Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Daniel 10:8

And I will return to the understanding of this seventh principle and I will say that the prophecy of Moshe, our teacher - peace be upon him - is distinct from the prophecy of all [other] prophets in four ways: The first one is that any prophet that existed was only spoken to by God, may He be blessed, through an intermediary. And Moshe was without an intermediary, as it states, "Mouth to mouth will I speak to him." And the second matter is that any [other] prophet would not get prophecy except when he was sleeping - as it is stated in many places, "in a dream at night," "in an apparition at night" and many like this - or during the day after falling into a trance in such a way that all of his feelings disappear from him and his [faculty of] thought becomes [fully] available, like in the matter of a dream. And this matter is called an apparition or a vision and about it, it is stated, "the vision of God." And the [divine] speech would come to Moshe during the day and he would be standing between the two cherubs (of the Tabernacle), as God, may He be blessed, testified about it, "And I will meet you there" (Exodus 25:22). And God, may He be blessed, said (Numbers 12:6-8), "if you will have prophecies, etc. Not so is my servant, Moshe [...] Mouth to mouth I will speak to him, etc." And the third matter is that when a prophecy comes to [another] prophet - even though it is in a vision and through an angel - his powers weaken and his frame shrinks and a very great fear comes upon him; [so much so] that his spirit almost leaves him, as it is stated in Daniel 10:8-16, when [the angel,] Gavriel spoke with him, he said, "and there remained no strength in me and my expression changed upon me to destruction and I retained no strength," and he said, "and I was asleep on my face and my face was to the ground," and he said, "my pains have turned upon me." But Moshe, peace be upon him - was not like this; since the [Divine] word would come upon him and fear and trembling would not come upon him in any way; as it is stated (Exodus 33:11), "And the Lord would speak to Moshe, face to face, as a man would speak to his fellow"; which is to say, just like the speech of his friend does not cause trembling to a person, so [too] was Moshe - peace be upon him - that he would not tremble from the [Divine] word, and even though he was face to face. And this is because of the strength of his intellect's cleaving [to God], as we have mentioned.

AND G-D HAPPENED TO MEET BALAAM AND HE SAID UNTO HIM. The meaning [of this verse] is that when an occurrence happened to Balaam in the nature of those experiences which occur to men of Ruach Hakodesh⁶⁴Literally, “The Holy Spirit.” See Rambam in Moreh Nebuchim II, 45, at the paragraph beginning: “the second degree of prophecy.” See also above, Seder Korach, Note 71 and Ramban ibid. when dwelling alone and a spirit passed before his face that made the hair of his flesh to stand up,¹¹⁸Job 4:15. fear came upon him, and trembling, and all his bones were made to shake,¹¹⁹Ibid., Verse 14. and his vigor turned into weakness¹²⁰Daniel 10:8. and he fell upon his face to the ground — and then Balaam said, I have prepared the seven altars,¹⁰⁹Verse 4. this being by way of prayer, as I have explained.¹²¹Above in Verse 1. But G-d did not hearken to him and his intention, but told him: Thus shalt thou speak.¹²²Verse 5.

אם את הדבר הזה תעשה וצוך השם, "if you will do this thing and the Lord will command you, etc." Why did Yitro add the rider about G'd commanding Moses to accept his suggestion? If Yitro wanted for Moses to consult with G'd about the matter, he had already done so in verse 19 when he said: "I will give you an advice and G'd will be with you." Why did he have to repeat himself? Perhaps Yitro was afraid of Moses arguing that after all was said and done he would forfeit the opportunity to perform the commandments of teaching the people G'd's commandments and that it was not the way of the righteous to look for ways to ease their burdens even if they would tire from shouldering them. After all, man was born in order to carry burdens (Job 5,7). In order to forestall such an argument, Yitro said: "and if the Lord will command you." Yitro was not unaware of the physical strength required to be a prophet. We have a description of how Daniel found himself physically weak in the presence of an angel (Daniel 10,8). Imagine how much weaker he would have been had he faced G'd as Moses did on an almost daily basis. Our sages in Nedarim 38 state that the spirit of prophecy rests only on people who are physically superior, of heroic dimensions. Moses had refined his body so that he did not experience weakness even when he had a gruelling day of sitting in judgment. Nonetheless he was only a human being with all that this implies. Yitro told him therefore that he should forego this particular commandment which was capable of fulfilment by others in order to be able to fulfil his task as a prophet in the best manner possible. When Yitro said: "if you do this thing and G'd commands you, you will be able to endure," he meant that if Moses accepted his advice he would be able to endure as a prophet, i.e. when G'd would communicate with him and teach him other commandments because you have husbanded your strength. When Yitro said ויכלת עמוד, you will be able to stand, he meant that Moses would retain sufficient strength to receive G'd's communications while remaining standing on his feet. We have proof that this is what occurred in Exodus 34,2 where G'd tells Moses: "stand with Me there on top of the Mountain," and in Deut. 5,28 where G'd invited Moses: "stand here with Me." Yitro was afraid that unless Moses reduced his present workload this would undermine his physical ability to carry out his prophetic duties to the full.