Komentarz do Koheleta 8:10

And so. And then.

“So I saw the wicked buried and come; they would go from a holy place, but would be forgotten in the city where they acted like that; this, too, is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 8:10).
“So I saw the wicked buried and come.”³⁴The midrash interprets this as referring to someone wicked who died and came back to life. Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: If it is regarding the dead of Ezekiel³⁵See Ezekiel chap. 37. that the verse is speaking, but is it not already stated “the wicked,” and they were nothing other than righteous? If it is regarding the son of the woman from Tzorfat,³⁶See I Kings chap. 17. but is it not already stated “buried,” and he was not buried? If it is regarding Tzidkiya ben Kenaana that the verse is speaking,³⁷The midrash is identifying Tzidkiya ben Kenaana, a false prophet, as the wicked man whose remains were thrown into the prophet Elisha’s burial cave, and touched Elisha’s remains (see II Kings 13:21). The wicked man got up on his feet and moved away so that he would not be buried with Elisha. but is it not already stated “and come”? But he did not come [fully back to life]; rather, “It was as they were burying a man…and he came to life” (II Kings 13:21) – could it be that it was forever? The verse states: “He stood on his feet” (II Kings 13:21) – this teaches that his standing was only temporary, merely to separate him from that righteous one. What is “and come [vava’u]”? Rabbi Shmuel said: Their sun set and they were purified; this is as it is stated: “The sun will set [uva] and he will be purified” (Leviticus 22:7).³⁸Rabbi Shmuel interprets the verse as referring not to the dead who come alive, but to those who are ritually impure and then become pure. Rabbi Levi said: “All the days of the wicked, he trembles [mitḥolel]” (Job 15:20) – he is dead [met] and a corpse [veḥalal], just as you say: “You are a wicked corpse [ḥalal]” (Ezekiel 21:30).
Another matter, it is referring to proselytes who come and repent. “They would go from a holy place” – because they went to a holy place, these are the synagogues and study hall. “But would be forgotten in the city” – their wicked deeds will be forgotten. “Where they acted like that” – and the good deeds that they performed in the city will be found. “This, too, is vanity.” Rabbi Yitzḥak said: This is not vanity, but it is vanity that they do not come on their own. Rabbi Bon said: The righteous went there and then they came, e.g., Joseph to Asenat, Joshua to Raḥav, Boaz to Ruth, and Moses to Ḥovav.³⁹In each case a gentile became a righteous convert, but only through direct contact with a righteous individual. Rabbi Aḥa said: It is vanity only that the people do not come and sanctify themselves under the wings of the Divine Presence.

I have seen how the wicked were buried. In this prophecy, I saw wicked men buried, who were worthy of being buried in the dust, for they were held in contempt by the nations, about whom it is stated, “this people has never been,”¹⁹Yeshayahu 23:13. and they ruled over the Beis [Hamikdosh] of the Holy One, Blessed Is He, which is a holy place. And when they went from there to their land, they boasted in their city that they did such and such in the Beis [Hamikdosh] of the Omnipresent. Do not read ‘וְיִשְׁתַּכְּחוּ’, [=and they will be forgotten,] but ‘וְיִשְׁתַּבְּחוּ’, [=and they will boast]. So did our Rabbis of blessed memory expound it.²⁰See Maseches Gittin 56b. Concerning the forgetting,²¹I.e., the wording of the written text [וישתכחו]. it is expounded as follows in the Aggadah: And ultimately, their name and their remembrance will be forgotten from that very city, that they did so therein, as it is stated, “I will gather all the nations [and I will take them down] to the Valley of Yehoshophot.”²²Yoel 4:2. In the place where they angered Him, He will mete out retribution upon them, and so it states, “O Adonoy, in the city, You will despise their form.”²³Tehillim 73:20.

This too. Is one of the vanities that were given to the world to weary mankind, for the Holy One, Blessed Is He, does not rush to mete out retribution upon evildoers, and [therefore] mankind thinks that there is neither judgment nor Judge.