parshaמפרשי הפרשה

משך חכמה — כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל אל

How does the Meshech Chochmah read "כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל אל" — peshat, against Rashi and Rashbam's future-directed reading?

'כעת' — כהעת הזאת והמצב הנוכחי שהחרימו סיחון ועוג, ועתידים עוד לנקום ממדין וממלכי כנען, 'יאמר ליעקב', כמו על יעקב, ו'ולישראל' פירוש על בית יעקב וישראל יאמר: ראו 'מה פעל השם'.

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משך חכמה

משך חכמה, בלק י״ד

Meshekh Chokhmah, Balak:14

Balak

Q — How does the Meshech Chochmah read "כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל אל" — peshat, against Rashi and Rashbam's future-directed reading?

A — "כעת" = THE CURRENT moment — right after the conquest of Sichon and Og and on the brink of Midian and Canaan. The phrase isn't "to Israel" but "about Israel": the nations themselves will say of Yaakov and Yisrael "ראו מה פעל אל!" An ex-slave nation crushing mighty kings is clearly hashgachah pratit, not natural order — "הן עם כלביא יקום וכארי יתנשא," a lion that looks like nothing while lying down and is fully revealed only when it rises.

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