Talmud zu Zechariah 4:78

Rebbi Judah bar Pazi started¹⁵⁴Started a sermon. with this: (Ps. 71:16): “I shall come in strength, Eternal, God.¹⁵⁵While the verse is quite clear: “When I reach old age, o Master, Eternal, I shall remember only Your justice!”, it is taken here out of context to note that it seems to be possible to come in strength before the Eternal.” It is written (Zach. 4:14): “These are the two oil-sons who stand over the Lord of all the earth.” Rebbi Abbahu said, Rebbi Joḥanan and Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish disagree. One says, these are the ones who come in novitiate¹⁵⁶From Latin tiro, -onis “novice, recruit” to mean “come without accumulated merit before the Eternal. {The commentaries and dictionaries all derive the word from Greek τυραννίς, because of a similar homily in the next paragraph using באין בזרוע “being strong-armed”. But then it should read טוּרוניא and a clear meaning of the sentence can only be obtained by distorting the meaning of the word.} before the Holy One, praised be He. The other one says, these are the ones who come by the power of [kept] commandments and good deeds before the Holy One.

Two signs [two Hebrew letters nun inverted] are given in the Torah to mark off a small section. What is this section? “And when the Ark would travel…” (Numbers 10:35–36). Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel would say: It would be more appropriate to take this section out from where it is, and have it written in a different place. There is a similar sign in the verse (Judges 18:30), “And Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Menashe.” Was Gershom the son of Menashe? No, he was the son of Moses. But his actions were not like those of Moses his father, so they added a nun to connect him to Menashe instead.¹In Hebrew, the name Moses is spelled mem-shin-hei, while the name Menashe is spelled mem-nun-shin-hei.
A similar exegesis was applied to the verse (Zechariah 4:14), “These are the two sons of the pure oil, who serve the Master of all the Earth.” These are Aaron and the Messiah. I would not be able to tell which of them was the more beloved, except that it says [with regard to the Messiah], “The Eternal has sworn and will not change His mind; you will be a priest forever, [the rightful king that I have chosen]” (Psalms 110:4). From this verse we know that the messianic king is even more beloved than a rightful priest.
See, it says (Psalms 80:14), “A wild boar from the forest [hazir miya’ar] will gnaw at it.” Shouldn’t it say: A hippopotamus from the river [hazir miye’or]²This is a double play-on-words. The Hebrew word ya’ar, spelled yod-ayin-reish, means forest, while ye’or, spelled yod-aleph-reish, means river. Likewise, hazir ya’ar is a wild boar, while hazir ye’or is a hippopotamus. will gnaw at it? But it says “from the forest,” because when Israel does not do the will of God, then the gentiles will come upon them like a wild boar from the forest. Just as a wild boar from the forest will kill people and injure other animals, and is a torment to people, so whenever Israel does not do the will of God, the gentiles will come and kill them, torture them, and injure them. But when Israel does the will of God, the gentiles do not rule over them, and are like a hippopotamus from the river. Just as a hippopotamus does not kill people, and causes no injury to other creatures, so whenever Israel does the will of God, no foreign nation will kill, injure, or torture them. And then it will be written as: From the river [i.e., miye’or, with an aleph, instead of miya’ar, with an ayin].