70 Wolves Attack Ewe. Shepherd Saves Again. News at 10

The Paris Conference scheduled for Jan. 15th is to contain 70 nations (!) that will come together to lay the groundwork for peace in the Middle East.   Emboldened by UN resolution 2334, they plan to figure out how to carve up the Land of Israel and make parts of it Judenrein without Israel's involvement whatsoever.

The Midrash Tanhuma (Toledot 5) comes to mind.  The Midrash states:

The verse says:

יט  וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת יִצְחָק, בֶּן-אַבְרָהָם:  אַבְרָהָם, הוֹלִיד אֶת-יִצְחָק.

19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begot Isaac.

This is what the verse means when it says¹:

יז  כָּל-כְּלִי יוּצַר עָלַיִךְ, לֹא יִצְלָח, וְכָל-לָשׁוֹן תָּקוּם-אִתָּךְ לַמִּשְׁפָּט, תַּרְשִׁיעִי; זֹאת נַחֲלַת עַבְדֵי יְהוָה וְצִדְקָתָם, מֵאִתִּי--נְאֻם-יְהוָה.

17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their due reward from Me, saith the LORD.

You find Israel saying before HKB"H: "Master of the Universe! See how the nations subjugate us! They have no other work except to sit and scheme against us!" As it says:

סג  שִׁבְתָּם וְקִימָתָם הַבִּיטָה, אֲנִי מַנְגִּינָתָם.

63 Behold Thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.

HKB"H told them: "What do they help? They decree decrees against you and I annul them and break them!" As it says: "אני מנגינתם" [and the word מנגינתם, like the word מגן,  means either "break" or "cause to surrender"] - just as it says:

כ  וּבָרוּךְ אֵל עֶלְיוֹן, אֲשֶׁר-מִגֵּן צָרֶיךָ בְּיָדֶךָ; וַיִּתֶּן-לוֹ מַעֲשֵׂר, מִכֹּל.

20 and blessed be God the Most High, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.' And he gave him a tenth of all.

[To bring a few examples, the verse says:]

כב  וַיְצַו פַּרְעֹה, לְכָל-עַמּוֹ לֵאמֹר:  כָּל-הַבֵּן הַיִּלּוֹד, הַיְאֹרָה תַּשְׁלִיכֻהוּ, וְכָל-הַבַּת, תְּחַיּוּן.  {פ}

22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying: 'Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.'

but the Ru'ah Hakodesh cries out:

לז  מִי זֶה אָמַר וַתֶּהִי, אֲדֹנָי לֹא צִוָּה.

37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

Par'oh commanded it, but Hashem didn't command it. Rather:

יב  וְכַאֲשֶׁר יְעַנּוּ אֹתוֹ, כֵּן יִרְבֶּה וְכֵן יִפְרֹץ; וַיָּקֻצוּ, מִפְּנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And they were adread because of the children of Israel.

Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, but Hashem did not seek this:

א  וּבִשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר חֹדֶשׁ הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר, בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם בּוֹ, אֲשֶׁר הִגִּיעַ דְּבַר-הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ, לְהֵעָשׂוֹת:  בַּיּוֹם, אֲשֶׁר שִׂבְּרוּ אֹיְבֵי הַיְּהוּדִים לִשְׁלוֹט בָּהֶם, וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא, אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁלְטוּ הַיְּהוּדִים הֵמָּה בְּשֹׂנְאֵיהֶם.

1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them; whereas it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;

Balak and Bil'am sought to curse Israel, but Hashem did not seek this, as it says:

ו  וְלֹא-אָבָה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לִשְׁמֹעַ אֶל-בִּלְעָם, וַיַּהֲפֹךְ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְּךָ אֶת-הַקְּלָלָה, לִבְרָכָה:  כִּי אֲהֵבְךָ, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ.

6 Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.

Therefore, it says: "Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?"

That is the meaning of "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper."

Hadrian said to Ribbi Yehoshua: "Great is the ewe that stands among 70 wolves."²

He [Ribbi Yehoshua] said to him: "Great is the Shepherd Who saves it and guards it and breaks them before it."

That is the meaning of "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper."

It is also interesting to note that one of the sources of the 70 nations from the Torah is from Ha'azinu:

ח  בְּהַנְחֵל עֶלְיוֹן גּוֹיִם,  {ס}  בְּהַפְרִידוֹ בְּנֵי אָדָם;  {ר}  יַצֵּב גְּבֻלֹת עַמִּים,  {ס}  לְמִסְפַּר בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.  {ר}

8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.

and Rashi there says that the 70 nations correspond to the 70 souls who descended to Egypt.

If you take the phrase למספר בני ישראל, it can be rearranged to say: פריס מנבל ישראל [Paris³ brings shame upon Israel].

What does the next verse say?

ט  כִּי חֵלֶק יְהוָה, עַמּוֹ:  {ס}  יַעֲקֹב, חֶבֶל נַחֲלָתוֹ.  {ר}

9 For the portion of the LORD is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance.

The rightful owner of His inheritance⁴ is His nation - Yaakov - the Jewish people.  No matter what they will say in Paris, Hashem will save us in the end.


(See also Israel Rising.   Also, this Zohar may [or may not] be relevant.)

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1) Etz Yosef notes here that the need to repeat "Avraham begot Isaac" is to negate the prevalent-at-the-time false claim that Avimelech is the real father of Yitzhak. The Midrash therefore brings down the verse that says: "every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn" saying that anyone who espouses that false claim will be silenced. It is interesting to note that history repeats itself in amazing ways. Avimelech was the king of the Pelishtim - the etymological and spiritual ancestors of the Palestinians - and false claims were already made then which would have given them a footing in the Land of Israel.

2) Etz Yosef notes here that Hadrian ימ"ש was really asking, "Is the ewe so powerful that it could withstand the 70 wolves? Obviously not! Rather, the 70 wolves [i.e. the nations] are so benevolent that we allow you to survive!"  The unmitigated Hutzpah!  Yet, like Hadrian before them, President Obama and all the 70 canine nations tout their "benevolence" to Israel to show off their pro-Israel chops.  Ribbi Yehoshua's answer shows that without HKB"H saving us time and again, the wolves would have pounced long ago.

3) פריס is one accepted spelling for Paris even though פריז is more commonly used.

4) Note the word "נחלה/inheritance" used here just as in the verse brought down in Yeshaya earlier: זאת נחלת עבדי ה' and both can be referring to the Land of Israel according to this interpretation and what it says in footnote 1.