וּבְנֵ֥י אֶפְרַ֖יִם שׁוּתָ֑לַח וּבֶ֤רֶד בְּנוֹ֙ וְתַ֣חַת בְּנ֔וֹ וְאֶלְעָדָ֥ה בְנ֖וֹ וְתַ֥חַת בְּנֽוֹ׃
At ang mga anak ni Efraim: si Sutela, at ang anak niya ay si Bered, at ang anak niya ay si Tahat, at ang anak niya ay si Elada, at ang anak niya ay si Tahat,
Chizkuni
בראותם מלחמה “when they would see they would be involved in war;” The Philistines would attack them, thinking that the Israelites were approaching in order avenge the 30000 men of Ephrayim they had killed 30 years previously when these people having miscalculated the time when their redemption was due had taken matters into their own hands and had marched out of Egypt in order to recapture their homeland. Their miscalculation had been that they thought the 400 years mentioned at the covenant of the pieces in Genesis 15,13 had commenced then and not at the birth of Yitzchok. Actually, the 430 years mentioned in Exodus 12,40 had commenced then, (although Rash’bam has trouble accounting for this). According to Yonatan ben Uzziel this may have been what Pharaoh had counted on. A grandson of Avimelch attacked the members of Ephrayim. According to Chronicles I 7,20, the battle with the Philistines occurred at Gat. According to some scholars the members of the tribe of Ephrayim killed during that battle were the “dried bones” resurrected by the prophet Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 37) כי קרוב הוא, “for he was very close to him;” according to some scholars Pharaoh and Avimelech of the Philistines were politically very close to one another, and Pharaoh counted on the Philistines to bring the Israelites back to him. He also counted on the promise of Avraham to Avimelech valid for 4 generations hence not to engage in hostilities against him. Actually, a grandson of the Avimelech with whom Avraham, had concluded a non aggression pact, a pact that his son Yitzchok had renewed, was still alive when the Israelites left Egypt. Avraham’s descendants did not engage in warfare with the Philistines for seven generations. (Moses was the seventh generation from Avraham). All these considerations prompted G-d not to lead the Israelites on the shortest route to the Holy Land. [Besides, if G-d meant for them to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai, this would have been quite impossible, and G-d had told Moses already at the burning bush that one of the reasons why He redeemed them earlier than expected was that they would receive the Torah at that site. Ed.] Our author also quotes the liturgist who in his poem makes reference to these points. For all the reasons quoted, G-d ensured that the Israelites did not take the route that had proven so tragic for the members of the tribe of Ephrayim some thirty years earlier.