Talmud zu Tehillim 36:12
אַל־תְּ֭בוֹאֵנִי רֶ֣גֶל גַּאֲוָ֑ה וְיַד־רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים אַל־תְּנִדֵֽנִי׃
Dass der Hoffart Fuß nicht über mich schreite, und die Hand der Frevler mich nicht scheuche.
Avot D'Rabbi Natan
And make a fence around the Torah. And make a fence around your words, the way the Holy Blessed One made a fence around His words and Adam made a fence around his words. The Torah made [a fence] around its words. Moses made a fence around his words. Even Job, and even the Prophets and the sages – they all made a fence around their words.
What is the fence that the Holy Blessed One made around His words? It says (Deuteronomy 29:23), “All the nations will say: Why has the Eternal done such a thing to this land?” This teaches you that it was well known to the One who spoke and brought the world into being, that future generations would say this. Therefore, the Holy Blessed One said to Moses: Moses! Write this and place it in [the Torah] for future generations (Deuteronomy 29:24–25): “Then they will be told, because they forsook the covenant of the Eternal…and they went and served other gods and bowed down before them, gods that they did not know, and were not meant for them.” From here we learn that the Holy Blessed One made a fence around His words, and wrote after this what they would one day say. Because of this, He is able to take reward away from His creatures with no argument.
What is the fence that Adam made around his words? It says (Genesis 2:16–17), “The Eternal God commanded [Adam]: From every tree of the garden you may absolutely eat. But from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, do not eat. For on the day you eat from it, you will surely die.” Adam the first person did not want to tell Eve in same the way that the Holy Blessed One had told him. Instead, he said this to her (thus making a fence around his words, saying more than what the Holy Blessed One had said to him): God said not to eat from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, nor to touch it, lest you die. He wanted to keep himself and Eve from even touching the tree.
So then the snake said to himself: Since I cannot make Adam stumble, I will make Eve stumble. He went and sat beside her, and began chatting with her, and said to her: If you say the Holy Blessed One commanded us not to touch it, look, I will touch it and I will not die. And even you, if you touch it, you will not die. What did the wicked snake do then? He went up and touched the tree with his hands and feet, and shook it until its fruits fell to the ground. Some say that he did not touch it at all, for when the tree saw him, it screamed and said to him, Wicked one! Wicked one! Don’t touch me! as it says (Psalms 36:12), “Do not bring the foot of the arrogant upon me, nor let the hand of the wicked push me away.”
What is the fence that the Holy Blessed One made around His words? It says (Deuteronomy 29:23), “All the nations will say: Why has the Eternal done such a thing to this land?” This teaches you that it was well known to the One who spoke and brought the world into being, that future generations would say this. Therefore, the Holy Blessed One said to Moses: Moses! Write this and place it in [the Torah] for future generations (Deuteronomy 29:24–25): “Then they will be told, because they forsook the covenant of the Eternal…and they went and served other gods and bowed down before them, gods that they did not know, and were not meant for them.” From here we learn that the Holy Blessed One made a fence around His words, and wrote after this what they would one day say. Because of this, He is able to take reward away from His creatures with no argument.
What is the fence that Adam made around his words? It says (Genesis 2:16–17), “The Eternal God commanded [Adam]: From every tree of the garden you may absolutely eat. But from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, do not eat. For on the day you eat from it, you will surely die.” Adam the first person did not want to tell Eve in same the way that the Holy Blessed One had told him. Instead, he said this to her (thus making a fence around his words, saying more than what the Holy Blessed One had said to him): God said not to eat from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, nor to touch it, lest you die. He wanted to keep himself and Eve from even touching the tree.
So then the snake said to himself: Since I cannot make Adam stumble, I will make Eve stumble. He went and sat beside her, and began chatting with her, and said to her: If you say the Holy Blessed One commanded us not to touch it, look, I will touch it and I will not die. And even you, if you touch it, you will not die. What did the wicked snake do then? He went up and touched the tree with his hands and feet, and shook it until its fruits fell to the ground. Some say that he did not touch it at all, for when the tree saw him, it screamed and said to him, Wicked one! Wicked one! Don’t touch me! as it says (Psalms 36:12), “Do not bring the foot of the arrogant upon me, nor let the hand of the wicked push me away.”
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Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah
Concerning them who moan like a dove,16Cf. Isa. 38, 14, LIX, 11. Here and in what follows the mannerisms of proud men are alluded to. who make motions with their hands [when talking],17[So Jastrow, s.v. num I.] click their heels and walk on tip-toe, Scripture declares, Let not the foot of pride overtake me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.18Ps. 36, 12.
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