ומי שקיל כולי האי כסף ובגדים הוא דשקיל אמר ר' יצחק באותה שעה היה אלישע עוסק בשמנה שרצים אמר לו רשע הגיע עת ליטול שכר שמנה שרצים וצרעת נעמן תדבק בך ובזרעך לעולם (מלכים ב ז, ג) וארבעה אנשים היו מצורעים אמר רבי יוחנן זה גחזי ושלשת בניו
But had he received all these things? Silver and garments were what he had received! — R. Isaac said: At that time Elisha was engaged [in the study of the Law concerning] the eight kinds of [unclean] creeping things;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Name of the Chapter in Mishnah Shabbath, XIV, I, cf. Lev. XI, 29ff.
');"><sup>14</sup></span> so he said to [Gehazi], 'You wicked person, the time has arrived for you to receive the reward for [studying the law of] the eight creeping things.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Referring to the eight kinds of presents he had accepted. That will be his reward in this world so that he may be punished in the Hereafter. For a fuller version v. Sanh. (Sonc. ed.) p. 735.
');"><sup>15</sup></span>
Sefer HaChinukh
The root of this commandment is revealed to all that see the sun: that it is a great benefit within the nation that we have a mechanism to remove suspicion about our wives from our hearts and to truly know if she was unfaithful from her husband, which is impossible for any nation or country to have [something] like this among them. And about them, it is stated (Proverbs 30:20), "she eats, wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done no wrong.'” As who will reveal 'about their daughters if they have been unfaithful, and about their daughters-in-law if they have been adulterous.' But our nation is sanctified with every matter of sanctification, and [so] God gave us a sign to know this matter which is hidden from the rest of the nations. And through this, love and peace between a man and his wife will be augmented and our seed will be holy. And [for] what [reason] should I write at more length about the details of these matters, as all of it is revealed to the heart of anyone with understanding. And therefore in that the reason of the matter is a miracle with our people and a great honor for them, it stopped from the time they became corrupted by sins; as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 47a), "From when adulterers proliferated, the sotah waters stopped; as it is stated (Hosea 12:4), 'I will not punish your daughters when they are unfaithful, etc.'" And the understanding of the verse is to say that He will [no longer] do this great miracle for them, that the waters should test whether the woman was unfaithful.
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