Israel Pampered Before Sinai and the Torah That Is Sword and Spiced Wine

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 271:5

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

Another interpretation: "For I am sick with love." Rabbi Levi said: a parable of a king's son who recovered from his illness. His tutor said, "Let him go to school." The king said, "My son's radiance has not yet returned, and he goes off to school? Rather let my son enjoy two or three months of food and drink, and afterward he shall go to school." So too, when Israel came out of Egypt, they were fit to receive the Torah, but there were among them people with blemishes from the servitude of mortar and brick. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "My children's radiance has not yet returned, and they receive the Torah? Rather let My children take pleasure for two or three months in the well, the manna, and the quail, and afterward they receive the Torah." When? In the third month. Rabbi Avin opened: "Have I not written for you noble things" (Proverbs 22:20), threefold. Rabbi Eleazar said: let the words of Torah not be in your eyes like an old decree, but like a new decree that all run to read. Rav Samuel bar Isaac said "noble things" means warriors. Rabbi Samuel bar Nahmani said: the words of Torah are likened to a weapon - just as a weapon endures for its owner, so the words of Torah endure only for one who labors in them as much as they require, as it is said, "The exaltations of God are in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand" (Psalms 149:6). Rabbi Yudan said "two-edged [pifiyot]" means the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. Rav Nahman said "mouth of mouths" - a sword that consumes from both its sides, giving life in this world and in the World to Come. Rabbi Abba said: the words of Torah are likened to spiced wine [konditon]. Just as this spiced wine has in it wine, has in it honey, has in it pepper, so the words of Torah have wine, as it is said, "For your love is better than wine" (Song of Songs 1:2); have honey, "and sweeter than honey" (Psalms 19:11); have pepper, "the word of the LORD is refined." "I declared and I saved and I proclaimed, and there was no stranger among you, and you are My witnesses, says the LORD, and I am God" (Isaiah 43:12). "I declared" - in Egypt, "And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD" (Exodus 4:28). "And I saved" - at the sea. "And I proclaimed" - at Sinai, "From heaven You proclaimed judgment" (Psalms 76:9). "And there was no stranger among you" - this is Jethro. "And you are My witnesses, says the LORD, and I am God." Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai taught: if you are My witnesses, I am God; if you are not My witnesses, as it were, I am not God. For everything there is a season. There was a time for Adam to enter the Garden of Eden, as it is said, "And He placed him in the Garden of Eden"; and a time for him to leave, "And He drove out the man." There was a time for Noah and his sons to enter the ark, "Come, you and all your household, into the ark" (Genesis 7:1); and a time to leave, "Go out from the ark" (Genesis 8:16). There was a time for circumcision to be given through Abraham, "And you shall keep My covenant"; and a time for his children to be circumcised twice, once in Egypt and once in the wilderness. "And a time for every desire under heaven": Rabbi Berekhiah said, a desire that is above the heavens was given below - and which is this? The Torah. When? In the third month. "In the path of righteousness I walk, in the midst of the ways of justice" (Proverbs 8:20). The Torah says, by which road am I to be found? By the way of those who do righteousness. "In the midst of the ways of justice": Rav Huna said, a parable of a noblewoman's carriage - when she passes through the market they clear sword and weapon before her and sword and weapon behind her. So is the Torah: laws before it, "There He made for them a statute and an ordinance" (Exodus 15:25), "And you shall see out of all the people" (Exodus 18:21); and laws after it, "And these are the ordinances that you shall set before them."

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