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From:
"Yeshivat Har Etzion's Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit
Midrash"
Subject: INTPARSHA -13:
Parashat Shemot
YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY
VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA
by Rav Michael Hattin
PARASHAT SHEMOT
Parashat Shemot - Pharaoh the God King
Introduction
Firmly established in the land of Goshen, the
children of
Israel enjoy a privileged status as long as Yosef
and his
memory remain alive. With his demise, a
new era begins,
ushered in by a change of leadership and by a corresponding
change of policy. "A new king arose over
Egypt, who knew
not Yosef." This Pharaoh is quick to
unleash an insidious
process that benignly begins
with national service,
progresses quickly into forced
labor, and eventually
culminates in the brutal oppression and
dehumanization of
the Hebrews.
Thus begins the Book of Shemot, the story of the forging of
the Jewish people. The basic outline of the narrative is of
course well known and well loved, for the
themes of its
struggle are universal. As readers of the
biblical text,
however, we often tend to overlook the
geographical and
historical framework of the pertinent
personalities and
relevant events. In so doing, we
unwittingly forfeit a
critical dimension of understanding and
appreciation. Let
us therefore consider the details of the
account from a
broader perspective.
The Nile River and the Biblical "Mitzrayim"
The land of Egypt, looming large on the
horizons of the
Hebrew Bible, is the geographical backdrop against which the
epic of the Exodus unfolds. It is an arid land, situated at
the northeastern tip of the African continent. The
hot and
dry winds of the Sahara desert blow
across its barren
expanse, a parched and unforgiving plateau of rock and sand.
The monotony of the landscape is relieved only by the blue-green waters of the Nile River, a life-giving
artery that
originates in the vast lakes of
the African interior.
Rising and falling according
to an annual cycle of
inundation precisely documented by an expectant
populace,
the river is the source of life for the Nile valley. Cutting
a long, narrow, but verdant
swath through the harsh
landscape, the Nile suddenly broadens
as it nears the
Mediterranean Sea. At ancient Memphis, the river
fans out
to form a broad triangular marsh known as the Delta.
This ancient land, one of the cradles of
civilization, was
traditionally divided into
two main regions, known
respectively as Upper and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt began at
the first cataract of the Nile River at Aswan.
Its arable
land, which was intensively farmed, consisted of two narrow
strips of black earth that straddled either
side of the
river. The Delta was known as Lower Egypt, and its
climate
and topography were considerably less severe. Early on, the
two lands were united under the rule of a single monarch and
remained inseparable throughout Egyptian history.
What is
important to bear in mind is that
the survival of the
ancient Egyptian was completely dependent on the caprices of
this river. It is therefore not at all surprising
that the
Nile River was worshipped as a god.
The centrality of the river is actually
reflected in the
biblical name for Egypt, which is 'Mitzrayim.' The
root of
this word is MTzR, containing a stem (TzR)
that connotes
narrowness or constriction. By extension, a
MtzR is, in
Jewish legal texts, a boundary line or more generically the
narrow strip that edges one's fields (hence the 'dina de bar
metzra' of property law). The 'ayim' ending,
rather than
signifying the plural, in fact indicates 'two of something,'
such as 'yadAYIM' (two
hands), 'einAYIM' (two eyes),
'oznAYIM' (two ears), 'raglAYIM'
(two legs). Taken
together, Mitzr-ayim therefore yields 'two
narrow strips'
and is a particularly apt description
of its habitable
topography.
The Sun and the Sun God
The second primary component of Egyptian existence
was the
sun. In a land in which rainfall or cloud cover are
almost
unknown, the constant and predictable sun cast its radiant,
brilliant light upon every facet of
Egyptian vitality.
Though thoroughly polytheistic, Egyptian culture nonetheless
held a special place for the veneration
of the sun, a
powerful god whose favor was sought throughout every period
of Egyptian history.
In a land of absolutes, in which strong central
government
was a prerequisite for fair and efficient management of the
River, it was almost inevitable that a powerful
monarchial
system should develop. The Pharaoh was therefore a
supreme
autocrat, and early on the doctrine developed that
he was
the direct descendant of the sun god himself. His
subjects
regarded Pharaoh as a god incarnate, who could secure Egypt
from earthly and cosmic
threats through his personal
intervention. The title 'Pharaoh,' which was used to
refer
to every Egyptian king, is a derivation of the
two words
'per aa' meaning 'Great
House.' It was an honorific
circumlocution analogous to our use of the expressions 'the
White House denied the rumors...' or
'Buckingham Palace
refused to comment...' when in fact we are referring to the
heads of state who inhabit those edifices.
Although the Egyptian pantheon
contained a vast and
confusing array of major and minor gods, it was the triad of
the Nile, the sun and the Pharaoh himself, that wielded the
most direct influence over the
everyday lives of most
Egyptians. Let us keep this in mind
as we continue to
explore the early parashot of Sefer Shemot.
The Descent to Egypt - The Historical Framework
According to traditional Jewish chronology, the Exodus from
Egypt took place in the year 1312 BCE (corresponding to the
year 2448 on the Jewish calendar). Using Avraham's
year of
birth as a reference, which took place in the year 1812 BCE
(1948 on the Jewish calendar), it is possible
to pinpoint
the descent to Egypt as taking place in the year 1522
BCE.
Yitzchak's birth occurs when Avraham is one
hundred (1712
BCE), Yaacov's birth takes place when Yitzchak is 60
(1652
BCE), and Yaacov announces to Pharaoh at his audience
that
"the days of my life are one hundred and thirty years"
(1522
BCE). While the
attempt to correlate conventional
chronology with biblical
chronology raises serious
difficulties that are beyond the scope of this
article to
resolve, for the period under discussion a rough
agreement
may exist. In fact, a number of details in the narrative of
the Torah seem to corroborate the conclusion that the ascent
of Yosef to greatness and the subsequent descent
to Egypt
took place during this time.
Let us assume that Yosef's rise to prominence as Viceroy and
the subsequent descent to Egypt take
place in the 16th
century BCE. This would correspond with
the end of the
period of Egyptian history known as the age of the 'Hyksos,'
which lasted from about 18th century BCE to
approximately
the middle of the 16th century BCE. The
Hyksos, or so-called 'Shepherd kings,' were foreign invaders
from Asia
Minor who overpowered the native Egyptian kings
by making
excellent use of the chariot warfare that they
introduced.
Seizing the throne of the Pharaohs,
they ruled from a
capital that they established in the Delta.
Yosef's rise to position of Viceroy in spite
of his own
Semitic origins, in a society that tended to be homogeneous
and markedly xenophobic, is much more plausible if in
fact
it transpired during the reign of these
'foreign' kings.
Moreover, it becomes clear from the Torah's narrative
that
Yosef's residence, the palace of the Pharaoh, as well as the
land designated for the settlement of his family (the
land
of 'Goshen') are all located in the Delta
region. Is it
mere coincidence that Pharaoh
instructs that Yosef be
paraded in his "second royal chariot"
as a mark of his
authority? Furthermore, is it
not curious that Yosef
instructs his brothers to relate
that they have been
"shepherds from their youth"? Tending flocks was
a vocation
not well tolerated in Upper Egypt, for
the scarcity of
agricultural land and its consequent intensive
cultivation
precluded the designation of large
tracts of land for
grazing. The situation in the Delta,
however, was less
acute; Yosef realizes that his family and their flocks will
be not only more comforin Lower Egypt, but also
closer to
the centers of control.
The Dawn of the Enslavement
After a period of about one hundred and
fifty years the
Hyksos domination came to a close,
with their forceful
ouster by the powerful Pharaohs of the 'Eighteenth Dynasty.'
Their overthrow ushered in the period of
Egyptian history
known as the New Kingdom, and
during this time Egypt
achieved its imperial apogee. With
the demise of the
Hyksos, a reaction against foreigners and their
influences
was for a time felt in the
palace halls. Dating the
beginning of the enslavement to this
period seems quite
plausible, and would best explain
the cryptic biblical
assertion that "there arose a new
Pharaoh who knew not
Yosef." We are told at the beginning of the Book
of Shemot
that the Hebrews are pressed into national service and slave
labor, and are set building store cities, fashioning bricks
and working in the fields. This situation
continued for
some time, and was not relieved until the Exodus occurred.
The most intriguing question concerns the identity
of the
Pharaoh of the oppression and Exodus, who is not identified
by name in the text of the Torah. A
number of allusions,
however, seem to point to Rameses II, who ruled for most of
the 13th century BCE. This
indefatigable builder has
bequeathed to posterity some
of Egypt's most famous
monuments, such as the completed hypostyle hall at
Karnak,
additions to Luxor, and the Ramasseum at Thebes.
He ruled
from Tanis, his capital that he established in
the Delta
region, where Israelite labor would
have been readily
available. The Torah does in fact refer to the
Israelites
being set to work constructing the store cities
of "Pitom
and Raamses." A measure of this Pharaoh's
personality may
be gauged by a cursory evaluation of the famed Temple of Abu
Simbel, which he erected deep in the
Sudan. A massive
edifice, it is hewn out of the living rock and its entrance
is flanked by four colossi, two on
either side. These
massive carved figures are each about 25 meters
high and
tower over the approach to the temple.
Most remarkable,
they are four identical
representations of Rameses II
himself!
Pharaoh's Anonymity
Why is it that a significant figure such as Rameses II or a
Pharaoh like him is not identified by name in
the Torah?
The answer lies in understanding the Torah's
technique of
gauging a person's accomplishments,
which is in sharp
contrast to the conventional method. For
the historian,
dimensions of a leader's greatness
are determined by
surveying the extent of
his/her military conquests,
acquisition of wealth, political influence, and
rule over
the masses. The cultural historian will
also include an
analysis of public monuments, building projects and artistic
or literary accomplishments. According to
all of these
tests, Rameses II was a great and memorable
monarch. His
exploits on the field of battle
and in the realm of
architecture solidified Egypt's position of
preeminence on
the world stage.
Nevertheless, the Pharaohs of this period are
presented by
the Torah not as enlightened and accomplished
rulers but
rather as oppressive, cruel
demagogues with arrogant
dispositions and delusions of grandeur. The
Torah is not
interested in their exact identity
and overlooks their
personal names. Their
material accomplishments are
associated not with glory but with infamy,
for they are
raised up on the broken backs of
oppressed slaves. How
fitting that Rameses' name, which
he carved with such
resolve on every temple, obelisk and
statue set up to
perpetuate his renown, should be absent from the
text. How
appropriate that his appellation, which excitedly fills the
accounts of ancient Egyptian history, is missing
from the
Torah's purview, in which distinction is predicated on moral
integrity and 'fear of God.'
"Pharaoh said to the midwives whose names were
Shifra and
Puah: 'When you assist at birthing the Hebrews, if the child
born is male, then kill him. The midwives
feared God and
did not do as Pharaoh commanded, but preserved the boys...On
account of their fear of God, He made for them
houses..."
What a telling polarity is here
preserved! The mighty
Pharaoh, whose rule is absolute and whose demeanor is
that
of a god, commands that the Hebrew children be
killed. His
identity, however, the name
that would assure the
immortality which he so craves, is obscured. The
midwives'
names in contrast, which in all historical
accounts would
have at most merited a minor footnote, are
carefully and
lovingly spelled out. Their greatness
is predicated on
their willingness to 'fear God' and do what is
right; not
even the decree of a god king can awe them into submission.
The 'houses' that God makes for them as a result
of their
moral fortitude, will far
outlive Pharaoh's maniacal
monuments of stone.
The Significance of the Title
Bearing this contrast in
mind, let us consider the
significance of the word 'Pharaoh.' As pointed out earlier,
it is an Egyptian word combination meaning 'Great House' and
constitutes yet another reference to grand
buildings and
impressive structures. The Hebrew equivalent of 'par'oh' is
nothing more than a transliteration of the
Egyptian term.
Since it is a transliterated word, there are a
number of
possible renditions that would have
been acceptable in
biblical Hebrew. It could have been spelled 'PaRO'
(ending
with a 'vav'), or 'PaROh'
(ending with an 'aleph').
Instead, the Torah spells it 'PaRO'H,' ending with an 'ayin'
and 'heh.'
This is not without significance, for the biblical root PRO'
occurs in other contexts in which
it connotes 'loose'
(Bemidbar 5:18 "he shall
untie [uPhaRA] her hair"),
'unlimited' (Shemot 32:25 "Moshe saw that the
people were
behaving without constraint
[PhaRuA']"), or 'unbounded'
(Mishlei/Proverbs 15:32 "he
that casts off [PoReA']
instruction despises his own soul, but he that heeds reproof
acquires understanding"). This
indicates that Pharaoh
represents an archetype, the human being that
refuses to
live according to limitations and constraints imposed
by a
Higher Sovereign. Pharaoh is not only a god in the
eyes of
his subjects, but possesses divinity in his
own eyes as
well. Thus, he is free to behave without moral
compunction
in his self-interested drive to achieve enduring and eternal
fame. Or to recall the words that he
himself employs to
rebuff Moshe's first attempts to secure the release
of the
Israelites, "who is Hashem that I should
hearken to his
voice to free Israel? I do not know
Hashem, nor will I
release Israel!"
In many ways, the contest between the Israelite
slaves and
Pharaoh, the midwives and Pharaoh, Moshe and Pharaoh and for
that matter between the invisible Hashem and
Pharaoh, are
all variations of the same struggle. In it, the
seemingly
powerless protagonist who stands shorn of any material might
or prestige, is pitted against the most
potent temporal
sovereign of the ancient world's
greatest empire. The
encounter seems lopsided in the extreme, for who can prevail
against the Pharaoh's omnipotence? As the account
unfolds,
however, it becomes apparent that perseverance and ultimate
success are secured not by physical monuments or
monoliths
to self-aggrandizement, but rather by
moral courage and
spiritual fortitude. In the end,
it is the force of
justness that prevails, while the adversary's impressive but
lifeless works of stone are buried by the sands of time.
The English poet Shelley captured some of these
sentiments
in his poem 'Ozymandias,' the title of which is actually the
Greek corruption of
'Rameses' and refers
to the
indefatigable builder of whom we speak:
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Othat colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Shabbat Shalom
YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
ALON SHEVUT, GUSH ETZION 90433
Copyright (c) 1999 Yeshivat Har Etzion
All Rights Reserved
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