TRANSLITERATION
Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.
TRANSLATION
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who hallows us with mitzvot, commanding us to engage with words of Torah.
(17) Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.” (18) So God led the people round about, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds. Now the Israelites went up armed out of the land of Egypt.
- Israelites come to Egypt at a time of crisis, for food and security, now God is concerned they may want to return there for the same reasons
(2) כי קרוב הוא BECAUSE IT WAS NEAR, and it would therefore be easy to return by the same route to Egypt. — . (3) בראתם מלחמה WHEN THEY SEE WAR — For instance the war mentioned in (Numbers 14:45) “Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites came down etc.” If they had proceeded by the direct route they would have then turned back. This is evident, for what would have been the case? If, when He led them about by a circuitous way, they said, (Numbers 14:4) “Let us appoint another chief and go back to Egypt”, had God led them by a direct route how much the more certainly would they have spoken so. (4) פן ינחם PERADVENTURE [THE PEOPLE] REPENT — peradventure they cherish a different thought (they change their mind) about having gone out and set their hearts on returning (cf. Rashi on Genesis 6:6).
- Power of fear & temptation overwhelms movement toward ancestral homeland
(א) כי קרוב הוא ונח לשוב באותו הדרך למצרים, ומדרשי אגדה יש הרבה. לשון רש''י. (רש"י על שמות י״ג:י״ז) וגם הוא דעת ר''א, כי טעם ולא נחם אלקים דרך ארץ פלשתים בעבור כי קרוב הוא וינחמו וישובו אל מצרים מיד ועל דעתי אם היה כדבריהם, היה כי אמר אלקים מוקדם, ויאמר הכתוב ולא נחם אלקים דרך ארץ פלשתים כי אמר אלקים כי קרוב הוא פן ינחם העם:
The reason they would experience war if they went by the way of the land of the Philistines, is that the Philistines would surely not have given them permission to go peacefully through their land, and thus they might return to Egypt. But by the way of the wilderness, they would not see war until they came to the lands of Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, which were given to them [i.e. to Israel]. At that time, they were already far from Egypt, [and there was thus no reason to fear that they would be tempted to return to Egypt because of war].
- Too soon for the people to have to fight their way into the land
Seforno:
Also, seeing it was a much traveled route, too many travelers would be able to report to Pharaoh about the Israelites and also too many Egyptians could keep the Israelites informed of what transpired in their country.
--The Israelites would maintain their connection to Egypt and vice versa.
Bchor Shor:
AND RETURN: and even though the Holy One could have struck all of them dead, the Holy One wanted to increase the miracles and wonders to dry the sea and to cross the Israelites over and to drown the Egyptians.
--The Israelites were 'free' but not far enough away from the threat of the Egyptians - other commentaries explain there were Egyptian 'spies' among them.
- Ibn Ezra & Maimonides (quoted in Etz Hayim, p. 399) both explain the 'round about' journey as preparation for entering/conquering Canaan - They need time to adjust to being free and to 'toughen up'.
What is the incident with a young boy? One time I (Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananya) was walking along the path, and I saw a young boy sitting at the crossroads. And I said to him: On which path shall we walk in order to get to the city? He said to me: This path is short and long, and that path is long and short. I walked on the path that was short and long. When I approached the city I found that gardens and orchards surrounded it, and I did not know the trails leading through them to the city. I went back and met the young boy again and said to him: My son, didn’t you tell me that this way is short? He said to me: And didn’t I tell you that it is also long? I kissed him on his head and said to him: Happy are you, O Israel, for you are all exceedingly wise, from your old to your young.
- "Sometimes the harder way of doing something turns out to be the better way...When something comes to us too easily instead of being hard earned, we don't always appreciate it." (Etz Hayim, p. 399)
- Thoughts on this?
(18) So God led the people round about, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds. Now the Israelites went up armed out of the land of Egypt.
(3) וחמשים — The word חמשים means provided with weapons (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:19:2). — [Because He led them by a circuitous route through the wilderness He brought it about that they went up from Egypt well-provided; for had He led them circuitously by the route of an inhabited district they would not have provided for themselves every thing that they needed, but only a part, like a person who is travelling from place to place and intends to purchase there whatever he will require. But if he were setting out for the wilderness he must provide all that he will require. — This verse (statement in the verse) is written only with the view of making the ear understand (preparing you for a later statement) viz., that you should not wonder with regard to the war with Amalek and the war with Sihon and Og and Midian where they obtained weapons, since they smote them with the sword]. Another explanation of חמשים is: only one out of five (חמשה) went forth from Egypt, and four parts of the people died during the three days of darkness because they were unworthy of being delivered (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:19:3; cf. Rashi on 10:22).
But at the same time...
Seforno:
although they had left Egypt fully armed. They did not have the courage to face the Egyptians in combat in spite of their being armed. They felt too inexperienced to face trained warriors.
And the VERY helpful commentary from the Jewish Publication Society:
"Chamushim": Meaning of Heb. ḥamushim uncertain.
This was contrary to the rule that the Jewish people are not like the Gentile nations in that they have to make only the first motions of doing things in a regular manner before miraculous forces intervene to help them.. For instance, we find that although G’d commanded Joshua (Joshua 8,2) to prepare an ambush against the people of Ai, we could ask that if the people of Israel, and especially their leader Joshua, were such experts in invoking miracles to help them, why did they need to lay an ambush, something perfectly natural? The answer is that G’d wants us to do whatever is possible in a natural way, following accepted norms. Anything beyond that we have to leave to celestial forces. Solomon confirms this principle in Proverbs 21,31: “the horse is readied for the day of battle; but victory comes from the Lord.” In other words, men have to do their share before G’d will do God's share. This is why it was essential that the Israelites take weapons with them when they left Egypt.
A Midrashic approach: (Tanchuma Beshalach 1) The word חמושים means “one out of five.” Four fifths of the Jewish people died during the plague of darkness so as not to give the Egyptians the satisfaction of knowing that these Israelites had not been found worthy of redemption. Some say that the word חמושים refers to one in fifty Israelites only being redeemed. Some even claim that only one out of 500 Israelites was found worthy of redemption.
- Next week we'll study Tu Bishevat in addition to Yitro...
(א) אַרְבָּעָה רָאשֵׁי שָׁנִים הֵם. בְּאֶחָד בְּנִיסָן רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לַמְּלָכִים וְלָרְגָלִים. בְּאֶחָד בֶּאֱלוּל רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לְמַעְשַׂר בְּהֵמָה. רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר וְרַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמְרִים, בְּאֶחָד בְּתִשְׁרֵי. בְּאֶחָד בְּתִשְׁרֵי רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לַשָּׁנִים וְלַשְּׁמִטִּין וְלַיּוֹבְלוֹת, לַנְּטִיעָה וְלַיְרָקוֹת. בְּאֶחָד בִּשְׁבָט, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לָאִילָן, כְּדִבְרֵי בֵית שַׁמַּאי. בֵּית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ:
(1) They are four days in the year that serve as the New Year, each for a different purpose:...On the first of Shevat is the New Year for the tree; the fruit of a tree that was formed prior to that date belong to the previous tithe year and cannot be tithed together with fruit that was formed after that date; this ruling is in accordance with the statement of Beit Shammai. But Beit Hillel say: The New Year for trees is on the fifteenth of Shevat.