Comentário sobre Gênesis 18:16

וישקיפו [AND THE MEN] GLANCED — Wherever the Hiphil form of שקף occurs in the Scriptures it denotes taking notice for the purpose of bringing evil (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 14), except (Deuteronomy 26:15) (a passage dealing with the tithe, including that given to the poor), “Look forth (השקיפה) from thy holy habitation . .. [and bless thy people] for so great is the power (virtue) of giving to the poor that it changes God’s anger into mercy.

ויקומו משם האנשים, two of them went on to Sodom, as we read afterwards ויבואו שני המלאכים סדומה, “the two angels arrived in Sodom” (Genesis 19,1) The senior one of the angels had been the one who had spoken to Avraham. This is implied by the verse וה' אמר המכסה אני מאברהם וגו', “Shall I conceal from Avraham what I am about to do?” in verse 17.

ויקומו משם, from the house of Avraham.

ואברהם הולך עמם לשלחם, “and Avraham walked with them to see them off.” Immediately afterwards the Torah writes: “and G’d had said shall I hide from Avraham, etc.” It appears that Avraham merited this visit from G’d because he had performed the מצוה of accompanying his visitors some distance on the next part of their journey. Our sages in Sotah 46 have derived from here that a student has to accompany the teacher when the teacher departs from him as far as the outer perimeter of the town. The Talmud adopts guidelines as to the respective distances which people of different degrees of prominence need to be accompanied. It is all based on a specific verse in Psalms 91,11 כי מלאכיו יצוה לך, “for He will command His angels to (guard, accompany) you.”

To escort them. Rashi explained this so we will not mistakenly think that לשלחם is similar to בשלח פרעה (Shemos 13:17), which means he sent them out of his domain. [Rashi knows this] because otherwise this verse would be out of sequence. It is already written ויקומו משם האנשים, how could it then say that Avraham sent them out? A further difficulty: They were not under Avraham’s control [so that he could send them out. On the contrary,] he implored them: “Please do not bypass...” Thus Rashi explains, “To escort...” (R. Meir Stern)

Von dort, von dem Gastmal bei Abraham, standen sie auf und schauten nach Sodom. Wir kennen bereits dieses Sodom, dessen üppige Fülle, wie wir glaubten, sich bereits in dem Namen seiner Städte ausgesprochen: סדום Baumgefilde, עמורה Kornreichtum, אדמה Mineralreichtum, צבוים Gewildreichtum. Kennen aber auch ihre moralische Gesunkenheit, wie sie in ihrer Fülle und durch ihre Fülle רעים והטאים, lieblos gegen Menschen und in Unsittlichkeit bis zur viehischsten Entartung versunken waren. Sodom war somit das vollendetste Gegenspiel zu der einfachen, reinen Umgebung, aus welcher diese Männer sich soeben erhoben.

וישקיפו על פני סדום, “they looked down at the city of Sodom facing them;” according to Rashi, every time when the expression: השקפה occurs in the Holy Scriptures it has a negative connotation with the exception of Deuteronomy 26,15: השקיפה ממעון קדשך, “look down benignly from Your holy residence in heaven.” Our author questions Rashi by quoting Song of Songs: 6,10, מי זאת הנשקפת, “who is she who shines like the dawn,” as not having a negative connotation; he also quotes: Lamentations 3,50: עד ישקיף ויראה, “until He looks down from heaven and beholds;” a third example where the word השקפה occurs in a benign mode is Psalms 85,12 וצדק משמים נשקף, “and righteousness looks down from heaven.”

לשלחם means TO ESCORT THEM, for he believed that they were travellers.

וישקיפו, looking down in the negative sense.

וישקיפו, the direction in which they faced was Sodom. The expression השקפה occurs both in a benevolent sense and in a malevolent sense, depending on the context. The expression also appears sometimes in the passive mode and other times in the causative, transitive mode, hiphil. The reason for the latter mode is that when one looks at someone or something, one is, normally, at the same time visible to the ones one looks at. Hence the passive mode is justified also. When the viewer remains invisible to the one at whom he looks, such as G’d or angels, there is no call for the passive mode, hence we have the causative mode here, seeing that the people of Sodom could not see the angels.

He thought that they were travelers. You might ask: Even without לשלחם, would we not know that Avraham thought they were travelers? He prepared a meal for them to eat, and water to wash [their feet]! The answer is: Once they foretold [Sarah’s childbirth], and healed him, we might think he realized they were angels. Thus Rashi says he [still] thought they were travelers. (Re’m)

Sie sehen hier soeben die Grundlage eines Volkes auf zwei Momente gelegt, a. auf Heiligung des Leibes in sitttenreiner Unterordnung aller Triebe und Neigungen unter Gott in Mila, und b. auf die Übung allweiter Menschenliebe wie das גמילות הסד, das sie selbst in Abrahams Hütte genossen. Das Gastmahl, bei welchem sie soeben die erste Grundlegung des künftigen Gottesvolkes zu verkünden hatten, bot einen solchen Gegensatz zu Sodom, bildete eine solche Höhe zu der tiefen sodomitischen Gesunkenheit, zu welcher sie sich nun zu wenden hatten, dass sie "mit ernst prüfendem Blick auf Sodom hinabschauten". Denn diese Bedeutung hat das: שקף .שקפו scheint verwandt mit שכב: iruhen, liegen, und שגב: iemporragen, höher sein, und beide Bedeutungen in sich vereinigend: "in der Höhe über einer Tiefe ruhen" auszudrücken. Daher משקף: die Oberschwelle. נשקף: aus einer Höhe hervorragen, in einer Höhe hervorragend geblickt werden, sichtbar werden. השקיף endlich: aus einer Höhe seinen Blick auf die Tiefe senken, auf dem Umstehenden ruhen lassen. Daher השקפה immer: ein ernster prüfender Blick. Auch bei וידוי מעשר. Wir sollen in unserem Besitze so allen heiligen Ansprüchen genügt haben, so בערתי הקדש מן הבית sprechen können, dass wir dann Gott auffordern können, השקיפה, senke deinen prüfenden Blick auf unser Tun und Lassen herab und, sowie du keinen Makel findest, וברך וגוי, spende deinen Segen usw. (5. B. M. 26, 15).

הולך עמם לשלחם, “kept walking with them to see them off.” According to Rashi, the reason that the Torah uses this formulation is that Avraham still thought that these creatures were his guests. He thought so in spite of the fact that they made a [for mortals presumptuous] statement that they guaranteed that they would return at that time in the following years, a statement that no mortal can make and be taken seriously. He assumed that though the person making this promise was mortal, he was a prophet and spoke as a messenger of G-d.

על פני סדום, the antithesis of Avraham. Compare Ezekiel 16,49 where the prophet testifies to the difference, saying: הנה זה היה עוון סדום אחותך, גאון שבעת לחם ושלות השקט היה לה ולבנותיה, ויד עני ואביון לא החזיקה. “Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: ‘arrogance!’ She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility; yet she did not support the poor and the needy.”

ואברהם הולך עמהם לשלחם, to keep them company for a while, to accompany them. [not to make sure they departed. Ed.] The Torah teaches good manners, i.e. that one does not dismiss a guest abruptly, but by walking with him indicates that one regrets the time had come to part from one another. Our sages in Sotah 46 suggest that the distance one should accompany a guest from one’s house is approximately 1,2 kilometers.