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enough, she hurled her spindle at him, with the intention of killing him; but missing her aim, she calmly asked him to hand it to her, as if she had meant no evil, and the spindle had accidentally dropped from her hand. He aimed it at her head, and stretched her dead on the ground. Now, said Ishbi-benob, they are two, and I shall be overmatched. He, therefore, threw up David hastily into the air before the approach of Abishai, and was about to catch him on the point of his spear, when Abishai pronounced a mysterious name, which had the effect of suspending David between earth and sky. But why (asks a listener) did not David save himself in the same way? Because (answers the narrator) a prisoner cannot open his own dungeon. How camest thou here? asked Abishai. David told him what God had said to him, and what answer he had returned. Reverse thy prayer, said Abishai, let thy children fare as they may; but do not thou suffer grief. Descending from his place in midair, they both set upon the giant and slew him. That is it (concludes the narrator) that is written (2 Sa. xxi. 17): "Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel."

II. Of Eliezer it is said: "I came this day unto the well; that is, the day of my departure (which he could not have done, if the road had not been miraculously shortened).

III. Of Jacob it is said (Ge. xxviii. 10): " And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went to Haran." And then (after he had reached Haran) it is written: "And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set." When he reached the end of his journey, he exclaimed: Is it possible I have passed through the place, where my father used to worship, and I have not prayed there. Whilst he retraced his steps, the road shortened, and sooner than he thought, "he lighted upon the place." Having performed his prayers, he wished to proceed to Haran. What, said the Holy One, blessed be He! this righteous man has come to My lodging place, and shall he go away without spending a night there? To detain him there, the sun set before his time. etc. Sanhedrin, fol. 95, col. 1, 2.

VERSE 50.

And Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the Lord.

That matrimonial unions are formed by God is proved from the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. The Law: "The thing proceedeth from God." The Prophets (Ju. xiv. 4): “But his (Samson's) father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord." The Hagiographa (Pr. xix. 14): "House and riches

are the inheritance of the fathers; but a prudent wife is from the Lord." Moed-katon, fol. 18, col. 2.

2.

SYNOPTICAL NOTES.

PROVIDENCE, PARTICULAR AND GENERAL.

"He hath made everything beautiful in his time." (Ec. iii. 11.) And so the Holy One, blessed be He! made each man's craft appear beautiful in his eyes. Berachoth, fol. 43, col. 2.

3. A man should always be in the habit of saying: What God does is for the best. (See page 107, Note 25; page 13, Verse 2.) Thus Rabbi Akiva came once, during his travels, to a place where he was refused hospitality (oshpiza, hospes). Well, said he, what God does is for the best, and camped in the open. He had with him a bantam (to wake him in the morning), an ass, and a lamp. A gust of wind extinguished the lamp, a cat killed the bantam, and a lion devoured the ass. To all this he said: What God does is for the best. The same night there came a predatory band, and reduced the people of the place to slavery. Did I not tell you, exclaimed Rabbi Akiva, that what God does is for the best? (Any of the three might have betrayed him to the band.) Berachoth, fol. 60, col. 2.

6. Job is alleged to have said: Perhaps a storm wind having passed before Thee, my name 1, Job, was changed into "N, an enemy. To which God replied: Many hairs (nima, vmua) have I given to man, each growing out of a separate cavity; for if two were to grow out of one cavity, they would darken the light of man's eyes. I have made no confusion as to these cavities, and could I have made any with regard to thy name? Again: I have created many drops in the clouds, and each drop has a receptacle (dephos, Tuños) of its own, that two drops should not issue from one receptacle, and thus inundate the earth, and injure the crops. I have made no confusion as to the receptacles, and could I have made any as to thy name? Many voices of thunders have I created in the clouds, making a separate path for each, otherwise they would destroy the world. I have made no confusion as to the thunders' paths, and could I have made any as to thy name? The goat of the rock is so cruel towards its offspring, that it always calves on the ledge of a rock, in order to precipitate its offspring and kill it. But at that moment I keep an eagle ready to receive it on its wings, and to deposit it before its unnatural parent. I never confuse the moments in this instance, and could I have made any confusion as to thy name? Bava-bathra, fol. 16, col. 1.

7. Even the nomination of the official of the wells (the lowest municipal appointment) is ordered from heaven. Bava-bathra, fol. 91, col. 2.

9. Rabbi Chanena said: No man pricks his finger below, unless it has been decreed above; for it is said (Ps. xxxvii. 23): "The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord." Chulin, fol. 7, col. 2.

10. Rav Yoseph expounded: What is it that is written (Is. xii. 1): "I will praise thee, O Lord, because thou wast angry with me, thine anger will return, and thou wilt comfort me"? To what does Scripture refer? To two men resolving on a trading expedition; one is prevented from carrying out his intention by running a thorn into his foot, and he gives vent to his disappointment in blasphemy. After a time he hears, that his friend's ship sank in the sea, when he begins to acknowledge and praise God's goodness towards himself. Niddah, fol. 31, col. 1.

VERSE 61.

And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and went behind the man.

Rav Nachman said: Manoah was an amhaaretz; for it is said (Ju. xiii. 11): "And Manoah arose, and went behind his wife." Had he waited upon the disciples of the wise, says Rashi, he would have known, and conformed to, the Mishnah (which, as a part of the oral law, had been taught at his time, and), which enacts, that a man may not walk behind a woman, even if she be his wife. Rav Ashi adds: He does not seem to have attended even an elementary school for children, or he would have learned there, that Rebekah and her damsels went after the man, and not before him. Berachoth, fol. 61, col. 1.

T. N. This extract derives its value from the proof it furnishes, if indeed any more proof is required beyond those that have already appeared in the preceding pages, that the amhaaretz were not such reprobate people as some writers would make them, in order to exculpate their Rabbinic traducers; but simply the mass of the people, who would not submit to the arrogant presumption of the Rabbis, and to the authority claimed for their day-dreams and vexatious innovations. See page 358, Note 9.

VERSE 67.

And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife.

Rava asked Ravah bar Mari: What is the origin of the saying, A painful sensation is experienced in a man's teeth, who looks on whilst another eats (or as we should say: His mouth waters)? He replied: It is written (1 Ki. i. 26): “But me, even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon hath he not called (to the feast)." No, said Rava, "And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife;" and then follows, "Then again Abraham took a wife." Bava-kama, fol. 92, col. 2.

CHAPTER XXV.

VERSE 6.

But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts.

SYNOPTICAL NOTES.

CONCUBINES AND GIFTS.

1. "And his concubine became unfaithful unto him." (Ju. xix. 2.) Rabbi Avyathar said: Her husband found a fly in the dish; Rabbi Yonathan said: Pilum veretro invenit. The former Rabbi met Elijah (the Tishbite), and enquired of him, what the Holy One, blessed be He was doing just then. He replied: He is studying the subject of the concubine at Gibeah. And what, he asked, does He say? He replied: He says: My son Avyathar says so, and My son Yonathan so. What! exclaimed the other, is there any doubt with Heaven! No, said Elijah, but both utter the words of the living God. Guittin, fol. 6, col. 2.

T. N. This episode is cited in an halachic discussion, to prove that God agreed with Rabbi Avyathar.

4. Three precious gifts has the Holy One, blessed be He! conferred upon Israel, and all through chastisement: the Law, the land of Israel, and the world to come. The last is proved à fortiori. If a Hebrew slave obtains his liberty, when his master deprives him of a tooth, or an eye, how much more will a man enter the world to come, whose whole body has been purged from sin by chastisement. Berachoth, fol. 5, col. 1.

8. The public crier in the Temple used to call out: Stand up you priests to your service; you Levites attend to your duties; and you representative Israelites (see page 95, Note 6) be ready for your functions! His voice was heard at a distance of three miles, by king Agrippa (who is often mentioned by the Rabbis as a model of a Rabbinic Jew, and) who, on his return home, sent him presents. Yoma, fol. 20, col. 2.

9. He that buys a palm branch from an amhaaretz (who is careless of Rabbinical ordinances) in the year of release, receives from the vendor a citron as a gift (both are used on the feast of Tabernacles; Le. xxiii. 40).

(Commenting on the above Mishnah, the Guemara asks): And what if the vendor refuses to give the citron as a gift? Rav Hunah replied: In that case, let the price of the palm-branch be raised by the buyer, so as to include that of the citron, and to make it appear, that

the latter has been obtained as a gift. But why not pay expressly for the citron itself? Because during the year of release, no money for field produce is handed to an amhaaretz; for, explains Rashi, the Law says in Le. xxv. 6: “ The sabbath of the land shall be meat for you," but not merchandise. Thus the spontaneous crops of the year of release cannot be made articles of sale, a prohibition to which an amhaaretz was not likely to give heed. Hence no eatables may be bought of them during the year of release, as they might be the growth of that year, and in that case, it would be an offence against Le. xix. 14, "Thou shalt not put a stumbling block before the blind." Sucah, fol. 39, col. 1; Maimonides, Hilchoth Shemitah, Sec. 1, Halachah 11.

12. "Of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor." (Es. ix. 22.) Rabbi Yehudah the Prince sent to Rabbi Oshaya (on the feast of Purim) the side of a fat calf, and a skinful of wine. The recipient sent back the following message: Thou our Rabbi hast fulfilled towards us the injunction in its plural sense. Ravah committed to Abaii, as gifts for Mari bar Mar, a bagful of dates, and a jugful of flour of roasted grain. Abaii remarked, that Mari would say: A villager does not drop the basket off his shoulder, even after he has been raised to a throne. (Ravah, an agriculturist, had just been elevated to the presidential chair of Pumbeditha.) The recipient sent him back a bagful of ginger and a jugful of elongated pepper corn, when Abaii remarked: Now you may say: I have sent him sweet things, and he sends me pungent ones. Meguillah, fol. 7, col. 2.

13. Rabbi Akiva asked Rabbi Nechunya the Great: Whereby hast thou attained to long life? He replied: I have never received presents (Pr. xv. 27); I have never been vindictive; and I have been liberal with my money. Meguillah, fol. 28, col. 1.

VERSE 23.

Two nations are in thy womb.

I. Read not ", nations, but D", men. (The Massorah gives the latter reading.) These are Rabbi (compiler of the Mishnah), and Antoninus (the emperor of Rome, which the Rabbis identify with Edom, and hence both were descendants of Rebekah), from whose table there were never absent radishes, lettuce, and cucumbers. Berachoth, fol. 57, col. 2.

And the one people shall be stronger than the other people.

II. Rav Yitzchak said: Leshem is Paneas (where Jordan rises); "Ekron shall be rooted up" (Zep. ii. 4), that is, Cæsarea the daughter (city) of Edom (Rome), which was a royal metropolis. Some say: It was so called (by Herod in honour of Cæsar Augustus) because it was the resort of many kings; others say: Because it created many kings. Cæsarea and Jerusalem; if one says: They are both destroyed, believe him not; both are

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