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Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk.
...Who took you out from the land of Egypt, from the
house of slavery. (Ex. 20:2)
The Ohr HaChaim comments on the verse which contains
the first of the Ten Commandments: "I am the Lord your G-d who..."
Regarding the two phrases "from the land of Egypt" and
"from the house of slavery", the first expression refers to the Exodus which has
already taken place, while the last expression refers to the liberation in the
future when the Mashiach will arrive.  | | " G-d...wanted the Israelites to reside in a country which was directly under His personal guidance..." | | |
The words "Who took you out from the land of Egypt"
also provide the answer to the question why G-d did not simply replace the
Egyptians in Egypt with the Jews and establish us as the rulers in that land.
Why was it necessary to leave the land, to travel through the desert, etc.?
Surely the Israelites would have derived greater satisfaction from such a
solution to their problems than to have to march to Canaan and there to
dispossess a people which had never done them any harm. Moreover, it would have
demonstrated G-d's power if He dispossessed the Egyptians of their land!
G-d explained that inasmuch as the very land of Egypt
was a house of bondage, this would not have been appropriate. This is as read in
the verse: "When the Supreme G-d handed out the inheritance of the various
nations, He established boundaries for the peoples in relation to Israel's
numbers" (Deut. 32:8). The Zohar (I:108) comments that G-d handed out certain
places on earth to the guardian angels of the various nations, and that the only
land He did not assign to such guardian angels was the land of Canaan (Israel).
G-d had reserved the land of Canaan for Himself.
The Torah says "house of slavery", describing the
place as one assigned to one of G-d's servants (the guardian angel of Egypt).
G-d did not want for the Jewish people to live in a homeland which "belonged" to
the guardian angel of the Egyptians. He wanted the Israelites to reside in a
country which was directly under His personal guidance. [Selected with permission from the five-volume English
edition of "Ohr HaChaim: the Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar"]
Visitor Comments: 1
Anonymous, 6/9/2005
This was a very interesting ar
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