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The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit
Midrash
The Book of Shmuel
Shiur #10: CHAPTER
6 THE
ARK's return to israel Rav Amnon
Bazak I.
"WHY THEN DO YOU HARDEN YOUR HEARTS?"
In the previous chapter
I discussed the obstinacy of the Pelishtim, who, despite the plagues which they
suffer, do not immediately concede that it is the God of Israel who stands
behind what is happening. Following
the blows suffered by the three Pelishti cities, the Ark seems to be transferred
to an open area, as we find in the beginning of chapter 6:
(1) And the Ark of God
was in the country [lit., field] of the Pelishtim seven
months.
However, even when the Ark is in the Pelishti countryside, it continues
to bring punishment upon the Pelishtim.[1] An argument appears to arise among the
lords of the Pelishtim about what to do with the Ark, and so they turn to their
wise men for advice: (2) And the Pelishtim
called for the priests and the diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the Ark
of God? Tell us: with what we shall
send it to its place."
The wording here might possibly reflect two schools of thought among the
Pelishtim. The first group is still
struggling with the question, "What shall we do with the Ark of God?" The second group, to whom it is clear
that the Ark must be returned to Israel, deals more with the question, "With
what we shall send it to its place?"
At first, the priests and the diviners do not decide the first question,
but they take a firm stand regarding the second question: (3) And they said,
"If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty-handed;
but in any case return Him a guilt-offering; then you shall be healed, and it
shall be known to you why His hand is not removed from
you."
The Pelishtim ask also: "What shall be the guilt-offering which we shall
return to Him?" Their advisors first offer them a substantive answer: "Five
golden swellings, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of
the Pelishtim, for one plague was on you all and on your lords."[2] At the same time, the priests and the
diviners state their own opinion as to what should really be
done: (5) "You shall make
images of your swellings, and images of your mice that devastate the land; and
you shall give glory unto the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand
from you from your gods and from your land. (6) Why then do you harden your hearts,
as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?[3] When He had wrought among them, did they
not let the people go, and they departed?
Here the diviners give additional meaning to the comparison between the
plagues that strike the Pelishtim and the plagues that struck Egypt, which was
noted in the previous chapter. The
stubbornness of the Pelishtim is reminiscent of the stubbornness of Pharaoh,
which only caused more plagues to fall upon Egypt. Indeed, the comparison to the story of
Israel in Egypt continues in this chapter as well: 1)
The consultations with
the priests and the diviners are reminiscent of the consultations with Pharaoh's
magicians (Shemot 7:11, 22; 8:3, 14-15). 2)
The words of the
diviners, "for one plague (maggefa) was on you all and on your
lords," parallel what Moshe says to Pharaoh in the name of God, "For I will at
this time send all My plagues (maggefotai) upon your heart"
(Shemot 9:14). 3)
In both cases, the enemy
does not send off that which had been demanded of them empty-handed. At the burning bush, God promises Moshe:
"And it shall come to pass, that, when you go, you shall not be
empty-handed" (Shemot 3:21); and the priests and diviners advise
the Pelishtim: "If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, send it
not empty-handed" (v. 3).
Here too we find the root sh-l-ch, which, as was noted in the
previous lecture, appears more than twenty times in the story of the plagues in
Egypt (Shemot 7-11). 4)
In both cases, the
release is accompanied by, among other things, gold: "But every woman shall ask
of her neighbor, and of her that sojourns in her house, vessels of silver and
vessels of gold" (Shemot 3:22); "Five golden swellings, and
five golden mice… And take the Ark of God, and lay it upon the cart; and
put the vessels of gold" (vv. 4-8).
It might also be suggested that the combination of five golden swellings
and five golden mice correspond to the ten plagues of
Egypt. 5)
There is also a
similarity between the two descriptions: "And in all the land of Egypt, the
land was devastated (tishachet)" (Shemot 8:20); "You shall
make images of your swellings, and images of your mice that devastate
(ha-mashchitim) the land" (v. 4).[4] This perspective
completes the picture: the plagues that strike the Pelishtim are meant to
rehabilitate the name of God that has been desecrated by Israel's defeat, by way
of a "reworking" of the plagues of Egypt upon the Pelishtim. Like the Egyptians in their day, the
Pelishtim as well do not immediately reach the correct conclusions. It is only the persistence of the
plagues that brings them to recognize that they must return the Ark to Israel
and admit the superiority of the God of Israel. II. THE
TEST
In order to persuade the rest of the people, the diviners propose the
test of the cows: (7) Now, therefore, take
and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has come no yoke, and
tie the cows to the cart, and leave their calves behind them at home. (8) And take the Ark of God, and lay it
upon the cart; and put the vessels of gold, which you return Him for a
guilt-offering, in a box by its side; and send it away, that it may go. (9) And see, if it goes up by the way of
its own border to Beit Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil; however, if
not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us, but it was a
coincidence that happened to us. Let us summarize the
difficulties that the Pelishtim heap upon this sign: 1)
A new cart, that has
never been tested in the field. 2)
Use of cows that are not
riding animals. 3)
The cows are called
"alot," about which the Radak says: Nursing, as it is
rendered by the Targum.[5] They are called alot, because of
their young which are called olim and olalim. They order that
nursing cows be taken in order to show that they do not go back even for their
young. 4)
"On which there has come
no yoke" - Radak writes: "They said this owing to the sanctity of the Ark, that
no other work had been performed with them, just as they said 'a new
cart.'" However, Rashi's
understanding seems to be preferable, namely, that with cows of this sort, that
had never been trained to pull wagons, the test would be even
greater. 5)
Sending the calves home,
which should naturally have caused the cows to follow after
them. 6)
The ascent to Beit
Shemesh – the least logical course. 7)
The phenomenon must
occur simultaneously with both cows. It should be added that
in actual practice, the cows "lowed as they went" (v. 12), which demonstrates
that they proceed as if forced to go.[6] Nevertheless, in an almost ironic
manner, Scripture describes how the Pelishtim follow after the cows: "And the
lords of the Pelishtim went after them up to the border of Beit
Shemesh." The doubts of
the Pelishtim are not put to rest even when the cows go off, against all logic,
in the direction of Beit Shemesh, and they continue to accompany them until they
see the people of Beit Shemesh lowering the Ark from the cart and offering
sacrifices to God. Only then: "And
when the five lords of the Pelishtim had seen it, they returned to Ekron the
same day" (v. 16).[7] III. "BECAUSE
THEY HAD GAZED UPON THE ARK OF THE GOD"
When the Ark arrives in
Israel, mention is made of the people's joy, everything appearing fine and
good: (13) And they of Beit
Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their
eyes, and saw the Ark and rejoiced to see it. (14) And the cart came into the field of
Yehoshua of Beit Shemesh, and stood there, where there was a great stone; and
they cleaved the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for a burnt-offering
unto God. (15) And the Levites took
down the Ark of God, and the box that was with it, wherein the vessels of gold
were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Beit Shemesh offered
burnt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices to God the same
day.
Nothing in this description prepares us for the tragedy that is soon to
follow. And it is good that this is
so, for at this stage the Pelishtim are still observing the scene, and had they
seen that even the people of Israel are struck, the whole effect of the plagues
connected to the Ark would have been lost.
Only after the Pelishtim leave (v. 15: "And when the five lords of the
Pelishtim had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day") does the tragedy
occur: (19) And He struck of
the men of Beit Shemesh, because they had gazed upon the Ark of God, even He
struck of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men; and the people mourned,
because God struck the people with a great slaughter.
How are we to understand this sin? It would appear that the people of
Israel gazed upon the Ark (and according to the Radak, they looked into the
Ark). Gazing upon the Ark of God is
forbidden by Torah law: Do not cut off the tribe
of the families of the Kehati from among the Levites. Rather, thus do to them, that they may
live and not die, when they approach the most holy things: Aharon and his sons
shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden. And they shall not go in to see when the
holy things are covered up, lest they die.
(Bamidbar 4:18-20)[8]
What happened, all of a sudden, to cause this sin? It seems that like the Pelishtim, the
Jewish people reach the opposite extreme in their attitude toward the Ark. If at the time of the defeat in Shilo
the people of Israel saw the Ark of God as an instrument invested with
independent power, they have now lost the awe that it requires. The joyous atmosphere intrudes upon the
quality of fear and brings lightheadedness. Now, in hindsight, it is possible that
this attitude already finds expression in the words: "And they of Beit Shemesh
were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes,
and saw the Ark, and rejoiced to see it." As Rashi says: "Owing to their joy, they
acted lightheartedly, for they did not look upon it with dread and respect."[9]
Just as the Pelishtim first express their fear of God with the words,
"Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods?" (4:8), so too the
people of Israel reach the fear of God after suffering their blow: "Who is able
to stand before God, this holy God?" (6:20). To the credit of the Jewish people, it
should be said that, in contrast to the Pelishtim who stubbornly clung to their
beliefs, the Jews immediately come to the right conclusion and recognize their
sin. The lesson that Israel
should have learned from the fall of Shilo is not a change in their fear of the
Ark. The desired lesson is a change
in the conception that was discussed in previous lectures, according to which
the Ark is invested with independent power, unconnected to doing the will of
God. The two extremes reached by
the people of Israel should in the end have brought them to the middle path:
faith in God, rather than in external means, but with fear and respect for those
means. IV. "SEVENTY
MEN, FIFTY THOUSAND MEN"
We must still clarify
the expression "seventy men, fifty thousand men." The commentators suggest a number of
directions: Rashi cites the Targum Yonatan, according to whom seventy elders
die, along with fifty thousand ordinary people. Rashi also cites the two variations
found in the words of the Sages: Our rabbis said:
"Seventy men, each of whom was equivalent to fifty thousand people; or else
fifty thousand people, each of whom was equivalent to the seventy members of the
Sanhedrin."
The Radak writes: "Missing the copulative vav – 'and fifty
thousand men.'" All these explanations seem, however, to be forced, and aside
from this, they fail to answer a no less difficult question: Is it possible that
in Beit Shemesh there are fifty thousand people?
It is possible[10]
that the verse should be read as follows:
According to this proposal, the verse is written in the form of
A-B-A-B,[11]
and it means to say that of the men of Beit Shemesh seventy people died, and of
the people of Israel as a whole, fifty thousand died. If we understand the verse in this
manner, it might also be suggested that the high number of casualties does not
relate to this specific incident, in which presumably far fewer people
participated. It is much more
reasonable to assume that this number includes the thirty-four thousand people
who died in chapter 4, so that in this specific incident only sixteen thousand
people died. (Translated by David
Strauss) [1] As it
would appear from verse 3 – "and it shall be known to you why His hand is not
removed from you," and from verse 5 – "images of your swellings and images of
your mice that devastate the land." [2] This
verse seems to be saying that even though only three of the Pelishti cities were
smitten, as was described in the previous chapter, nevertheless the plague was
upon all of the Pelishtim, and therefore atonement must be achieved for all five
lords of the Pelishtim. [3] This
is another example of the play on the words kaved and kal in the
opening chapters in the book of Shmuel: "And you shall give glory
(kavod) unto the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten
(yakel) His hand from you…
Why then do you harden (tekhabbedu) your hearts, as the Egyptians
and Pharaoh hardened (kibbedu) their hearts?" I noted this phenomenon above in
connection with 2:29-30: "And why do you honor (va-tekhabbed) your sons
above Me… Far be it from Me; for
them that honor Me I will honor (mekhabbedai akhabbed), and them that
despise Me shall be lightly esteemed
(yekallu)." [4] In
the previous lecture (note 1), we noted that Dagon is the Canaanite grain
god. Thus, the devastation of the
land has special significance with respect to the idea of the God of Israel's
superiority in relation to Dagon.
[5]
Compare Yaakov's words to Esav: "And the flocks and herds giving suck
(alot) are a care for me; and if they should overdrive them one day, all
the flock will die" (Bereshit 33:13); see also Yeshayahu
40:1. [6] In
the description of the Pelishtim's execution of the sign, it is stated: "And
they put upon the cart the Ark of God, the box with the mice of gold and the
images of their swellings" (v. 11).
It is interesting to note that here already the ketiv is
techorim, rather than afolim, as the word appears up to this point
in the chapter. (I discussed the
substitution of techorim for afolim in the previous chapter.) It stands to reason that already at the
time of the redaction of the Book of Shmuel, there existed two terms for
the phenomenon, and only later did a difference between them develop. [7] Verse
18 is difficult to understand from a grammatical perspective: "And the golden
mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Pelishtim, belonging to
the five lords, from fortified cities to country villages (kofer
ha-perazi), even to the great avel (ve-ad avel ha-gedola),
upon which they set down the Ark of God, which remains to this day in the field
of Yehoshua of Beit Shemesh." It
seems that kofer ha-perazi refers to the unfortified cities; the
Pelishtim sent to Israel not only five golden mice corresponding to the five
lords, but also corresponding to their settlements, from fortified to
unfortified cities.
At first glance, the continuation of the verse continues with the same
issue, but on further examination it seems to open a new topic. "Ve-ad avel ha-gedola" seems to
mean: Ve-od ha-even ha-gedola (still the great stone). We find "ad" and "od"
interchanged in Iyyov 1:18 and Yona 4:2; the interchange of
the letters lamed-mem-nun-reish is also common in Scripture, as in
"gan na'ul… gal na'ul" (Shir Ha-shirim 4:12), or nishka in
place of lishka (Nechemya 13:7); the word avel might have
been influenced by the word evel, mourning, in the next verse (v.
19). In any event, the second half
of the verse notes that the great stone upon which the Ark of God is placed
(mentioned in v. 15) still stands in the field of
Yehoshua. [8] See
Rashbam (ad loc.) who writes: "When the Sanctuary is taken apart, it becomes
revealed, and if they see it, they will die, as we find with respect to the
people of Beit Shemesh, 'because they had gazed upon the Ark of
God.'" [9] This
idea finds expression in the Talmud (Sota 35a):
"And He struck of the men of
Beit Shemesh, because they had gazed upon the Ark of God" – because they gazed,
He struck them? Rabbi Abahu and Rabbi Elazar
disagreed: one said, "They harvested and bowed;" the other said, "They also
spoke words – 'Who angered you when you became angry, and who came [now] to
appease you?'"
According to the first opinion, the derision expresses itself in the fact
that, despite their joy, they continue to harvest. This is similar to the sin committed at
Mount Sinai: "And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His
hand; and they beheld God, and they did eat and drink" (Shemot 24:11), as
explained by Rashi (ad loc.): "They peered at Him intimately amidst eating and
drinking."
This direction may be developed in light of the correspondence between
additional points in the two stories. First, already with respect to the sin,
both stories talk about seeing God ("they gazed upon the Ark of God;" "they
beheld God"). Second, both stories
speak of a punishment in relation to seventy people: at Mount Sinai, it says,
"And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand," and as
Rashi explains there: "And upon the nobles" –
these are Nadav and Avihu and the elders [mentioned there in v. 9]. "He laid not His hand" –
this implies that they well deserved that God should stretch forth His hand
against them.
In our chapter as well, a blow is mentioned against "seventy men, fifty
thousand men," an expression that the Sages interpret as referring to the
Sanhedrin (see below).
It should be further noted that Nadav and Avihu, Aharon's two eldest
sons, participate in this sin, and the story in our chapter ends with: "And they
brought it into the house of Avinadav on the hill, and they sanctified
Elazar his son to keep the Ark of God" (7:1). The name Avinadav brings to mind Nadav
and Avihu, and the sanctification of Elazar (the namesake of Aharon's third son,
who becomes his chief deputy) seems to be a repair of the sin common to the Jews
here and to Nadav and Avihu there – the lack of appropriate awe. [10] This
explanation is proposed by Mazal Eskin in her article in Megadim 23; see
also the rejoinder of my revered teacher, Rav Yaakov Medan in Megadim
24. [11] We find
this structure in various scriptural passages, e.g.: "Who is like God our God:
enthroned on high/ looking down/ in heaven/ and upon earth" (Tehillim
113:5); see also I Shmuel 15:9 and elsewhere, and in Rav Medan's
article cited in the previous note. |