Midrash su Salmi 57:1

Another interpretation (of Gen. 28:10): AND JACOB SET OUT. It is written (in Is. 26:20): GO, MY PEOPLE, ENTER INTO YOUR CHAMBERS AND SHUT [YOUR DOORS] BEHIND ME.¹⁶The MT reads BEHIND YOU. HIDE JUST FOR A MOMENT UNTIL MY ANGER PASSES. When you see a fateful hour, do not stand against it but give way to it. Thus it is stated: GO, MY PEOPLE, ENTER INTO YOUR CHAMBERS. Look at me, as it were, for I have perceived an hour < made > fateful through your sins. I did nothing. Instead I gave way to it, as stated (in Lam. 2:3): HE HAS WITHDRAWN HIS RIGHT HAND…. So also you, GO MY PEOPLE. Thus, the one who stands against the hour will fall into its hand; but whoever gives way to the hour will have the hour fall into his hand. Naboth stood against the hour {and stood against it} [and fell into its hand]. When Ahab said to him (in I Kings 21:2): GIVE ME YOUR VINEYARD SO THAT I MAY HAVE IT FOR A VEGETABLE GARDEN. What did he do? He said (in vs. 3): THE LORD FORBID < THAT I SHOULD GIVE YOU MY ANCESTORS' INHERITANCE >. What happened to him? He fell into the hand of the hour, as stated (in vs. 13): AND THE MEN OF BELIAL TESTIFIED AGAINST [NABOTH BEFORE THE PEOPLE…. AND THEY STONED HIM TO DEATH WITH STONES]. Abraham gave way to the hour and fled from Nimrod, the king of the Chaldeans. So the hour returned and fell into his hand when he killed sixteen kings. It is so stated (in Gen. 14:15): THEN HE DEPLOYED < HIS FORCES > AGAINST THEM BY NIGHT. Isaac also gave way to the hour when the Philistines said to him (in Gen. 26:16): GO AWAY FROM US. Immediately < the passage continues > (in vs. 17): SO ISAAC WENT AWAY FROM THERE. Then the hour returned and fell into his hand, as stated (in Gen. 26:26-28): THEN ABIMELECH CAME UNTO HIM FROM GERAR…. SO ISAAC SAID UNTO THEM: WHY HAVE YOU COME UNTO ME …? AND THEY SAID: WE HAVE CLEARLY SEEN THAT THE LORD IS WITH YOU…. Joseph also gave way to the hour. When his brothers sold him, was he not able to say: I am your brother? But he gave way to the hour, and the hour returned and fell before him, as stated (in Gen. 50:18): THEN HIS BROTHERS ALSO WENT AND FELL DOWN BEFORE HIM. Moses gave way to the hour, as stated (in Exod. 2:15): BUT MOSES FLED FROM PHARAOH. So the hour returned and fell into his hand, as stated (in Exod. 11:3): {AND} [ALSO] THE MAN MOSES WAS VERY GREAT IN THE EYES OF PHARAOH'S [SERVANTS] AND IN THE EYES OF HIS PEOPLE. David also gave way to the hour, as stated (in I Sam. 20:1): BUT DAVID FLED FROM NAIOTH. It is also written (in Ps. 3:1): WHEN HE FLED FROM HIS SON ABSALOM. And it is written (in Ps. 57:1): [WHEN HE FLED] FROM SAUL IN THE CAVE. So the hour returned and fell into his hand when Saul said to him (in I Sam. 24:21 [20]): [PLEASE] LOOK, I KNOW THAT YOU SHALL SURELY REIGN AND IN YOUR HAND THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL SHALL ARISE. So < it was > also < with > Jacob, who fled from the hour. (Hosea 12:13 [12]:) THEN JACOB FLED TO THE LAND OF ARAM. And the hour fell into his hand, as stated (in Gen. 36:6): THEN ESAU TOOK HIS WIVES < … > AND WENT INTO A LAND AWAY FROM HIS BROTHER JACOB. Ergo (in Is. 26:20): GO, MY PEOPLE, ENTER INTO YOUR CHAMBERS.

Twelve in the borders: Terumah, terumath ma'aser, challah, bikkurim, the first of the shearing, the gifts (shoulder, cheeks, and maw), the first-born of man and the first-born of a clean beast, the firstling of an ass, charamim (renunciation of one's property), an (unredeemed) field of holding, and the theft of (i.e., what is stolen from) a proselyte (viz. Bamidbar 5:8). All these twenty-four gifts were given to the Cohanim, aside from terumah-related debts. The day when a covenant was forged with Aaron with the twenty-four gifts was a day of great joy to him. R. Yishmael says: As per the folk-proverb "My cow's leg was broken for my good." For Aaron's good did Korach come and contest the priesthood. An analogy: A king had a retainer to whom he gave a field as a gift, without recording, sealing and registering (the transaction [see above]) — wherefore, this section is juxtaposed with that of Korach. R. Elazar Hakappar says: Whence is it derived that the Holy One Blessed be He showed our father Yaakov the Temple built and sacrifices being offered, and Cohanim officiating, and the Shechinah reposing (there)? From (Bereshit 28:12) "And he (Yaakov) dreamed, and, behold, a ladder standing on the earth, and its top reaching to heaven, and, behold, angels of G-d ascending and descending upon it." There is no dream without a portent: "And he dreamed, and, behold, a ladder standing on the earth" — the Temple. "and its top reaching to heaven" — the offered sacrifices, their scent reaching to heaven. "and, behold, angels of G-d," — the Cohanim ministering, ascending and descending on the ramp. (13) "And, behold, the L-rd standing on it" — (Amos 9:1) "I (Amos) saw the L-rd standing on the altar." Beloved are Israel, who, when epitomized, are epitomized as "Cohanim," viz. (Isaiah 61:6) "And you, Cohanim of the L-rd shall be called; 'ministers of G-d' shall they say of you. The wealth of nations shall you eat, and in their glory shall you vaunt yourselves." Beloved are Cohanim, who are epitomized as ministering angels, viz. (Malachi 2:7) "For the lips of the Cohein shall guard knowledge, and Torah shall they seek from his mouth, for an angel of the L-rd of hosts is he." If Torah goes forth from his mouth, he is like the ministering angels. If not, he is like an animal or a beast, which does not recognize its Creator. Beloved is Torah. When David king of Israel asked (a boon of the L-rd), he asked only for Torah, viz. (Psalms 118:68) "You are good and do good — teach me Your statutes." Your goodness engulfs all who enter the world. Let Your goodness engulf me and teach me Your statutes. And it is written (Psalms, Ibid. 117) "Support me and I will be saved (and I will dwell in Your statutes always"): That I not learn Torah and forget it, that I not learn and the evil inclination not allow me to review it, that I not rule unclean what is clean or clean what is unclean and come to share in the world to come, that the nations of the land and the families of the earth ask me and I not know how to respond and be shamed before them. And thus is it written (Ibid. 46) "And I will speak of Your testimonies before kings and I will not be ashamed." And (Ibid. 54) "Songs have Your statutes been to me." I might think, in repose. It, therefore, follows "in the house of my fears, in caves and in entrapments, as in (Ibid. 56:1) "… when he fled from Saul in the cave." And (Ibid. 109:119) "My soul was always in my hand, and I did not forget Your Torah."