Komentarz do Koheleta 10:11

If the snake bites. A person.

“If the serpent may bite without a spell, there is no advantage to the charmer” (Ecclesiastes 10:11).
“If the serpent may bite without a spell [laḥash]” – Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: A serpent bites only if it was whispered [nilḥash] to from above, and the lion devours only if it was whispered to from above, and a kingdom aggravates people only if it was whispered to from above.⁵⁶God determines whether one will be persecuted by the government.
Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: [If] they [would] say to the serpent: ‘Why does your tongue bite one limb, but all of them feel it and tremble,’ it [would] say to them: ‘You are speaking to me? Speak to the one with a tongue.’⁵⁷The verse states: “There is no advantage to the charmer [baal halashon].” The most literal translation of the phrase baal halashon is “one with a tongue.” The term serpent is used here as a reference to one who speaks slander, which causes widespread damage. [If the serpent would be asked:] ‘Why does your tongue slobber,’ [it would say:] ‘Because it caused me [to be punished].’⁵⁸The serpent slandered God in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis, chap. 3). [If it would be asked:] ‘Why is your body lacking,’ [it would say:] ‘My tongue caused it.’⁵⁹This is a punishment for my sin, by means of my tongue, which caused the sin. [If one asked it:] ‘Why does your tongue bite one limb, but all of them feel it and tremble,’ it [would] say to him: ‘You are speaking to me? Speak to the one with a [slanderous] tongue, as he speaks here and kills in Rome, or in Rome and he kills here or at the ends of the earth.’ [If it would be asked:] ‘Why are you found among the fences,’⁶⁰Fences were generally stone walls, which have crevices where serpents hide. [it would answer: ‘It is because I breached the fence of the world.’⁶¹I caused the first sin. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: The serpent breached the fence of the world; therefore, he became the executioner for all those who breach a fence.⁶²As in the verse: “One who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him” (Ecclesiastes 10:8).
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish taught: When the Holy One blessed be He said to the serpent: “You shall go on your belly” (Genesis 3:14), the ministering angels descended and amputated its hands and its feet, and its voice resonated from one end of the earth to the other. The serpent came and taught about the downfall of Edom, as it is stated: “Its sound will go like the serpent’s” (Jeremiah 46:22).
The Rabbis liken it⁶³They liken the loud sound of the serpent to the loud sound of the Tigris River. to this verse: “The name of the third river is Tigris” (Genesis 2:14). [If] they [would] ask the Tigris: ‘Why is your sound heard,’ it [would] say to them: ‘If only it would be heard among the rivers.’⁶⁴If only I would stand out among the rivers. [If the rivers would] ask the Euphrates: ‘Why is your sound not heard like our voice is heard,’ it [would] say to them: ‘My actions speak for me. If a person sows vegetable seeds in me, it sprouts in three days; [if one] plants a sapling in me, it sprouts in thirty days.’

Before it is charmed. Because the charmer did not charm it not to bite.

There is no advantage. To the wicked charmer who was accustomed to charm it, if he did not charm it. So, if the people of your city [are unaware and] stumble over prohibitions because the wise man does not preach to them or teach them the statutes of the Torah, he has no advantage with his silence, and he will not benefit.²⁰Alternatively, Koheles is comparing a slanderer to a charmer. A person who allows his tongue to slander is as guilty as a charmer whose snake killed someone because he did not prevent it from doing so. One’s slander often causes havoc and destruction, and sometimes even death. (Alshich) ²¹See the Gemara in Maseches Arachin 15b, which applies this verse to a slanderer [=בעל לשון הרע].