The book of Proverbs throws out one of the great riddles of the Hebrew Bible. "Who has ascended to Heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in the hollows of his hands? Who has bound water in a mantle? Who established all the extremities of the Earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know?" (Proverbs 30:4). In Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 1:4, the sages refuse to let that riddle stay rhetorical. They give four answers.
The First Answer - It Is God
Who ascended to Heaven? God, of whom it is written, "God ascended with sounds of exultation" (Psalms 47:5). Who came down? The same God, of whom Exodus says, "And the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai" (Exodus 19:20). Who gathers the wind? He who holds the soul of every living creature in His hand (Job 12:10). Who binds water? He binds water in His clouds (Job 26:8). Who raises up the ends of the earth? The Lord who causes death and brings to life (1 Samuel 2:6). And what is His name? Rock, Shaddai, Lord of Hosts. And His son's name? Israel — "My son, My firstborn" (Exodus 4:22).
The Second Answer - The Honest Tither
The midrash then turns the riddle into an ethical lesson. Whose prayer ascends to heaven and pulls down the rain? The one who separates his tithes with the hollows of his hands — who gives what he owes in full, without shaving the measure. And whose prayer does not rise? The one who shortchanges his tithes. Drought and abundance, the sages say, are downstream of honesty in the fields. It is a startling reversal. The one who grips too tightly becomes the reason the heavens close.
The Third Answer - Elijah the Whirlwind Prophet
Who ascended to heaven and came back? Elijah. He ascended in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). He came down when the angel told him, "Go down with him, do not be afraid" (2 Kings 1:15). Who gathered the wind? The same Elijah who told wicked Ahab, "As the Lord lives, there will be no dew or rain in these years except at my word" (1 Kings 17:1). Who bound the water? Elijah rolled up his mantle and struck the Jordan, and it split in two (2 Kings 2:8). Who raised up the ends of the earth? Elijah revived the widow's son, saying, "See, your son lives" (1 Kings 17:23). The Hebrew phrase afsei aretz can also be heard as nothingness — and Elijah lifted a child out of nothingness itself.
The Fourth Answer - Moses and the Tabernacle That Steadied the World
Who ascended to heaven? Moses, who "went up to God" (Exodus 19:3). Who came down? Moses, who descended from the mountain (Exodus 19:14). Who gathered the wind? Moses, who told Pharaoh, "As soon as I leave the city, I will spread my hands to the Lord, and the thunder will cease" (Exodus 9:29). Who bound the water? Moses, at whose hand "the waters stood up in a heap" (Exodus 15:8). Who established the ends of the earth? That is the Tent of Meeting itself, for the verse says, "On the day that Moses completed establishing the Tabernacle" (Numbers 7:1). Through the Tabernacle, the world was established.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, transmitting Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, seals the point with a grammatical hammer. The verse does not say "establishing a tabernacle." It says "establishing the Tabernacle" — with the untranslatable et. The word et comes to include something extra. What else was established that day? The world. Before the Tabernacle rose in the wilderness, the earth was wobbling. The moment Moses raised it, the whole cosmos found its footing.
The riddle of Proverbs 30:4 has four answers, and all four are Jewish — God, the honest tither, Elijah, and Moses. Heaven is not closed. It has been climbed again and again, by those who kept their promises to it.