Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Deuteronomio 27:17

And Cain spoke to Abel his brother. The Torah does not specify what he said to him, and it appears to me that this “speaking” [amirah] is similar to the usage in all workers of iniquity boast themselves (Psalms 94:4), which is an expression of boasting, and similarly you have exalted God (Deuteronomy 27:17). The meaning is that Cain boasted to him saying, “The world and its fullness belong to me, and the ground upon which you stand is mine.” Immediately thereafter, he rose up against him over matters concerning the field and killed him. But above I explained that “matters of the field” was that he said to him, “When you are in the field, a place where people are not commonly found, you never initiate any action on your own, for this sacrifice that you brought — you saw it from me and then did likewise.” According to this interpretation, the meaning of And Cain spoke is that Cain boasted, saying “I am better than you because I sacrificed first, and from me the act of sacrifice extended to you.” This is why it specifically says to Abel his brother, because he was saying “I was the cause for your actions, for if you hadn’t seen me sacrifice, you wouldn’t have sacrificed anything at all.”

ועמק השדים, “and the valley of Siddim, etc.” Some commentators derive the word שדים from סיד, lime, quoting ושדת אותם בשיד, as their proof, where it means to smear the stones with white lime. (Deut. 27,2) Accordingly, the region was full of depressions in which people dug for lime. The lime would be burned afterwards. Rashi quotes a Midrash, according to which, most people had refused to believe that Avraham had miraculously survived having been thrown into Nimrod’s furnace. When they witnessed the King of Sodom miraculously surviving falling into a lime pit, they changed their mind and retroactively gave credence to the miracle which had saved Avraham. Nachmanides is amazed at the very Midrash, as he cannot understand why people who failed to believe that a miracle had happened to Avraham should believe that a miracle had happened for the King of Sodom. Why would the G’d of heaven perform a miracle for an idolater such as the King of Sodom? On the contrary, if the King of Sodom could survive his fall into the lime pit, Avraham’s surviving the furnace was now far more plausible, but not in the framework of a miracle. The people who doubted the miracle of the furnace, ascribing it to magic, would most certainly also describe the King of Sodom’s escape as due to magic. It is more likely that seeing the King of Sodom’s escape made even the people who had believed that Avraham escaped by means of a miracle have second thoughts, and they now believed that Avraham had also benefited by magic. Another possibility could be that these commentators understand he words ויצא מלך סדום לקראתו in verse 17 to mean that the King of Sodom emerged from that lime pit at the time when Avraham passed by, i.e. that a miracle was performed for him at that time which resulted in his being saved so that he was able to honour Avraham and bless him, or that Avraham on his return from the successful battle wanted to restore their property to the five Kings, and when passing that neighbourhood, [seeing that his battle had been fought far to the north of there, Ed.] the miracle of the King of Sodom’s rescue then occurred by means of his intervention. When people observed that Avraham could perform such a miracle, they became convinced that a man such a Avraham had been saved miraculously from Nimrod’s furnace. It is quite possible that the King of Gomorrha had already died, so that we hear no more about him, or that he had fallen into a different pit, one that Avraham did not pass.

“The Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.” In Tractate Berachot (6), they interpreted the verse You have declared the Lord today (Deuteronomy 27:17). You have made Me a unique treasure in the world, as it is said (Deuteronomy 6:4), Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And the Lord has declared you, etc. (Deuteronomy 27:18), to make you a unique treasure in the world, as it is said (1 Chronicles 17:21), And who is like Your people Israel, one nation in the earth. This is what is meant by The Lord alone did lead him — meaning that He made Israel a unique treasure in the world, for He led them alone, as it is written (Numbers 23:9), Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone. And alone refers to Israel, whom He separated from the nations to be one people dedicated to Him, blessed be He. They alone are separate, not the other nations. But this is conditional on there was no strange god with him — with Israel — meaning that they would make Him, blessed be He, a unique treasure in the world. Then God has made the one as well as the other (Ecclesiastes 7:14).