ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף תהילים 106:18

AND THEY ALSO, THE MAGICIANS OF EGYPT, DID IN LIKE MANNER ‘B’LAHATEIHEM’ (WITH THEIR SECRET ARTS). Our Rabbis have said¹¹²Sanhedrin 67b. that these are deeds of sorcerers who perform their arts through angels of destruction,¹¹³A term found in Kiddushin 72 a, and designating a supernatural being holding destructive power. the word b’lahateihem being derived from the expressions: eish loheit (flaming fire);¹¹⁴Psalms 104:4. the flame ‘t’laheit’ (burned up) the wicked.¹¹⁵Ibid., 106:18. The purport [of the saying of the Sages] is that these deeds of sorcery are done by means of “the flaming ones,” angels of a fire that burns in man, and he does not know that the fire burns in him and pays no attention to it. It is similar in sense to the expression, “And the Eternal opened the eyes of the young man of Elisha, and behold there were horses of fire and chariots of fire.”¹¹⁶The verse, II Kings 6:17, reads: And the Eternal opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Perhaps these are identical with the angels that dwell in the atmosphere of the spheres of the [four] elements,¹¹⁷The four elements — fire, air, earth and water — are the basic components of all created things that are beneath the firmament, which is below the lunar sphere. See Rambam, Hilchoth Yesodei Hatorah 3:11 and 4:1. which are called sarim (lords).¹¹⁸See my Hebrew commentary, p. 310, that it is possible there is another reading here. Instead of sarim (lords), the word should be sheidim (demons). The first reading seems to be more correct here. I will explain this theme again [in the Book of Leviticus 17:7] with the help of the Rock.
But the word b’lateihem, [mentioned further in 8:3 — And the magicians did in like manner ‘b’lateihem’] — is explained [by the Rabbis] as meaning sheidim (demons) — the word being derived from the Hebrew word lat (secret): Speak with David ‘balat’ (secretly) — since the demons come quietly inasmuch as they are ethereal bodies whose presence is not felt. This is why Scripture states [in Verse 11 before us] that Pharaoh called for the wise men and the sorcerers, for the wise men who knew [the art of] incanting and assembling the demons were the leaders and elders of the Egyptians.
The term chartumei mitzrayim (the magicians of Egypt) includes both of them, [i.e., the wise men and the sorcerers]. We do not know the root of the word chartumei. Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says that it is either an Egyptian or Chaldean word since we find it only mentioned in their accounts.¹¹⁹Here, and in the Book of Daniel 2:2, and other places there. The more likely explanation is that of Rashi, who said¹²⁰Rashi’s interpretation is found in Genesis 41:8. that it is an Aramaic compound-word: char tami (those who excite themselves by means of the bones [of the dead]). It is known that the greater part of this craft is one with the bones of dead persons or the bones of animals, just as they mentioned in the case of the yid’oni.¹²¹Leviticus 19:31. “The yid’oni takes the bone of a bird [or a beast] called yido’a, puts it into his mouth, burns incense, recites certain prayers, performs a certain ritual until he is in a condition akin to fainting, and falls into a trance in which he predicts the future” (Maimonides,”The Commandments,” Vol. II, p. 10).

!תנו לנו בשר, “give us meat!” Their request was inappropriate, seeing that one of the qualities of the manna was that it assumed the taste of whatever the person consuming it wished it to taste like. We know this from Psalms 106,15: ויתן להם שאלתם, בשר., “He gave them whatever they had asked for.” The people had meat from sheep and oxen, as they had taken herds with them from Egypt, as stated Exodus 12,38: “and a mixed multitude went up with them, as well as very much livestock, both flocks and herds.” If you were to say that they had consumed all these herds and flocks in the desert, we have a verse in Numbers 32,1 according to which the tribes of Reuven and Gad had a surfeit of flocks and cattle. Seeing that this was so prompted Rabbi Shmuel to state that what they really lusted for were the women that had now become forbidden for them as wives, (sexual partners) since these laws had been promulgated. If they were described as lusting for “meat,” this shows how they saw in marital unions primarily the element of sexual unions. (Compare Talmud, tractate Yuma folio 75, as well as Bamidbar Rabbah 15, section 24). The Midrash there quotes Psalms 78,27: וימטר עליהם כעפר שאר, וכחול ימים עוף כנף, “He made it rain upon them meat like dust, winged birds like the sands of the sea. Whenever the word שאר appears in the Torah, it is a euphemism for the sexual aspect of marriage, as we know from Leviticus 18,6: איש איש אל כך שאר בשרו לא תקרבו לגלות ערוה, “none of you must approach sexually any kin of his,” The Midrash reinforces its interpretation by pointing out that the Torah, apparently gratuitously, added that the people cried למשפחותם, “on account of their families,” i.e. family members now out of bounds for them for the purpose of sexual union. (Compare Talmud, tractate Shabbat folio 130). It was this that caused Hashem’s anger in verse 10, and Moses” displeasure. At that time Moses said to Hashem that up until that time he had the seventy elders who had been appointed already when he made ready to ascend Mount Sinai for the first time, as we know from Exodus 24,9, where Nadav and Avihu had been named as his assistants as well as seventy unnamed elders. Now, he said, there was no one left that he could call on to assist him. This is why he exclaimed: “I alone am unable to continue to carry this burden!” Nonetheless we are bound to ask what had happened to the seventy elders mentioned in Exodus chapter 24. We must conclude that they had been amongst the people who had been described as murmurers in verse one of our chapter where many people had died by heavenly fire as stated. We had read there in verse four that not only the mixed multitude of Egyptians who had joined the bandwagon of the Jewish people at the Exodus, but also בני ישראל, always an expression describing the elite of the Jewish people, had been included amongst those who had died then. There is a dispute amongst the sages if the people there described as אספסף, had been part of the mixed multitude or had been these seventy elders. According to one view the expression בקצה המחנה, normally translated as “at the outer edge of the camp,” had in fact been the elders whom at this point the Torah referred to euphemistically. Actually, they had been guilty of death by heavenly fire already from the event described in Exodus chapter 24. They too had been guilty of disrespect when experiencing a vision of the Divine glory, not only Nadav and Avihu, who had been named there. (Exodus 24,11) At the time, i.e. the revelation at Mount Sinai and the joyful atmosphere prevailing then, G–d did not wish to disturb these festivities by killing them. We find an allusion to this episode in Psalms 106,18: ותבער אש בעדתם, “fire consumed their congregation.” The expression עדה, “congregation,” is always reserved for describing the highest court of seventy. Compare Numbers15,24: ואם מעיני העדה נעשתה לשגגה, “and if an error was committed because the true situation had been hidden from the eyes of the עדה, i.e. the highest court, Sanhedrin. (Compare Bamidbar Rabbah 15,24)

AND THE ANGEL OF G-D JOURNEYED. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that the angel of G-d is the great prince [Michael],⁵⁴See Daniel 12:1. who went in the cloud. It is to him that Scripture refers when it said, And the Eternal went before them.⁵⁵Above, 13:21. See there towards the end, where Ramban mentions this explanation of Ibn Ezra, i.e., that the meaning thereof is that the angel of the Eternal went before them. When this angel, who went before the camp of Israel, journeyed and went behind them, the pillar of cloud journeyed with him. And there was the cloud and the darkness⁵⁶Verse 20. between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, but it gave light by night⁵⁶Verse 20. through the pillar of fire to Israel, as it did on other nights, in order to enable them to traverse the sea, for it was at night that they traversed it.
In my opinion, that which Scripture says, And the angel of G-d journeyed, occurred at the beginning of the night. The angel of G-d, who went before the camp of Israel alludes to the Celestial Court of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is known as the attribute of justice, [which is called]⁵⁷So clearly rendered by Rabbeinu Bachya (Vol. II, p. 115, in my edition). “angel” in certain places of Scripture. It was he who dwelled in the pillar of fire and went before them by night to give them light. Therefore Scripture here mentions [not the Tetragrammaton, which indicates the attribute of mercy, but] ha’Elokim (G-d), [the name which denotes the attribute of justice]. It is possible that [the word malach (angel)] is not in a construct state [meaning “the angel of”] but instead is in apposition.
Now I have seen in the Mechilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai:⁵⁸The standard Mechilta, a Tannaitic commentary of the Book of Exodus, is that of Rabbi Ishmael. There is another Mechilta, that of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, to which Ramban refers here. To distinguish it from the other, standard, work, Ramban therefore specifies it by name. For another example, see Vol. I, p. 603. The quotation mentioned here appears in Hoffman’s edition of that work on p. 49. The essence of this particular Midrash is also found here in Rashi. “Rabbi Yonathan the son of Yochai asked Rabbi Shimon the son of Yochai, ‘Why is it that in all places it is written, the angel of the Eternal,⁵⁹E.g., Genesis 16:7 and above, 3:2. and here it is written, the angel of ‘Elokim’ (G-d)?’ Rabbi Shimon answered him, ‘Elokim everywhere denotes “Judge” [literally: judgment], etc.’”⁶⁰“The verse thus teaches us that Israel at that moment was arraigned in judgment, i.e., whether to be saved or to be destroyed with the Egyptians” (Mechilta quoted, and also mentioned in Rashi here). The Rabbis thus alluded to that which we have said.
Thus [the angel] now journeyed in the pillar of fire from before the camp of Israel and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud from before them also journeyed and stood behind them. Thus the two pillars were behind the camp of Israel. Scripture then reverts [in Verse 20] to explain that the pillar of cloud came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, that is to say, the pillar of cloud did not intervene between the pillar of fire and the camp of Israel, but rather it interposed between the camp of Egypt and the pillar of fire.⁶¹Thus the order was as follows: First came the camp of Israel, followed by the pillar of fire. After that was the pillar of cloud, followed by the camp of Egypt. The two pillars thus intervened between the two camps (Bachya). And there was the cloud and the darkness between the two camps, with the pillar of fire giving light to Israel, even though it was behind them, because it was high, [thus illuminating the way for them to pass through the sea, as explained above.] The pillar of cloud did not obstruct the illumination from reaching them as it did to the Egyptians. This is the meaning of the verse, and it gave light by night, since the pillar of fire illuminated the night for them.
This was not as on all other nights, when its function was to lead them the way,⁶²Above, 13:21. for on that night it did not go before them, [but instead the pillar of fire remained stationary]. This was so because if the pillar of fire would have gone before Israel as on other nights [when they journeyed], and the pillar of cloud was between the two camps, then the Israelites would have passed through the sea quickly. Consequently, the Egyptians would not have seen them, and they would not have come after them. However, now [that the pillar of fire was stationary] the Israelites walked slowly, and since there was no great distance between the camps, the Egyptians saw the camp of Israel from the midst of the cloud, and they followed them. They saw the fire out of the midst of the cloud,⁶³“For he who sits in darkness can see light in the distance. But the Israelites did not see the Egyptians, for he who sits in an illuminated place cannot see one who sits in darkness” (Bachya). but they were not able to approach them because of the two pillars which interposed.
This is the sense of the verse, And the one [camp] came not near the other all the night.⁶⁴Verse 20. And it came to pass in the morning-watch, that the Eternal looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud,⁶⁵Verse 24. meaning: He removed the pillar of fire from the camp of Israel, as was customary on all days, and today He put it [in a position] overlooking the camp of Egypt. It was thus between the Egyptians and the pillar of cloud which served Israel by day.⁶⁶In other words, although the pillar of fire was between Israel and the pillar of cloud during the night, in the morning watch G-d took the pillar of fire and placed it between the camp of Egypt and the pillar of cloud. With the pillar of fire heating the Egyptians, they fell into confusion. And He confounded the camp of Egypt⁶⁵Verse 24. by causing the pillar of fire to bear down upon them with its great heat reaching them, and the flame burned up the wicked.⁶⁷Psalms 106:18. Now I have already explained in the story of Creation⁶⁸Genesis 1:1. See Vol. I, p. 26. There the reason is given why the element of fire is designated as choshech (darkness). that the element of fire is called “darkness,” and the cloud and the darkness [mentioned in Verse 20] accordingly mean the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. To all Israel, the pillar of fire had given light because of its high position [as explained above], but now it darkened for the Egyptians, because it came together with the pillar of cloud, which caused it to darken just as the sun when covered by a cloud. Thus He did everything by means of these two pillars. This is the correct interpretation of these verses.