Комментарий о цитате к Йехезкэля 20:7

It is well known that fruits that are prematurely picked before they ripen will not be preserved and will quickly rot. Even those that ripen by means of artificial watering will not sweeten like those that ripen on their own, as Scripture states, “With the bounteous yield of the sun,” (Deut. 33:14) Similarly, because God, “Leaped over mountains and bounded over hills,” (Song 2:8) redeeming Israel before the allotted time, the Israelites were like prematurely gathered fruits. This was the cause of all the evils that happened afterwards. It was due to all the idolatry of Egypt which made Israel impure, as is stated in Scripture, “Cast away, every one of you, the detestable things of his eyes and do not defile yourselves with the fetishes of Egypt.” (Ezek. 20:7) As a result, they entered forty-ninth of the fifty gates of impurity. If God had not rushed to bring Israel out from Egypt, they might have entered the fiftieth gate and would never have escaped from Egypt. The impurity would have surrounded them on all sides and Israel would have become a strange people. It is possible this would have been caused by the sparks referred to earlier.
Regarding this, the Haggadah states that, “We, our children and our children’s children would have been subjugated in Egypt…” (Three generations) are mentioned since the compassion of a father for his children extends (for three generations),⁵⁶See Rashi on Exodus 22:2 and it doesn’t need to mention additional generations. The statement implies that all the continuing generations would have been subjugated to Pharaoh in Egypt.
Since God said to Abraham, “And afterwards they shall go out with great wealth,” they began counting (the subjugation), the four hundred years, from the birth of Isaac and not from the descent into Egypt as would have been fitting. It was through the haste of the Divine Presence and the haste of Israel that caused them to leave before the allotted time. If it had been possible for them to wait, evil would not have come upon them in the wilderness and afterwards in the land of Israel, and impurity would not have overwhelmed them. When God decrees greatness to a person and, even more so, to a nation, it is decreed for all generations. This was the great strength and the mighty hand that was necessary (so to speak) to bring us out of Egypt. It wasn’t that God had trouble redeeming Israel, for the other nations were nothing in comparison with God. All the inhabitants of the earth are non-existent (in comparison with God). While God is a righteous Judge, the Exodus had to take place before its allotted time which was against the judgment so that it took extra strength and a mighty hand (to redeem Israel). It was necessary to speak in defense of Israel, (Ex. 20:2) and find a way to establish God’s words forever. After all, if God had decreed, “They shall be afflicted and serve them four hundred years,” (Gen. 15:13) this must be so! That is why they began the count from the birth of Isaac. That is, God wanted Pharaoh to say, “Rise up and go out of my nation,” (Ex. 12:31) so that the accuser (Satan) could not make a claim. Despite this, the accuser still complained about the extra 190 missing years.⁵⁷This is a common theme in many of the other commentaries: how do we account for the four hundred years of slavery? If we account for slavery from the time that Jacob’s children went down to Egypt, then we are missing 190 years. And if we account for the years from the birth of Isaac then there is a lengthy period in which they were not enslaved. Rabbi Eliezer Nachman of Foa argues that we counted from the birth of Isaac but that the prosecutor still held us as guilty of evading 190 years of actual slavery. He was appeased with the promise that the years would be completed during Israel’s other exiles, as I have explained in the commentary on Parshat Lech Lecha in Sefer Goren Arnon.
(Ho’eel) Just as gathering fruit before it is ripe causes it to spoil, so, too, Israel was warned during this exile not to force the end-time to come. To bring about redemption prematurely might cause things to happen to us during that exile; it might cause us to go back into exile. And so Israel was warned, as Scripture states, “I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem…do not wake or arouse love until it please!”⁵⁸Song of Songs 2:7 It is not without significance that this commentary was published in 1641, shortly before Shabbatai Tzvi was pronounced the Messiah. There was a great deal of Messianic speculation during this period throughout the world among both Jews and Christians. No doubt the speculation at least influenced the rise of the infamous False Messiah. It is better for us to joyfully wait for the fruit to ripen so that it can be gathered in its time and then the messianic era will be established for all time.

והטהרו, “and become ritually clean!” The verse teaches us that sin itself is called ritual impurity. We have a similar verse in Ezekiel 20,7 where the prophet warns his compatriots ובגלולי מצרים אל תטמאו, “and do not defile yourselves by committing the kind of sins committed by the Egyptians.” On the other hand, anyone who abandons sin is described as ritually pure, as we know from Leviticus 16,30 מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה’ תטהרו, “you will become cleansed (ritually pure) from all your sins against G’d.” Another verse expressing a similar sentiment is found in Joshua 22,17 המעט לנו את עון פעור אשר לא הטהרנו ממנו, “is it perhaps not enough to have committed the sin of Pe-or from which we have not yet been cleansed (completely)?” King David also mentioned such a thought when he said (Psalms 51,9) “Remove my sin by means of hyssop until I am pure.” In verse 4 of the same psalm he said: ”wash me thoroughly of my iniquity so that I may be purified from my sin.”

The Glory replies: If you do not know, O fairest of women the cause of my removal and the delay of the End and desire to return with your children to your cities and to your place, go follow the tracks of the sheep—direct your children with goodly instruction—in rectitude, fear of heaven, and propriety, so that they might hold fast to My service and faith and follow the practice of the patriarchs and shepherds rather than the nations’ laws, which are vain and deceitful. So Ezekiel expounds: “Cast away, every one of you, the detestable things that you are drawn to, and do not defile yourselves with the fetishes of Egypt. I am the Lord your God …” [20:7]. “Walk in My statutes …” [20:19]. Daniel promised that throughout this lengthy period of exile, Israel would observe Torah and hold fast to their faith, as it is written: “The enlightened will shine like the radiance of the firmament and those who lead the multitudes to righteousness will be like the stars forever” [Dan. 12:3].

גם מתמול וגו׳ NEITHER FROM YESTERDAY [NOR FROM BEFORE YESTERDAY] — This teaches us that for an entire period of seven days God had been endeavouring to persuade Moses at the thornbush to go on his mission, for the terms מתמול and שלשום and מאז דברך imply three days, and the three-fold גם which is mentioned here point to three extensions of the period, making six in all, and therefore he had now reached the seventh day when he further said to him, (Exodus v. 13) “Send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send” — until God became angry with him (Exodus v. 14), and he accepted the mission (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 11:6, and Seder Olam ch. 5). All this reluctance was because he was unwilling to assume any dignity that would make him superior to his brother Aaron who was older than he and was also a prophet, as it is said (I Samuel 2:27) that the man of God spoke to Eli, the high-priest, in God’s name, “Surely I revealed myself unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt” — thy father means Aaron. Similary in : (Ezekiel 20:5, 7) “And I made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt … and I said unto them, “cast ye away every man the detestable things of his eyes”, and that prophecy was spoken to Aaron (Exodus Rabbah 3:16; and cf. ברייתא דל"ב מדות).

Hatred arouses quarrels Even a sin that was forgotten is remembered though additional iniquities. The final hatred comes and arouses them, for Ezekiel reproved Israel for the transgressions of Egypt (Ezek. 20:7), “And I said to them, ‘Every man shall cast away the abominations of his eyes, etc.’” How many (years was) this hatred hidden, that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not mention it to them until now, when they added transgressions to their sins.

Have I not repeatedly revealed Myself to your ancestor's family. From here [our Sages concluded] that Aharon prophesied in Egypt. What was the prophecy? It is stated, "and I said to them, 'Every man, cast away the detestable idols of his eyes, do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt.'"¹⁸Ibid., 20:7.