Long Lines of Litigants/2

Long Lines of Litigants

Exegetical Approaches

Long Lines Were the Norm

Sources:R. SaadiaCommentary Shemot 18:13About R. Saadia, RashbamShemot 18:13About Rashbam, RalbagShemot 18 Toelet 14About Ralbag, Akeidat Yitzchak43About Akeidat Yitzchak, AbarbanelShemot 18About Abarbanel, U. CassutoShemot 18:13About U. Cassuto.

Yitro's proposal – This approach fits well with Yitro's reaction, as were this an unusual event there would have been no need for him to propose his solution.

Special judgment days – R. Saadia and Cassuto suggest that there were specific days reserved for judging the people and that Moshe did not judge every day. R. Saadia thereby accounts for why there is no record of Moshe judging on the day Yitro arrived.¹ According to their understanding, Moshe had time on other days to fulfill his other leadership responsibilities.

When did this story occur and why had Moshe not solved the problem on his own?

• Before the Decalogue – Akeidat Yitzchak and Abarbanel. According to them, Moshe could not appoint judges until after the laws were given. For the fundamental differences between their approaches and evaluations of Yitro's suggestion, see Did Moshe Need Yitro's Advice.
• In the second year, long after the Decalogue and laws had already been given – R. Saadia, Ralbag, Cassuto:
  • According to Ralbag, due to Moshe's high level of spirituality, he did not possess superlative administrative skills, and thus he needed Yitro's advice to help him realize the necessity of delegating some of his responsibilities. See Did Moshe Need Yitro's Advice.
  • R. Saadia and Cassuto, in contrast, by maintaining that the long line was not a daily event but was rather limited to the occasions on which Moshe judged, thereby significantly reduce the problematic nature of the situation.

Long Lines Were an Anomaly

There are two distinct variations of this approach, but they share the advantage of being able to explain why Moshe had not already acted on his own to solve the problem – see Did Moshe Need Yitro's Advice.

Recent Events

Recent events had caused a temporary increase in disputes:

Quarrels over the spoils from the Egyptian army at Yam Suf

Sources:Lekach TovShemot 18:13About Lekach Tov, Seikhel TovShemot 18:13About Seikhel Tov, Paneach Raza18:13About R. Yitzchak b. Yehuda, Minchah BelulahShemot 18:13About Minchah Belulah.²

Arguments regarding the spoils from Amalek

Sources:R. Yaakov Meidan.³

R. Meidan's suggestion is predicated on the assumption that most of the Yitro story appears in chronological order – see Chronology, and that Yitro arrived and observed Moshe shortly after the battle with Amalek. R. Meidan posits that shortly thereafter things settled down and while the nation was encamped at Mount Sinai there was little need for additional judges. It was only in the second year, when the nation resumed their journey that complaints spiked once again and Moshe needed assistance.⁴

Disagreements over water quotas at Rephidim

Sources:R. Meidan in an alternate possibility.⁵

According to this explanation also, the people's complaints and the need for additional judges arose only while they were in transit and not during the year they were camped at Mount Sinai.

A Backlog

There was a backlog from days that Moshe had not judged:

Cases had accumulated during Moshe's prolonged stay on Mount Sinai

Sources:Mekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelYitro Amalek 2About Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, RashiShemot 18:13About Rashi

According to the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael and Rashi, Yitro observed Moshe judging the people on the day after Yom HaKippurim (when he descended from Mount Sinai with the second tablets) – see Chronology.

Moshe had taken the previous day off to attend to Yitro

Sources:Chizkuni18:13About Chizkuni.

Chizkuni notes that this accounts for why the Torah specifies that "It happened on the next day".⁶

¹ Cf. Chizkuni and Benno Jacob below.

² Chizkuni18:13About Chizkuni notes that this approach does not fit chronologically with the context of the story. The earlier version found in the Lekach Tov and Seikhel Tov blames the problems specifically on the ערב רב trying to claim the former property of their Egyptian relatives, while the later sources of the Paneach Raza and Minchah Belulah view it as a more general dispute encompassing the entire nation.

³ In his article, "איפה ואיפה – עיון בפרשיות נדודי ישראל במדבר", Megadim 17 (1992): 79-80.

⁴ Cf. opinion cited in Hoil Moshe Devarim 1:9 and see Relationship of Shemot 18 – Bemidbar 11 – Devarim 1.

⁵ In footnote 67 of the same article. This is an extension of the suggestion he develops there (pp. 62-64) that despite the miraculous nature of the manna and water, there was not an endless supply of them – see Shemot 15-17.

⁶ Cf. R. Saadia above who explains that Moshe only judged the people on certain assigned days, and thus did not judge them on the day Yitro came. Benno Jacob Shemot 18:12 disagrees with both Chizkuni and R. Saadia and claims that Moshe did judge the people on the day Yitro came, and therefore did not attend the festive meal which Yitro made – see Where Was Moshe.