Provérbios 9:9 Midrash: Otzar Midrashim, Midrash Tanchuma, Midrash Tanchuma Buber & Midrash Mishlei

Rabbi Yishmael says, the One has no opposite or second corresponding to Him. This is the way of counting, one after one, so too the Holy One Blessed Be He has no second, one that has no second. But the Holy One Blessed Be He is One that has no second, and man does not know where His place is. The living creatures do not know where His place is, nor do the angels who praise His Name know where His place is, as it says "Blessed be the glory of God from His place", and neither the heavens nor the earth praise from the place where He is there. For the men of the Chamber of Hewn Stone call Him "the place of the world" and not the world His place. But we do not find that the wind is dependent except on the Holy One Blessed Be He, as it says "and the wind of God hovered", "The spirit of God has made me" (Job 33:4), "By the breath of God they perish" (Job 37:10), "And now the Lord God has sent me and His spirit" (Isaiah 48:16), "The spirit of God spoke in me" (2 Samuel 23:2), "You send forth Your spirit, they are created" (Psalms 104:30). "Give to the wise, and he will become wiser" (Proverbs 9:9). Every mention of "gathering" in the Torah is an expression of gathering, except for two: "You hide Your face, they vanish" (Psalms 104:29) - if it was an expression of gathering, why does it say "they vanish"? Rather, it is an expression of dispersal - He dispersed them and afterwards "they vanish and return to dust." "I will surely gather all of you" (Zephaniah 1:3) - and how do we know this is an expression of destruction? From what Solomon said, "A time to give birth and a time to die." Solomon enumerated 28 opposites corresponding to the 28 verses of the Great Hallel, with 2 opposites remaining corresponding to the 2 Tablets of the Covenant.

Scripture states elsewhere: Give to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning (Prov. 9:9). Moses told him to begin by building the Tabernacle, but he began instead with the ark. Why? Because the ark is the place where the Torah, which is the light of the world and the world-to-come, is kept.

Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. This verse alludes to Noah. How is that? Of every clean beast thou shall take to thee seven and seven, and of beasts that are unclean two and two (Gen. 7:2), but when the time comes to depart from the ark, it is written: He took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar (ibid. 8:20), even though he had not been commanded to do so. Noah said to himself: The Holy One, blessed be He, told me to take a greater number of clean beasts than of unclean ones. He must have done this so that I might offer them as burnt offerings and sacrifices. Therefore he took of every clean beast, and every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Hence, Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning (Prov. 9:9).