Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 16, scan section 9

whence do we know that Nebuchadnezzar worshipped him? From [Dan. ii. 46] : " Then did king Nebuchadnezzar fall upon his face, and he bowed down to Daniel." It reads [Jer. xxix. 21-23] • " Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Achab the son of Kolayah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maasseyah, who prophesy unto you in my name falsehood . . . And a curse shall be derived from them for all the exiled of Judah who are in Babylon, saying: May the Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Achab, whom the king of Baby- lon roasted in the fire." It does not read whom he " burned," but whom he " roasted." And R. Johanan in the name of R. Simeon b. Johai said : Infer from this that they were roasted as people roast grain. It reads farther on [ibid., ibid 23] : " Because they have done scandalous deeds in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors." What had they done? They went to the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. Achab said : The Lord has commanded me to tell thee that thou shalt listen to Zedekiah. And the latter said the same — that she should lis- ten to Achab. And she went and told this to her father. To which he answered : It is known to me that their God abhors incest. When they shall come to you again, send them to me. She did so. And to the question of Nebuchadnezzar : Who told you to do so ? they said : The Lord. " But Chananyah and his colleagues told me that such a thing is prohibited." And they an- swered : We are also prophets as they are, and this command was given to us, of which they were not aware. Then said the king : I would try you as I did Chananyah and his colleagues. And to their claim, " They were three, and we are only two," he gave 282 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. them the choice of any one they Hked, who should be thrown with them into the caldron. And they selected Jehoshua the high-priest, thinking that his merit was so great that it would save them also. Jehoshua was then brought, and all three were thrown into the caldron. They were burned, but Jehoshua was saved ; only his garments were singed. And this is what it reads [Zech. iii. 1-3]: "And he showed me Jehoshua the high-priest standing before the angel of the Lord, And the Lord said unto the accuser, The Lord rebuke thee, O accuser," etc. Satan said to him : I know that you are an upright man, but why did the fire affect your garments, which was not the case with Chan- anyah, Mishael and Azaryah ? And he answered : They were three, and I one. And to the question : Was not Abraham the patriarch also only one when he was thrown into the caldron? he answered. With Abraham there were no wicked ones whom permission was given to the fire to affect, but with me were two wicked, and permission was given to the fire. And this is what people say : Two dried pieces of charred wood burn the third which is wet. But why was he punished ? Said R. Papa : Because his sons married such as were not fit to be the wives of priests, and he did not object ; and this is meant by " filthy garments," mentioned in the verse cited. R. Tanhun said: Bar Kappara lectured in Ciporias thus: It reads [Ruth. iii. 17]: "These six barleys gave he unto me." How is to be understood six barleys ? It cannot be meant liter- ally, for would a man like Boas give six grains of barley as a gift ? And it also cannot be said " measures of barley," as it is not cus- tomary for a woman to carry six measures. Therefore the six barleys were a hint that in the future six sons would come out from her, each of whom would be blessed with six blessings : viz., David, Messiah, Daniel, Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah. David — as it reads [I Sam. xvi. 18] : " Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth- lechemite, who is skilful as a player and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and intelligent in speech and a person of good form, and the Lord is with him." Messiah — as it reads [Is. xi. 2] : " And there shall rest upon him the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Daniel, Chan- anyah, Mishael, and Azaryah — as it reads [Dan. i, 4] : " Lads in whom there should be no kind of blemish, but who should be TRACT SANHEDRIN (SUPREME COUNCIL). 283 handsome in appearance, and intelligent in all wisdom and acquainted with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as should have the ability to serve in the king's palace, and that these should be taught the learning and the language of the Chaldeans." (Hence all of them were blessed with six things.) [Concerning the verse cited about David, said R. Jehudah in the name of Rabh : The whole verse is a slander, said by Doeg the Edomite. " Who is skilful as a player " — who knows how to propound questions ; " mighty valiant man " — who knows how to answer questions ; " a man of war" — who understands argument in the disputations of the Torah ; " intelligent in speech " *— he understands from one thing another one ; " a person of good form " — who is able to give good reasons for Halakhas ; " the Lord is with him " — the Halakha always prevails with him. To all the things mentioned above Saul said : " My son Jonathan possesses all the same qualities. But when he heard that the Halakha prevailed with him, a quahfication which he himself did not possess (for concerning Saul it reads [I Sam. xv. 47] : " And whithersoever he turned himself, he caused terror," and about David it is written : " In whatsoever he turned to be he was suc- cessful "f), he was dejected, and began to be jealous. But whence do we know that it was Doeg who said so ? From [ibid, xvi. 18]: " One of the servants " — the most distinguished of them ; and [ibid. xxvi. 8] : " And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen that belonged to Saul." Concerning the verse cited about Messiah, it reads also farther on " vahari'hu " (animated), from which R. Alexandri infers that he is always overloaded with the divine commandments and chastisements resting upon him as " re'hayim " (a handmill). And Rabha said : The term " vahari'hu " means smelling — /. e., he judges by smelling. As farther on it reads: "And not after the sight of the eyes shall ye judge, and not after the hearing of the ears . . . (but nevertheless) he judges with righteousness the poor and decides with equity for the suffering ones of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breadth of his lips shall he slay the wicked." Hence, if not by the eye and not by the ear, it must be by smelling ; and therefore the sages did not recognize Bar Kochba, who claimed to be the Messiah and ruled