Rabbi Joshua ben Levi on God's Righteousness in Rome's Palace

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Noach 8:2

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

(A) "Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains" (Psalms 36:7). There is a story about Rabbi Joshua bar Levi, who went up to Rome and entered a certain palace, and saw there columns of marble covered with carpets, so that in the heat they would not crack, and in the cold they would not congeal. He went out from there and found a certain poor man with a reed mat beneath him and a reed mat over him. Concerning the columns he read, "Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains" (Psalms 36:7): in every place where You give, You bestow in abundance. Concerning the poor man he read, "and Your judgments are a great deep" (ibid.): and in every place where You strike, You are exacting.

Themes

Divine JusticeRighteousness

Biblical References

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