Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Awit ng mga Awit 1:5

And the meaning of "And she spoke (Va't'daber)": (With the Hebrew letter beit) - And the meaning of the Hebrew phrase for “and she spoke” with the preposition “of” (the Hebrew letter beit): In a deceitful? manner such as “And the people spoke against God” (Bamidbar 11:5). It is found both as praise and in a prophet’s manner of speaking. There are those who say that Moshes ruled over Ethiopia (the land of Kush) and married the Kushite (woman). Targum Onkelos says that she was beautiful and it was the language of respect just as the Ishmaelites call tar ‘white stuff (ha-lavan)’, so we call the blind person, ‘full of light’ (a euphemism). And thus it isn’t clear whether it is called a word that is meant to be praise that they turned into criticism. Meanwhile, there are those who say that the son of Kish (קיש) the Benjamite was Saul and thus from here on out, [I will translate the word] as the people of Kush (the Kushites). This is already its plain meaning. Thus the correct interpretation in my eyes is that this Kushite was Tzipporah for she was a Midianite and Midianites are Ishmaelites. (These peoples) live in tents (See Habbakuk 3:7: "The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling. The earth quaked.) and because of the heat of the sun, they have no whiteness among them. Tzipporah was dark and looked like a Kushite.

More precious than wisdom and honor is bearing a little burden — one who inclines their shoulder to bear the burden of God’s word. Indeed, it is but a small matter that gives us life, for although God’s commandments are broader than the sea, they are actually easy to perform, as God has not placed upon us a heavy burden. God asks but a small thing from us: to fear Him and walk modestly with Him, that we may live as we do today. Nevertheless, Israel does not distinguish between the light and the heavy, My people do not understand the difference between future and past, between the simple and the wise. They cast off the yoke of Heaven’s kingdom, preferring lawlessness. This is a generation that seeks love in pleasures, and the burden upon their shoulders is to seek greatness for themselves, as each attacks their fellow, and God’s face has divided them. None seek or search [for Him], as each person turns to their own profit. Therefore, they were exiled without knowledge. For God said, Lest the people regret when they see that God fights with them face to face and they return in repentance. So He gave them into the hands of plunderers, cutting down Israel’s pride like an asherah tree. He saw their distress when they returned to God, and they cried out saying, Restore us, God of our salvation, for we have sinned against You! Swiftly He would relent from the evil and send His word to heal them. But when Israel saw that there was relief, they became hard of hearing, turning backward, and God too turned away from them. Indeed, God does all these things two or three times with an arrogant person who will not settle in His holy dwelling. He casts them to another land, taking their flesh and their covering, leaving them stripped of all success. Israel became very poor, growing increasingly impoverished throughout this present exile, for their days there grew long, saying “Perhaps after all this, someone might be found who will repent of the evil, and God too will turn from His fierce anger.” And those who walked in darkness like the tents of Kedar will become like the curtains of Solomon (Song of Songs 1:5).

The reason the Torah added the word ובזרעך, was that Jacob's descendants too were to confer blessings on the whole of mankind. As long as the Temple stood the seventy nations of the world enjoyed G'd's blessings because the Israelites offered sacrifices on the festival of Sukkot on their behalf (Sukkah 55). Even while the Jewish people are in exile the continued existence of the other nations is due to the Jewish people as we know from Song of Songs 1,5: "when my mother's children were angry at me they appointed me keeper of the vineyards (of the idols)." [The "mother" is mother earth in this context. Ed.]