מדרש אויף ישעיהו 40:16

(Exod. 21:1:) AND THESE ARE THE ORDINANCES…. This text is related (to Ps. 147:19–20): HE DECLARES HIS WORDS TO JACOB, <HIS STATUTES AND ORDINANCES TO ISRAEL>. HE HAS NOT DONE SO FOR ANY NATION; <AND, AS FOR HIS ORDINANCES, THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THEM>.¹¹Tanh., Exod. 6:5. Aquila the son of Hadrian's sister wanted to convert to Judaism, but he was afraid of his uncle Hadrian.¹²See Exod. R. 30:12. He said to him: I want to engage in a business. He said to him: Do you perhaps lack silver or gold? Here, you have the treasury¹³Gk.: thesauros. before you. He said to him: I want to engage in a business in order to gain knowledge of humanity, and I want to consult you on how to do it. He said to him: Go and engage in any business¹⁴Gk.: pragmateia. that you see established on earth, since in the end it will increase (hit'allah) <in value >. Now he intended to convert to Judaism. He came to the land of Israel and studied the Torah. When R. Eliezer and R. Joshua came to him after some time, they found him and saw his face transformed. They said to each other: Aquila has been studying the Torah. When they came to him, he began to ask them questions, and they would answer him. He went up to Hadrian. He said to him: Why is your face transformed? Has your business failed, or is someone troubling you? He told him: No. Then why has your face been transformed? He said to him: Because I have been studying Torah. And not only that, but I have been circumcised. He said to him: And who told you <to do so>? He said to him: I consulted with you. He said to him: When? He said to him: When I told you I wanted to engage in a business, you told me: Engage in any business that you see established on earth, since in the end it will increase (hit'allah) <in value>. So I went back over all the peoples and did not find <any> people established on earth like Israel. Now in the end they will be exalted (hit'allah), just as Isaiah has said (in Is. 49:7): THUS SAYS THE LORD, THE REDEEMER OF ISRAEL, HIS HOLY ONE, TO {ONE WHO DESPISES ONE's} [A DESPICABLE] SOUL, TO AN ABHORRENT NATION, TO A SLAVE OF RULERS: < KINGS SHALL SEE, AND NOBLES SHALL RISE UP. AND THEY SHALL PROSTRATE THEMSELVES ON ACCOUNT OF THE LORD, WHO IS FAITHFUL, EVEN THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, BECAUSE HE HAS CHOSEN YOU.> His associate regent¹⁵Gk.: sygkathedros. said to him: Are these whom you have been annihilating going to be those before whom kings will stand, as stated (in Is. 49:7): KINGS SHALL SEE AND RISE UP; NOBLES ALSO SHALL PROSTRATE THEMSELVES? Hadrian hit him on the jaw. He said to him: One only puts a bandage on a wound. Would [someone] put it on sound flesh? Would he not put it on a wound? Now if one sees some common soldier,¹⁶Lat.: galearius (“solder’s servant,” “batman”). he does not stand in his presence.¹⁷The exact intent of the passage is doubtful. Enoch Zundel in his commentary, ‘Anaf Yosef, on the parallel in Tanh., Lev. 4:5, suggests that, as a bandage on a wound restores the flesh to normal without improving on it, so Israel may be restored to normal but not beyond to a position outranking kings. Similarly, the lowliest soldier may win promotion but will never outrank the emperor. Therefore, Hadrian need never fear the Jews. What did his associate regent do? He went up on the roof, fell down, and died. Thus the Holy Spirit cries out (in Jud. 5:31): SO SHALL ALL YOUR ENEMIES PERISH, O LORD. Hadrian said to Aquila: Why did you do this? He said to him: Because I wanted to learn Torah. He said to him: You could have learned it without becoming circumcised. He said to him: Without circumcising, one could not learn it, as stated (in Ps. 147:19): HE DECLARES HIS WORDS TO JACOB, [HIS STATUTES AND ORDINANCES (mishpatim) TO ISRAEL. TO JACOB:] To whoever from Jacob practices circumcision. HIS STATUTES: This means Torah. AND ORDINANCES: These are the laws. [Thus it is stated] (in Exod. 15:25): THERE HE ESTABLISHED FOR THEM [A STATUTE AND AN ORDINANCE (mishpat)]. The Holy One said to Moses: I have given them the Torah; you give them the ordinances (mishpatim). The Holy One said to them: If you desire to survive in this world, observe the ordinances (mishpatim), for {one} [a world] cannot survive without justice (mishpat). The generation of the flood would not have perished from the world, had they not transgressed against justice (mishpat). R. Eleazar ben Pedat said: What is written about them (in Job 4:20)? FROM MORNING TO EVENING THEY ARE SHATTERED; THEY PERISH FOREVER WITHOUT ANYONE NOTICING (rt.: SYM). Ergo (in Exod. 21:1): AND THESE ARE THE ORDINANCES (mishpatim) <THAT YOU SHALL SET (rt.: SYM) BEFORE THEM>.¹⁸See Gen. R. 26:6; 31:5; Exod. R. 30:13.

Similarly, when He said: Command the children of Israel, and say unto them: My food which is presented unto Me for offerings (Num. 28:2), Moses called out: Master of the Universe, if I should assemble all the animals and all the beasts in the world, they would not be sufficient for even one offering, and all of the trees in the world would be insufficient for a single fire, for it is said: And Lebanon is not sufficient fuel, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for burial offerings (Isa. 40:16). He replied: Moses, it is not as you think. You need offer unto Me but one lamb in the morning and not two, for they are not meant to be food and drink for Me. If I had food and drink when you were with Me on the mountain for forty days, would I not have eaten, and if I had food would you not have eaten? Only for a sweet savor, shall ye observe to offer unto Me (Num. 28:2).

(Numb. 7:1), “So it came to pass on the day that Moses had finished.” Let our master instruct us: How many things preceded the act of creation? Thus have our masters taught: Seven things preceded the world. These are the following: The throne of glory, the Torah, the Temple,⁷⁰See Sifre, Deut. 7:12 (37). the ancestors of the world, Israel, the name of messiah, and repentance. And some say also the Garden of Eden and gehinnom. In the case of the throne of God, where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Ps. 93:2), “Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting,” [meaning] from before the world was created. And in the case of the Torah, where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Prov. 8:22), “The Lord acquired me (i.e., wisdom) as the beginning of His way the first of His works of old.” In the case of the Temple, where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Jer. 17:12), “O glorious throne, on high from the beginning, the place of our sanctuary.” In the case of the ancestors (forefathers), where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Hos. 9:10), “I saw your ancestors like the first fruit on a fig tree in its first season.” In the case of Israel, where is it shown? “Where it is stated of them] (in Ps. 74:2), “Remember Your congregation which You acquired of old […].” In the case of the name of the messiah, where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Ps. 72:17), “Before the sun, his name is Yinon (a name of the messiah).”⁷¹This translation of Ps. 72:17 is a literal rendering, which the midrash understands to mean that this name existed before the sun was created. A more traditional rendering would be MAY HIS NAME ENDURE AS LONG AS THE SUN. In the case of repentance, where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Ps. 90:2-3), “Before the mountains were brought forth […]. You return humanity to contrition and say, ‘Repent you mortals.’” In the case of the Garden of Eden [that] some say, where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Gen. 2:8), “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, from of old.”⁷²This is the interpretation of miqqedem by the midrash. A more traditional rendering would be IN THE EAST. In the case of gehinnom, where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Is. 30:33), “For Topheth has been prepared from of old.” Come and see. When the Holy One, blessed be He, told Moses to tell Israel to make a Tabernacle for Him, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, “Moses, Behold, My sanctuary is [already] built above.” It is so stated (in Jer. 17:12), “O glorious throne, on high from the beginning.” And a chamber is there, as stated (in Hab. 2:20), “But the Lord is in His holy chamber […].”⁷³Cf. Ps. 11:4. So also has Isaiah said (in Is. 6:1), “[I saw the Lord] seated upon a throne, high and lifted up […].” Out of love for you I left my Temple on high, which had been prepared before the world was created, to come down and dwell among you. It is so stated (in Exod. 25:8), “[And make me a sanctuary] that I may dwell among them.” R. Judah bar Simon said in the name of R. Johanan, “This is one of the three commands which Moses heard from the mouth of the Almighty and which took him aback:⁷⁴Numb. R. 12:3; PRK 6:4; PR 16:7; M. Pss. 91:1. When He said to him (in Exod. 30:12), ‘each shall give a ransom for his life.’⁷⁵Here is the second command that shook Moses. Moses said, ‘Who can give a ransom for his life? It is written (in Job 2:4), “Skin for skin; all that one has [he will give for his life],”⁷⁶Cf. above, Exod. 9:6. and still it is not enough. Thus it is stated (in Ps. 49:8), “Surely no one will redeem a brother nor give a ransom for him to God.”’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, ‘I am not asking [a ransom] in accordance with My means but in accordance with their means.’ [Hence,] (Exod. 30:13) ‘This shall they give.’” R. Meir said, “The Holy One, blessed be He, took something like a kind of coin of fire from under the throne of glory and showed it to Moses and He said to Him,⁷⁷See above, Lev. 9:7, and the note there. ‘This shall they give.’” Again, when He said (in Numb. 28:2), “My offering, My bread for My fire offering,” Moses said, “Who can supply enough offerings for You.⁷⁸Numb. 28:2 is the third of the three commands that shook Moses. If we sacrificed all the beasts of the forest and all the trees of Lebanon, they would not be enough, as stated (in Is. 40:16), ‘For Lebanon is not fuel enough, nor its beasts enough for sacrifice.’” He said to him, “I am not asking [offerings] in accordance with My means but in accordance with their means.” Thus it is stated (in Numb. 28:3), “Now you shall say to them, ‘This is the burnt offering [which you shall offer to the Lord: two yearling lambs without blemish…].’” And not both of them at once, but (according to vs. 4), “The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the second lamb you shall offer at twilight.” And when He said to him (in Exod. 25:8), “And make me a sanctuary [that I may dwell among them],”⁷⁹With this repetition of Exod. 25:8, the midrash returns to the first command that shook Moses. Moses said [to the Holy One, blessed be He,] (in I Kings 8:27), “Even the heavens and the heavens above the heavens cannot contain you!” It also says (in Jer.. 23:24), “’Do I not fill the heavens and the earth,’ says the Lord.” And it says (in Is. 66:1), “The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool.” So can we make Him a sanctuary? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “I am not asking [a sanctuary] [in accordance with My means] but in accordance with their means.” Thus it is stated (in Exod. 26:1), “Now as for the Tabernacle, you shall make it with ten curtains.”’ When Israel heard this, they arose and donated gladly. So they made the Tabernacle. Moreover, when they had made the Tabernacle, it was filled with His glory, as stated (in Exod. 40:35), “Now Moses could not enter the tent of meeting, [because … the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle].” The princes said, “Now is the time for us to offer sacrifices with joy, because the Divine Presence is dwelling among us.” Where is it shown? From what they read on the matter (in Numb. 7:1), “So it came to pass on the day that Moses had finished.”