Комментарий о цитате к Ирмеяу 27:1

בראשית ברא IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED — This verse calls aloud for explanation in the manner that our Rabbis explained it: God created the world for the sake of the Torah which is called (Proverbs 8:22) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) way”, and for the sake of Israel who are called (Jeremiah 2:3) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) increase’’. If, however, you wish to explain it in its plain sense, explain it thus: At the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth when the earth was without form and void and there was darkness, God said, “Let there be light”. The text does not intend to point out the order of the acts of Creation — to state that these (heaven and earth) were created first; for if it intended to point this out, it should have written 'בראשונה ברא את השמים וגו “At first God created etc.” And for this reason: Because, wherever the word ראשית occurs in Scripture, it is in the construct state. E. g., (Jeremiah 26:1) “In the beginning of (בראשית) the reign of Jehoiakim”; (Genesis 10:10) “The beginning of (ראשית) his kingdom”; (Deuteronomy 18:4) “The first fruit of (ראשית) thy corn.” Similarly here you must translate בראשית ברא אלהים as though it read בראשית ברוא, at the beginning of God’s creating. A similar grammatical construction (of a noun in construct followed by a verb) is: (Hosea 1:2) תחלת דבר ה' בהושע, which is as much as to say, “At the beginning of God’s speaking through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea.” Should you, however, insist that it does actually intend to point out that these (heaven and earth) were created first, and that the meaning is, “At the beginning of everything He created these, admitting therefore that the word בראשית is in the construct state and explaining the omission of a word signifying “everything” by saying that you have texts which are elliptical, omitting a word, as for example (Job 3:10) “Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb” where it does not explicitly explain who it was that closed the womb; and (Isaiah 8:4) “He shall take away the spoil of Samaria” without explaining who shall take it away; and (Amos 6:12) “Doth he plough with oxen," and it does not explicitly state, “Doth a man plough with oxen”; (Isaiah 46:10) “Declaring from the beginning the end,” and it does not explicitly state, “Declaring from the beginning of a thing the end of a thing’ — if it is so (that you assert that this verse intends to point out that heaven and earth were created first), you should be astonished at yourself, because as a matter of fact the waters were created before heaven and earth, for, lo, it is written, (v. 2) “The Spirit of God was hovering on the face of the waters,” and Scripture had not yet disclosed when the creation of the waters took place — consequently you must learn from this that the creation of the waters preceded that of the earth. And a further proof that the heavens and earth were not the first thing created is that the heavens were created from fire (אש) and water (מים), from which it follows that fire and water were in existence before the heavens. Therefore you must admit that the text teaches nothing about the earlier or later sequence of the acts of Creation.

[Daniel 1:1] Bi-shnat (בִּשְׁנַת - In the... year): We find it written that Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years [II Kings 23:36; II Chronicles 36:5]. If so, what is the meaning of “in the third year of his reign”?! Now, concerning ["these are the sons of Josiah," I Chronicles 3:15] it is written that he left four sons: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. And we find that when Josiah died, his son reigned. Some of our Sages, of blessed memory, said that this Jehoahaz [who reigned first, II Kings 23:31] is Johanan. But behold, he reigned only three months [II Kings 23:31]. Then his brother Jehoiakim reigned after him, and he [Jehoiakim] was twenty-five years old [II Kings 23:36]. Now, he [Jehoahaz, who was 23, II Kings 23:31] was younger than Jehoiakim. So how could Scripture call [Johanan, identified by the Sages with Jehoahaz] the firstborn?! Therefore, they said [it means] "firstborn for kingship" [i.e., the first to be chosen to reign]. And [based on this line of reasoning] they were forced to say that Shallum is Zedekiah, because Jeremiah's prophecy concerning Shallum [Jeremiah 22:11-12] is adjacent to his prophecy concerning Zedekiah [Jeremiah 23:5-6]. Furthermore, [they argued this] because no one reigned over Israel after Zedekiah, and for Scripture to list a fourth [son, Shallum] merely as a name without substance [i.e., without significance] would be a strange way [of writing]. Now, understand that [contrary to those Sages] Jehoahaz is Shallum. And Johanan did not reign. And do not be astonished that Shallum is called by two names, for behold, Solomon is Qohelet [Ecclesiastes 1:1], and the sons of Samuel [were listed as] Vashni and Abijah [I Chronicles 6:13], yet elsewhere it is written that [the firstborn] was Joel [I Samuel 8:2]; and ʿAmminadav is Izhar [cf. I Chronicles 6:7, I Chronicles 6:23, based on certain lineage interpretations]; and Uriel is Zephaniah [cf. I Chronicles 6:9, I Chronicles 15:5, I Chronicles 15:11]; and many others like these. And in the Torah, Zerah is Zohar [Genesis 46:10 vs. Numbers 26:13 / Exodus 6:15 - different spellings for Simeon's son]. And the proof that Shallum is Jehoahaz is that when the father [Josiah] died, Jehoiakim was 25 years old [II Kings 23:36], Zedekiah, who was the third [son listed in I Chronicles 3:15], was 24 (sic) years old, and Shallum was 23 years old [II Kings 23:31, giving Jehoahaz's age]. And [consistent with the people choosing the younger son first], it is written: “And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father Josiah” [II Kings 23:30]. And a second proof that Shallum is Jehoahaz is that it is written that Pharaoh Neco took him [Jehoahaz] after he had reigned three months, brought him to Egypt, and he died there [II Kings 23:31-34]. And it is written in Jeremiah concerning Shallum: “he who went forth from this place shall never return, but shall die in the place where they carried him captive” [Jeremiah 22:11-12]. And do not be puzzled regarding what is written earlier [in Jeremiah 22, where prophecies about earlier kings seemingly placed after mentions of Zedekiah, e.g., Jeremiah 21:1]. For the beginning of the section is: “For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah...” [Jeremiah 22:6]. [Jeremiah] recounts what the Lord had told him before Zedekiah reigned. And behold, he recounts what he prophesied concerning Jehoahaz (who is Shallum) after they had taken him to Egypt, and [also recounts prophecies] starting from “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness...” [Jeremiah 22:13] concerning Jehoiakim. And there it is written [Jeremiah 22:24] that afterwards he prophesied concerning Jehoiachin (Coniah), for so it is written there [“As I live... though Coniah...”]. And all three of these reigned before Zedekiah. And in the book of Ezekiel, where he said: “Take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel” [Ezekiel 19:1], who died [i.e., whose dynasty ended] and none of their sons remained as king. He begins with Jehoahaz, who is Shallum, saying: “And they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt” [Ezekiel 19:4]. And the [second] young lion [Ezekiel 19:5] is Jehoiakim, whom the king of Egypt made king. [Concerning him, Ezekiel says,] “They put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Babylon” [Ezekiel 19:9]. And similarly, it is written in Chronicles: “[Nebuchadnezzar] bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon” [II Chronicles 36:6]. And afterwards, he [Ezekiel] laments concerning Jehoiachin [symbolized by the vine]: “...her strong stem was consumed by fire” [Ezekiel 19:12]. And after that, he laments concerning Zedekiah: “Fire went out from the branch of its shoots, devoured its fruit, so that there remained in it no strong stem, no scepter to rule” [Ezekiel 19:14]. And behold, it has been clarified that they took Jehoiakim to Babylon. And let it not be difficult in your eyes because it says “to carry him to Babylon” [II Chronicles 36:6] and does not say “and they carried him,” for behold, it is written concerning Zedekiah in Jeremiah: “and bound him in fetters to bring him to Babylon” [Jeremiah 39:7], and elsewhere it is written: “bound him in fetters and brought him to Babylon” [II Kings 25:7]. [Thus, Ibn Ezra argues, "to bring/carry" implies the action was completed]. And behold, it is written in Daniel: “In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar... came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it” [Daniel 1:1]. “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them (va-yvi'em - וַיְבִיאֵם) to the land of Shinar...” [Daniel 1:2]. Now the meaning is: He brought Jehoiakim and the vessels to his [Nebuchadnezzar's] god's house... And afterwards it says: “and the vessels he brought into the treasure house of his god” [Daniel 1:2]. Linguistically, it is not plausible to interpret “and he brought them” (va-yvi'em) [in the first instance] as referring only to the vessels, because [if it meant only vessels, the specific mention later would be redundant; the repetition implies] the first "them" included Jehoiakim, since it [also] specifically states “and the vessels he brought...”. And it is written in Chronicles: “He bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon; and Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon” [II Chronicles 36:6-7]. And Jeremiah prophesies concerning Jehoiakim: “He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem” [Jeremiah 22:19]. Therefore, the one who says that the “third year of Jehoiakim's reign” (whom Pharaoh had made king) refers to the third year of his rebellion [against Nebuchadnezzar, which happened later] is mistaken. And therefore, I needed to explain [as follows]: That “in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim” (whom Pharaoh had made king), Nebuchadnezzar came against him and besieged Jerusalem, and captured it at the beginning of the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar [cf. Jeremiah 25:1], for so it is written. And behold, he [Nebuchadnezzar] took him [Jehoiakim] toward Babylon, and he [Jehoiakim] remained in fetters for about a year. Then Nebuchadnezzar commanded, and Jehoiakim returned to his kingship. “And Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him” [II Kings 24:1]. And Nebuchadnezzar or his troops came to Jerusalem, killed Jehoiakim, and dragged him outside the gates of Jerusalem. And his corpse was cast out and not buried, just as Jeremiah had prophesied [Jeremiah 22:19, Jeremiah 36:30]. And do not be puzzled by [the phrase]: “So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers” [II Kings 24:6], for behold, it is [also] written [regarding Moses]: “Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers” [Deuteronomy 31:16], yet they [his fathers] died [in Canaan or Egypt], and he [Moses] died [in Moab, outside the land]. [The phrase simply means 'died', according to Ibn Ezra]. And behold, his son Jehoiachin reigned three months [II Kings 24:8]. And Nebuchadnezzar captured him in the eighth year of his [Nebuchadnezzar's] reign [II Kings 24:12]. This was the eleventh year [since the start] of Jehoiakim['s reign]. And Zedekiah reigned eleven years [II Kings 24:18]. And [the end of his reign/destruction] was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar [II Kings 25:8]. And behold, [around the time of the end of Jehoiakim's reign and] the three months [of Jehoiachin], Jehoiakim was killed and his son Jehoiachin went into exile. And do not be puzzled because you find it written [regarding an exile in] “in the seventh year” of Nebuchadnezzar [Jeremiah 52:28, contrasting with the 8th year in Kings for Jehoiachin's exile], and similarly concerning Zedekiah, [an exile is mentioned in] the eighteenth year [Jeremiah 52:29], whereas [the final destruction was in] the nineteenth year [II Kings 25:8]. For in the counting of [regnal years of] kings, both methods [accession year vs. non-accession year counting] exist. Do we not know that Jeroboam and Rehoboam began reigning in the same month? And behold, it is written that Rehoboam reigned 17 years [I Kings 14:21]. And Abijah his son reigned after him in the 18th year of Jeroboam [I Kings 15:1]. [This works, Ibn Ezra implies, if counting methods differed, e.g., if Rehoboam's partial first year was counted as year 1 (non-accession), and Jeroboam's wasn't (accession), leading to an apparent one-year shift]. And behold, I will explain this to you: One calculation [system] reckons from the Exodus from Egypt starting from Nisan [as the new year for kings], or for the creation of the world from Tishrei [as the general new year]. And [sometimes] a single day in a year is counted as a [full] year. [One method, non-accession] counts from the day the king began to reign until the completion of his [first calendar] year [which counts as year 1, even if short], [while another method, accession] starts counting year 1 from the next New Year. Therefore, the 18th year can [effectively correspond to] the 19th, depending on the counting method. And an analogy: [Consider a child] born on Friday before sunset in this city, which is Rûdôm (?), during the Tammuz season [summer solstice] when the day is fully 16 hours long. Behold, the son is circumcised on the morning of the following Friday, which is the eighth day according to the Torah's calculation [Leviticus 12:3], even though it is [only just over] seven full 24-hour periods later and lacks [about] 16 hours [from being a full eight times 24 hours]. [This illustrates how part of a day/year counts as a whole unit for the calculation]. And do not be puzzled because you find in Ezekiel [Ezekiel 19:9, concerning Jehoiakim, the second lion]: “They put him in a cage... that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel,” for Nebuchadnezzar's servants intended this [permanent removal], even though [according to Ibn Ezra's reconstruction] he returned briefly. And the meaning of “Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar?” [Jeremiah 22:15] that Jeremiah asked Jehoiakim, is that the prophecy concerning him means: Do you think your kingship will endure because you compete in [building luxurious palaces with] cedar? And now the difficult question remains: I have already mentioned that Zedekiah was 24 years old when his father died. Therefore, at the time of Jehoiakim's death and Jehoiachin's exile [approx. 11 years later], he would have been 35 years old (24 + 11 = 35). Yet it is written: “Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign” [II Kings 24:18; II Chronicles 36:11]! And this calculation [can be resolved if we understand] that he was called 'king' [or recognized as such by some] when he was 21 years old, [an event that happened earlier than his final accession]. The proof is what is written in Jeremiah: “In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah,” the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah to make bonds and yokes and send them “to the king of Edom, the king of Moab... by the hand of the messengers who had come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah” [Jeremiah 27:1-3]. For these [foreign] kings heard that Josiah had been killed, and they thought that Zedekiah, who was made king (or: who became designated as king) when he was 21 years old, would reign after him [Josiah, perhaps seen as the legitimate Davidic heir, despite Jehoiakim being installed by Egypt]. And there is no counter-argument from the [brief] reign of Jehoahaz, because the 'people of the land' made him king, and [the foreign kings] did not heed him (or perhaps: his brief reign was not widely known or considered stable), for he reigned only three months. [So, Ibn Ezra concludes, the reference to Zedekiah being 21 when he began to reign refers to this earlier point when he gained some recognition, likely around the 3rd/4th year of Jehoiakim, reconciling Jeremiah 27 with Kings/Chronicles]. There remains something [else] in the passage [of Jeremiah 27-28] to explain: namely, “And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke...” [Jeremiah 27:12]. Now, Jeremiah relates this matter of the yokes to Zedekiah at the time of his [main] reign after Jehoiachin's exile, and told him: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon...” [Jeremiah 27:12]. And there it is written [in the next chapter]: “And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year...” [Jeremiah 28:1]. [This presents a sequence issue: yokes made under Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 27:1), message delivered to Zedekiah later (Jeremiah 27:12), yoke broken in Zedekiah's 4th year (Jeremiah 28:1)]. And the meaning of “in the fourth year” [in Jeremiah 28:1, Ibn Ezra suggests] relates to when Jehoiakim rebelled against the king of Babylon [which was after 3 years of service, hence in his 4th year of vassalage, connecting Jeremiah 28 to the timing of Jeremiah 27]. And there is one [possible] harmonization: that Jeremiah prepared the yokes in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, but [delivered the message and] sent them [symbolically] in the first year of Zedekiah's reign. However, there is no [strong textual] basis for this harmonization. And there was a great commentator in Spain, who explained books with grammatical precision, and he explained [Jeremiah 27:1, reading 'Zedekiah' where the text has 'Jehoiakim'] and said: that 'Zedekiah' [should be read] instead of 'Jehoiakim'. And similarly he said [interpreting allegorically or emending text]: 'And after Absalom, he did not turn aside' [I Kings 2:28] means 'for he is Solomon'; and 'And it was on the seventh day' means 'which is the fourth [day]'; and 'Set bounds around the mountain' [Exodus 19:12] means 'which is the people'. And similarly [he interpreted] many words, about two hundred of them. And the wind carries them all away! For how is it possible in language that a person says one word and intends another?! One who says such things is considered among the insane! And I have already refuted all of them [these types of interpretations, perhaps elsewhere]. And it is better for him [such a commentator] to say 'I do not know,' than to overturn the words of the living God.

IN THE BEGINNING G-D CREATED. Rashi wrote: “This verse calls aloud for elucidation,¹⁹The difficulties in the verse are: (a) The word bereshith (in the beginning) appears throughout the Bible in a construct form such as: In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 27:1). But here it cannot be in construct form since such a form can be used only in connection with a noun, and the word bara (He created) is a verb. (b) Again, it cannot be said that here bereshith is actually in a construct form and that a missing noun is implied, thus making the sense of the verse, “in the beginning of all, G—d created…,” for if so, the following difficulty presents itself: since Scripture, according to this interpretation, sets out to tell us the order in which things were created, why does it say in Verse 2 And the spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters when it has not yet told us when water was created? Hence Rashi turns to a Midrashic interpretation in which the word reshith is another name for the Torah and Israel. The word bereshith is thus not in a construct form but stands by itself, and the sense conveyed is: “For the sake of that which is reshith [Torah and Israel] G-d created.” as our Rabbis have explained it:²⁰Bereshith Rabbah 1:6; Tanchuma (Buber) Bereshith 3. “For the sake of Torah which is called reshith, as it is said, The Eternal made me as ‘reshith’ (the beginning) of His way,²¹Proverbs 8:22. and for the sake of Israel who is called reshith, as it is said, Israel is the Eternal’s hallowed portion, the ‘reshith’ (first-fruits) of His increase.”²²Jeremiah 2:3.
This Midrash of our Rabbis is very hidden and secret for there are many things the Rabbis found that are called reshith and concerning which they give Midrashic interpretations, and those wanting in faith count their multitude. For example, they [the Rabbis] have said:²³Bereshith Rabbah 1:6. “For the merit acquired by [fulfilling the commandments associated with] three things has the world been created: for the merit of the Dough-offering, for the merit of Tithes and for the merit of the First-fruits. In the beginning G-d created. Reshith surely signifies the Dough-offering, as it is said, The first of your dough.²⁴Numbers 15:20. Reshith surely signifies the Tithes, as it is said, The first of thy corn.²⁵Deuteronomy 18:4. Reshith surely signifies the First-fruits, as it is said, The first-fruits of thy land.”²⁶Exodus 23:19.
The Rabbis have further said:²³Bereshith Rabbah 1:6. “For the merit acquired by Moses [the world has been created], as it is said, And he chose a first part for himself.”²⁷Deuteronomy 33:21. Reference here is to Moses who took the territory of Kings Sihon and Og as he knew that his grave was to be therein. (See Rashi, ibid.) It was thus for the sake of this meritorious person, of whom reshith was said, that the world was created.
Their intent in the above texts is as follows: the word bereshith alludes to the creation of the world by Ten Emanations, and hints in particular to the emanation called Wisdom, in which is the foundation of everything, even as it says, The Eternal hath founded the earth by wisdom.²⁸Proverbs 3:19. This is the Heave-offering [referred to in the Midrash mentioned above], and it is holy; it has no precise measure,²⁹By law of the Torah, the Heave-offering given to the priest has no fixed measure; the owner may give according to his discretion. “Even one grain frees the whole mound” (Kiddushin 58 b). Similarly, our conception of Divine wisdom is infinitesimal in relation to its true scope. thus indicating the little understanding created beings have of it. Now just as a man counts ten measures — this alludes to the Ten Emanations — and sets aside one measure of the ten as a Tithe, so do the wise men contemplate the tenth Emanation and speak about it. The Dough-offering, which is the single commandment pertaining to the dough, alludes to this. Now Israel, which is called reshith as mentioned above, is “the congregation of Israel,” which is compared in the Song of Songs to a bride and whom Scripture in turn calls “daughter,” “sister” and “mother.” The Rabbis have already expressed this in a homiletic interpretation of the verse, Upon the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him,³⁰Song of Songs 3:11. and in other places. Similarly, the verse concerning Moses, And he chose a first part for himself,²⁷Deuteronomy 33:21. Reference here is to Moses who took the territory of Kings Sihon and Og as he knew that his grave was to be therein. (See Rashi, ibid.) It was thus for the sake of this meritorious person, of whom reshith was said, that the world was created. which they [the Rabbis in the above Midrash] interpret to mean that Moses our teacher contemplated [the Deity] through a lucid speculum,³¹So clearly stated in Yebamoth 49b. and he saw that which is called reshith (the first) for himself, and therefore he merited the Torah. Thus all the above Midrashim have one meaning. Now it is impossible to discuss this explanation at length in writing, and even an allusion is dangerous since people might have thoughts concerning it which are untrue. But I have mentioned this [i.e., the above brief explanation] in order to close the mouths of those wanting in faith and of little wisdom, who scoff at the words of our Rabbis.