Musar su I Re 18:78

And the third is that the holy people who are servants of God, may He be blessed, should not humble themselves to flesh and blood. So it is not fitting that the fear of flesh and blood be upon them except for the sake of the Heavens. As it is stated (Leviticus 25:55), “For it is to Me that the Israelites are servants” - [they are] My servants, and not the servants of servants. And it is stated (Exodus 19:6), “But you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The expression, priests, is [to mean] masters and officers; and like this [usage] is (II Samuel 8:18) “and David’s sons were priests.” And the whole nation is called a kingdom, from [the usage] (I Kings 18:10), “there is no nation or kingdom”; (Isaiah 60:12), “For the nation or the kingdom.” The explanation [of Exodus 19:6] is that you shall be a kingdom that is all officers, such that the yoke of flesh and blood shall not be upon you. And it is stated (Isaiah 51:12), “What ails you that you fear man who must die”; and it is [also] stated (Isaiah 51:7), “Fear not the insults of men.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 47b), “From the time when those who say to evil, good; and to good, evil,” proliferated, [they removed the yoke of the Heavens from upon themselves, and the yoke of flesh and blood was thrown upon them].” And King David, peace be upon him, said (Psalms 9:20-21). “Rise, O Lord; let not men have power; let the nations be judged in Your presence. Strike fear into them, O Lord; let the nations know they are only men. Selah.” We have learned from this that at a time when a man has power, he does not recognize that he is [only] a man. For dominion is not fitting for man, except for the sake of the Heavens.

And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said about the matter of talebearing (Niddah 61a) [that] even though it is forbidden to accept it and hate one’s fellow as a result, yet one should not belittle the matter. Rather he should guard himself and be concerned about the matter. They, may their memory be blessed, said (Yerushalmi Peah 1:1) [that] the generation of Saul had informers like Doeg and the Ziphites. And as a result, they went to war and fell. [But] the generation of Ahab did not have informers - as you know from the matter of the prophets that hid from Jezebel, as it is written (I Kings 18:22), “I am the only prophet of the Lord left.” Yet Obadiah hid a hundred prophets, but no one revealed that there was a prophet besides Elijah. And as a result of this, they would go to war and be victorious - even though Ahab worshipped idolatry.

And thus have we found in Midrash Shocher Tov and in Yerushalmi Peah 1:1, that in the days of Achav, even though they served idols, they were victorious in war because there was no lashon hara among them. The proof: They did not slander Ovadiah [to Achav] for hiding a hundred prophets in two caves, and no man of them revealed that there was a prophet in Israel aside from Eliyahu, as it is written (I Malachi 18:22): "I alone have been left as a prophet to the L-rd" — even though everyone knew of it. For they would give Ovadiah bread and water to Ovadiah to feed them with. And in the end of the days of Saul, there was slander among them as with Doeg and the Zifim. But there was no idolatry among them as there was in the days of Achav. And there were young children among them who were conversant in forty-nine facets of Torah, [and yet] they went to war and were defeated.

I have already called to your attention that the evil inclination is constantly at war with the intellect, and therefore in every one of the affairs of man, if there should arise a war between the two of them, and you see a man going about his affairs in a righteous way, know that the intellect has conquered the evil inclination and subdued it. Therefore, it devolves upon us in every occupation to help the intellect in its war, for the intellect and the evil inclination are two mighty forces at war with each other. But because of the cruelty and the hardness of the evil inclination and because of the pleasantness of the intellect and the refinement of its nature, the evil inclination is mightier than the intellect. At times, they are equal in strength, and if a man helps one of them, he renders the opponent weak and easily driven out. Therefore, we must help the intellect, since both are equal in strength, and on this subject it is said (Deuteronomy 30:15), “See, I have set before thee life and good”— That is the intellect—“… and death and evil”—That is the evil inclination. Thus Scripture has informed us that the strength of one is like the strength of the other. Therefore, it commands us to help the intellect, as it is said (ibid., 30-19), “Therefore choose life.” That is why our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Berakhot 33b), “Everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven.” Because in the war between the intellect and the evil inclination their strength is equal. The Creator, blessed be He, has given man the power to be drawn after whichever side of the two he desires. But if a man finds favor in the eyes of the Creator, and he nevertheless wishes to be drawn after the evil inclination and help it, then restraints, obstacles, and troublesome things will occur, and the Creator will not let him help the evil inclination. The Creator will act thus to a man because of the pious deeds of his fathers, or because he sees in his heart that he is faithful, or because he discerns that in the end, this man will become a completely pious person, and will be among those who merit seeing the face of the Creator, and will be among those who are near to Him. Since the Creator recognizes what the future of this man will be, he desires that he should be pure and holy at the time that he repents of this evil conduct, and, therefore, we say in our prayer, “Cause us to return, O our Father to Thy Torah,” for in this way we pray that no adversary may chance to restrain us. As for those who do not find favor in the eyes of God by their intention to do good, the Creator allows them to go on in the stubbornness or hardness of their heart. On this subject, it is said (1 Kings 18:37), “For Thou didst turn their heart backward.” Therefore, when one of these should desire to repent of his wickedness and the Creator recognizes that he will not repent with a complete heart, things happen to him which restrain him and trouble him, as it is said (Isaiah 1:12), “When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand to trample my courts?” This is the meaning of, “Thou didst turn their heart backward”: when the wicked desire to do away with transgression, nothing occurs to restrain them so that the wickedness which is in their heart should go forth into a deed, as it is said (Ezekiel 14:5), “… that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart.” Therefore, the prophet, of blessed memory, said (Isaiah 63:17), “O Lord, why dost Thou make us to err from Thy ways?” What he means is: “Do not cause us to err in our hearts, lest the happenings occur which will restrain us from serving thee.”

And now listen to this wondrous wisdom! Just as God is the Most High and rules over man and over all the world above and below, so does man, as long as he does the will of his Creator. For at the time of the making of the golden calf, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses, "Let me alone, that I may destroy them" (Deut. 9:14). And in the affair of Korah, the earth swallowed them and all that belonged to them, by the word of his mouth (Num. 16:28—32). And in the case of Elijah, of blessed memory, he swore that there would be no dew or rain except at his word (I Kings 17:1), and he brought on fire (I Kings 18:36—38, II Kings 1:10—12), and he slew the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:40), and he resurrected the dead (I Kings 17:17 — 24), and he decreed concerning Elisha, that Elisha should have twice his spirit (II Kings 2:9—10, and see Sanh. 47a and Hullin 7b).

And now listen to this wondrous wisdom! Just as God is the Most High and rules over man and over all the world above and below, so does man, as long as he does the will of his Creator. For at the time of the making of the golden calf, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses, "Let me alone, that I may destroy them" (Deut. 9:14). And in the affair of Korah, the earth swallowed them and all that belonged to them, by the word of his mouth (Num. 16:28—32). And in the case of Elijah, of blessed memory, he swore that there would be no dew or rain except at his word (I Kings 17:1), and he brought on fire (I Kings 18:36—38, II Kings 1:10—12), and he slew the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:40), and he resurrected the dead (I Kings 17:17 — 24), and he decreed concerning Elisha, that Elisha should have twice his spirit (II Kings 2:9—10, and see Sanh. 47a and Hullin 7b).

And now listen to this wondrous wisdom! Just as God is the Most High and rules over man and over all the world above and below, so does man, as long as he does the will of his Creator. For at the time of the making of the golden calf, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses, "Let me alone, that I may destroy them" (Deut. 9:14). And in the affair of Korah, the earth swallowed them and all that belonged to them, by the word of his mouth (Num. 16:28—32). And in the case of Elijah, of blessed memory, he swore that there would be no dew or rain except at his word (I Kings 17:1), and he brought on fire (I Kings 18:36—38, II Kings 1:10—12), and he slew the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:40), and he resurrected the dead (I Kings 17:17 — 24), and he decreed concerning Elisha, that Elisha should have twice his spirit (II Kings 2:9—10, and see Sanh. 47a and Hullin 7b).