Shoftim Chapter 1: Yehudah’s First Conquests, Adoni-Bezek, and Yerushalayim

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. ... begin for the second time, part, the Tanach of Shoftim. Pasuk begins, Vayehi acharei mos Yehoshua. It's the time after Yehoshua was nifter. Vayish'alu Bnei Yisrael baShem. Klal Yisrael turns to the Eibishter to ask. What does that mean? How does one turn to the Eibishter to ask? So the Rishonim tell us the Urim V'Tumim. They went and they asked in the Urim V'Tumim. The question is, what happened till now? Is this in the beginning of the milchemes to be koveish Eretz Yisrael? Where was the Urim V'Tumim? Was this the first time they're asking? So the Albag learns actually no. They've always asked the Urim V'Tumim throughout Yehoshua, even though it's not specific in the pesukim, but yes, they asked the Urim V'Tumim. So why is it significant here to say that they asked the Urim V'Tumim? So the Albag explains, Ki hamilchamah rishonah shoresh gadol l'shaar hamilchamos, shemi'natzchu bamilchamah rishonah, yomru hagoyim, sartzilim aleihem. This was an important war. This was the beginning of many conquests, and the goyim had to see, the goyim had to take note. So this war had significance, importance. Mameila, the strategy behind this milchama was more important than anything else from the past, and therefore they had to go and they had to ask the Urim V'Tumim. So the Urim V'Tumim didn't just come in over here, says the Rambag. It's more b'arichus in the Rabag in the sefer on Tanach, that actually they were using the Urim V'Tumim all through the time of Yehoshua as well. The Malbim learns differently. Now, Rabbeinu learns differently, and he says that actually in the days of Yehoshua there was no need to ask the Urim V'Tumim. There's no need for it. And the question is why? So one pshat that the Malbim and the Rabbeinu say is, Yehoshua was a navi. There was no need to go ask the Urim V'Tumim. Yehoshua supplied them with the information needed. All of a sudden, they find themselves after Moshe, Yehoshua, that Yehoshua now is not here. They have nobody to ask. So meileh they turn to the Urim V'Tumim. The question, of course, would be, who's turning to the Urim V'Tumim? It just says Bnei Yisrael. Who's the sho'el? We know the halacha is that the Urim V'Tumim needed a specific sho'el, either a melech or a Sanhedrin. It doesn't say here who's asking. Another mefarshim discuss it a little bit. Who is the Vayish'alu Bnei Yisrael? Through who are they asking the Urim V'Tumim? V'al kol panim, this is needed here because Yehoshua. Yehoshua is not here anymore, and Yehoshua till now supplied them directly from the Rabbeinu Shleilam the information that they needed. The Maharsha says in Avodah Zarah daf chaf hei that actually the reason why they didn't have to ask the Urim V'Tumim was not because Yehoshua supplied them with the information, but there was no need for information. The Maharsha says that the tachlisei milchamah, the strategies, was actually not a needed thing in Klal Yisrael. Klal Yisrael won wars by nissim v'niflaos, not by strategy, pre-prepared strategic calculations. So it was not necessary to get a clear, a clear plan of war. And therefore, till here, there was no point of the Urim V'Tumim to ask. They just went mitigangin, and they were matzliach in whatever they had to conquer. Moshe came from the time when Yehoshua passes on already, Klal Yisrael has fallen somewhat. It's not the same as the tekufah when Yehoshua was around, and now they have to go to battle with a plan. And so the plan is, we go to ask the Urim V'Tumim.

This is the Vayehi, it was after Moshe Yehoshua. After Yehoshua was niftar, now we have to start asking. And therefore, Vayishalu Bnei Yisrael baShem leimor, they turn to the Urim V'Tumim, and they ask for strategy. They're told, the pasuk continues, that they are told, Vayomer Hashem, Yehuda ya'aleh. They're told that actually Yehuda, Yehuda should be the one to go first. And why is Yehuda the one to be told to go first? As the comment say, that's what the Bnei Yisrael wanted, but Chazal already tell us why. Chazal in the Medrash, the Medrash says, Yehuda atah yoducha achecha. You were always rishon. Rishon l'Yerida this hayam, rishon l'Galim, rishon l'tzivosam, rishon l'shoftim. Memeila, therefore you go first. So he becomes the rishon. There's actually another Medrash which is quite interesting, that Reuven, Shimon, and Levi had their time to lead in Mitzrayim. So when Reuven passes on, then Shimon becomes the leader. Shimon passes away, then Levi becomes the leader. So meis Levi, bikshu lasis sharerah liYehuda. So they decided they want to appoint Yehuda. V'otza Bas Kol v'amra, hanichu loi. Do not make him the leader. There will be a time when he will lead. The time has not come. And when will the time come? Achar misas Yehoshua, after the time that Yehoshua will pass on right over here. So this was designated for Yehuda. Come to the forefront to lead. Why is it dafka over here? Again, maybe with the Ramban, this is the beginning of a whole new set of conquests. We're soon going to see when they actually conquer Yerushalayim. In the few psukim following, we're going to learn that the conquest of Yerushalayim is coming up. Maybe that's a very important conquest, and therefore Yehuda, who's the rishon, the melech, so on and so forth, he leads. So this is the first two psukim, that the chronology of the story was that it was after Moshe's shua, and that Yehuda was picked, and the Ribono Shel Olam guarantees through the Urim V'Tumim, Hinei, nasati es ha'aretz b'yado; I give the land. It's a guarantee that he'll be matzliach. Next pasuk tells us something very interesting. Yehuda, when the Ribono Shel Olam tells him to go, he should have went. Ribono Shel Olam said, Yehuda ya'aleh. He turns to Shimon. Vayomer Yehuda l'Shimon achiv. Yehuda turns to Shimon, his brother, Halech iti b'gorali, come, my chelek, my goral, v'nilchamah b'Kenaani, and we will fight the Kenaan, v'halachti gam ani itcha b'goralecha, and I will go and help you with your conquest and your goral. Vayelech ito Shimon, and Shimon goes. So first of all, who is Yehuda? Yehuda, the shevet Yehuda? Who is Yehuda? So Rashi says, taka, a very pashut pshat, the simple pshat is shevet Yehuda. When we say Yehuda, we mean the shevet. That's the first Rashi, you see. Shevet Yehuda ya'aleh techilah lilchom es haKenaani. So when it's Shimon achiv, Rashi continues to translate Shimon achiv to mean Shimon, the shevet, l'shevet shel Shimon. Then Rashi says that actually, v'yesh posrim, and this is a Chazal, a Medrash, it's Gemara in Temurah, Yehuda ya'aleh, that Yehuda ya'aleh is Osniel. Osniel hu Yavetz. A what? Osniel! Osniel ben Kenaz, Yavetz. So Yehuda was a person. Yehuda wasn't the shevet, and he happened to have had a brother. His name was Shimon. Mashma, Yehuda achi Shimon shmo. That was one of his names, says Rashi. They used to call him Yehuda, the brother of Shimon. So he turns to his brother Shimon and he says, Come, let's go and conquer sheyeilech itai. Now, if the pshat is that Shimon is brother, so then possibly we could say that belongs to a shevet, Yehuda the shevet, or whatever the shevet he is from, so he takes his brother because that person also is a chelek in that yerushah. Whatever the brother, whatever he has, the brother has. It's the same chelek, l'choirah. So he turned to his brother. Now why doesn't he turn to more people?

He feels he's secure. He doesn't need many people. It's him and his brother. Come with me, me and my brother. My brother also has this chelek, so I ask my brother. It's interesting, but if the Ribono Shel Olam tells you, Yehuda, Yehuda, you go, what's the point of taking your brother with you? Maybe achdus, maybe the idea that you should fight together as a Klal Yisroel. I fight for you, you fight for me. There's another medrash in Shir HaShirim that the medrash says that actually it was boaz. This Yehuda yala is Boaz. Chaim Kanievsky has big discussions about it. How could this be Boaz? The lifespan of Boaz wasn't hundreds of years. Boaz was at the time of Rus, and he lived 78 years. How could it be Boaz? It's a discussion. But these are three pshatim we have. Either Yehuda yala means shevet Yehuda. Yehuda yala can mean Osniel ben Knaz, and he's taking his brother with him. Or Yehuda yala, it's Boaz. I guess Boaz has a brother, Shimon, al kol panim. These are the three pshatim. Now, like I tell you, l'choira the kasha is that why is he taking Shimon? I mean, if the Ribono Shel Olam tells you to go, then he should go. So there's a pshat over here from one of the Rishonim, the Ri MiTarani. He says, mipnei sheNachlas Shimon hoysa muvla'as bNachlas Yehuda. The way the map works is that Yehuda, in Yehuda's lands, there's a part of Shimon. So actually, Shimon and Yehuda are somewhat connected in the landscape, and therefore he takes Shimon. Question's still better than the answer. The Rabbeinu Shlelam told you, so why is it that you're taking Shimon? So I saw Reb Yitzchok Sorotzkin shlita in his sefer says a very nice pshat. He brings a Ramban. The Ramban in Parshas Vayesa Bracha writes that actually Yehuda was so matzliach in his conquests that he gave a few pieces over to Shimon. What happened was he was conquering and he was over-matzliach. He was over-successful. So the extra is that he didn't need, so to speak, the scraps. He said, You know what, Shimon, come, I'll just give it to you. So once, maybe that's why he takes Shimon with him, because since it's a din of kibush, the plan was not just to stop at what was his; he was planning on taking much more. So he takes Shimon with him. Again, the kasha a little bit better than the teretz, but there is such a Ramban, that the Ramban learns that what Shimon was given by Yehuda was extras, the extras that Yehuda overtook past what he needed to take. Al kol panim, the next pasuk tells us that—well, actually there's a nice diyuk over here. If you notice, it says, Alei iti b'gorali. He tells him, Alei. And then when Yehuda tells Shimon back, V'halachti gam ani itcha. So why does it say alei and v'halachti? It should say, Alei iti, v'alei imcha, I'll go with you. You go up with me, and I'll go up with you. So the Malbim says, very simple: Yehuda is on higher lands. I guess Yehuda is Yerushalayim also; it's the mountains. So alei, while Shimon's lands were actually lower down. So Shimon is va'lachti. I'll tell you, learned to Malbim why it says alei, and by Shimon, when Yehuda in return says, I will go, he doesn't say, I will go up with you, but I will halachti. I will go with you because it's down. Shimon's lands are lower. Anyway, it says, Vayaal Yehuda. Now what happened to Shimon? It's a nice question. Rabbi Yitzchak Sorotzkin in the sefer is me'oir this shaila. It's a nice ha'ara. What happened to Shimon? He wants to say maybe because the ikur was actually Yehuda, and he was just taking Shimon along for the ride, as they say. Not bad. Could be. Vayiten Hashem es haKena'ani vahaPrizi b'yadam. Matzliach. B'yadam, including Shimon. So I'll tell you, it depends. If you learn Yehuda means Yehuda, one person, so you're right, the deep is good. But if we mean shevet Yehuda, so then it's yadam. Nice diyuk, but I like your diyuk. Or I could come and say that actually b'yadam means Klal Yisrael. Each shevet represents the kibush of all of Klal Yisrael. That's big. Great about this time-consuming. We'll get to it a different time. Al kol panim, vayakum b'Bezek. They were successful. They made a defeat in Bezek, aseres alafim ish, 10,000 people. Rashi says Bezek.

Sheim mako. Vayimtzu es adoni Bezek b'Bezek. So here they find Adoni-Bezek in Bezek. He is the leader. He is the king, so to speak, of Bezek. Vayilachamu bo, and I'm saying the word king not so clear, because Rashi says that the Adoni-Bezek lo haya kedai limnoso malchi, knan b'shem melech. Actually, Adoni-Bezek was the lower class from all the other malachim. See, Rashi says, shivah malachim, mikan atah lomed mehagadlus v'ha'osher shel malchei Kenaan. You see how rich they were. Sheharei Adoni-Bezek lo haya kedai limnoso malchi Kenaan b'shem melech, that he actually wasn't supposed to be called a melech amongst them. That's why you say, I use the word melech lightly. I don't want to say just melech, because Rashi says it's not so pashut he's a melech. They caught the leader, vayilachamu bo, and they fight with him. Vayakku es haKnaani v'es haPerizzi. Vayanas Adoni-Bezek. Adoni-Bezek, he runs away, he escapes. Vayirdefu acharav, they're running after him. Vayochazu oso, they grab him. Vayekatze'tzu, and they cut off es behonois yadav v'raglav, the thumbs of his fingers and his feet. There's a mutilation. They went and they mutilated him. They cut off his fingers. So the question is, is this mutar? What is the point of doing this? So the Gaon Baal explains that the reason why they did this was in order l'hafchid es she'ar hamelachim. They wanted to make an example. Listen, you better be careful. This is what we could do. Yeah, so we make an example, להבחין את שאר המלכים, סיבב שיקבלו עונש מידה כנגד מידה. So this would be the heter, l'choira, the Rambag is trying to explain what would be the point of doing this. The Malbim says a different pshat. The Malbim says, why did they cut off his fingers? Because actually, if you look later in the pasuk, the pasuk says that he himself came and he said that it's right that he got this onesh. He was matzdik the din. ויאמר אדוני בזק, פסוק ז', שבעים מלכים בהונות ידיהם ורגליהם מקוצצים היו מלקטים תחת שולחני. Seventy kings, I would cut off their thumbs, and they would pick the food from under my table. כאשר עשיתי, as I have done, כן שילם לי אלוקים. The Ribono Shel Olam paid me back. So midah k'neged midah, says the Malbim, it's right that they went and they cut off his fingers. And it's interesting the way the Malbim speaks it out. Says the Malbim, מה שלא עשו לשום אחד מעיו. We don't find anywhere that Klal Yisrael mutilated anywhere Yisurim that they made pain. You have to kill, you kill, but you don't have to come and make mutilation. והוא קצץ נגד חוקי ישראל, says the Malbim. Theoretically, it goes against the grain of Klal Yisrael, even though behaving in such a manner. כי הריגתם בשעה ולא לצערם. You're supposed to kill them. You're not supposed to make them suffer. בכדי לשלם לו כמידתו. And the answer is that here was a unique case, because he did it. He used to do it to others, so therefore kasher zamam, the kasher also, they paid him back. There's an interesting goyen. The goyen says that actually we find in the war against Amalek, in the Megillah, that they also did mutilation in fighting the Shushan, the Amalek. It says, Vayaku b'soneihem, makas cherev v'hereg v'abdan. What does that mean? Cherev, hereg, and abdan. Says the goyen, cherev, they mutilated them. They cut off their limbs. Hereg, then they killed them. Abdan, and then they got rid of the body; they destroyed them completely. In order to get rid of the body, that the goyim shouldn't come and say, Oh, take a look, there's nothing. They got rid of them completely. There's a goyen on the pasuk, cherev, hereg, v'abdan. As a matter of fact, there's actually another medrash. The medrash says that when Shmuel, when he killed Agag, it says, Vayishasef es Agag. What does the word vayishasef mean? So if you look at the medrash, vayishasef means he cut him up limb by limb, and he fed him to the worms. He fed him; he would feed him to the animals. That's vayishasef. So we see mutilation more. We see that something that's condoned. So how could we come and talk that here it's not condoned?

Rav Chaim Kanievsky, on the Megillah, wants to say a pshat that maybe Amalek is different. Maybe Amalek is different. In the back of my mind, I think to myself that the Malbim says that it's midah keneged midah. Do I remember correctly that there's a Medrash that when Amalek came to Klal Yisrael, kachotech miloseihem v'zarkan klapei מעלה, and did mutilation. That's what they did to us. And our killing Amalek is in revenge, so to speak, even though we don't take revenge, but it's supposed to be for what they did to us. Zocheis ash asah lecha Amalek. Maybe that's why Shaul went, vayishasef, and he cut him up, he mutilated him, because that's what they did to us. And therefore we pay them back, special Amalek. Not all wars, chas v'shalom, in all other situations we wouldn't mutilate. But if, baal, there's an inyan of midah keneged midah, maybe fakert, the mekor is here. You see Adoni-Bezek has done this, so in punishment for his crimes, so to speak, then we have to do to him what he has done to others. And maybe, maybe we could come and understand why by Amalek we find mutilation in the revenge against Amalek. Al kol panim, Adoni-Bezek gets this treatment because he did it to others. The question is, but what happens to the mitzvah? There's a mitzvah to go and kill from the seven nations. So when was this done? It says in the pasuk, they went, they cut off his fingers, and then they brought him to Yerushalayim. The pasuk says clearly what? Vayomas sham. What? ...the mitzvah. You know, you could come and make a cheshbon. I mean, whoever made the cheshbon, I guess the Av Beis Din, or the tzaddikim at the time, or the Mashuach Milchamah, I'm not even sure who made the decision to cut his thumbs off. Yeah, but the mitzvah still remains the mitzvah. And the mitzvah was what? Lo sachayeh kol neshamah. Why didn't they kill him? So the truth is, the pshat, which is l'choira pashut, you have to say, that he actually died before they killed him. They were going to kill him. They bring him to Yerushalayim. Now why do they bring him to Yerushalayim? Rashi says that that's the next conquest. Vayavi'u Yerushalayim, sheholchu misham l'hilachem al Yerushalayim. So they planned on killing him, and he died en route. He died on the way. Now why didn't they kill him right away? What's the point of taking him? Maybe to show lesson, maybe to show that they captured Adoni-Bezek. Maybe. There's an interesting Malbim. The Malbim says that the Ribbono Shel Olam made it that he shouldn't get killed in the hands of the Yidden, but rather he should die en route. Says the Malbim, kivan shehoda al peshaav, hu shebedin Shamayim shilmu lo k'midosai, meis k'derech, k'darko bederech. He got paid. The Ribbono Shel Olam was mesahev his zeinish, so now he's not what? Not going to get killed in the hands of Klal Yisrael. I guess it's worse of a death. It must be much worse if a person dies in the hand of the sword, or he dies naturally, even though it's not really natural. It's, I guess, because they cut off his limbs, unless maybe it had nothing to do with the limbs being cut off. Maybe he just died. According to the Malbim, you have to say the pshat is he just died. He died a natural death and had nothing to do with his wounds. And the reason, says the Malbim, because l'maaseh he was hoydo al pshav, so he did what he had to do. The Nachlas Shimon, Rabbi Krasner shlita, beautiful sefer, a sefer on Tanach, he brings from the Kilus Yaakov, Rav David Pardo, that the reason why they didn't kill him is because he did teshuvah. He did teshuvah. Now actually, there's a Rabbeinu Bechaye that more or less says this. Rabbeinu Bechaye says something very interesting: Hizkir misasoi biYerushalayim. It mentions his death in Yerushalayim. Now I don't know what's bothering him exactly. Is he bothered by the fact that it says vayamos and Yerushalayim is irrelevant in the conversation? Or he meant to say was that somehow vayamos, he died in Yerushalayim like a natural death, which means much later. What's bothering him is, what do you mean vayamos? Vayamos what, in Yerushalayim? The point is the pasuk is trying to stress it wasn't then, it was later. Why? Lamdcha, says Rabbeinu Bechaye, kara kemov, keivan shehizvada v'hizkas Hashem yisbarach b'viduyav, hoysa misaso...

He was mevadeh. He said to the Ribono Shel Olam, I deserve what I got. Vidui, which is the whole question of, going half vidui, it's a nice halachic she'eilah. But al kol panim, since he was mevadeh, vayomer Adonai bezek. So there's two pshatim now at Beis. Pshat number one is that the reason why the pasuk tells us that Adoni-Bezek said what he said was to explain to me how Yitachin Klal Yisrael did this. They cut off his arms and legs, right? They did this. What, does that make sense? Is that a Jewish trait? And the answer is, vayomer Adonai bezek, he himself said he deserved it. The other pshat is to explain why he was vayamos biYerushalayim. According to Rabbeinu Bechaye, the pshat is, why does he die in Yerushalayim? Why didn't they kill him? And the answer is, he did teshuvah. The problem, of course, is that teshuvah should only work in the shivah amim before you go to milchemet. The Rambam says this clearly in perek vav in Hilchos Melachim, that before you go to war, v'karasa l'shalom, they have shayach to do teshuvah. Once they're caught, you can't do—I'm sorry, okay, now I'm sorry. Okay, now I do teshuvah. It's a little late for that. ... But al kol panim, these are the two, ul'choirah, the two ways how to learn the vayamos. Okay. The pasuk continues. One more minute, guys. I just want to catch one more pasuk. ... pasuk at Beis. Pasuk says, Vayelachu bnei Yehuda biYerushalayim, vayilkedu osah. Okay, now they're fighting in Yerushalayim, and they capture. Vayaku lefi charev. They killed, they made all the people. But then something interesting, which we don't find anywhere else except for one other place in the capture of Eretz Yisrael, and that is, Vesa ir shilchu ba'esh. They set the place on fire. They torched it. You know, that's one of the ways of war. Iraq, Iran, they just went and they torched all the oil fields, right? It's a way of war. We don't find this anywhere. We don't find it. One place we're soon going to learn in Chatzor, in Yehoshua, it says that Chatzor, they also burnt it to the ground. And the question is, why are they burning Yerushalayim with fire? So I saw the beautiful sefer Daas Sofer from Rav Binowitz, zichrono livrachah. He was a very big baal Tanach, beautiful sefarim he wrote. He says two pshatim, no mekoros, I don't really know what the mekor is. First he says maybe it was difficult to capture, and therefore this was a way of burning them out. Well, the fighting was so intense, the only way is to burn the people out of the foxholes, so to speak. Another pshat he wants to say is that they actually didn't move into Yerushalayim until quite some time after. So in order to make sure no one else moves in, the other nations that are around, you know, the minute you make a vacuum, that's all you need is right away, you know, all the other Arab countries are in, right? So therefore they burnt everything to the ground. He brings no mekoros for it, I don't know. I saw Reb Yitzchok Sorotzkin says a very nice pshat, beautiful pshat, really beautiful pshat. There's an interesting Radak in Yehoshua. We find that Chatzor was also burnt to the ground, and the Radak explains why is Chatzor burnt to the ground. So he says because Chatzor was rosh hamamlachos, it was like a capital by the goyim. Amongst the nations in the Canaan, this was like a capital. So in order to make a lesson, to make a sign and a symbol, they burnt it to the ground. So he wants to say Yerushalayim as well. Yerushalayim, we all know, is the focus of the whole world, is Yerushalayim. Sdom and then also was the same thing. It was the head of the land of Canaan. So to make a sign, to make an example, they went and they burnt it to the ground using their adak by chatzer over here too. I'm going to end, rabosai, with a thought. For some reason, and I don't have a raya, but I feel this way, Yerushalayim is heilig. Who knows if the burning of Yerushalayim was to clean out, to make a libun chamur of all that went on in Yerushalayim. It had to become the makom haro'ui for the Shechinah, for the Beis Hamikdash. Therefore, maybe, maybe, they went. I see you're smiling. I don't have a raya, but I feel this way. But I can tell you one thing that came through my mind, and I'll let you think about it. By the Beis Hamikdash we say in the tefillah of Nachem, Ki be'esh hitzata, uve'esh atah asid livnosah.

What eish is that? What kind of fire? The answer is, kedusha is prepared with fire, with a libun, comes with fire. So it could be, could be. And again, I don't have a raya. That's libi omer li. And im yirtzeh Hashem, we shall continue next week from this pasuk, the capture of Chet. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.