“Gather to Me seventy men” – this is what the verse said: “The words of the wise are like prods [kadarvonot], and like implanted nails are the collectors of wisdom; they were given from one shepherd” (Ecclesiastes 12:11). A girl’s ball [kadur shel banot] – just as a girl’s ball, one tosses it here and there, so the commandments were tossed at Sinai.21See Shir Hashirim Rabba 1:2:2. Another matter, “like implanted nails [kemasmerot]” – from here, the Sages said: It is prohibited to read external literature, as ‘implanted” is written: Just as the priestly watches [mishmarot] are twenty-four, so, too, the books are twenty-four.22Twenty-four books of Tanach.
“Collectors of wisdom” – these are Sanhedrin. If you say: This one prohibits and that one permits; this one disqualifies and that one rules it valid; this one rules it ritually impure and that one rules it pure. Rabbi Eliezer rules one liable and Rabbi Yehoshua exempts; Beit Shammai disqualifies and Beit Hillel rules it valid; to whom shall we listen? The Holy One blessed be He says: ‘Nevertheless, they all “were given from one shepherd.”’