Shlach Lecha

Then the nations will speak, “Because it is beyond the capacity of God to bring these people into the land that He has sworn to them. That is why He slaughtered them in the wilderness. And God said “I have forgiven in accordance with your word.”

14:16, 20

How could Moses have conceived that the Judge of all the earth should refrain from administering strict justice for fear of what the Egyptians in their foolishness would argue? Surely the Holy One has no fear of the multitudes of peoples. What does it profit Him whether the Egyptians honor Him or otherwise, that He should refrain from dealing justly in His world and with His people?

Don Isaac Abravanel (16^th Century)

In the event that that God meant to kill the Israelites, the Egyptians would ascribe this demise of the Jewish people to their sinfulness, will laugh in their hearts that God had wasted all His miracles on an undeserving people. If the meaning is that God would merely disinherit Israel, then the failure to deliver on His promise would be attributed to His impotence, to His inability to make good on His promise. The Egyptians would have to admit that God had been more powerful than they, but by the same token they would say that all the nations in that region had proven to be more powerful than the God of the Israelites.

Moshe Alshich (16^th Century)

When Moses appears to harp on the impression the demise of the people of Israel would make on the Egyptians and the other nations, the point was that the deities of the Canaanites would be enhanced in the eyes of the Egyptians and they would ascribe superior power to them. God’s exertion of power in orchestrating the Exodus would be perceived as the maximum the Jewish god was capable of. If, nonetheless, the Israelites would not arrive at their destination, they would conclude that the deities of the Canaanites had the power to save themselves and their people from the hands of the Jewish God. This in turn would be a grave desecration of the name of the Lord and instead of the Exodus and all that took place in connection with it bringing the nations closer to monotheism the opposite would occur and the belief in certain deities would be immeasurably strengthened…

Bachya Ben Asher (13^th Century)

When mankind sinned there only remained this people (Israel) to publicize His oneness and that he is the God of the universe. Were He then to destroy Israel, the peoples of the world would forget His deeds and the whole intention of human creation would be completely defeated. It was only logical therefore that the Divine Will that had willed the creation of the world should desire the continued existence of the people since they were nearer to Him and knew him more than all the nations…

Nachmanides (13^th Century)

In this portion, God and His people gain a deeper understanding of the nature of their relationship. The generation of the wilderness has learned that the penalty for lack of trust is the necessity for even more trust. That is, this generation’s attachment to the land has become even more tenuous, its only hope residing in the children, the new inheritors…And the Lord too has learned from the encounter. With all His blustering, He now understands that He needs the Children of Israel as much as they need Him. Without them, the promise of the land will remain unfulfilled.

Alvin Sandberg (Contemporary)