Commentaire de citation sur Le Lévitique 26:21

• Regarding the third possibility, namely, that good comes in exchange for bad through the medium of prayer and mercy, he argues at length that the notion that a person who has been unlawfully hurt and who can exonerate himself before his oppressor both in justice and in law, should pray and plead for mercy instead of demanding justice, is unconscionable. He has committed no crime and should base his appeal on the integrity of his deeds and not plead and beg for forgiveness as though he was guilty. Furthermore, if the Judge is unwilling to acknowledge his righteousness why should He accept his prayers and supplications? Besides, a rationalist would refuse to believe (Leviticus 26:21) that God could ever accept his prayers, for it would mean that His statute is inconsistent, vacillating between favor and disfavor; and He is not like a man, to change His mind (1Samuel 15:29). And so he says: Even were I to call, and He did answer, I don't believe He would listen to my voice (Job 9:16). (Ch.9:13-22)

The sated must hire out for bread: Those who were sated at the beginning became hungry, to the point that they must hire themselves out to work for the sake of bread. And those who were hungry at the beginning and hired themselves out, stopped hiring themselves out and exerting themselves. For they became sated through the will of the Creator, may He be blessed, until the will of the Creator came to this. And the providence is to the point that someone who was barren like me gave birth to seven; and one who was the mother of many like my rival, Peninah, is now forlorn [and] cut off - meaning to say that her sons died. And that which she said, "seven," is not precise, but rather this is a [general] amount. As this is the way of Scripture - when it wants to say, many, it says, seven, as in (Jeremiah 15:9), "Forlorn is the one who gave birth to seven"; (Leviticus 26:21) "seven times like your sins"; (Proverbs 24:16) "seven times does a righteous one fall and arise." As the world is with seven - seven planets, seven days of the week. And Channah said this about herself, as she had sons and daughters - as it is written (I Samuel 2:22), "For the Lord remembered Channah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters."

Am I not: It is like the Targum [Yonatan], "Is not my wish better to you" - meaning to say, "Is not my wish towards you and my love for you better to you than ten sons?" But some explain, "Am I not better to you than I am to the ten sons I have from Peninah" - meaning to say, I love you more than I love my sons. And he said this because Peninah had ten sons. But according to our explanation, the reason for [the word], "ten," is by way of a general (figurative) count - as in (Leviticus 26:26), "and ten women will bake"; "than ten rulers" (Ecclesiastes 7:19); "seven times like your sins" (Leviticus 26:21); "seven times does a righteous one fall" (Proverbs 24:16); and that which is similar to them.

will be too dear that he will live forever and not see the Pit. Menachem (p. 158) associated it as an expression of withholding, as (Isa. 13:12): “I will make mortal man dearer (אוקיר) than fine gold”; (Lev. 26:21), “I will go with them with wrath of withdrawal (קיר)” i.e., the ransom of their soul will be withheld.

naivete Heb. פתי, enticement, the noun for simplicity; like כלי, a vessel, קרי, a happening, שפי, silence.

והיו שמיך אשר על ראשך נחשת AND THY HEAVEN WHICH IS OVER THY HEAD SHALL BE COPPER — These curses (i.e. all the curses contained in this chapter) Moses expressed them as though they came from his own mouth (Megillah 31b) whilst those he spoke on Mount Sinai (Leviticus 26), he expressed them as though from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, as indeed is implied by them (by the expressions used), for so it states there: “And if ye will not hearken unto Me”; “And if ye walk contrary to Me”, whilst here it says: “[And if thou wilt not obey] the voice of the Lord thy God”; “The Lord shall make cleave unto thee”; “The Lord shall smite thee”. Moses was milder in his curses, expressing them in the singular (“The Lord shall smite thee”, not “you”, the entire people), and similarly in this curse, too, he was milder, for in the former curses (those in Leviticus) it states, (Leviticus 26:19) “[I will make] your heaven as iron and your earth as copper”, i.e., that the heaven would not exude moisture, just as iron does not exude, and there would therefore be drought in the world, whilst the earth would exude moisture (be humid) just as copper sweats, and it would consequently rot the fruits. Here, however, it states, “Thy heaven shall be copper and thy earth shall be iron”, i.e. that the heavens would exude moisture: even though they might not pour with rain, at any rate there would be no ruinous drought in the world; whilst the earth would not exude moisture just as iron does not sweat, and consequently the fruits would not perish. Nevertheless this is a curse: for whether it (the earth) be as copper or whether it be as iron it will produce no fruit, and the heaven, too, will not pour with rain (give rain in abundance) (cf. Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 5 3 on Leviticus 26:19).