פּירוש אויף שמואל ב 7:16

“Your house is secure” [7:16]. Your house and your kingdom will be secure forever. Everything you see today, so will it remain. All of these words were prophecies said by Nathan the prophet to David.

We will write midrashim about the haftorah. The Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin, chapter 10, writes. David counted ninety thousand elders in one day and he left out Ahitophel and did not count him among the elders. When the Holy Ark was on the way with the oxen, the Ark lifted the priests into the air and threw them down again. David sent for Ahitophel, who was a great sage, and said to him: tell me what to do so that the priests should not suffer these troubles. Ahitophel answered, send for the ninety thousand elders. They will tell you. David said that whoever knows what it means that the priests are being punished and does not want to tell should choke to death. Ahitophel answered. You do not know what the children learn from their teacher in school. It is written, “But to the children of Kohath did not give, etc.” [Numbers, 7:9]. That is to say, the Levites should carry the Holy Ark on their shoulders and not in wagons with oxen. That is why the Holy Ark is throwing the priests.

Similarly, King David wanted to dig the foundation of the Temple. David dug down fifteen hundred cubits and did not find the abyss that is the foundation of the earth. Later, David found a large thick wooden plug lying deep in the ground. David wanted to take that plug away, out of the earth. The plug, that is to say, the wood began to speak to David. Leave me alone, you can’t do anything to me. David said to it: why? The thick wood answered: I have been placed here. I sit on the abyss, that is to say, the foundation of the earth. David said to the wood. How long have you been here? The wood responded, when “I am the Lord your God” [Exodus, 20:2] was said on Mount Sinai, the whole earth trembled and wanted to sink into the abyss. I was put there over the abyss so that the abyss should not drown the world. David did not want to listen and pulled the plug out of the earth. The abyss soon rose up and wanted to drown the whole world. Ahitophel was standing nearby and thought to himself, let David die now in the water and I will become king. David said: whoever is smart and understands this and remains silent should choke to death. Ahitophel immediately recited sacred names and the water ceased to flow. David went out of the foundation of the earth and recited the fifteen “Songs of Ascents.”¹¹The opening words of Psalms, 120 to 134. Ahitophel hung himself and choked to death.¹²J. Sanhedrin, 10.2. From here we learn that the curse of a sage is always fulfilled, even as it happened for someone like Ahitophel.