“Your lips drip nectar, my bride, honey and milk are under your tongue, and the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon” (Song of Songs 4:11). “Your lips drip nectar, my bride” – Rabbi Derosa and Rabbi Yirmeya in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzḥak: Six hundred thousand prophets arose for Israel in the days of Elijah. Rabbi Yaakov said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: One million two hundred thousand, as Rabbi Yoḥanan said: From Gevat to Antipatris122These are the borders of the kingdom of Judah. were six hundred thousand cities.
There were none among them as tainted as Beit El and Jericho; [Jericho] because Joshua cursed it, Beit El, as the two golden calves of Yerovam were situated there. One verse says: “The disciples of the prophets who were in Beit El came out to Elisha” (II Kings 2:3). “Prophets” connote no fewer than two.123If in Beit El there were two, certainly in each of the untainted cities there were at least two.
Two prophets per city times six hundred thousand cities equals one million two hundred thousand prophets. Why were their prophecies not publicized?124Why were they not included among the books of Prophets? Because they were not required for the generations. On this basis, say: Every prophecy that was at its time and was needed for the generations was publicized, and every prophecy that was at its time but was not needed for the generations was not publicized.
However, in the future, the Holy One blessed be He will bring them and publicize their prophecy. That is what is written: “The Lord my God will come, all the holy ones with You” (Zechariah 14:5). Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Ḥelbo: Just as six hundred thousand prophets arose for Israel, so too, six hundred thousand prophetesses arose for them. Solomon came and publicized them, as it is stated: “Your lips drip nectar, my bride.”125The drop of nectar on the lips represents prophecy, and “my bride” is an allusion to prophetesses.
Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Ḥalafta of Caesarea say in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: Just as this bride ornaments herself with twenty-four ornaments126See Isaiah 3:18–24 and if she is missing one item [it is as though] she has nothing, so too, a Torah scholar must be familiar with the twenty-four books [of the Bible], and if he is missing one of them [it is as though] he has nothing. Rabbi Huna [said] in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: Just as a bride is modest, so a Torah scholar must be modest.
Rabbi Ḥalafta in the name of Reish Lakish: Just as a bride sits on a divan and says: See that I am pure, this is my testimony that attests in my regard; so too, there must not be any fault in a Torah scholar. Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina, and the Rabbis: Rabbi Elazar says: Anyone who speaks words of Torah in public and they are not pleasant to their listeners like this fine flour that adheres to a sieve [nafa],127This is an expounding of the word nectar [nofet]. it would have been preferable for him had he not said them.
Rabbi Yosei says: Anyone who speaks words of Torah in public and they are not pleasant to their listeners like this honey that comes from nectar [tzuf],128This, too, is an expounding of the word nectar [nofet tzufim] (see Psalms 19:11). it would have been preferable for him had he not said them. The Rabbis say: Anyone who speaks words of Torah in public and they are not pleasant to their listeners like this honey and milk that are intermingled, it would have been preferable for him had he not said them.
Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish: Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Anyone who speaks words of Torah in public and they are not pleasant to their listeners like this bride who is pleasant to the people at her wedding canopy, it would have been preferable for him had he not said them. Reish Lakish said: Anyone who speaks words of Torah in public and they are not pleasant to their listeners like this bride who is pleasant to her husband at her wedding canopy, it would have been preferable for him had he not said them.