Baruch Shomer Haftachato:
God's
Promise to Jacob
Translator's
Introduction
Rabbi Bondi offers a different line of
interpretation regarding God's promise. He suggests that the promise was not
the 'Covenant of the Pieces' (Genesis 15) made to Abraham but the promise God
made to Jacob just before he went down to Egypt to see Joseph. For Rabbi Bondi
Abraham's promise doesn’t seem like much of a promise: God tells him that his
ancestors will be enslaved and oppressed in a land not their own, but
eventually will leave with great wealth. God, on the other hand, reassures
Jacob at Beersheba: God tells him not to worry and that He will go down with
the people to Egypt. Our commentator interpret these words, "Praised is
the One who keeps His promise," in this context.
Finally, there is one other significance
difference in Bondi's interpretation. The 'great wealth' that Israel takes from
Egypt is not the goods they plunder but the commandments they receive from God.
Unlike most commentators, Rabbi Bondi sees Israel as worthy of redemption
rather than lost on the brink of oblivion, about to descend into the fiftieth
level of impurity. This was Jacob's fear but, according to Rabbi Bondi, the years
of slavery actually made Israel stronger.
Translation
Why do we
say that God kept his promise with 'Israel'? Didn’t God make this promise to
Abraham? Israel refers to the promise that God made to Grandfather Israel
(Yisrael Saba), that is, our forefather, Jacob. Jacob was aware of the decree
which God had made to Abraham: "Your offspring shall be strangers in a
land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and afflicted for four hundred
years…" (Genesis 15:13) Egypt is not explicitly mentioned in this passage
because God turns freedom of choice over to human being. (That is, the land that Israel would land up in was not determined only
that it would happen.) Still, the verse alludes to Egypt for Joseph
transferred the Egyptians from place to place throughout the land so that they
would not consider the land their inheritance. He was trying to avoid Egypt
becoming the land of Israel's subjugation. This what the commentators suggest
the expression, "A land not their own," means. The land did not
belong to the Egyptians.
Because of
this decree, our forefather Jacob was fearful of going down to Egypt. Egypt was
the most despicable lands. Jacob felt that if his family had to spend four
hundred years they would sink into the impurity of the Egyptians and would no
longer be worthy of being redeemed. It was for this reason that God said:
"Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt. I will go down with you." (Gen
46:3) Wherever Israel is exiled, the Divine Presence is with them. " I
will also go up with up with you…" (Gen. 46:4) God also reassured Jacob, "I will not allow
your children to sink into the fiftieth level of impurity.
Jacob also
hinted to his children that they would not be in Egypt more than two hundred
and ten years when he said to them, "Go down (r'du)[1] to Egypt (see Rashi on
Gen. 42:10) God agreed to this, and
along with God's promise Jacob was reassured. It was through the furnace of
oppression in Egypt that Israel was refined and prepared to receive the Torah. It did not turn out as Jacob
thought; he believed the people would deteriorate there and that is why he was
afraid. The thoughts of the Holy One are mysterious. For instead of sinning,
Israel was refined like silver until they finally sanctified the name of God in
Egypt, at the sea, and in the wilderness.
But the decree
was four hundred years enslaved! What did the Holy One do? He made the yoke of
servitude more severe so that they would complete the four hundred years sooner
rather than later. They were refined more quickly in this way, so that Israel
was enslaved only half the time. This is the meaning of, "Praised is the
one who keeps his promise to Israel." God told Jacob not to be afraid -
and "He recalculated the end," of servitude - the amount of time in
Egypt, shortening their exile by 190 years. This is the meaning of the
expression, "God calculated the end (ketz)[2]."
Even though they were only slaves 210
years it was as if they were there a full 400 years.
"They
went forth with great wealth." The word great appears to be superfluous in
this verse. It could have said, "They went forth with wealth." They
were so refined by the suffering of Egypt that they not only left with material
wealth from the Egyptians (silver, gold and clothing), but they were worthy of
receiving an even greater possession: the commandments of Passover and
Circumcision. They were also worthy of receiving the Torah at Sinai which is
our greatest possession.
[1] The word r'du has the numerical value of 210; it
is commonly used in Egypt as the proof text for the 210 years of slavery.
[2] The word ketz has a numerical value of 198. God
calculated the ketz so that the time
in Egypt would be 190 years shorter, but what was removed in quantity, they
made up for in severity.
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