5 min read

Elisha Fed the Arameans and Ended the Raids

The king of Israel wanted them dead and asked the prophet for permission. Elisha said no and set out bread and water for the men sent to bind him.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Wisdom Better Than Weapons
  2. David Chooses the Blow Everyone Feels
  3. Egypt's Ledger, Measure for Measure
  4. A Table That Saves, a Table That Ruins
  5. What the Angel of Death Left in David

Aramean soldiers stood trapped in front of Elisha, eyes open at last to the hillside full of horses and chariots of fire. The king of Israel tasted blood in the air and asked for permission to strike.

Elisha Fed the Arameans and Ended the Raids Click for full size

Elisha refused. He ordered a meal instead. Bread for enemies. Water for men who had come to bind him. Then he sent them home.

The raids stopped. One feast did what Joram's wars could not.

Wisdom Better Than Weapons

"Wisdom is better than weapons of war," says Ecclesiastes, and the school of Elijah proves it with that table. Steel would have made widows in Aram and fresh vows of revenge. Food made a memory the soldiers could not easily turn into another ambush.

The prophet who saw the mountain full of fire chose not to spend it on slaughter. He spent it on a quiet that outlasted the campaign season.

David Chooses the Blow Everyone Feels

The same teaching turns to David after the census. Three punishments were set before him. Famine would look like trust in storehouses. Sword would look like trust in soldiers. Pestilence left no rich man a private door.

David chose the plague that rich and poor had to face alike. When he saw the angel standing between heaven and earth, he also saw Israel's sins piled from earth to heaven. The sword of the Angel of Death left him cold for the rest of his life.

He did not want a judgment that the powerful could buy their way out of. He wanted a judgment that told the truth about the whole people.

Egypt's Ledger, Measure for Measure

From there the teaching opens its main argument: God's judgment is exact. Egypt blocked Israel's purifying waters, so the Nile became blood. Egypt forced Israelites to fetch vermin for sport, so frogs crawled into Egyptian bodies. Egypt made Israel sweep dust, herd animals, heat bathwater, plant orchards, and sow fields, so dust, animals, skin, trees, and crops all turned against Egypt.

Even darkness had a hidden function, burying the Israelites who refused to leave so Egypt could not claim the plague struck both peoples alike. The worst decree, Pharaoh's command to throw newborn sons into the river, came back at the Sea of Reeds. Angels stood knee-deep in the water, catching Israelite infants and laying them on rocks where God drew milk from stone.

Sennacherib later planned to uproot Jerusalem by having every soldier carry away a handful of its dust. God uprooted his camp in one night.

A Table That Saves, a Table That Ruins

Hezekiah learned the other side of a shared table. When he hosted Babylonian envoys and showed them the Ark and the secrets of the upper realms, pride undid him. The school of Elijah sets him against Elkanah, who would not go up to Shiloh alone, but gathered neighbors year by year until sixty households made the pilgrimage and Israel learned how to walk toward the living God.

Moses is praised for clean hands that took no donkey from Israel and for a heart that feared God without a twisted word. The King who makes peace among angels and creatures sits on glory and feeds the world. Elisha's meal for Arameans sits in that same economy: power that can kill chooses, once, to feed.

The soldiers went home with full stomachs. The raids did not return. Heaven's ledger kept counting measures long after the plates were cleared.

What the Angel of Death Left in David

David never forgot the cold that entered him when he saw the angel between heaven and earth. The sword that could have fallen on storehouse or barracks fell instead as pestilence across thresholds rich and poor shared. He had asked for a judgment without private exits. He received a memory that kept his bones cold whenever he counted men again in his mind.

Elisha's feast and David's plague sit side by side in the teaching because both refuse the easy weapon. One man with power to kill chooses bread. One man with power to choose punishment refuses a blow that only the weak would feel. Measure for measure is not only Egypt's nightmare. It is also the discipline of leaders who know heaven keeps a ledger finer than any royal scribe.

Hezekiah's foreign table shows the other edge. Hospitality that becomes pride, secrets of the upper realms poured for Babylonian eyes, and a wicked son given as consequence. Elkanah's swelling caravan to Shiloh shows the right use of a shared road: not display, but drawing neighbors toward the living God until sixty households walk where one man once walked alone.

At the Sea of Reeds the ledger closed on drowned sons and brickwork that had held children. Angels who once caught infants from the Nile stood knee-deep again, this time as the water became a wall and a grave. Elisha's quieter mercy belongs to the same God who can open a mountain of fire and still choose a table. The raids ending without a mass grave is not softness. It is wisdom spending less blood for more peace.

Joram wanted a kill he could report. Elisha wanted an end he could live with. The teaching sides with the feast.

ElishaArameansDavidPlagueEgyptMeasureMercyWar
← All myths

From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Tanna Debei Eliyahu Rabbah 7:1Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah

Translation of the source text.Tanna debei Eliyahu Rabbah, Warsaw 1880 · Public Domain

Scripture says, "Wisdom is better than weapons of war" (Ecclesiastes 9:18). Greater was the feast, the pistan, that Elisha made than all the wars that Joram son of Ahab made. When the king of Israel saw the Aramean force delivered into his hand, he said to Elisha, "Shall I strike them? Shall I strike them, my father?" Elisha said, "You shall not strike them." He prepared for them a great feast, and they ate and drank, and he sent them away. After that, "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, King David said, "The beginning of Your word is truth" (Psalms 119:160). What did David see that made him praise the Holy One, blessed be He, with the language of truth? He judged within himself and said: just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is Himself called truth, as it is said, "But the LORD God is truth" (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; 1 Chronicles 21:9-10). David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us fall now 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 famine should come, Israel will say that I trust in my storehouses. Therefore I will not ask for famine. If I say the sword should come, Israel will say that I trust in my warriors. Therefore I will not ask for the sword. I will ask only for something in which all are equal, poor and rich, old and young. Immediately "the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel" (2 Samuel 24:15). The angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he destroyed, the LORD saw and relented.

David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven (1 Chronicles 21:16). At that hour David lifted his eyes and saw Israel's sins arranged in companies and heaps from earth to heaven. At that same hour an angel descended from the heights and killed Gad the seer, four of David's sons, and the elders who were with David. When David saw the sword of the Angel of Death, trembling entered him, and afterward he had no strength and no warmth, as it is said, "they covered him with clothes, but he could get no heat" (1 Kings 1:1). Scripture also says, "Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all of them were written" (Psalms 139:16).

Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who promised our ancestors and fulfilled the promise to their children. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, may His great Name be blessed forever and ever, promised our ancestors that He rolls away and removes our sins, and does not keep jealousy and vengeance in His heart to execute judgment against all Israel in all their dwelling places, and does not withhold words of Torah from them, so He fulfills that promise. But the Holy One, blessed be He, keeps jealousy and vengeance in His heart in order to execute judgment against the wicked of the idolaters. From where do you know this? Go and learn from Pharaoh and all his camp. Just as they were jealous and vengeful against Israel, so the Holy One, blessed be He, was jealous and took vengeance against Pharaoh and all his camp.

From the day the world was created until that hour, He gives each one his reward, whether good or evil, as it is said, "Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds" (Jeremiah 32:19). And it says, "Far be it from God to do wickedness... for He pays a person according to his work" (Job 34:10-11). And it says, "The LORD is a jealous and avenging God... the LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies" (Nahum 1:2).

Why was Egypt different from all the other lands of the idolaters into which Israel entered? Because at that time the Egyptians ruled from one end of the world to the other. They were filthy with many transgressions, and there was no nation in the world more flooded with ugly and improper things, more suspected of sorcery, sexual corruption, and every evil deed, than Egypt alone. Therefore stumbling came upon Egypt through Israel, and the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to make satisfaction for His great Name through them in Egypt. A parable: a king sat watching, waiting, and expecting the thousands of camps that passed before him. The king passed before his camp, and they did not stand before him. He passed again after his camp, and they had no weapons, so he stood over them and killed them. So Scripture says, "The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; the idols of Egypt shall tremble at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt within it" (Isaiah 19:1). It says, "They shall fight, every man against his brother" (Isaiah 19:2), and it says, "The princes of Zoan are fools" (Isaiah 19:11), and "the LORD has mingled within her a spirit of perverseness" (Isaiah 19:14), and "the LORD shall strike Egypt" (Isaiah 19:22). In the time to come, all the peoples will likewise stumble over Israel, as it is said, "On that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples" (Zechariah 12:3), and "I will strike every horse with bewilderment and its rider with madness" (Zechariah 12:4).

The Holy One, blessed be He, brought ten plagues upon the Egyptians, and all of them came upon them only because of the things they plotted to do to Israel. All the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, are truth, measure for measure. No evil measure goes out from before Him, only good measures; because of people's corrupted deeds, an evil measure goes out upon them. These are the plagues: blood, frogs, lice, swarms, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and 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 and marital relations. What did the Egyptians do? They seized the waters against them, so they could not immerse, could not come to one another, and could not 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). The Egyptians would say to Israel, Give us water from yours. He gave him water, and it became blood. The Israelite would drink water. The Egyptian would say, Let me and you drink from one vessel, and the water in the vessel split, water for Israel and blood for the Egyptian, to fulfill what is said, "that you may tell in the ears of your son and your son's son what I did in Egypt" (Exodus 10:2). Then you will know that I am the LORD, faithful to pay good reward to the righteous and the law of punishment to the wicked.

Frogs, why did they come upon them? Because they would say to Israel: Go out and bring us creeping things and swarming creatures, and we will play with them as we wish. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought frogs upon them, until their voices were heard from inside the bellies of the Egyptians, saying kuku. Not only this, but when the Egyptians went to the privy, the frogs would come out and bite them in their openings, and there is no greater shame than this. Pharaoh said to Moses: You come against me with sorcery. I will call schoolchildren, and they too will do the same. Immediately Pharaoh called the sages and sorcerers, and they too made frogs. From then on, however, the whole world cannot create any creature smaller than a lentil.

One verse says, "the river shall swarm with frogs" (Exodus 7:28), and another says, "the frog came up" (Exodus 8:2). How can both verses stand? Rabbi Akiva says: there was one frog, and the Egyptians struck it, and frogs scattered from it until the whole land was filled with frogs. Rabbi Eliezer of Modiin said to him: What have you to do with aggadah? Withdraw from your words and go to plagues and tents. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought many kinds of frogs upon them. And what does "the frog came up" mean? Tzipor de'a, a knowing birdlike creature, which had da'at, understanding. When birds were thirsty and came to drink from the river and the pools, the frogs would call them and say: Come and drink; do not be afraid. Of them it says, "He sends the springs into the valleys... they give drink to every beast of the field... by them the birds of the heavens dwell" (Psalms 104:10-12).

Lice, why did He bring them upon them? Because they made Israel sweep roads, houses, fields, lanes, and streets. A man would sweep a woman's house, and a woman would sweep a man's house. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, turned the dust of Egypt into lice, as it is said, "Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on man and beast; all the dust of the land became lice" (Exodus 8:13). This lasted until they could not find the dust of the land that Israel had swept. The Holy One, blessed be He, brought fourteen kinds of lice upon the Egyptians, and these are they: yerokanin, yarkovot, kefuyin, kefuchot, sefifin, water-ya'alei, field-ya'alei, nafkhedrin, ant, avi atzel, em kinim, akhshav, kivin de-chakhikhi, and biyuki bili.

Swarms, why did they come upon them? Because they would say to Israel: Go and bring us bears and lions, and bring them into our battle house, and we will make hunts with them as we wish. They did this so Israel would remain in the outer wilderness and not enter their homes, come to one another, and be fruitful and multiply. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them all the evil beasts in the world, until they said, We have sinned, as it is said, "A grievous swarm came into the house of Pharaoh" (Exodus 8:20).

Pestilence, why did He bring it upon them? Because they made Israel herders of horses, herders of donkeys and camels, cattle and sheep, so that Israel would remain in the wilderness and not enter their homes and be fruitful and multiply. Therefore pestilence came upon them and killed everything Israel had been herding, as it is said, "Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon your cattle which are in the field, upon the horses, upon the donkeys, upon the camels, upon the cattle, and upon the sheep, a very severe pestilence" (Exodus 9:3), until they could not find an animal for Israel to herd.

Boils, why did He bring them upon them? Because they made Israel servants, to heat hot water for them and cool cold water for them. What would the Egyptians do at that hour? They would go and wash in water and enter their homes in joy. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought boils upon them, so that they could not touch water, neither hot nor cold, as it is said, "They took ashes of the furnace... and Moses scattered it toward heaven, and it became boils breaking out in blisters" (Exodus 9:10). Hail, why did it come upon them? Because they made Israel plant gardens and orchards and every kind of tree, so that Israel would not enter their homes and be fruitful and multiply. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought hail upon them and broke all the plantings Israel had planted, as it is said, "He destroyed their vines with hail" (Psalms 78:47), and "the hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt... and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail" (Exodus 9:25-26).

Locusts, why did they come upon them? Because they made Israel sow wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and every kind of legume, so that Israel would not enter their homes and be fruitful and multiply. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought locusts upon them, and they ate everything Israel had sown, as it is said, "The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt... and they ate every herb of the land" (Exodus 10:14-15). Darkness, why did it come upon them? Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, before whom there is no favoritism. There were wrongdoers in Israel who did not want to leave at that hour. When there was darkness for Egypt and light for Israel, those wicked ones died and were buried, so the Egyptians would not say: just as there was a plague among us, so there was a plague among them.

Their firstborn, why did they die? Because Pharaoh said, "When you deliver the Hebrew women... if it is a son, kill him" (Exodus 1:16). If not for the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, had Pharaoh said, If it is a daughter, kill her, and if it is a son, let him live, Israel's enemies would already have been diminished at that hour, because a man's way is to marry ten women and be fruitful and multiply from them, and his sons would be many. But a woman's way is not to be married to even two men at once, and she does not bear more from being married to two than from being married to one. The midwives did not do so, as it is said, "they did not do as the king of Egypt spoke to them" (Exodus 1:17). The Holy One, blessed be He, saw Pharaoh's thoughts and counted the matter to him as though it had been done. From here the sages said: idolaters are seized for an evil thought, but for a good thought only once they perform an action through it.

Why were the Egyptians drowned by Israel at the Sea of Reeds? Because it is said, "Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying: every son who is born you shall cast into the river" (Exodus 1:22). Command, tzav, means only a public proclamation, as it is said, "Moses commanded, and they caused a voice to pass through the camp" (Exodus 36:6). Command is said here and command is said there. Just as the command there means a public proclamation, so the command here means a public proclamation. What did the wicked Egyptian children do? They would go around the towns of Israel. When they heard the voice of a woman crying out in labor, they would go and tell their fathers, who would come, take the children of Israel, and throw them into the river.

About that hour it is said, "Catch us the foxes" (Song of Songs 2:15). These are the wicked Egyptians. "The little foxes" are the children of the Egyptians. "That spoil the vineyards" refers to the children of Israel, who are compared to a vineyard, as it is said, "For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel" (Isaiah 5:7). From here Rabbi Eliezer the Great would say: the house of Israel is the vineyard of the Holy One, blessed be He. Do not peer into it. If you have peered into it, do not go down into it. If you have gone down into it, do not benefit from it. If you have benefited from it, do not eat of its fruit. And if you peered, descended, benefited, and ate of its fruit, that person's end is to be cut off from the world.

At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the ministering angels: from the hour I formed you, you have been prepared to save the children of Israel. Descend from before Me and see My beloved children, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom they are throwing into the river. Immediately the angels descended from before Him in alarm. They stood in the water up to their knees, received the children of Israel, and placed them upon the faces of the rocks. The Holy One, blessed be He, brought out for them something like breasts from the rocks, and they nursed them, to fulfill what is said, "He made him suck honey out of the rock" (Deuteronomy 32:13).

The second decree Pharaoh decreed was that anyone who did not complete the quota of bricks would be built into the building beneath the row of bricks. The Holy One, blessed be He, made the voices of Israel heard inside Egypt, as they went out over the souls of Israel beneath the row of bricks, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saved them by making the building break so they came out from it like a bird rescued from a broken trap, as it is said, "As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man that wanders from his place" (Proverbs 27:8), and it says, "Our soul escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we escaped" (Psalms 124:7).

It was in the mind of the Holy One, blessed be He, that the Nile River should rise and destroy all Egypt after Israel left Egypt, because they threw the children of Israel into the Nile. Why, then, did He drown them in the Sea of Reeds? Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, before whom there is no favoritism. There were wrongdoers in Israel at that hour who were saying: we are fleeing in escape, the way people flee, and He has no strength to save. Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth" (Exodus 14:2). Pharaoh said of the children of Israel, "They are entangled in the land" (Exodus 14:3). Pi-hahiroth was on one side, Egypt on one side, Migdol on one side, Baal Zephon on one side, and Israel in the middle. The Holy One said: I will see them, whether I have strength in My hand to save them or not. Thus it is said, "Pharaoh drew near, and the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, Egypt was marching after them, and they were very afraid and cried out" (Exodus 14:10).

At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they travel" (Exodus 14:15). What was the thought of the Egyptians at that hour? We will pursue Israel, overtake them, lord ourselves over them, and throw them into the sea. Of that hour it says, "Then Moses sang... The LORD is my strength and song... The LORD is a man of war... Who is like You among the powers, O LORD?" (Exodus 15:1-11).

Similarly, you say this concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. He was jealous and vengeful against Israel, and the Holy One, blessed be He, was jealous and vengeful against his camp, with jealousy, vengeance, stratagem, and majesty. Jealousy, from where? As it is said, "The LORD is a jealous and avenging God" (Nahum 1:2). Vengeance, from where? As it is said, "God of vengeance, LORD, God of vengeance, shine forth" (Psalms 94:1). Stratagem, from where? As it is said, "Great in counsel and mighty in stratagem, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give each according to his ways" (Jeremiah 32:19). Majesty, from where? As it is said, "I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously" (Exodus 15:1).

What was Sennacherib's thought? Wicked Sennacherib intended to take vengeance against Israel, and he said to his soldiers: go out, each of you bring me a handful of dust from Jerusalem's dust, and we will uproot its name from the world. Thus it is said, "From you came forth one who devises evil against the LORD, a wicked counselor" (Nahum 1:11). Was he devising evil against the Holy One, blessed be He? Rather, this teaches that anyone who counsels evil against Israel is considered as though he counseled evil against the Most High. Therefore it is said, "From you came forth one who devises evil against the LORD." The Holy One, blessed be He, who examines hearts and kidneys, said of Sennacherib: Fool of the world, would I destroy My children from the world? Would I destroy My flock, the flock of My inheritance? "What do you devise against the LORD?" (Nahum 1:9). Therefore it is said, "The LORD is a jealous and avenging God" (Nahum 1:2).

Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, who exacted payment from the enemies of Israel. Just as Sennacherib intended to uproot Israel from the world, so the Holy One, blessed be He, intended to uproot Sennacherib and his camp from the world, as it is said, "It came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out and struck in the camp of Assyria one hundred eighty-five thousand" (2 Kings 19:35). Then "Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him" (2 Kings 19:37). To this Scripture says, "For yet a little while, and the wicked one shall not be; you will look carefully at his place, and he will not be" (Psalms 37:10).

To what was the world in Sennacherib's hand compared? To a person who found a nest of eggs and chicks, all of them coming into his hand, as it is said, "My hand has found the wealth of the peoples like a nest; and as one gathers abandoned eggs, I have gathered all the earth" (Isaiah 10:14). No creature could turn back Sennacherib's face. How large was Sennacherib's camp? The sages said: his camp was two million six hundred thousand and five thousand less one. The first ones passed through water to the neck. The second ones passed upright. The middle ones passed through water to the waist. The last ones sought water and did not find it, as it is said, "Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?... I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I dried all the rivers of Egypt" (Isaiah 37:23-25).

Why, then, does Scripture say one hundred eighty-five thousand? These were the officers, nobles, and warriors who were with him; Scripture does not need to mention all his soldiers. All of them died in one night, in one hour, in one moment, and only five people remained: Sennacherib, his two sons, Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuzaradan. From these five, Sennacherib was later killed, as it is said, "Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword" (2 Kings 19:37).

Therefore a person should keep matters in his heart, so that he not enter a partnership of words with idolaters and not cut a covenant with them. We find this with Abraham our father, who made a partnership with Abimelech, and the end of the matter was that he cut a covenant with him, as it is said, "Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them cut a covenant" (Genesis 21:27). When he cut the covenant with him, the ministering angels gathered before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said: Why should Abraham cut a covenant with an idolater, the lone man whom You chose from seventy nations and languages?

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: The only son whom I gave him at one hundred years old, I will tell him to bring him up as a burnt offering. If he brings him up, good. Then you will know that his intention was for good, for the sake of peace. But if not, you have spoken well. Thus it is said, "It came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham" (Genesis 22:1), and "Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son" (Genesis 22:10). Even so, the Holy One, blessed be He, did not intend to slaughter him and sacrifice Isaac, but only to bring him up on the mountain to test him.

From here they said: there is no nation in the world that enslaves and afflicts Israel for more than several hundred years except because Abraham cut a covenant with an idolater. From here they said: anyone who makes a partnership of words with an idolater will in the end cut a covenant with him. If he is a Torah scholar, it is not enough that he cuts a covenant with him; he also demeans his Torah, demeans the Name of his Father, wastes his money, makes his wife a widow, does not fill out his days, hands his children over to the sword, exiles them from their land, hires them out to idolatry, and ties an evil name to himself, to his children, and to his children's children until the end of all generations.

Full source
Tanna Debei Eliyahu Rabbah 8:1Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah

Translation of the source text.Tanna debei Eliyahu Rabbah, Warsaw 1880 · Public Domain

Let a man keep matters in his heart, that he should not eat with idolaters at the table; for so we find with Hezekiah king of Judah, who ate with idolaters at the table, and in the end was punished for it with a great punishment. How do you know? When Sennacherib came and surrounded Jerusalem, Hezekiah stood in prayer before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said (2 Kings 19:15), "And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord, God of Israel, who is enthroned upon the cherubim," and so on, "Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib," and so on, "that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, O Lord, are God alone." It appears that Hezekiah was speaking with the Holy One, blessed be He, as a man who speaks with his fellow. Immediately the spirit of God rested upon Isaiah the prophet, and Isaiah the prophet said to Hezekiah the king: Now, a man who speaks with one who is greater than he - does not his whole body shrink back and all his limbs tremble? One who speaks before the King over the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, all the more so should he speak with awe and fear and trembling and quaking. Therefore Hezekiah fell into a great illness, as it is said, "In those days Hezekiah fell sick to the point of death, and Isaiah came to him," and so on, "and said to him, Thus says the Lord: command your house, for you shall die and not live." What is "for you shall die and not live"? The prophet said to him: You shall die in this world and not live in the World to Come. He said to him: And so much, why? He said to him: Because you did not engage in being fruitful and multiplying. He said to him: Because I saw by the Holy Spirit that there would come forth from me children who are not worthy. He said to him: With the hidden things of the Merciful One, what business have you? What you are commanded, you ought to do, and what is pleasing before the Holy One, blessed be He, let Him do. He said to him: Give me your daughter now; perhaps my merit and yours will cause it, and there will come forth from me worthy children. He said to him: The decree has already been decreed against you. He said to him: Son of Amoz, finish your prophecy and go out. Thus I have received from my father's father: even if a sharp sword is set upon a man's neck, let him not withhold himself from mercy, as it is said (Job 13:15), "Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him." Therefore let a man marry a wife so that he may have children, and let him learn from Hezekiah: although he knew in his mind by the Holy Spirit that he would not have worthy children, and therefore he made objections before the Omnipresent, even so he would have been punished in the World to Come had he not married a wife. And the Sages learned four things concerning prayer: first, that a man should not stand in a valley to pray, in the manner of the idolaters; second, that he should not stand in a public domain and pray, on account of the awareness of people and the awareness of women; third, that he should sanctify his camp - four cubits to the north, four cubits to the south, four cubits to the east, and four cubits to the west; and if the prayer was in his house, he must sanctify the whole house, even a hundred cubits; why? "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire" (Deuteronomy 4:24); fourth, the Sages learned that a man should not stand beside a tree or beside a stone and pray, but beside the wall, and let nothing interpose between him and the wall, as it is said (2 Kings 20:2), "And he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord," and so on. And Hezekiah wept a great weeping. The Lord, who is compassionate and gracious and full of mercy, was seeing his lips moving uprightly with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with discernment; immediately He heard his prayer, as it is said, "And it came to pass, before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying," and so on, "I have heard your prayer," and so on, "behold, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord," and so on. "And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What is the sign," and so on. "And Isaiah the prophet said, This is the sign for you," and so on. "Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees?" and so on. "And Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and He brought the shadow back," and so on, backward ten degrees. At that hour all the idolaters were confounded, they and their sages and their sorcerers, and they said, "No one recognizes this matter except the Great Court in Jerusalem alone." Immediately the king of Babylon wrote letters and a gift to Hezekiah king of Judah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been ill, "and Hezekiah hearkened to them and showed them all his treasure house," and so on, "there was nothing that Hezekiah did not show them," and so on (2 Kings 20). Immediately the spirit of God rested upon Isaiah, and he said to Hezekiah, "What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?" and so on, "And he said, What did they see in your house? And Hezekiah said," and so on, "there was nothing that I did not show them in my treasuries." And did he ask him these things? Rather, he said to him: Why did you reveal the secret of the Lord to idolaters? And the idolaters say, "What difference is there in Hezekiah from his Father in heaven?" Therefore it is said, "And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord: behold, days are coming when all that is in your house... shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left," and so on. From this they said: A man should not be arrogant over words of Torah, nor provoke against them, lest they uproot him from the world; for so we find with Hezekiah the king, who was arrogant over words of Torah and provoked against them, and they sought to uproot him from the world. At the time that God in heaven informed Hezekiah that He would heal him as the reward of his prayer and his tears and he would go up on the third day to the house of the Lord, Hezekiah asked for a sign, as it is said, "What is the sign that the Lord will heal me?" And the Holy One, blessed be He, changed for him the order of the heavens; and when He changed for him the order of the heavens, his mind grew haughty over him, and he ate with the idolaters; and because he ate with idolaters and showed them the ark and revealed to them the secret of the higher worlds, He gave him Manasseh. Likewise you say, "And there was a certain man of Ramathaim-Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah," and so on (1 Samuel 1:1). Elkanah used to go up to Shiloh four times a year - three from the Torah and one which he took upon himself as a freewill offering, as it is said, "And this man went up out of his city from days to days to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh," and so on. Elkanah went up, and his wife and his sons and the people of his household and his brothers and his sisters and all his relatives would go up with him, and he would say to them, "Learn the way of worship from the Canaanites and from the idolaters who made a way of worship for their idolatry, though it is vanity and emptiness; how much more must you make a way of worship and go up before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, who is the living and enduring God - blessed be His name forever and ever and ever." He said to them that they should all go up with him; and when they went up with him on the way, they would lodge in the open square of the city, and the men would gather by themselves and the women by themselves, for so the man would speak with the man and the woman with the woman, and the great with the small, and the city would be stirred, and they would ask them, "Where are you going?" And they would say to them, "To the house of God that is in Shiloh, from where Torah and good deeds go forth; and you, why do you not come with us, and let us go together?" Immediately their eyes streamed tears, and they would say to them, "We will go up with you." And so he said to them again, until they went up with him the following year - five households; and the next year ten households went up with him; and the next year they were all stirred to go up, and about sixty households were going up with him. And by the way he went up one year, he would not go up the next year, until all Israel were going up; and Elkanah used to tip all Israel to the scale of merit, and he trained them in the commandments, and many gained merit through him. The Holy One, blessed be He, who searches hearts and reins, said to Elkanah: You tipped Israel to the scale of merit and trained them in the commandments, and many gained merit through you; I will bring forth from you a son who will tip all Israel to the scale of merit and train them in the commandments, and many will gain merit through him. Thus you learn: as the reward of Elkanah's deed, Samuel; and as the reward of Hezekiah's deed, Manasseh. From this they said: Everyone who eats with idolaters (old version: deniers of the Torah) at the table, it is as though he serves idolatry and eats from the sacrifices of the dead; and if he is a Torah scholar, he diminishes his Torah and profanes the name of his Father in heaven and squanders his money and destroys his children and makes them fall by the sword and exiles them from their land.

Full source
Tanna Debei Eliyahu Rabbah 17:1Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah

Translation of the source text.Tanna debei Eliyahu Rabbah, Warsaw 1880 · Public Domain

Behold, Scripture says, "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up My soul in vain and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation" (Psalms 24:4-5). "Clean hands" refers to Moses our teacher, father of the sages and father of the prophets, for Moses' hands were clean of robbery, as it is said, "Moses was very angry and said to the LORD... I have not taken one donkey from them" (Numbers 16:15). "A pure heart" refers to Moses, for Moses' heart was clear in the fear of God. "Who has not lifted up My soul in vain": the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: the nefesh, ruach, and neshamah that I placed in you never carried any vain thing that I had not written in My Torah. "And has not sworn deceitfully": he did not deceive in the oath he swore to Jethro, as it is said, "Moses consented to dwell with the man" (Exodus 2:21). The word vayo'el means only an expression of oath, as it is said, "Saul adjured the people" (I Samuel 14:24). It is said here with an oath-formula, and it is said there with an oath-formula. Just as the one said there is an expression of oath, so the one said here is an expression of oath. What was Moses' reward? He received a blessing from the mouth of his God, as it is said, "He shall receive a blessing from the LORD."

My Father in Heaven, may Your great Name be blessed forever and to all eternities, and may You have satisfaction from Israel. I passed through all the dwelling places of Israel and saw all the ugly things and the unfit things that Israel had done. Even so, You kept no jealousy or vengeance against them, and You did not exalt Yourself over them, and You did not withhold the words of Your Torah from their mouths. Rather, You remembered for them the good things they had done before You, and not the evil things they had done before You. You said to them through Isaiah, "The former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever" (Isaiah 65:17-18).

When our ancestors stood at Mount Sinai to accept upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven voluntarily, He too descended voluntarily from the uppermost heavens, from the place of His great glory, splendor, and holiness, and made His great Name dwell among them, as it is said, "The generous one devises generous things, and by generous things he shall stand" (Isaiah 32:8).

Happy is the person whose deeds are more numerous than his wisdom. To what may this be compared? To a foot set inside a shoe and protected from every pain and grief, as it is said, "How beautiful are your steps in sandals, O noble daughter; the curves of your thighs" (Song of Songs 7:2). Just as the thigh is hidden, so every good thing a person does should be done in hiddenness: charity in hiddenness, humility with his wife in hiddenness. If he does so, he will be beloved before the Omnipresent.

So the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel many times: in the same way, in the future I will call upon you thousands upon thousands of good things, because you prized the Torah and embraced it on your arm and on your hand, as it is said, "Prize her, and she will exalt you; she will honor you when you embrace her" (Proverbs 4:8). And it says, "My son, do not forget My Torah... for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you" (Proverbs 3:1-2).

So it says regarding the Tabernacle: "These are the accounts of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the testimony" (Exodus 38:21). Because of the love with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loves Israel, and because of the joy with which He rejoices with them, He Himself praises them, as it is said, "Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon, upon the crown with which his mother crowned him, on the day of his wedding and on the day of the gladness of his heart" (Song of Songs 3:11). "King Solomon" means the King to whom peace belongs, the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

Another interpretation: "King Solomon" means the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who intends and makes peace among four hundred ninety-six thousand myriads of ministering angels who stand before Him and sanctify His great Name every day without ceasing. From sunrise until sunset they say, "Holy, holy, holy." From sunset until sunrise they say, "Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place" (Ezekiel 3:12), as it is said, "He makes peace in His heights" (Job 25:2). Another interpretation: "King Solomon" means the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who intends and makes peace among all who come into the world and among all the works of His hands that He created in His world.

Another interpretation: "King Solomon" refers to King Solomon and David. They sat upon the throne, and their servants, household, and people of their country brought before them food, drink, sustenance, and every provision of food. But the Holy One, blessed be He, may His great Name be blessed forever and to all eternities, is not like that. He sits upon His throne of glory. One third of the day He reads and studies; one third of the day He judges the judgment; and one third of the day He practices righteousness and feeds, sustains, and provides for all who come into the world and for all the works of His hands that He created in His world, as it is said, "He gives bread to all flesh" (Psalms 136:25).

Another interpretation: "King Solomon" means the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. He is not comparable or likened to a mortal king who sits upon his throne while the elders of his province sit before him and the king learns from them a matter of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and insight. The Holy One, blessed be He, may His great Name be blessed forever and to all eternities, is not like that. He sits upon His throne of glory. One third of the day He reads and studies; one third of the day He judges the judgment; and one third of the day He feeds and sustains the righteous and the Torah scholars with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and insight, as it is said, "He gives power to the weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength" (Isaiah 40:29).

And it says, "Daniel answered and said: Blessed be the Name of God from everlasting to everlasting, for wisdom and might are His. He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who know understanding" (Daniel 2:20-21). "He changes times" refers to the time of Sodom, and "seasons" refers to the seasons of Jerusalem. "He removes kings and sets up kings" refers to Nebuchadnezzar. "He gives wisdom to the wise" refers to Moses our teacher, father of the sages and father of the prophets. "And knowledge to those who know understanding" refers to Joshua son of Nun. Another interpretation: "He gives wisdom to the wise" refers to Joseph the righteous, as it is said, "Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to you, there is none so understanding and wise as you" (Genesis 41:39). "And knowledge to those who know understanding" refers to Daniel and his companions, as it is said, "Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night" (Daniel 2:19).

"He reveals deep and hidden things" (Daniel 2:22): "deep things" refers to the depth of the Chariot, and "hidden things" refers to the work of Creation. "He knows what is in darkness" refers to the punishment of the wicked in Gehinnom. "And light dwells with Him" refers to the giving of reward to the righteous in the Garden of Eden. So it says, "For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding" (Proverbs 2:6). Therefore it is said, "King Solomon."

What is meant by "the crown with which his mother crowned him"? When Israel were in Egypt, came out of Egypt, and were in the wilderness, they did not change their names or their language. The ministering angels murmured about them and said: surely there are among them people like the deeds of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, since they did not change their names or their language. Therefore it is said, "with the crown with which his mother crowned him." Another interpretation: what is meant by "with the crown"? When they went out from Egypt into the wilderness, they went out with one cake and did not question the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, and did not say anything, but were whole in the matter. If you wish to learn and you desire words of Torah, go and learn from Jeremiah what he said concerning those who left Egypt: "Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying..." (Jeremiah 2:2). Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, made Israel consecrated property in the world. Just as consecrated property makes anyone who eats from it liable to death by Heaven, so Israel are consecrated, as it is said, "Israel is holy to the LORD" (Jeremiah 2:3).

What is meant by "on the day of his wedding and on the day of the gladness of his heart"? When Israel stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, looked ahead and came, and He said in His heart: perhaps Israel will not accept My Torah upon themselves, just as the idol-worshiping nations did not accept it, and the decree will be sealed against them and they will be lost from this world and the World to Come, Heaven forbid. But afterward, once they accepted upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven with joy, the Holy One, blessed be He, descended upon them from the place of His glory and splendor, from the uppermost heavens, and said to them, "Can a woman forget her nursing child?" (Isaiah 49:15). And it says, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let My right hand forget; let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you" (Psalms 137:5-6).

Once Israel accepted the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven with joy and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do and we will hear" (Exodus 24:7), the Holy One, blessed be He, immediately told Moses to tell Israel to make Him a Tabernacle, as it is said, "Speak to the children of Israel... and let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:2, 8). At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said in His heart: perhaps the children of Israel will not bring their freewill gift before Me. Perhaps they will speak upward and say, Does He need silver and gold? Are not all silver and gold, precious stones and pearls, and every desirable vessel His? As it is said, "Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold, says the LORD of hosts" (Haggai 2:8). Why, then, does He say to human beings, Bring Me a freewill gift and make Me a sanctuary? But what the Holy One, blessed be He, asked from Israel, Israel gave Him, and He did for Israel what He had told them.

When Israel did the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the wilderness, and the Holy One, blessed be He, found satisfaction in them, it is said of them, "Everyone whose heart lifted him came, and everyone whose spirit made him willing..." and "everyone with whom acacia wood was found..." and "the children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the LORD" (Exodus 35:21, 24, 29). Of that hour it says, "I sleep, but my heart wakes. The voice of my beloved knocks: Open to me, my sister, my companion, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night" (Song of Songs 5:2).

And likewise, when I arranged the priestly Torah and commanded your ancestors concerning the laws of these matters, what I did with you regarding men with discharges, women with discharges, menstruants, and women who gave birth, they did not question Me and did not say anything at all, but were whole in the matter. Concerning that hour it is said, "As you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing" (Zechariah 8:13).

Listen to me, my brothers and my mother. Whoever has eyes to see, a wise heart to understand, and kidneys with which to take counsel should understand, gain insight, and see with the eyes of his mind that there is nothing separating a human being from an animal. Even when greatness rests upon a person and they seat him as king in a carriage, he should still look into his heart, his body, and his bones, and know that the spirit and the soul that the Holy One, blessed be He, created for Israel were created because of the love with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loves them and because of the joy with which He rejoices in them. He will raise them from the dust onto their feet, seat them between His knees, clasp them, embrace them, kiss them, and bring them into the life of the World to Come, as it is said, "For as the new heavens and the new earth..." (Isaiah 66:22).

So too, when Israel were in the wilderness and went wrong in their deeds, they returned and repented in secret, as it is said, "All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose and bowed, each at the door of his tent" (Exodus 33:10). This teaches that they repented in secret. Therefore the mercies of the Holy One, blessed be He, were stirred over them, and He gave them Yom Kippur for forgiveness, for them, for their children, and for their children's children, until the end of all generations.

Likewise in the days of Joshua son of Nun, Israel accepted upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven with love, as it is said, "The people answered and said, Far be it from us to forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt" (Joshua 24:16-17). Israel's reward for accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven with love at that hour was that the Holy One, blessed be He, was patient with them for three hundred years in the days when the judges judged, and He made them like schoolchildren and like children at their father's table. He established for them a blessing, which is a good measure forever, as it is said, "Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents" (Joshua 22:6).

From where do you know that this is so? Go and learn from Gideon son of Joash, from Ibzan, and from Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite, who lived at that time. Of Gideon, what does it say? "Gideon had seventy sons who came from his loins" (Judges 8:30). Of Ibzan, what does it say? "He had thirty sons and thirty daughters" (Judges 12:9). Of Abdon, what does it say? "He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys" (Judges 12:14).

Likewise in the days of Samuel, Israel accepted upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven with love and fear, as it is said, "The children of Israel said to Samuel, Do not be silent from crying out to the LORD our God for us" (I Samuel 7:8). And after the children of Israel asked Samuel to appoint a king over them, and when he appointed a king for them, Israel accepted upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven with fear, as it is said, "All the people greatly feared the LORD" (I Samuel 12:18). He too answered them in the same matter, as it is said, "Far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you... only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart" (I Samuel 12:23-24). Israel's reward for accepting upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven with fear was that the Holy One, blessed be He, descended from the uppermost heavens, from the place of His greatness, splendor, and holiness, and made His presence dwell with them in battle, as it is said, "Samuel took one suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt-offering to the LORD" (I Samuel 7:9). He established for them a blessing, which is a good measure in the world, as it is said, "The LORD will not abandon His people, for His great Name's sake" (I Samuel 12:22).

Likewise in the days of Elijah the prophet, Israel truly feared Heaven. When Elijah stood and built the altar, he made a space around it like an area of two seah of seed, as it is said, "Elijah took twelve stones... and with the stones he built an altar in the Name of the LORD, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two seah of seed" (I Kings 18:31-32). He said to his disciples, Fill forty jars with water and pour it on the burnt-offering and on the wood. "He said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time; and he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time. The water went around the altar, and he filled the trench also with water" (I Kings 18:34-35). Would it enter your mind that twelve jars of water filled the whole place with water? It is not so. Rather, when he said to his disciples, Whoever has water, come and pour it over my hands, Elisha his disciple said to him: I have water in my jar. Elijah said to him: come and pour it over my hands. Immediately Elisha came and poured it over his hands, and ten springs came out from them until the whole place was filled with water, as it is said, "Here is Elisha son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah" (II Kings 3:11).

At that hour Elijah stood to pray, as it is said, "At the time of the offering of the meal-offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said... Answer me, LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, LORD, are God" (I Kings 18:36-37). "Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt-offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench" (I Kings 18:38). At that hour Israel abandoned the idolatry in their hands and truly feared Heaven, as it is said, "All the people saw it, and they fell on their faces and said, The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God" (I Kings 18:39).

In every generation, the Holy One, blessed be He, looks with His two hands, places them against His heart, then places them against His arms, and weeps over Israel, both in secret and in the open. Why does He weep in secret? Because it is shameful for a lion to weep before a fox, shameful for a king to weep before his servants, shameful for a master to weep before his students, and shameful for a householder to weep before the laborer he has hired. As it is said, "Who would make my head waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people" (Jeremiah 9:1). Is Scripture speaking about Jeremiah? No, Scripture is speaking concerning the Holy One, blessed be He, who divided His world into two measures, one for the righteous and one for the wicked.

What is the measure of the righteous? Go and learn from a person from twenty years old and upward. Once a person comes to Mishnah and learns from it fear of Heaven and good deeds, they accompany him until he enters his eternal home. The Holy One, blessed be He, rejoices and comes toward him and says: what if he has a son or grandson who fills his father's place? As it is said, "From men by Your hand, O LORD, from men of the world..." (Psalms 17:14). What is the measure of the wicked? Go and learn from a person from thirteen years old and upward. Once a person comes to Scripture and Mishnah and then separates into ugly paths and unfit things, the Holy One, blessed be He, sighs and comes toward him and says: what if he has a son or grandson who remembers his father's name? As it is said, "Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked" (Malachi 3:18).

Similarly, you say: it is written, "For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter... and there was no helper for Israel... and He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash" (II Kings 14:26-27). What made Jeroboam son of Joash different from all the kings of Israel before him? Was Jeroboam not an idolater? Rather, it was because he did not accept slander concerning Amos the prophet, as it is said, "Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel" (Amos 7:10). Immediately Jeroboam rebuked him and sent Amaziah away in disgrace. He said to him: Heaven forbid. The prophet did not prophesy that prophecy. And if he did prophesy so, he does not prophesy so on his own, but from Heaven he prophesies.

At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, said: the generation and the head of the generation were idolaters, yet the land that I said to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "To your seed I will give it," behold, I will give it into this man's hand. Why? Because he did not accept slander concerning Amos. Concerning him it says, "He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD" (II Kings 14:25).

Zechariah son of Jeroboam son of Joash son of Jehu came after him. Had he practiced repentance and good deeds, he would have been a righteous son of a wicked man, and it would have been good for him. Since he did not repent and was a wicked son of a wicked man, it was bad for him. So it is with this measure for all the families of the earth, whether for Israel or for idol-worshiping nations.

Likewise in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, Israel occupied themselves with Scripture, Mishnah, Midrash, halakhot, and aggadot. Israel's reward for accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven in the days of Hezekiah was that the thing destined to happen at the end, as it is said, "This shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall rot in their sockets, and their tongue shall rot in their mouth" (Zechariah 14:12), was done for Hezekiah king of Judah and his generation. How? As it is said, "The angel of the LORD went out and struck in the camp of Assyria one hundred eighty-five thousand" (Isaiah 37:36). He established for them consolation, which is a good measure in the world, as it is said, "Comfort, comfort My people, says your God" (Isaiah 40:1).

They gave a parable. To what may this be compared? To a mortal king who became angry with his wife, and he had from her a son about twelve months old. Every day they would bring the child in before him, and he would clasp him, embrace him, kiss him, hold him with both hands, sit him between his knees, and say to him: were it not that my mercy over you is great, I would already have driven your mother out of my house. So the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, as it is written, "What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah?" (Hosea 6:4). And it says, "I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim" (Hosea 11:9).

Full source