1)

What is the Mashal of the eagle and its young referring to?

1.

Rashi: Like an eagle, which does not drop suddenly into its nest, 1 but hovers above it, so too, when Hakadosh-Baruch-Hu came to give the Torah to Yisrael, He did not come to them forcefully 2 from one direction, but gently, from all four directions. 3

2.

Seforno: The entire Pasuk refers to the future 4 : 'May Hashem do in the future what He intended to do at Har Sinai - had they not sinned by the Eigel - a Tefilah that Hashem accepted, as Zecharyah wrote 5 in 10:8 and Yeshayah in 49:22. 6

3.

Targum Yonasan: Like an eagle hurries to its nest and hovers over its young, so too does the Shechinah protects the camps of Yisrael and casts its shade over them.


1

So as not to frighten its babies - as the Torah writes here 'Like an eagle arouses its nest by hovering over its young'.

2

Rashi: As the Pasuk writes in Iyov, 37:23.

3

Rashi: As the Torah writes in Devarim 33:2 and in Chavakuk, 3:3. See Rashi.

4

The Seforno explains the Nimshal but not the Mashal.

5

'I will whistle to them and gather them for I have redeemed them'.

6

'I will raise My Hand towards nations and hoist My banner towards peoples; and they will bring your children with great honor ... ' Refer also to 32:11:2:3.

2)

What is the meaning of the Mashal in the second half of the Pasuk?

1.

Rashi: And just like an eagle moves its young from place to place, it carries them on its wings 1 to protect them from the arrows that the archers shoot, 2 so too, did Hakadosh-Baruch-Hu carry them "on eagle's wings" 3 - When the Egyptians caught up with Yisrael at the Yam-Suf and began firing arrows and catapult rocks at them, the angel of Hashem moved back between the two camps and absorbed them. 4

2.

Targum Yonasan: And just as an eagle spreads its wings over its young, and carries and bears them on its pinions, so too did Hashem carry them and bear them until He settled them in the fortified cities of Eretz Yisrael.

3.

Seforno: "And you will be gathered one by one, Bnei Yisrael" (Yeshayah, 27:12) and "Who are these who fly like a cloud" (60:8).

4.

Rosh: When an eagle's chicks alight on its wings, they need fear neither birds flying higher above nor hunters' arrows from below. So too, did Hashem's clouds surrounded Yisrael on all sides and they had nothing to fear.

5.

Hadar Zekenim: Other birds carry their young with their feet, because they are afraid of the eagle, which flies higher than them, so they carry only one at a time. (The eagle carries all its young together on its wings. So too, does Hashem protects all of Yisrael).


1

Rashi: Unlike other birds which carry their young with their feet, because they are afraid of the eagle, which flies higher than them.

2

Rashi: Because it says 'Better that he arrow should strike me than my child!'

3

Rashi: Shemos, 19:4.

4

Rashi: As the Torah relates in Shemos, 14:19.

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