parshat Eikev: Some Idioms In The Parsha

While looking through the parsha this week, what caught my attention most was the use of idioms. The parsha begins with what perhaps might be termed an idiom: {Devarim 7:12}

וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן, אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה

תִּשְׁמְעוּן does not literally mean "hear" in this case. They are not getting all these blessings because the sound waves entered their ears. Rather, as it often does, שמע means "hearken."

There are more obvious examples which are clearly idiomatic. For example, talking about their success in war, a few pesukim later we read:

וְאָכַלְתָּ אֶת-כָּל-הָעַמִּים, אֲשֶׁר ה אלוקך נֹתֵן לָךְ

This is translated consume, but the basic meaning is "eat." In fact, in sefer Bemidbar, in similar context, we read:

Bemidbar 14:9:

ט אַךְ בַּה', אַל-תִּמְרֹדוּ, וְאַתֶּם אַל-תִּירְאוּ אֶת-עַם הָאָרֶץ, כִּי לַחְמֵנוּ הֵם; סָר צִלָּם מֵעֲלֵיהֶם וַה' אִתָּנוּ, אַל-תִּירָאֻם. 9 Only rebel not against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us; their defence is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us; fear them not.'

Now, some of the Benei Yisrael's enemy are the Chitti, but still I don't think they were literally bread.

and in parshat Balak, a similar statement, where the it is a simile rather than a metaphor: Bemidbar 22:4:

ד וַיֹּאמֶר מוֹאָב אֶל-זִקְנֵי מִדְיָן, עַתָּה יְלַחֲכוּ הַקָּהָל אֶת-כָּל-סְבִיבֹתֵינוּ, כִּלְחֹךְ הַשּׁוֹר, אֵת יֶרֶק הַשָּׂדֶה; וּבָלָק בֶּן-צִפּוֹר מֶלֶךְ לְמוֹאָב, בָּעֵת הַהִוא.

4 And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: 'Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.'--And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.--

Back in parshat Eikev, we find other examples of idiom.

In terms of the writing of the luchot, we hear that God wrote them with his finger:

י וַיִּתֵּן ה אֵלַי, אֶת-שְׁנֵי לוּחֹת הָאֲבָנִים--כְּתֻבִים, בְּאֶצְבַּע אֱלֹהִים; וַעֲלֵיהֶם, כְּכָל-הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר ה עִמָּכֶם בָּהָר מִתּוֹךְ הָאֵשׁ--בְּיוֹם הַקָּהָל.

10 And the LORD delivered unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

Since what is happening is writing, and writing is often done with one's hand, one might actual imagine God writing with His Great Pinky -- though such may well be heresy. The whole thing might be allegorical describing some process in human-comprehensible terms. Or, I would suggest, what is actually happening is that בְּאֶצְבַּע אֱלֹהִים is an idiom meaning "wonderous and miraculous." We see this earlier by the Plague of Lice, when Pharaoh's magicians exclaimed this. Shemot 8:15:

יד וַיַּעֲשׂוּ-כֵן הַחַרְטֻמִּים בְּלָטֵיהֶם לְהוֹצִיא אֶת-הַכִּנִּים, וְלֹא יָכֹלוּ; וַתְּהִי, הַכִּנָּם, בָּאָדָם, וּבַבְּהֵמָה.	14 And the magicians did so with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not; and there were gnats upon man, and upon beast.
טו וַיֹּאמְרוּ הַחַרְטֻמִּם אֶל-פַּרְעֹה, אֶצְבַּע אֱלֹהִים הִוא; וַיֶּחֱזַק לֵב-פַּרְעֹה וְלֹא-שָׁמַע אֲלֵהֶם, כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה. {ס}	15 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh: 'This is the finger of God'; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken.

Later, we have the famous idiom which should not be taken literally, when Moshe tells Hashem: Devarim 9:29:

כט וְהֵם עַמְּךָ, וְנַחֲלָתֶךָ, אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתָ בְּכֹחֲךָ הַגָּדֹל, וּבִזְרֹעֲךָ הַנְּטוּיָה. {פ}

29 Yet they are Thy people and Thine inheritance, that Thou didst bring out by Thy great power and by Thy outstretched arm.'

Another idiom in the parsha is when Hashem tells Moshe that the Jews are a stiff-necked people. Devarim 9:13:

יג וַיֹּאמֶר ה, אֵלַי לֵאמֹר: רָאִיתִי אֶת-הָעָם הַזֶּה, וְהִנֵּה עַם-קְשֵׁה-עֹרֶף הוּא.

13 Furthermore the LORD spoke unto me, saying: 'I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people;

Now, they are not stiff-necked because they slept wrong, or because, like the midrash about Moshe, their necks had turned to marble. It means that they are stubborn.

We see the same idiom, plus a more painful one, a perek later. Devarim 10:16:

טז וּמַלְתֶּם, אֵת עָרְלַת לְבַבְכֶם; וְעָרְפְּכֶם--לֹא תַקְשׁוּ, עוֹד.

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

which means to be emotionally (and intellectually) true and dedicated to Hashem.

This brings us to one idiom which I am a bit unsure whether or not it is an idiom. Moshe realted what happened when he went up on Har Sinai the first time to receive the Torah. Devarim 9:9:

ט בַּעֲלֹתִי הָהָרָה, לָקַחַת לוּחֹת הָאֲבָנִים לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית, אֲשֶׁר-כָּרַת ה, עִמָּכֶם; וָאֵשֵׁב בָּהָר, אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לַיְלָה--לֶחֶם לֹא אָכַלְתִּי, וּמַיִם לֹא שָׁתִיתִי.	9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water.
י וַיִּתֵּן יְהוָה אֵלַי, אֶת-שְׁנֵי לוּחֹת הָאֲבָנִים--כְּתֻבִים, בְּאֶצְבַּע אֱלֹהִים; וַעֲלֵיהֶם, כְּכָל-הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר ה עִמָּכֶם בָּהָר מִתּוֹךְ הָאֵשׁ--בְּיוֹם הַקָּהָל.	10 And the LORD delivered unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

And later after chet ha'eigel, he says:

יח וָאֶתְנַפַּל לִפְנֵי ה כָּרִאשֹׁנָה, אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לַיְלָה--לֶחֶם לֹא אָכַלְתִּי, וּמַיִם לֹא שָׁתִיתִי: עַל כָּל-חַטַּאתְכֶם אֲשֶׁר חֲטָאתֶם, לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי ה לְהַכְעִיסוֹ.

18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him.

Did he literally not eat and drink for forty days and forty nights? Wouldn't he have starved? Perhaps it is meant literally. We are talking about wholly miraculous events here, and Hashem could have sustained him. As we read, also in this week's parsha: Devarim 8:3:

ג וַיְעַנְּךָ, וַיַּרְעִבֶךָ, וַיַּאֲכִלְךָ אֶת-הַמָּן אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַעְתָּ, וְלֹא יָדְעוּן אֲבֹתֶיךָ: לְמַעַן הוֹדִיעֲךָ, כִּי לֹא עַל-הַלֶּחֶם לְבַדּוֹ יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם--כִּי עַל-כָּל-מוֹצָא פִי-ה, יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם.

3 And He afflicted thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

I would suggest, though, that this, too, is idiom. Of course he ate and drank, but he is emphasizing in these two pesukim the intense dedication and single-mindedness to which he approached each of these two tasks.