Parshas Vayeshev 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
ואנכי העליתי אתכם מארץ מצרים ואולך אתכם במדבר ארבעים שנה ... (עמוס ב-י)
Amos HaNavi relays Hashem’s message; “And I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you through the wilderness forty years, to possess the land of the Amorite.” Obviously, Hashem could have brought us up from Egypt and taken us directly into Eretz Yisroel, so why did Klal Yisroel have to stay in the desert for forty years?
Rabbeinu Bechaya explains by way of a parable. There was once a king who planted a vineyard in his field which also contained great cedar trees, as well as thorns and weeds. The king cut down the trees, but left the thorns untouched. When his servants asked about this, he replied that had he uprooted the thorns and left the trees standing, there would be nothing he could use to fence off the vineyard. This way, he had wood for a fence, thorns to temporarily protect the field while he built the fence, and more sunshine for the vineyard to produce good grapes. Klal Yisroel is compared to a vineyard and when Hashem did finally allow us to enter Eretz Yisroel - His “vineyard” - He had already cut down the mighty cedars - the powerful Emorites who lived there. However, in order for Klal Yisroel to stay in the land, they needed to be on the spiritual level that would protect it. That spiritual growth took place over the forty-year sojourn in the desert.
So, while Hashem cut down the powerful trees - the Emorites, he left their children and grandchildren - the thorns - to temporarily safeguard the land until Klal Yisroel was ready to take it over and flourish.