Midrash su Isaia 60:4
שְׂאִֽי־סָבִ֤יב עֵינַ֙יִךְ֙ וּרְאִ֔י כֻּלָּ֖ם נִקְבְּצ֣וּ בָֽאוּ־לָ֑ךְ בָּנַ֙יִךְ֙ מֵרָח֣וֹק יָבֹ֔אוּ וּבְנֹתַ֖יִךְ עַל־צַ֥ד תֵּאָמַֽנָה׃
Alza i tuoi occhi intorno e vedi: sono tutti riuniti e vengono a te; I tuoi figli vengono da lontano e le tue figlie sono nate dalla parte.
Shir HaShirim Rabbah
Another matter, “let us exult and rejoice in you.” We learned there: If a man marries a woman and stays with her ten years and she has not given birth, he may not remain idle.177He must take another wife in addition to or instead of the first wife in order to fulfill the mitzva of procreation. Rabbi Idi said: There was an incident involving a certain woman in Sidon who stayed with her husband ten years and did not give birth. They came to Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai and sought to separate from one another. He said to them: ‘By your lives, just as you came together with food and drink,178At your wedding feast. so too, you shall separate only with food and drink.’ They followed his advice and made a celebration for themselves, made a great feast, and she got him to drink in excess.179She hoped that he would agree to keep her as his wife even when he married another. When he was in good spirits, he said to her: ‘My daughter, see any good item that I have in the house, take it, and go to your father’s house.’ What did she do? After he fell asleep, she motioned to her servants and maidservants and said to them: ‘Carry him in his bed and take him to my father’s house.’ At midnight he awakened from his slumber after his wine had abated. He said to her: ‘My daughter, where am I?’ She said to him: ‘In my father’s house.’ He said to her: ‘What am I doing in your father’s house?’ She said to him: ‘Is this not what you said to me in the evening: See any good item that I have in the house, take it, and go to your father’s house? There is no item in this world better for me than you.’ They went to Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai and he stood and prayed for them and they were remembered,180She conceived. to teach you that just as the Holy One blessed be He remembers the barren, so too, the righteous cause the barren to be remembered. And [additional] matters may be inferred a fortiori: If a flesh and blood [woman], because she said to another of flesh and blood ‘there is no item in this world better for me than you,’ was remembered, Israel, who are waiting for the salvation of the Holy One blessed be He every day, and say: ‘There is nothing good in the world other than You,’ all the more so. That is, “let us exult and rejoice in you.”
[This is analogous] to a noblewoman whose husband the king, her sons, and her sons-in-law went to a country overseas. [Her servants] told her: ‘Your sons have come [home].’ She said: ‘What do I care? Let my daughters-in-law rejoice.’ They said to her: ‘Your sons-in-law have come.’ She said: ‘What do I care? Let my daughters rejoice.’ They said to her: ‘Your husband the king has come.’ She said: ‘This is complete joy, joy compounded by joy.’ So too, in the future, the prophets will come and say to Jerusalem: “Your sons will come from afar” (Isaiah 60:4), and it will say to them: What do I care? “Your daughters are carried on the side” (Isaiah 60:4), and it will say to them: What do I care? When they say to it: “Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and victorious” (Zechariah 9:9), it says: This is complete joy, as it is written: “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, [behold your king is coming to you]” (Zechariah 9:9), and it is written: “Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion [for behold I am coming]” (Zechariah 2:14). At that moment, it says: “I will be gladdened in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God” (Isaiah 61:10).
[This is analogous] to a noblewoman whose husband the king, her sons, and her sons-in-law went to a country overseas. [Her servants] told her: ‘Your sons have come [home].’ She said: ‘What do I care? Let my daughters-in-law rejoice.’ They said to her: ‘Your sons-in-law have come.’ She said: ‘What do I care? Let my daughters rejoice.’ They said to her: ‘Your husband the king has come.’ She said: ‘This is complete joy, joy compounded by joy.’ So too, in the future, the prophets will come and say to Jerusalem: “Your sons will come from afar” (Isaiah 60:4), and it will say to them: What do I care? “Your daughters are carried on the side” (Isaiah 60:4), and it will say to them: What do I care? When they say to it: “Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and victorious” (Zechariah 9:9), it says: This is complete joy, as it is written: “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, [behold your king is coming to you]” (Zechariah 9:9), and it is written: “Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion [for behold I am coming]” (Zechariah 2:14). At that moment, it says: “I will be gladdened in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God” (Isaiah 61:10).
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Sifrei Bamidbar
One verse states (Ibid. 3) "Is there any number to His angelic hosts?" and another (Daniel 7:10) "A thousand thousands were serving Him, and myriad myriads were standing before Him." How are these two verses to be reconciled? Before they were exiled from their land — "Is there any number to His angelic hosts?" After they were exiled from their land — "A thousand thousands were serving Him." As it were, the celestial retinue was diminished. Rebbi says in the name of Abba b. Yossi: One verse states: "Is there any number to His angelic hosts?" and another, "A thousand thousands were serving Him." How are these two verses to be reconciled? "A thousand thousands were serving Him" — this is one host. And how many hosts are there? — "Is there any number to His angelic hosts?" One verse states (Psalms 147:4) "He counts the number of the stars, (which implies that He calls each by name), and another (Isaiah 40:26) "Raise your eyes on high and see who created these. He brings forth their legions by number; he calls to all of them by name," (which implies that He calls all of them as one). (How is this to be understood?) When the Holy One Blessed be He calls, all answer, something impossible for flesh and blood, to call two names at the same time. Similarly, (Shemot 20:1) "And G-d spoke all of these things (in one utterance) saying, etc.", and (Psalms 62:12) "One thing has G-d spoken; these two have I heard," and (Jeremiah 23:29) "Is My word not like fire, says the L-rd, and like a hammer shattering rock?" Rebbi says in the name of Abba Yossi b. Dostai: One verse states "He brings forth their legions by number, etc.", and another "He counts the number of the stars." How are these two verses to be reconciled? We are hereby taught there is no changing of the (essential) name there. The name that it is called by now is not the name that it will be called by later, (but its "name" is simply a function of its embassy.) And thus is it written (Judges 12:18) "And the angel of the L-rd said to him: Why do you ask my name? It is hidden." I do not know what "name" I will be converted to (in the future). One verse states (II Samuel 24:24) "And David bought the threshing floor and the cattle for fifty silver shekels," and another (I Chronicles 21:25) "And David gave Arnon for the place gold shekels weighing six hundred." How are these two verses to be reconciled? For the place of the threshing floor, six hundred; for the place of the altar, fifty. Rebbi says, in the name of Abba Yossi b. Dostai: One verse states "And David bought the threshing floor, etc." and another verse states "And David gave Arnon for the place gold shekels weighing six hundred." How are these two verses to be reconciled? There were twelve tribes, and he took from each fifty shekels, six hundred shekels in all. R. Elazar says "And David bought the threshing floor," as explained elsewhere. Where? "And David gave Arnon for the place, etc." But the cattle for the burnt-offering and the threshing sledges and the cattle gear for the wood for fifty shekalim. One verse states (I Kings 5:6) "And Solomon had forty thousand stables of horses for his chariots," and another, (II Chronicles 9:28) "four thousand stables of horses." How are these two verses to be reconciled? Four thousand stables for forty thousand (horses). One verse states (Ibid. 4:5) "Its capacity was three thousand bath measures," and another (I Kings 7:26) "Its capacity was two thousand bath measures." How are these two verses to be reconciled? Two thousand in wet measure, which are three thousand in dry measure — whence the sages ruled: Forty sa'ah in wet measure is equal to two kor in dry measure.
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