Comentários de Citação sobre Gênesis 38:14

It seems that he mentioned “the women who assembled [tzav’ot]” because the women established many hosts [tzeva’ot] in Egypt, and they were saying, “We believe that the Egyptians did not rule over them, for their husbands were afflicted with hard labor that decreased fertility and procreation, so surely they became pregnant from the Egyptians.” Therefore, the women wanted to reveal their righteousness, because since they established many hosts, they needed to reveal their purity. They brought those mirrors through which they established those hosts in order to make from them the basin, as if to say, “Look and see, and test us in this matter, whether we established those hosts in purity or not,” because the basin was made to test them like suspected adulteresses [sotot]. And it says, who assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. But the Tent of Meeting had not yet been made, so the commentators explained that this refers to Moses’ tent, as explained by Ibn Ezra and Rabbeinu Bachya. But it seems to me that this all speaks of the modesty of the women, as it says Behold, in the tent (Genesis 18:9). Rashi explains, “She was modest.” Similarly, those hosts that they established assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, meaning in their own tents. And it mentions entrance because it is said of a prostitute, And she sat at the entrance of Einayim (Genesis 38:14). Therefore, it says of modesty, entrance of the tent. And it uses the term meeting [moed] because there they met together with their husbands who were in the fields all day, because the term moed refers to those who come from elsewhere to gather [lehitva’ed] in this place.

Overlaid with sapphires. Adorned and decorated with sapphires, an expression [as in], “וַתִּתְעַלָּף,”⁴⁸Bereishis 38:14. which the Targum renders, “and she adorned herself.”

The first problem the rabbis confront concerns the place where Tamar became pregnant. Petach Einayim is ostensibly merely the name of a place or a description of a place (meaning either crossroads¹⁸⁷See Rashi, Seforno, Rashbam et al. on Bereshit 38:14. or the entrance to two springs¹⁸⁸See Ibn Ezra on Bereshit 38:14.). The rabbis’ inquiry is stated in the Midrash, which essentially asks, “How come we’ve never heard of such a place?” as it is not mentioned anywhere else in Tanakh (Bereshit Rabba 85:7).¹⁸⁹Bereshit Rabba 85:7.

so that a copper bow is bent by my arms Heb. ונחתה, an expression of treading the bow, as (below 38:3): “Your arrows were driven (נחתו) into me.” Its radical [or its active voice] is נחת. When it is used in the passive voice, a dagesh comes and causes the “nun” to drop out. Hence נחתה is derived from ננחתה as (below 69:4): “My throat is dried (נחר),” derived from ננחר as (in Jer. 6:29): “The bellows is heated (נחר)”; נדף, rattling (in Lev. 26:36) is derived from ננדף ; “My eyes stream (נגרה)” (in Lam. 3:49), is like ננגרה ; “was given (נתנה)” (Gen. 38:14) is like ננתנה ; “they were smitten (נגף)” (II Sam. 10:15) is derived from ננגף. We cannot interpret it as being of the radical חתת, for then it would say נחתתה, as [it says] נעשתה, was done, from עשה ; נענתה, was answered, from ענה. Another explanation: and a copper bow is bent by my arms: חית is an expression of treading a bow, as (below 38:3): “Your arrows were driven (נחתו).” The “nun” is not of the radical but it is like נחלו “gave for inheritance” (in Jos. 14:1), and the copper bow was bent by my arms. Copper bows were hanging in David’s house. The kings of the nations would see them and say to each other, “Do you think that David has the strength to bend them? This is only to frighten us.” But he would hear [them] and bend the bows before them.