Musar sobre II Samuel 7:23

Once we understand 6,2 in the Torah in this way we will be better able to understand an extremely enigmatic verse in Samuel II 7,23: ומי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ אשר הלכו אלקים לפדות לו לעם ולשום לו שם ולעשות לכם הגדולה ונוראות לארצך מפני עמך אשר פדית לך ממצרים גוים ואלו-היו, "And who is like Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth, whom G–d went and redeemed as His people, winning renown for Himself and doing great and marvellous deeds for them and for Your land [driving out] nations and their gods before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt." All the commentators have great difficulty with this verse. One of the difficulties is the expression "like Your people Israel." Another difficulty is that in this instance G–d is described as הלכו, went (pl.), whereas in a parallel verse in Chronicles I 17,21, G–d is described as הלך, went (sing.).

We shall now explain the verse preceding the line of כח וגבורה נתן בהם in Samuel II 7,23 we have quoted earlier. It says there: אין כמוך ואין אלוקים זולתך, "There is no one like You nor any other deity beside You." [There actually seems to be an error in the text, since the wording in Samuel II 7,23 is not identical with the wording quoted from the liturgical poem א-ל אדון which the author also quoted. Ed.] The first half means that there is no one of equal status. Even if You were to create such a power, it is impossible for it to be comparable to You. The very fact that You had to "invent" such a power makes it inferior to You. The words אין זולתך, refer to powers, deities, already in existence to whom G–d has assigned various domains within which they appear to reign supreme, as mentioned in the poet's statement כח וגבורה נתן בהם להיות מושלים בקרב תבל, "He has equipped them with strength and power to be ruling in the midst of the universe." Their rule is not independent of You, i.e. אין זולתך. When it is Your will, these powers exercise dominion; when it is Your will, You take this power away from them.

We continue in Samuel: ומי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד, "Who is like Your unique nation Israel?" After the damage inflicted on the earth by Adam, the generation of Enosh, and subsequent generations, the שכינה withdrew to the Celestial Regions and the angels then constituted G–d's army and assumed the role of G–d's "people." It is in reference to these angels that David speaks about "who is like Your people," these are the people of G–d. Once the Jewish people had been refined, G–d wanted to bring bring back His שכינה to earth, and He selected Israel to become His people. This is why the prophet has both the words עמך and ישראל preceded by the letter כ. Without this letter, we would have thought that the "Your people" referred to are the same as "Israel." As it is, the message is that Israel on earth i.e. its domain, is as unique as the angels, i.e. the "people" of the Celestial Regions, in their domain. The words אשר הלכו in the plural in Samuel, and אשר הלך singular, in the matching verse in Chronicles, are essentially the same. Inasmuch as the miracles were performed by G–d in His capacity as the Ineffable Name, the use of the singular is appropriate. In view of the fact that G–d employed Moses as the instrument of העברה, "filter," the use of the plural is justified. David alluded to the latter aspect in Samuel, and to the former in Chronicles. This is the meaning of the second last verse in the Torah in which Moses is described as having been assigned by G–d to perform all the signs and miracles in Egypt against Pharaoh, his servants and his country. Both the use of the singular and the plural are justified when describing who promoted the redemption of the people of Israel.