Comentários de Citação sobre I Reis 2:8

KNOW THEREFORE from the [circumstances of the] departure from Egypt THAT THE ETERNAL THY G-D, HE IS G-D Who created heaven and earth, as I have explained.³⁴²Above, 6:20. And know furthermore from this that He is THE FAITHFUL G-D Whose word shall not return void,³⁴³See Isaiah 55:11. and WHO KEEPETH THE COVENANT AND MERCY WITH THEM THAT LOVE HIM, AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, who fear His Name, TO A THOUSAND GENERATIONS of their seed, just as He kept for you the covenant of your fathers. And know further that He repayeth them that hate Him³⁴⁴Verse 10. the recompense of their wickedness to the face of each one of them to destroy them, just as He destroyed the Egyptians and did not delay [in bringing punishment] to them. Now this attribute that he mentioned is true forever. Thus although there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his evil-doing,³⁴⁵Ecclesiastes 7:15. it happens to him only because of this above-mentioned attribute that He is the Keeper of Mercy, and he [the wicked] has done some good which must be recompensed. If so, there are among the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, but two ways [of dealing with people]: He repays good for good, and evil for evil.
It is possible that those that hate Him [mentioned here as destined to be destroyed without delay] are those confirmed sinners who deny His existence and have no merit at all. As the Rabbis have said:³⁴⁶Koheleth Rabbah 7:32. “Rabbi Yashiyah said: Because of three things the Holy One, blessed be He, is long-suffering to the wicked in this world: they may repent, or they have observed commandments for which the Holy One, blessed be He, repays them their recompense in this world, or perhaps righteous people will descend from them. For so we find that He was long-suffering with Ahaz,³⁴⁷A wicked king of Judah (II Kings 16:1-5). and Hezekiah came from him; so also to Amon,³⁴⁸Ibid., 21:19-22. and Josiah came from him; and so also to Shimei,³⁴⁹The son of Gera, the Benjamite who cursed David (I Kings 2:8). and Mordecai came from him.”³⁵⁰Esther 2:5. Thus all these [three above categories] are not included in [the term] those that hate Him. Now there is a secret in the expression ‘el panav’ (to his face) [And He repayeth ‘them’ that hate Him ‘el panav’ — “to his face”]³⁵¹The point is that since the verse begins with the plural [‘those’ that hate Him], why does it change to the singular [to ‘his’ face, to destroy ‘him’]? Ramban alludes to the secret of the transmigration of the soul, so that at some future generation the recompense is still to “the face” of the sinner after he has been rewarded for the good he has done (Abusaula). as applying to a wicked man who has a good [i.e., a happy and prosperous] life.³⁵²Berachoth 7 a. And then he returns to say, Thou shalt therefore keep the commandment etc.,³⁵³Verse 11. meaning: “therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances so that you should not be among those who hate Him, who are destroyed, but instead you should be of those that love Him and keep His commandments³⁵⁴Verse 9. who are remembered for good and for life.”
Eikev

clarified Heb. נִמְרָץ. A thing explained clearly, as in (Job 6: 25) “How clear (נִמְרְצוּ) are right words”; (ibid. 16:3) “What clarifies (יַמְרִיצְךָ) to you”; (I Kings 2:8) “A clear (נִמְרֶצֶת) curse.”

AND THOU SHALT HANG HIM. “Our Rabbis have said:¹⁰³Sanhedrin 45b. All that have been stoned must be hanged. It is this which is stated, for he that is hanged is a reproach unto G-d,¹⁰⁴Verse 23. and is a degradation of the King, for man is made in the image of the King, and the Israelites are His children. There is a parable of two brothers who resembled each other etc.”¹⁰⁵“One became king and the other was arrested for robbery and hanged. Whoever saw him hanging said that the king was hanged.” (Rashi, quoting the words of the Rabbis in Sanhedrin 46b). This is Rashi’s language. “All that have been stoned must be hanged” are the words of an individual Sage [i.e., Rabbi Eliezer],¹⁰³Sanhedrin 45b. but the law is according to the words of the Sages that no offender [executed by] stoning is hanged save the blasphemer and the idolator. This is the sense of the phrase, for he that is hanged is a reproach unto G-d,¹⁰⁴Verse 23. — because people will say, “Why was this person hanged? Because he blasphemed G-d or worshipped a particular idol by means of this particular service, and he saw therein this sign or wonder.” The discussion of the idol and the service thereof are considered a k’lalah [“a reproach” to G-d]. Or it is an expression of “degradation” as the Rabbi [Rashi] mentioned, from the expressions and he cursed me with a grievous ‘k’lalah (curse);¹⁰⁶I Kings 2:8. that his sons did bring ‘a curse’ upon themselves¹⁰⁷I Samuel 3:13. [both verses being expressions of] contempt. And the parable concerning the twin brothers contains a secret; it does not refer, as the Rabbi thought, to the Israelites who are called the children of G-d.¹⁰⁸See above, 14:1. Aboth 3:15.
In line with the simple meaning of Scripture the verse is stating: “If a man has committed a great sin for which he is deserving of death and of hanging on a tree because of the grievous nature of his sin, nevertheless his body shall not remain all night upon the tree,¹⁰⁴Verse 23. for the most accursed and blasted of all people is the hanged. Among all forms of death, there is none as ugly and despicable like it [this degradation of the human body], and it is not fitting that we defile the Land and that G-d’s curse be within the Holy Land, for there the Eternal commanded the blessing, even life forever.¹⁰⁹Psalms 133:3. Therefore Joshua commanded and they took them down off the trees.¹¹⁰Joshua 10:27.
In my opinion the affair of Saul’s children who were left hanging¹¹¹II Samuel 21:1-10. Related there is the event of a three-year famine in the days of King David. When he asked G-d the reason for it, he was told that it was in punishment of Saul’s mistreatment of the Gibeonites. (See Note 116 for the nature of Saul’s sin.) When David asked the Gibeonites how they could be appeased, they requested that they be given seven men of Saul’s family whom they would hang. As much as the king tried to mollify them, they insisted upon satisfying their lust for vengeance upon members of Saul’s family. When David acceded to their wishes, they left the victims hanging for a long period of time until the rains came. — The question here arises as to why David allowed the victims to be left hanging when the Torah states, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree? The answer follows in the text. — It should also be pointed out that because of their display of cruelty the Gibeonites were forever banned from marrying into Israel (Yebamoth 79a). was because they were not hanged by a court of Israel, nor by any Israelite. Rather, David who turned them [the seven members of Saul’s family] over to the Gibeonites to do as they pleased with them, and it was they who hanged them [Saul’s relatives] and did not wish to bury them in order to demonstrate their vengeance against Saul’s family, and those that remain shall hear, and fear.⁹⁸Ibid., 19:20: And those that remain shall hear, and fear. But when water was poured upon them from heaven¹¹²II Samuel 21:10. then David knew that their sin had been forgiven, and that G-d was entreated for the Land,¹¹³Ibid., Verse 14. that the Eternal had remembered the Land¹¹⁴See Ruth 1:6. with rain and the famine would end. Then he commanded and they [the Israelites] buried them with their fathers¹¹⁵See II Samuel 21:13-14. in honor of their royal status. David bore no guilt at all [in the entire affair], for we were commanded only that we not defile the Land by allowing someone whom we hanged [to remain on a gallows overnight]. Now, G-d did not want to forgive their sin [i.e., the sin of Saul’s conduct towards the Gibeonites] immediately in order to let it be known that G-d loves proselytes, as our Rabbis have said.¹¹⁶Joshua had made the Gibeonites hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Eternal (Joshua 9:26). When Saul smote Nob, the city of the priests (I Samuel 22:19) the Gibeonites were thus deprived of their source of livelihood. It was this grudge that they held against Saul and his family. When they finally satisfied their vengeful feelings against the members of Saul’s family, all the heathens proclaimed “There is no nation as worthy of our allegiance as Israel! See how the G-d of Israel atoned for a wrong inflicted upon wretched proselytes through the sons of kings!” At that time, one hundred and fifty thousand heathens were converted to Judaism, because it was shown that G-d loves proselytes (Yebamoth 79a).
And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said by way of the plain meaning of Scripture [that the phrase ki kilelath Elokim talui¹⁰⁴Verse 23. means] “that it is G-d Who invokes the evil, and the curse will descend upon the place near the hanged person, for there is a secret [in the fact that the contaminated air surrounding the corpse] affects the soul [of the living]. Therefore thou defile not thy Land. ”¹⁰⁴Verse 23. Thus whoever allows the body [of a criminal] to hang overnight transgresses both a negative commandment [his body shall not remain all night upon the tree]¹⁰⁴Verse 23. and a positive commandment¹¹⁷These are so listed among the Taryag (613) Commandments. See “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 243-244, and Vol. II, p. 65. [but thou shalt surely bury him the same day].¹⁰⁴Verse 23. Our Rabbis have likewise interpreted¹¹⁸Sanhedrin 46a-b. that the same law applies to all other dead, that whoever suffers his dead to remain overnight, except in order to render it honor,¹¹⁹Such as the need for more time to secure a coffin, burial clothes, mourners, etc. (ibid.). If the burial is delayed for any of these reasons, no transgression is committed. [violates the above commandments]. Just as [leaving the criminal hanging overnight upon] “the tree” is a form of disgrace, so all forms of disrespect [shown to the dead are also forbidden]. Now, according to the opinion of the Rabbis [that this law applies equally to every deceased, we must say] that the phrase ki kilelath Elokim talui¹⁰⁴Verse 23. states that “although this criminal is deserving of disgrace” because of his great sin, nevertheless you shall not do so. And the parable of the two brothers [mentioned above] applies to everyone who suffers his dead to remain overnight. So also the curse [emanating from a corpse] to which Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra referred, applies to every house where there is a dead person, and therefore he defiles everyone that cometh into the tent, and every thing that is in the tent.¹²⁰Numbers 19:14.

כי קללת אלהים תלוי FOR HE THAT IS HANGED IS A קללת אלהים — i.e., a degradation of the Divine King, for man is made in His image and the Israelites are His children. A parable! It may be compared to the case of two twin brothers who very closely resembled each other: one became king and the other was arrested for robbery and was hanged. Whoever saw him on the gallows thought that the king was hanged (Sanhedrin 46b). — Wherever the term קללה occurs in Scripture it has the meaning of bonding in light esteem and despising, as e.g., (1 Kings 2:8) “[Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim] who cursed me with a severe curse (קללני קללה נמרצת)” (cf. II Samuel 16:5—8).

How clear Heb. נמרצו, like (I Kings 2:8), “a clear curse (נמרצת),” an expression of (Prov. 25:11) “a word spoken with proper basis.” and similarly (Ps. 119:103), “How clear (נמלצו) are Your words to my palate.” All of them are expressions of clarification (מליצה), and the “lammed” is converted to a “resh.”