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JUDAISM AND ISLÁM
day, however will we save thee with thy body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who shall be after thee.' "[1] This is the quite simple meaning of the words, which has been turned and twisted about by others, because they were ignorant of the following Jewish legend :[2] "Recognize the power of repentance ! Pharaoh King of Egypt rebelled excessively against the Most High saying : ( Who is Grod that I should hearken to His voice ? '[3] but with the same tongue he repented saying : ' Who is like Thee, Lord, among the Gods ?';[4] God delivered him from the dead, for it is written : ' For now I had put forth my hand and
- ↑ Not one Arabic commentator among those quoted in Blpherar appears
to have had a suspicion of the explanation given above, which is so well
suited to the words ; still it is not quite unknown to Baidhawi. Along
with other explanations he gives (Henzii Fragm. Arab., page 201) the
following: (
Arabic characters)
'And to-day we save thee i.e., we will bring thee back from where thy
people are sunk, even from the depth of the sea, and we will put thee
on dry land." And further on :(Arabic characters) "With thy body, i.e.,
whole and unharmed." But on the other hand the words : " That thou
mayest be a sign to those who shall come after thee," are explained by
him only in the ordinary way, viz. that he should be a horror and a
warning to them.
- ↑ Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, Section 43.
(Hebrew characters)
Comp. also Midrash on Psalm, cvi. and Midr. Yalkut, chapter 238.
- ↑ Exodus, v. 2,
- ↑ Exodus, xv, 11.
