Berakhot 4a — the Talmud in English

Benaiah son of Jehoiada,

who was the head of the court,

this

is the Sanhedrin,

from whom they took permission after consulting with Ahithophel.

And Abiathar—

these are the Urim ve-Tummim.

That is, he was the High Priest through whom they would inquire in the days of David by means of the Urim ve-Tummim.

And so it says,

there is further proof that they first took permission from the Sanhedrin and only afterward inquired by means of the Urim ve-Tummim, from the verse [I Chronicles 18:17]:

“And Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kereti and the Peleti.”

The Urim ve-Tummim are called “Kereti and Peleti,” and Benaiah was “over” them, that is, first and prior to them.

And why were they called

the Urim ve-Tummim

“Kereti and Peleti?”

“Kereti,”

because

they cut off their words,

for they state measured and complete words, which will not be diminished.

“Peleti,”

because

they are wondrous in their words,

for their words are understood only by one upon whom the holy spirit rests and who knows how to combine and arrange the letters.

And

the conclusion of the verse, “And after Ahithophel, etc. … and the commander of the army belonging to the king was Joab,” means:

afterward,

after they received the answer of the Urim ve-Tummim,

the commander of the army belonging to the king,

whose name was

Joab,

led them to war.

Rabbi Isaac bar Adda said, and some say Rabbi Isaac son of Rav Idi said: What is the verse,

where do we find in the Writings that a lyre was suspended above David’s bed, and that it awakened him from his sleep?

As it is stated [Psalms 57:9]:

“Awake, my glory; awake, lyre and harp; I will awaken the dawn.”

David said to his soul: Do not glorify yourself in sleep like the other kings, who sleep until the dawn awakens them. Rather, “I will awaken the dawn”: I will awaken the dawn, and this is through the lyre and harp.

Rabbi Zeira said

another answer to the question of how David could know how to determine midnight if Moses did not know:

Moses always knew, and David also knew

how to determine exactly when it was midnight.

And

if you should say:

Since David knew

when it was midnight,

why did he need the lyre?

The answer is: David indeed did not need the lyre in order to determine the hour of midnight, but only

to awaken himself from his sleep.

In order to awaken from his sleep.

And

if it is asked:

Since Moses knew, why did he have to say “approximately midnight”?

Why did he say “approximately midnight,” which is an expression of uncertainty, and not say “midnight”?

Moses reasoned

that although he knew how to determine when the hour of midnight was, it was necessary to be concerned

lest Pharaoh’s astrologers err

as to when the hour of midnight was. For they did not know how to determine it precisely, and before the point of midnight arrived, they would think that it had already arrived, while the plague had still not come,

and they would say: “Moses is a fabricator” [

liar]

“he is!”

Therefore it was preferable for Moses to use an uncertain expression, implying that he did not know precisely, so that he would not be exposed as a fabricator.

And as

the Master said [

Derekh Eretz Zuta, chapter 3]:

“Train your tongue to say, ‘I do not know,’ lest you be exposed.”

Lest you stumble in your statement, so that they will not understand you properly and will hold you to be a liar.

Rav Ashi said

another answer: In truth, Moses knew how to determine when it was midnight, and what he said, “approximately midnight,” was not an expression of uncertainty. Rather,

he was standing at midnight, at the beginning of the fourteenth,

Moses was standing at midnight, at the conclusion of the thirteenth day, the night of the fourteenth,

and this is what Moses said to Israel:

“The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Tomorrow, at approximately midnight as it is now,

like the hour of midnight at which we are standing now,

I will go out in the midst of Egypt.”

He used the expression “approximately midnight” in order to compare tomorrow’s midnight to the midnight at which he was standing today.

The Gemara further explains from the words of King David concerning his rising early and his piety in comparison with the other kings: “

Prayer

of David …

Preserve my soul, for I am pious” [

Psalms 86:1].

Levi and Rabbi Isaac

disagreed concerning the quality of piety with which David praised himself:

One

said: This is what David said before the Holy One, blessed be He: “Master of the Universe!

Am

I not pious? For

behold,

all the kings of the East and the West sleep until the third hour, whereas

I

‘rise at midnight to give thanks to You’” [

Psalms 119:62].

And the other

said:

“This is what David said before the Holy One, blessed be He: ‘Master of the Universe:

Am

I not pious? For

behold,

all the kings of the East and the West sit in groups upon groups

and are occupied with increasing

their honor, whereas

I have

my hands soiled with blood [

when I examine it to determine whether it is pure blood or perhaps menstrual blood and renders impure],

and with the fetal sac [

the skin of the fetus within which the bones and organs of the fetus are formed; when a woman gives birth to a fetal sac, it is examined to determine whether there is a fetus in it, in which case his mother is impure with birth impurity, or not],

and with the placenta [

it is the sac within which the embryo is formed; when a woman gives birth to a placenta, it is possible that she is impure with birth impurity, and they would bring it before him to determine its status],

in order to declare a woman pure for her husband.”

“And not only that, but with everything that I do, I consult

my master Mephibosheth, and I say to him: ‘Mephibosheth, my master! Have I judged well? Have I convicted well? Have I acquitted well?’”

“Have I declared pure well? Have I declared impure well? And I was not ashamed”

to ask him.

Rabbi Joshua son of Rav Idi said: What is the verse,

where do we find in the Writings that David acted in this way? As it is stated:

“And I shall speak of Your testimonies before kings and shall not be ashamed” [

Psalms 119:46]. That is, I spoke of Your testimonies before Torah scholars who are called “kings,” and I shall not be ashamed.

A tanna

taught in a beraita:

“Mephibosheth”

was not

his name;

rather, Ish-Bosheth was his name.

And why was he called Mephibosheth?

Because

he shamed David’s face in halakha,

and its meaning is “from his mouth, shame”: that is, shame was caused to David by his mouth, for David would sometimes err, and he would say to him, “You have erred”!

Therefore,

because David humbled himself,

David merited that Kilav came forth from him,

who was wise.

And

as

Rabbi Yohanan said: “Kilav” was not his name; rather, Daniel was his name.

And

if his name was Daniel,

why was he called Kilav?

Because he put Mephibosheth to shame in halakha. “Kilav” is an expression of “all father,” meaning that he put to shame the master who was a father in halakhic rulings.

“Kalav” is understood as “like a father,” meaning that he humiliated the teacher who was like a father in issuing halakhic rulings.

And concerning him Solomon said in his wisdom,

in place of David his father:

“My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too shall rejoice” [

Proverbs 23:15].

And he says: “Be wise, my son, and gladden my heart, and I shall answer my reproach” [

there 27:11].

The Gemara asks:

And David—did he call himself

consider himself a

pious man?

But it is written [ תהילים כז יג]:

Псалмы 27:13]:

“Had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living,”

that is, had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the World to Come, they would already have driven me away from fearing You.

And the tannai

we learned in a baraita

in the name of Rabbi Yosei: Why are there dots over “lulē”? [According to the tradition, there are dots over the letters “lo” in “lulē”; these dots come to diminish the meaning, and to say that it is not a certain matter,

and what do they come to diminish here, and say that it is not a certain matter?

David said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe! I am assured concerning You that You pay good reward to the righteous in the future, but I do not know whether I have a portion among them or not.

Thus, it was not clear to him that he would merit the World to Come, and if so, he certainly did not consider himself a pious man; and how did he say, “For I am pious

”? The Gemara answers: David indeed considered himself a pious man, but nevertheless he was concerned

perhaps

he would sin and

the sin would cause

that he would not merit seeing the goodness of the Lord.

As

As we find

that

that

Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi

said concerning Jacob our forefather.

For Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi raises a contradiction,

he asked about the apparent contradiction between the verses,

it is written

when Jacob left for Haran, the Holy One, blessed be He, promised him [Genesis 28:15]:

“And behold, I am with you, and I will guard you wherever you go,” and

however, when Jacob saw Laban with four hundred men coming toward him.

it is written [Genesis 32:7]

Бытие 32:7]:

“And Jacob was very afraid

and it is apparently astonishing: Why was he afraid, for the Holy One, blessed be He, had promised him that He would be with him to guard him?

And Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi answered: Jacob our forefather

said [he was concerned]

[he was concerned]

“Perhaps the sin will cause it.”

That is, Jacob was concerned that perhaps he had sinned after receiving the promise, and the promise would not be fulfilled, because sin causes the promise not to be fulfilled, and similarly David was concerned about his portion in the World to Come.

And the Gemara proves that one must be concerned that sin will cause the promise not to be fulfilled

As it was taught

in a baraita: It is stated in the Song at the Sea [Exodus 15:16]:

“Until Your people, O Lord, pass over; until this people whom You acquired passes over,”

and they expound the repetition of the wording:

“Until Your people, O Lord, pass over”—this is the

first

entry, when Israel came to the Land of Israel in the days of Joshua;

“Until this people whom You acquired passes over”—this is the second entry,

when they returned to the Land of Israel from the Babylonian exile in the days of Ezra.

From here,

from the fact that Scripture compared these two entries to one another,

the Sages said: Israel were worthy for a miracle to be performed for them

also

in the days of Ezra,

that they should ascend with an upraised hand, against the will of the Persian kings, and should not be subjugated to the kingdom,

as was done for them

when they ascended

in the days of Joshua son of Nun [and therefore Scripture compared these two entries to one another].

[and therefore the verse compared these two entries with one another].

Rather, sin caused it.

And therefore they did not merit ascending with an upraised hand, but only with the permission of King Cyrus, and throughout all the days of the Persian kings they were subjugated to them.

We learned in our Mishna:

And the Sages say: until midnight.

The Gemara discusses:

The Sages,

who hold that the time for reciting the Shema is until midnight,

in accordance with whom do they hold

regarding the meaning of the time “when you lie down,” which was established for the recitation of the evening Shema?

If they hold in accordance with Rabbi Eliezer,

that the meaning of “when you lie down” is all the time during which people customarily go to their beds in order to sleep, then

let them say

“until the end of the first watch”

in accordance with Rabbi

Eliezer,

for certainly by this time everyone who intended to sleep had already lain down and slept .