Sanhedrin 102b (קב:) — the Talmud in English

Once

he recovered

[from his illness]—

he returned and expounded

[he resumed expounding] on the Three Kings.

His students said

to him: Is it not the case that

you accepted upon yourself not to expound them

[did you not accept upon yourself not to expound about them]?!

Rabbi Abbahu said

to them:

Did they repent, that I should retract my commitment?

[did they repent of their evil deeds, so that I should retract my commitment and not expound about them]?

Rav Ashi reached the topic of the Three Kings

[in his study].

He said: Tomorrow we will begin with our colleagues

[tomorrow we will begin studying the subject of our colleagues, who were Torah scholars like us], who have no share in the World-to-Come.

Manasseh came and appeared to him in a dream

[Manasseh came and revealed himself to him in a dream].

He said

to Rav Ashi:

You call us your colleagues and the colleagues of your father

[you call us your colleagues and your father's colleagues]?

From where do you begin to cut the bread for the blessing hamotzi

[do you know at which place in a loaf one must cut when reciting the blessing hamotzi]?

Rav Ashi said

to him:

I do not know

[I do not know].

Manasseh said

to him:

You have not learned from where to cut the bread for the blessing hamotzi

[you have not learned this],

and you call us your colleagues

[and you call us your colleagues]?!

Rav Ashi said

to him:

Teach it to me

[teach me this matter],

and tomorrow I will expound it in the lecture in your name

[and tomorrow I will expound this matter in your name].

Manasseh said

to him:

From where it begins to form a crust

during baking

[from the place where the surface of the bread forms a crust in the oven]. That is, from its harder place, whether above, below, or on the sides, but not from its middle, where it is soft.

Rav Ashi said

to Manasseh:

Since you are so exceedingly wise

[since you are so wise],

why did you worship

[why did you serve]

idolatry?

He said to him: Had you been there

[if you had been there, at that time],

you would have grasped the hem of your garment—

and run after me

[you would have lifted the hem of your garment so that you could run quickly, and you would have run after me to worship idolatry], because at that time the evil inclination toward idolatry was exceedingly powerful.

The next day

he no longer said to the Sages, “We will begin with our colleagues”; rather,

he said to the Sages

in an expression of honor:

“We will begin with our masters.”

[We will begin expounding the matter of our masters].

What is the meaning of the name

“Ahab”—

“Brother”

[evil ]

to Heaven ,

and

“father of idolatry.”

“Brother to Heaven, as it is written: ‘A brother is born for adversity.’”

The meaning of the verse is: Woe to adversity. Thus, “brother” is an expression of evil.

“Father of idolatry, as it is written: ‘As a father has compassion on his children.’”

A father has exceedingly great compassion for his children. Likewise, Ahab loved idolatry exceedingly.

It is written concerning Ahab:

“And it was a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.” Rabbi Yohanan said: The minor sins committed by Ahab—

were like the major sins committed by Jeroboam.

That is, the severe sins committed by Jeroboam were minor in Ahab’s eyes, for he added many more sins, as follows.

And why does Scripture attribute

the sins

to Jeroboam,

as we find several times in Scripture, “He did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam,” although Ahab in fact sinned more than he did?

Because he

[Jeroboam]

was the first to corrupt

[he began the corruption through sin]. “

In Gilgal they sacrifice oxen,

their altars too are like heaps upon the furrows of the field.” Rabbi Yohanan said: There is not a single furrow in Eretz Yisrael upon which Ahab did not establish an idol and bow down to it.

And from where do we know that Ahab does not come

Ahab

to the World-to-Come?

As it is written: “And I will cut off from Ahab every male who urinates

against a wall, and the restrained and the forsaken in Israel.”

And the verse is expounded as follows:

“The restrained”—

in this world.

“And the forsaken”—

in the World-to-Come.

Rabbi Yohanan said: Why did Omri merit kingship—

Because he added one city in Eretz Yisrael.

As it is stated: “And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; he built the hill, and called the name of the city that he built after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill: Samaria.”

Rabbi Yohanan said: Why did Ahab merit kingship for twenty-two years —

Because he honored the Torah, which was given in twenty-two letters.

As it is stated: “And Ben-hadad sent

[the king of Aram]

messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and said to him: So says Ben-hadad: Your silver and your gold are mine, and your wives and your finest children are mine.”

And the king of Israel agreed to this, saying: “According to your word, my lord the king; I am yours, and all that I have.”

Ben-hadad sent further to the king of Israel:

“For at this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants; and whatever is the delight of your eyes they will place in their hands and take away” .

The king then consulted with the elders of the people, and they said to him: “Do not listen and do not consent.”

“And he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad: Tell my lord the king: All that you sent to your servant at first I will do. But this matter”—

I cannot do

and so on.”

What is “the delight of your eyes,”

which Ben-hadad wanted to take and Ahab refused to give him—

is it not a Torah scroll?

Thus Ahab honored the Torah!

And we challenge this: How do we know that it was a Torah scroll?

Perhaps it was idolatry,

for that too was the delight of Ahab’s eyes, as he cherished it exceedingly!

And we say:

That cannot enter your mind

to say so.

As it is written: “And all the elders and all the people said to him: Do not listen and do not consent.”

If it were referring to idolatry, they would not have told him this!

And we challenge this:

But perhaps

those elders,

were

degraded elders

[they were lowly and wicked elders] ?

Is it not written: “And the matter was pleasing in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel,” and Rav Yosef said:

Those elders of Israel

were degraded elders

—were they not? Thus, even wicked elders are called “elders of Israel”!

And we say:

There,

concerning Absalom,

it is not written

“the elders of Israel

and all the people.”

But

here,

it is

written

“the elders

and all the people,” for it is impossible that there were no righteous people among them

[that there were not some righteous people among all the people]. Yet they all said as one, “Do not listen and do not consent”! Necessarily, the reference is to a Torah scroll. Had it referred to idolatry, the righteous would not have cared if Ben-hadad took it.

And it is written: “But I will leave in Israel seven thousand, every knee that has not bowed to the Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Rav Naḥman said: Ahab was evenly balanced.

He had an equal number of transgressions and merits.

As it is stated: “And the Lord said: Who will entice Ahab so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said this, and another said that.”

This indicates that Ahab was punished only through great difficulty, by means of enticement.

Rabbi Yosef attacked this: Concerning one of whom it is written, “But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife incited,” and we learned: Every day she would weigh gold coins for idolatry—and you say that he was evenly balanced?

Rather, Ahab was generous with his wealth. And because he supported Torah scholars from his property—

half

of his transgressions

were atoned for. When Ahab, king of Israel, wished to go out to war against the king of Aram in order to take Ramoth-gilead from him, and wished to enlist Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, he said to him that they should consult the prophets to see whether they would succeed.

The king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and they said to him: Go up, and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king!

Jehoshaphat asked: “Is there no prophet of the Lord here besides, that we may inquire of him?”

Ahab told him that there was still another prophet, named Micaiah son of Imlah, but he did not prophesy good concerning him, only evil.

Nevertheless, Jehoshaphat wished to hear the words of Micaiah.

They brought him before them, and he said to them: “I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains like sheep, and so on.” That is, they would not succeed in their war.

Ahab said to Jehoshaphat: “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but only evil?”

Micaiah said: “Therefore hear the word of the Lord! I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of Heaven standing by Him, and so on. And the Lord said: Who will entice Ahab so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead, and so on?”

“And the spirit came forth and stood before the Lord, and said: I will entice him. And the Lord said to him: By what means? And he said: I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said: You shall entice him, and you shall prevail; go forth and do so.”

What is the meaning of “the spirit”?

What spirit was this that stood before the Lord?

Rabbi Yohanan said: It was the spirit of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Since Ahab had killed Naboth, his spirit sought to entice him and bring about his downfall.

What is the meaning of “Go forth

and do so”? It would have sufficed to say to the spirit: “Do so”!

Ravina said:

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to it:

“Go forth from My presence,” for it is written: “A thing of deceit shall not dwell before My eyes.”

Naboth’s spirit was a lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, told it to leave His presence.

Rav Pappa said: This is the meaning of the popular saying: One who satisfies his vengeance—

destroys his own house.

One who gives vent to his jealousy and anger and takes revenge causes his own house to be destroyed. This was the case with Naboth’s spirit: it did indeed take revenge, but as a result it left the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He.

“And Ahab made the Ashera, and Ahab continued to act so as to anger the Lord, God of Israel, more than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”

Rabbi Yohanan said: He wrote on the doors of Samaria

“Ahab denied the God of Israel; therefore he has no share in the God of Israel.”

“And he sought Ahaziah and captured him while he was hiding in Samaria.” Rabbi Levi said: He was

Ahaziah

scraping

[erasing by gouging and scratching]

the sacred Names

[the Names] in the Torah,

and writing

in their

place the name of an idol

[in their place].

That is why he was hiding. Had he done this publicly, they would not have allowed him to do so.

Manasseh—

was called by this name because

he forgot God

[he forgot the Holy One, blessed be He].

Alternatively: Manasseh—

because

he caused

[he caused them to forget]

Israel to forget their Father in Heaven.

Rashi writes this. Maharsha writes that it seems more likely that the name derives from an expression of removal and displacement, as in “the displaced sinew.” And from where do we know that Manasseh does not come

Manasseh

to the World-to-Come?

As it is written: “Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem,” and “He made an Ashera, as Ahab king of Israel had made.”

From the implication of the verse, that Manasseh acted as Ahab had acted, we learn:

Just as Ahab has no share in the World-to-Come,

as we learned above from the verse “the forsaken,”

so Manasseh—

has no share in the World-to-Come.

Rabbi Yehuda says: Manasseh has a share in the World-to-Come. As it is stated: “And he prayed

[Manasseh]

to Him, and He was entreated by him, and so on.”

Rabbi Yohanan said: And both of them,

Rabbi Yehuda, who said that he has a share, and the Rabbis, who said that he has no share—

expounded one verse. As it is stated: “And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah.”

One master,

Rabbi Yehuda,

held: “Because of Manasseh”—

because he repented, whereas they did not repent

[and therefore I will make them a horror].