and fitting manner. This is the basic meaning of the insight Yitro had now gained.

He did not leave any idol. . . Otherwise, how would he know [that Hashem is greater than all the gods]? You might object: Referring to Dovid Hamelech it is written, “For I know that Hashem, our Master, is greater than all gods” (Tehillim 135:5). Re”m answers: Dovid knew it through practical exploration rather than logical explanation. Whereas Yisro said, “Now I know.” I.e., he knew this because of all the deeds that Hashem [just now] did. It was not through the wonders [that He performed]. If so, how did Yisro know this? Perforce, by [comparing Hashem’s deeds to that which he knew from previous] exploration. Another answer: Here it is written, “Yisro said, ‘I know that Hashem is greater than all the gods.’” Due to the definite article, it means: “. . .Greater than all the gods, who are known to me and to no one else.” How did Yisro know this to be true? Perhaps someone else also explored, as he did, and also has this knowledge. Perforce, [Yisro knew this to be true] because “Yisro did not leave any idol unworshipped.” [But Dovid said, “Greater than all gods,” without the definite article.]

זוד verwandt mit צוד ,סור ( siehe 1. B. M. 10, 9) heißt: einen bösen Vorsatz fassen על־ gegen jemanden. So וכי יזד איש על רעהו להרגו (Kap. 21, 14).

כי בדבר אשר זדו עליהם — Understand this as the Targum does for by that very thing with which the Egyptians thought to judge Israel were they themselves judged — they had thought to destroy them by water and they were themselves destroyed by water (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 18:11:2).

In the pot in which they cooked, they were cooked. . . [Rashi knows this] because it is not written אשר הרשיעו , [the more usual term. An alternative approach:] It seems to me that Rashi is answering the question: Why did our Sages (Sotah 11a) use cooking in a pot for their analogy? They could have said, “They fell into the pit that they themselves dug,” using Scripture’s own analogy in Koheles 10:8! Perforce, it is because they understood זדו as in ויזד יעקב נזיד (Bereishis 25:29).

אשר זדו means in which they had shown themselves wicked. Our Rabbis, however, explained it in the same sense as the root which we find in (Genesis 25:29) “And Jacob was boiling (ויזד) pottage (נזיד) (lit., something boiled)” — in the pot wherein they had boiled, therein were they themselves boiled (Sotah 11a).