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Sinners of the Generation of the Desert
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A
and not be like their fathers,
a wayward and defiant generation,
a generation whose heart was inconstant,
whose spirit was not true to God.
Like the Ephraimite bowmen
who played false in the day of battle, they did not keep God’s covenant,
they refused to follow His instruction; they forgot His deeds
and the wonders that He showed them. He performed marvels in the sight of their fathers,
in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan. He split the sea and took them through it;
He made the waters stand like a wall…
Psalms 78:8-42
אלה הדברים THESE ARE THE WORDS — Because these are words of reproof and he is enumerating here all the places where they provoked God to anger, therefore he suppresses all mention of the matters in which they sinned and refers to them only by a mere allusion contained in the names of these places out of regard for Israel (cf. Sifrei Devarim 1:1; Onkelos and Targum Jonathan). אל כל ישראל [THE WORDS WHICH HE SPAKE] TO ALL ISRAEL — If he had reproved only some of them, those who were then in the street (i.e…
Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:1:1-5
But the House of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not follow My laws and they rejected My rules—by the pursuit of which humans shall live—and they grossly desecrated My sabbaths. Then I thought to pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness and to make an end of them; but I acted for the sake of My name, that it might not be profaned in the sight of the nations before whose eyes I had led them out. However, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the fairest of all lands, that I had assigned [to them], …
Ezekiel 20:13-23
מי יאכלנו בשר?, They said this in order to test if He would permit incestuous relations to His people (compare Psalms 78,18 where Assaph says וינסו א-ל בלבבם לשאל אוכל לנפשם, they asked openly for meat, and in their hearts for sexual gratification other than by their wives).
Sforno on Numbers 11:4:2
they walked not in My statutes
They tested Me with the calf, and in Rephidim [i.e., showing unwillingness] to receive the Torah, and they left over some of the manna.
Rashi on Ezekiel 20:13:1
Yet some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found nothing. And יהוה said to Moses, “How long will you all refuse to obey My commandments and My teachings?
Exodus 16:27-28
רע באזני ה׳ means a pretext that was evil in the ears of the Lord, i.e., that they intended that it should reach His ears and that He might show annoyance. They said: “Woe unto us! How weary we have become on this journey: it is now three days that we have had no rest from the wearisomeness of the march!”
Rashi on Numbers 11:1:3
But they soon forgot His deeds;
they would not wait to learn His plan. They were seized with craving in the wilderness,
and put God to the test in the wasteland. He gave them what they asked for,
then made them waste away. There was envy of Moses in the camp,
and of Aaron, the holy one of the L
ORD
.
Psalms 106:13-16
R. Eliezer says: They journeyed by the word, for thus do we find in two or three places. What, then, is the intent of "And Moses made Israel journey?" He did so against their will, with the rod. For when they saw the bodies of the men who had enslaved them with (back-) breaking labor, all lifeless corpses at the edge of the sea, they said: Apparently, not a man remains in Egypt (Numbers 14:4) "Let us make a leader and return to Egypt" and make an idolatry for ourselves to rule over us — and let us return to Egypt. One might think that they merely spoke thus, but did not do…
Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayassa 1:4-5
כמתאוננים, on account of the difficulties of the journey. They did not actually complain in their hearts as they had nothing to complain about. They only voiced complaints as a form of testing G’d.
Sforno on Numbers 11:1:1
AND THE PEOPLE WERE ‘K’MITHON’NIM.’ Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that [the word
k’mithon’nim
is] “of the root
aven
(wickedness); similarly,
the thoughts of ‘oneich’
(
thy evil thoughts
), for they spoke words of wickedness.” But this is not correct, for why would Scripture have concealed their sin, and not stated [clearly what it was], as it does in all other places! The correct interpretation appears to me to be that as they got further away from Mount Sinai, which was near an inhabitable settlement…
Ramban on Numbers 11:1:1
But they paid no attention to Moses; some of them left of it until morning, and it became infested with maggots and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
Exodus 16:20
את ה’ אשר בקרבכם [BECAUSE THAT YE HAVE SCORNED] THE LORD WHO IS AMONG YOU — The latter words appear superfluous, but they are taken to suggest: Unless I had planted my Shechinah among you your heart would not have become so arrogant as to engage in all these matters (Sifrei Bamidbar 94).
Rashi on Numbers 11:20:4
Variantly: "You have weakened the Rock of your birth": Whenever I sought to confer good upon you, you "weakened the celestial power" (i.e., Me): You stood at the Red Sea and said (Shemoth 15:2) "This is my G-d and I will extol Him," and I sought to confer good upon you, when you turned around and said (
Ibid
. 17:3) "Why did You bring us up from Egypt, etc." You stood at Sinai and said (
Ibid
. 29:7) "All that the L-rd spoke we will do and we will hear," and I sought to confer good upon you, when you turned around and said of the golden calf (
Ibid
…
Sifrei Devarim 319:3
The Midrash (Shemos Rabbah 27:1) on “And Yisro heard…” states: "Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father. If you do, you shall not enter the house of your brother." If Bnei Yisrael had fully followed their forefathers, whose deeds were in complete connection to Hashem, they would have been the “chariot of Hashem’s presence.” After the exodus and splitting of the sea, they were prepared for this level, repairing the world as our sages taught: “The nations heard and trembled…”
However, due to their sin in Refidim, where their hands weakened from Torah…
Sefat Emet, Exodus, Yitro 6:2
The reason that men of military age who are engaged in building a house for themselves, or in the planting of a vineyard which has not yet borne fruit, or who have betrothed a bride without as yet having consummated the marriage are free to return to their homes to complete these endeavours is explained by the Rekanati. We are quoting verbatim: "Know that the three categories of people listed by the Torah in 20,5-8 are people who are especially prone to meet with disaster. The attribute of Justice is more likely to seek them out than others…
Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Torah Shebikhtav, Shoftim, Torah Ohr 32
AND THE MIXED MULTITUDE THAT WAS AMONG THEM ‘HITHAVU TA’AVAH’ (FELL A LUSTING). The meaning of this [double expression, which translates literally as “lusted a lust,” is] that they had nothing lacking in the wilderness, for they had plenty of manna and they could make of it all different kinds of delicacies with distinguished flavors, as Scripture relates further on, but they goaded themselves to a great desire, as if they wanted to eat [even] charcoal or earth and other bad foods. AND THEY SAID: WHO SHALL GIVE US FLESH TO EAT…
Ramban on Numbers 11:4:1-2
בשנאת ה׳ אתנו BECAUSE THE LORD HATETH US — Really, however, He loved you, but you hated Him. A common proverb says: What is in your own mind about your friend, you imagine is what is in his mind about you (Sifrei Devarim 24:3).
Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:27:2
וינסו— Take the passage as what it literally implies: AND THEY HAVE TESTED [ME]. זה עשר פעמים TEN TIMES — twice at the Red Sea, twice in the case of the “Manna”, twice in the case of the “quails” etc., as is to be found in the Treatise Arakhin 15a.
Rashi on Numbers 14:22:1-2
AND WHEN YE SHALL ERR, AND NOT OBSERVE ALL THESE COMMANDMENTS. This section is obscure in meaning, and the commentators of the plain meaning of Scripture have mistakenly explained it as referring to an offering which must be brought by one who has unwittingly failed to observe what G-d has commanded him to do. But these words are
words of wind
! For if so, there would be an obligation to bring an offering for any of the positive commandments of the Torah, if a person did not fulfill them all and
unwittingly
[neglected to do] any one of them…
Ramban on Numbers 15:22:1
Related
ראו גם
Complaints in the Desert
Generation of the Desert
Tests
Sins
Moses and the Tablets
The Copper Snake
Calves
Sheets
דפי מקורות
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