מדרש אויף קהלת 7:7

[Another interpretation (of Exod. 6:2): SO GOD SPOKE UNTO MOSES]. This text is related (to Eccl. 7:7): FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES A WISE ONE FOOLISH,… When the wise person occupies himself (rt.: 'SQ) with a lot of everyday affairs (rt.: 'SQ),⁶The interpreter feels free to treat as equivalent the Hebrew letters sin and samekh, both of which produce an English s sound. they distract him from wisdom.⁷Tanh., Exod. 2:5; Exod. R. 6:2. (Ibid., cont.:) AND A GIFT WILL DESTROY THE HEART. Whatever is called a gift (MTNH) destroys <the Torah> from one's heart, because it is stated (in Numb. 21:19): FROM A GIFT (MTNH) <CAME> GOD'S HERITAGE (of Torah).⁸The usual interpretation of this text from Numb. 21:19 would be translated, “From Mattanah (MTNH) to Nahaliel”; but by reinterpreting the unvoweled words, Tanhuma (Buber) understands them to mean that Israel received the heritage of Torah as a gift. Thus (as explained in Exod. R. 6:2) the receiving of any other so-called gift would be contrary to the nature of Torah. Another interpretation (of Eccl. 7:7): FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES A WISE ONE FOOLISH. <In regard to> being busy (rt.: 'SQ), when the wise person occupies himself (rt.: 'SQ) in community affairs, they make him forgetful of wisdom.⁹Centuries earlier, Philo, De Specialibus Legibus, III, 1–6, had expressed similar sentiments. R. Joshua ben Levi said: I learned sixty halakhot from R. Judah ben Pedayah on the plowing of a grave; but, because I engaged (rt.: 'SQ) in community affairs, I forgot all of them. Ergo (in Eccl. 7:7); FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES <A WISE ONE> FOOLISH,…

Another interpretation (of Eccl. 7:7): FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES <A WISE ONE> FOOLISH,… <In regard to> everyday affairs (rt.: 'SQ), when Solomon was engaged (rt.: 'SQ) in matters in which he did not have to <engage>, they led him astray, as stated (in I Kings 11:4): FOR IT CAME TO PASS IN SOLOMON'S OLD AGE [THAT HIS WIVES LED HIS HEART ASTRAY AFTER OTHER GODS]. R. Hiyya bar Abba said: <It would have been> better for him if he had cleaned sewers, so that this verse would not be written about him. And what were the words? (Prov. 30:1:) THE WORDS OF AGUR BEN JAKEH OF MASSA: [THUS SAYS THE MAN TO ITHIEL, TO ITHIEL AND UCAL (ukhal).] Why is his name called AGUR (rt.: 'GR)? Because he gathered ('GR) the Torah. <Why> BEN (BYN)? Because he understood (rt.: BYN) it. <Why> JAKEH (YQ')? Because he regurgitated (rt.: YQ') it up. What is the meaning of TO ITHIEL (itti'el)?¹⁰The name means: “God is with me.” Cf. Tanh., Exod. 2:5, which adds here: “Thus he said: God is with me (itti’el), and I shall overcome (ukhal) <temptation>.” What the Holy One wrote in his Torah (in Deut. 17:17): HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY WIVES FOR HIMSELF, <was written there> so that {HE WOULD NOT GO ASTRAY WITH HIS HEART} [HIS HEART WOULD NOT GO ASTRAY].¹¹ySanh. 2:6 (20c); Eccl. R. 2:2:3. Solomon said: I will multiply them and not be afraid. Thus his heart went astray. R. Joshua ben Levi said: A yod (the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, equivalent to Y or J in English) went up and fell down before the Holy One.¹²Exod. R. 6:1; Lev. R. 19:2; Cant. R. 5:11:3. It said to him: Sovereign of the World, have you had a single letter written in your Torah for nothing? R. Simeon ben Johay said: The book of Mishneh Torah (i.e., Deuteronomy) went up before the Holy One. He said to him: Sovereign of the World, here is Solomon wanting to pluck out a yod which you have written in me. <It is written> (in Deut. 17:16–17): {HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY WIVES FOR HIMSELF.} HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY (YRBH) HORSES FOR HIMSELF <….> [HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY (YRBH) WIVES FOR HIMSELF] <…;> NOR SHALL HE GREATLY MULTIPLY (YRBH) SILVER AND GOLD FOR HIMSELF. He did multiply (RBH)¹³The negative, third-person imperative here adds the prefix yod (= Y). When the verb becomes a simple past tense telling what Solomon actually did, the yod is dropped. Thus by breaking each commandment about multiplying for himself, the king plucked out a yod from the Deuteronomic commandment. horses for himself.¹⁴Below, Tanh. (Buber), Lev. 6:2, and the note there. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in I Kings 5:6): NOW SOLOMON HAD FORTY THOUSAND STALLS OF HORSES. He did multiply wives (RBH) for himself. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in I Kings 11:3): SO HE HAD SEVEN HUNDRED ROYAL WIVES <AND THREE HUNDRED CONCUBINES; AND HIS WIVES LED HIS HEART ASTRAY >. He did multiply silver and gold for himself. It is so stated (in I Kings 10:27): AND THE KING MADE SILVER <IN JERUSALEM AS PLENTIFUL AS STONES >. The Holy One said to him: By your life, Solomon and a hundred like him have passed away, but not one letter <of my book> has passed away.¹⁵See Matthew 5:17–18. And what caused Solomon to come to this point? Being busy (rt.: 'SQ), for he was engaged (rt.: 'SQ) in matters in which he did not have to <engage>. Ergo (in Eccl. 7:7): FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES <A WISE ONE> FOOLISH. Now you should mention, not only Solomon, but even Moses at the time that he went to Pharaoh. What is written (in Exod. 5:1)? AFTERWARDS, MOSES AND AARON CAME <AND SAID UNTO PHARAOH >….¹⁶According to the last verses of Exod. 4, Moses was engaged in assembling the elders of Israel before he went to Pharaoh. R. Hiyya b. R. Abba said: It was ambassador¹⁷Gk.: presbeutes. day for Pharaoh,¹⁸Exod. R. 5:14. and all the kings were coming to crown him because he was the cosmocrator¹⁹A Latin adaption of the Gk.: kosmokrator, a title of the Roman emperor. of the world {i.e., powerful one}. Now Moses and Aaron were standing at the palace²⁰Lat.: Palatium. gate. They came in to Pharaoh. They said to him: Two elders are standing at your palace gate. He said to them: Are there crowns in their hands? They told him: No. He said to them: Let them enter last. They came in to Pharaoh. He said to them: What do you want? They said to him (in Exod. 7:16, cf. 5:3): THE LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS SENT US UNTO YOU; and he said to us, as stated (ibid., cont.): LET MY PEOPLE GO THAT THEY MAY {CELEBRATE A FESTIVAL TO ME} [WORSHIP ME] IN THE DESERT. He said to them (in Exod. 5:2): WHO IS THE LORD THAT I SHOULD HEED HIS VOICE, when he did not know <enough> to send me a crown of his. Rather he comes unto me with <mere> words. So (in Exod. 5:2) WHO IS THE LORD THAT I SHOULD HEED HIS VOICE?

“And I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, except by a mighty hand” (Exodus 3:19).
“And I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go.” The Holy One blessed be He saw what the wicked Pharaoh is destined to do; [that he will] increase the workload of the people from the moment that he [Moses] goes [to Pharaoh] as His emissary. And so that he [Moses] would not be misled by this thing, the Holy One blessed be He made known to him that Pharaoh is destined to do such and such when you go on My mission so that he would not reproach Heaven. ²⁶In order that Moses would not complain to God that his mission was a failure, as he in fact did in Exodus 5:22-23. Nevertheless, he reproached Heaven, and about him it is stated: “For oppression turns a wise man into a fool” (Ecclesiastes 7:7).