욥기 24:16의 미드라쉬

Another interpretation (of Numb. 5:12): IF [ANY]ONE HAS HIS WIFE GO ASTRAY. This text is related (to Job 24:15): ALSO THE EYE OF AN ADULTERER WATCHES FOR TWILIGHT, SAYING: NO EYE SHALL SEE ME. And so the adulterer says: No human being knows about me; but the Holy One has his eyes ranging over all the earth.²⁶Tanh., Numb. 2:4, cont.; Numb. R. 9:1. So it says (in Jer. 23:24): IF SOMEONE HIDES IN SECRET PLACES, SHALL I NOT SEE HIM? Such is the way of those who commit transgression. They wait for a time of darkness, so that no one will see them. It is therefore stated (in Job 24:15): THE EYE OF THE ADULTERER WATCHES FOR TWILIGHT. So also thieves watch for an hour of darkness, as stated (in vs. 16): HE BREAKS INTO HOUSES IN THE DARK. And so it says (in Is. 29:15): WOE TO THOSE WHO DELVE DEEPLY TO HIDE A PLAN FROM THE LORD, FOR THEIR WORKS ARE IN DARKNESS. [SO THEY SAY: WHO SEES US? AND WHO KNOWS ABOUT US?] The thief and the adulterer are obdurate, because they dismiss the Divine Presence. The Holy One fills, as it were, the realms above and the realms below, as stated (in Jer. 23:24): DO I NOT FILL HEAVEN AND EARTH, SAYS THE LORD? Also in regard to the place where adulterer comes to commit adultery, is not the Holy One there in his glory? It is so stated (in Is. 6:3): THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY. Now the adulterer says to the Holy One: Remove yourself, and give way to me for a while. The matter is exceedingly difficult, as it were. Since he is full of mercy, slow to anger, he gives way to him; FOR (according to Job 11:11) HE KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE WORTHLESS; [SO WHEN HE SEES INIQUITY, DOES HE NOT DISCERN IT?] It also says (in Job 24:15, cont.): HE (i.e., the Holy One) TURNS A SECRET INTO A FACE.²⁷This rendering fits the context of what follows in the midrash. A more traditional rendering, which fits the context of Job, would read, “AND HE (i.e., the adulterer) PUTS A VEIL ON HIS FACE. Ergo (in Job 24:15): WHEN THE EYE OF AN ADULTERER WATCHES <FOR TWILIGHT, SAYING: NO EYE SHALL SEE ME>, what does the Holy One do? HE TURNS A SECRET INTO A FACE. He puts the face of <the> adulterer on that fetus.²⁸Lev. R. 23:12. While the adulterer and the adulteress do not want her to become pregnant but only satisfy their sexual desire, the Holy One proclaims²⁹Gk.: parresiazesthai. them to the world. Ergo: HE TURNS A SECRET INTO A FACE, so that the people may know <about him> and say: Surely this one's face resembles the face of <the> adulterer; for <the Holy One> has formed formed the image of the fetus in the likeness of the adulterer. Ergo (ibid.): HE TURNS A SECRET INTO A FACE. It is therefore called whoredom (zimmah); for when they both deny and say: We do not know what you are saying, the people say: If so, what is this (zeh mah)?³⁰Literally: “This is what?” The Hebrew uses the unusual word order to make the parallel with “whoredom” (zimmah). R. Isaac said: The power of the adulterer is strong, because it weakens the power of the Divine Presence. How? When the fetus is conceived from the husband, the Holy One forms its image in forty days, for thus have our masters taught: In forty days the image of the fetus is recognizable. After forty days, when the adulterer comes into her, the Holy One stands dumfounded and says: After whom shall I form <the fetus>? The image (rt.: TsWR) of the husband or the image [of the adulterer]? (According to Deut. 32:18): YOU, as it were, WERE UNMINDFUL OF (TShY) THE ROCK (TsWR) THAT BORE YOU.³¹I.e., the adulterer forgot that the Holy One would expose him. The yod (= Y) is tiny (the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet). <Thus, you> weaken (TSh, without the yod) the hands (yad in the dual) of the Creator (tsayyar). R. Abbahu said: To what is the matter comparable? To an sculptor (tsayyar, rt.: TsYR), who was fashioning (rt.: TsYR) an image³²Gk.: eikonion. of a king. When he came to finish the face,³³Gk.: prosopon. they said to him: The king is dead, and another king has arisen. When the sculptor heard that, shrugged his shoulders.³⁴Literally: “his hands dropped.” He began to say: What shall I do with these colors³⁵In the ancient world statues were painted. which I have on hand? Shall I fashion <them> in the form of the former king or in the form of the second king? He began to be bewildered. Now similarly, when the husband performs his marital duty with his wife, the Holy One forms the fetus in the likeness of its father. <Then> in turn the adulterer comes into her. Ergo, the colors are mingled. Thus it is stated (in Hos. 4:2): SWEARING, LYING, MURDERING, STEALING, COMMITTING ADULTERY BREAK OUT; BLOODSHED FOLLOWS BLOODSHED. What does the Holy One do? He returns, as it were, and changes the face into the likeness of the adulterer. Ergo (in Job 24:15) HE TURNS A SECRET INTO A FACE.

Raba expounded again: "What is the meaning of the passage (Ps. 62, 4) How long will ye set upon a man? That ye may slay him, all of you, as a leaning wall, a tottering fence? Infer from this that they used to place a wealthy man under a tottering wall and pushed the wall over him, and robbed him of his money." Raba expounded again: "What is the meaning of the passage (Job 24, 16) In the dark they dig through houses, they shut themselves up; they know not the light. Infer from this that when they saw a wealthy man they used to deposit balsam with him, which usually the depositories placed in their treasure box, and in the night they smelled balsam and robbed him, as it is said (Ps. 59, 15) And they return evening, they howl like a dog; they then break in the place and steal the money, as the passage says (Job 24, 7) And have no covering, etc.; and again (Ib. ib) They drive away the ass, etc. (Ib. 21, 32) For he is born to the grave, etc., R. Jose lectured the same in Sepphorias. And the night after that lecture, three hundred burglaries were committed through the smell of balsam; the town men annyoed him, saying: "You have shown a way to the thieves." And he answered them: "How could I know that all [who will come to listen to me] are thieves?" It was said when R. Jose died, blood gushed from the spouts of the roofs of Sepphorias. The following was enacted in Sodom. He who possessed one ox had to pasture all the cattle of the city one day, but he who possessed none at all had to pasture them two days. There was an orphan, the son of a widow, to whom they gave their oxen to pasture, and he killed them, saying, (Ib. b) "Who has one ox shall take one skin, and he who has none at all shall take two skins." And to the question, "What is this?" he said to them: "The final trial must be as at the beginning of it. You enacted that he who has one ox shall pasture them one day, and he who has none at all shall pasture them two days. The same is the case with the skins." He who passed the river on a boat had to pay one zuz. And he who passed the river on foot had to pay two. If one had a row of bricks, every one of them came and took one, saying, I am not causing you any damage by taking one. The same they used to do when one scattered garlic or onions to dry.