Комментарий к Шмот 3:8

AND I AM COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM. That is, “for I have revealed Myself in fire on this mountain.” This has the same meaning as in the verses: And the Eternal came down upon Mount Sinai;¹⁶³Further, 19:20. Because the Eternal descended upon it in fire.¹⁶⁴Ibid., Verse 18. It may be that [the expression come down has the same meaning here] as in the verse, I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me.¹⁶⁵Genesis 18:21. See Ramban there (Vol. I, p. 245) where he explains that the meaning is, “I will go down from the attribute of mercy to the attribute of justice.” Here the meaning would be: “and I am come down from attribute to attribute.” I have already explained its secret there.

וארד, to this bush in order to speak to you so as to save them from the Egyptians.

וארד להצילו...ולהעלותו מן הארץ ההיא אל ארץ, I revealed Myself to you in this manifestation only to acquaint you with the fact that I will save the Israelite nation and lead them out of Egypt, not in order to destroy Egypt.

וארד להצילו… ולהעלותו מן הארץ ההיא, "I shall descend in order to save…and to bring them out of this land, etc." The reason G'd speaks about His "descent" is that it is not really in keeping with the dignity of the supreme G'd to convey His instructions to a vile human being such as the Pharaoh who now oppressed the Jewish people. This was all the more so seeing that Pharaoh had the effrontery to exclaim "who is G'd that I should heed His words?" (5,2) G'd explained that He waived some of the honour due to Him in order to expedite the redemption of Israel. It is worthwhile to study the comment in the introduction to Eycha Rabbah section 14 on Proverbs 29,9: איש חכם נשפט את איש אויל ורגז ושחק ואין נחת. "If a wise man goes to Court with a fool there is no peace whether the fool rages or laughs." It is remarkable that Solomon uses the form נשפט instead of שפט. He means that getting involved in litigation with a known fool can only result in the so-called wise man becoming convicted. G'd had to mention that He was going to "descend" to show that despite the fact that it was inappropriate for Him to deal with Pharaoh, He would do so for the sake of Israel. The meaning of להצילו refers to the near-term cessation from their slave labour, whereas the expression ולהעלותו refers to the longer term objective of G'd's intervention.

אל ארץ טובה ורחבה, “to a good and spacious land.” G’d first praises the quality of the land, i.e. its climate which is healthy for its inhabitants, and secondly, that the land is spacious so that it can accommodate the entire nation without danger of the country becoming crowded. It is also possible that the meaning of the words ארץ רחבה is that the land contains wide expanses of both valleys and mountainous regions, and that though there are mountains, they do not cover most of its territory. The Torah comes back to describe the land as especially suitable for cattle and sheep raising, i.e. a land flowing with milk and honey. This also implies that the water supply in this land is ample and that it is of good quality, as otherwise it would not be ideal for raising sheep and cattle. Seeing that mountainous regions do not produce fat cattle, G’d assures Moses that the land is suitable to raise good cattle also.

וארד להצילו ...אל ארץ טובה, “I shall descend in order to save it....to a good land, etc.” What was the need for the Torah to lavish so many compliments on the stones and trees of the land of Canaan? Was it not enough for a people in the condition of abject slavery such as the Jewish people to be told that they would be redeemed and would become free? Would they not consider this a welcome message even if the land they would go to would be of inferior quality? The fact is that all the compliments in our verse apply to the Torah. Torah has been described as לקח טוב, “good” instruction; (Proverbs 4,2) it has been described as רחבה, “spacious” (Psalms 119,96). All the adjectives in this verse apply to Torah as if the Torah had written “to a land (Torah) which is good, spacious flowing with milk and honey” (compare Song of Songs 4,11).
The details of the land of Israel itself are described only commencing with the words: אל ארץ הכנעני, “to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, etc.” G’d’s message to the Israelites is that they would inherit the land of these nations as these people are not worthy of living in a country in which the Torah makes its home. Our commentary corresponds to what I have found in Bereshit Rabbah 16,7 on Genesis 2,12: “the gold of this land was good;” the Midrash says: “there is no Torah comparable to the Torah in the land of Israel and there is no wisdom comparable to the wisdom to be found in the land of Israel.” We may add that the words אל מקום הכנעני “to the place of the Canaanite,” instead of the usual “to the land of the Canaanite,” contain an additional message, i.e. that the Israelites would wipe out the present inhabitants of that land and inherit their land. They would not merely live there as residents as had their forefathers.

V. 8. Das Land ist טובה: es entspricht der beabsichtigten geistigen und sittlichen Entfaltung des Volkes, und es ist רהבה: geräumig, dass es sich darin auch numerisch entfalten kann. — זבת וגו׳. Es ist sehr eigentümlich, dass die Bezeichnung der Produktenfülle durch — זוב nur bei א׳׳י und sonst nie wieder in solcher Bedeutung vorkommt, bei dem jüdischen Lande aber der stete Ausdruck ist. זוב heißt im תנ׳׳ך nie: überfließen. Es kommt vorzugsweise nur zur Bezeichnung eines krankhaften Zustandes beim Menschen und sonst nur als ein durch eine Wundermacht — הכה צור ויזובו מים (Ps. 78, 20) — oder durch Gewalt bewirktes Ausfließen — שהם יזובו מדוקרים (Klagel. 4, 9). — vor, "erdolcht strömen sie ihr Blut aus". Alles zusammengenommen dürfte ארץ זכת ח׳ וד׳ wohl nicht ein Land bezeichnen, das seiner natürlichen Fruchtbarkeit nach diese Fülle entfaltet, sondern ein Land, das dies nur unter besonderen Bedingungen tut. Palästina ist ein hartes Land, הארצות האל. (Bereschit 26, 3). Wiederholt sahen wir es von Hungersnot heimgesucht, und auch, nachdem Israel es verlassen, liegt es öde. למטר השמים תשתה מים heißt es von ihm. Ein Land, das nicht wie Ägypten nur ohne weiteres von seinen Bewohnern auszubeutende, natürliche Bedingungen der Fruchtbarkeit bietet, sondern, "das nur unter einer steten, von Anfang des Jahres bis zum Ende des Jahres darauf gerichteten besonderen Gottesfürsorge" aufzublühen vermag. Wenn es Wasser hat, so blüht es üppig auf. Allein dieses Wasser erhält es nur von oben. Es ist ein Boden, der seine Bewohner nötigt, brav zu sein. Für ein hartes Volk, wie wir waren, gehört ein hartes Land. — אל מקום הכנעני. Die jetzigen Bewohner sind durch die darin genossene Üppigkeit entartet, und das Land speit sie aus. Nur freibleibend von allem kanaanitischen Unwesen wird Israel sich seine Fülle erhalten.

זבת חלב, “flowing with milk and honey.”

UNTO A GOOD AND LARGE LAND, UNTO A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY; UNTO THE PLACE OF THE CANAANITE, AND THE HITTITE, AND THE AMORITE, AND THE PERIZZITE, AND THE HIVITE, AND THE JEBUSITE. He mentions here six nations and omits the seventh.¹⁶⁶The Girgashite, mentioned among the seven nations that Israel was to inherit (Deuteronomy 7:1). Perhaps this was because his land was not flowing with milk and honey as were these [lands of the six nations mentioned]. Similarly, He mentions these six only in the verse, For Mine angel shall go before thee.¹⁶⁷Further, 23:23. And bring thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. It may be because He alluded here [to a future event], i.e., that they will conquer these six nations first, for it is these six nations who assembled to fight Joshua,¹⁶⁸So clearly stated in Joshua 9:1-2. and G-d gave them into his hand. Our Rabbis have said¹⁶⁹Yerushalmi Shebiith VI, 1. that the Girgashite arose and emigrated of his own accord. This is why he is not mentioned together with those destined for destruction, as it is said concerning them, and I will cut them off.¹⁶⁷Further, 23:23. And bring thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. I will discuss this matter further,¹⁷⁰Further, 23:25. with the help of G-d.
The sense of the expression, a land flowing with milk and honey, is that He first praised the land as a good land, meaning that its climate is good and beautiful for people and that all that is good is found in it, and as a large land, meaning that it will afford all Israel to be established in a broad place.¹⁷¹See Psalms 31:9. It may be that r’chavah (large) means spaciousness, referring to [the extensive lands of] the lowland, the valley and the plain, large and small, and is not confined mostly to mountains and valleys. He then began to praise the land as being a land for cattle, having good pasture and good water which cause the cattle to have abundant milk, for healthy and good cattle with abundant milk are to be found only where the climate is good, with plenty of vegetation and good water. But since these are found only in the marsh-lands,¹⁷²The Hebrew: ba’achu. See Ramban, Genesis 41:2 (Vol. I, p. 495) for his explanation of that term. while on the height of the mountains fruits are not very fat and good, He further states that this land is so fat that its fruits [all over] are fat and sweet, even to the extent that it all flows with the honey that comes from them. Thus He has praised the land for all its goodness of the Eternal, for the corn, and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd.¹⁷³Jeremiah 31:11. This is the meaning of the verse, It is the beauty of all lands.¹⁷⁴Ezekiel 20:6.
The reason that He said, unto the ‘place’ of the Canaanite, and not “unto the ‘land’ of the Canaanite” as He said in all other places,¹⁷⁵E.g., see further, 13:5. is to allude to the fact that they will inherit [the Canaanite, etc.], and will destroy them and settle in their places, and not dwell among them as their fathers had done.

זבת חלב ודבש, a land with much livestock and abundant food of good quality and of nourishing properties (honey). These terms are used in this sense in Proverbs 24,13 אכול בני דבש כי טוב ונפת מתוק. “My son, eat honey for it is good, and the honeycomb for it is sweet on your palate.”

אל מקום הכנעני, “to the area now inhabited by the Canaanites.” The reason that G’d did not describe that region as ארץ הכנעני, “the land of the Canaanite,” as is customary when referring to lands inhabited by different peoples, is a hint that the Canaanites will be uprooted and dispossessed. The Israelites would not share the land with the Canaanites but would live there instead of the Canaanites.

Seeing the time for the redemption was not yet at hand, there had to be an interval of at least 12 months between the time G'd spoke to Moses and the actual Exodus. Shemot Rabbah 9,12 debates whether the plagues usually lasted one week with three weeks warning or vice versa. At any rate, our sages seem agreed that the plagues extended over a considerable period. Why would G'd have deliberately delayed the redemption once He had embarked on the process? He could have given Pharaoh a single day's warning before each plague something that is certainly legal when a Jew is warned not to commit a transgression. In fact, Gentiles do not need to be warned specifically at all not to commit acts which they know to be criminal. We must assume, therefore, that G'd waited for a certain date to be able to justify the Exodus although He wanted to relieve the burden of the Jewish people in the interval.

To a good and spacious land. Hashem told Moshe that he should not think it would be preferable if He would give them the land of Egypt, for the land of Israel is good and spacious, whereas Egypt had a poor climate and sparse land for settlement. Furthermore, the land of Israel was a land flowing with milk and honey, a feature that Egypt did not have, for it was not suitable for grazing and the good fruits would not grow there. Also, the land of Israel was occupied at the time by the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, all of whom were liable for the punishment of being destroyed. Additionally, by bringing the Jews to the land of Israel Hashem would be keeping His oath to the Patriarchs.

הכנעני והחתי והאמורי והפריזי והחוי והיבוסי. Note that the “Girgashi,” another one of the Canaanite tribes inhabiting that region, is not mentioned here. The reason is either that their land may not have been as excellent, or that these people would emigrate rather than defend their land against the Israelites, being aware that the Jewish G’d Who had made good on His threats against Pharaoh would most likely also make good on the promises He had made to the Jewish people beginning with Avraham. Ibn Ezra writes that the reason why the Girgashi has not been mentioned here is that that tribe was relatively insignificant in terms of manpower and military might. He questions that seeing that six Canaanite tribes have been listed here by name, why did the Torah have to use the word הכנעני, “the Canaanite” altogether? We all know that these tribes form part of the Canaanite family of nations. He answers that the entire region was known as the “land of Canaan,” and it extends beyond the regions inhabited by the six tribes listed here, especially in the north.

In view of our premise that the principal purpose of the exile in Egypt was to salvage the souls which had been contaminated with the 50 levels of impurity at the time the forces of the קליפה "captured" some of the holy souls from Adam when the latter ate from the tree of knowledge (compare our comments on Genesis 49,9), we can understand that if G'd had redeemed the Israelites prematurely this would have aborted the plan to rescue all those lost souls. We have already explained that Moses himself was equated with the Jewish people inasmuch as Moses achieved the 49th level of בינה, intellectual insights, out of a possible total of 50 such levels. The reason that Moses never reached the ultimate level of בינה was that the achievement must parallel the effort expended on achieving the goal in question. Had the Israelites descended to the 50th level of impurity the effort at gaining the 50th level of insights would have been possible. Since Israel was never quite at the bottom of the spiritual levels, the effort to reach the top was of necessity a little less than total. Moses' achievements were directly related to the condition of the Jewish people whom he represented. We have been assured that in the future G'd Himself will influence us by means of the Torah so that we will be able to achieve the fiftieth level of בינה. We will be indebted to the cumulative exile experiences for that eventual achievement. The most important individual factor will be our present and final exile.

One of the reasons the generation of the first exile was not able to attain that level of insight was that they had not yet had the benefit of Torah. Once we shall reach that level of insight we will be able to recapture any holy souls still under the control of the forces of the קליפה, i.e. Satan. At any rate, had G'd led the Jewish people out of Egypt even a single day sooner than He did, the number of souls which had not yet been rescued would have been commensurably greater.