Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 1:5

ואלה שמות, seeing that the Torah wanted to let us know how the Israelites had increased and multiplied (verse 3) it became necessary to repeat that when they had arrived in Egypt they had numbered only 70 souls. The dramatic increase in numbers of Israelites began only with the death of the generation that had moved there from the land of Canaan. As a result, when a new king came to the throne in Egypt, he wanted to diminish their numbers and did not succeed in doing so.

Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that because He mentioned at the end of Bereshith [50:23] that Joseph saw children of the third generation to his children, this is why He mentioned [here in the second book] that his brethren likewise were at first few and then were fruitful and multiplied. But this is not correct.²³Ramban did not explain the reason for his rejection of Ibn Ezra’s interpretation. I found this in Isaac Abarbanel’s (1437-1508) Commentary on the Torah, where he offers the following explanation for Ramban’s rejection: “The reason for it is that in the Book of Genesis, the Torah has already mentioned each one of the twelve tribes, their children, and their children’s children, who went down into Egypt. And this is far more than the mere names of the tribes He mentioned here. Besides, it would have sufficed to say here, And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, thus informing us of their great increase, and not just mentioning the names of the tribes. Moreover, in my opinion, if Ibn Ezra’s interpretation be correct, it would not have been necessary here to include Joseph as it did in Verse 5, since he had been mentioned already at the beginning of this topic, [i.e., at the end of the Book of Genesis]. Moreover, the division of the chapters refutes Ibn Ezra’s opinion.”
Rashi wrote: “Although Scripture had already enumerated them whilst they were living, it again enumerates them by name, following their death, in order to show how they were beloved by G-d. They are compared to the stars which G-d also brings out by number and brings in by number,²⁴In our text of Rashi: “Which G-d also brings out and brings in by number and name.” as it is said, He bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name.”²⁵Isaiah 40:26. “It is for this reason that He mentions the names of the tribes always and repeats them, all for the sake of showing how dear they are to G-d” (Bachya). These are words of homiletic exposition,²⁶Shemoth Rabbah 1:3. and insofar as they indicate the love of G-d for the tribes — how the Holy One, blessed be He, loves them and repeats their names always — they are words of truth. But the matters of the connection of the verses and how they are joined by the vav — [v’eileh shemoth — (‘And’ these are the names of…)] — is as I have explained.

With meager numbers – as it says: “With seventy people your ancestors went down to Egypt and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the heaven.” Deuteronomy 10:22. The entire Midrash on Deuteronomy 26 is a collection of verses that are chosen from elsewhere in the Bible to illustrate something that is stated on one of the verses in Deuteronomy, Chapter 26. They do not seem to add any deeper insight into the meaning of the Bikkurim (first fruit) declaration found in this chapter. What is the point of this series of juxtaposed verses?
The Verses contained in this section of the Haggadah are something of a riddle. We have a series of verses from Deuteronomy 26:5 – 8 that are illuminated by other verses from various parts of the Bible. While the illustrating verses would appear not to add anything to our understanding of the verses in Deuteronomy 26, in fact each illustrating verse is an answer to a question raised by the original verse. It is up to the reader to figure out what the question is and how the illustrating verse answers the question.
Deuteronomy 26:5 troubles the Maggid. It says: “And he (Jacob) went down and dwelled there with meager numbers; but there he became a great and very populous nation. What is it that is troubling the Maggid about this verse? The verse should have said: “And he (Jacob) went down with meager numbers and dwelled there and there he became a great and populous nation…” The verse implies that Jacob dwelled in Egypt with few in number. Yet a Midrash tells us that the children of Jacob had already increased significantly and become a great and populous nation before his death. So why does our verse say that he dwelled there with meager numbers?