Avodah Zarah 4a (ד.) — the Talmud in English

And Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish explains:

The wicked are judged

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as it is written

Malachi 3]:

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be straw, and the coming day will burn them, says the Lord of Hosts, leaving them neither root nor branch.” —

And we expound: “The coming day” refers to the sun that is coming, which will burn them, and it will leave them

neither a root in this world nor a branch in the World-to-Come.

And this is what Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: So are human beings, the wicked: once the sun grows hot over them, they die, in the World-to-Come.

But

the righteous —

are healed by it, as it is written further there:

“But for you who fear My Name, the sun of righteousness will shine, with healing in its wings.”

Moreover,

not only does the sun heal them,

but they also delight in it,

in the sun.

As it is stated further there: “And you shall go forth and grow fat”

“and frolic” you will multiply and grow fat,

“like calves of the stall” like calves found where calves are fattened.

Alternatively:

Why were human beings compared to the fish of the sea? To tell you:

Just as with the fish of the sea, the larger one swallows its fellow, so too with human beings, were it not for

if not for

the fear of the government, the larger one would swallow its fellow .

And this is

like

that which we learned

in tractate Avot:

Rabbi Ḥanina, the deputy of the priests, says: Pray for the welfare of the government,

even for the welfare of a government of the nations of the world, as the prophet Jeremiah said [29]: “And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you,”

for were it not for the fear of the government, each person would swallow his fellow alive .

And in this respect they were compared to the fish of the sea.

Now the Gemara brings an statement of Rabbi Ḥinnana bar Pappa concerning the Day of Judgment .

Rav Ḥinnana bar Pappa raised a contradiction,

questioning an apparent contradiction between verses —

It is written

Job 37]:

“We cannot find the Almighty; He is exalted in power.”

We cannot find Him bringing His judgments upon people with the greatness of His power, but rather with mercy .

Thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not display His power to us —

But

elsewhere

it is written Psalms 147]:

“Great is our Lord and abundant in power,” and

further

it is written Exodus 15]: “

Your right hand, Lord, is mighty in power.”

Thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, does display His great and mighty power to us?

And he answers:

It is not difficult:

Here,

where it is stated “We cannot find Him exalted in power,” the verse is referring

to the time of judgment,

when He does not display His great power, for were He to display His full power, everyone would be liable for destruction.

Here,

where it is stated that the Holy One, blessed be He, displays His power to us, the reference is

to a time of war.

Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina raised a contradiction

between verses, ostensibly —

It is written Isaiah 27], that the Holy One, blessed be He, says:

“I have no wrath.”

But

elsewhere

it is written Nahum 1]:

“The Lord is vengeful and the Master of wrath.”

Thus, He does have wrath!

And he answers:

It is not difficult:

Here,

where it is stated “I have no wrath,” the verse is speaking

of Israel —

Here,

where it is stated “The Lord is vengeful and the Master of wrath,” the reference is

to the nations,

from whom the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself exacts retribution.

The Gemara brings another answer to the contradiction between the verses in the name of Rav Ḥinnana bar Pappa .

Rav Ḥinnana bar Pappa said:

The verses do not contradict one another; both speak of Israel, and their meaning is: Indeed, the Holy One, blessed be He, is vengeful and the Master of wrath, but

“I have no wrath,”

because

I have already

sworn

not to be angry with the children of Israel [the wording of the verse is: “I have no wrath; would that I had thorns and briers”].

“Would that I had”—meaning, had I not sworn,

for were it not for the oath not to be angry,

I would be “thorns and briers,”

I would turn their land into a land of destruction and desolation.

Now the Gemara returns to the amoraic statement concerning the future Day of Judgment, where they said that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not deal tyrannically with His creatures and gives them the opportunity to perform the mitzva of sukka .

And this is,

consistent with what

Rabbi Alexandri said:

What

is the explanation of

that which is written Zechariah 12], where the Holy One, blessed be He, says:

“And it shall be on that day

on the Day of Judgment

that I will seek to destroy all the nations”?

For it must be understood:

“I will seek” —

from whom?!

Who could restrain the Holy One, blessed be He?

Rather,

the Holy One, blessed be He, said: I will examine their records,

I will search the record of their deeds,

, and if they have merit, I will redeem them. But if not,

if they spurn the mitzva of sukka that I will give them —

I will destroy them.

Then their destruction will be just, for the Holy One, blessed be He, scrutinizes them closely.

And this is what Rava said,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, scrutinizes the nations, based on another verse:

What

is the explanation of

that which is written Job 30]:

“Yet He does not stretch out His hand to ruin; if there is calamity, they cry out

.”

Rava explains that “ruin” means total destruction, while “calamity” refers to the pecking of chickens. This is a metaphor: Just as chickens peck little by little, so the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts retribution little by little.

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: When I judge Israel, I do not judge them like the nations, as it is written

of the nations Ezekiel 21]:

“I will make it a ruin, a ruin, a ruin,”

Rather, I exact retribution from them Another version:

but from Israel I exact retribution little by little

, like the pecking of a chicken.

And this is the meaning of “if there is calamity, they cry out” .

Alternatively,

the Holy One, blessed be He, said:

Even

if

Israel performs only a mitzva

before Me, even a little, like chickens pecking in a refuse heap, I combine it into a great account, as it is stated: “If there is calamity, they cry out.”

And we expound: “They cry out” is an expression of salvation, and this means that the Holy One, blessed be He, grants them redemption.

Alternatively:

the Holy One, blessed be He, said:

Because they cry out

in the language of prayer

before Me —

I will save them.

And

what Rava said—that the Holy One, blessed be He, in His abundant kindness, exacts retribution from Israel little by little—

this is what Rav Abba said:

What

is the explanation of

that which is written Hosea 7]:

“And I would redeem them, but they spoke lies against Me”?

The Holy One, blessed be He, said:

I said that I would redeem them through their property in this world,

I would punish Israel through their property, and this would be the redemption of their souls, little by little,

so that they would merit the World-to-Come. But

although I showed them compassion through this kindness,

they spoke lies against Me.

They denied the kindness of God and said that He was punishing them without cause.

And

these expositions,

are what Rav Pappi said in the name

in the name of

Rava:

What

is the explanation of

that which is written there:

“And I chastised them, I strengthened their arms, yet they plotted evil against Me”?

The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I said that I would chastise them

through suffering in this world,

so that they would strengthen their arms in the World-to-Come. But

they

plotted evil against Me.

They do not understand that suffering is an expression of God’s kindness; rather, they think that He intends to harm them.

Continuing the amoraic statements and the expositions of the verses, the Gemara brings an incident.

Rabbi Abahu praised Rav Safra to the heretics,

Rabbi Abahu, who acted as an intermediary with the Roman government that ruled in the Land of Israel, was close to the authorities and debated the heretics—the Christians; he boasted before the heretics

about Rav Safra, that he was a great man,

telling them of Rav Safra’s distinction, that he was an important person.

They exempted him from the tax,

the authorities exempted Rav Safra from paying taxes

for thirteen years,

for thirteen years, because of his importance, at Rabbi Abahu’s recommendation.

One day they found him,

once, when the heretics encountered Rav Safra, they began debating with him.

They said to him: It is written Amos 3], where the Holy One, blessed be He, says:

“I have known only you

whom I love

among all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.”

They questioned him, because this seems contradictory: If the Holy One, blessed be He, loves them more than all the nations, is it “therefore” that He visits all their iniquities upon them? They expressed it by way of a metaphor:

One who is angry with someone,

if a person is angry with someone in particular, can it be said that

he raises him with affection,

that he elevates him, or regards him, among those he loves?!

Another version:

One who has a bad horse,

one who has a horse that runs wild —

would he raise it with affection?!

Would he bring his beloved upon it so that he would die?!

He was silent,

Rav Safra alone remained silent,

and did not say anything to them,

he did not answer them at all.

They threw a scarf around his neck,

the heretics placed a scarf around his neck, as though strangling him,

and they tormented him,

causing him distress because they had exempted him from the taxes for no reason, while he did not know how to answer them.

Rabbi Abahu came,

he arrived,

and found them,

and found them tormenting Rav Safra.

He said to them,

Rabbi Abahu asked them:

Why are you tormenting him,

why are you causing him distress?

They said to him: Did you not tell us,

did you not tell us

that he is a great man?!

And he does not know how to say

and he does not know how to say

the meaning of this verse,

the explanation of this verse?

He said to them,

Rabbi Abahu said to them:

I say that I told you,

when did I tell you that he was an important person?

On condition,

with regard to the statements of the tanna’im in the Mishnayot and beraitot, in which he is a scholar, but

with regard to Scripture,

with regard to interpreting the verses —

who says I told you,

that I told you this?!

They said to him,

the heretics said to Rabbi Abahu:

Why is it different with you, that you know?

Why do you know the interpretations of the verses?

He said to them,

Rabbi Abahu answered them:

We

are

frequently among you,

I am found among you,

we apply ourselves,

we impose this upon ourselves,

and examine them,

and study the verses in order to know them thoroughly for the debates that you conduct with us —

but

they,

the other sages,

do not examine them

as much, but rather study the Mishnayot and beraitot.

They said to him,

the heretics said to Rabbi Abahu:

You tell us!

Tell us an answer to our question.

He said to them,

Rabbi Abahu said to them:

I will give you a parable,

I will answer you with a “parable” —

To what is this comparable? To a person who was owed money

who was demanding repayment of his debt

from two people, one his friend and one his enemy.

From his

friend,

he

collected from him little by little,

because of his great affection for him, and he knew that it was difficult for him to repay the entire debt at once. But from his

enemy he collected the debt all at once.

The parable’s application is: From Israel, His beloved, the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts all their iniquities little by little in this world, so that they will merit the Day of Judgment. But from the nations, He does not exact retribution at all in this world, so that He may hold them liable and banish them from the World-to-Come; there He exacts retribution from them all at once for everything.

And this is the meaning of the verse: “I have known—and loved—only you among all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit—little by little, like a person who visits his fellow from time to time—all your iniquities.”

And this was his answer to the heretics, who do not believe in reward and punishment in the World-to-Come.

From one matter to another, the Gemara expounds concerning the measure of the Holy One, blessed be He’s, retribution: He rewards those who do His will and punishes those who transgress His will.

Rav Abba bar Kahana said: What

is the explanation of

that which is written Genesis 18], in Abraham our forefather’s prayer concerning the people of Sodom:

“Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked”? “

“Far be it” is an expression of profaneness. And so

Abraham said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe! It would be profane for You to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked .”

And we object:

Is that so?!

Does the Holy One, blessed be He, not punish the righteous together with the wicked?!

But it is written,

and it is stated Ezekiel 21], where the Holy One, blessed be He, says:

“And I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.”

And we answer: What is stated, “And I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked,” refers

to an incompletely righteous person. But with regard to a completely righteous person —

no.

The Holy One, blessed be He, does not punish him together with the wicked.

And we object: Does the Holy One, blessed be He, not punish a completely righteous person together with the wicked?!

But it is written

in the book of Ezekiel chapter 9: “

Begin from My Sanctuary”

In Ezekiel’s prophecy, six destroyers who came to destroy Jerusalem are described, and they were told: “Pass through the city after him—the man clothed in linen—and strike; let your eye not spare and do not have pity. Old man, young man, virgin, child, and women, kill to destruction... And begin from My Sanctuary”—that is, begin from the Temple.

And Rav Yosef taught: Do not read “from My Sanctuary”

which refers to the Temple,

but

read it

“from those sanctified to Me,”

meaning the righteous,

these are people who fulfilled the Torah

in its entirety

from alef to tav. For it is stated there that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to the man clothed in linen: “Mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men.” And Rav Yosef expounded that these are the righteous, and upon them he marked the letter tav, indicating that they had observed the Torah from alef to tav.

Thus, even a completely righteous person is punished by the Holy One, blessed be He, together with the wicked?

And we answer: Indeed, there is a distinction between a completely righteous person and an incompletely righteous person. But

there too,

the righteous of Jerusalem,

since it was within their power to protest

the abominations of Jerusalem

but they did not protest, they became

they were

like incompletely righteous people .

Rav Pappa raised a contradiction

between two verses that seemingly contradict one another:

It is written Psalms 7:

“God is angry every day,”

whereas elsewhere Nahum 1]

it is written: “Before His anger, who

can stand?”

And he answers:

It is not difficult.

The verses do not contradict one another, for

here,

where it is stated that the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry, the reference is

to an individual,

who cannot endure when the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry with him.

But

elsewhere

here

the reference is

to the community,

which endures even though the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry every day.

And once it has expounded the verse “God is angry every day,” the Gemara brings another exposition of this verse.

The Sages taught:

It is stated:

“God is angry every day.”

And how long

is

His anger? –

A moment.

And how long

is it

a moment? –

One of fifty-three thousand eight hundred forty-eight

parts of

an hour –

That is a moment.

And no creature can pinpoint that moment, except Bilaam the wicked,

who knew how to pinpoint the time when the Almighty is angry,