Хавакук 3:6 Мидраш: Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Zuta, Midrash Tanchuma Buber & Midrash Tanchuma

"The same will happen with all the other nations." Why did he enumerate the two and not the rest of the nations? Because the reign of these two lasted until the Messianic age. But why should the other nations enter after seeing the disappointment of the first two? Because they will think: "The first two enslaved Israel, but we did not enslave them." "Finally they will say before Him: 'Sovereign of the Universe! Didst Thou then give us the Torah and we did not accept it?' But how could they say so? Is it not written (Deut. 33, 2) The Lord came from Sinai, and rose from Sair unto them: He shined forth from Mount Paran. And again there is a passage (Habak. 3, 3) God cometh from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. And to the question, What has the Lord to do in Sair and Paran, R. Jochanan said: "From this it may be inferred that the Holy One, praised be He! has presented His Torah to every nation, but it was not accepted until He came to Israel [hence their claim]." Therefore, we must say that they will say to Him: "Have we then accepted the Torah, and not fulfilled its commandments?" But what answer is this? Could they not be accused because they have not accepted? We must therefore say that they will plead thus: "Sovereign of the Universe! Hast Thou then arched the mountain over us as Thou didst over the children of Israel; for the passage says (Ex. 19, 17) And they stood at the foot of the mountain, upon which R. Dimi b. Chasa of Chihah remarked: "From this we may infer that the Holy One, praised be He! arched the mountain over them like a tank and said to them: 'If you accept the Torah then it is well, but if not, there shall be your graves.' Finally, the answer will come, (Is. 43, 9) And announces to us former things, i.e., the Holy One, praised be He! will say to them: 'The seven commandmenst which were given to you, have ye observed them?' And whence do we know that they have not? From that which R. Joseph taught: "What is the meaning of the passage (Hab. 3, 6) He standeth and shaketh the earth; He beholdeth and maketh the nations to tremble. What did He behold? He beheld that the seven commandments accepted by the descendants of Noah, were not observed. And therefore He absolved the nations of them." Should they then have profited [by their disobedience]? Said Mar b. Rabbina: (Fol. 3) "It means that even should they fulfill them, they shall not be rewarded."

One time I was walking on the way. A man found me, and went with me on the way of mitzvot, and he had mikra (ie: written law) but no mishnah (ie: oral law). And he said to me, "Rabbi, mikra was given to us from Mount Sinai. Mishnah was not given to us from Mount Sinai." And I said to him, "My son, mikra and mishnah were both of them said from the mouth of God." And what is the difference between mikra and mishnah? Rather he told him a parable: To what is this matter similar? To a human king (lit: a king of flesh and blood) who had two servants, and he loved them with a great love. And he gave to one a kab (a measure) of wheat and to the other kab of wheat. And he also gave to each one of them a bundle of flax. The wise one of them took the flax and wove a beautiful cloth, and took the wheat and made it into fine flour, and sifted it, and ground it, and kneaded it, and baked it, and set it on the table, and spread the beautiful cloth over it, and left it there until the king should come. And the fool of them did nothing. After some time the king came into his house, and said to them, to his two servants, "My sons, bring to me what I gave you." One of them brought out the bread of fine flour, on the table, with the beautiful cloth spread over it. And the other of them brought out the wheat in a pile and the bundle of flax upon it. Woe for that shame! Woe for that disgrace! Which one is more favored? You must admit it is the one who brought out the bread on the table with the beautiful cloth spread over it... And I further said..."...Rather, when the Holy One Blessed Be He gave the Torah to Israel, it was only given to them as wheat from which to bring forth fine flour, and as flax from which to weave a garment..."
Based on this, they said: The whole time that the Temple is standing, it is an altar of atonement for the Jewish people in all the places of their dwelling; and when the Temple is not standing, the Torah scholars are an atonement for the Jewish people in all the places of their dwelling. As it is stated (Leviticus 2:14), "When you bring a meal-offering of first grains to the Lord, of newly ripened crops, roasted over fire, ground [full and moist] kernels, you shall bring your first grain meal-offering"; and it states (II Kings 4:42), "A man came from Baal-shalishah and he brought the man of God some bread of the first grains, etc." But was Elisha a priest who eats the first fruits? Is it not that there was no Jerusalem there, nor Temple, nor altar, nor high priest. Rather there was only the prophet Elisha and his students who were sitting before him. However, based on this, they said: Anyone who attaches themselves to the sages and their students and supports them is considered by the verse as if he is offering first fruits and doing the will of his Father in the Heavens.

(Deut. 33:2:) THEN HE SAID: THE LORD CAME FROM SINAI…. <This> teaches you that the Holy One brought the Torah around to the nations of the world,¹⁴Above, Lev. 3:10; Tanh, Lev. 3:6; Deut. 11:4; PRK 31(suppl. 1):15; cf. Sifre, Deut. 32:8(311); AZ 2b-3a; Lev. R. 13:2. but they would not accept it, until he came to Israel; and they did accept it. Thus it is stated (ibid., cont.): AND HE SHONE UPON THEM FROM SEIR. These are the children of Esau, in that they were children of Seir. (ibid., cont.:) HE APPEARED FROM MOUNT PARAN. These are the children of Ishmael, of whom it is stated (in Gen. 21:21): HE DWELT IN THE WILDERNESS OF PARAN. It is also written (in Hab. 3:6): HE AROSE AND MEASURED THE EARTH; HE LOOKED AND MADE NATIONS TREMBLE (rt.: NTR, literally: LEAP). When he saw that they did not want to accept the Torah, he made them jump into Gehinnom, even as it says (in Lev. 11:21): <KNEE JOINTS ABOVE THEIR FEET> TO LEAP (rt.: NTR) WITH UPON THE GROUND. It also says in another place (in Ps. 138:4): ALL THE KINGS OF THE EARTH SHALL GIVE THANKS TO YOU, O LORD, FOR THEY HAVE HEARD THE WORDS OF YOUR MOUTH. But we still need to say: Perhaps they wanted to heed. Micah the Morashtite came and put an end to the matter, where it is stated (in Micah 5:14 [15]): IN ANGER AND WRATH WILL I EXECUTE RETRIBUTION ON THE NATIONS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT OBEYED. {….}: Here you learn that they did not want to receive the Torah. David came and gave thanks to the Holy One over this, where it is stated (in Ps. 77:15 [14]): YOU ARE THE GOD WHO PERFORMS WONDERS; YOU HAVE MADE YOUR STRENGTH KNOWN AMONG THE PEOPLES. David said: Sovereign of the Universe, O the wonders that you performed when you made your Torah known to the nations of the world! YOUR STRENGTH can only be Torah, since it is stated (in Ps. 29:11): THE LORD WILL GRANT STRENGTH TO HIS PEOPLE. R. Abbahu said: It was revealed and made known to the one who spoke and world came into being that the nations of the world would not accept the Torah. Then for what reason did he make them the offer? It is simply that this represents the character of the Holy One. First he made an offer to his creatures, and after that he drove them from the world, because the Holy One does not deal with his creatures in tyranny.¹⁵Gk.: tyrannia. [A second reason for his making them an offer: <It was> because they were fortunate in their ancestors.¹⁶Cf. PRK 31 (suppl. 1):15, which reads: “Because of the merit of the ancestors.” Abraham had fathered Ishmael and Isaac had fathered Esau.