Shalom and thank you for your question! You wish to know if the use of the word ‘armed’ is correct translation for the passage in Exodus 13:18. Yes it is, but there is more to say about it! The Bible is described in the Talmud (Bamidbar Rabbah 13:15) as having seventy facets, meaning seventy ways that it can be explained. This is one of the reasons that the Sanhedrin, the body of elders who decided on matters of Jewish law and practice in Biblical times, had seventy members aside from the Nasi. (The Nasi was the political and spiritual leader of the generation.) Having seventy members allowed representation for seventy different approaches. Decisions were generally arrived at according to majority.
Why is this relevant to your question? As we shall see, even beyond the divergent ways that Torah can be understood, there are interpretations that fit into four categories of depth. These are Pshat, Remez, Drash and Sod. This can be loosely translated as plain meaning, a level of meaning which is hinted at, a deeper level, and an even deeper level which is the mystic level. It nust be pointed out though, that all of the above is dependent on who is doing the interpretations. If it is not a proficient Torah scholar who lives according to the Torah’s precepts and uses the Thirteen Principles by which the Torah is Expounded, which have been handed down in the Oral Law, it is not considered a valid interpretation.
The classic commentator Rashi (acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) is the most important of Torah commentators. He wrote commentary on the Five Books of Moses, the other books of the Bible such as the books of the Prophets, as well as on the Talmud. There are literally hundreds of commentaries on Rashi’s commentary. Sometimes they argue with him, sometimes they add another perspective. Rashi usually brings the Drash level – the ‘plain meaning’ of interpretation. This term is however a little misleading. We believe that all the Oral Law as well the accepted commentaries are products of Divine Inspiration. So the ‘plain meaning’ is not always something that human intelligence would have arrived at by itself.
So let us see how Rashi’s commentary enlightens us in reference to your question.
Rashi declares that in this context of Exodus 13:18, the Hebrew word חמושים, ‘chamushim’, can only mean armed. Why? G-d led the Israelites by a circuitous route in the desert. He caused them to go up armed.(They left with Egyptian wealth that G-d promised to them in recompense for the years of cruel slavery and in order to elevate the Egyptian society which at the time had become very depraved.) If G-d had led them through areas with civilization, they would not have needed to be fully equipped – only partially, like a person who travels from place to place and can count on buying his needs along the way. However if a person is traveling a long way into the desert, he must be fully equipped. Rashi further explains that the purpose of this passage is only to clarify the source of the weapons with which they fought the Amalekites (who attacked ‘the tired and weary ones’ from behind) and other belligerent nations, as the Israelites fought them ‘with the point of the sword.’
You asked where else the term ‘armed’ is used? Rashi continues to explain that in the book of Joshua 1:14 it says ‘And you shall cross over armed’.
There is another, deeper interpretation that Rashi offers. The Hebrew word חמושים, ‘chamushim’ – armed’ literally can also mean divided by five, meaning that one out of five Israelites went out (of Egypt) and four fifths of the people died during the plague of darkness. (These were Israelites who were reluctant to leave the evil they knew for a possible evil that they didn’t know, by following Moses into the desert. They did not have enough faith to merit redemption.) In other words, the term indicates that the people who left Egypt comprised a fifth of the number they were in Egypt before the plagues.
We hope this answers your question!
