Comentario sobre Proverbios 30:31

The greyhound Heb. זרזיר מתנים. I do not know what it is, but from the context appears to be an animal with weak loins.

and the king against whom no one dares to rise up Heb. ומלך אלקום I do not know what it is according to its simple meaning, but the Aggadic midrashim interpret these five sections of four as corresponding to the four kingdoms. Since their rule over Israel was strengthened because of the iniquity of having transgressed the five Books of the Pentateuch, Scripture mentions them five times.

[16] The grave and the barren womb The grave represents the kingdom of Babylon, for it is stated regarding Nebuchadnezzar (Hab. 2:5): “who widened his desire like the nether- world.” And the barren womb, that is Media, in whose time mercy (רחמים) was held back from Israel, as it is said (Esther 3:13): to destroy, kill and cause to perish.”

the earth, which is not sated with water This represents Greece, which was not sated with issuing decrees on Israel.

and fire, which does not say, “Enough!” Corresponding to Esau, who acted with burning wrath against Israel, for he said to destroy children and women in one day. And likewise...

[19] The way of the eagle This is Babylon, the great eagle, with the long wings (Ezek. 17:3).

serpent This is Media.

the way of a ship in the heart of the sea This represents Greece, who was swift with its decrees.

the way of a man with a young woman This represents Edom, who said, “I will be a mistress forever.” [גבר is interpreted as גברת, a mistress, and בעלמה as לעולם, forever.]

[20] So is the way of an adulterous woman The people of Israel brought this evil upon themselves because they played the adulteress with idolatry, and they deserved that the retribution should befall them.

and she says, “I have no committed no sin.” As it says (Jeremiah 2:35), “Behold, I contend with you concerning because you say, I have not sinned.” (Until this point are the words of Rashi [as they appear] in Mikraoth Gedoloth.)

[21] the earth quakes This refers to Eretz Israel.

under a slave This refers to Nebuchadnezzar, who was the slave and secretary of Merodach-baladan, as appears in Hullin. [To my knowledge, this does not appear in Hullin, but in Helek, the eleventh chapter of Sanhedrin, 96a.]

and a wretch who is sated with food This refers to Ahasuerus, who made a banquet for one hundred and eighty days

[23] a hated woman who is married Corresponding to Greece.

and a maidservant who inherits her mistress This refers to Esau, who should have served Jacob, but the matter was reversed.

[25] The ants are a people not strong This refers to Babylon, as it is stated (Isa. 23:13): “Behold the land of the Chaldees, this people has never been.”

yet they prepare their food in the summer [This refers to] Nebuchadnezzar, who performed one [act of] honor to the Holy One, blessed be He, in the days of Merodach-baladan, when he sent letters to Hezekiah, and wrote therein, “Peace to King Hezekiah; peace to city of Jerusalem; peace to the great God.” Nebuchadnezzar was the one who wrote his letters, but he was not there that day, and when he came and they told him what they had done, he responded, “You call Him the great God, yet you address Him last!” He ran after the messenger and brought him back. For that [act of] pursuit, he merited the kingship. This is how he “prepared his bread in the summer,” like the ant.

[26] The hyraxes are a people not strong This refers to Media and Persia.

yet they make their home in the rock For they built the Temple.

[28] The spider grasps with its hands This refers to Esau, as it is stated (Gen. 27:22): “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

in a king’s palaces That he [Esau] entered the Temple of the King and destroyed it.

[30] The lion is the mightiest of the beasts This is Nebuchadnezzar, as it is stated (Jer. 4:7): The lion has come up from his thicket.”

the one who girds his loins This refers to Media and Persia, who girded their loins and assassinated Belshazzar and seized the kingdom of Babylon.

[31] and the he-goat This refers to Greece, as it is stated (Dan. 8:21): “And the rough he-goat is the king of Greece.”

and the king against whom no one dares to rise up This is Edom, who says, “I am it, and there is none besides me.” No one opposes him. אלקום, no one stands with him.