The Lord of Justice Holds Back His Hand Against Esau

Rabbi Elazar said: If there is judgment below, there is no judgment above; if there is no judgment above, there is judgment below. How so? If those below execute judgment, there is no judgment above. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Keep justice below so that you will not cause Me to execute justice above. This is the meaning of (Exodus 21:1): "And these are the ordinances." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: Everything that I do, I do with justice. For had I sought to transgress against justice a single time, the world could not endure. Isaiah said (Isaiah 27:4): "Fury is not in Me. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would step among them, I would set them on fire together." A single step I would have stepped and passed beyond justice — "I would set them on fire together," and immediately the world would be burned. "Or let him take hold of My stronghold" (Isaiah 27:5), for My hand is held fast in justice, as it is said (Deuteronomy 32:41): "And My hand takes hold of justice." "Let him make peace with Me" (Isaiah 27:5) — let him make peace between Me and justice. "If I whet My lightning sword" (Deuteronomy 32:41) — if I were to alter the measure of justice, a single flash of lightning would go forth and lay the world waste. And what do I do? "My hand takes hold of justice." The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I am called the Master of Justice, and I desire to stretch out My hand against Esau, yet I cannot until I repay him the reward for a small commandment that he performed for Me in this world. Rabbi Pinchas the Priest bar Chama said: See what is written (Zechariah 12:9): "And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord, that I will seek to destroy all the nations." Israel says to Him: Master of the World, and who can stay Your hand, that You say "I will seek"? Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: When I seek merit for them and do not find it, at that hour I will seek to destroy all the nations. Rabbi Levi said: See what is written (Daniel 7:9): "I beheld until thrones were cast down." The Holy One, blessed be He, said: When I have collected from the nations of the world the few small commandments that they performed before Me, at that hour "until thrones were cast down" — the thrones of the nations of the world the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to overturn, as it is said (Haggai 2:22): "And I will overturn the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations." At that hour I will redeem you, and you will be enslaved no more, as it is said (Nahum 1:12): "Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more."