L’Ecclésiaste 4:12 Commentaire : Tze'enah Ure'enah & Rashi

“And if” [4:12]. If robbers come upon him, if he has a friend he can defend himself. It is even better if three are together. Another explanation, if one is a scholar and his son is also a scholar and his grandson is also a scholar, then the Torah does not soon cease in this family, as Scripture says, “they shall not be absent from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your children, nor from the mouth of your children’s children – said the Lord – from now on, for all time” [Isaiah 59:21].⁵⁴Rashi, Ecclesiastes, 4:12.

And if an individual attacks. If thieves came to attack him, if they are two, they will stand up to them, and certainly, if they are three, “and the threefold cord is not quickly severed.” Another explanation: Whoever is a Torah scholar, as well as his son and his grandson, the Torah will never cease from his seed, as [Scripture] states, “[My words] will not depart from your mouth nor from the mouth of your offspring nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring.”¹⁷Yeshayahu 59:21. Another explanation: [And] “the threefold cord,” [i.e., one well versed] in Scripture, Mishnah, and [having] good manners, will not quickly sin. It is expounded in the Midrash in other ways, “There is one who is alone with none other beside”¹⁸Above Verse 8. Him, but the sequence of all these verses does not correspond with their interpretations.