Parshas Beshalach 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Feb 6
- 1 min read
ומשכתי אליך אל נחל קישון את סיסרא ... (שופטים ד-ז)
In the Haftorah of Shabbos Shira, the Navi details the “Shiras Devorah” - the unique shira sung by Klal Yisroel in the aftermath of the battle between the Jewish Nation (led by Barak ben Avinoam and the tribes of Naftali and Zevulin) and the army of the Canaanite General, Sisera. Interestingly, the Navi tells us that Devorah HaNeviah relayed Hashem’s word to Barak as follows: “I will draw Sisera, Yavin’s army commander, with his chariots and his troops, toward you.” But surely Sisera intended to go out to battle either way. Why did Hashem need to force Sisera to engage?
The Radak, Rabbeinu David Kimchi zt”l explains that Sisera’s astrologists saw that while he would engage in battle with the Jewish people, his zodiac sign would not leave the battlefield. General Sisera understood this to mean that he would die in battle. As such, he wanted to avoid the war at all costs. However, just as Pharoah did not truly want to keep the Jews in Egypt or chase after them to the Yam Suf but Hashem hardened his heart to make him do it nonetheless, so too, here Hashem “drew out” the heart of Sisera and convinced him to go out to war despite his better judgment.
Often, we view hard events in our life as an impediment to our life plan, yet it is important to remember that those events may very well be our life plan - orchestrated by the master planner Himself.