God's Three Lawsuits With Israel and the Nations Who Misread Them

[Another interpretation of "A bull or a sheep." This text is connected] to (Micah 6:3): "My people, what have I done to you, and how have I wearied you? Testify against Me." Rabbi Aha said: Testify against Me and receive a reward; "you shall not testify against your neighbor falsely" (Exodus 20:13), and you will receive a verdict and a reckoning. Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman said: On three occasions the Holy One, blessed be He, came to dispute with Israel, and the nations of the world rejoiced and said: How can these be able to dispute with their Creator? Now He is destroying them. At that hour when He said to them, "Come now, and let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18), they rejoiced and said: Now He is destroying them. When the Holy One, blessed be He, saw that they were rejoicing, He turned it for them to the good. He said, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (ibid.). When the nations of the world heard this, they were astonished and said: Is this a reply, and is this a rebuke? They said: He has come only to amuse Himself with His children. The second, when He said to them, "Hear, O mountains, the lawsuit of the Lord, [for the Lord has a lawsuit with His people, and He will dispute with Israel]" (Micah 6:2), the nations of the world rejoiced and said: Now He is destroying them. When the Holy One, blessed be He, saw this, He turned it for them to the good and said, "My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab plotted... With what shall I come before the Lord?" (ibid. 6:5-6). The nations of the world were astonished and said: Is this a reply, and is this a rebuke? He has come only to amuse Himself with His children. The third, when He said, "And the Lord has a lawsuit with Judah, [and will punish Jacob according to his ways]" (Hosea 12:3). The nations of the world said: Now the Holy One, blessed be He, is destroying them. When the Holy One, blessed be He, saw this, He turned it for them to the good: "In the womb he grasped his brother by the heel" (ibid. 12:4). A parable: This is like a woman who was lodging a complaint about her son before a judge. When she saw that the judge was sentencing the people to execution, [she said]: If I make known my son's offense, he will order him to be put to death. What did she do? She delayed [until] he had finished his cases. He said to her: What is your son's offense? She said to him: When he was in my belly, he kicked me. He said to her: And has he done anything to you now? She said: No. He said to her: Go, this is no offense at all. The nations of the world were astonished [and said]: Is this a reply, and is this a rebuke? He has come only to amuse Himself with His children.