Midrash sur Samuel 2 6:3

(Fol. 25) When R. Huna died, the Rabbis intended to place the Holy Scrolls on his bier. Whereupon R. Chisda said to them: "Shall we do a thing unto him when he is dead, which he opposed when alive? For R. Tachlipha said: 'I myself saw that when R. Huna wanted to sit down on a bed on which the Holy Scrolls were lying, he would remove the mattress on the floor and place the scrolls upon it and then sit down.' Hence he was of the opinion that one must not sit on a bed upon which the Holy Scrolls are placed." They were not able to remove the bed [with the body] through the door and the Rabbis contemplated to remove it through the roof, whereupon R. Chisda remarked: "We have been taught by him that the due respect for a deceased scholar demands that he be removed through the door opening." They then wanted to place him on a smaller bed, but R. Chisda again remarked: "We have been taught by him that the respect for a deceased scholar demands that he be removed in the bed upon which he died, for R. Juda said in the name of Rab: 'Whence do we infer that a scholar is to be removed in his original bed? It is said (II Sam. 6, 3) And they conveyed the ark of God in a new wagon,' " etc. They finally broke away the door posts, and carried him out. R. Abba then began the following eulogy: "Our Rabbi was worthy that the Shechina should rest upon him, but Babylon prevented it. (R. Nachman b. R. Chasda, and some say Chanan b. R. Chasda, thereupon raised the following objection (Ez. 1, 3) The words of the Lord (Haya) came expressly unto Ezekiel. [Hence Babylon did not prevent the visitation of the Shechina?] Whereupon his father tapped him on the foot, saying: "Have I not warned you not to intrude with your questions? The word Haya [used in Ezekiel], means it had been some time ago but not any more.") When his body arrived in the land of Israel, R. Ami and R. Assi were informed that R. Huna had arrived. And [assuming that he came alive] they remarked: "When we were in Babylon we could not raise our heads on account of him [for his great learning], and now the time has come when he has followed us here!" They were then told that his coffin had arrived. R. Ami and R. Assi went out [to pay their respects], but R. Ila and R. Chanina did not go out. They then began to deliberate where to place his remains, and concluded to place it alongside of R. Chiya. For they said: "R. Huna diffused the Torah among Israel as much as did R. Chiya." The question then came up as to who should do the interring. R. Chaga said to them: "I will do it, for I was his disciple since the age of eighteen. I always kept myself ritually clean, and I have served him since then and knew his ways; [I even remember] that once it happened when the strap of his Phylactery [of the head] turned over, and he fasted forty days." When R. Chaga brought in the coffin into the arch, he noticed that [R.] Juda was resting at the right of his father and [R.] Hezekiah at his left. He heard [R.] Juda saying to his brother: "Rise for it would not be proper to leave R. Huna outside of the arch." When he arose, a pillar of fire arose with him. R. Chaga became frightened and, lifting up the coffin of R. Huna, he left the arch. And the reason why R. Chaga was not injured was because he lifted up R. Huna's coffin [which protected him].

(Numb. 27:5:) “Moses brought their cause [before the Lord].” Some say that [God] made this become too hard for Moses, as there are righteous people that become [overly] proud in matters of a commandment, and [so] the Holy One, blessed be He, weakens their ability. You find that David said (in Ps. 119:54), “Your statutes were songs for me,” [meaning] they are light and customary for me like songs. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “By your life, your end will be to err about something that [even] the schoolchildren know about.” At the time that he brought up the ark, he erred and put in on a cart, as stated (in II Sam. 6:3),” They loaded the ark of God onto a new cart.” [So God] suspended the ark in the air and the oxen became dislodged from under it. [Then] Uzzah approached to support it, but (according to II Sam. 6:7,) “God struck him down on the spot,” as an error in study is considered as wanton. Immediately (in II Sam. 6:8), “David was distressed because the Lord had inflicted a breach upon Uzzah.” [So] the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Did you not say, ‘Your statutes were songs for me?’ Did you not learn (in Numb. 7:9), ‘But to the Kohathites he did not give; since theirs was the service of the [most] sacred objects, their porterage was by shoulder?’” [So David] began to ponder and say (in I Chron. 15:13), “The Lord our God burst out against us, for we did not seek Him like the law.” And so too, [this happened] with Moses. Because he said (in Deut. 1:17), “But the case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me and I will hear it,” the Holy One, blessed be He, weakened his ability.¹⁷Numb. R. 21:12; above, Gen. 10:6; Sifre to Deut. 1:17 (17); Sanh. 8a. The matter is comparable to a moneychanger who said to his student, “If coins come to you to be exchanged, exchange them, but if pearls should come to you, bring them to me.” [When] a ring of baubles came to him, [the student] brought it to [this] teacher. [But] then the teacher went and showed it to another [money changer]. So too here. Moses said (in Deut. 1:17), “The case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me and I will hear it.” [But] when the daughters of Zelophehad came to him, [God] made it too hard for him. (Numb. 27:5-7) “Moses brought their cause before the Lord. [And the Lord said…,] ‘The daughters of Zelophehad speak correctly,’” such is the law. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Did you not say (ibid.), ‘The case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me?’ In the case of the judgment which you do not know, see [that even] the women know it.”

12 And it is written (in Numb. 27:5) “Moses brought their cause [before the Lord]”: Some say that [God] made this become too hard for Moses, as there are righteous people that become [overly] proud in matters of a commandment, and [so] the Holy One, blessed be He, weakens their ability. You find that David said (in Ps. 119:54), “Your statutes were songs for me,” [meaning] they are light and customary for me like songs. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “By your life, your end will be to err about something that [even] the schoolchildren know about.” At the time that he brought up the ark, he erred and put in on a cart, as stated (in II Sam. 6:3),” They loaded the ark of God onto a new cart.” [So God] suspended the ark in the air and the oxen became dislodged from under it. [Then] Uzzah approached to support it, but (according to II Sam. 6:7,) “God struck him down on the spot,” as an error in study is considered as wanton. Immediately (in II Sam. 6:8), “David was distressed because the Lord had inflicted a breach upon Uzzah.” [So] the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Did you not say, ‘Your statutes were songs for me?’ Did you not learn (in Numb. 7:9), ‘But to the Kohathites he did not give; since theirs was the service of the [most] sacred objects, their porterage was by shoulder?’” [So David] began to ponder and say (in I Chron. 15:13), “The Lord our God burst out against us, for we did not seek Him like the law.” And so too, [this happened] with Moses. Because he said (in Deut. 1:17), “But the case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me and I will hear it,” [the Holy One, blessed be He,] weakened his ability.¹³ Sifre to Deut. 1:17 (17); Sanh. 8a. The matter is comparable to a moneychanger who said to his student, “If coins come to you to be exchanged, exchange them, but if pearls should come to you, bring them to me.” [When] a ring of baubles came to him, [the student] brought it to [this] teacher. [But] then the teacher went and showed it to another [money changer]. So too here. Moses said (in Deut. 1:17), “The case which is too hard for you, [you shall bring unto me and I will hear it].” [But] when the daughters of Zelophehad came to him, [God] made it too hard for him. (Numb. 27:5-7) “And Moses brought their cause before the Lord. [And the Lord said…,] ‘The daughters of Zelophehad speak correctly,’” such is the law. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Did you not say (ibid.), ‘The case which is too hard for you, [you shall bring unto me]?’ In the case of the judgment which you do not know, [see that even] the women determine it.” 13 Another interpretation (of Numb. 27:5), “Moses brought their cause [before the Lord]”: R. Simeon ben Laqish said, “Our master Moses knew this judgment, but they first came before chiefs of tens. They said to them, ‘It is a judgment concerning inheritance, and this is not for us but for those greater than us.’ They came before the chiefs of fifties. [When] they saw that the chiefs of ten had shown them honor, the chiefs of fifty said, ‘[In our case] also there are those greater than us.’ So also [they came before] the chiefs of hundreds, the chiefs of thousands, and the princes. They all responded to them in a similar way, because they did not want to open their mouths before one who was greater than them. [So] they went in front of Elazar. He said to them, Behold there is Moses our teacher’ These and those came in front of Moses. Moses said, ‘If I tell them the decision, I shall be appropriating the greatness.’ He said to them, ‘In my case also there is One greater than I.’ Therefore (in Numb. 27:5), ‘Moses brought their cause [before the Lord].’” He answered him with (in vs. 7), “The daughters of Zelophehad speak correctly.” Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, acknowledged their utterance. (Numb. 27:7, cont.) “You shall indeed grant them [possession of an inheritance among the brothers of their father]”: Give them [also] chattel and their father's birthright in the assets of Hepher. They took three portions: The portion of their father, who was among those who had come out from Egypt; his portion with his brothers in the assets of Hepher; and since he was the first born, he took two portions. Another interpretation (of Numb. 27:7), “you shall indeed grant them [possession of an inheritance among the brothers of their father]”: After they [already] received [their share] on the other side of the Jordan, they came before Joshua and Elazar in the land of Canaan, as stated (in Josh. 17:4), “Now they (i.e., the daughters of Zelophehad) came before Elazar the priest, Joshua ben Nun, and the princes and said, ‘The Lord commanded Moses [to give us an inheritance along with our male kin’].” Moreover, our ancestor Jacob also knew that they were receiving [an inheritance] on this side [of the Jordan as well as on that side], since it is stated (in Gen. 49:22), “daughters¹⁴English versions generally read “boughs” or the like. step over a wall.” This [wall] is the Jordan, which became a wall [for Moses] so that he would not enter the land. Thus Jacob said to Joseph, “Your daughters shall receive a share on this [side of the Jordan] as well as on that [side].” (Numb. 27:7, cont.) “And you shall transfer to them the inheritance of their father”: With reference to inheritance of a son it is stated (in vs. 9), “and you shall give,” but with reference to a daughter, [it says (in vs. 8),] “and you shall transfer.”¹⁵The Hebrew is slightly different here from what is written in vs. 7. There the word you is singular while here the “you” is plural, as in vs. 8. Thus she may transfer an inheritance from tribe to tribe.¹⁶So BB 109b. (Numb. 27:11) “And it shall be a statutory judgment for the Children of Israel”: [The word judgment] teaches that inheritances [can only] be carried out through judges.