Comentários de Citação sobre Êxodo 24:11

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.

The view that they entered intoxicated with wine holds that strange fire refers to wine that burns within a person like fire, as it is written Woe unto them that rise up late at night, when wine inflames them (Isaiah 5:11), which is literally a burning from the fire that the wine kindled within them. And although the commandment Do not drink wine or strong drink had not yet been given to them, nevertheless, following the principle of Offer it now to your governor (Malachi 1:8), they should have reasoned that one should not enter the King’s gate while drunk.
Strong evidence for this view comes from what is written And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand (Exodus 24:11). This implies that they deserved to have His hand laid upon them for having eaten, drunk, and feasted their eyes on the Divine Presence with the coarseness of heart that comes from food and drink. And our Sages said that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not want to disturb the joy of the Torah, so He waited for this day. But this is difficult to understand: why this day rather than another? Furthermore, this day too is called the day of His heart’s gladness, as our Sages interpreted: the day of His wedding refers to the giving of the Torah, and the day of His heart’s gladness refers to the dedication of the Temple. So He should have waited even longer.
But rather, on this day they repeated their folly and offered strange fire before the Lord that burned within them from the wine, and through excessive drinking they came before the Lord improperly. Therefore, the Lord did not want to wait any longer, lest the matter appear permissible in their eyes, for “one who commits a transgression and repeats it, it becomes permitted to him.” Thus, after the death of Aaron’s two sons, Aaron was commanded, With this shall Aaron enter into the holy place (Leviticus 16:3) — on the Day of Atonement, a day when a person afflicts his soul, for then he comes before his Creator in humility, not with coarseness of heart, for wine is a traitor; the arrogant man shall not abide (Habakkuk 2:5).

Solomon also addresses apparent contradictions which man could expect if he were to make Torah-principles his sole guidelines such as giving charity generously. He explains that contrary to human logic “giving” does not impoverish the giver but enriches him (Proverbs 11,24). A similar thought is voiced in Proverbs 28,27 i.e. “he who gives to the poor will not be in need.” It is important to realize that all such parables need to be based on life’s experiences, matters man experiences with one or more of his five senses. Unless the parable is something with which we are familiar it cannot hope to achieve its purpose, i.e. to convey the moral lesson it is meant to convey. The meaning of this statement is also that just as the body derives physical gratification from the consumption of honey, so the soul derives spiritual gratification from the absorption of words of wisdom. This is one of the meanings of Exodus 24,11: “they saw G’d and ate and drank.” In other words, just as eating and drinking provided physical gratification, so a vision of the divine provides man with spiritual gratification. One of the reasons Moses could spend 40 days on Mount Sinai going without bread or water, i.e. physical food, was that the divine visions he beheld during that time did more for his soul, his spiritual essence, than even the vision described as being had by the אצילי בני ישראל, ‘the nobles of Israel” in Exodus 24,11. Moses drew on this spiritual food-reservoir for practically 120 days seeing that the brief time he spent in the camp between his three sojourns on the mountain amounted to less than a full day each time. [The author had already explained the logic that if physical food which originally derived from the celestial regions can sustain our bodies on earth, then spiritual food, i.e. food at its source, not diluted by various detours before it reaches man, such as soil, trees, etc., would most certainly not do any less for the person absorbing it. In our day and age the best illustration is probably to compare that celestial, “pure” food to patients on earth who have to be fed intravenously. These patients do not suffer by their food by-passing the mouth, the stomach, and the intestines which are the body’s primary organs for food intake. Ed.]
The author demonstrates that when Moses ascended the mountain on the first of Elul (the third time) this was a Monday so that his return on Yom Kippur occurred on Thursday. This is why the sages determined that courts were to sit on Mondays and Thursdays of each week. This is the allegorical meaning of the words דרשו ה' בהמצאו, “seek out the Lord when He is liable to be found” (Isaiah 55,6). The days which have proved particularly propitious are Mondays and Thursdays. The commandment to construct the Tabernacle was issued on the morrow of Yom HaKippurim, hence this is where our portion begins.

By the tide (zuto) of the sea - Places on the seashore, where it is the way of the sea to return [to the shore] ten or fifteen parsa twice a day, so it sweeps away that which it finds there and goes. Zuto is an expression of largeness and expansion in the Greek language; like the sages wrote [in their Greek translation] to King Ptolemy, "and upon the exalted ones" (Exodus 24:11), [as] "and upon the zatuti" (Megillah 9a).