The Mother and Her Seven Sons Who Refused to Bow

Another interpretation: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered Your inheritance" (Psalms 79:1). But should it not have said "a weeping and a wailing and a lament of Asaph"? What does "a psalm of Asaph" teach? Rather, Asaph was a prophet and rejoiced in the matter. They told a parable. To what may the matter be compared? To a poor man's daughter who went to draw water from the well, and her earthenware bucket broke off and fell into the well, and the poor man's daughter was weeping and crying out. Afterward the king's daughter came to draw water with a golden bucket, and her golden bucket broke off and fell into the well; and the poor man's daughter began rejoicing and dancing and said, "He who will bring up the king's daughter's golden bucket will bring up my earthenware bucket." So Asaph rejoiced in the matter: since he saw in prophecy that the gates of Jerusalem would sink, as it says, "her gates have sunk into the ground" (Lamentations 2:9), and he also saw in prophecy that in the future the gates would rise up from the ground, at once Asaph said "a psalm." He said, "He who is destined to rebuild Jerusalem and raise up its gates will raise up Korah, my grandfather, from the earth." Rabbi Eliezer the Great says: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered Your inheritance... they have poured out their blood like water" (Psalms 79:1, 3). Hadrian Caesar came and seized Alexandria of Egypt, in which there were twelve myriads of people, and he enticed them with words and said to them, "Go out and stand in the Valley of Hands, so that this nation may not rule over you." When they went out and stood in the Valley of Hands, he set over them fifty thousand men gripping swords and slew them, until not even one of them was left. Therefore it says, "O God, nations have entered Your inheritance... they have poured out their blood like water." The sages said: three streams of blood flowed out of the Valley of Hands and went to the Great Sea; and the sages estimated for the Great Sea and found three parts blood and one part water. Some say: for seven years the nations harvested their vineyards from the blood of Israel. And Rabbi Eliezer further said: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered." The kingdom of Rome came and slew of the men of Betar forty thousand people, until the blood went out from all the doorways and from all the gutters; and there were found in Betar three hundred baskets of severed phylacteries from the heads of the slain of Betar, and each and every basket held three se'ah; and when you come to reckon it you find nine hundred se'ah of phylacteries. And the sages said: "A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have entered." Hadrian Caesar came and seized a widow with her seven sons. He said to her, "What are you?" She said to him, "I am a widow woman." He said to her, "And these children, from where are they to you?" She said to him, "They are my sons." At once he brought the first and said to him, "Bow to this god." That child said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'Know this day and take it to heart that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is no other' (Deuteronomy 4:39)." At once they took a sword and slew him. He brought back the second and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who shows no favoritism and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow' (Deuteronomy 10:17-18)." At once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the third and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'You shall not bow to another god, for the LORD whose Name is Jealous is a jealous God' (Exodus 34:14)." And at once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the fourth and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah" [a verse he cited is missing here]. At once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the fifth and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'One who sacrifices to the gods shall be utterly destroyed, save to the LORD alone' (Exodus 22:19)." At once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the sixth and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands, for thus it is written in the Torah, 'The LORD shall reign forever and ever' (Exodus 15:18)." At once he commanded and they slew him. He brought back the seventh, the youngest of them all, and said to him, "Bow to this god." He said to him, "God forbid; I will not bow to the work of human hands. We have sworn to the Holy One, blessed be He, that we will not serve another god, and the Holy One, blessed be He, has sworn to us that He will not exchange us for another people, as it says, 'You have affirmed this day that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes and His commandments and His ordinances and obey His voice; and the LORD has affirmed this day that you are His treasured people, as He spoke to you, to keep all His commandments, and to set you high above all the nations He has made, for praise and for fame and for glory, and that you may be a people holy to the LORD your God, as He spoke' (Deuteronomy 26:17-19)." Caesar said to him, "If you will not bow to this god, behold I will throw down my ring before it, so that those standing before me may say you obeyed the words of Caesar and bowed to this god." The child said to him, "Woe to you, Caesar, for the words you say to me. If you, who are flesh and blood, are ashamed before flesh and blood like yourself, how shall I not be ashamed before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He?" Caesar said to him, "And does the world have a god?" He said to him, "And have you ever seen an ownerless world?" He said to him, "Does your God have a head?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'His head is finest gold' (Song of Songs 5:11)?" He said to him, "Does your God have ears?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'Then those who feared the LORD spoke one to another, and the LORD listened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and esteem His Name' (Malachi 3:16)?" He said to him, "Does your God have eyes?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'And God saw the children of Israel, and God knew' (Exodus 2:25)?" He said to him, "Does your God have feet?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'And His feet shall stand on that day on the Mount of Olives' (Zechariah 14:4)?" He said to him, "Does your God have hands?" He said to him, "Has it not already been said, 'Behold, the hand of the LORD is not too short to save' (Isaiah 59:1)?" He said to him, "If your God has power, why did He not save you from my hand?" He said to him, "Fool of the world, you are not worthy that miracles be done through you, and we have become liable to death before the Holy One, blessed be He; and if you do not slay us, the Omnipresent has many slayers, many bears and leopards and snakes and scorpions and many lions to come upon us." At once he commanded that he be slain. At once their mother came and said to that Caesar, "By your life, Caesar, give me my son and let me kiss him first." At once they gave him to her, and she embraced him and hugged him and kissed him, and she put her breast into his mouth, and honey and milk dripped to the ground, fulfilling what is said, "honey and milk are under your tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11). She further said to him, "By your life, Caesar, set the sword on my neck and on my son's neck together." Caesar said to her, "God forbid, I will not do so, for thus it is written in your Torah, 'And an ox or a sheep, you shall not slaughter it and its young on one day' (Leviticus 22:28)." That child said to him, "Fool of the world, have you then kept the entire Torah except for this one verse?" At once they cut off his head, and the sages reckoned the years of that child and found him to be two years and six months and seven hours and a half.