Why the Reward of the Commandments Was Hidden From Us

Rava raised a contradiction to Rav Nachman: We learned, these are the matters whose fruits a person eats in this world while the principal remains for him in the World to Come: honoring father and mother, acts of loving-kindness, visiting the sick, and bringing peace between a person and his fellow, and the study of Torah is equal to them all. Concerning honoring father and mother it is written "that your days may be long"; concerning acts of loving-kindness it is written "One who pursues righteousness and kindness" and so forth (Proverbs 21:21); concerning bringing peace it is written "Seek peace and pursue it," and "pursuit" is derived from "pursuit"; concerning the study of Torah it is written "for it is your life and the length of your days" (Deuteronomy 30:20). And let it also teach the sending away of the mother bird, of which it is written "that it may go well with you and you may prolong your days" (Deuteronomy 22:7). Sending away the nest is good toward Heaven but is not good toward people, while it is written "Say of the righteous one that it is good" (Isaiah 3:10), good toward Heaven and good toward people. It is written "Lest you weigh the path of life" (Proverbs 5:6). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: That you should not sit and weigh the commandments of the Torah, seeing which commandment's reward is great and doing that one. Why? "Her ways wander, you cannot know" (Proverbs 5:6) — the paths of the Torah are shifted about. Rabbi Chiyya taught a parable: like a king who had an orchard and brought workers into it but did not reveal to them the wages for its plantings. For had he revealed it to them, they would have seen which planting's wage was great and planted only that, and the work of the orchard would be partly idle and partly maintained. So too, had He revealed the reward of the commandments, the Torah would be found partly idle and partly maintained. Rav Acha said in the name of Rabbi Abba bar Kahana: The Holy One, blessed be He, shifted about the reward of those who do the commandments in this world so that Israel would do it whole. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai taught: Two commandments in the Torah the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed their reward, and these are they: the lightest of the light and the weightiest of the weighty. The lightest of the light: "You shall surely send away the mother" and so forth — and just for a matter that is the repayment of a debt [costing nothing], such reward; how much more for a matter that involves loss of money and loss of life. And just as their reward is equal, so is their punishment equal, as it says "The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother" (Proverbs 30:17) — an eye that mocked the honor of father and mother and despised "You shall not take the mother with the young" (Deuteronomy 22:6) — "the ravens of the valley will pluck it out and the young eagles will eat it" (Proverbs 30:17): this one pecks and this one eats. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Let the raven, who is cruel to its young, come and peck it out and not benefit from it, and let the eagle, who is merciful to its young, come and benefit from them. And from where do we know the raven is cruel to its young? As it says "Who prepares for the raven its food?" and it says "to the young ravens who cry" (Psalms 147:9). For when the raven begets white young, the male says to the female, "Another bird has come upon you," and they abandon them. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He brings forth gnats from their droppings, and they fly upon them and eat, and from there they turn black. And from where do we know the eagle is merciful? As it says "As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovering over its young" (Deuteronomy 32:11). And from where do we know it benefits from them? As it says "it spreads its wings and takes him" (Deuteronomy 32:11). And just as the punishment is great, so the reward is great, as it says "that your days may be long." It was taught, Rabbi Yaakov says: There is not a single commandment written in the Torah whose reward is stated beside it that does not have the resurrection of the dead dependent upon it, as it says "that your days may be long" — in the world that is wholly long; and "that it may go well with you" — in the world that is wholly good. Concerning sending away the nest it is written "that it may go well with you and you may prolong your days" (Deuteronomy 22:7). Consider one whose father said to him, "Climb the tower and bring me young birds," and he climbed and sent away the mother and took the young, and on his way down he fell and died. Where is the well-being of this one, and where is the length of days of this one? Rather, "that it may go well with you" — in the world that is wholly good; "that your days may be long" — in the world that is wholly long. And perhaps it never happened so? Rabbi Yaakov saw such a case. But did not Rava say that those engaged in a commandment are not harmed? There it was a rickety ladder, where the danger was fixed, and one does not rely on a miracle, as it is written "And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me" (1 Samuel 16:2).