Comentários de Citação sobre II Reis 1:8

It may be appropriate to understand the very name of אליהו as combining elements of both the attribute of Justice, i.e. א-ל, and the attribute of Mercy i.e. י-ה-ו. The attribute of Mercy and the attribute peace can be viewed as being interchangeable, whereas the attribute of Justice and the attribute ברית, covenant may also be viewed as interchangeable. When we keep these facts in mind we can understand some of Elijah’s actions reported in the Book of Kings. When he called down fire from heaven to kill the captain of fifty soldiers and his men who had been dispatched by King Achaziah to capture him, he activated the part of his personality which represented the attribute of Justice (Kings II 1,8-12); when he resurrected the dead he activated the part of his personality which represented the attribute of Mercy (Kings I 17,22). Interestingly, the numerical value of the name אליהו is 52, i.e. twice the numerical value of the name י-ה-ו-ה. Also Pinchas was the seventh generation after Yaakov the founder of the Jewish nation, just as Chanoch (who left earth heavenward alive) was the seventh generation counting from Adam, the first human being. The number seven symbolises the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, a day of rest, of harmony, serenity and therefore devoted to life.

במשך היובל, “during the long blast of the shofar.” The plain meaning of the verse is that when a long blast of the shofar would be heard this would signal the departure of the Shechinah from Mount Sinai. At that time the rule restricting the Israelites from touching or ascending the mountain would be relaxed. The word היובל is a reference to the ram’s horn, according to Rashi the horn of the ram Avraham had sacrificed instead of Yitzchak. What Rashi meant was that although that ram had been burned up as an עולה, a burnt-offering which is completely burned up including its horns, G’d had resurrected it to its original condition. In Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 31 we read the view of Rabbi Chanina ben Dotha who held that the ram in question had been created at dusk of the sixth day of creation (Avot 5,6) and that none of its parts went to waste. The ash of the flesh was used in constructing the golden altar inside the Sanctuary. The tendons became the ten strings of David’s harp. The skin became the belt used by the prophet Elijah to gird his loins. He bases this on Kings II 1,8: ”a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.” “That is Elijah the Tishbite, he said.” The right horn of that ram served as the horn which will announce his coming in the future as we know from Isaiah 27,13 ”and in that day a great ram’s horn will be sounded and the strayed who are in the land of Assyria and the expelled who are in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in Jerusalem on the holy mount.” The left horn was the one used at the revelation of Mount Sinai in our verse. Thus far Rabbi Chanina ben Dotha.
Our sages in the beginning of the first chapter of Masechet Yom Tov use this verse to prove that anything which had been forbidden by a court comprised of a certain number of judges cannot be permitted again by another court unless it comprises a greater number of judges than the previous court (Megillah 2). This is also what is meant in Beitzah 5: “seeing the Torah had already written that ‘also sheep and cattle shall not graze facing the mountain’ (34,3), why was it necessary to write that when a long blast would be sounded on the ram’s horn this would signal the “all clear?” [We have a principle מתוך לאו אתה שומע הן, “from the conditions attached to a prohibition, you can judge when such a prohibition does no longer apply.” Ed] The Torah wrote the verse only to teach us that unless specifically permitted by a competent authority even a temporary prohibition unless it had a specific time limit to start with needs to be specifically permitted again.”