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J.J Gross

Parshat Shelah: A radical retranslation of Bamidbar 14:18-19

Parshat Shelah tells the story of the Israelite spies who are sent to tour Canaan and deliver a report of their findings in the Promised Land. Their pessimistic report results in God’s wanting to destroy the people and replace them with Moshe and his progeny.

My comments on this fascinating episode appear in a column from a previous year  which you can read by clicking here http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/parshat-shelah-were-the-spies-set-up-by-moses/ .

This year I will focus on two of the most famous verses in this parsha – verses that are recited nearly every weekday morning in the Tahanun (penitential prayer) following the Amidah, and are repeated many, many  times over the course of the Selihot of Elul and Tishrei,  and during the prayers of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well as before the Torah readings on major festivals.

יְהֹוָ֗ה אֶ֤רֶךְ אַפַּ֙יִם֙ וְרַב־חֶ֔סֶד נֹשֵׂ֥א עָון וָפָ֑שַׁע וְנַקֵּה֙ לֹ֣א יְנַקֶּ֔ה פֹּקֵ֞ד עֲון אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁ֖ים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִֽים׃

סְלַֽח־נָ֗א לַעֲון הָעָ֥ם הַזֶּ֖ה כְּגֹ֣דֶל חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ וְכַאֲשֶׁ֤ר נָשָׂ֙אתָה֙ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה מִמִּצְרַ֖יִם וְעַד־הֵֽנָּה׃

The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in kindness, forgiving sin and rebellion. Though He does not acquit the guilty, but holds the descendants to account for the sins of the fathers; children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.  Please – pardon the sin of this people in Your great kindness, as You have forgiven this people  from the time of Egypt until now.
Bamidbar/Numbers 14:18-19 ( Translation: Koren  Tanakh, Magerman edition)

There are many translations of these two verses, yet they all reflect the same understanding , to whit; Moshe is imploring God to forgive the Israelites in keeping with His longstanding characteristic of tolerance and forgiveness dating all the way back from Egypt until now, yet nevertheless holding a grudge well into the fourth generation.

Actually, when this episode takes place the Exodus from Egypt is quite recent. Indeed, it is only now that God first decides to have his Chosen People  wandering in the desert for 40 years until the Exodus generation has died out and is replaced by a new and more worthy one.

I read these verses 18 and 19 somewhat differently. My understanding of them is that Moshe is cajoling, flattering and, yes, even rebuking God for wishing to destroy His people. 

יְהֹוָ֗ה אֶ֤רֶךְ אַפַּ֙יִם֙ וְרַב־חֶ֔סֶד נֹשֵׂ֥א עָון וָפָ֑שַׁע

The Lord who is slow to anger and abounding in kindness, forbearing iniquity and crime

וְנַקֵּה֙ לֹ֣א יְנַקֶּ֔ה פֹּקֵ֞ד עֲון אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁ֖ים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִֽים

And yet He will not cleanse? He will hold children accountable for the sin of their fathers into the third and fourth generations?

סְלַֽח־נָ֗א לַעֲון הָעָ֥ם הַזֶּ֖ה כְּגֹ֣דֶל חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ וְכַאֲשֶׁ֤ר נָשָׂ֙אתָה֙ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה מִמִּצְרַ֖יִם וְעַד־הֵֽנָּה

Please forgive the sin of this people in keeping with Your great kindness, as You have been forbearing this people from the time of Egypt until now.

I am suggesting this way of reading, because otherwise the clause וְנַקֵּה֙ לֹ֣א יְנַקֶּ֔ה פֹּקֵ֞ד עֲון אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁ֖ים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִֽים would be describing God as extremely vindictive to the extent of being unforgiving and blaming great grandchildren for the sins of their distant ancestors.

I cannot imagine that this is what Moshe is suggesting, i.e. that God spare the Jewish People while remaining unforgiving for generations into the future.  However, by reading these words as a hyperbolic question on Moshe’s part, with the aim of persuading God to relent, it makes a great deal more sense.

Your comments are most welcome.

 

 

About the Author
J.J Gross is a veteran creative director and copywriter, who made aliyah in 2007 from New York. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a lifelong student of Bible and Talmud. He is also the son of Holocaust survivors from Hungary and Slovakia.