Midrash sobre II Samuel 7:9

When Rabbi Simon bar Zavdi died, Rabbi Ila entered and eulogized him. “But wisdom, where will it be found, and where is the place of understanding?” (Job 28:12). “The deep says: It is not in me; and the sea says: It is not with me” (Job 28:14). “It is vanished from the eyes of all living and hidden from the birds of the heavens” (Job 28:21). There are four elements that are crucial for the function of the world, but if they are lost they have replacements. These are: “For there is a source of silver and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the dust, and copper is smelted from rock” (Job 28:1–2). A Torah scholar, if he dies, who will bring us his replacement? We, who lost Rabbi Simon, where will we find someone like him? Rabbi Levi said: The tribes found a lost item, and it is written: “Their hearts sank and they trembled” (Genesis 42:28).⁴The sons of Jacob were fearful when they found that the money of one of them had been returned to his sack, despite the fact that, generally speaking, finding money is cause for celebration. We, who lost Rabbi Simon bar Zavdi, from where will we find his replacement? That is, “but wisdom, where will it be found?”

When Rabbi Bon ben Rabbi Ḥiyya died, Rabbi Zeira came to eulogize him. “The sleep of the worker is sweet” (Ecclesiastes 5:11). I will tell you to what Rabbi Bon is comparable; to a king who had a vineyard and hired workers for it. There was one worker there who was more industrious in his work than all the others. When the king saw that he was extraordinarily industrious in his work, he grasped his hand and began taking long and short strolls with him. At evening time, the workers came to collect their wages. That worker came to collect his wages with them, and the king gave him wages like them. The workers began complaining. They said to him: ‘Our lord the king, it is we who exerted ourselves all day, and that one exerted himself for only two or three hours of the day, yet he is collecting his wages like us?’ The king said to them: ‘Why are you complaining? This one accomplished in two or three hours of the day what you did not accomplish in the entire day.’ So too, Rabbi Bon bar Ḥiyya accomplished in Torah what an experienced scholar does not accomplish in one hundred years.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Anyone who engages in Torah in this world, even in the future they do not allow him to sleep, but rather, they lead him into the study hall of Shem and Ever, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of Moses and Aaron. To what extent?⁵To what extent do they educate him in the future? It is until “I will give you great renown, like the renown of the great men of the world” (II Samuel 7:9).

(Ib. b) And I have made thee a great name, like the name of the great, etc. (II Sam. 7, 9). R. Joseph was taught: "This refers to what we say [in concluding a part of the Haftorah, 'The shield of David.'" (Gen. 12, 2) And I will make thee a great nation. Resh Lakish said: "This refers to the term 'God of Abraham' [used in the first section of the Eighteen Benedictions] ." (Ib.) And I will bless thee, refers to the term, 'The God of Isaac,' And I will make thy name great, refers to the term, 'The God of Jacob. I might assume that the conclusion [of the section above] should be made to embrace all three term?. Therefore it says (Ib.) And thou shall be a blessing; i.e., with thee should form the conclusion of the section, but not with them.