Midrash sa Eclesiastes 9:14: Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Aggadat Bereshit, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) & Midrash Tanchuma

(Gen. 44:18:) THEN JUDAH DREW NEAR UNTO HIM…. This text is related (to Eccl. 9:14-15): THERE WAS A LITTLE CITY WITH FEW PEOPLE IN IT; < AND A GREAT KING CAME AGAINST IT, BESIEGED IT, AND BUILT GREAT SIEGE WORKS AGAINST IT >. NOW THERE WAS FOUND IN IT A [POOR WISE] PERSON {WHO WAS POOR AND WISE}, < WHO MIGHT HAVE DELIVERED THE CITY BY HIS WISDOM; BUT NO ONE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT POOR PERSON >. What does it mean?¹Eccl. R. 9:14/15:8; Ned. 32b; above, 11:1. This verse is stated about all generations. THERE WAS A LITTLE CITY, i.e., the body; WITH FEW PEOPLE IN IT, i.e., the two hundred and forty-eight members [which are in a person]; AND A GREAT KING CAME AGAINST IT, i.e., the evil drive, which is bigger than the good drive, < i.e., older > by thirteen years and one day. Now the evil drive says: Let us eat, drink, and fulfill all our desires; but the good drive says: Let us not eat and drink, but be occupied with Torah. Then we heed the evil drive. Why? Because it is bigger than all of them. (Eccl. 9:14, cont.:) AND BUILT GREAT SIEGE WORKS AGAINST IT, i.e., sins and transgressions. (Eccl. 9:15:) NOW THERE WAS FOUND IN IT A PERSON WHO WAS POOR AND WISE, i.e., the good drive; WHO MIGHT HAVE DELIVERED THE CITY BY HIS WISDOM;²Cf. Ned. 32b, which adds here, “I.e., repentance and good deeds.” BUT NO ONE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT POOR PERSON, for no one heeds the good drive, because it is insignificant. So, whoever heeds the good drive is blessed, as stated (in Ps. 41:2 [1]): BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO PAYS HEED TO A POOR PERSON….³See Lev. R. 34:1.

Another interpretation (of Eccl. 9:14): THERE WAS A LITTLE CITY, i.e., the desert; WITH FEW PEOPLE IN IT, i.e., the generation of the desert; AND A GREAT KING CAME AGAINST IT, i.e., the Holy One; AND BUILT GREAT SIEGE WORKS AGAINST IT. When? When Israel made the calf. What is written (in Deut. 9:14)? LET ME ALONE, AND I WILL DESTROY THEM. (Eccl. 9:15:) NOW THERE WAS FOUND IN IT A PERSON WHO WAS POOR AND WISE, i.e., Moses the Righteous, as stated (in Prov. 21:22): A WISE ONE WENT UP TO A CITY OF WARRIORS. (Eccl. 9:15, cont.:) WHO DELIVERED⁵The verb is translated in the past tense here and in various English versions. For the translation (used earlier in this section) into the English potential mood, see the new JPSA translation. THE CITY BY HIS WISDOM. Thus it is stated (in Exod. 32:11): < BUT MOSES IMPLORED THE LORD HIS GOD AND SAID >: WHY DOES YOUR WRATH BURN AGAINST YOUR PEOPLE? (Eccl. 9:15, cont.:) BUT NO ONE THOUGHT ABOUT (ZKR) THAT POOR PERSON. The Holy One said: If no one has remembered (ZKR) him, I am remembering (rt.: ZKR) him, as stated (in Is. 63:11): THEN HE REMEMBERED (rt.: ZKR) THE DAYS OF OLD: < THOSE OF > MOSES, {HIS SERVANT} [< THOSE OF > HIS PEOPLE].

[4] Another interpretation: the HaShem saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5) Similarly, it is written in Ecclesiastes 6:1, "There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Behold what these wicked people do! When I created them, I gave each of them two suns, one good and one bad, and they forsake the good sun and cling to and associate with the bad. And from where do we learn this? As Solomon said in Proverbs 21:1, 'The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He directs it wherever He wants.' Just as the king can turn water in any direction he wishes, so too can the Holy One, blessed be He, turn the hearts of man in any direction He desires. And as we find that Solomon said, 'There was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came against it, and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it' (Ecclesiastes 9:14), so too does the Holy One, blessed be He, surround and punish the wicked for their evil deeds." The small city is the body, the few men in it are the organs, the great king is the evil inclination (yetzer hara), and the siege works are the great temptations that the evil inclination uses to ensnare man. But there was found in it a poor (and wise) man (ibid.). This is the good inclination (yetzer tov), who with his wisdom saves the city. The good inclination guides man towards a good and righteous path of life, and man does not remember that poor man (the good inclination). God said: "These wicked people not only did not follow their evil inclination, but they also perverted their good inclination and made it evil, as it is written: 'And every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually' (Genesis 6:5)." This is the end of the Torah portion.