ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף איוב 21:18

A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Bamidbar 19: the words “count them according to their hosts,” are reminiscent of Isaiah 43,4: “because you are precious to Me, and honoured, and I love you, I have given men in exchange for you and peoples in your stead.” G’d said to Yaakov: “you are so precious in My eyes that I have engraved your facial features on My throne, and the angels praise Me by employing your name, saying: ‘blessed be the name of the G’d of Israel from one end of time to the ultimate end of time.’” The Midrash breaks down these compliments into its constituent parts. “You are precious to Me,” because although I did not bother to count any of the other nations I counted you, giving you an importance expressed in numbers.“ This can be better understood in terms of a parable. A king had many barns most of which were filled with straw and other relatively worthless matters. He did not bother to count the precise contents of each of these barns. He had one barn, however, which was filled with wheat. He told his manager: “count for me how many measures of wheat are stored in that barn.” The king in the parable is a metaphor for G’d; the wheat is a metaphor for the Jewish people. We have a verse in Isaiah 21,10 comparing the Jewish people to grain when the prophet exclaims: “My threshing, the product of My threshing floor.” The harvest the prophet speaks about are the Jewish people as Jeremiah 2,3 described the Jewish people as “Israel is sacred to G’d, it is the first of His harvest.” The “manager” mentioned in the parable is a metaphor for Moses, of whom G’d Himself said in Numbers 17,7 that in “My entire house he is trusted.” Similarly, the barns filled with straw in the parable are metaphors for the Gentile nations concerning whom we have been told in Job 21,18: (Job speaking about the wicked) “Let them become like straw in the wind, like chaff carried off by a storm.” we also have a verse in Ovadiah 18 expressing similar sentiments, i.e. “and the house of Esau shall be straw; they shall burn it and devour it.” The Jewish people by way of contrast are compared to wheat, are described as righteous as per Isaiah 60,21: “and Your people, all of them righteous, shall possess the land for all time; “ this is why G’d was so concerned with each one of them that He ordered each one to be counted.

Bahya further writes and also Toldot Yizhak. Why is the portion of Bamidbar, which talks about the number of Israelites, written near the portion of Behukotai, which talks about not exchanging a good animal for a bad animal for the sacrifices? This teaches us that He is the only one in all the worlds, and is never exchanged, as the verse says, “there is no holy one like the Lord, truly, there is none better besides You” [I Samuel, 2:2]. Similarly, the Holy One will not exchange Israel for any other nation. The Midrash writes. The Holy One said: to no nation have I given a number of how many of them there are. However, to you Israel, I have given a number of how many there are. It is a parable. A king has a barn full of straw. He does not count how much straw he has. Then he has another barn with wheat. He says to his chief assistant, count how much wheat is in the barn. This parable shows the king as the Holy One and the barn is His Israel, as the verse says, “My threshing, the product of my threshing floor” [Isaiah, 21:10]. That is, Israel is compared to a barn, and is compared to a holy grain, as the verse says, “Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of His harvest” [Jeremiah, 2:3]. The Holy One said to Moses Our Teacher, who is the overseer of the Holy One’s house, as the verse says, “he is trusted throughout My household” [Numbers, 12:7]. Moses counts how many Israelites there are. The nations of the world are compared to straw, as the verse says, “let them become like straw in the wind” [Job, 21:18]. They will be like straw in the wind.³Bahya, Numbers, 1:1; Toldot Yizhak, Numbers, 1:1–4.