Comentários de Citação sobre II Reis 24:16

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 explanation is that “to serve God” means that Josiah commanded the Levites to increase the application of pilpul to Torah study.⁵See Ha’amek Davar, Lev. 10:11. Although the strength of Levi was not in pilpul but in analysis and comparative logic, the scholars of Levi applied this methodology when they needed to render decisions and learn Torah with others from the tribe of Levi. However, when they (the priests) taught Torah to the Jewish people, it was incumbent upon them to teach students the art of pilpul so that they could in the future apply pilpul and derive new laws. [This reinforced the scholars’ ability to ensure the survival of the Torah when they were eventually exiled together with Josiah’s grandson, Jehoiachin]. [These scholars are referred to in II Kings as] “craftsmen, the gate sentries, one thousand, all mighty men, warriors.”⁶“He [Nebuchadnezzar] exiled all Jerusalem and all the officers and all the mighty warriors, ten thousand exiles, and all the craftsmen and the sentries of the gates”: II Kings 24:16; Jer. 52:28. As our sages expounded in the Sifrei in Ha’azinu on the verse “infants together with white-headed elders”⁷Deut. 32:25. and in Seder Olam, chapter 25, “What war do people bound in fetters and chains wage? Rather, they were mighty men of Torah who waged the war of Torah [through pilpul].” This approach of applying pilpul continued to be followed by Yehoiachin, Josiah’s grandson, and the Men of the Great Assembly: they exhorted and decreed, “Be deliberate in judgment; develop many disciples; and make a [protective] fence for the Torah.”⁸Avos 1:1.

Rather, it appears that another matter is being alluded to, one unrelated to the context of the parasha, as I wrote in Part 2,²⁵Chapter 6. of the prophetic style. What the verses are alluding to is the battle of Torah, and so it is referred to in Scripture as seen from what the Sages wrote [pertaining to the verses]: “Behold the couch of Solomon, sixty mighty men round about it…. They all handle the sword, skilled in warfare.”²⁶Song of Songs 3:7–8. See Rinah shel Torah on verse 7: that the sixty mighty men refer to scholars who are well versed in the sixty tractates of the Talmud. See Rashi (on verse 8) that “skilled in warfare” represents those who are skilled in the battle of Torah. Also see the Sifrei on Ha’azinu, explaining the verse “craftsmen, the gate sentries, one thousand, all mighty men, warriors,”²⁷“He [Nebuchadnezzar] exiled all Jerusalem and all the officers and all the mighty warriors, ten thousand exiles, and all the craftsmen and the sentries of the gates” (II Kings 24:16; Jeremiah 52:28). [as referring to the battle of Torah].²⁸This Sifrei is discussed by the Netziv in Part 1, chapter 8. To quote the Sifrei: “What war do people bound in fetters and chains wage? Rather, they were mighty men of Torah who waged the war of Torah [through pilpul].”

And they weighed out My hire, thirty pieces of silver Jonathan paraphrases: And they performed My will with a few men. There were a few good men among them, such as the craftsmen and the sentries, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and Ezekiel. But I do not know how to explain the expression here of thirty pieces of silver exactly, except that כֶּסֶף is an expression of desire. Our Sages, too, explained it this way in Chullin (92a). They brought proof from (Prov. 7:20), “The bundle of the desirable ones He took in His hand.” The thirty they explained in the following manner: There are forty-five righteous men in every generation. They brought proof from (Hosea 3:2), “a חֹמֶר of barley and a לֶתֶךְ of barley” - fifteen righteous in Babylon and thirty in Eretz Israel. It is said: “And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord in Eretz Israel.” The number thirty is explained by the Midrash Aggadah (Cf. Gen. Rabbah 49:3, Pesikta d’Rav Kahana 88a), that our father Abraham was promised that no generation would have fewer than thirty righteous in men, the number of (Gen. 15:8): “So shall your seed be.” The word יִהְיֶה has the numerical value of thirty.