Myśl Żydowska do Powtórzonego Prawa 6:16

To return to the quotation of the Midrash, at the outset of our chapter: One cannot escape the feeling that the words "My counsel will prevail," suggest that there are at least other counsels than the one of which G-d says that it will prevail. The true meaning seems to be that it was G-d’s original plan to create man equipped with freedom of choice. The reason for this was that only in this manner would man attain the ultimate moral stature that he wished him to attain. What G-d is saying therefore, is that ultimately His plan will prevail, since it had not been His primary objective to foil the plans of the wicked, but to help man to achieve righteousness. "G-d was pleased because of His righteousness" (Isaiah 42,21). The idea then that G-d Himself would impede man in attaining his moral perfection by interfering with his opportunity to do the right thing would be intolerable. Rabbi Yehudah wants to make it clear that the request for a sign from G-d is not evidence of obstinacy or lack of freedom of choice, but is a method employed even by prophets and worthy people to assure themselves that they are doing the right thing. That is why Moses and Aaron were told at the outset that Pharaoh would ask for such signs before negotiations could enter the substantive stage. Isaiah 7,11-12 teaches that, on occasion, failure to ask for such a sign can even be accounted as sinful. The concept is that when such requests for signs from G-d are made at the beginning, G-d provides such signs; when repeated requests are made, however, that violates the commandment "Do not test the Lord your G-d." (Deut 6,16). Pharaoh should have listened the first time around, when Aaron's staff swallowed the staffs of all the magicians. Turning scoffer instead of repenting, he had only himself to blame if he misread future signs at one stage or another in his reflections. The very fact that each plague contained an element that a recalcitrant spirit could seize upon in order to draw faulty conclusions, is the midah keneged midah, punishment which fits the crime, principle in action. It is this aspect of G-d’s justice that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish has in mind when he said that as a result of Pharaoh's obstinacy, G-d gave him additional opportunities to be still more obstinate, so that it appeared as if G-d Himself had hardened Pharaoh's heart.

Translation:

The second objection is that the One who has the ability to perform resurrection has not promised to do so. However, I found that He indeed promised this in many places in the Scriptures. Even though it is possible to interpret these promises in various ways so that they refer to matters other than the resurrection of the dead, I do not see that reason compels us to reject the apparent meaning of these texts. This is because we, the people of Israel, believe that everything written in the books of the prophets should be understood according to its plain meaning and the meaning of its words—except in cases where this apparent meaning leads to one of four outcomes: 1. Contradicting sensory evidence, as in the verse about Eve (Genesis 3:20), “She was the mother of all living.” 2. Contradicting reason, such as the statement (Deuteronomy 4:24), “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire.” 3. Contradicting another written text, such as the verse (Malachi 3:10), “Test Me, please, in this,” after it has been written (Deuteronomy 6:16), “Do not test the Lord your God.” 4. Contradicting a tradition accepted by our ancestors, such as the verse (Deuteronomy 25:3), “Forty lashes he may give him, but not more,” when our Sages taught that the number is thirty-nine.