Cytowanie Komentarza do Psalmów 106:32

וילחם בישראל. He fought against Israel. The reason the Torah had to write the words בישראל, instead of עם ישראל as it did in Exodus 17,8 when Amalek is reported as attacking Israel, may be that in this instance the Israelites themselves were the cause that the Canaanites attacked them. They had sinned. The words: וישב ממנו שבי, "he took a prisoner from among them," the word ממנו suggesting that the reason Israel was attacked at this time was Israel itself. Israel's sin at this time was their share in causing the premature death of their High Priest Aaron on account of the events at "the waters of strife." Psalms 106,32 attributes G'd's anger to the people when the Psalmist exclaims: "they angered the Lord at the waters of Merivah and Moses suffered on their account." Naturally, David did not only refer to Moses but also to Aaron who shared in that mission. He singled out Moses by name as he was the principal involved.

Between Paran and between Tofel. The phrase between… and between does not make any sense or have any reasonable explanation according to Rashi’s interpretation. Furthermore, it is difficult to understand why Moses did not at least hint at the incident of the waters of Meribah, as it is written They provoked Him at the waters of Meribah, and it went badly for Moses because of them (Psalms 106:32). If they were the ones who provoked God, why didn’t Moses mention this incident among all the provocations they committed? It must be that he hinted to them with the language of between… and between, because in Paran was the incident of the spies, and “Tofel” refers to when they complained [taflu] about the manna, saying our soul loathes this worthless bread (Numbers 21:5). And in between these two incidents occurred the matter of the waters of Meribah. Even though Korah’s rebellion is written after the incident of the spies, it nevertheless preceded it, as Rashi explained that “Hazeroth” refers to Korah’s rebellion which took place in Hazeroth, and it is written They journeyed from Hazeroth and camped in the desert of Paran (Numbers 12:16). And from there the spies were sent out. This indicates that between the incident of the spies in Paran and the incident of “Tofel,” they had committed only the provocation at the waters of Meribah. It is as if Moses was saying, “Remember what you did between these two boundaries.” This is a hint within a hint, because Moses also sinned in this matter and was afraid they might say to him, “Remove the beam from between your own eyes,” therefore he embedded this sin between what came before and after, using their actions as evidence that they were the cause, and the main sin depends on them. For see what you did in Paran, when you said let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt (Numbers 14:4), and similarly at Tofel you said, Why did you bring us up from Egypt? (Numbers 21:5). And likewise at the waters of Meribah you said, Why did you bring us up from Egypt? (Numbers 20:5). From this there is evidence that one transgression leads to another similar one, and the before and after indicates that this sin which was committed in between should also be attributed to you and not to me.

And the Egyptians did evil to us and they oppressed us: (Deuteronomy 26:6) Generally the Hebrew expression for doing evil to someone is “Haray’ah li...” such as Genesis 43:6: “lama harayotem lee?” “Why have you treated me so ill?” Wherever this verb “hayraya” is used it usually is followed by the prefix “Lamed” except for here. In Deuteronomy we read “Vayarayu otanu,” a word beginning with the prefix “et.” The Maggid understands this to mean not ‘they did evil to us” but rather “they made us appear evil.” The Egyptians were concerned that the other nations would accuse Egypt of treating the Israelites poorly without good reason so they accused Israel of all types of evil actions in order to justify their oppression. In this way they hoped that the other nations would think their behavior toward the Israelites was justified. He would translate this expression “They made us appear evil before the other nations.” Having portrayed the Israelites in this way, then they felt that they were justified in oppressing the Children of Israel.

למענכם ON ACCOUNT OF YOU — You caused this for me (that God was wroth with me); similarly it states, (Psalms 106:32) “And they provoked Him at the waters of Meriba, and He did evil to Moses on their account".