Samuel the Seer and Moses Humbled Over Eliab and the Hard Case

"And Saul drew near to Samuel etc., and Samuel answered Saul and said, 'I am the seer'" (I Samuel 9:18-19). Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Samuel, "Samuel, you see? I will show you that you do not see." When did He show him? At the hour when He said to him, "Fill your horn with oil etc." (I Samuel 16:1). "And it came to pass, when they were come, that he saw etc., and the Lord said unto Samuel, 'Look not on his appearance, nor on the height of his stature, because I have refused him etc.'" (ibid. 16:6-7). Why? Because he was hasty. And similar to it: "And the matter that is too hard for you etc." (Deuteronomy 1:17). Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Moses, you judge a hard case? I will bring before you a case that the disciple of your disciple is able to hear, but you do not know how to hear it." This is what is written, "And Moses brought their cause etc." (Numbers 27:5). Rabbi Huna in the name of Rabbi Yehudah bar Rabbi Simon, Rabbi Chanin in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak, Rabbi Chaggai reached it in the name of Rabbi Pedat: Heaven forbid that that righteous one spoke in such language! Rather, he said: A matter that I am able to hear, "you shall bring unto me" (Deuteronomy 1:17), and one that I am not able to hear, "I will hear it" — "unto God" (ibid.).