Talmud su Isaia 57:2

The Rabbis taught:⁴⁹Shab. 33b (Sonc. ed., p. 155). What reason did the righteous Isaiah see for saying, The righteous perisheth? It means to say that the righteous man is made responsible⁵⁰i.e. suffer. for the sins of his generation; as R. Gorion said: When there are righteous in a generation, they are made responsible for the sins of their generation; when there are no righteous in a generation the schoolchildren are made responsible for the generation. The master said: ‘The righteous man is made responsible for the sins of his generation’. He abandoned the [plain] interpretation of the verse and gave it his own interpretation! This is what he meant: People say that [the righteous man] was punished for his own sins, because although he perishes no man layeth it to heart; nevertheless he returned and contradicted⁵¹Adopting the reading of H. them through the Holy Spirit, as it is stated, The righteous is taken away from the evil to come.⁵²Isa. 57, 1. The meaning is that the righteous is removed from the world to be saved from the punishment destined upon his evil generation. [Taken away:] this refers to Aaron, as it is written, As Aaron thy brother was taken away.⁵³Num. 27, 13. E.V. was gathered. The Heb. verb is the same. What evil was there? And the Canaanite, the king of Arad … heard.⁵⁴ibid. XXI, 1, referring to the attack of the Canaanites on Israel. Aaron’s death saved him from witnessing this misfortune. And godly men are taken away:⁵⁵Isa. 57, 1. this refers to Samuel and the elders of his generation who were associated with him. None considering:⁵⁶ibid. this refers to Saul and Abner, as it is stated, And no man saw it,⁵⁷How near Saul and Abner were to death. nor knew it, neither did any awake; for they were all asleep.⁵⁸1 Sam. 26, 12. After this verse⁵⁹The homily now reverts to the interpretation of Isa. 57, 1, and also cites the next verse to prove the statement that the righteous through their death are saved from the punishment of their sinful contemporaries and rest in peace. it is written, They rest in their beds, each one that walketh in his uprightness.⁶⁰Isa. 57, 2.
Raba said: The story is told of a general against whom the people under his authority⁶¹For the correct reading, cf. Krauss, Lehnwörter, p. 425. rebelled. Among them were some of his friends; so what did he do? He took them one by one and hid them. Next day he sat in judgment and said, ‘Bring before me the people of the province’. He sentenced some to imprisonment, some to be killed, some to be lashed and some to be hanged.⁶²The translation follows the better text of H. So, too, is it with the Holy One, blessed be He. When He sees the sins of the generation are grievous upon them, He removes the righteous and after that [commands], But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot⁶³Isa. 57, 3.—that is, those of them who are sorcerers and adulterers—and then He gives a respite to that generation. The Rabbis taught:⁶⁴For other sharp criticisms of Isaiah, cf. Yeb. 49b (Sonc. ed., p. 324). Isaiah was punished for three things: because he called [Israel] a seed of evil-doers,⁶⁵Isa. 1, 4. sons of the sorceress and the seed of the adulterer; as it is stated, But draw near hither ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot. And whence do we know that he was forgiven? As it is stated, And he touched my mouth with it, and he said: Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is expiated.⁶⁶ibid. VI, 7.

³⁹⁷Tosephta 4:8; Babli 13b, Sifry Num. 106. It was stated in the name of Rebbi Jehudah: If it had not been written, it would have been impossible to say: This teaches us that when Moses died, he was lying on the wings of the Shekhina³⁹⁸The Divine presence on Earth. Parallels about the burial of Moses, cf. Sifry Deut. 355,357, Midrash Tannaïm p. 224; Abot dR. Nathan (Schechter) A 12, B 25; Bet ha-Midrasch (Jellinek) vol. 1 p. 115, vol. 6 p. 71. about four miles, from the inheritance of the tribe of Reuben to the inheritance of the tribe of Gad, since he died in the inheritance of the tribe of Reuben and was buried in the inheritance of the tribe of Gad. From where that he died in the inheritance of the tribe of Reuben? Because it was said, “the tribe of Reuben built Ḥešbon, Elaleh, Qiryatayim, and Nebo.³⁹⁹Num. 32:38.” And it is written⁴⁰⁰Deut. 32:49.: “Ascend this ‘Abarim mountain, the Mountain of Nebo, and die on the Mountain up which you will climb.” And from where that he was buried in the inheritance of the tribe of Gad? For it was said⁴⁰¹Deut. 33:20–21.: “To Gad he said, praised be He Who enlarges Gad, etc. For there the part of the lawgiver is hidden.” The Holy One, praise to Him, added: “He came at the head of the people.” The angels of the service said, “he executed the justice of the Eternal”, and Israel were saying, “and His laws with Israel.⁴⁰²Since one cannot assume that Moses praised himself.” All together were saying: “⁴⁰³Is. 57:2. A fitting end of a sermon of consolation of mourners. May he come in peace, may they rest on their couches, he goes in His pleasure.”