Comentários de Citação sobre Números 9:18

אז ישיר משה THEN SANG MOSES — with regard to the usage of the future ישיר, the meaning is: THEN — i. e. when he saw the miracle it entered his mind that HE WOULD SING a song. Similar is, (Joshua 10:12) “Then Joshua would speak (אז ידבר)”; and similar, (1 Kings 7:8) “and a house he would make (יעשה) for Pharaoh’s daughter”, which signifies “he purposed in his heart that he would make it for her”. So, also, ישיר here signifies: his heart told him that he should sing, and thus did he actually do, as it states, “and they (Moses and Israel) spake as follows, ‘I will sing unto the Lord’”. And in the same way, in the case of Joshua, it means: then (או) — when he saw the miracle mentioned in that narrative — his heart told him (prompted him) to speak, and thus did he actually do, as it is stated, “and he spake before the eyes of all Israel”. The same applies to the Song of the Well (Numbers 21:17) which begins with the words: אז ישיר ישראל, “then would Israel sing”; it expresses the intention quite plainly in the following words, “Come up, O Well — sing ye unto it” (i. e. these words are a call to the people to sing to it after Israel had expressed their intention so to do and are not part of the song itself which begins with the words that follow). With regard to (1 Kings 11:7) אז יבנה שלמה במה our Rabbis explained that He proposed to build a high place for Chemosh but actually did not build it (Sanhedrin 91b). This, too, teaches us that the י as a prefix of the imperfect is used in reference to intention to do a thing. This explanation serves to settle the literal meaning of the text. But so far as its Midrashic explanation is concerned our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said: from here (i. e. from the fact that the future tense is used) we may derive an intimation that the tenet of the Resurrection of the Dead is from the Torah (is alluded to, although only by inference, in the Torah) (Sanhedrin 91b). And thus, also, do they explain in the case of all them (all of the examples quoted) except in the case of that referring to Solomon which they explained in the sense that he purposed to build a high place but did not build it. — One cannot say that this can be appropriately explained in the same way as one explains other passages which are written in the future tense, but which really refer to an immediate action (i. e. to a then present time); for example, (Job. 1:5) “Thus was Job doing (יעשה)”; (Numbers 9:18) “At the command of the Lord were they encamping (יחנו)”; (Numbers 9:20) “And there were occasions when the cloud was (יהיה) upon the tabernacle”, because these were each of them something that was continuously happening, and there is proper to it either the future tense or the past tense (cf. Rashi on Genesis 29:3). But this (אז ישיר and other passages quoted) which happened only at the particular moment mentioned (once and once only), one cannot fittingly explain in this sense (i. e. of continuous action).

DWELL IN THE LAND WHICH I SHALL TELL THEE OF. It is incomprehensible that G-d should tell Isaac at one time, Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of, [and in the following verse continue], Sojourn in this land,¹²²Verse 3 here. [and in both cases be referring to the same land]. Instead, its explanation is as follows: “Go not down into Egypt, and dwell all your days in the land which I shall tell you from time to time. At the bidding of G-d you should move, and at the bidding of G-d you should encamp,¹²³See Numbers 9:18. and right now, sojourn in this land, the land of the Philistines, for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give it, even as it is written, Counted to the Canaanites are the five lords of the Philistines.”¹²⁴Joshua 13:3.
It is possible that [the event referred to in the beginning of the verse], And the Lord appeared unto him, and said … dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of, happened earlier so that before Isaac left his place it was said to him, “Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of when you will be there. Now dwell in this land, the land of Canaan, which will comprise many peoples and many lands, for I now command that you should not leave it forever for all these lands will I give to thy seed.” Following this command, Isaac journeyed from his place because of the famine to go into all the lands of Canaan, to dwell in the land which He would tell him. And when he came to Gerar, He said to him, “Dwell here.” It was not necessary however for Scripture to detail this for it is known that Isaac would not transgress the command of G-d.¹²⁵Therefore, when Scripture wrote that Isaac was given the charge, Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of, he left his place and went searching within the land of Canaan for a new home. When he finally reached Gerar he was told, Sojourn in this land. Thus Ramban explains that there was a lapse of [[illegible]] Verses 2 and 3. The original difficulty which Ramban mentions at the beginning of his comments on this verse is thus removed. A similar case of interpretation appears in the verse, Upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of,¹²⁶Above, 22:2. as I mentioned there.

The second question is understanding their views: And that is that there is no doubt that the elders of Israel and their leaders made this request, and the cause of their request was because the sons of Samuel sought graft, took bribes, and distorted justice. So if they were disgusted with this, how could it be thought that they would seek a king who would act according to his will and not humble himself and submit himself to the laws of the Torah and its commandments? As they would be choosing something more evil than what they had with the sons of Samuel. Could it be thought that people would choose a king or leader and they would say that he can do whatever he wants and not keep the righteous precepts and laws? Behold, the thinker (Aristotle) mentioned in Politics that there are two [types of] leaders, one who fears sin and one who is a criminal taskmaster. The definition of one who fears sin is only one who leads by the will of those led and according to the law. And the criminal taskmaster is only one who leads them by force and according to his will. So how could the intellect of people accept that wise and intelligent people would seek a leader, officer, ruler, or king who would lead them in an evil way and flee from the ways of justice? And if it happens that many times criminal kings called tyrants are found, they would surely [become like] this when they are already entrenched in their monarchy, not that they would be installed for that purpose! And this is part of what indicates that God forbid that the elders of Israel would request a king unless he would lead with righteousness, justice, and correctness and submit himself to the Torah of God, may He be blessed, which has righteous statutes and laws. And [even] if [the Jews] were installing a king that would not submit to the laws of the Torah, they would have installed him on their own, and they would not have come to the prophet Samuel to remove the yoke of Torah and the commandments from upon their necks, since the prophet would not actively install [such] a man as king in such conditions. And would he himself transgress the Torah and install [such] a man in contradiction to what God, may He be blessed, had commanded? The third question is if the installation of a king of the first type was a fine thing and a divine commandment, why did Joshua not install one in his days or at the time of his death? And why did the other judges and the Jewish people not install one in their days? And why did they not [even] arouse themselves to it? And even now, the Jewish people only requested it from the combination of two causes, and these were the elderliness of Samuel and the evil of his sons. But behold, if it were a commandment, it would have been proper to request a king without [these reasons]. So, without a doubt, this opinion — with all of the elegance found in it — is not true. And we should [also] not say that the Jewish people sinned by that which they said, "Place a king upon us," whereas it would have been fit to say, "Ask the Lord that He should give us a king," as I also have found among the Christian sages. For since they did not install him as a king on their own, and they came before the prophet Samuel to ask him, it is known that they would rest according to the word of the Lord and they would go according to the word of the Lord [alluding to Numbers 9:18], and that they only [meant for Samuel to] give us a king according to his prophecy from God. Behold, I have hence mentioned six opinions in this teaching, yet all of them are carried away by the wind from the contradictions against them that I have raised.