Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Hukom 4:7

ויהי בשלח...ולא נחם אלוקים דרך ארץ פלשתים, even though it had been G’d’s plan to lead the Israelites to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah there, and only from there to the land of Israel, as He stated Himself in Exodus 6,7-8 :”I will take you as My people, and I will bring you to the land, etc.,” at this point, G’d’s plan was to lead them to the Sea of Reeds, which was neither the route to the land of the Philistines, nor the route that led to Mount Sinai. [we must remember that Moses had stood at Chorev=Mt Sinai at the burning bush and he did not have to cross the sea to do this. Ed.] The major reason for this was to bring about the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in the sea. [it is important to always remember that due to man’s free will, G’d cannot deal with man in the way He deals with inert objects or even animals, none of which could oppose Him. G’d needs to create a scenario which gives man a chance to delude himself, thus bringing him to act in a manner enabling G’d to insure that His design will be carried out. Ed.] An example of G’d acting in this manner is described in Judges 4,7 where G’d Himself speaks about how He “dragged” Sisera and his army and 900 armoured vehicles across the river Kishon to face Barak. The simplest route to get to the Sea of Reeds was by traversing the land of the Philistines. דרך ארץ פלשתים, G’d did not want them to travel this route

משכו וקחו לכם, “draw forth or purchase for yourselves.” A Midrash writes that “as a result of your drawing forth the lamb to perform My commandment, I (G’d) in turn will draw forth your enemies to the Sea of Reeds and drown them therein. The same merit will also result (eventually) in My drowning the army of Siserah in the river Kishon by drawing them forth to their destruction.” (Judges 4,7). An alternate approach: Seeing that the descent of your forefathers to Egypt was set in motion by משיכה, i.e. (Genesis 37,28) “they (the Midianites) drew forth and pulled up Joseph from the pit” and it has been said concerning them (Isaiah 5,18) “ah, those who haul sins with cords of falsehood,” the punishment when it comes was described by using the same verb, i.e. (Isaiah, Nechemyah 9,30) ותמשוך עליהם שנים רבות....ותתנם ביד עמי הארצות, “You dragged on within them (bore with them) for many years.....so You delivered them into the hands of the peoples of the land.” On the one hand, Israel has been called עם ממושך וממורט, “a people thrust forth and away” when they are sinful, (Isaiah 18,2) whereas when they return in penitence they are described as משכני אחריך נרוצה, ”draw me after You, let us run” (Song of Songs 1,4). We find the verb משך applied to the Jewish people also in Hoseah 11,4: בחבלי אדם אמשכם בעבותות אהבה, “I drew them with human ties, with cords of love.”

משכו, “draw out!” The meaning is to include as many members of the family into participating in the eating of one lamb so that there would be no leftovers. We find the root משך used in this context in Judges 4,7, where Devorah tells Barak that she will arrange that as many warriors as possible will be pulled together to the river Kishon, so as to present a good target for his attack. [Barak was to swoop down from Mount Tabor. Siserah’s chariots would be useless in the river. Ed.] The Torah repeats the instruction to slaughter the lamb, because it had to tell us about the bunch of hyssop that was to be dipped in the blood and smeared on the doorposts of the houses and the lintels. Also it had to tell us because of the end of the verse where the people inside the houses are warned not even to step outside until morning.