Another matter, “any man, when he has a discharge from his flesh,” that is what the verse said: “On the day of your planting it will flourish, and in the morning your seed will blossom” (Isaiah 17:11). “On the day of your planting,” on the day that I planted you to be My people, you created waste, just as it says: “They have become the dross of silver” (Ezekiel 22:18). “It will flourish [tesagsegi]” – you distorted [shagishtun] the path.
That is what is written: “[Ardent lips but an evil heart] are silver dross coating earthenware.” (Proverbs 26:23).21After saying: “Everything that God said we will perform and we will heed” (Exodus 24:7), they then said, at the sin of the Golden Calf: “This is your god, Israel” (Exodus 32:4). Alternatively, tesagsegi, you deceived [shagishtum] Me. That is what is written: “But they beguiled Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their tongue.
Their heart was not steadfast toward Him, and they were not faithful to His covenant” (Psalms 78:36–37). “And in the morning your seed will blossom.” Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina and Rabbi Yishmael bar Naḥman, Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: This is analogous to one who had a furrow filled with vegetables. He awoke in the morning and found it stricken with chlorosis.
Rabbi Yishmael bar Naḥman said: It is analogous to one who had a furrow filled with flax. He awoke in the morning and found it had become stalks.22It had become hard and ruined. “The harvest will be lost [nad]” (Isaiah 17:11) – you brought [nidnadtem] upon yourselves the travails of the kingdom,23Subjugation to foreign powers. the travails of suffering, and the travails of the angel of death, as Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Eiezer son of Rabbi Yosei Hagelili: When Israel stood at Mount Sinai and said: “Everything that God said we will perform and we will heed” (Exodus 24:7), at that moment, the Holy One blessed be He summoned the angel of death and said to him: ‘Even though I granted you dominion over people, you have no dealings with this nation.
Why? Because they are My children.’ That is what is written: “You are children to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 14:1). And it says: “It was when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness” (Deuteronomy 5:20).
Is there darkness On High? But is it not written: “Light rests with Him”? (Daniel 2:22). Rather, this is the angel of death, who is called darkness. That is what is written: “The tablets were the work of God [and the writing was the writing of God, engraved [ḥarut] on the tablets]” (Exodus 32:16).
Do not read it as engraved [ḥarut], but rather, freedom [ḥerut]. Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Neḥemya, and the Rabbis, Rabbi Yehuda said: Freedom from the angel of death. Rabbi Neḥemya said: Freedom from the kingdoms. The Rabbis say: Freedom from suffering.
“On a day of inheritance [naḥala]” (Isaiah 17:11), on the day that I bequeathed [hinḥalti] you the Torah. “And mortal pain” (Isaiah 17:11), Rabbi Yoḥanan and the Rabbis, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: You brought upon yourselves an affliction that flows and exhausts. The Rabbis say: You brought upon yourselves an affliction that overwhelms and drains. Which is that?
It is discharge and leprosy. Therefore, Moses cautions Israel and says to them: “Any man, when he has a discharge from his flesh.”