Joshua Who Left Nothing Undone and the Limit on Giving

"As the LORD commanded Moses His servant" (Joshua 11:15). There is a case of Rabbi Yishbav, who arose and distributed all his property to the poor, and Rabban Gamliel sent word to him: Did the sages not say a fifth of one's property to the poor? But was not Rabban Gamliel before [the council of] Usha? Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Bun said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Such was the law in their hands and they forgot it, and the second generation arose and agreed with the view of the first — to teach you that anything upon which a court risks its life, in the end endures, as it was said to Moses at Sinai. And this accords with what Rabbi Mana said: "for it is no empty thing for you" (Deuteronomy 32:47) — and if it is empty, it is empty because of you, for you do not labor in it; "for it is your life" (ibid.) — when you labor in it. Rabbi Tanchuma in the name of Rabbi Huna: "And Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur made all that" — it does not say here "that which Moses commanded," but rather "that which the LORD commanded" (compare Exodus 38:22); even matters he had not heard from his teacher, his own view agreed with what was said to Moses. Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Bana'ah: "As the LORD commanded Moses His servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses" — it does not say here "of all that Moses commanded him," but "that the LORD commanded Moses," even matters he had not heard from his teacher. And the rabbis said: "For the LORD will be your confidence" (Proverbs 3:26) — these are the matters in which you are a fool [kesil]; "and will keep your foot from being caught" — Rabbi Dosa says: from error in ruling; Rabbi Levi says: from harmful spirits. Rabbi Ba said: "from your purse" [reading mi-kis lekha] — if you give charity from your purse, the Holy One, blessed be He, guards you from harmful spirits, from plagues, and from the like.