Musar for Sanhedrin 213:18

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב ששה חדשים נצטרע דוד ונסתלקה הימנו שכינה ופירשו ממנו סנהדרין נצטרע דכתיב (תהלים נא, ט) תחטאני באזוב ואטהר תכבסני ומשלג אלבין נסתלקה הימנו שכינה דכתיב (תהלים נא, יד) השיבה לי ששון ישעך ורוח נדיבה תסמכני ופרשו ממנו סנהדרין דכתי' (תהלים קיט, עט) ישובו לי יראיך וגו' ששה חדשים מנלן דכתי' (מלכים א ב, יא) והימים אשר מלך דוד על ישראל ארבעים שנה

He replied, 'They are forgiven thee.' 'Cleanse thou me from secret faults,' [he pursued]. 'I grant it thee.' 'Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins!' — 'Tis granted.' 'Let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright: so that scholars may not discuss me.'33 'Granted.' 'And I shall be innocent from the great transgression: so my sins may not be recorded.' He replied, 'That is impossible. If the [single] yod which I removed from Sarai34 continuously cried out [in protest] for many years until Joshua came and I added it to his name, as it is written, And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua:35 how much more so a complete section!' And I shall be innocent from great transgression. He pleaded before Him, 'Sovereign of the Universe! Pardon me that sin completely [as though it had never been committed].' He replied, 'It is already ordained that thy son Solomon should say in his wisdom, Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.'36 He lamented, 'Must I37 suffer so much!' He replied, 'Accept thy chastisement,' and he accepted it. Rab Judah said in Rab's name: Six months was David smitten with leprosy, the Shechinah deserted him, and the Sanhedrin held aloof from him. 'He was smitten with leprosy' — as it is written, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.38 'The Shechinah deserted him' — as it is written, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,' and uphold me with thy free spirit.39 'And the Sanhedrin kept aloof from him' — as it is written, Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.40 How do we know that it was for six months? — Because it is written, And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years:

Mesilat Yesharim

Marital relations are completely permitted but the sages decreed immersion in a Mikveh for those who had seminal emissions in order that Torah scholars not be frequently with their wives like roosters. For even though the conjugal act itself is permitted nevertheless he imprints this lust within his nature, and from there he can be drawn to the forbidden as our sages said: "there is a small organ in man. If one satiates it, it becomes hungry. But if he starves it, it becomes satiated" (Sanhedrin 107a).

Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

Perhaps we have something similar in a statement of our sages on Samuel II 15,32: ויהי דוד בא עד הראש אשר ישתחוה שם לאלוקים, "When David reached the top where he would usually prostrate himself before G–d." Rabbi Yehudah in Sanhedrin 107 uses this verse to claim that David was about to commit an idolatrous act, claiming that the word ראש is a description of an idolatrous deity. He cites proof from Daniel 2,32. All this occurred when David had to flee for his life from his own son Absalom. His friend Chushai remonstrated with him saying that it was unseemly for a king of his stature to become guilty of such a grave sin. David responded: "How is it possible that a king such as myself should be pursued by his own son! Better that I should die having committed the sin of idol-worship than that the name of the Lord be desecrated publicly if my own son were to kill me." We must ask ourselves what could have possessed David to even contemplate the commission of such a sin? Clearly David knew that in the eyes of most of his people he was viewed as a pious G–d-fearing individual. Many people would begin to question G–d's justice if he were to become the victim of Absalom's revolt. He therefore preferred to commit a public sin so that people would not question how G–d could have allowed a pious man such as David to have been killed by his own son. David certainly harboured no idolatrous thoughts which would have led him to commit such a sin. Eventually, he did not go through with his plan, and that is why he said: "a king such as I, etc." [He fled, leaving ארץ ישראל, which is tantamount to serving idols, since one foregoes G–d's direct protection, cf. Maharsha. Ed.]

Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy

Previous Verse Full Chapter