היושבים בשעיר [YOU WILL BE PASSING THROUGH THE TERRITORY OF YOUR BROTHERS, THE DESCENDANTS OF ESAU] WHO LIVE IN SEIR: These are not the same people as the Edomites who [according to the story in Numbers 20:14-21] went out with the sword to attack the Israelites. Concerning these [descendants of Esau, who live in Seir] the text says below, “[(vs. 28) what water I drink you will furnish for money ...] (vs. 29) as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir did for me.” But those Edomites [written about in Numbers 20] did not sell [the Israelites] anything.
1 Concerning them it says
(Numbers 20:21), “Israel turned away from them.”
2
a{3The above is the interpretation offered by our rabbi [Rashbam]. But to me the young one [i.e., the unworthy copyist], his interpretation of this verse does not make sense. “The descendants of Esau who live in Seir” are the same people as “the Edomites.”4 We never see them anywhere in the Bible living anywhere else other than at Mount Seir, in their place.
As for the phrase that troubled our rabbi [Rashbam] (vs. 29), “as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir did for me,”5 that phrase refers6 only to what was written immediately before (vs. 28), “what water I drink you will furnish for money, ... (29) as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir did for me.”7 It means that anything that the Israelites8 took from them [= the Edomites], they [= the Israelites] paid for,9 as it says (in our verse), “You are passing along the border10 of your brothers, the descendants of Esau... . (However,) (6) what food you eat you should obtain from them for money; even the water you drink you should procure from them for money.” And they did just that,11 just as God had commanded them. For it is written [that the Israelites said to King Sihon (vss. 28-29), “Whatever water I drink you will furnish for money, ... (29)] as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir did for me.”
When the Israelites were skirting Mt. Seir (vs. 1),12 Moses sent [a message] to the king of the Edomites asking for permission to pass through his territory to the land of Israel. This the king would not agree to. He did not want all the Israelites entering his territory at one time lest they damage his country. That is why (Numbers 20:20), “Edom went out against them in heavy force, strongly armed.” For that reason (Numbers 20:21), “Israel turned away from them.” Still as they were marching [outside of Edomite territory,] the Israelites purchased whatever they required from the Edomites.13 This is the true and accurate14 interpretation.}
וְיִירְאוּ מכם AND THEY WILL FEAR YOU: [The verb וְיִירְאוּ is] on the same pattern as וְיֵשְׁבוּ (and they will dwell) or וְיֵדְעוּ (and they will know) or וְיֹאמְרוּ (and they will say). However, the word וְיָרְאוּ in the phrase
(Deuteronomy 31:12), “they will fear (וְיָרְאוּ) God,” and the word וְיָדְעוּ in the phrase (16:21), “they will know (וְיָדְעוּ) that my name is the LORD,” have the same pattern as וְאָמְרוּ (they will say) or וְהָלְכוּ (they will go). All of these forms, however, refer to [actions in] the future.
15
1. Here is the central passage where Rashbam addresses the discrepancies between the two stories of Israel’s encounter with the descendants of Esau/Edom, the story here and the story in Numbers 20:14-21. Rashbam’s explanation is also reflected in his commentary to Numbers 20:17 (and see note 23 there), to Deuteronomy 2:3 (and see note 31 there), and to Deuteronomy 2:29 (and see note 56 there).
In Numbers, the Edomites refuse to allow the Israelites to pass through their territory, rebuff the offer of the Israelites to purchase food and water on their way, and go forth to chase the Israelites away with heavily-armed forces. Here in Deuteronomy Israel is told to pass peacefully through the territory of the descendants of Esau and to buy food and water from them. From the continuation of our chapter (vs. 29 in particular) it seems that that actually happened.
Rashi tries to harmonize the two stories. The Israelites did not pass through any Edomite territory. The Edomites did chase the Israelites away in a violent manner. The Israelites simply marched along the periphery of Edomite territory, along the border, and purchased food and water from the Edomites. (See especially Rashi ad Deuteronomy 2:29 and ad Numbers 21:13).
Rashbam says that the two stories are not to be harmonized. They refer to two different groups of people whom the Israelites encountered along the way: (1) the Edomites and (2) the descendants of Esau who live in Seir. Group (1) violently said, “No,” to the Israelites; group (2) allowed the Israelites free passage and sold them provisions.
The primary weakness with Rashbam’s explanation is that Edom and Esau are seen in the biblical narrative as one and the same, as it is written in Genesis 36:1 “Esau is Edom (עשו הוא אדום).” (See also Genesis 36:8 and 36:19; see also Rashbam’s commentary to Numbers 24:19, s.v. והאביד, where Rashbam clearly identifies Edom and Esau as the same people.)
Rashbam, however, argues that our verse is not describing an Israelite encounter with “the descendants of Esau,” in toto. The verse specifically says “the descendants of Esau who live in Seir.” Rashbam understands the clause, “who live in Seir,” as restrictive. Those descendants of Esau did allow the Israelites to pass through their territory, and agreed to sell provisions to them. The other descendants of Esau did not.
Cf. the interpolation of the copyist in the Appendix. That commentator argues that Rashbam’s distinction is impossible: all descendants of Esau lived at Mount Seir. However, see Luzzatto who defends Rashbam’s explanation. In fact, in Luzzatto’s commentary to Genesis 36:40 he writes that Rashbam’s explanation must be the correct one (נראין דבריו מוכרחים). Ibn Ezra ad vs. 29 also explains in a manner similar (but not identical) to Rashbam. Hoffmann mentions Rashbam’s explanation as a possible solution to the textual problem.
For modern attitudes to such attempts at harmonizing, see e.g. NJPSC 425-429.
2. In some versions of Rashbam’s commentary there is at this point an alternate explanation of our verse, which begins with the words זה פירוש רבינו. As Rosin correctly notes, that explanation is explicitly labeled an interpolation by the copyist. I have translated that interpolation in the Appendix, on p. 211 below.
3. This interpolation into the manuscript of Rashbam’s commentary comes right after Rashbam’s explanation of 2:4 and is clearly meant to take issue with Rashbam’s own explanation of that verse.
4. Unlike the distinction that Rashbam made in his comment.
5. That phrase implies that the Israelites’ experience with the descendants of Esau was positive, not the tense situation that almost erupted into war that was described in Numbers 20.
6. The commentator uses the verb עונה meaning “to refer” in the same way that Rashbam does. See e.g. commentary to Genesis 36:12 and to Exodus 20:8.
7. This is the solution proposed by Rashi ad vs. 29. See also Rashbam’s commentary to our verse, and note 32 there.
8. Literally, “anything that we took from them, we paid for.”
The commentator refers to the Israelites in this passage using first-, second-, and third-person verbs (“we took” (לקחנו); “you did” (עשיתם); and “they would enter” (שיכנסו). This type of apparently arbitrary variation in person is not unusual. For ease of understanding I have made the translation more consistent. See similarly Rashbam’s commentary to Numbers 14:14, and note 53 there.
9. And it does not mean that they behaved nicely to the Israelites.
10. It appears that the commentator feels that the Israelites never entered any Edomite territory, and that he interprets the words אתם עוברים בגבול אחיכם the way that Rashi does. See note 31 on Rashbam’s commentary to Deuteronomy 2:3.
11. Literally, “and you did just that” (וכן עשיתם). See note 18 above.
12. Cf. Rashbam’s commentary to 1:2 and to 2:29, and see note 24 ad 1:2. Rashbam’s position on when the Israelites “skirted Mount Seir” appears inconsistent.
This commentator thinks that that “skirting” was taking place before the incident with the Edomites.
13. This paragraph represents the commentator’s attempt to harmonize all the verses about the Edomites and the Israelites (
Numbers 20:14-21,
Deuteronomy 2:1-8 and
2:29) and turn them into one narrative. As noted above (note 17), the commentator is following Rashi’s harmonizing solution.
14. The phrase האמת והישר is an allusion to Ps 111:8.
15. Rashbam’s explanation here is straightforward and unarguable. He is distinguishing between two ways of forming a “future-tense” verb in biblical Hebrew.
The forms listed in the first sentence of this comment are imperfect forms, preceded by the letter vav meaning “and.” The forms in the second sentence of this comment are all perfect forms preceded by the letter vav which turns them into vav-consecutive forms. Rashbam thus explains why we find here in Deuteronomy two vocalizations for a word that means “they shall fear”: וְיִירְאוּ and וְיָרְאוּ.
Rashbam discusses this same issue at greater length in his Dayyaqut (Merdler’s edition, pp. 43-45), citing many of the same examples. It is possible that Rashbam is prompted to comment here because our passage seems to contradict the rule he formulated there (p. 44) about tense sequence: that an imperfect form preceded by a vav meaning “and” almost always follows another imperfect form. Here that is not the case.