עָנֵ֤ה דָנִיֵּאל֙ וְאָמַ֔ר חָזֵ֥ה הֲוֵ֛ית בְּחֶזְוִ֖י עִם־לֵֽילְיָ֑א וַאֲר֗וּ אַרְבַּע֙ רוּחֵ֣י שְׁמַיָּ֔א מְגִיחָ֖ן לְיַמָּ֥א רַבָּֽא׃
דניאל האָט אָנגעהױבן און דערצײלט: איך האָב געזען אין מײַן זעואנג בײַ נאַכט, ערשט די פֿיר װינטן פֿון הימל האָבן אױסגעבראָכן אױפֿן גרױסן ים.
Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael
What is written of the kingdom of Greece? (Ibid. 7:6) "After that, as I looked on, there was another one like a leopard, and it had on its back four wings like those of a bird; the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it."
Devarim Rabbah
“When you will come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall take possession of it, and you shall live in it, and you will say: I will install a king over me, like all the nations that are around me” (Deuteronomy 17:14).
“When you will come to the land…” – halakha: A king of Israel who had a legal issue, what is the ruling? Is it permitted for him to go for a trial before the court? This is what the Sages taught: A king cannot act as judge and others cannot judge him; he cannot testify and others cannot testify concerning him. Our Rabbis taught us: Why is it that others may not judge him? Rabbi Yirmeya said: As it is written regarding King David: “Let my judgment emerge from before You” (Psalms 17:2). That is, no person may judge the king except for the Holy One blessed be He.
The Rabbis said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘My children, I had thought that you would be free from the rule of kings.’ From where is this derived? It is as it is stated: “A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness” (Jeremiah 2:24). Just as the wild donkey grows up in the wilderness and has no fear of man, so I thought that you would have no fear of kings. But that is not what you sought. Instead, “at its soul's desire it inhales wind” (Jeremiah 2:24). “Wind” [here] refers to nothing other than kingdoms. From where is this derived? It is as it is stated: “And behold, the four winds of the heavens bursting forth to the great sea”15The text there goes on to say that the four winds represent four kingdoms: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. (Daniel 7:2). The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘And if you should say that I do not know that you will ultimately forsake Me [by appointing a king], I already cautioned you through Moses. I said to him: Since, ultimately, they will request a flesh and blood king, from their midst they should crown a king over themselves, not a foreign king.’ From where is this derived? It is from what we read regarding the matter: “And you will say: I will install a king over me.”16In the following verse it says: “From among your brethren you shall install a king over you; you may not install over you a foreign man” (Deuteronomy 17:15).
“When you will come to the land…” – halakha: A king of Israel who had a legal issue, what is the ruling? Is it permitted for him to go for a trial before the court? This is what the Sages taught: A king cannot act as judge and others cannot judge him; he cannot testify and others cannot testify concerning him. Our Rabbis taught us: Why is it that others may not judge him? Rabbi Yirmeya said: As it is written regarding King David: “Let my judgment emerge from before You” (Psalms 17:2). That is, no person may judge the king except for the Holy One blessed be He.
The Rabbis said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘My children, I had thought that you would be free from the rule of kings.’ From where is this derived? It is as it is stated: “A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness” (Jeremiah 2:24). Just as the wild donkey grows up in the wilderness and has no fear of man, so I thought that you would have no fear of kings. But that is not what you sought. Instead, “at its soul's desire it inhales wind” (Jeremiah 2:24). “Wind” [here] refers to nothing other than kingdoms. From where is this derived? It is as it is stated: “And behold, the four winds of the heavens bursting forth to the great sea”15The text there goes on to say that the four winds represent four kingdoms: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. (Daniel 7:2). The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘And if you should say that I do not know that you will ultimately forsake Me [by appointing a king], I already cautioned you through Moses. I said to him: Since, ultimately, they will request a flesh and blood king, from their midst they should crown a king over themselves, not a foreign king.’ From where is this derived? It is from what we read regarding the matter: “And you will say: I will install a king over me.”16In the following verse it says: “From among your brethren you shall install a king over you; you may not install over you a foreign man” (Deuteronomy 17:15).
Devarim Rabbah
What the verse said: “There is no person who rules the spirit, to retain the spirit” (Ecclesiastes 8:8) – Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, Rabbi Yehuda says: There is no person who rules the angel of death, to keep him from him, and spirit [ruaḥ] is nothing other than an angel [malakh], as it is stated: “He makes the winds [ruḥot] His messengers [malakhav]” (Psalms 104:4). Rabbi Neḥemya says: There is no person who rules the ruaḥ of the exiles, to eliminate them from the world, and ruaḥ is nothing other than exiles, as it is stated: “And behold, the four winds [ruhot] of the heavens” (Daniel 7:2).3Daniel proceeds to enumerate the four exiles. Another matter, Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: There is no person who rules over his soul to eliminate it. Why? It is because the Holy One blessed be He disseminated it throughout the body, as had the Holy One blessed be He disseminated it in one limb, when trouble would befall a person, he would amputate that limb and die. That is why it is throughout the body, so that he will not be able to eliminate it. That is, “there is no person who rules the spirit.”
What is, “there is no sending a proxy in war”? (Ecclesiastes 8:8). A person cannot say, when he is tending toward death: ‘Behold, I am sending my slave in my stead.’ Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta says: A person cannot craft a weapon and save himself from the angel of death, like the matter that is stated: “And made weapons and shields in abundance” (II Chronicles 32:5). What is “there is no dominion over the day of death”? There is no person with dominion to say: ‘Wait for me until I settle my accounts or until I give orders to my household, and then I will come.’
Another matter, what is “there is no dominion”? The angel of death does not say: ‘Since this one is a king, we will concede to him an additional day or two days.’ There is no favoritism before him on that day. Know that all the days of David, he was called king, as it is stated: “King David was old” (I Kings 1:1). When he reached his death, kingship is not written in his regard. From where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “The days of David approached to die” (I Kings 2:1). “And wickedness will not rescue its owner” (Ecclesiastes 8:8) – a person cannot pose an appeal before him [the angel of death], nor can a person make a claim before him. After all, Moses, after all the goodness that he saw, once the day of his death arrived, he was unable to delay it. He immediately said to him: “Behold, your days are approaching to die.”
What is, “there is no sending a proxy in war”? (Ecclesiastes 8:8). A person cannot say, when he is tending toward death: ‘Behold, I am sending my slave in my stead.’ Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta says: A person cannot craft a weapon and save himself from the angel of death, like the matter that is stated: “And made weapons and shields in abundance” (II Chronicles 32:5). What is “there is no dominion over the day of death”? There is no person with dominion to say: ‘Wait for me until I settle my accounts or until I give orders to my household, and then I will come.’
Another matter, what is “there is no dominion”? The angel of death does not say: ‘Since this one is a king, we will concede to him an additional day or two days.’ There is no favoritism before him on that day. Know that all the days of David, he was called king, as it is stated: “King David was old” (I Kings 1:1). When he reached his death, kingship is not written in his regard. From where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “The days of David approached to die” (I Kings 2:1). “And wickedness will not rescue its owner” (Ecclesiastes 8:8) – a person cannot pose an appeal before him [the angel of death], nor can a person make a claim before him. After all, Moses, after all the goodness that he saw, once the day of his death arrived, he was unable to delay it. He immediately said to him: “Behold, your days are approaching to die.”