תלמוד על מלכים ב 3:15

Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, why is it called drawing festivity? For from there one was drawing the holy spirit, following you shall draw water in rejoycing from the fountains of salvation¹³Is. 12:3. Babli 50b.. An illustration¹⁴The following (up to Note 21) is from Gen. rabba 98(16) (M. Sokoloff, The Genizah fragments of Bereshit Rabba, Jerusalem 1982, p. 187 l. 21–30). There the statements of RR. Levi and Joḥanan are interchangend.. Rebbi Levi and Jehudah bar Naḥman were taking two tetradrachmas to assemble the congregation before Rebbi Joḥanan. Rebbi Levi went and preached, Jonah ben Amittai was from the tribe of Asher, for it is written¹⁵Jud. 1:31., Asher did not disinherit the inhabitants of Acco and the inhabitants of Sidon. And it is written¹⁶1K. 17:9. This quote presupposes that Jonah ben Amittai was the son of the widow from Sarepta., arise and go to Sarepta which belongs to Sidon. Rebbi Joḥanan came and preached, Jonah ben Amittai was from the tribe of Zevulun, as it is witten¹⁷Jos. 19:10., the third lot fell to the sons of Sevulun according to their families, and it is written¹⁸Jos. 19:13. The verse shows that Gat-Ḥepher belonged to Zevulun., from there it turned eastward to Gat Ḥepher and Et Qaṣin. And it is written¹⁹2K. 14:25., following the word of the Eternal, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant, Jonah ben Amittai the prophet from Gat Ḥepher. On the next Sabbath Rebbi Levi said to Jehudah bar Naḥman: you take the two tetradrachmas and go²⁰In Gen. rabba R. Levi gives the money to Jehudah bar Naḥman so that the latter lets him go and give the sermon, to harmonize his statement with R. Joḥanan’s. assemble the congregation before Rebbi Joḥanan. He went and said before them, Rebbi Joḥanan did teach us well, his mother from Asher and his father from Zevulun. And his hip from Sidon²¹Gen. 49:13, from Jabob’s blessing of Zevulun. The one prophet from the tribe of Zevulun came from a mother from Sidonian territory, which was Asher territory., the hip from which he came was from Sidon. And it is written²²Jonah 1:3. The following argument is the reason the preceding Midrash was quoted here, in connection with the water-drawing festivities., he descended to Yafo, when it should have been “he descended to Acco²³As a Galilean he could have used the nearest port.”! Rebbi Jonah said, Jonah ben Amittai belonged to the pilgrims²⁴Who came to Jerusalem in Jehudah, avoiding the Northern sanctuaries in Bethel and Dan., came to the water-drawing festivity and the holy spirit rested on him, to teach you that the holy spirit only rests on a happy heart²⁵Babli Šabbat 30b.. What is the reason? It was when the musical instrument played, God’s spirit was on him²⁶2K. 3:15.. Rebbi Benjamin bar Levi said, it is not written here “it was when he played on the musical instrument”, but it was when the musical instrument played, God’s spirit was on him²⁷This refers to a statement of R. Levi in Berakhot 1:1 (Note 97), that Elisha used David’s Aeolian lyre which played by itself in the wind..

Rebbi Zeriqan and Rebbi Ammi⁹⁴Rebbi Ammi (or Immi) was the successor of Rebbi Yoḥanan as head of the academy of Tiberias. Rebbi Zeriqan was another student of Rebbi Yoḥanan. Their argument goes as follows: King David declares that he is used to get up at midnight and also that he gets up at the start of some night watch. But if midnight is the start of a watch then the number of watches has to be even. [The parallel in the Babli (Berakhot 3b) is a shortened version of the Yerushalmi (in particular, in the Ashkenazic manuscript tradition.)] in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: The reason of Rebbi is (Ps. 119:62): “At midnight I get up to thank You for Your just laws.” And it is written (Ps. 119:148): “My eyes preceded night watches.” Rebbi Ḥizqiah said: Rebbi Zeriqan and Rebbi Abba, one explained the reason of Rebbi, the other the reason of Rebbi Nathan. He who explained the reason of Rebbi: “at midnight”. He who explained the reason of Rebbi Nathan (Jud. 7:19): “at the start of the middle watch.”⁹⁵See the preceding paragraph. How does Rebbi Nathan uphold the basis of Rebbi’s reason, “at midnight”? Sometimes “at midnight,” sometimes “my eyes preceded night watches.” How is that? When David had a state dinner, “at midnight.” When he ate by himself, “my eyes preceded night watches.” In no case did dawn come and found David asleep. That is what David said (Ps. 57:9): “Wake up, my honor, wake up, o harp and lute, I shall awake dawn.” My honor has to be awake because of the honor of my Creator. My honor counts for nothing before the honor of my Creator. I shall awake dawn, dawn will not awake me. His evil instinct was trying to seduce him and told him: David, usually dawn awakes kings and you say “I shall awake dawn!” Usually kings sleep until three hours into the day and you say “at midnight I get up!” But he answers, “for Your just laws.” What did David do? Rebbi Phineas in the name of Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Menaḥem⁹⁶Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Menaḥem was an Aggadist of the generation of Rebbi Ammi; Rebbi Phineas belongs to the following generation. A parallel Babylonian tradition is given in Babli Berakhot 4a. The Yerushalmi version is also found in Pesiqta dRav Kahana,ויהי בחצי הלילה, 13 and in Midrash Tehillim 119.: He took a harp, put it on his headboard, got up at midnight and started playing on it so that his companions in the study of Torah should hear it. What were his companions in the study of Torah saying? When king David studies Torah, certainly we have to do it also! Rebbi Levi⁹⁷The preacher in the academy of R. Yoḥanan. A shortened version, without the reference to the story of Elisha, is a Babylonian tradition, by contemporary Babylonian teachers, in Babli Berakhot 3b. The verse quoted talks about the prophetic extasy of Elisha before king Jehoshaphat. R. Elazar Azkari explains that the verse from Kings can be taken to be parallel to Psalms 57:9 since in the latter verse the harp is also adressed directly, as a living being. said: a lute was hanging in David’s window and in the night the North wind was blowing and moving it and it was playing by itself. This refers to what is written (2Kings 3:15): “It happened when the musical instrument was playing.” It does not say “when he played on the musical instrument” but “when the instrument was playing”; it was playing by itself.