Comentários de Citação sobre Miquéias 4:13

According to the plain meaning of the text the verse has G’d saying as an assurance to any future King of Israel that he is to fight a war on G’d’s behalf against Amalek. This war would be distinguished by the fact that any loot collected in such a war was out of bounds to any Israelite and would be exclusively G’d’s property. This is why Saul, King of Israel, was punished for allowing the people to retain part of the loot from his campaign against Amalek (compare Samuel I 16, 14-27). This stain on the character of the Israelites (Saul and descendants) continued until the time of Mordechai when the Jews took revenge on their enemies without touching any part of the loot (Esther 9,16). Saul was punished measure for measure. Seeing that the Torah had made the wholeness of G’d’s throne dependent on the war against Amalek being waged by the Israelites, G’d deprived Saul of his own kingdom for failing to heed His instructions to the letter. He did not leave much of a name behind, both he and Yonathan his eldest being slain in battle. Mordechai had appreciated this lesson of history and this is why he exhorted all the Jews that on the day they would confront their enemies and defend their lives they were not to touch any of the possessions of the people against whom they would fight. Haman was a descendant of Amalek. The Torah had warned to “wipe out the memory of Amalek“ (Deut. 25,19), i.e. not to retain anything which ever belonged to that people.
We find that also concerning the battle against Amalek in the future the prophet Micah 4,13 warns: “and you will crush many peoples; you will devote their riches to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”

מכל העם אנשי חיל, “from amongst all the people men of accomplishment.” The term אנשי חיל is a collective term and presupposes that these people possessed all the individual qualities Yitro had enumerated such as being “G’d-fearing, men of truth, people despising money.” The title אנשי חיל is applied to people who can lead the nation by judging fairly. It is impossible for fair judgment to be dispensed unless those dispensing it possess reverence for G’d and His Torah, despise ill gotten gain such as bribes, and are truthful. Our sages (Sanhedrin 7) have stated that a true judge is someone who in his mind’s eye constantly sees a sword at his neck above, and gehinom opening before him below, he being in the middle. If he merits it he will be saved from both, if not he will be afflicted by both. Judges must also be “men of truth,” meaning they must love truth as a value by itself choosing to side only with truth, refusing to accept arguments based on lies. They must personify the principle expressed in Exodus 23,7 applying to judges (according to Ibn Ezra) “keep your distance from anything deceitful.” They must also be שונאי בצע, i.e. display a disdain for money. This applies to a disdain for their own money, money acquired honestly (‎Sifri on Deut. 1,17). It goes without saying that they must hate money that was taken from others illegally. (compare Genesis 37,26). The author quotes Scripture to show that the word בצע may mean simply ”money.” An alternative meaning of the word בצע may be “robbery.” The requirement of the psychological makeup of the personality of a judge would have to be a hatred against anything acquired by means of violence direct or indirect, i.e. the threat of violence.
In order to appreciate how highly these virtues were esteemed by the Torah we need only look at instances of the Torah complimenting outstanding individuals. Noach (Genesis 6,9) was praised for being righteous and perfect (תמים), a contrast to the violence which permeated mankind at the time and resulted in the decree of the deluge. Avraham was praised and instructed to be תמים, (Genesis 17,1). Yaakov was described as תם, (Genesis 25,27) Moses was described as extremely ענו, humble, the opposite of arrogant, demanding. All of this goes to show that the principal quality of a judge is not his intellect but his personal virtue. Just as the trunk of a tree is not its most important component but the fruit it yields, our sages taught us that the meaning of Psalm 111,10 שכל טוב לכל עושיהם, is that not the לומדיהם, the intelligence itself, is the principal value of a clever brain but the use to which he puts such intelligence., i.e. עושיהם (Berachot 17).

HATING UNJUST GAIN. “Men who disdain their own money in a law-suit, just as we say:¹¹⁵Baba Bathra 58b. ‘Any judge from whom money is collected by a judgment is not qualified as a judge.’” Thus Rashi’s language. By this, Rashi meant to explain that they disdain all money which they know can be collected from them by law, and return it themselves even though it is truly theirs, such as the case wherein one bought a slave without witnesses,¹¹⁶And the owner comes to reclaim him. Now even though the slave is rightfully the buyer’s, the latter knows that because he has no witnesses who can attest to the sale, the original owner will regain possession of the slave in a law-suit. The buyer therefore voluntarily returns the slave to the original owner. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 381, as to why Ramban mentioned such a specific case. or a similar example.
But the text in the Mechilta is not so, [i.e., as Rashi commented]. Rather, this is the way it is taught there:¹¹⁷Mechilta on the verse here. “‘Hating unjust gain. I.e., those who, when sitting in judgment, disdain to accept money.’ These are the words of Rabbi Yehoshua. Rabbi Eleazar of Modi’im says: ‘Hating unjust gain. I. e., those who disdain their own money. If they disdain their own money, how much more will they despise the money of their friends!’” The explanation [of this text of the Mechilta] is that Rabbi Yehoshua interprets the expression hating ‘botza’ as meaning “hating bribery,” the usage of the word [betza] being similar to: Every one is greedy for ‘botza’ (gain);¹¹⁸Jeremiah 6:13. Each one ‘l’bitzo’ (to his gain), one and all.¹¹⁹Isaiah 56:11. Rabbi Eleazar of Modi’im explained that hating ‘botza’ means that they despise abundance of money and have no desire to increase their silver and gold, something like the verse, If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much.¹²⁰Job 31:25. Money [or profit] is called betza [in Hebrew]: What ‘betza’ (profit) is it if we slay our brother?¹²¹Genesis 37:26. Is it any ‘betza’ (gain) to Him, that thou makest thy ways blameless?¹²²Job 22:3. And thou shalt devote ‘bitz’am (their gain) unto the Eternal, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.¹²³Micah 4:13.
Again, I have seen in the Yelamdeinu:¹²⁴See Sifre, Devarim 17. For the name Yelamdeinu, see Seder Bo, Note 196. “Hating unjust gain [means] those who disdain their own money, and needless to say, they disdain the money of others. They are the ones who say, ‘Even if this man will burn my stack, even if he will destroy my plants, I will render judgment correctly.’” This is the intent of Rabbi Eleazar of Modi’im, who said that they disdain their own money, meaning that they pay no regard to their property when sitting in judgment, that is, if they will suffer a loss of money on account of it. Moses further admonished them on this, saying, Ye shall not be afraid of the face of any man.¹²⁵Deuteronomy 1:17. [Thus according to the Yelamdeinu], betza means money, as I have explained. Onkelos rendered it: “those who hate to receive money.” But the word “money,” [as Onkelos uses it], does not mean a bribe, [which of course is forbidden in itself]. It means rather that they should never accept money from people as a gift or loan, so that they should show them no favoritism at the time of judgment. It is similar to what the Rabbis have said:¹²⁶Kethuboth 105b. “A judge who is in the habit of borrowing things [from his neighbors] is forbidden to act as judge in a law-suit involving them.”
In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, men of truth, hating ‘botza’, means those who love the truth and hate “oppression.” When they see oppression and violence, they cannot tolerate them, their whole desire being only to deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor.¹²⁷Jeremiah 21:12.