Numbers 11 Torah portion Behaalotcha may well be summed up by paraphrasing a popular adage: You can take the nation out of
Egypt, but you can’t take Egypt out of the nation.
“And the people were as murmurers, speaking evil in the ears of God.
And when God heard it, His anger was kindled. And the fire of God burnt
among them, and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp.”
Readers, reminds Abravanel, need to bear in mind that ancient Egypt was a hotbed of paganism. Besides
Egypt’s utter lack of religiosity, the locals’ interpersonal relations hit noxiously low levels. Tragically,
Abravanel teaches, the Hebrews had imbibed these shortcomings, bringing them out of Egypt. Verily, a
snapshot of the Chosen People brought in Numbers 11 would be less than flattering. In time, Moses
would succeed in reeducating his brethren, turning them into a meritorious nation.
For our purposes here, let us share Abravanel’s explanation of the people’s sins, per our verse. “And the
people were as murmurers, speaking evil in the ears of God.” Precisely what wrongdoing is being
conveyed? Why did the people’s murmurings provoke the Creator’s fury, His fire?
As prefaced above, transforming the Hebrews took time and toil on the prophet’s part. Even though
they had stood at Sinai hearing God’s words, and even though they had remained there for a year
learning divine commandments, still they exhibited backsliding, recidivistic folly. Egypt’s stain would
prove a stubborn one.
For Abravanel, the sin relates to the Hebrew’s skewed attitudes toward God. Moreover, the nation as a
whole found it hard to part with evil. Essentially, it boiled down to one step forward, two back.
A stiff-necked people refused to take heart and mend broken ways. In the Creator’s eyes, it was hideous,
unconscionable. Although they left Sinai accompanied by the Holy Ark in their midst, with a divine cloud
hovering above, notwithstanding – “the people were as murmurers, speaking evil in the ears of God.”
According to Abravanel, the Jews harbored gross misconceptions about the Creator and His engagement
in the world. Here is a textual clue: “Speaking evil in the ears of God.” While the Hebrews professed
belief in the Maker, they failed to believe He heard man.
God is a remote Being, they presumed.
He doesn’t get involved in man’s petty world, they contended.
For these theologically-misguided Hebrews, it was futile to speak to the exalted One Above, they dared
say, for He didn’t “have ears” for mere mortals.
How wrongheaded were those Jews in the first years out of Egypt! “And when God heard it, His anger
was kindled.” The Creator would not abide the lies. Shortly, short-minded Hebrews would feel the heat,
as divine punishment would serve to realign an expendable generation and extract their descendants
from ancient Egypt’s mire. “And the fire of God burnt among them, and devoured in the uttermost part
of the camp.”
