Musar su Amos 3:2

And a person is obligated to reflect and know that the troubles that find him and the afflictions that come upon him are not according to the greatness of his iniquity and the multitude of his sins. Rather God, may He be blessed - in His pity upon him - afflicts him in the way of the rebuke of a father upon his son, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 8:5), “And you shall know in your heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so the Lord, your God, chastens you.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, explained (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 350), “Your heart knows the deeds you have done and the afflictions I have brought upon you; that it is not according to your deeds that I have afflicted you.” And it is stated (Job 11:6), “and know that God has overlooked for you some of your iniquity.” And it is stated (Ezra 9:13), “though You, our God, have been forbearing, [punishing us] less than our iniquity.”
But when reproof comes upon the enemies of the Lord, may He be blessed, they are finished with one iniquity - for the punishment comes all at once, as it is stated (Psalms 34:22), “One misfortune is the deathblow of the wicked.“ So the rest of their iniquities remain upon their souls, as it is stated (Ezekiel 32:27), “and their iniquities shall be upon their bones.” However when reproof comes to the righteous, it comes little by little, until the termination of their iniquities, as it is stated (Amos 3:2), “You alone have I known from all the families of the earth; that is why I will call you to account for all your iniquities.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, explained (Avodah Zarah 4a), “It is comparable to a person who lends money to two people, one of whom is his friend, and the other one is his enemy. [In the case of] his friend, he collects from him little by little; [whereas in the case of] his enemy, he collects from him all at once.” And it is stated (Proverbs 24:16), “Seven times the righteous man falls and gets up, while the wicked are tripped by one misfortune.” Its explanation is that they stumble upon one misfortune and are finished. And it is stated (Jeremiah 10:24), “Chastise me, O Lord, but only in judgement; not in Your wrath, lest You reduce me to naught.” Its explanation is, “but only in judgement”- with the trait of mercy and and the property of Your kindness. [This is] from the usage (in Numbers 29:18), “in their count according to [their] judgement,” [which means] according to [their] property; [and in] (Psalms 112:5), “who conducts his affairs in justice,” [means] with measure. And they compared it to another parable regarding this matter and said (Midrash Tehillim 18), “One who does not know [how] to hit will hit his son in his eyes and in his face; whereas one who knows [how] to hit will hit his son in such a way that it will not cause him damage.” And likewise is it written (Psalms 118:18), “The Lord surely chastised me, but He did not give me over to death.” And it is stated (Job 2:6), “but only spare his life.”
And He only brings vengeful afflictions upon the evildoers. But probing afflictions only come upon the righteous; for they accept them with love and they increase the refinement of their actions. So [these] afflictions are for their good and their benefit, and the increase of their reward - as it is stated (Psalms 11:5), “The Lord probes the righteous one.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, compared it to a parable regarding this and said (Bereishit Rabbah 58:32), “When the owner of the flax knows that the flax is strong, he hits it much in order to make it soft and good.”

I say further, now that it has been explained that the soul effects its action in itself and on things beyond itself, and that just as it knows things other than itself, it knows its own self, and whatever it can do to others, whether to know others or to make known any knowledge to others, it can do it for itself, to know itself, and to cause itself to know additional knowledge. Behold, it would appear from our words that just as the intelligent person can teach others, he can teach himself and does not need someone else to teach him. But the soul sets a firm foundation and is in itself a foundation, and because man has within him the power of being able to warn himself, he is liable to receive punishment for the evil which he does and reward for the good. For he has the power to warn himself and does not require anyone else to warn him. Animals cannot warn others and they cannot warn themselves, and so is it with children and with those lacking in knowledge and with the deaf and the dumb. With them there can be no punishment, for they are not able to warn themselves, nor do they have a reward. For they cannot do righteous deeds by intention. But because there is in man the power to warn other souls, we must say that that is the power which guards him, and if the guardian blunders and the one guarded is lost or perishes, then the guardian must be punished. Similarly, if the rational soul blunders and he does not guard himself and perishes, we say that he perishes through his own sin. And he, therefore, receives the additional punishment of not having guarded himself. This makes clear what is said (Ezekiel 33:6), “But if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the horn and the people be not warned, and the sword do come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” Since the soul is both the guardian and the guarded, if it perishes, it perishes by its own sin, and, moreover, because it is also the guardian of other souls, it will be punished, and this is an important explanation of reward and punishment in the world to come. Know that the quality of being guarded cannot belong to those who are lacking in intelligence. For the Creator joins only with rational men, as it is said (Amos 3:2), “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Therefore, since the Creator does join in the companionship of rational men and brings them near to himself, he punishes them but does not punish the wicked ones who are far away from him. It is said (Leviticus 10:3), “Through them that are nigh unto Me I will be sanctified.”

Similarly, before Israel received the gift of the Holy Land, they underwent a period of tiresome wandering in the desert dependent on the largess of G–d on a daily basis. The desert experience was a sample of the sanctity of ארץ ישראל. Our sages said that the Tabernacle itself was also called מקדש, Temple (Eruvin 2a). This may account for the fact that whenever the Israelites sinned, punishment followed at once. In line with this is the statement that no one was allowed to spend the night in Jerusalem while in a state of sin, i.e. his sin had to be atoned for before nightfall through immediate יסורים, afflictions of some kind (Bamidbar Rabbah 21). Isaiah 1,21, says of Jerusalem: "צדק ילין בה," righteousness would spend the night there. What is meant is "justice and righteousness" should prevail there, but G–d collected His debt only in installments, a little at a time in order to fulfill His promise of רק אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה, על כן אפקוד עליכם על כל עונותיכם, "Only you I have singled out from all the families of the earth; therefore I will call you to account for all your iniquities" (Amos 3,2).