Pensiero Ebraico su I Re 11:16

Now these people at that time sinned neither in word, deed, nor thought, but the Blessed One, who looks and sees far off, went down [i.e., penetrated] to what would result from the gathering of those wicked people. This is the intent of (Genesis 11:5): "And the L-rd went down to see." That is, he saw to the depths of what would result from their deeds. And though at the time there was no evil, the gathering would ultimately prove to be bad for them and bad for the world. This, because they all subscribed to idol worship, and the valley, too, which they chose for themselves was the land of Shinar, whose chief and king was Nimrod, the high potentate of idolatry, who persecuted our father Abraham because of his opposition to it, as is well known (see Eruvin 53a). This is the intent of (Genesis 11:6): "Behold, they are one people." That is: if this situation persists, they will all be of one mind; and though there is no harm in their acts at present, this is only because it "is the beginning of their doing," but if they are allowed to continue, "nothing will be withheld from them of what they thought to do in the beginning, but which they were not able to do." For there is no doubt that all of those generations sought to elevate their particular gods and to cause the name of the Holy One Blessed be He to be forgotten and that they failed in this only because of the division of kingdoms and lands, which afforded refuge to the servants of the L-rd. This would not be the case if they reached universal accord. For when Abraham fled Nimrod for Canaan, if Nimrod had ruled the entire universe, where would he flee from his wrath? This is the intent of the dialogue (Pesachim 87b); "A certain heretic said to him: 'We are better than you, for it is written (I Kings 11:16): "For Yoav remained there six months with all of Israel until he had cut off every male in Edom," and here you dwell among us and we do you no harm whatsoever.' He answered: 'What can you do? Destroy all of us? We are not all in your hands. Destroy those who are in your hands? You will be called a "cut-up monarchy."' The heretic responded: 'By the wing [idolatry] of Rome, it is with this thought that we arise and with this thought that we lie down.'" We are hereby taught that the only reason for their not embarking upon wholesale destruction is the non-comprehensiveness of their dominion. Therefore, because the intent of that particular generation was not evil, but the Blessed One saw that evil would result from it, He did not punish them — because they did not deserve to be punished — but He confounded their counsels and confused their tongue, for confusion of language and complete forgetfulness of it is also of avail in this regard. In sum: He saw evil in that gathering of wicked men in that they all shared a common evil characteristic; for it is impossible for a group compounded of individuals with a particular evil characteristic not to be worse than or as bad as the individuals themselves.