Tehillim 111 or Who Is the Master of the House?
Tehillim 111 or Who Is the Master of the House?
Tehillim 111:6
- "Koach ma'asav higid le'amo, latet lahem nachalat goyim" - (He has declared the power of His works to His people, in giving them the inheritance of nations).
Rashi, the greatest commentator on the Torah, asks: "Should the Torah not have begun with the words: 'This month shall be for you the beginning of months' (Exodus 12:2), since this was the first mitzvah given to the Children of Israel? Why, then, does the Torah begin with Bereishit, the account of the Creation of the world?
If the Torah is a code of laws, it would be logical for it to begin with the first mitzvah—the sanctification of the new month and the counting of the months. Yet the presentation of the mitzvot begins only in Chapter 12 of the second Book, Exodus.
The answer is contained in a psalm of David: "He has declared the power of His works to His people, in giving them the inheritance of nations."
If the nations of the world say to the Children of Israel: "You are bandits who seized the lands of the seven nations," the Jews will be able to respond: 'The entire earth belongs to the L-rd; He created it and gave it to whomever He wished. By His will He gave it to them, and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us.'"
The commentators explain that the Canaanites' conquest of the land was part of the plan of the Almighty, who temporarily entrusted the Holy Land to "Canaan, just as property belonging to a master's son is entrusted to a servant until the son grows up and takes possession of both the property and the servant himself."
But had this land been given to other nations, they would have tried to possess it forever. However, servants have no ownership rights over property. And the Torah tells us that Noah cursed his grandson Canaan, the eldest son of Ham, saying to him: "Cursed is Canaan; he shall be a slave among slaves to his brothers," - because the descendants of Shem would serve G-d, while the descendants of Canaan would serve them.
But if other descendants of Shem—the Arabs—claim their right to this land, then this answer is intended specifically for them: "By His will He gave it to them, and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us."
(Rashi 1:1, Rabbeinu Bachya (Noah 10:15); "A Glimpse into the Pardes," A. Katz)
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