Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Isaias 21:13

a whole captivity—I.e, the captivity of Israel, that the captivity be complete, that no one should escape, for they would stand on the roads and seize those fleeing and deliver them. And so did the people of Tyre, and so to the four sides during the destruction of the Second Temple, as is delineated in the Aggadah of Ha’azinu (Sifre 322), Gaza from the south, Tyre from the north, Damascus from the east, the Arabs from the west, as it is stated: (Isaiah 21: 13) “The harsh prophecy concerning Arabia: In the forest in Arabia did you lodge, on the roads of your cousins.”

באשר הוא שם WHERE HE IS — According to the actions he is now doing shall he be judged and not according to what he may do in future. Because the ministering angels laid information against him, saying, “Master of the Universe, for him whose descendants will at one time kill your children with thirst will You provide a well?” He asked them, “What is he now, righteous or wicked?” They replied to him, “Righteous.” He said to them, “According to his present deeds will I judge him.” This is the meaning of what is written: “[For God hath heard the voice of the lad ] באשר הוא שם in that condition in which he now is” (Genesis Rabbah 53:14). Where did he (Ishmael) kill Israel with thirst? When Nebuchadnezzar carried them into exile — as it is said, (Isaiah 21:13, 14) “The burden upon Arabia … O ye caravans of Dedanites, unto him that is thirsty bring ye water! etc.” When they were bringing them near the Arabians the Israelites said to their captors, “We beg of you bring us to the children of our uncle, Ishmael, who will certainly show pity to us”, as it is said, “O ye caravans of the Dedanites (דדנים)”; read not דדנים but דודים, kinsmen. — These indeed came to them bringing them salted meat and fish and water-skins inflated with air. The Israelites believed that these were full of water and when they placed them in their mouths, after having opened them, the air entered their bodies and they died (Eichah Rabbah 2:4).

באשר הוא שם, at the very site where Hagar had thrown the boy. The message to Hagar was that at the very site where she thought that her so was going to die, there G’d heard his voice, his prayer. Our sages (Rosh Hashanah 16) derive from this wording that human beings are not judged by the Heavenly Court on the basis of what they might become guilty of in the future, but their judgment is based on their status at the time judgment is in progress. If someone is wicked at the time the Heavenly Court is in session, the fact that G’d foresees that he will (would) become righteous at some point in the future is not taken into consideration. Equally, if someone at the time when the Court is in session is deemed innocent, the fact that G’d foresees that he will become a great sinner is not used to influence his judgment at that time. There is an interesting aggadah, according to which the angels remonstrated with G’d at this time, challenging G’d’s mercy on the basis of the untold harm Ishmael’s descendants would visit upon G’d’s people, the Jews in the future. The angels referred specifically to the Ishmaelites denying Jews on the march into exile water to quench their thirst. (a reference to Isaiah 21,13-14) G’d silenced them by asking whether at this particular point in time Ishmael deserved to die. They had to admit that he did not. Hence G’d felt free to exercise His mercy and to let him live.

But they deceived me. E.g., the children of Yishmael, who came out toward the exiles when the[ir] captors were leading them on the road nearby, and pretended that they were compassionate toward them. They brought for them various kinds of salty foods and inflated skin flasks. They thought that they [contained] wine, so they ate and became thirsty and wished to drink; but when they untied the flasks with their teeth, the air entered their intestines and they died. This is what Scripture says, “in the forest in Arabia shall you lodge, etc. Bring water for the thirsty, the inhabitants of the land of Tema greeted the wanderer with their bread.”⁶⁵Yeshayahuu 21:13-14.