Comentário sobre Salmos 78:74

...my mouth with a parable They are the words of Torah.

We shall not hide from their sons We, too, shall not hide [these words] from our fathers’ sons by not letting them know what they told us.

their hope Heb. כסלם, their hope, and so (Job 31:24): “If I made gold my hope (כסלי).”

as their forefathers who were in Egypt and in the desert.

The sons of Ephraim who left Egypt forcefully before the end [of the exile] and trusted in their might and in their arrows. Ultimately, they retreated and fled on the day of battle, as is delineated (I Chron. 7:21): “and the men of Gath, who were born in the land, slew them.”

archers Heb. רומי, who cast and shoot, as (Exod. 15:1): “cast (רמה) into the sea.”

Before their forefathers He wrought wonders (Nevertheless—Shem Ephraim) Afterwards, when the end arrived, they too “continued to sin against Him,” as he further concludes. (Another explanation—Shem Ephraim)

Before their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob came beside the sea, and the Holy One, blessed be He, showed them how He was redeeming their children.

as a heap Heb. נד, a tall heap, as Onkelos renders (Exod. 15:8): “the flowing water stood up like a נֵד,” stood up like a wall.

He split rocks (Exod. 17:6): “and you shall strike the rock.”

and He gave them to drink as [from] great deeps in the great deeps. Even as they went through the midst of the sea, whose waters are salty, He sweetened fountains for them in the midst of the sea.

and brought down water like rivers [Water] that was flowing from the well. The princes would make a line with their staffs and the water would be drawn after them to the encampment of each tribe, as the matter that is stated (Num. 21:18): “by the order of the lawgiver, with their staffs,” as is explained in tractate Makkoth.

to provoke Heb. למרות, to provoke, as (Deut. 9:7): “you have been provoking (ממרים).”

flesh Heb. שְׁאֵר, flesh.

fire was kindled against Jacob Heb. נשקה, as (Ezek. 39:9): “and make fires and heat up (והשיקו),” which is an expression of heating and burning. As it is written (Num. 11:1): “and God’s fire broke out against them.”

bread of the mighty Bread of the angels. Another explanation: אַבִּירִים means אֵבָרִים, limbs, for it was absorbed into the limbs, and they did not have to excrete.

He caused the east wind to set forth (Num. 11:31): “And a wind set forth from the Lord, and it made quails fly.”

They were not estranged from their desire They did not become estranged from their desire, for they achieved all their desire.

Another explanation: לא זרוּ מתאותם They were not distanced from their desire until the retribution came upon them. “While their food was still in their mouth, the wrath of the Lord (sic), etc.”

and...the chosen of Israel The chosen of them and the men of the assembly, הָאסַפסוּף (Num. 11:4). They are the elders, as it is said (Num. 11:16): “Assemble (אספו) to Me, etc.”

When He slew them, etc. Yet all this was not in truth, but with guile in their mouth and by lying with their tongue.

Their heart was not sincere as with their mouth.

But He is merciful to them and constantly expiates their iniquity, and He did not destroy them.

many times Many times He withdraws His wrath from them, and even if He punishes them, He does not arouse all His anger but little by little, because He remembers that they are flesh and that the evil inclination is hidden in their heart. That is a spirit that goes away when they die, and that spirit does not return to them in the world to come. When they are resurrected, the evil inclination will have no control over them. “A spirit that goes away and does not return” cannot be explained to mean their spirit of life, because if you say so, you have denied the resurrection of the dead. In this manner, it is explained in Aggadath Tehillim (Mid Ps. 78:8).

How often [How many] times they provoked him always in the desert.

they sought a sign Heb. התוו, an expression of a sign, as (Ezek. 9:4): “and set a mark (והתוית תו) .” “A mark” is an expression of a wonder and a trial. They asked him for a sign and a mark (Exod. 17: 7): “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”

which mutilated them They would pull off their testicles.

with locusts Heb. בחנמל, the name of the locust. According to the Midrash (Mid. Ps. 78:13) [it is composed of the following words]: בָּא חָן מָל, it comes, encamps, and cuts. It cut off the greens of the tree and the grass and ate it.

He gave over their animals to hail When the hail began to fall, the Egyptian drove his sheep (his animal) into the house, and the hail came before him like a wall. The Egyptian slaughtered it [the animal] and put it on his shoulder, to take it to his house to eat it, but the birds came and took it from him. That is [the meaning of] “and their cattle to the birds (לרשפים),” as (Job. 5:7): “but flying creatures (בני רשף) fly upward.” This is its midrashic interpretation (Mid. Ps. 78:14), but according to its simple meaning, רשפים are bolts of fire, as it is written (Exod. 9:24): “and fire flaming within the hail.”

He leveled a path for His anger Although the plagues were dispatched in anger, they performed only their orders; what they were commanded to kill, they killed, but nothing else. They went in their paths. In other commentaries I found as follows: He leveled a path for His anger When He smote every firstborn in Egypt, He showed the way for [the angel] who was destroying with anger to enter the houses of the Egyptians, but not the houses of the children of Israel.

...and...their body Heb. וחיתם, their body.

He drove out...from before them the seven nations.

in their tents of the nations.

Yet they tried and provoked during the days of the judges.

like a deceitful bow which does not shoot the arrow to the place the archer wishes.

He delivered His might into captivity He delivered the Ark and the tablets into the hands of the Philistines.

Fire consumed his youths [The fire of] His wrath.

were not married Heb. לא הוללו. They were not married by being brought into a litter [under] a canopy because the youths died in battle.

הוּלָלוּ is an expression of nuptials (הִלוּלָא) in Aramaic. Our Sages, however, explained it in reference to Nadab and Abihu (Mid. Ps. 78:18), but I feel uncertain about explaining it that way because he already commenced with the Tabernacle of Shiloh.

His priests fell by the sword Hophni and Phinehas.

but his widows did not weep Even his widow was not allowed to bewail him, for she too died on the day of the tidings, as it is said (I Sam. 4: 19): “And she knelt and gave birth, for her pains had suddenly come upon her.”

shouting Heb. מתרונן, awaking and strengthening himself with speech to awaken from his wine. מתרונן is an expression of רנה, shouting.

And He smote His adversaries from the rear Plagues of the rear with hemorrhoids, which is a disgrace of perpetual ridicule for them.

He rejected the tent of Joseph That is Shiloh, which is in Joseph’s territory.

And He built His Sanctuary like the high heavens, etc. Like the heavens and the earth, about which two hands are mentioned, as it is stated (Isa. 48:13): “Even My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured the heavens with handbreadths.” Also the Temple was with two hands, as it is said (Exod. 15:17): “Your hands established.” (Cf. Mechilta, Shirah 10, Keth. 5a, Rashi to Exod. 15:17.) Another explanation: And He built His Sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth He established it Just as heaven and earth have no substitute, neither does the Temple have a substitute in which to let the Shechinah rest.

and took him from the sheepcotes Heb. ממכלאתצאן, from the stalls of the sheep, as (Hab. 3: 16): “The flock will be cut off from the fold (ממכלה).”

From behind the nursing ewes He brought him For he would shepherd the nursing ewes for his father, because he was merciful and would bring the kids first and feed them the upper tips of the grasses, which are tender. Then after them he would bring out the he-goats, who would eat the middle of the grasses, and afterwards, he would bring out the older ones, who would eat the roots. Said the Holy One, blessed be He, “This one is fit to shepherd My people.”