5:70 Al-Maaida (The Table)

لقد أخذنا العهد المؤكَّد على بني إسرائيل في التوراة بالسمع والطاعة، وأرسلنا إليهم بذلك رسلنا، فَنَقَضوا ما أُخذ عليهم من العهد، واتبعوا أهواءهم، وكانوا كلما جاءهم رسول من أولئك الرسل بما لا تشتهيه أنفسهم عادَوْه: فكذبوا فريقًا من الرسل، وقتلوا فريقًا آخر.

يقول تعالى: { لَقَدْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ ْ} أي: عهدهم الثقيل بالإيمان بالله، والقيام بواجباته التي تقدم الكلام عليها في قوله: { وَلَقَدْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَبَعَثْنَا مِنْهُمُ اثْنَيْ عَشَرَ نَقِيبًا ْ} إلى آخر الآيات. { وَأَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ رُسُلًا ْ} يتوالون عليهم بالدعوة، ويتعاهدونهم بالإرشاد، ولكن ذلك لم ينجع فيهم، ولم يفد { كُلَّمَا جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ بِمَا لَا تَهْوَى أَنفُسُهُمْ ْ} من الحق كذبوه وعاندوه، وعاملوه أقبح المعاملة { فَرِيقًا كَذَّبُوا وَفَرِيقًا يَقْتُلُونَ ْ}

يذكر تعالى أنه أخذ العهود والمواثيق على بني إسرائيل على السمع والطاعة لله ولرسله فنقضوا تلك العهود والمواثيق واتبعوا آراءهم وأهواءهم وقدموا على الشرائع فما وافقهم منها قبلوه وما خالفهم ردوه ولهذا قال تعالى" كلما جاءهم رسول بما لا تهوى أنفسهم فريقا كذبوا وفريقا يقتلون وحسبوا أن لا تكون فتنة". أ.

And We made a covenant with the Children of Israel to believe in God and His messengers and We sent messengers to them. Every time a messenger came to them from among them with what their souls did not desire in the way of truth they denied it; some of them they denied and some of them they slay such as Zachariah and John the use of the present tense yaqtulūn ‘they slay’ instead of the perfect tense qatalū is to narrate past events as if in the present and to conclude in harmony with the end-rhyme of the verses.

Commentary

This is an account of how the Bani Isra'il kept breaking the pledge taken from them. As said in verse 70, whenever their Messenger brought a command which did not suit their fancy, they would break their pledge and go about betraying Allah to the limit that they would falsify His Messengers, even kill some of them. They were commanded ` to believe in Allah and act righteously.' But, this was what they did in response. As for the other part of the command - ` Belief in the Last Day' their behaviour was equally reckless. After having committed acts so oppressive, they became totally carefree as if they would not have to pay for what they had done and as if the consequences of their injustice and rebellion will never come out in the open. Under this false impression, they became totally blind and deaf to Divine signs and words. They went on doing what should have not been done. So much so that they killed some prophets and put some others behind bars. Finally, Almighty Allah imposed on them the mastery of Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylonia, 605-562 B.C., who took them as slaves to Babylon - Old Testament, book of Daniel). When, after a long time, they were sent back to Jerusalem from Babylon through help from some Persian kings who secured their release from disgrace under Nebuchadnezzar, they repented and turned to making amends. Allah relented and accepted their repentance. But, with the passage of some time, they went back to their old practices which made them so blind and deaf once again that they dared killing Sayyi.dna Zakariyah (علیہ السلام) (Zechariah) and Sayyidna Yahya (John) and were all set to kill Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) (Jesus ). (Tafsir Usmani - Notes)