II Re 25:18 Passi Correlati

Rebbi Joshua ben Levi understood everything from the following: The chief executioner took … the three guards of the threshhold¹¹³Jer. 52:24., from here that one starts with three. And five men from the king’s entourage¹¹⁴2K. 25:19., from here that one continues with five. And seven men from the King’s entourage¹¹⁵Jer. 52:25., from here that one finishes with seven¹¹⁶Cf. Babli 10b. According to Rashi ad loc., the verses describe the members of king Sedekia’s court and therefore are appropriate to the determination of the calendar which is a governmental exercise..

Rebbi Jonathan said, from there the great Synhedrion of all of Israel. The minister of the executioners took Seraiah the Chief Priest and Zephania the priest¹¹³Jer. 52:24., these are two. And seven men from the king’s entourage¹¹⁵Jer. 52:25., this makes nine. And sixty men from the People of the Land¹¹⁷2K. 25:19, Jer. 52:25., this makes seventy minus one. And from the city one eunuch¹¹⁵Jer. 52:25., this makes seventy. There are Tannaïm who state seventy-one: The chief executioner took … the three guards of the threshhold, and seven men from the king’s entourage, and sixty men from the People of the Land, and from the city he took one eunuch, this makes seventy-one. And why is he called a eunuch? Because he transposes practice¹¹⁸In rabbinic Hebrew, סרס “to castrate” is also used in the sense of “to transpose words or letters”. While in the verse he is described as minister of defense, he is taken here as president of the court who can transpose precedents to apply to other cases. Cf. Tosafot Megillah 21b, s. v. כנגד..