Difference between revisions of "Epilogue to the Manna Story/2"
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<category>Only 40th Year | <category>Only 40th Year | ||
<p>All the events discussed in the epilogue are limited to the fortieth year.</p> | <p>All the events discussed in the epilogue are limited to the fortieth year.</p> | ||
− | <mekorot> | + | <mekorot>opinion cited in <multilink><a href="MekhiltaDeRabbiYishmaelShemot16-32" data-aht="source">Mekhilta</a><a href="MekhiltaDeRabbiYishmaelShemot16-32" data-aht="source">16:32</a><a href="Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Shemot" data-aht="parshan">About Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Shemot</a></multilink> and <multilink><a href="AbarbanelShemot16" data-aht="source">Abarbanel</a><a href="AbarbanelShemot16" data-aht="source">Shemot 16</a><a href="R. Yitzchak Abarbanel" data-aht="parshan">About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel</a></multilink></mekorot> |
<point><b>"לִפְנֵי י"י" versus "לִפְנֵי הָעֵדֻת"</b> – According to this position, both these terms refer to the Ark of Testimony but this does not necessitate that the manna was stored immediately after the Ark's construction. This approach maintains instead that Aharon brought the manna to the Tabernacle only in the fortieth year.</point> | <point><b>"לִפְנֵי י"י" versus "לִפְנֵי הָעֵדֻת"</b> – According to this position, both these terms refer to the Ark of Testimony but this does not necessitate that the manna was stored immediately after the Ark's construction. This approach maintains instead that Aharon brought the manna to the Tabernacle only in the fortieth year.</point> | ||
<point><b>Moshe's Commands of verses 32-33</b> – This approach would posit that the commands to both the nation and Aharon specifically were relayed right before Aharon carried them out in the fortieth year. </point> | <point><b>Moshe's Commands of verses 32-33</b> – This approach would posit that the commands to both the nation and Aharon specifically were relayed right before Aharon carried them out in the fortieth year. </point> | ||
− | <point><b>Why now?</b> According to this position, the command was given immediately when the nation moved out of the wilderness to civilized land<fn>The nation reaches the borders of Edom right before Aharon dies.</fn> | + | <point><b>Why now?</b> According to this position, the command was given immediately when the nation moved out of the wilderness to civilized land and began to prepare for the natural mode of subsistence of Canaan.<fn>The nation reaches the borders of Edom right before Aharon dies.</fn> At this transition point, when the necessity for manna began to diminish, Hashem commanded them to save a sample of the miraculous provision.<fn>Even though they were still to be provided for by the manna until they entered Israel, at this point they already began to re-encounter natural food sources.</fn></point> |
<point><b>Role of Aharon</b> – Even though by the fortieth year it was already known that Aharon was not going to be entering the land of Israel, he was still the high priest.  Since the manna was stored with the Ark, Aharon was the natural candidate for this assignment.</point> | <point><b>Role of Aharon</b> – Even though by the fortieth year it was already known that Aharon was not going to be entering the land of Israel, he was still the high priest.  Since the manna was stored with the Ark, Aharon was the natural candidate for this assignment.</point> | ||
− | <point><b> | + | <point><b>Verse 35: "קְצֵה אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן" versus "אֶרֶץ נוֹשָׁבֶת"</b> – This position might suggest, like Shadal above, that both terms refer to the lands east of the Jordan.  Even though the manna was also eaten after his death, Moshe is only speaking of the events that occurred in his own lifetime.</point> |
<point><b>When was this epilogue written?</b> This position would probably assert that these verses were all written after the events that they describe happened.  As such, the entire epilogue both occurred and was recorded in the fortieth year.</point> | <point><b>When was this epilogue written?</b> This position would probably assert that these verses were all written after the events that they describe happened.  As such, the entire epilogue both occurred and was recorded in the fortieth year.</point> | ||
</category> | </category> |
Version as of 04:03, 22 January 2016
Epilogue to the Manna Story
Exegetical Approaches
1st Through 41st Year
The epilogue covers events that transpired from the first year in the wilderness all the way through to the nation's arrival in Israel in the forty-first year.
- Prior to the Sin of the Golden Calf, the nation was scheduled to enter the land immediately after the revelation at Sinai. As such, now was the time to collect a sample, while the manna was still raining down.
- It is also possible that Hashem specifically wanted to preserve the manna at the outset of the miracle, when the people were still marveling at and in awe of the phenomenon. By the fortieth year, the nation were no longer appreciative of the miracle, but tired and disgusted by it.3 Announcing then that they should preserve the manna so as to show their children this wonderful gift might have been counterproductive.
R"Y Bekhor Shor does not address the issue. He could suggest, like Abarbanel apparently does,5 that the entire epilogue was written in the first year, and the events which did not yet happen (including those which happened after Moshe's death) were simply recorded via prophecy. This would mean that before the Spies had actually sinned and their punishment was decreed, Hashem already hinted to Moshe that the nation was to wander in the desert for forty years.6
2nd Through 41st Years
The appendix includes events from the second to the forty-first year, but none of it occurred in the first year.
- R. D"Z Hoffmann points out that the original plan was to enter the land soon after the Tabernacle was constructed.10 As such, right then would have been the logical time to collect a sample for future generations.
- Alternatively, Hashem simply waited until there was an appropriate place to store the manna, and only then issued the command.
- Gradual cessation – Ibn Ezra understands "אֶרֶץ נוֹשָׁבֶת" to refer to the lands of Sichon and Og, and suggests that upon arrival there, the people had the option of eating either manna or natural bread.11 Only when they got to "קְצֵה אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן" in Gilgal, in the forty-first year, did the manna cease totally.12 R. D"Z Hoffmann explains similarly that when they had reached civilization, the manna began to fall only when there was a dearth of natural food to feed the nation, but it completely stopped only when they crossed the Jordan after Moshe's death.
- Ate even after manna ceased to fall – Rashi13 claims that the manna stopped falling with the death of Moshe, but what had been collected lasted and was eaten until the nation's arrival in Gilgal.14
- According to one opinion in Bavli Bava Batra, the last verses of Torah describing Moshe's death were written as an appendix by Moshe via prophecy, while another opinion asserts that they were added after the fact by Yehoshua.
- According to Ramban, the destruction of Arad described in Bemidbar 21 may have happened only in the time of Yehoshua. Abarbanel understands Ramban to be claiming that these verses were added by Yehoshua,16 however Ramban appears to be simply saying that Moshe prophetically added these verses.17
1st Through 40th Years
The appendix includes events from the first to the fortieth year, and does not relate to the forty-first at all.
Only 40th Year
All the events discussed in the epilogue are limited to the fortieth year.