“The man said: The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). “The man said…” – there are four people whom the Holy One blessed be He tapped on their jug46This is an expression denoting testing someone’s character, as one would tap on a jug to see if there was anything in it. and found that they were jugs filled with urine.47Their character was found to be exceedingly poor.
They are: Adam, Cain, Bilam, and Hezekiah.48All of them were asked questions by God and answered inappropriately. Adam, as it is stated: “The man said: The woman [whom You gave to be with me, she gave me…].” Cain – “The Lord said to Cain: Where is Abel…and he said: I do not know” (Genesis 4:9). The wicked Bilam, as it is stated: “Who are these people with you… Bilam said to God…” (Numbers 22:9–10).
Hezekiah – “What did these people say to you?” (II Kings 20:14, Isaiah 39:3).49Isaiah asked this of Hezekiah, speaking in God’s name. In all these cases, the people should have realized that God’s question was actually an implied accusation, and they should have immediately admitted their guilt, rather than attempt to actually answer the question. But Ezekiel, He found him more perceptive than all of them, as it is stated: “Son of man, will these bones come to life?
And I said: Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3).50He understood that when God asks a question it is not because He needs to know the answer. Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa said: This is analogous to a bird held in a hunter’s hand. He encountered someone and said to him: ‘This thing in my hand, will it live or die?’ He said to him: ‘If you wish it will live, and if you wish it will die.’
So, too, [when God asked Ezekiel] “son of man, will these bones live?” [His response was:] “I said: Lord God, You know.”