Musar for Sanhedrin 76:22

דא"ר יוחנן כי הוה דריש ר' מאיר בפירקיה הוה דריש תילתא שמעתא תילתא אגדתא תילתא מתלי ואמר ר' יוחנן ג' מאות משלות שועלים היו לו לרבי מאיר ואנו אין לנו אלא שלש

against him, i.e., exchange Me not for him. But if so,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That he is not to be worshipped, but God alone. ');">⁵⁸</span> why is it stated: He will not pardon your transgression?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. Surely, he has no authority to do so. ');">⁵⁹</span> He answered: By our troth<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'we hold the belief.' ');">⁶⁰</span> we would not accept him even as a messenger,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'Postman' — of forgiveness. ');">⁶¹</span> for it is written, And he said unto him, If Thy [personal] presence go not etc.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XXXIII, 15. [The Min was a believer in the doctrine of two rulers and he sought support for this belief from Ex. XXIV, 1. R. Idith met his argument by showing that even Metatron was accepted by Jews only as guide, and in no sense a second god. For a full discussion of the passage, v. Herford, op. cit. p. 285ff.] ');">⁶²</span> A Min once said to R. Ishmael b. Jose: It is written, Then the Lord caused to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XIX, 24 ');">⁶³</span> but from him should have been written! A certain fuller<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A figure frequently mentioned in the Talmud as of a specific type. V. e.g., Ber. 28a, Ned. 41a. [In Roman literature, he is an object of ridicule; in rabbinic lore, he plays a more dignified role.] ');">⁶⁴</span> said, Leave him to me, I will answer him. [He then proceeded,' It is written, And Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. IV, 23. ');">⁶⁵</span> but he should have said, my wives! But such is the Scriptural idiom — so here too, it is the Scriptural idiom. Whence do you know that? asked he [R. Ishmael]. — I heard it in a public discourse<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] v. supra p. 178 n. 3. ');">⁶⁶</span> of R. Meir, [he answered]. Even as R. Johanan said: When R. Meir used to deliver his public discourses, a third was Halacha, a third Haggadah, and a third consisted of parables. R Johanan also said: R. Meir had three hundred parables of foxes, and we have only three left,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Probably of those collected by R. Meir, since many other fox fables are found scattered throughout the Talmud and Midrash. Cf. Ber. 61b; Eccl. Rab. V. 14. ');">⁶⁷</span>

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