Sanhedrin 209

דקאתי מיהודה מואב סיר רחצי זה גחזי שלקה על עסקי רחיצה על אדום אשליך נעלי זה דואג האדומי עלי פלשת התרועעי אמרו מלאכי השרת לפני הקב"ה רבש"ע אם יבא דוד שהרג את הפלשתי והוריש את בניך גת מה אתה עושה לו אמר להן עלי לעשותן ריעים זה לזה

<a rel="footnote" href="sanhedrin_104.html">Previous Daf</a> Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Heb. meshubah nizzahath, [H] Jer. VIII, 5. ');">⁴</span>

(ירמיהו ח, ה) מדוע שובבה העם הזה ירושלים משובה נצחת וגו' אמר רב תשובה נצחת השיבה כנסת ישראל לנביא אמר להן נביא לישראל חזרו בתשובה אבותיכם שחטאו היכן הם אמרו להן ונביאיכם שלא חטאו היכן הם שנאמר (זכריה א, ה) אבותיכם איה הם והנביאים הלעולם יחיו אמר להן (אבותיכם) חזרו והודו שנאמר (זכריה א, ו) אך דברי וחוקי אשר צויתי את עבדי הנביאים וגו'

Rab said: The Kenesseth Yisrael<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Community of Israel. ');">⁵</span> gave the prophet a victorious answer.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H], teshubah nizzahath, with which [H] is connected. ');">⁶</span>

שמואל אמר באו עשרה בני אדם וישבו לפניו אמר להן חזרו בתשובה אמרו לו עבד שמכרו רבו ואשה שגרשה בעלה כלום יש לזה על זה כלום אמר לו הקב"ה לנביא לך אמור להן (ישעיהו נ, א) איזה ספר כריתות אמכם אשר שלחתיה או מי מנושי אשר מכרתי אתכם לו הן בעונותיכם נמכרתם ובפשעכם שלחה אמכם

[For] the prophet said to Israel. 'Return and repent: your fathers who sinned — where are they?' They replied, 'And your prophets who did not sin — where are they? As it is written. Your fathers, where are they? — and the prophets, do they live for ever!'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Zech. I, 5. The verse is treated as a dialogue between the prophets and the people. ');">⁷</span> He answered them, 'Yet [your fathers] repented and admitted [the justice of their punishment],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [The passage is difficult. It is best to adopt the reading of several editions of MSS. deleting 'He answered them,' viz., 'Yet they (i.e., the people) repented and admitted.' The people, that is to say, despite their victorious rejoinder, did not press this advantage home but moved by the words of Jeremiah, why is this people etc., repented and confessed their guilt.] ');">⁸</span>

והיינו דאמר ריש לקיש מאי דכתיב דוד עבדי (ירמיהו מג, י) נבוכדנצר עבדי גלוי וידוע לפני מי שאמר והיה העולם שעתידין ישראל לומר כך לפיכך הקדים הקב"ה וקראו עבדו עבד שקנה נכסים עבד למי נכסים למי

as it is written, But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 6. ');">⁹</span> Samuel said: Ten men came and sat down before him [sc. the prophet]. Said he to them, 'Return and repent.' They answered, 'If a master sells his slave, or a husband divorces his wife, — has one a claim upon the other?'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'God having sold us to Nebuchadnezzar, He has no further claim upon us, and we have no cause to repent.' This, in Samuel's view, was the victorious answer. ');">¹⁰</span>

(יחזקאל כ, לב) והעולה על רוחכם היה לא תהיה אשר אתם אומרים נהיה כגוים כמשפחות הארצות לשרת עץ ואבן חי אני נאם ה' אלהים אם לא ביד חזקה ובזרוע נטויה ובחימה שפוכה אמלוך עליכם אמר רב נחמן כל כי האי ריתחא לירתח רחמנא עלן ולפרוקינן

Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the prophet, 'Go and say to them, Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. L, 1. This vitiated the premises of their argument. ');">¹¹</span> This agrees with Resh Lakish, who said: Why does Scripture write, David my servant, Nebuchadnezzar my servant?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The latter in Jer. XLIII, 20: why was Nebuchadnezzar honoured with such an exalted title, whereby he was made equal to David? ');">¹²</span>

(ישעיהו כח, כו) ויסרו למשפט אלהיו יורנו אמר רבה בר בר חנה אמר להן נביא לישראל חזרו בתשובה אמרו לו אין אנו יכולין יצר הרע שולט בנו אמר להם יסרו יצריכם אמרו לו אלהיו יורנו:

Because it was revealed and known to Him who spoke, and the world was created<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This phrase has become liturgical; v. p. 519. ');">¹³</span> that Israel would argue thus: therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, forestalled [them] by calling him His servant, and when a servant acquires property — to whom does the servant belong, and to whom the property?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., even if God had sold them to Nebuchadnezzar, they were still God's. ');">¹⁴</span>

ארבעה הדיוטות בלעם ודואג ואחיתופל וגחזי: בלעם בלא עם דבר אחר בלעם שבלה עם בן בעור שבא על בעיר

And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ezek. XX, 32f. ');">¹⁵</span> &nbsp;said: Even with such fury let the Merciful rage against us, but that He redeem us.

תנא הוא בעור הוא כושן רשעתים הוא לבן הארמי בעור שבא על בעיר כושן רשעתים דעבד שתי רשעיות בישראל אחת בימי יעקב ואחת בימי שפוט השופטים ומה שמו לבן הארמי שמו

<i>For he doth chastise him to discretion, and his God doth teach him</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XXVIII, 26. (E.V. For his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him.) ');">¹⁶</span> Rabbah b. Bar Hana said: The prophet urged Israel, 'Return and repent.' They replied, 'We cannot: the Tempter<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Evil inclination, the yezer hara'. ');">¹⁷</span>

כתיב (במדבר כב, ה) בן בעור וכתיב (במדבר כד, ג) בנו בעור אמר רבי יוחנן אביו בנו הוא לו בנביאות

rules over us. He said to them, 'Curb your [evil] desires.' They replied, 'Let His God teach us.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., 'Let God, who is master even over the Tempter, teach us to curb our desires.' This was in Rabbah b. Bar Hana's view' the 'victorious answer' (Rashi). ');">¹⁸</span> FOUR COMMONERS, VIZ., BALAAM, DOEG, AHITOPHEL, AND GEHAZI. <font><i>Belo'-am</i> [denotes without the people]</font>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] Belo'am, i.e., he has no portion in the future world together with other people. ');">¹⁹</span>

בלעם הוא דלא אתי לעלמא דאתי הא אחריני אתו מתניתין מני

Another explanation: <font>Balaam denotes that he corrupted a people</font>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] balah'am, (or [H] bala'-'am, 'he devoured the people,' Aruch). Both meanings are a play of words on his name. The reference is to Israel, as explained further on. ');">²⁰</span> The son of Beor [denotes] that <font>he committed bestiality</font>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'had connection with an animal'. Heb. be'ir [H]. ');">²¹</span>

רבי יהושע היא דתניא ר"א אומר (תהלים ט, יח) ישובו רשעים לשאולה כל גוים שכחי אלהים ישובו רשעים לשאולה אלו פושעי ישראל כל גוים שכחי אלהים אלו פושעי עובדי כוכבים דברי ר"א אמר לו ר' יהושע וכי נאמר בכל גוים והלא לא נאמר אלא כל גוים שכחי אלהים אלא ישובו רשעים לשאולה מאן נינהו כל גוים שכחי אלהים

A Tanna taught: Beor, Cushan-rishathaim and Laban the Syrian are identical; <font>Beor denotes that he committed bestiality</font>; <font>Cushan-rishathaim</font>, that he <font>perpetrated two evils upon Israel</font>: one in the days of Jacob,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When he pursued him, wishing to destroy him (Gen. XXVI, 23 et seq.). ');">²²</span> and the other in the days of the Judges.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Judges III, 8; Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushon-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. Rish'athaim is taken as dual of Rish'ah, [H] 'evil'. ');">²³</span>

ואף אותו רשע נתן סימן בעצמו אמר (במדבר כג, י) תמות נפשי מות ישרים אם תמות נפשי מות ישרים תהא אחריתי כמוהו ואם לאו הנני הולך לעמי

But what was his real name? Laban the Syrian. Scripture writes, the son of Beor;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXII, 5. ');">²⁴</span>

וילכו זקני מואב וזקני מדין תנא מדין ומואב לא היה להם שלום מעולם משל לשני כלבים שהיו בעדר והיו צהובין זה לזה בא זאב על האחד אמר האחד אם איני עוזרו היום הורג אותו ולמחר בא עלי הלכו שניהם והרגו הזאב אמר רב פפא היינו דאמרי אינשי כרכושתא ושונרא עבדו הלולא מתרבא דביש גדא

[but also] his son [was] Beor.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XXIV, 3: so [H] may be translated. ');">²⁵</span> R. Johanan said: His father [Beor] was as his son in the matter of prophecy.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., he was a greater prophet than his father. ');">²⁶</span>

(במדבר כב, ח) וישבו שרי מואב עם בלעם ושרי מדין להיכן אזול כיון דאמר להו (במדבר כב, ח) לינו פה הלילה והשבותי אתכם דבר אמרו כלום יש אב ששונא את בנו

Now <font>only Balaam will not enter [the future world]</font>, but other [heathens] will enter.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This follows as a corollary to the Mishnah. ');">²⁷</span> On whose authority is the Mishnah [taught]? — On R. Joshua's. <font>For it has been taught</font>: R. Eliezer said, <i><font>The wicked shall be turned into hell</font>, and all the nations that forget God</i>:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. IX, 17. ');">²⁸</span>

אמר רב נחמן חוצפא אפילו כלפי שמיא מהני מעיקרא כתיב לא תלך עמהם ולבסוף כתיב קום לך אתם אמר רב ששת חוצפא מלכותא בלא תאגא היא דכתיב (שמואל ב ג, לט) ואנכי היום רך ומשוח מלך והאנשים האלה בני צרויה קשים ממני וגו'

<i>The</i>&nbsp;&nbsp;<i><font>wicked shall be turned into hell</font></i> —this refers to <font>transgressors among Israel</font>; <i>and all the nations that forgetGod</i> — to transgressors among theheathen.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Heathens, however, who do nor forget God will share the bliss of eternal life.] ');">²⁹</span> This is R. Eliezer's view.But R. Joshua said to him: Is it stated, and [those] among all thenations?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which would denote only some of them. ');">³⁰</span>

א"ר יוחנן בלעם חיגר ברגלו אחת היה שנאמר (במדבר כג, ג) וילך שפי שמשון בשתי רגליו שנאמר (בראשית מט, יז) שפיפון עלי אורח הנושך עקבי סוס בלעם סומא באחת מעיניו היה שנאמר (במדבר כד, ג) שתום העין

Surely all the nationsthat forget God is written! But [interpret thus:] The wicked shall be turnedinto hell, and who are they? — all the nations that forgetGod.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Yad Ramah preserves a more preferable reading: 'this refers to the heathen. This is R. Eliezer's view. But R. Joshua said to him: Is it stated, and all nations, surely all nations etc. i.e., without a waw copulative, and hence in apposition to the first clause.] ');">³¹</span> Now, <font>that wicked man [Balaam]too gave a sign for himself [that he would not enter the future world bysaying</font>, Let me die the death of therighteous<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXIII, 20. ');">³²</span>

קוסם באמתו היה כתיב הכא נופל וגלוי עינים וכתיב התם (אסתר ז, ח) והנה המן נופל על המטה וגו' איתמר מר זוטרא אמר קוסם באמתו היה מר בריה דרבינא אמר שבא על אתונו מ"ד קוסם באמתו היה כדאמרן ומ"ד בא על אתונו היה כתיב הכא (במדבר כד, ט) כרע שכב וכתיב התם (שופטים ה, כז) בין רגליה

— meaning, If I diethe death of the righteous [i.e., a natural death], my last end will be likehis;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., 'I will enter the world to come.' ');">³³</span> but if not [i.e., <font>if I diea violent death], then behold I go unto mypeople</font>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XXIV, 14; i.e., into the Gehenna. ');">³⁴</span> <i>And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XXII, 7. ');">³⁵</span> A Tanna taught: There was never peace between Midian and Moab. The matter may be compared to two dogs in one kernel which were always enraged at each other. Then a wolf attacked one, whereupon the other said, If I do not help him, he will kill him to-day, and attack me to-morrow; so they both went and killed the wolf. R. Papa observed: Thus people say, 'The weasel and cat [when at peace with each other] had a feast on the fat of the luckless.' <i>And the princes of Moab abode with <font>Balaam</font></i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 8. ');">³⁶</span> But whither had the princes of Midian gone? — As soon as he said to them, <i>Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again,</i> [<i>as the Lord shall speak unto me</i>],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. ');">³⁷</span> they reasoned, Does any father hate his son!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' They knew that it was useless to wait. ');">³⁸</span> R. Nahman said: <font>Impudence, even against Heaven, is of avail</font>: at first it is written, <i>Thou shalt not go with them</i>,'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 12. ');">³⁹</span> yet subsequently it is said, <i>Rise up and go with them</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 20. [His insistence wrested from God His consent for him to go.] ');">⁴⁰</span> R. Shesheth said: <font>Impudence is sovereignty without a crown</font>,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., it wields great power, and lacks nothing but a crown. ');">⁴¹</span> for it is written, <i>And I am this day weak, &nbsp;&nbsp;though anointed king, and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' II Sam. III, 39. Thus their boldness and impudence outweighed sovereignty. ');">⁴²</span> R. Johanan said: <font>Balaam</font> limped on one foot, as it is written, <i>And he walked haltingly</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXIII, 3. ');">⁴³</span> Samson was lame in both feet, as it is written, [Dan shall be a serpent by the way,] an adder in the path that biteth the horse's heels.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XLIX, 17. According to tradition, this was a prophecy of Samson; 'An adder in the path' is taken to mean that he would have to slither along like an adder, being lame in both feet. ');">⁴⁴</span> <font>Balaam</font> was blind in one eye, as it is said, [and the man] whose eye is open&nbsp;…<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXIV, 3. Since 'eye' is in the singular, it follows that only one eye was open, the other being sightless. ');">⁴⁵</span> <font>He practised enchantment by means of his membrum</font>. For here it is written, falling, but having his eyes open; whilst elsewhere is written, And Haman was fallen <font>on the bed whereon Esther was</font>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Est. VII, 8. ');">⁴⁶</span> It was stated, Mar Zutra said: <font>He practised enchantment by means of his membrum</font>. Mar the son of Rabina said: <font>He committed bestiality with his ass</font>. The view that <font>he practised enchantment by means of his membrum is as was stated</font>. The view that he committed <font>bestiality with his ass</font> [is because] here it is written, <font>He bowed,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.V. 'he couched'. ');">⁴⁷</span></font> he lay down as a lion and as a great lion;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXIV, 9. ');">⁴⁸</span> whilst elsewhere it is written, At her feet</font>