Musar zu Jeschijahu 43:9

We have a statement in Avodah Zarah 2 by Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa that in the future G–d personally will appear with a Torah scroll in His lap announcing that anyone who has studied and observed the Torah should come and get his reward. Thereupon the Gentiles would assemble in a disorderly fashion and claim their reward. G–d would tell them to appear in an orderly fashion, each nation separately headed by their scribes, etc. [Scriptural proof is provided for all this in the relevant passage in the Talmud. Ed.] The first nation laying claim to reward would be the Romans who would extol their contributions to civilisation, pointing out the public baths, highways, etc., they had built. They would claim to have done all this in order to enable Israel to devote itself to Torah study. G–d is described as rejecting the claim as foolish, telling them they had done all this for their own sakes. As an example, G–d cites the market-places as having served merely immoral purposes. G–d would ask them if there was none amongst them who could יגיד זאת, i.e. who had devoted himself to Torah (based on Isaiah 43,9 where the word זאת is understood to apply to Torah)? Upon hearing this the Romans would be deeply disappointed, etc." The whole paragraph in the Talmud seems very long-winded. The Talmud could simply have said: זאת=תורה, without listing all the Romans' so-called accomplishments, and G–d's describing them as the very reverse.