Comentários de Citação sobre II Samuel 13:20

And he called it Nechushton. A derogatory expression,³The additional “nun” to the word נחשת serves to belittle and mock the subject. See II Shmuel 13:20. as though to say, “Why is this necessary?⁴The copper serpent was not destroyed before now because it was incorrectly believed that one may not destroy any object that was made as a result of a Divine command. The serpent was originally made to encourage the Bnei Yisroel to pray to God after they were bitten by poisonous snakes. See Bamidbar 21:4-10 and Tosfos in Maseches Chulin 7a. It is also possible that they kept the copper serpent as a remembrance of the great miracle that occurred, just as they kept the jar of manna, in Shemos 16:33-35. It is nothing but a copper serpent.”⁵Alternatively, the Bnei Yisroel who were worshiping it called it the Nechushton.—Targum

is appalled Heb. ישתומם, an expression of daze and astonishment, like (Ezek. 3:15): “and I remained there overwhelmed (משמים) among them seven days.” Also (II Sam. 13:20): “and Tamar sat, overwhelmed (ושוממה).”

Keep me as the pupil (אישׁון) of the ball of the eye: – as a man guards the pupil of his eye – that is, the black part through which the light (passes). It is called the אישׁון (lit. little man), because the image of a man is seen in it; and the waw and nun mark the diminutive, because the image is diminutive; so also the ון of שׁבתון (sabbath keeping), with the idea of emphasising its holiness. So also, with the addition of yodh, אמינון in 2 Sam. 13:20. אישון is in the construct before בת, and (with it) forms one expression; בת (lit. daughter) is a substantive, (denoting) the eyeball through which the light (passes), while pupil is a descriptive term because the image of a man is seen in it.