Wisdom Better Than Weapons and the Plagues Measure for Measure

Tanna Debei Eliyahu Rabbah 7:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

Scripture says, "Wisdom is better than weapons of war" (Ecclesiastes 9:18). Greater was the feast that Elisha made than all the wars that Joram son of Ahab made, as it is said, "And the king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, Shall I strike them down, shall I strike them, my father? And he said, You shall not strike them down... and he prepared for them a great feast, and they ate and drank, and he sent them away... and the bands of Aram came no more into the land of Israel" (2 Kings 6:21-23). From this you learn that the feast Elisha made was greater than all the wars Joram made; therefore it is said, "Wisdom is better than weapons of war." Similarly, David the king said, "The beginning of Your word is truth" (Psalms 119:160). What did King David see to praise the Holy One, blessed be He, with the language of truth? He reasoned within himself: just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is Himself called truth, as it is said, "But the LORD is the true God" (Jeremiah 10:10), and it says, "The LORD swore to David in truth" (Psalms 132:11), so I will praise Him only with the language of truth; therefore it is said, "The beginning of Your word is truth." Similarly, "The word of the LORD came to Gad the prophet, David's seer, saying... three things I offer you; choose one of them" (2 Samuel 24:11-12). "And David said to Gad, I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are many" (2 Samuel 24:14). At that hour David said in his mind: If I say let famine come, Israel will say it is because he trusts in his storehouses; therefore I will not say famine. And if I say let the sword come, Israel will say it is because he trusts in his warriors; therefore I will not say sword. Rather I will ask only for a thing in which all are equal, poor and rich, old and young. At once "the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel... and the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, and the LORD relented of the evil" (2 Samuel 24:15-16). And David lifted his eyes and saw the iniquities of Israel heaped in bands from the earth to the heavens; therefore it is said, "And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven" (1 Chronicles 21:16). At that hour an angel descended from the heights and slew Gad the seer and four sons of David and the elders who were with David. When David saw the sword of the angel of death, trembling entered him and he had no more strength or warmth, as it is said, "And they covered him with garments, but he could not get warm" (1 Kings 1:1). Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who promised our ancestors and fulfilled the promise for their children. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, promised our ancestors that He rolls away and removes our sins and does not keep jealousy and vengeance in His heart to do judgment against all Israel in all their dwellings, and the words of Torah He does not withhold from them - so He fulfills this promise. But the Holy One, blessed be He, does keep jealousy and vengeance in His heart in order to do judgment against the wicked of the idolaters. Go and learn from Pharaoh and all his camp: just as they were jealous and took vengeance against Israel, so the Holy One, blessed be He, was jealous and took vengeance against Pharaoh and all his camp. And why was Egypt different from all the lands of the idolaters into which Israel entered? Because at that time the Egyptians ruled from one end of the world to the other, and they were defiled with many transgressions, and there was no nation in the world so steeped in unseemly things and improper matters and suspected of sorcery and lewdness and all evil deeds as the Egyptians alone. Ten plagues did the Holy One, blessed be He, bring upon the Egyptians, and all of them came upon them only because of the things they plotted to do to Israel; for all the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, are truth, measure for measure, and no evil measure goes out from before Him, only good measures, and because of the corrupted deeds of human beings an evil measure goes out against them. And these are they: blood, frogs, lice, swarms, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, the slaying of the firstborn. Blood - why did it come upon them? Because they saw the Israelites immersing from their impurity and from marital relations, and the daughters of Israel immersing from menstruation; what did the Egyptians do? They held back the waters from them so they could not immerse and could not come together and be fruitful and multiply; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, turned their waters to blood, as it is said, "He turned their waters into blood and killed their fish" (Psalms 105:29). And the Egyptians would say to Israel, Give us some of your water; he would give him water and it became blood; an Israelite would drink water and the Egyptian would say, Let me and you drink from one vessel, and the water in the vessel divided, water for the Israelite and blood for the Egyptian. Frogs - why did they come? Because they would say to Israel, Go and bring us creeping things and swarming things that we may play with them as we wish; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought the frogs upon them, until their croaking was heard from inside the bellies of the Egyptians, and when they went to the privy the frogs came out and bit them in their orifices, and there is no shame greater than this. When Moses and Aaron made frogs, the Egyptians too made frogs by sorcery; but from then on the whole world cannot create any creature smaller than a lentil. One verse says "the river swarmed with frogs" and another says "the frog came up"; Rabbi Akiva says one frog came and the Egyptians struck it and frogs swarmed from it until the land was full; Rabbi Eliezer of Modiin said to him, Akiva, what have you to do with aggadah? Cease your words and turn to the laws of plagues and tents; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought many kinds of frogs upon them. Lice - why did He bring them? Because they set Israel to sweeping their roads and houses, fields and streets; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, turned the dust of Egypt to lice. Swarms - why? Because they would say to Israel, Go and bring us bears and lions to our hunting houses, so that Israel would be out in the wilds and not enter their own houses and be fruitful; therefore He brought upon them every evil beast in the world. Pestilence - because they set Israel to herding their horses and donkeys and camels and cattle and sheep, so they would be in the wilds; therefore He brought pestilence and killed all that Israel herded. Boils - because they made Israel their servants to heat water and cool it for them, while the Egyptians bathed and entered their houses in joy; therefore He brought boils so they could not touch water. Hail - because they set Israel to planting gardens and orchards; therefore He brought hail and broke all the plantings. Locusts - because they set Israel to sowing wheat and barley and legumes; therefore He brought locusts that ate all that Israel sowed. Darkness - blessed is the Omnipresent before whom there is no favoritism; there were wrongdoers in Israel who did not wish to leave, and when there was darkness for the Egyptians and light for Israel, those wicked ones died and were buried, so the Egyptians would not say a plague struck Israel as it struck them. The firstborn - because Pharaoh said, "If it is a son, kill him" (Exodus 1:16).

Themes

WisdomDivine JusticeEgypt

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