Parshas Beshalach 5776

What is "the way of the Philistines"?

The Torah writes (Exodus 13:17):

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said: 'Lest the people regret when they see war, and they return to Egypt.’

The Daat Mikra atlas (p. 72, p. 105) explains that there were two major trade routes in Canaan:

• The way of the Philistines (or the way of the sea [Isaiah 8:23]), went from Egypt through the Sinai desert to the sea shore near Gaza, and then ran along the shore of the Mediterranean. It's modern name is Via Maris.
• The other road called the King's Highway (see Numbers 20:17, 20:19, 21:22 and Deuteronomy 2:27), ran from Egypt through Sinai to the Gulf of Aqaba (near modern Eilat), then to the west of the Dead Sea and the Jordan river. This road went through the kingdoms of Esau, Moab and Amnon.

(Courtesy of Wikipedia, user: Ori-)

Miriam, the Sister of Aaron and not Moses?
The Torah writes (Exodus 15:20):

And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

However, when Moses's birth is mentioned earlier, she is not identified by name (Exodus 2:1-4):

And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bore a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

It is only later that the Torah connects the entire family together (Numbers 26:59):

And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.

(It is also important to note that several times when the Torah mentions someone being a sister it may actually indicate a half sibling or a step sibling. For examples, see our earlier post about Serah, and Rashi [Genesis 36:12] regarding Timna, sister of Lotan)

The Talmud (Megilah 14a) asks why she is not called the sister of Moses:

Rav Nahman said in the name of Rav: Because she prophesied as the sister of Aaron [Rashi: Moses was not yet born] saying, "in the future my mother will give birth to a son who will save Israel".

Rashbam (Genesis 28:9) explains that she is mentioned that way because of age (see also Ramban [Genesis 10:21]):

The reason she is referred to in that fashion is that she was older than Moses but younger than Aaron. On the other hand, in a verse where both Moses and Aaron are mentioned together with Miriam, (Exodus Numbers 26,59) she is referred to as “their sister.”

HaEmek Davar (Exodus 15:20) explains in another way:

To teach us that her prophecy was like Aaron's prophecy but not like Moses's prophecy for it was higher than that of their family

[Published at parshapeople.blogspot.com / Comments welcome to parsha-people@publishyoursefer.com]