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(כז) וּבְנֵ֥י יוֹסֵ֛ף אֲשֶׁר־יֻלַּד־ל֥וֹ בְמִצְרַ֖יִם נֶ֣פֶשׁ שְׁנָ֑יִם כׇּל־הַנֶּ֧פֶשׁ לְבֵֽית־יַעֲקֹ֛ב הַבָּ֥אָה מִצְרַ֖יְמָה שִׁבְעִֽים׃ {ס}
(27) And Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt were two in number. Thus the total of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt was seventy persons.
וַֽיְהִ֗י כָּל־נֶ֛פֶשׁ יֹצְאֵ֥י יֶֽרֶךְ־יַעֲקֹ֖ב שִׁבְעִ֣ים נָ֑פֶשׁ וְיוֹסֵ֖ף הָיָ֥ה בְמִצְרָֽיִם׃
The total number of persons that were of Jacob’s issue came to seventy, Joseph being already in Egypt.
(א) כל הנפש הבאה ליעקב. שֶׁיָּצְאוּ מֵאֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן לָבֹא לְמִצְרַיִם; וְאֵין "הַבָּאָה" זוֹ לְשׁוֹן עָבָר אֶלָּא לְשׁוֹן הוֹוֶה,... לְפִי שֶׁכְּשֶׁיָּצְאוּ לָבֹא מֵאֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן לֹא הָיוּ אֶלָּא שִׁשִּׁים וָשֵׁשׁ, וְהַשֵּׁנִי, כָּל הַנֶּפֶשׁ לְבֵית יַעֲקֹב הַבָּאָה מִצְרַיְמָה שִׁבְעִים – הוּא לְשׁוֹן עָבָר, לְפִיכָךְ טַעְמוֹ לְמַעְלָה בַּבֵּי"ת, לְפִי שֶׁמִּשֶּׁבָּאוּ שָׁם הָיוּ שִׁבְעִים, שֶׁמָּצְאוּ שָׁם יוֹסֵף וּשְׁנֵי בָנָיו, וְנִתּוֹסְפָה לָהֶם יוֹכֶבֶד בֵּין הַחוֹמוֹת.
(1) כל הנפש הבאה ליעקב EVERY SOUL THAT WAS COMING WITH JACOB — every soul that left Canaan to go to Egypt The word הבאה, here, is not a perfect tense, but a participle with a relative present sense .... The reason is, that when they came there, they were seventy, for they found Joseph and his two sons there, and Jochebed was added to their number “between the walls”.
Seven and Seventy in Genesis
§ 5. The structure of our section is based on a system of numerical harmony. Not only is the number seven fundamental to its main theme, but it also serves to determine many of its details. Both to the Israelites and to the Gentiles, in the East and also in the West—but especially in the East—it was the number of perfection and the basis of ordered arrangement; and particular importance attached to it in the symbolism of numbers. The work of the Creator, which is marked by absolute perfection and flawless systematic orderliness, is distributed over seven days: six days of labour and a seventh day set aside for the enjoyment of the completed task. …
The following details are deserving of note:
(a). After the introductory verse (i 1), the section is divided into seven paragraphs, each of which appertains to one of the seven days. An obvious indication of this division is to be seen in the recurring sentence, And there was evening and there was morning, such-and-such a day. Hence the Masoretes were right in placing an open paragraph [i. e. one that begins on a new line] after each of these verses.
(b-d) Each of the three nouns that occur in the first verse and express the basic concepts of the section, viz God [ ‘elohim] heavens [ šamayim], earth [ ’eres] are repeated in the section a given number of times that is a multiple of seven: thus the name of God occurs thirty-five times, that is, five times seven (on the fact that the Divine Name, in one of its forms, occurs seventy times in the first four chapters, see below); earth is found twenty-one times, that is, three times seven; similarly heavens (or firmament, raqia’) appears twenty-one times.
(e). The ten sayings with which, according to the Talmud, the world was created (Aboth v 1; in B. Rosh Hashana 32a and B. Megilla 21b only nine of them are enumerated, the one in i 29, apparently, being omitted)—that is, the ten utterances of God beginning with the words, and … said—are clearly divisible into two groups: the first group contains seven Divine fiats enjoining the creation of the creatures, to wit, ‘Let there be light’, ‘Let there be a firmament’, ‘Let the waters be gathered together’, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation’, ‘Let there be lights’, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms’, ‘Let the earth bring forth’; the second group comprises three pronouncements that emphasize God’s concern for man’s welfare (three being the number of emphasis), namely, ‘Let us make man’ (not a command but an expression of the will to create man), ‘Be fruitful and multiply’, ‘Behold I have given unto you every plant yielding seed’. Thus we have here, too, a series of seven corresponding dicta.
(f). The terms light and day are found, in all, seven times in the first paragraph, and there are seven references to light in the fourth paragraph.
(g). Water is mentioned seven times in the course of paragraphs two and three.
(h). In the fifth and sixth paragraphs forms of the word hayya [rendered ‘living’ or ‘beasts’] occur seven times.
(i). The expression it was good appears seven times (the seventh time—very good).
(j). The first verse has seven words.
(k). The second verse contains fourteen words—twice seven.
(l). In the seventh paragraph, which deals with the seventh day, there occur the following three consecutive sentences (three for emphasis), each of which consists of seven words and contains in the middle the expression the seventh day: And on THE SEVENTH DAY God finished His work which He had done, and He rested on THE SEVENTH DAY from all His work which He had done. So God blessed THE SEVENTH DAY and hallowed it.
(m). The words in the seventh paragraph total thirty-five—five times seven.
To suppose that all this is a mere coincidence is not possible.
A Commentary of the Book of Genesis by Umberto Cassuto trans from the Hebrew by Israel Abrahams, The Magnes Press, Hebrew University 1961 Introduction paragraph 5 pp12-15
See: http://orcuttchristian.org/Cassuto_Genesis%20vol.%2001.pdf
Umberto Cassuto, also known as Moshe David Cassuto (16 September 1883 – 19 December 1951), was an Italian historian, a rabbi, and a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Ugaritic literature,[1] in the University of Florence, then at the University of Rome La Sapienza. When the 1938 anti-Semitic Italian racial laws forced him from this position, he moved to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
RABBINIC INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE
The Rabbis never suggest a correction of the text of the Bible. In the entire rabbinic literature we never come across
divergences of opinion regarding Biblical readings. It is therefore obvious that the textual corrections of Greek classics practiced by the Alexandrian grammarians have no parallel in the rabbinic exegesis of Scripture.
It has been indicated in the previous chapters that in rabbinic tradition exceedingly few traces are left of the literary activity of the Soferim. The literal meaning of the word Soferim is scribes. The Rabbis interpreted it to mean “tellers”; the Soferim counted the letters of the Torah. They probably knew the number of letters in every section. In this they resembled the grammarian,..
Hellenism in Jewish Palestine, Saul Lieberman, 1950 p47
אַשְׁכְּחֵיהּ שְׁמוּאֵל לְרַב יְהוּדָה דִּתְלֵי בְּעִיבְרָא דְּדַשָּׁא וְקָא בָכֵי. אָמַר לֵיהּ: שִׁינָּנָא! מַאי קָא בָכֵית? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: מִי זוּטְרָא מַאי דִּכְתִיב בְּהוּ בְּרַבָּנַן: ״אַיֵּה סוֹפֵר אַיֵּה שׁוֹקֵל אַיֵּה סוֹפֵר אֶת הַמִּגְדָּלִים״. ״אַיֵּה סוֹפֵר״ — שֶׁהָיוּ סוֹפְרִים כׇּל אוֹתִיּוֹת שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה.
The Gemara relates: Shmuel found Rav Yehuda leaning on the bar of the door, crying. He said to him: Long-toothed one [shinnana], what are you crying for? He said to him: Is it a small matter, that which is written with regard to Sages who have sinned: “Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?” (Isaiah 33:18). He proceeded to explain: “Where is he who counted”; for they would count all the letters of the Torah.
Cited by Lieberman p 47 note 2
אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: מַאי דִּכְתִיב ״ה׳ יִתֶּן אֹמֶר הַמְבַשְּׂרוֹת צָבָא רָב״ — כׇּל דִּיבּוּר וְדִיבּוּר שֶׁיָּצָא מִפִּי הַגְּבוּרָה נֶחֱלַק לְשִׁבְעִים לְשׁוֹנוֹת. תָּנֵי דְּבֵי רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל: ״וּכְפַטִּישׁ יְפֹצֵץ סָלַע״, מָה פַּטִּישׁ זֶה נֶחֱלָק לְכַמָּה נִיצוֹצוֹת — אַף כׇּל דִּיבּוּר וְדִיבּוּר שֶׁיָּצָא מִפִּי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא נֶחֱלַק לְשִׁבְעִים לְשׁוֹנוֹת.
With regard to the revelation at Sinai, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “The Lord gives the word; the women that proclaim the tidings are a great host” (Psalms 68:12)? It means that each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Almighty divided into seventy languages, a great host. And, similarly, the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught with regard to the verse: “Behold, is My word not like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that shatters a rock?” (Jeremiah 23:29). Just as this hammer breaks a stone into several fragments, so too, each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, divided into seventy languages.
Therefore, because they devoted so much time to the Bible, the first Sages were called: Those who count [soferim], because they would count all the letters in the Torah, as they would say that the letter vav in the word “belly [gaḥon]” (Leviticus 11:42) is the midpoint of the letters in a Torah scroll. The words: “Diligently inquired [darosh darash]” (Leviticus 10:16), are the midpoint of the words in a Torah scroll. And the verse that begins with: “Then he shall be shaven” (Leviticus 13:33), is the midpoint of the verses. Similarly, in the expression: “The boar out of the wood [miya’ar] ravages it” (Psalms 80:14), the ayin in the word wood [ya’ar] is the midpoint of Psalms, with regard to its number of letters. The verse: “But He, being full of compassion, forgives iniquity” (Psalms 78:38), is the midpoint of verses in the book of Psalms. Rav Yosef raises a dilemma: Does the vav of the word “belly [gaḥon]” belong to this side or to this side? Is it part of the first or second half of the Torah? The Sages said to him: Let us bring a Torah scroll and count the letters. Didn’t Rabba bar bar Ḥana say with regard to a different issue: They did not move from there until they brought a Torah scroll and counted the letters? Therefore we can do the same. Rav Yosef said to them: They were experts in the deficient and plene forms of words and therefore could count the letters precisely. We are not experts in this regard, and therefore we would be unable to resolve the question even if we were to count the letters. Similarly, Rav Yosef raises a dilemma: Does the midpoint of the verses in the Torah, which is “then he shall be shaven,” belong to this side or to this side? Abaye said to him: Even if we cannot count the letters, we can at least bring a Torah scroll to count the verses. Rav Yosef explained: We are not experts about verses either, as when Rav Aḥa bar Adda came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said: In the West, i.e., Eretz Yisrael, they divide this following verse into three separate verses: “And the Lord said to Moses, behold I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever; And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord” (Exodus 19:9). Perhaps there are other verses that we do not know how to divide properly. The Sages taught: Five thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight verses are the verses in a Torah scroll. Psalms has eight more verses than that, and Chronicles has eight fewer verses than that.
Cited by Lieberman p 47 note 2
(ג) שמנה עשר וגו'. רַבּוֹתֵינוּ אָמְרוּ אֱלִיעֶזֶר לְבַדּוֹ הָיָה (נדרים ל"ב), וְהוּא מִנְיַן גִּימַטְרִיָּא שֶׁל שְׁמוֹ:
(3) 'שמנה עשר וגו THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN — Our Rabbis said, “It was Eliezer alone whom he armed and it (318) is the numerical value of his name” (Nedarim 32a).
Gematria
The two and thirty Middoth.
Abulwalid ibn Ganah is the first to cite the thirty-two Middoth which are ascribed to Eliezer ben Jose Ha-gelili. The
text has been repeatedly copied and reprinted from the third part of the Sepher Kerithuth by Samson of Chinon.
Still earlier is the textual form in Judah Hadassi (No. 155ff.). In manuscript form this Baraitha is found e. g. in the introduction to midrash ha-gadol: and in midrash ha-hefeş. The number 33 in the two Yemenite Midrashim has arisen through bisection of the 29th Middah.
In the Talmud itself the thirty-two Middoth are not mentioned: nevertheless we read: 'Wherever thou hearest the words
of Eliezer ben Jose Ha-gelili in the Haggada, incline thine ear like unto a funnel.' (Hulin 89a) At least a part of these Middoth is older than this Eliezer.
Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, Hermann L. Strack, 1972 pp 95-96
Rule 29. Gematria, i. e. computation of the numeric value of letters. Only a single instance is adduced in this Midrash to illustrate the gematria. The number 318 (servants of Abraham) in Gen. 14:14 has the numerical value of Eliezer, i. e. Abraham had only his servant Eliezer with him, But rabbinic literature is replete with examples of gematria.
Lieberman p 69
The use of letters as numerals is apparently a Greek invention which was adopted by the Semites at a much later time, see Dornseiff, Das Alphabel etc., p. 11, (Comp. now H. L. Ginsberg, Studies in Koheleth, p. 32 #.) At some time during the second commonwealth the Jews inscribed alpha, beta gamma (signifying 1, 2, 3) on the several baskets in the temple of Jerusalem (See Mishnah Shekalim III. 2), i. e. the Jews availed themselves of the Greek alphabet to employ letters as numerals (In the Mishnah ibid. R. Ishmael is only explaining the statement of the first Tanna). Comp. however Tosefta Ma'asser Sheni V.1.
Note 211 on page 73 of Lieberman
Rule 30. Substitution of letters. The so called atbash alphabet (in the DaVinci Code see: https://davincicode.bib.bz/chapter-77 )
Septuaghent
Beginning of the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 11th century)
According to tradition, Ptolemy II Philadelphus (the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt) sent seventy-two Jewish translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel—from Jerusalem to Alexandria to translate the Tanakh from Biblical Hebrew into Koine Greek, for inclusion in his library.[23] This narrative is found in the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates,[24] and is repeated by Philo of Alexandria, Josephus (in Antiquities of the Jews),[25] and by later sources (including Augustine of Hippo).[26] It is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud:
Philo of Alexandria writes that the number of scholars was chosen by selecting six scholars from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Caution is needed here regarding the accuracy of this statement by Philo of Alexandria, as it implies that the twelve tribes were still in existence during King Ptolemy's reign, and that the Ten Lost Tribes of the twelve tribes had not been forcibly resettled by Assyria almost 500 years previously.[27] According to later rabbinic tradition (which considered the Greek translation as a distortion of sacred text and unsuitable for use in the synagogue), the Septuagint was given to Ptolemy two days before the annual Tenth of Tevet fast.[15][28]
In the preface to his 1844 translation of the Septuagint, Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton acknowledges that the Jews of Alexandria were likely to have been the writers of the Septuagint, but dismisses Aristeas' account as a pious fiction. Instead, he asserts that the real origin of the name "Septuagint" pertains to the fact that the earliest version was forwarded by the authors to the Jewish Sanhedrin at Alexandria for editing and approval.[30]
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶסְפָה־לִּ֞י שִׁבְעִ֣ים אִישׁ֮ מִזִּקְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָדַ֔עְתָּ כִּי־הֵ֛ם זִקְנֵ֥י הָעָ֖ם וְשֹׁטְרָ֑יו וְלָקַחְתָּ֤ אֹתָם֙ אֶל־אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד וְהִֽתְיַצְּב֥וּ שָׁ֖ם עִמָּֽךְ׃
Then YHWH spoke to Moshe:
Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel,
of whom you know that they are elders of the people and its officers;
and take them to the Tent of Appointment
and stationing there with you.
§ Rav Kahana says: In a Sanhedrin where all the judges saw fit to convict the defendant in a case of capital law, they acquit him. The Gemara asks: What is the reasoning for this halakha? It is since it is learned as a tradition that suspension of the trial overnight is necessary in order to create a possibility of acquittal. The halakha is that they may not issue the guilty verdict on the same day the evidence was heard, as perhaps over the course of the night one of the judges will think of a reason to acquit the defendant. And as those judges all saw fit to convict him they will not see any further possibility to acquit him, because there will not be anyone arguing for such a verdict. Consequently, he cannot be convicted.
see: The Unanimous Verdict According to the Talmud: Ancient Law Providing Insight into Modern Legal Theory by Ephraim Glatt
You should know therefore that G'd has granted permission to interpret the meaning of the verses by our using our intelligence in order to do research, even if, on occasion, the conclusions we arrive at seem to contradict the traditional interpretations of the mental giants of earlier generations. This is the meaning of the rule that שבעים פנים לתורה, that there are 70 ways to interpret the Torah. As long as our interpretations do not result in halachic rulings which run counter to our traditions we are perfectly within our rights to pursue our own path. This is the reason that the teachers of the Talmud were not at liberty to interpret the Torah in such a way that their halachic rulings would conflict with those of the teachers of the Mishnah. When it comes to the interpretations of the meaning of the written text of the Torah you find that the Amo-ra-im frequently disagree with the Tanna-im, the teachers of the Mishnah.
Author:Chaim ibn Attar
Written by Rabbi Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar (1696-1743), Or HaChaim is a classical commentary on the Chumash. Rabbi Hayyim was a Moroccan Kabbalist and Talmudist which is reflected in his commentary.
(יט) הִקְרִ֨ב אֶת־קׇרְבָּנ֜וֹ קַֽעֲרַת־כֶּ֣סֶף אַחַ֗ת שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים וּמֵאָה֮ מִשְׁקָלָהּ֒ מִזְרָ֤ק אֶחָד֙ כֶּ֔סֶף שִׁבְעִ֥ים שֶׁ֖קֶל בְּשֶׁ֣קֶל הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁ שְׁנֵיהֶ֣ם ׀ מְלֵאִ֗ים סֹ֛לֶת בְּלוּלָ֥ה בַשֶּׁ֖מֶן לְמִנְחָֽה׃
(19) He presented as his offering: one silver bowl weighing 130 shekels and one silver basin of 70 shekels by the sanctuary weight, both filled with choice flour with oil mixed in, for a meal offering;
מִזְרָק אֶחָד כֶּסֶף (במדבר ז, יט), כְּנֶגֶד הַתּוֹרָה הַמְשׁוּלָה בְּיַיִן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי ט, ה): וּשְׁתוּ בְּיַיִן מָסָכְתִּי. וּלְפִי שֶׁדֶּרֶךְ הַיַּיִן לִשְׁתּוֹת בְּמִזְרָק, כְּמָה דְתֵימָא (עמוס ו, ו): הַשֹּׁתִים בְּמִזְרְקֵי יַיִן, לְכָךְ הֵבִיא מִזְרָק, (במדבר ז, יט): שִׁבְעִים שֶׁקֶל בְּשֶׁקֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ, לָמָּה, כְּשֵׁם שֶׁיַּיִן חֶשְׁבּוֹנוֹ שִׁבְעִים, כָּךְ יֵשׁ שִׁבְעִים פָּנִים בַּתּוֹרָה. לָמָּה נֶאֱמַר בַּקְּעָרָה אַחַת, כְּנֶגֶד הַתּוֹרָה הַצְּרִיכָה לִהְיוֹת אַחַת, כְּמָה דְּתֵימָא (במדבר טו, טז):
One basin of silver – corresponding to the Torah which is compared to wine, as it is stated (Proverbs 9:5), “and drink from the wine that I have mixed.” And since it is the custom of wine to be drunk form a basin, as you say (Amos 6:6), “Who drink from wine basins” – therefore, he brought “a basin that is seventy shekel of the holy shekels.” Why? Just like the numerical equivalent of wine is seventy, so too are there seventy faces to the Torah. Why does it state “one” about the bowl? Corresponding to the Torah that must be one, as you say (Numbers 15:16), “One Torah and one statute shall there be for you.”
Rabbi Elazar Ben Azariah said, "Behold I am like a seventy year old man yet I have not merited to understand why the Exodus from Egypt should be said at night until Ben Zoma explicated it, as it is stated (Deut. 16:3), 'In order that you remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life;' 'the days of your life' [indicates that the remembrance be invoked during] the days, 'all
- 70 years of Babylonian domination over Judah and the surrounding nations (609-539; Jer. 25:11-12).
- 70 years of Jewish captivity in Babylon (605-536; Jer. 29:10; 2 Chron. 36:20-21; Dan. 9:1-2).
- 70 years of indignation on Jerusalem and Judah (586-516), marked by the destruction and rebuilding of the temple (Zech. 1:12ff; 7:5).