Bar-Ilan University

Parashat Hashavua Study Center

Parashat Mishpatim 5771/ January 29, 2011

Lectures on the weekly Torah reading by the faculty of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. A project of the Faculty of Jewish Studies, Paul and Helene Shulman Basic Jewish Studies Center, and the Office of the Campus Rabbi. Published on the Internet under the sponsorship of Bar-Ilan University's International Center for Jewish Identity. Prepared for Internet Publication by the Computer Center Staff at Bar-Ilan University. Inquiries and comments to: Dr. Isaac Gottlieb, Department of Bible,

Prof. Haim Genizi

Department of World History

"I will send a hornet ahead of you"

The hornet is mentioned three times in Scripture:

1.  In this week's reading (Ex. 23:27-28): "I will send forth My terror before you, and I will throw into panic all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn tail before you. I will send hornet ahead of you, and it shall drive out before you the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites."

2.  Deuteronomy 7:20: "The Lord your G-d will also send a hornet against them, until those who are left in hiding perish before you."

3.  Joshua 24:12: "I sent a hornet ahead of you, and it drove them out before you."

Amos Hakham, in his commentary on the verse in Exodus,[1] claims that besides these three references, "the tzir`ah [="hornet"] is not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture, and therefore we cannot say precisely what it was and how it helped the Israelites." Traditional commentators are divided regarding their interpretation of the word tzir`ah. Rashi says it is "a kind of insect," Saadiah Gaon says, "a disease, a sickness of the body," Rabbi Jonah ibn Janah agrees with Saadiah Gaon,[2] Ibn Ezra says it is a "plague on the body, derived from the same root as tzara`at [leprosy], that weakens the body," and Nahmanides says it is "a known species like the bee."

The tzir`ah is identified with the Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis), the largest of the hornets found in Israel. It resembles the bee both in its body and in its social life, except that it is larger than the bee, does not make honey, and its sting is very severe and can even cause death.[3]

Where and when did the hornet help the Israelites? The gemara, Tractate Sotah 36a, deals with the question of whether or not the hornet crossed the Jordan River:

A Tanna taught: The hornet did not pass over [Jordan] with them; but behold it is written: And I will send the hornet before thee! – R. Simeon b. Lakish said: It stood by the bank of the Jordan and injected a virus [into the Canaanites] which blinded their eyes above and castrated them below… R. Papa said: There were two hornets, one in the period of Moses and the other in the period of Joshua; the former did not pass over [Jordan] but the other did.

Rashi and Nahmanides base their commentary to Ex. 23:27-28 on this passage in the gemara. Rashi writes:

This is a kind of insect which wounded their eyes and injected poison in them, so that they died… for our Rabbis have explained in Tractate Sotah (36a) that the hornets placed themselves on the [east] bank of the Jordan and [from there] cast the poison against them.

Nahmanides relies on the words of R. Papa (that there were two kinds of hornet, and that the one cited in Joshua crossed the Jordan), writing (Ex. 23:25): "This hornet crossed the Jordan along with Joshua."

The Lord made the hornet play the role of an emissary, as it is written, "I will send a hornet ahead of you" – so that the hornet, along with G-d's terror, brought tidings to the Canaanites that the Israelites were about to come after them.

Which peoples did the hornet drive out? Three peoples are mentioned in this week's reading: "and it shall drive out before you the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites." Ibn Ezra is of the opinion that "of the seven nations He only mentioned three, but the same applied to all of them" (Ex. 23:28). Rashi writes there:

The Hittites and Canaanites [whom Scripture mentions here as being driven out] were the inhabitants of the land of Sihon and Og. It is for this reason that of all the seven nations, Scripture enumerates here only these two. But the Hivites lived on the other bank of the Jordan and somewhat beyond it [and they were indeed driven out by the hornets] for our Rabbis have explained in Tractate Sotah (36a) that the hornets placed themselves on the [east] bank of the Jordan and [from there] cast the poison against them.

Amos Hakham surmises that originally the hornet was supposed to drive out all the peoples living in Canaan, "except that the Israelites did not have such good fortune, and in the wake of the sin of Achan the hornet went away after the conquest of Jericho."[4]

In his parting speech Joshua lists the hornet among the factors contributing to the victory which the Lord brought the Israelites: "I sent a hornet ahead of you, and it drove them out before you" (Josh. 24:12). From this we learn that the Lord kept his promise and sent the hornet to assist Israel.

The Bee as Symbol

An original interpretation from another direction is presented by Garstang,[5] scholar and Director of Antiquities in the British Mandate of Palestine. According to him, the hornet was not a real creature, rather a symbol of Egypt. The headdress of Pharaoh in upper Egypt was decorated with a picture of a bee. Just as Russia may be symbolized by the Russian Bear, England portrayed by the British Lion, and the United States represented by the American Eagle, so too the hornet, meaning the bee, symbolized Egypt. Egypt ruled the land of Canaan with a mighty hand during the period preceding conquest of the land by Joshua. According to various sources, among them the Amarna documents from the 13th century B.C.E., Egyptian strengthened its domination over the land of Canaan, new cities being added to the Egyptian hegemony. Letters to Pharaoh from the rulers of Lakhish, Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Megiddo, Gezer and Hazor complain about the hard hand of Egyptian rule and request help against the Habiru.[6]

According to Garstang, the Lord sent Egypt, symbolized by the hornet, to oppress those living in the land of Canaan, thereby weakening the rule of the kings in Canaan. This made it easier for the Israelites to conquer the land. The hornet indeed helped drive out the peoples of Canaan, as the Holy One, blessed be He, promised, showing the hand of the Lord directing history.

1

[1] Da`at Mikra, Exodus, Jerusalem 1991.

[2] Encyclopedia Mikrait, vol. 4, p. 773.

[3] Ibid., p. 774.

[4] Da`at Mikra, loc. sit., note 157.

[5] J. Garstang, Joshua, Judges (London, 1931), 112ff., 258 ff.

[6] Nadav Neeman, "Historia Medinit shel Eretz Yisrael be-Yemei ha-Shoshalot ha-19-20," in Historia shel Eretz Yisrael: ha-Tekufot ha-Kedumot (Jerusalem 1982), pp. 248, 250; Yehudah Elitzur, Yisrael ve-ha-Mikra, ed. Yoel Elitzur and Amos Frisch (Ramat Gan 1999), p. 53; Nahman Avigad, "Lakhish," Encyclopedia Mikrait, vol. 4, p. 504.