Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Kawikaan 31:7

ארמי אובד אבי, “An Aramean tried to destroy my father;” the reference is to Lavan who chased after Yaakov and his family intending to kill them all. Ibn Ezra writes that the ארמי described here was Yaakov himself, so that the meaning of the verse would be: “when my forefather Yaakov arrived in Aram he was penniless, on the brink of death.” The word אובד only appears in an intransitive mode, so that it cannot mean that Lavan tries to kill him. Furthermore, the word appears in the context of someone being close to death Proverbs 31,6: תנו שכר לאובד ויין למרי נפש, “give liquor to the one who is about to perish or wine to the embittered.” Verse 7 in that same chapter of Proverbs is proof of that meaning, as Solomon continues with: ישתה וישכח רישו ועמלו לא יזכר עוד, “so that he may forget his poverty, and will no longer remember his suffering.” The meaning of the whole recital by the farmer is: “I did not inherit my wealth from my father who was extremely poor when he came to Aram, and subsequently my forbears were strangers and slaves in Egypt, few in numbers; afterwards my fortunes improved when Hashem redeemed us from slavery and brought us to this wonderful land from the produce of which I bring the first ripe fruit as a symbol of my gratitude.” Do not try to argue that an Israelite cannot be called a “Aramean;” we know both from Samuel II 17,25, and Chronicles I 2,17 that Avraham, Ishmael, who were refugees from Aram at one time are still referred to as Arameans on occasion.

lost is an intransitive verb. If the Aramean referred to Lavan, then the verb would be in the transitive hif‘il or pi‘el form. Besides, what sense is there to say, “Lavan tried to destroy my forefather, and he went down to Egypt”? Lavan never considered going down to Egypt! The plausible interpretation is that the Aramean refers to Yaaqov, as if Scripture had said, “When my forefather was in Aramea, he was lost” — meaning, he was a pauper, without property. Compare, “give strong drink to him who is lost” [Proverbs 31: 6], where it is immediately followed by, “let him drink, and forget his poverty” [Proverbs 31: 7]. Thus the lost Aramean was my forefather. The intent of this passage is: I did not inherit this land from my forefather, for he was a pauper when he came to Aramea, and he was a stranger in Egypt, where he was few in number. Afterwards, he became a great nation; and you, God , brought us out of slavery, and gave us the good land. Do not object to Yaaqov’s being called an Aramean, since similar apellations can be found. Consider “Yeter the Ishmaelite” [I Chronicles 2: 17], even though he was really an Israelite (for so it is written [II Samuel 17: 25]).

AND JUDAH, WENT UP UNTO HIS SHEEP-SHEARERS. He would go there continually to console himself after his wife’s death so that he may turn his attention to the sheep and forget his poverty.¹⁷⁰Proverbs 31:7. [and remember his trouble no more.] Now when it was told to Tamar that he goes up there daily without fail, she waited for him on one of those days. It may be that since Judah was prominent in the land, people would assemble there to make a feast at the time of the shearing, similar to a royal feast, and the poor would go there, and it was told to her before he went up there.