Comentários de Citação sobre Gênesis 31:50

You must appreciate that in view of the fact that actually the attribute Hashem was speaking, the Torah should have written here: וידבר ה’ את כל הדברים האלה, just as Moses said when he recalled the event of 40 years ago to the people in Deuteronomy. At that point he said in Deut. 5,19: את הדברים האלה דבר ה’ אל כל קהלכם בהר מתוך האש הענן והערפל קול גדול ולא יסף. Also in Deut. 4,12 Moses quotes G’d as וידבר ה’ אליכם מתוך האש.
Seeing that that in Exodus 19,18 the Torah wrote אשר ירד עליו ה’ באש, “on which Hashem descended in fire,” and it has been explained that His great name represents the emanation תפארת, which “resides within fire,” it had now become necessary to write וידבר אלו-הים, as these words reflect that the sound of the voice emanated from the fire. In other words, the Israelites heard a sound which seemed to come out of the fire. We find a similar description [involving both the attributes Elohim and Hashem. Ed.] in Deut. 5,21: הן הראנו ה’ אלו-הינו את כבודו ואת גדלו ואת קולו שמענו מתוך האש. “The Lord our G’d has just shown us His majestic Presence, and we heard His voice out of the fire.” [Israel speaking, Moses quoting how they had perceived what they had experienced. 40 years earlier. Ed.]. Keeping all these factors in mind, when Moses mentioned וידבר ה’ אליכם in Deut. 4,12 he immediately added the words “out of the fire.” He did the same again when referring to what had occurred in Deut. 5,19 after reviewing the Ten Commandments immediately prior to that verse. The reason is that whereas in Hebrew, and to Hebrew speakers the achievements of Israel are considered primary, in the Aramaic translation of Onkelos (which reflects the use of the language by people speaking that tongue) the achievements of Moses are highlighted. When the Torah (in Hebrew) writes וידבר אלו-הים, this reflects the spiritual level reached by the Jewish people, whereas when Onkelos translates as if the Torah had written וידבר ה’, this reflects the spiritual level achieved by Moses. Onkelos wants to make plain by his very translation of the words of the Torah that Moses had attained a higher spiritual plateau than had the people. Isaiah 26,4 writes as follows: בטחו בי-ה-ו-ה עדי עד כי בי-ה י-ה-ו-ה צור עולמים, “trust in Hashem for ever and ever, for in Yah Hashem you have an everlasting Rock.” What the prophet means is that the name Hashem which symbolizes the concept of “an everlasting Rock” may be described on occasion as Yah. When G’d is described in 20,2 saying: אנכי ה’ אלו-היך, He is described as speaking in His capacity as Yah, an aspect of the צור עולמים. This צור עולמים contains this name as we learn from Exodus 23,21 כי שמי בקרבו “for My name is within it,” the “it” being the צור עולמים. This is also the mystical dimension of אני ה’ בקרב הארץ (Exodus 8,18) a reference to this Rock.
A kabbalistic approach to the words אשר הוצאתיך, “who has taken you out.” The Exodus, as distinct from the utterance of the Ten Commandments, was orchestrated by G’d in His capacity as Hashem. This is the reason the Torah writes (13,16 ) כי בחזק יד הוציאנו י-ה-ו-ה ממצרים, “for with the power of the hand Hashem took us out of Egypt.” The same formula is repeated in 13,3.
When the Torah writes: (20,3) לא יהיה לך אלו-הים אחרים על פני, generally translated as “you must not have (recognize) any other gods in My Presence,” the meaning is that the only Presence you are to recognize as divine is My Presence, i.e. פני. The wording here is similar to the wording in Genesis 31,50 where Lavan warns Yaakov not to marry any additional wives. He said: ואם תקח נשים על בנותי. Lavan meant: ”but my daughters certainly are to remain your wives.” Similarly here; G’d forbids other gods to be recognised implying that most certainly He is to be recognised as G’d. The fact that this is so is demonstrated by the use by G’d of the word פנים in Deut. 34,10 when describing His relationship with Moses as אשר ידעו י-ה-ו-ה פנים אל פנים, “whom G’d knew (intimately) face to face.” A similar use of the word פנים is found in Deut. 5,4 describing the close relationship of G’d to the whole people at the revelation at Mount Sinai. The Torah describes this as פנים בפנים דבר י-ה-ו-ה עמכם, “face to face Hashem spoke to you.” All these expressions made it necessary to repeatedly use the expression מתוך האש, in order to explain whence G’d’s voice emanated. The best way to understand these words is that the power of G’d is within another power, just as the appearance of fire, while representing a display of power, contains within it another core of power. This what is meant in Numbers 14,14 כי עין בעין נראה אתה ה’, “that You, Hashem, appeared eye to eye.” The true meaning is that though You Hashem appeared to the eye, there is an inner dimension to this manifestation which remained invisible. This is also the mystical dimension of 20,23 לא תעשון אתי, “you shall not make ‘with’ Me, etc.” The meaning is that no other so-called deity shall share על פני, “My Divine Presence.” When the Torah writes about Moses ascending the mountain (19,3) ומשה עלה אל האלו-הים ויקרא אליו - י-ה-ו-ה that “Moses ascended to G’d, and Hashem called to him,” the meaning is that Hashem called to him from within the attribute אלו-הים. This too is the meaning in Deut. 5,21 ואת קולו שמענו מתוך האש, “and we have heard His voice out of the fire.” The voice referred to there is the voice of the attribute Hashem. It was this voice which the people had been afraid of hearing again, and this is why they said: אם יוספים אנחנו לשמוע את קול י-ה-ו-ה אלו-הינו עוד ומתנו “if we will continue to hear the voice of Hashem, our G’d, again we will die.” This is also the mystical aspect of our sages’ saying (Shevuot 20) זכור ושמור בדבור אחד נאמרו, “the words זכור and שמור [one of which appears in the first version of the Ten Commandments in Exodus and the other in the version in Deuteronomy, Ed.] were said as one.” The former refers to the attribute of Mercy, i.e. י-ה-ו-ה, the other to the attribute of Justice, the attribute known best as אלו-הים. The attribute of Mercy spoke from within the attribute of Justice. This was also why there were two Tablets instead of merely one. One represented the attribute of Mercy, the other the attribute of Justice. The Tablet on which the words לא תרצח, “do not murder,” was inscribed at the top represented the attribute of Justice. (according to the view that five of the Commandments were written on each Tablet) Moses, who, as we explained had attained the level of communicating with G’d’s attribute (emanation) תפארת, heard the word זכור, i.e. as a positive commandment, an expression of the attribute of Mercy. The people who had not attained such a lofty level of communication with G’d heard the word as שמור, as a negative commandment, as an expression of the attribute of Justice.
When we find an expression (verse 22) such as כי מן השמים דברתי עמכם, ”for I have spoken with you from the heaven,” the meaning of the word מתוך in that verse is similar to the meaning of the words מתוך האש in the verses we have already discussed. If you peruse all the verses connected with מתן תורה, you will not find a single one mentioning the tetragrammaton unless it is connected to the words מתוך האש.

A Kabbalistic approach: the mystical dimension of the words על פני is על הפנים שלי, “to My face,” similar to the meaning of Deut. 5,4 פנים בפנים דבר ה' עמכם, ”face to face did Hashem speak with you;” the mystical dimension of the word אחרים is to be found in the fact that G’d did not say לא יהיה לך אל אחר על פני, but He said אחרים in the plural. it is similar to Lavan who had said to Yaakov (Genesis 31,50) אם תקח נשים על בנותי “you must not marry other women in addition to my daughters.” I have already explained (See commentary on verse 1 והוא כמו אם תקח נשים וכו') why Lavan could not have used the word נשים in the singular, i.e. אשה.
Nachmanides explains that idolatry may manifest itself in three different ways. 1) Some people worship the angels; 2) some people worship the celestial constellations in the sky, horoscopes and astrology; 3) Some people worship demons. During the early generations of mankind any deviation from pure monotheism occurred by the people addressing the angels as G’d’s ministers, believing that since G’d had given authority to these angels to supervise and intervene in the fates of different nations they deserved to be “worshipped,” albeit as subordinate beings. When Daniel 10,20 speaks of the שר יון or the שר מלכות פרס, he refers to the angels G’d appointed to supervise those kingdoms and their respective peoples. At that time each tribe or nation worshipped only a single such angel, i.e. the one appointed to supervise its fate. The reason that the Torah (Deut. 10,17) describes Hashem as הוא אלו-הי האלו-הים is to make clear that Hashem was understood to be the supreme power above these angels who had jurisdiction over one nation each. This is also what Yitro referred to when he said he had learned that כי גדול ה' מכל האלוהים, that “Hashem was greater than all the divine powers known as Elohim.” The angels are the ones described as Elohim. This is also what David had in mind in Psalm 97,7 where he says השתחוו לו כל אלהים, “all divine beings (angels) bow down to Him.” This is what our sages said (Menachot 110) that Yitro referred to G’d as the “G’d of gods.” (Exodus 18,11).
After the period when people still worshipped the Supreme G’d but only in His capacity as a remote “boss” of the respective angels to whom He had entrusted their fate, they began to worship visible deities, horoscopes, all kinds of celestial constellations consisting of stars, and other planets. They realized that these forces exercised great influence on what goes on earth. This is the period described as people prostrating themselves before the sun, the moon and many other stars and constellations visible in the sky (Jeremiah 8,2). These people believed that by serving these forces they would increase their relative power and that this in turn would be of benefit to them. The people initiating this were very learned people who had studied what they perceived as the method of these stars exercising their influence on earth.
Still later, people began to worship demons. This is what is meant in Deut. 32,17 אלוהים לא ידעום, “gods they had never known of.” The Torah ridicules the people who sacrifice to demons, phenomena which had never been endowed with divine powers at all, referring to them as “newcomers, recently arrived, whom your ancestors did not dread.” These forces were new to the Israelites; they had heard of them only during their exile in Egypt. Even the Canaanites had not known of their existence. Because of all these various forms of phenomena competing with G’d, the Torah warns not to place any store in any of them. The word אלהים אחרים in our verse refers to the first group, i.e. the angels.

למען ענותו בסבלותם, ‘in order to oppress them with forced labour;” in this instance this is a veiled reference to diminishing the labourers’ ability of engaging in marital intercourse due to being overworked. [The Egyptians’ purpose was to control the Jewish birthrate explosion. Ed.] We find an example of the use of the verb ענה in this context in Genesis 31,50 where Lavan warns Yaakov against denying his daughters marital relations by sleeping with other women instead. Our sages also used this expression in this context when they are quoted as accusing the Egyptians of doing this in the Haggadah of Passover. It is paraphrased there as