Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Isaias 44:13

Rabbi Eliezer HaModai says: He heard about the Giving of the Torah and came, as it says there, Do not approach a woman (Exodus 19:15), and Jethro thought to apply the same a fortiori argument that Moses expounded. He reasoned: If the Israelites, who only received the Torah temporarily, had to separate from their wives, how much more so Moses, with whom the Divine Presence speaks at all times, should be completely separated from his wife and not send for her again. Therefore, Jethro came and brought Moses his wife so that she could dwell with him, as the glory of man to dwell in a house (Isaiah 44:13), according to the law of Moses and Israel.

And the Levites were counted from one month old because that tribe was accustomed to being counted from the womb, as it is said about Jeremiah the priest Before you came out of the womb I sanctified you (Jeremiah 1:5). Therefore, it is necessary that in all the countings, the Israelites were never fewer than 600,000, excluding the Levites. Even though in the first counting they were 600,000 including the Levites, and there weren’t 28 camps in the lower realms corresponding to the seven clouds, nevertheless, the Holy One, blessed be He, had not yet come to rest His Divine Presence in the lower realms to make for Himself a permanent dwelling below. And now, on the first of Iyar, when 30 days create a legal presumption [chazakah] that His dwelling would be permanent, God came with all His holy ones to establish a dwelling in the lower realms as the beauty of a person to dwell in a house (Isaiah 44:13). From then on, He needed to count them to make known that they needed to be of this number in order to fill the 28 camps of 22,000 at that time when God established His permanent Divine Presence in the Tent of Meeting; therefore it says here in the Tent of Meeting. This is a precious interpretation that fits perfectly regarding the number of 600,000, about which most commentators have gone out to gather a sufficient explanation but have not found one.

On the first day of the second month in the second year. The significance of this date that is written here is explained in the Midrash Tanchuma (5): It is compared to a king who married a woman but did not write a ketubah [marriage contract] for her, etc. Later, he found a poor woman of good lineage and wrote her a ketubah with a specific date, etc. See the full text of the Midrash in Yalkut (684).
The author of this Midrash believes that the day of the Giving of the Torah was the day of betrothal, for the Holy One, blessed be He, betrothed Israel through this Torah. As it is written Moses commanded us the Torah, an inheritance [morasha] of the congregation of Jacob (Deuteronomy 33:4), and our Sages interpreted (Pesachim 49b) morasha as “me’orasa” [betrothed]. And know that it does not say “betrothed to the congregation of Jacob,” but rather “betrothed the congregation of Jacob,” meaning that the congregation of Jacob is betrothed to the Holy One, blessed be He, through the giving of the Torah, which is like a wedding ring, as it is written For your Maker is your husband (Isaiah 54:5).
And indeed we find that our Sages (Tanchuma Ki Tisa 16) compared the union of Israel with the Holy One, blessed be He, to the union of a bride with a groom at two times. The first is at the time of the Giving of the Torah, as it is said And He gave to Moses, when He had finished [k’chaloto] speaking with him (Exodus 31:18), written without the letter vav, implying that the Torah was given over like an adorned bride [kallah] with 24 books. The second is on the day of the dedication of the Tabernacle, as it is said And it came to pass on the day that Moses finished [kalot] setting up (Numbers 7:1). Rashi explained that on the day the Tabernacle was set up, Israel was delivered to the Holy One, blessed be He, like a bride to a groom. This teaches that the Giving of the Torah was the time of betrothal, and the day the Tabernacle was set up was the time of marriage, as the beauty of a man to dwell in a house (Isaiah 44:13), as understood from the language of “delivered,” meaning to a shared dwelling place. And in between was about 10 months, as it is said Let the maiden remain with us for days or 10 (Genesis 24:55), which means 10 months that are given to a virgin as time between betrothal and marriage to adorn herself with the 24 types of adornments mentioned in Isaiah (3:18-24).

And it encompassed. This is an expression of circling, similar to, “and with a compass, he circles it.”¹³Yeshayahu 44:13. Targum Yonasan translates them all, and he encircled.

He encircled a boundary (compas in French), an expression of (Isa. 44: 13), “and with a compass (ובמחוגה) he rounds it.” [He surrounded it with sand for the sand to be a circle for it. Does not appear in all editions.] The word חֹק denotes a perpetual boundary. The sea will not cross that circle until light and dark come to an end.

מעשה חרש אבן means THE WORK OF AN ARTIFICER IN STONES. This word חרש is in close connection (i. e. in the construct state) with the word that follows it and therefore it is punctuated with Patach in its last syllable. Similar is, (Isaiah 44:13) “The חָרַשׁ עצים stretcheth out a line” i. e. the worker in wood. So, also, (Isaiah 44:12) “the worker in (חָרַשׁ) iron maketh an axe.” All these examples of חָרַשׁ are in close connection with the words that follows them and are therefore punctuated with Patach.

circle Heb. חוג, the circle of the compass of the heavens, like (Isa. 44:13), “and with a compass (ובמחוגה) he rounds it,” compas in French