Comentários de Citação sobre II Reis 24:14

the craftsmen and the sentries of the gates Torah scholars who were exiled with Jeconiah, and I already explained in the Book of Kings (II 24:14) הֶחָרָש וְהַמַּסְגֵּר (les maitres, les portiers in French) the masters, the sentries of the gates. Another explanation: הֶחָרָש וְהַמַּסְגֵּר: הֶחָרָש is an expression of silence, וְהַמַּסְגֵּר is an expression of closing. That is to say, great sages in Torah, to the extent that when one of them would speak, everyone would remain silent. מַסְגֵּר means that when they would close the discussion, no one would reopen it.

The word of the Lord was [revealed] Heb. הָיֹה הָיָה [lit. being was.] Our Sages said (Mechilta to Exod. 12:1): “[It] had already come,” because the Shechinah does not rest upon a prophet outside the [Holy] Land, except by having first rested upon him in the Land. We learned in a Baraitha of the Mechilta (Exod. 15:9): [The verse 2:1,] “Son of man, stand on your feet,” was the [actual] beginning of the Book, only there is no chronological order [in Scripture]. Others say that (12:1f.) “Son of man, compose a riddle,” is the [true] beginning of the Book. [Mechilta ends here.] I say that this prophecy was told to him before they were exiled, because it is appropriate to be said to him in the Land, for the community of the exile is not mentioned explicitly in it. It can be recognized as the beginning of his mission to them. Jonathan, too, paraphrased in that manner: The prophetic word from before the Lord was revealed to Ezekiel the son of Buzi the priest in the land of Israel; it returned a second time and spoke with him in the state of the land of the Chaldeans. Now Ezekiel was exiled with the “craftsmen and the sentries of the gates,” who were exiled with Jehoiachin.

[Daniel 1:3] Rav (רַב - Chief): [Means] great, as in “the city of a great king” [Psalms 48:3]. Therefore, Yefet [ben Ali] said that they [those brought under this order] were Daniel and his companions, and his proof is that it says “of royal descent.” But he did not speak correctly. For the verse [Daniel 1:6] states: “And among these were, of the children of Judah...” [implying Daniel's group was specifically from Judah], and others [chosen were] “of royal descent” [and nobility, as per v. 3]. [Yefet implies] that they [Daniel and companions] were sarisim [in the sense of eunuchs]. But you will not find [any indication] that Daniel was a saris [eunuch]. Rather, it is written about him and his companions: “youths in whom there was no blemish” [Daniel 1:4]. And there is no blemish more severe than [being made] a saris [eunuch]! Furthermore, the king did not command [Ashpenaz] to teach Daniel and his companions the “script” (which is the writing of the Chaldeans) and their language merely [for any service], but specifically “that they might stand before the king” [Daniel 1:5], and not [primarily] before his wives [a role often assigned to eunuchs]. And if an objector argues: If your words are true that they were not sarisim [eunuchs], why did the king appoint the Chief of the Sarisim over them? The answer: Because the king commanded to seek from Israel “youths... handsome in appearance” [Daniel 1:4]. And wicked men, even today, are known for homosexual practices. Furthermore, if a youth is castrated (yesoras - יְסֹרַס), his intellect diminishes, and he [Nebuchadnezzar] was seeking for those standing before him to be knowledgeable in all wisdom, as [the text later] explains [Daniel 1:4]. And Rabbi Yehoshua said: The word sarisim (סָרִיסִים) in the Holy Tongue [Hebrew] has two meanings: The first is castrated ones [eunuchs, cf. Esther 1:10]. The second is ministers/officials/servants [cf. II Kings 24:15]. Thus, the Chief of the Sarisim was the chief over the king's ministers/servants. Like [an example using the word is]: “...with the sarisim and the mighty men (gibborim - גִּבֹּרִים)” [II Kings 24:14 - listing groups exiled]. And there is no need [to think based on this listing that] the sarisim were necessarily officers over the mighty men, simply because they were servants of King David [or perhaps, servants of the king, like David's officials were]. He [Nebuchadnezzar] did not castrate them [Daniel and companions]; rather, he took them thus in captivity. [While other captives] might have become guardians of his wives, according to the practice of kings to this day [and those might be eunuchs]. And similarly [an example where saris likely means official]: “...and the king’s wives and his sarisim” [II Kings 24:15, listing Jehoiachin's exiled household]. And it is [also] written: “And from the city he took one saris who was appointed over the men of war” [Jeremiah 52:25]. [This clearly shows saris can mean a high-ranking military official, not necessarily a eunuch].

have I placed Jerusalem. Its two ends were consumed by the fire, [i.e.,] the two exiles: When Jehoiakim was exiled, some of the royal seed and of the nobles were exile with him, as it is said in Daniel (1:3). After him were exiled his son Jeconiah and the craftsmen and the gate sentries. “And its inside was charred” [based on above, verse 4] Concerning Zedekiah, the one who remained therein, I have already decreed (10:2): “and fill your hands with fiery coals...and cast [them] onto the city.”

Your brethren, your brethren The exile of Samaria and the exile of Jeconiah.