Comentários de Citação sobre Isaías 19:8

AND THE PEOPLE WERE ‘K’MITHON’NIM.’ Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that [the word k’mithon’nim is] “of the root aven (wickedness); similarly, the thoughts of ‘oneich’ (thy evil thoughts),¹⁴⁹Jeremiah 4:14. for they spoke words of wickedness.” But this is not correct, for why would Scripture have concealed their sin, and not stated [clearly what it was], as it does in all other places! The correct interpretation appears to me to be that as they got further away from Mount Sinai, which was near an inhabitable settlement, and entered the great and dreadful wilderness¹⁵⁰Deuteronomy 1:19. in their first journey, they became upset and said: “What shall we do? How shall we live in this wilderness? What shall we eat and what shall we drink? How shall we endure the trouble and the suffering, and when shall we come out of here?” The word k’mithon’nim is thus related to the expression, Wherefore doth a living man ‘yithonein’ (complain), a strong man because of his sins?¹⁵¹Lamentations 3:39. which is an expression indicating pain, and feeling sorry for oneself. Similarly, ben oni¹⁵²Genesis 35:18. means “the son of my sorrow; “‘v’anu hadayagim’ (and the fishers shall lament) and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn.¹⁵³Isaiah 19:8. Thus when Scripture states that they felt anxious and upset, it has thereby already mentioned and told [the nature of] their sin. It states that they were k’mithon’nim (‘as’ murmurers), meaning that they spoke in the bitterness of their soul as do people who suffer pain, and this was evil in the sight of the Eternal, since they should have followed Him with joyfnlness, and with gladness of heart by reason of the abundance of all good things¹⁵⁴Deuteronomy 28:47. which He gave them, but they behaved like people acting under duress and compulsion, murmuring and complaining about their condition. It is for this reason that He states with regard to the second [sin, or punishment], and the children of Israel also wept ‘again,’¹⁵⁵Verse 4. meaning that their first sin consisted of complaining about their lack of comforts in the wilderness, and now they again did a similar thing, and they did not receive correction¹⁵⁶Jeremiah 7:28. from the fire of G-d which devoured them.¹⁵⁷As stated in the verse before us.

תאניה ואניה Heaviness and sorrow. Comp. ואנו and they shall mourn (19:8). According to others, A waste place, the two words being derived from אנה where; the meaning of the phrase is, that only her place will be left.³Concerning the use of two different forms of the same word consecutively, see I. E. on 3:1, and note 1.

WE REMEMBER THE FISH WHICH WE WERE WONT TO EAT IN EGYPT FOR NOUGHT. According to the plain meaning of Scripture [the explanation of the verse is that] the Egyptian fishermen used to put them to work to bring in the fish that they caught in their trawls and nets, and they would give them some fish [to eat], as is the custom of those that spread nets [upon the waters].¹⁶⁰Isaiah 19:8. And cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic¹⁵⁹Verse 5. are very abundant in Egypt, for it is as a garden of herbs,¹⁶¹Deuteronomy 11:10. and when they dug for the Egyptians in gardens and in all manner of service in the field¹⁶²Exodus 1:14. they would eat the vegetables. Or perhaps the Israelites who were the king’s slaves doing his work would be supported by him with sparing bread and scant water,¹⁶³Isaiah 30:20. and they would be dispersed throughout the city and would enter the gardens and fields, and eat of the vegetables without leaving anything over, as the king’s servants do. And [in addition it is possible that] they would give them at the edge of the river [Nile] small fish from the king’s portion which have no market-price in Egypt, as I have explained in Seder V’eileh Shemoth.¹⁶⁴Exodus 1:1. The verse referred to is ibid., 11. This was the complaint of the children of Israel,¹⁵⁵Verse 4. not the complaint of the mixed multitude¹⁵⁵Verse 4. [who were originally not of the stock of Israel and were not enslaved in Egypt, therefore they could not say, We remember the fish, which we were wont to eat in Egypt for nought; but after the mixed multitude fell a lusting¹⁵⁵Verse 4. they all] complained to Moses and demanded of him, Give us flesh, that we may eat,¹⁶⁵Further, Verse 13. as Scripture mentions further on.