Our sages explored this very human tendency in fascinating ways, especially when looking at the stories of Solomon and Moses. Our journey begins with a verse from Exodus (6:2-3): “God spoke to Moses and said to him: I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the Lord I did not make Myself known to them.” What's going on here? What does it mean that God revealed Himself differently to the patriarchs than to Moses? Shemot Rabbah (6) uses this verse to launch into a discussion about wisdom, madness, and the perils of thinking we're smarter than we are.
The text quotes Ecclesiastes (2:12): “I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly; for who is the man who comes after the king to do what he already has done?” The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) understands this verse as referring to both Solomon and Moses, two figures who, in different ways, thought they could outsmart God. Talk about hubris!
First, let's talk about Solomon. God, in the Torah, gave kings specific instructions: "Only he shall not accumulate horses for himself…and he shall not accumulate wives for himself, and his heart will not stray, and silver and gold he shall not greatly accumulate for himself" (Deuteronomy 17:16–17). Solomon, brilliant as he was, thought he could circumvent these rules. "He shall not accumulate wives for himself," the Torah says, "isn’t that so 'his heart will not stray?' I will accumulate, and my heart will not stray!"
Big mistake.
According to the Midrash, at that moment, the letter yod – the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet – from the word "yarbe" (accumulate) went up and protested before God! It pleaded, "Master of the universe, didn’t You say that there will never be a letter negated from the Torah? Behold, Solomon is revoking me! Perhaps today he will negate one, and tomorrow another, until the entire Torah is negated." God reassured the yod, saying that Solomon and a thousand like him would be negated before even a calligraphical embellishment of the Torah would be. Interestingly, the Midrash connects this to the changing of Sarai's name to Sarah and Hoshea's name to Joshua, showing how letters do change, but within God's plan, not in defiance of it.
The consequences for Solomon were severe. The Midrash interprets (Proverbs 30:1), "The words of Agur ben Yakeh," to mean that Solomon "collected [iger] matters of Torah and expelled them [hekian]." He became known as "Itiel," which the Midrash cleverly interprets as "God is with me [iti El] and I will prevail," reflecting Solomon’s overconfidence. And what happened? "It was when Solomon grew old, his wives led his heart astray" (1 Kings 11:4). Ouch. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai even said it would have been better for Solomon to be a sewer cleaner than to have that verse written about him!
So, Solomon’s story serves as a cautionary tale about the limits of human wisdom when it comes to divine decrees. But what about Moses?
The Midrash suggests that Moses, too, fell into a similar trap. God had already told Moses that Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go (Exodus 3:19) and that He would harden Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 4:21). Yet, when Pharaoh made the Israelites' labor even harder, Moses questioned God: “Why have You harmed this people?” (Exodus 5:22).
The Midrash argues that this questioning was also a form of "madness and folly." How could Moses, after being told what would happen, question God's plan? According to the Midrash, the attribute of justice (represented by the divine name Elohim) sought to harm Moses for this. However, God, seeing Moses's distress over the suffering of Israel, relented and treated him with the attribute of mercy (represented by the divine name Y-H-V-H, often pronounced Adonai).
What can we learn from these interpretations of Solomon and Moses? Perhaps it's a reminder that even the wisest among us, the most righteous among us, are not immune to the temptation of thinking we know better than God. It's a call to humility, to recognizing the limits of our understanding, and to trusting in a wisdom greater than our own. It is a lesson that understanding the Torah requires more than just intellect – it demands a recognition of something greater than ourselves.
“God spoke to Moses and said to him: I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the Lord I did not make Myself known to them” (Exodus 6:2–3). “God spoke to Moses and said to him: I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac...” That is what is written: “I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly; for who is the man who comes after the king to do what he already has done?” (Ecclesiastes 2:12). This verse is referring to Solomon and to Moses. How to Solomon? When the Holy One blessed be He gave the Torah to Israel, he gave positive mitzvot and prohibitions, and gave the king a few mitzvot, as it is stated: “Only he shall not accumulate horses for himself…and he shall not accumulate wives for himself, and his heart will not stray, and silver and gold he shall not greatly accumulate for himself” (Deuteronomy 17:16–17). Solomon rose and thought to outsmart the decree of the Holy One blessed be He. “He shall not accumulate [yarbe] wives for himself,” isn’t that so “his heart will not stray?” I will accumulate and my heart will not stray. At that moment, the yod that is in yarbe1The letter yod in this form indicates the future tense. Solomon was confident that he would not stray, and thus thought the future “so that his heart will not stray” did not apply to him. went up and prostrated itself before the Holy One blessed be He and said: ‘Master of the universe, didn’t You say that there will never be a letter negated from the Torah? Behold, Solomon is revoking me. Perhaps today he will negate one and tomorrow another, until the entire Torah is negated.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to it: ‘Solomon and one thousand like him will be negated, and not one calligraphical embellishment will I negate.’ From where He negated it [the letter yod] from the Torah, and it returned to the Torah? It is as it is stated: “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, as Sarah2Sarai is spelled sin, resh, yod. God replaced the letter yod at the end of her name with the letter heh, rendering it Sarah. is her name” (Genesis 17:15). Where did it [the letter yod] return? “Moses called Hoshea bin Nun, Joshua” (Numbers 13:16).3The change from Hoshea to Joshua is made with the addition of the letter yod at the beginning of the name, so that it is spelled yod, heh, vav, shin, ayin. Solomon, who considered negating a letter from the Torah, what is written about him? “The words of Agur ben Yakeh”4The book of Proverbs is attributed to Solomon. (Proverbs 30:1) – who collected [iger] matters of Torah and expelled them [hekian]. “The utterance of the man to Itiel” (Proverbs 30:1), this matter that the Holy One blessed be He said: “He shall not accumulate wives,” He said only so “his heart will not stray.” “To Itiel” – who said: God is with me [iti El] and I will prevail.5My numerous wives will not cause my heart to stray. What is written about him? “It was when Solomon grew old, his wives led his heart astray” (I Kings 11:4). Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: It would have been preferable for Solomon to have been a sewer cleaner than to have this verse written about him. That is why Solomon said about himself: “I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly” (Ecclesiastes 2:12). Solomon said: ‘That which I [thought that I] have grown wise in matters of the Torah, and have shown myself that I know the wisdom of the Torah; that understanding and that knowledge were actually of madness and folly. Why? “For who is the man who comes after the king to do what he already has done?” (Ibid.). Who is it who has license to question the ways and the decrees of the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He? Matters are shaped before Him; for everything that emerges from before Him, He has already consulted with the heavenly entourage, and has informed them of the matter, so that they all will know and attest that His ruling is a ruling of truth and His decrees are truth and everything of His is done wisely. Thus it says: “Every word of God is refined” (Proverbs 30:5); and it says: “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, [and the sentence by the word of the holy ones; to the extent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever He will, and raises over it the lowest of men]”6The heavenly entourage (the watchers and the holy ones) are informed by God of His decrees concerning the kingdom of men. (Daniel 4:14). Because I questioned His actions, I failed.’ How is it [the verse in Ecclesiastes 2:12] stated about Moses? The Holy One blessed be He had already informed Moses that Pharaoh would not allow them to go, as it is stated: “I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go” (Exodus 3:19), “and I will harden his heart” (Exodus 4:21). Moses did not keep this matter in mind, and thought to outsmart the decree of the Holy One blessed be He, and began saying: “Why have You harmed this people?” (Exodus 5:22); he began arguing before Him . About this it is stated that this wisdom and knowledge of Moses was of madness and folly, “For who is the man who comes after the king,” – how could he question the ways of the Holy One blessed be He “to do what he already has done?” – after He had already revealed to him that He is destined to harden his [Pharaoh’s] heart in order to punish him for his enslaving them with hard labor? For this thing, the attribute of justice sought to harm Moses. That is what is written: “God [Elohim]7Elohim is the divine name that represents the attribute of justice. spoke to Moses” (Exodus 6:2). Because the Holy One blessed be He observed that it was due to the suffering of Israel that he spoke in that manner, He reconsidered and treated him with the attribute of mercy. That is what is written: “He said to him: I am the Lord [Y-H-V-H] (Exodus 6:2).”8Y-H-V-H, pronounced Adonai, is the divine name that represents the attribute of mercy.
