Midrash for Exodus 20:12

Our Rabbis were taught: It is said (Ex. 20, 12) Honor thy father and thy mother, and again it is said (Pr. 3, 9) Honor the Lord with thy wealth; Scripture compares the honor of father and mother unto the honor of Heaven. Again it is said (Lev. 19, 3) Ye shall fear every man, his mother and his father; and again it is said (Deut. 10, 20) The Lord thy God shalt thou fear; Scripture compares the fear of father and mother unto the fear of Heaven. Agam it is said (Ex. 21, 17) And he that curses his father or his mother shall surely he put to death; and it is said (Lev. 24, 15) Whosoever curseth his God shall hear sin. Scripture compares here the blasphemy of father and mother unto that of Heaven. However, as far as beating is concerned the comparison is impossible; and so also should it be according to the logic of law; for these three — Heaven, father and mother — are partner in the child.

(Deut. 22:6–7): WHEN YOU COME ACROSS A BIRD NEST, [….] YOU MUST SURELY LET <THE MOTHER> GO. This text is related (to Prov. 4:23): MORE THAN ANY OBSERVANCE PRESERVE YOUR HEART, FOR OUT OF IT COMES LIFE. R. Abba said:¹⁰Tanh., Deut. 6:2. There are two hundred and forty-eight [positive] commandments in the Torah corresponding to the organs that are in a human being; for each and every organ cries out at the person and says: Perform a commandment with me so that we may live through its merit and you may lengthen your life. There are also three hundred and sixty-five negative commandments like the number of the solar days. So on each day while the sun rises until it sets, it speaks and cries out at a person: You who have lived your life up to this day. Do not commit this transgression against me, and do not tilt me and the whole world toward the scale of guilt. Here are six hundred and thirteen commandments. Moreover, for each and every commandment mentioned there is a reward. For example honoring father and mother (in Exod. 20:12 // Deut. 5:16) and leaving a nest alone (in Deut. 22:7) <result in> a lengthening of life. There are also commandments with children as the reward, as, for example, Sarah, who lodged travellers (in Gen. 18:6–14), and the Shunammite woman, who received Elisha (II Kings. 4:8–17). There is also transgression, <which may> require stoning, burning, slaying (with the sword),¹¹Hereg. See Sanh. 7:3, for the interpretation of hereg as beheading with a sword. or strangulation.¹²For details on all four types of execution, see ibid., 6:4; 7:1–3. Of all the commandments, however, none is as easy as leaving a nest alone. And what it its remuneration (according to Deut. 22:7)? IN ORDER THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU AND YOU MAY LENGTHEN YOUR LIFE. A parable: To what is the matter comparable? To a king who brought laborers into his field to plant it but did not reveal to them the remuneration for their planting. At evening he gave one gold coin to whoever planted one tree. They all began to be amazed [and say]: Now if the one who has only planted a light and small tree [has received] one gold coin, how much the more will there be for us who have planted many <of them>.¹³Cf. Deut. R. 6:2; Matthew 10:1–17. So if the remuneration for leaving a nest alone [<has> a lengthening of life as its remuneration], how much the more will be the remuneration for a commandment in which there is material loss, hardship, and <the need to> preserve one's life. For this reason the Holy One did not explain the remuneration for the commandments which are in the Torah, so that Israel of its own accord would fulfill them and thereby increase the remuneration. Thus we have learned (in Avot 1:3): DO NOT BE LIKE SERVANTS WHO SERVE THE MASTER <FOR THE SAKE OF RECEIVING AN AWARD>…. [It is therefore written (in Prov. 4:23): MORE THAN ANY OBSERVANCE PRESERVE YOUR HEART, FOR OUT OF IT COMES LIFE.]

Our masters have said in the name of R. [Hanina] (Huna) the father of R. Aha, “The adulterer and adulteress transgress the Ten Commandments.”¹³Numb. R. 9:12. [They] said to [him], “In the case of nine, we concede [his transgressing them].” How is this? In the case of (Exod. 20:2 = Deut. 5:6:) “I [am the Lord your God],” because anyone who commits adultery with the wife of his acquaintance is, as it were, denying the Holy One, blessed be He. It is so stated (in Jer. 5:8, 12), “They have denied the Lord and said, ‘He does not exist.’” (Exod. 20:5 = Deut. 5:7:) [“You shall have no other Gods”], since it is written of Him (in Exod. 20:5 = Deut. 5:9), “for [I] the Lord your God am a jealous God.” Also it is stated two times concerning the adulteress (in Numb. 5:14), “If the spirit of jealousy came over him, and he is jealous of his wife.” But why two times? Because it (i.e., the meal offering of the next verse)¹⁴So Rashi on Numb. 5:15. excites jealousy for the Holy One, blessed be He, and for her husband, as stated (in Numb. 5:15), “for it is a meal offering of jealousies.” Thus it is a case of two jealousies. (Exod. 20:7 = Deut. 5:11:) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God [in vain].” [One breaks this commandment] because he commits adultery and swears in vain that he has not done so. (Exod. 20:12 = Deut. 5:16:) “Honor your father.” When one commits adultery with the adulteress, she becomes pregnant from him. Then she says to her husband, “I am pregnant from you.” When the fetus is grown, it honors her husband, [since it] thinks that he is its father. Moreover, [the grown child] passes through the market and hits the adulterer, since he thinks that he is not his father. (Exod. 20:13 = Deut. 5:17:) “You shall not murder.” The adulterer goes in on condition that, if he is caught, he will kill or be killed. (Exod. 20:13, cont. = Deut. 5:17, cont.:) “You shall not commit adultery.” Obviously [this commandment is broken], because he is committing adultery. (Exod. 20:13, cont. = Deut. 5:17, cont.:) “You shall not steal.” [This commandment is broken] because he is stealing his neighbor's source (i.e., his wife's womb), and so it says (in Prov. 9:17), “Stolen waters are sweet […].” (Exod. 20:13, cont. // Deut. 5:17, cont.:) “You shall not bear [false witness] against your neighbor.” [The commandment is broken] in that [the adulteress] bears false witness [to her husband] and says, “I am pregnant from you.” (Exod. 20:14; cf. Deut. 5:18:) “You shall not covet your neighbor's house, and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife […].” [The commandment is broken] because whoever covets his friend's wife and commits adultery with her, covets everything that belongs to his friend.¹⁵Cf. Lev. R. 23:12. How? When the husband comes to depart from the world, he thinks that this son is his and writes him a will¹⁶Gk.: diatheke. of all his assets. So he bequeaths to him whatever he has without knowing that he is not his son. It turns out that the adulterer covets whatever belongs to his friend.
They said to R. Hanina, “Here we have told you nine [commandments]. In regard to] (Exod. 20:8; cf. Deut. 5:12:) ‘Remember [the Sabbath (day)],’ how does he transgress against it?” He said to them, “I will tell you: Sometimes when a priest has a priestly wife, and a [lay] Israelite adulterer has sexual intercourse with her, such that she bears [a child] from him, they consider him (i.e., the child) to be the son of a priest. Then when the baby goes on to minister in the Temple, arrange wood, and sacrifice on the Sabbath, he is found to be profaning the Sabbath. Hence the Ten Commandments are violated by the adulteress with the adulterer. Solomon also has said concerning her (in Eccl. 7:26), “And I find [the woman] more bitter than death, [(the woman) who has snares and nets (in her heart)].” What is the meaning of “snares (rt.: tswd)?” She lies in wait (rt.: tswd) in this world and for the world to come.¹⁷The inference is from the fact that SNARES is plural and implies a minimum of two. And “nets?” The net catches [prey] in the water but does not catch [any] on dry land. The woman, however, catches [her prey] in the sea and on the dry land.¹⁸Eccl. R. 7:26:3. (Eccl. 7:26:) “And I find [the woman] more bitter than death.” Not to be loud, arrogant of gait, or bawdy in laughter: This is the way of the daughters of Israel. But if [a woman] was bawdy in the presence of one of them, one would warn her on the evidence of two [witnesses] and say to her, “Why should you be laughing with so and so? Why should you be speaking with him?” If she has [merely] spoken [with him] up to now, she is allowed into her house and may eat the terumah. [If] she has entered with him in secret and lingered to be defiled, she is forbidden her house and eating the terumah.