Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 9:21

And the explanation of the matter is that the sons of Aaron were deserving of being punished, for they ate and drank and beheld God (Exodus 24:11), meaning they gazed upon the Divine Presence with the coarseness of heart that comes from food and drink. The Holy One, blessed be He, waited to punish them so as not to disturb the joy of the giving of the Torah. Corresponding to this came this command to Aaron that he should not enter the Holy place on any day when there is eating and drinking, but only on Yom Kippur, a day when a person afflicts his soul, because then he comes before his Creator in humility. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, presented this introduction to Moses and first informed him of the cause of the death of Aaron’s sons in the first statement, in order to tell him in the second statement the command he shall not come at any time into the holy place (Leviticus 16:2). And this is the wording of the first statement that God said to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron — and what was the statement? When they drew near before the Lord and died. He informed him that they died because they drew near to God at an inappropriate time, as it is written and they beheld God. And if you ask why it says when they drew near before the Lord rather than “when they drew near before Me,” we find a similar case as Rashi explained in Parashat Vayera (19:24) on the verse and the Lord rained upon Sodom, etc. from the Lord, etc. And regarding the wording and they died, which could have simply said “they died,” we find a similar case in and those who did not regard the word of the Lord left their servants and livestock in the field (Exodus 9:21) where it could have simply said “left.” This also resolves the apparent redundancy of the phrase and they died, since it was already stated after the death, because the first mention is the Torah’s statement to us, and the second is God’s statement to Moses.

עזי וזמרת יה — Onkelos translated this by “my might and my praise”, taking עָזִּי the same as עֻזִּי, and וְזִמְרָת the same as וְזִמְרָתִי. But I wonder at the wording of the text if this translation is correct, for you will find no similar example of its punctuation (i. e. of עָזִּי) in the Scriptures except in three passages where it is, in each case, followed by וזמרת. In all other passages it is punctuated with שורק (i. e. our Kibbutz); e. g., (Jeremiah 16:19) ה' עֻזִּי ומעזי (Psalms 59:10) עֻזּו אליך אשמרה So, too, every word of two letters that is punctuated with a Melopum (our חולם) when it is lengthened by the addition of a third letter (i. e. when it has a pronominal suffix as in the examples given below), and the second has not a Sheva (חטף), the first is punctuated with a שורק (Kibbuts) — as, for instance, עֹז and עֻזִּי; ‎רֹק and ‎רֻקִי ; ‎חֹק and ‎חֻקִי ; ‎עֹל and עֻלִי as in (Isaiah 14:25) “then shall his yoke (עֻלּוֹ, from עֹל) depart from him”; — כֹּל and כֻּלּוֹ, as in (Exodus 14:7) “and captains over each of them (כֻּלּוֹ) — from כֹּל. But these three examples of עָזִּי וְזִּמְרָת, viz., that occuring here and that in Isaiah (12:2) and that in Psalms (118:14), are punctuated with short Kametz, whereas the translation of Onkelos would require עֻזִּי and not עָזִּי. Then further, in not one of them (these three passages) is it written וזמרתי, as Onkelos translates, but וזמרת and remarkably enough all of them are immediately followed by ויהי לי לישועה. — Therefore I say in explanation of the wording of the text that עָזִּי is not the same as עֻזִּי and וְזִמְרָת is not the same as וְזִמְרָתִי, but עָזִּי is a noun without a suffix of any kind, as we find in (Psalms 123:1) “The one who sits (הַיֹּשְׁבִי) in heaven”; (Obadiah 3:3) “The one who dwells (שֹׁכְנִי) in the cleft of the rock”; (Deuteronomy 33:16) “He that dwelleth (שֹׁכְנִי) in the bush” (where the syllable at the end of the word is part of the noun and is not the pronominal suffix denoting “my”). The praise, therefore, proclaimed in these words is this: The עז and the זִמְרָת of God, this was to me as a help. The word וזמרת is a noun in the construct state to the word which expressess the Divine Name (יָהּ), in the same sense as (Judges 5:23) “to the help of (לעזרַת — const.) the Lord”; (Isaiah 9:18) “through the wrath of (בעברת — constr.) the Lord”; (Ecc. 3:18) “because of (דברַת — const.) the sons of man”. The expression וזמרת has the meaning of the root which we find in (Leviticus 25:4) “thou shalt not prune (תזמר)” and in (Isaiah 25:5) “the cutting down (זמיר) of the terrible ones”, both of which have the meaning “lopping off” and “cutting down”. Thus the verse signifies: “The strength and vengeance of our God has become to us a help”. Do not be puzzled by the expression ויהי — that it does not state היה — for we have other verses also that use this idiom, and the following is an example of such a construction: (1 Kings 6:5) “round about the wall of the house, both of the temple and the most holy place, he made (ויעש) a side structure”, and it should have said (instead of ויעש etc.) עשה לו צלעות סביב. Similarly in Chronicles, (2 10:17) “But as for the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned (וימלך) over them”, where it should have said מלך עליהם. Other examples are: (Numbers 14:16) “Because the Lord was unable etc…. He slaughtered them (וישחטם)”, where it should have said שחטם; (Numbers 14:36, 37) “And the men whom Moses sent … they died (וימתו)”, where it should have said מתו; (Exodus 9:21) “And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left (ויעזב) his cattle, etc.”, where it should have said עזב‎.

was my salvation. Heb. וַיְהִי לִי לִישׁוּעָה, like הָיָה לִי לִישׁוּעָה, was to me for a salvation, and it is customary for Scripture to speak in this manner. Comp. (Exodus 9:21) “And he who did not heed the word of the Lord, left (וַיַּעֲזֹב) his slaves and his cattle”; also, in II Chronicles (10:17): “And the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned (וַיִּמְלֹךְ) over them.” It should say, מָלַךְ עֲלֵיהֶם.

The might and the cutting power of God was my salvation Heb. עזי וזמרת, the might of the Holy One, blessed be He, was my salvation. עזי has a superfluous “yud” because we do not [usually] find עזי vowelized with a short “kamatz” instead of a “shuruk,” except in three places, where it is next to וזמרת, and perforce is attached to the word denoting the name of God. You cannot explain it as “my praise.” Do not wonder about ויהי לי, that he did not say היה לי לישועה, for there are many like these in Scripture, [e.g.] (Exod. 9:21): “And whoever did not pay attention...left (ויעזב) his slaves, etc.” He should have written עַזָב.

they placed Oholah and Oholibah [placed] bracelets on their hands to adorn themselves in order to commit adultery; i.e., Ammon and Moab, since they are many, she adorns and beautifies herself for them, and because they are her neighbors, she beautifies herself before their eyes with her ornaments; therefore, Oholah and Oholibah put bracelets on their hands in order to be beautiful in the eyes of the adulterers. The “vav” of וַיִתְּנוּ is superfluous, like that of (Exod. 15:2): “The strength and the cutting of God was (וַיְהִי) my salvation,” and like that of (ibid. 9:21): “But whoever did not take the word of the Lord to heart left (וַיַעֲזֹב).”