“A man or woman...” – this is what is written: “For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who scorn Me will be dishonored” (I Samuel 2:30). Rabbi Yosei taught: Anyone who honors the Torah, his body is honored by the people, and anyone who scorns the Torah, his body is scorned by the people, as it is stated: “For I will honor those who honor Me…” Another matter: “For I will honor those who honor Me” (I Samuel 2:30) – this is Pharaoh, who accorded honor to He who spoke and the world came into being and [who] went out at the head of his entourage, as it is stated: “And Pharaoh drew near” (Exodus 14:10).
His servants said to him: Our master, all the kings go out only after their entourage. You, why are you going out at the head of your entourage? He said to them: Am I going out before flesh and blood? Behold, I am going out to receive the presence of the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He.
That is why the Holy One blessed be He accorded honor to him and exacted retribution against him by Himself, as it is stated: “To My mare among Pharaoh’s chariots…” (Song of Songs 1:9).8See Shir HaShirim Rabba 1:4. “But those who scorn Me will be dishonored” (I Samuel 2:30) – this is Sennacherib, king of Assyria, as it is stated: “By means of your messengers you blasphemed the Lord…” (II Kings 19:23).
That is why the Holy One blessed be He treated him with scorn and exacted retribution against him only by means of an angel, as it is stated: “An angel of the Lord emerged and smote in the Assyrian camp…” (II Kings 19:35). Another matter: “For [I will honor] those who honor Me” (I Samuel 2:30) – it is speaking of the proselytes. They honor the Holy One blessed be He, as they forsake their evil deeds and come and find shelter beneath the wings of the Divine Presence.
The Holy One blessed be He honors them, to teach you that anyone who renders his ways upright honors the Holy One blessed be He, as it is stated: “One who sacrifices a thanks offering honors Me; [and I will show [vesam] one who sets his path]” (Psalms 50:23),9The midrash reads the word vesam as vesham, meaning evaluate or measure. and it says: “Give honor to the Lord your God before it grows dark [and before your feet stumble]” (Jeremiah 13:16).
“But those who scorn Me will be dishonored” (I Samuel 2:30) – these are the wicked; because they stray from following the Omnipresent, the Holy One blessed be He dishonors them. Who were those who scorned the Holy One blessed be He? These were the worshippers of the calf. What scorning did He do to them?
He arranged for them that they would be stricken with leprosy and with zivut, and He sent them out of the camp, as it is stated: “And they shall send out from the camp [every leper, and every zav]” (Numbers 5:2). What honor did the Holy One blessed be He accord to the proselytes? It is that after the portion of sending out the impure, the portion of the prohibition regarding proselytes10This is the prohibition against robbing the proselyte. is written, to teach you that the Omnipresent distanced the sinners of Israel, but the Omnipresent drew near the proselytes who came in His name, as he rendered their legal status as stringent as the legal status of Israel, as anyone who robs them it is as though he robbed an Israelite. That is, “for I will honor those who honor Me.”