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Parshat Shemot After the first round of negotiations between Moshe and Pharaoh, the king seeks to enforce his dominion over the Hebrew slaves: And Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and its officers that day, saying, “You shall not continue to give straw to the people to make the bricks as in time gone by; they will go and collect straw for themselves. But the quota of the bricks that they have been making in time gone by shall you impose on them; you shall not decrease it; for they are slacking (NIRPIM). That is why they cry out saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our G-d.’ Make the work heavy on the men, and make them do it, and they will not be involved with words of falsehood (V’AL YISH’U B’DIVREI SHEKER)” (Shemot 5:6-9). Various commentators discuss the meaning of the last phrase in verse 9, especially the verb YISH’U. According to the way this word is structured, it would seem to be derived from the root SHIN-AYIN-HEH (with the HEH dropped, as is often the case with HEH in the final position). This root appears in various contexts in Tanach, with different meanings, giving rise to four different interpretations of our verse: 1. Rashbam (R. Shmuel ben Meir, c. 1085-1174) says SHIN-AYIN-HEH means “to turn, regard, consider.” An example of this usage is in Bereishit (4:4-5): And Hashem considered (VAYISHA) Hevel and his offering, but as for Kayin and his offering He did not consider (SHA’AH). It is also found elsewhere (e.g., Yesha’ya 17:8). Rashbam’s translation would therefore be: and they will not consider words of falsehood. [Many modern scholars as well find affinity between this verb and the Assyrian she’u, which means “to behold, look for, aim at”; thus, they understand that the basic meaning of the Hebrew SHIN-AYIN-HEH is “to gaze steadily with interest” (The Brown- river-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon).] 2. Rashi, aware of this approach, nevertheless rejects the idea of applying this translation here. He says that SHIN-AYIN-HEH means “to turn, regard, consider” only when followed by the preposition “to” (EL or L’) or “upon” (AL) However, in our verse, the verb is followed by the preposition “about” (B’): YISH’U B’DIVREI. This combination has precedent elsewhere, as in Tehillim 119:117, where it means “to speak about.” Rashi further argues that this word is the cognate of the Aramaic roots SHIN-AYIN-ALEF/SHIN-AYIN-YUD which mean “to speak about” (he refers us to the Targum Onkelos on Devarim 28:37 and Bereishit 24:66). Therefore, says Rashi, our verse means to say: “Let them not constantly utter and speak empty words (literally, words of wind), saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice.’” 3. Onkelos and Saadiah Gaon (882-942) translate SHIN-AYIN-HEH as “to be involved, preoccupied.” In explaining the Gaon’s view, Ibn Ezra says that Saadiah considers YISH’U as deriving from another root: SHIN-A YIN-NUN (with the NUN dropped, a rare elision which Ibn Ezra defends as nonetheless possible), meaning “to lean, rely.” This translation would therefore be: and they will not be involved with words of falsehood. 4. For his own part, Ibn Ezra, a well as Chizkuni (R. Chizkiya ben Manoach, mid 13th Century), understand SHIN-AYIN-HEH as “to weaken.” Examples of this usage include: Therefore I said, Let go (SH’U) of me and let me wail bitterly (Yesha’ya 22:4), and elsewhere (Tehillim 39:14; Yesha’ya 6:10, 32:3). Our verse is thus a counterpoint to verse 8, where Pharaoh says: they are slacking (NIRPIM). Accordingly, our verse would be translated: The work will be heavy on the men, and they will do it, and let them not become lax because of words of falsehood. To summarize: Rashbam translates YISH’U as a verb of thought, Rashi as a verb of speech, and Onkelos, Saadiah Gaon, Ibn Ezra and Chizkuni translate it as referring, in different ways, to action. Let’s return to Pharaoh’s declaration: Make the work heavy on the men, and make them do it, and they will not be involved with words of falsehood (V’AL YISH’U B’DIVREI SHEKER). Pharaoh refers to the people’s words, as well as Moshe’s words (uttered in Hashem’s Name!), as words of falsehood. But, with all respect to the king of Egypt, look who’s talking! Isn’t this a case of “the pot calling the kettle black”? From the very beginning, truth and falsehood have been central to Pharaoh’s policies. First Pharaoh makes the Hebrews outcasts, then slaves, then the objects of bitter oppression and decimation, all through a cleverly-planned series of royal decrees that manipulate truth and falsehood. He said he was concerned lest the multiplying Hebrews will go up from the land (Shemot 1:10), but he was really afraid that he and his people would be driven out of the land (Rashi). The enforced labor was introduced gradually, and by lies, and the Hebrew midwives were told to kill the Hebrew babies but to say they had died naturally (Ramban). Furthermore, in the “war of words” between Pharaoh and Moshe (who is, after all, the representative of Hashem), Pharaoh will lie again and again, first seeming to be willing to release the Hebrews, then reneging at the last minute.
In contrast, in his dialogue with Hashem, Moshe is
deeply worried that his people will not think
he is speaking the truth. He looks for ways of
establishing his credibility: As pointed out by Ibn Ezra here and other grammarians, the Hebrew word for “truth,” EMET, is derived from the root ALEF-MEM-NUN (with the final NUN dropped), from which the word AMEN is also developed, a declaration of assent as well as EMUNAH, belief and trust. Moshe wants the people’s trust, which he will ultimately achieve at the splitting of the Sea: And they believed (VAYAAMINU) in Hashem, and in Moshe His servant (Shemot 14:31). If anyone is guilty of words of falsehood, it is undoubtedly Pharaoh. Moshe, champion of YAAMINU (EMUNAH), wants the people of Israel to regard his words – now, and forever – as the truth.
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