Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Beshalach #3- Fight or Flight?
In perek 13 pasuk 18 it states, “So God led the people around [by] way of the desert [to] the Red Sea, and the children of Israel were armed when they went up out of Egypt.” The Chasam Sofer asks, why didn’t Hashem command Bnei Yisrael to fight the Egyptians at the Yam Suf rather than Hashem killing them by drowning them in the sea? The Chasam Sofer answers that it would have been ethically improper for the Jews to fight against their former owners. Hashem had them enter the sea where they then drowned rather than commanding the Jews to fight them in order to teach us this ethical lesson, that a person should never turn on his former master. Can you think of any more possibilities as for why Hashem preformed this miracle of splitting the sea and drowning the Egyptians as opposed to commanding the Jews to fight them?
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Sforno explains that although they were armed, Bnai Yisroel did not have enough courage to fight because they were inexperienced to fight trained Egyptian warriors.
ReplyDeleteHashem tells moshe to tell bnei yisroel not to fight the mitzrim, but rather to let them die and drowned in the yam suf. The reason hashem did not command the jews to fight the mitzrim is because the splitting of the sea was not just to kill the mitzrim and punish them. If that were the case then hashem would have told beni yisroel go fight the mitzrim and kill them. But instead hashem performs this huge miracle because kreyat yam suf was not only for the mitzrim, but it was also for bnei yisreol. We know this because they had to watch the sea split, so it was for them as well to see how great hashem is.
ReplyDeleteEtzion.org states that Hashem drowned the Egyptians instead of letting Bnei Yisrael fight them because Hashem wanted to show Bnei Yisrael that he is the one and only God, just in case they still did not believe after all the miracles he performed in Egypt.
ReplyDeleteAccording to tanach.org Hashem's miracle of drowning the mitzrim instead of having bnei yisrael fight them was not an act of pity towards them in order to prevent them from having to face their former masters, but rather an act of partnership to show bnei yisrael who had been crying out for hashems help for years (and basically didn't know who Hashem was) that they were stronger together with Hashem. I agree because even though it may seem like bnei yisrael didn't have such a big role in this miracle it was just to reassure them, after everything they went through, that Hashem was there for them.
ReplyDelete- hannah
Rashi explains that the reason Hashem drowned the Egyptians in the Yam suf is order to outwardly punish them. He explains that the reason Hashem wanted the Egyptians to drown is for a “Midah Keneged Midah punishment” since the Egyptians drowned innocent babies therefore Hashem felt that drowning is the appropriate punishment for them.
ReplyDeleteThe pasuk in tehillim 114:3 tells us the at keriyat yam suf "the sea saw and fled". A mid rash explains that the sea would not split until it saw something. So what did it see? According to the mahral the sea saw the Yosef's coffin. Therefore the sea went against its natural order by spilling just like Yosef went against his nature and decided to flee from potiphars house and he refrained from sinning. According to this approach Hashem made the sea split as a way to honor Yosef and not make Bnei Yisroel fight after they have already been through so much.
ReplyDeleteChabbad.org says that the reason Hashem didn't command Beni Yesroel to fight because Hashem knew that He was going to make Beni Yesroel face many obstacles in the future and didn't feel it was necessary to have them fight the Egyptians.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the chizkuni, Bnei israel were armed so that they could fight to get Canaan back. As to why Hashem did the saving, chizkuni said that Hashem was taking Bnei Israel on a detour, and they therefor needed to see a miracle before their journey. Another possible reason (from my own understandings) would be that perhaps Hashem wanted Bnei Israel to be well rested for the long journey they had ahead.
ReplyDeleteRamban says that Bnei Yisroel were afraid that if they went to battle with the Egyptians, the Philistines, who lived nearby, would see them armed and begin a war with them. Bnei Yisroel had no intentions of fighting other nations and they did not want to risk this chance.
ReplyDeleteChabbad.org offers an explanation. It says that the reason Hashem wanted to take care of the fighting was because of the different types of responses and complaints Moshe got from Bnei Yisrael. Some people were eager to fight because it is their natural instinct to fight for everything. Others, however, depend entire on Hashem and do not put in their own effort in life. Hashem felt as though neither of these reactions were appropriate, and what Bnei Yisrael should have been focusing on was moving forwards toward Har Sinai. Hashem took care of the battle against the Egyptians so that Bnei Yisrael could focus on the main goal and what was really important at that time.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Radam, you are supposed to have karat hatov to people who were you bosses. The Egyptians were bosses to the Jews and because of that, even though they were Slaves it wouldn't be right to kill them. It's similar to the idea of Moshe not hitting the ground for the makot to say thanks for covering the person he killed. Also another reason for hashem killing the Egyptians is so the world would see his power. To see that the chosen people were aloud to cross the yam suf but anyone else who tried would die. It proved the Jews are the chosen nation and are god is the only god.
ReplyDeleteSfarno the squad that beni uesroel was intact armed they were just not experienced enough to fight well trained egeyptions soldiers
ReplyDeleteYael k
Chabad.org says HaShem drowned them instead of letting Beni yisroel fight to show how great he is even more
ReplyDeleteChabad.org says that Hashem made the sea split and drowned all the mitzrim because Hashem knew that Benai Yisroel would face many difficulties in the mid bar and didn't want Benai Yisroel to have yet another thing to worry about
ReplyDeleteMesorah.org brings in a question: Why couldn't Hashem have killed the Mitzrim while he had the 10 makot. Hashem split of the Red Sea, for many objectives, but primarily to remove the security Egypt afforded these former slaves. Destruction of the Egyptian empire was a necessary step in Israel’s development -they needed to be on their own. This also answers why Hashem responded to Moshe's tefilla when the Egyptian army drew near. Hashem was telling Moshe that davening is inappropriate right now. Why? Because the very act of traveling to the Red Sea was in fact the solution for what Moshe davened - the destruction of Egypt. Hashem was telling Moshe that what you pray for is already in the works (as in they are already drowning), and therefore your prayer is unnecessary.
ReplyDelete