Another matter, had another rebuked them, they would have said: ‘This is the one rebuking us?’ Moses, in whose regard it is written: “I did not take even a single donkey from them” (Numbers 16:15), that is the one appropriate to rebuke Israel. Another matter, if another would have said: “[Yitro said…] Now I know that the Lord is greater [than all the gods]” (Exodus 18:10–11), they would have said: ‘This is the one saying “now I know”?’
But Yitro, who knew, who circulated among all the houses of idol worship in the world and did not find any substance in them, and then came to convert, that is the one for whom it was appropriate to say: “Now I know.” Another matter, if another would have said: “Vanity of vanities, [all is vanity]” (Ecclesiastes 1:2), they would say: ‘This one does not have a peruta [to buy food] to eat, and he says “vanity of vanities”?’
But Solomon, in whose regard it is written: “The king caused silver to be in Jerusalem like stones” (I Kings 10:27), that is the one for whom it was appropriate to say: “Vanity of vanities.” Another matter, if another would have said: “He made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11), they would say: ‘This one did not eat anything in all his days, and he says: “He made everything beautiful in its time”?’10He has never had a good meal or enjoyed the pleasures of life, so how can he said “He made everything beautiful in its time”?
But in regard of Solomon, it is written: “These officials provisioned King Solomon…they did not leave anything lacking” (I Kings 5:7); what is “they did not leave anything lacking”? Rabbi Ḥama ben Rabbi Ḥanina said: They would bring him beets in the summer and cucumbers in the rainy season;11These vegetables do not grow in the Land of Israel during those respective seasons, and therefore they had to be imported from other locations. that is the one for whom it was appropriate to say: “He made everything beautiful in its time.”
Another matter, if another would have said: “All the inhabitants of the earth are considered as nothing” (Daniel 4:32), they would say: ‘This one never ruled over two flies in all his days, and he says: “All the inhabitants of the earth are considered as nothing”?’ But Nebuchadnezzar, in whose regard it is written: “And everywhere the sons of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens dwell, He has given into your hand and set your rule over all of them” (Daniel 2:38), that is the one for whom it was appropriate to say: “All the inhabitants of the earth are considered as nothing.”
Another matter, if another would have said: “The Rock, His actions are perfect” (Deuteronomy 32:4), they would say: ‘This one does not know the about the essence of the attribute of justice, and he says: “The Rock, His actions are perfect”?’ But Moses, in whose regard it is written: “He informed Moses of His ways” (Psalms 103:7), that is the one for whom it was appropriate to say: “The Rock, His actions are perfect.”