Comentários de Citação sobre Josué 10:1

The expression אדני simply means "my lord," and does not represent a name of G'd.

פרעה קצף על עבדיו, the word Pharaoh in Egyptian means “king.” All the Egyptian kings are known as “Pharaoh,” whereas the kings of the Philistines are known as “Avimelech” even as late as the time of King David when the latter pretended to be mentally disturbed (Psalms 34,1) The city of Jerusalem used to be known as “Tzedek,” as we know from Genesis 14,18 as well as Joshua 10,1) During the reign of David, compare Psalms 110,4, G’d refers to Jerusalem as such, seeing that Malki Tzedek is described as “King of Jerusalem. The kings of the nation Amalek were known as “Agag,” [not only the one mentioned in the Book of Samuel. Ed.] (Numbers 24,7, Samuel I 15,8) In our verse here Pharaoh is not the name of an individual but that of the title accorded the Egyptian head of state. The proof for this is simple. Who would dare to address the King by his first name or even by his family name instead of by his title? Certainly not a cup bearer or a recently released prisoner such as Joseph at the time! This is also why Joseph was renamed אברך, meaning אב למלך, “father of the king,” provider. The author of the book לקח טוב has also written in this vein.

ומלכי צדק מלך שלם, the word שלם is another word for ירושלים, and we find it referred to as such in Psalms 76,3 ויהי בשלם סכו, “Salem became His abode.” It was customary to give the title Malki Tzedek or Adoni Tzedek, to kings of Jerusalem in those days, just as the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh. Compare Joshua 10,1 where we find אדני צדק מלך ירושלים. Jerusalem traditionally represented the center of righteousness and peace. It is a place in which iniquity is less tolerated than anywhere else. This is why the Torah warned in Leviticus 18,28 that the Israelites should take care that the land not spew them out just as it had spewed out previous inhabitants because they had defiled it. The reason the Torah in Deuteronomy 31,16 uses the somewhat enigmatic expression אלוהי נכר הארץ, is that the kind of conduct by the people in that city that were spewed out, was a conduct that was irreconcilable (alien) with the very nature, spiritual climate, prevailing in, and being part of that holy city. The sons of Korach already recognised and extolled this spiritual climate of the very city when they said in Psalms 48,3 יפה נוף משוש כל הארץ הר ציון ירכתי צפון קרית מלך רב, “fair-crested, joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, summit of Tzafon, city of the great King.” In the Midrash quoted by Rashi, Malki Tzedek is identified as Shem, the son of Noach.