Midrash sa 1 Mga Hari 15:5: Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah & Midrash Tehillim

(Fol. 10) Our Rabbis were taught concerning the passage (Lev. 4, 22) When a ruler sinneth. This excludes [from being a ruler] one who was sick with leprosy, as it is said (II Kings 15, 5) And the Lord smote the King so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and he dwelt in a house of freedom. Since the passage says in the house of freedom, we understand that until then (until stricken) he was a slave (a king); as it happened when Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua, who were on a boat; the former had taken bread for food, and the latter had taken bread and fine flour for food. When the bread of Rabban Gamaliel was consumed by him he relied upon the fine flour of R. Joshua. Upon R. Gamaliel's question: "Were you then aware that there will be a delay in the journey that you took along the fine flour in reserve?" R. Joshua replied: "There is a star which appears once in seventy years that makes the captains of the ships err, and I thought perhaps it would appear now and make us err [I therefore took along extra food]." "You possess so much wisdom!" exclaimed Rabban Gamaliel, "and yet you are compelled to go on a ship to make your living." To which R. Joshua rejoined: "You are wondering about myself; how would you be surprised if you knew about two disciples of yours who are on the land, viz., R. Jochanan b. Gudgada and R. Elazar b. Chasma, who can figure out how many drops of water there are in the sea and nevertheless have no bread to eat and no garments to wear." Rabban Gamaliel then made up his mind to appoint them as officers. Upon his return he sent for them, but they did not appear; he sent again for them, and when they came he said to them: "Do you think that the appointment to which I am selecting you is lordship. (Ib. b.) Nay, slavery I give to you, as it is said (I Kin. 12, 7) And they spoke unto him saying, If thou wilt this day be a servant unto this people, etc."

David, King (may his memory be blessed), further said: "My fear is within my joy, and my joy is within my fear; and my love ascends above them all. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, made a covenant with me that I should be proficient in the Scripture, in the Mishnah, in the laws, and in the aggadahs, as it is said, 'For is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and sure; for all my salvation, and all my desire, will He not make it to grow' (2 Samuel 23). And there is no covenant but the Torah, as it is said, 'My covenant was with him, life and peace' (Malachi 2). Ordered in all things, in the Scripture, in the Mishnah, in the laws, in the aggadahs, and protection, so that the words of Torah should be preserved by me forever and for all eternity. "For all my salvation and all my desire, will He not make it to grow." From here they said: Every Torah scholar who increases in Torah study and does not derive sustenance much, it is a good sign for him. And if you say, 'If the Holy One, blessed be He, loves His Torah, why does He not sustain him?' You should say that if He enriches him, he may become presumptuous about the words of Torah. Therefore, every Torah scholar who increases in Torah study and does bring-in much produce (wealth), it is a good sign for him, for the Holy One, blessed be He, loves his Torah, that if He enriches him, he may become presumptuous about the words of Torah. And this is explicitly stated in the Kabbalah by Solomon, King of Israel: 'Two things I ask of You; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me' (Proverbs 30). 'Lest I be full, and deny You, and say: "Who is the Lord?" Or lest I be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God' (Proverbs 30). Blessed is He who chose the Torah and the Talmud (and the Sages), and their disciples, and the disciples of their disciples, and their children, and the children of their children, until the end of all generations, and He establishes upon them the measure with which a man measures, it is measured unto him. Just as they sit in synagogues and study halls and in every open place, and read for the sake of heaven, and He sees into their hearts, and they uphold the Torah according to its prescriptions, so that they do not forget it from their mouths and from the mouths of their children and the children of their children forever. So did the Holy One, blessed be He, choose them and their children and the children of their children until the end of time, as it is said: 'And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly' (Genesis 17). So said the Lord, 'My spirit that is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed,' said the Lord, 'from henceforth and forever' (Isaiah 59). But the sons of rebellious Israel are not like this. In their youth they are soft, and in their old age they are hard. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, do when they are still soft? He raises them up and burns them in the great study hall and in His great yeshiva, [as it is said: 'And all the wicked shall be stubble, and the day that comes shall set them ablaze' (Malachi 3). For none of them shall have a hand to bear or a hand to lay down, but every man's sword shall be against his brother's, and he shall burn the chariots with fire' (Zechariah 9). And there is none but the wicked], as it is said: 'And the sons of Belial said: "What shall this one save us?" And they despised him and brought him no present' (1 Samuel 10). And it says: 'And every man of Belial said: "What will this one save us?"' (1 Samuel 10). The Sages said: Anything that is destined to occur in the end has already been done in part today. There shall be a session for the Holy One, blessed be He, in His study hall, and the righteous of all time shall sit before Him, There has already been a part of the session for the righteous in this world for David, King of Israel, who illuminated his face with the halachah before the righteous who sat before him. And so it will be in the future for the righteous, whose lives will be without sorrow and without the evil inclination, to live with the son of David in this world. And in the World to Come, there has already been a part of life without sorrow and without the evil inclination for the righteous, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Jabez, and Jether, and all who are like them. In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will resurrect the dead, whether in the time of the son of David or in the World to Come, for there has already been a part of the resurrection of the dead in this world by the hand of the righteous, Elijah and Elisha, and Ezekiel son of Buzi. In the future, there will be honor and strength for the righteous in the World to Come, for there has already been a part of honor and strength for the righteous in this world, such as Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. In the future, there will be eating, drinking, and joy for the righteous. And there will be no plague nor suffering nor distress, for there has already been a part of eating, drinking, and joy for the righteous in this world. In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will make peace among the righteous and among His people Israel, for there has already been a part of peace in this world by the hand of the righteous.

(Ib. 8) These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-bas-shebeth a Tach-Kemonite, chief of the three. He was the same Adino the Etznite who [lifted up his spear] against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time. What is the meaning of this passage? Said R. Abahu: "The passage means thus: These are the names of the mighty men whom David had. Joseb-basshebeth; i.e., who were sitting with David in the house of study. When David sat in the house of study he sat upon neither mattresses nor pillows, but on the floor [as an ordinary disciple]; for, as long as Ira the Jairite was living he taught the Rabbis while he was sitting upon mattresses and pillows; but after Ira's death when David resumed the teaching he sat neither on mattresses nor pillows, but on the floor. When the Rabbis pleaded with David to sit on mattresses or pillows, he refused to do so. A Tach-Kemonite; i.e., The Holy One, praised be He! then said to David: "Since thou hast belittled thyself so, therefore must I make thee equal to Me, for when I will make a decree thou shalt be able to annul it. The chief among the three; i.e., the chief among the three Patriarchs; the same was Adino the Etznite; i.e., who when sitting and studying the Torah, would make himself flexible like a worm; the Etznite, however, when he went to war he would stiffen himself like a tree; against eight hundred in one time; i.e., when he threw his spear he slew eight hundred at one time, and yet he used to groan for [the missing] two hundred, concerning whom the passage says (Deut. 32, 30) How should one chase a thousand. Whereupon a Heavenly voice would come forth saying to him (I Kings 15, 5) Save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite."