Sotah 42b (מב:) — the Talmud in English

“Hear,”

listen to

the words concerning the battle formations,

and you will know who is eligible and permitted to return from the war,

“and let them return,”

those eligible to return, such as one who built a house, planted a vineyard, betrothed a woman, or is afraid and fainthearted.

What does he say during the war

to the people? “

Hear, O Israel, you are approaching today for battle against your enemies: a.

Let your hearts not be faint;

b.

do not fear;

c.

do not panic;

d.

and do not be terrified.”

These four warnings correspond

to four things that the idolaters

would

do

in order to intimidate: a.

They would clash

their shields; b.

they would sound

their horns; c.

they would scream

with their voices; d.

and they would trample

with the neighing and galloping of their horses.

Although the Mishna also mentioned the sharpening of swords and the multitude of soldiers, these are not acts of intimidation; rather, they are the essence of the battle:

We learned in the Mishna:

“The Philistines came with the victory of Goliath,” etc. Goliath

was the Philistine who came up from among the Philistines to defy the Name of the Lord.

Rabbi Yohanan said:

His name was Goliath because

he stood with blatant audacity before the Holy One, blessed be He,

and was not afraid to wage war against Him.

As it is stated:

(I Samuel 17:8) “Choose

a man

for yourselves and let him come down to me,”

to fight me.

And “a man” can refer only to the Holy One, blessed be He!

As it is stated:

(Exodus 15) “The Lord is a man of war.”

The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I shall cause him to fall by the hand

of a

son of a man —

by the hand of David, who was then a youth and was not yet called by his own name, but by his father’s name.

As it is stated:

(I Samuel 17) “And David, the son of this Ephrathite man.”

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Meir: In three places, the mouth of that wicked man entrapped him [

Goliath’s own words foretold his downfall].

One

was when he said:

“Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me,”

the implication being that the man would descend and prevail over him; he should instead have said, “Let him fight me.”

And another

was when he said:

(I Samuel 17:9) “If he can fight with me and strike me,

then we shall be your slaves; but if I prevail against him and strike him, you shall be our slaves and serve us,”

thereby opening his mouth and stating his own downfall in advance.

And another, when he said to him [

that is, when he said]

to David:

(I Samuel 17:43) “Am I a dog, that you come against me with sticks?”

The Gemara raises an objection:

David also

opened his mouth to misfortune, for he

said to him

to Goliath:

(I Samuel 17:45) “You come against me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin.”

The Gemara answers: David

subsequently [

afterward]

said to him: “But I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the battle formations of Israel, Whom you have defied.”

Therefore, this was not an opening of his mouth to misfortune, for David was saying to him: You come to rule over me through things that have no substance, whereas I come to rule over you through the Name whose victories are His.

It is written there:

“And the Philistine would approach, early and late”

to taunt the battle lines of Israel.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

Goliath did this

in order to prevent them from reciting the morning and evening Shema

“And he stationed himself for forty days”

before the camp of Israel.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Corresponding to the forty days during which the Torah was given,

since the acceptance of the Torah was delayed, he was given the strength to station himself; and Israel had no power against Goliath until the end of the forty days, when Moses descended from the mountain and they accepted the Torah .

“And a man of the intervals went out from the camps of the Philistines

Goliath was his name, from Gath; he was six cubits and a span tall”

for he descended from the Philistine camp, which was on the mountain, to the valley between the camps,

What is the meaning of “of the intervals”?

Why was he called “a man of the intervals”? A.

Rav said: Because he was built without any defect,

as he was perfectly formed and free of every deformity or unsightly blemish.

B.

And Shmuel said:

because he was

of average height

among

his brothers,

for they were four brothers .

C.

The school of Rabbi Sheila said:

He was called “of the intervals” because

he

was

made like a building

in his might.

D.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

He was called “a man of the intervals” because he was a child of mixed parentage,

the son of a hundred fathers

who were his stepfathers

and one father

—and one actual father, in Persian—for many men came upon his mother in a single night and she conceived from one of them. Thus, one was his father, while all the others were adulterers .

“And Goliath was his name, from Gath”

Rav Yosef taught: Everyone trampled his mother as one tramples grapes in a winepress.

It is written

(there)

m

arshes

of the Philistines

and it is read

m

a’arakhot

of the Philistines”

And the verse was expounded:

Rav Yosef taught: Everyone had intercourse with his mother .

Our Sages said that “HaRafa,” the mother of Goliath, was Orpah, the daughter-in-law of Naomi,

It is written

(Samuel II 21) “HaRafa,” and it is written

(Ruth) “Orpah”

Rav and Shmuel

disagreed about which was her actual name and which was a nickname,

One said: HaRafa was her name!

And why was she called Orpah?

Because everyone turned her over from behind,

for she made herself available like an animal, face against nape.

And one said: Orpah was her name!

And why was she called HaRafa?

Because everyone trampled her like harifot—

crushed wheat.

And there is proof that crushed wheat is called harifot,

And so it says

(Samuel II 17:19): “And the woman took and spread the screen over the face of the well, and she spread crushed wheat over it.”

And if you wish, say: From here

there is proof that crushed wheat is called harifot:

(Proverbs 27): “Though you pound the fool in a mortar among the crushed wheat with a pestle.”

Orpah was a woman from the descendants of the giants, and four sons were born to her. All four were giants, like the mighty men of old, men of renown, and all of them were killed by David and his servants,

(Samuel II 21): “And these four were born to HaRafa in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.”

Who were they,

that is, who were the four sons of HaRafa, including Goliath?

Rav Ḥisda said: Saph, Madon, Goliath, and Ishbi-benob

all of whom are mentioned there in Samuel II, chapter 21.

“And they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants”

Why did they fall specifically by the hand of David?

Because

it is written

(Ruth 1): “And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law

(she kissed her mother-in-law in order to part from her, for she did not convert, but)

and Ruth clung to her”

to Naomi, and she converted.

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Let the sons of the one who kissed

that is, Goliath, who came from Orpah, who kissed her mother-in-law but parted from her,

fall by the hand of the sons of the one who clung

by the hand of David, who descended from Ruth, who clung to her.

Rava expounded: In the merit of the four tears

[two acts of weeping, from two eyes]

that Orpah shed over her mother-in-law, she merited that four mighty men should descend from her,

as it is stated

(Ruth 1:14): “And they raised their voices and wept again.”

This implies that she wept a second time, for above, in the ninth verse, it has already been written: “And they raised their voices and wept.”

It is written

(Samuel I 17:7): “The shaft of his spear

like a weaver’s beam, and the blade of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron, etc.

” and it is read: “The wooden shaft of his spear”

that is, the handle of the spear, which was thick like the beam around which weavers wind the cloth,

and it was exceedingly massive in comparison with the customary dimensions of a spear’s wooden shaft. The iron of his spear weighed nearly thirty kikkar, a truly extraordinary matter that indicates the strength of this Philistine.

Rabbi Elazar said:

The verse called it a ḥetz, “shaft,” an expression related to ḥetzi, “half,” to teach you that

we still have not reached half of the praise of that wicked man,

from here it follows that it is forbidden to speak in praise of the wicked,

and we challenge this: If it is forbidden to speak in praise of the wicked, then

it should not begin with him at all,

so that the verse would not speak of his praise at all,

and we answer: The verse began by mentioning part of his praise in order

to make known David’s praise

that he fought a warrior like him 16 .

We learned in the Mishna:

“The children of Ammon came because of Shovakh’s victory, etc.”

It is written

(Samuel II 10:16): “Shovakh

the commander of Hadadezer’s army,”

and it is written

(Chronicles I 19:16): “Shophakh.”

Rav and Shmuel

disagreed about which was his actual name and which was a nickname,

One said: Shophakh was his name!

And why was he called Shovakh?

Because he was made like a dovecote,

for he was as tall as a dovecote

And one said: Shovakh was his name!

And why was he called Shophakh?

Because anyone who saw him fell before him like a pitcher being poured out,

for he spilled blood like water .

Since the Gemara had brought the disagreement of Rav and Shmuel concerning expositions of verses, it here brought another disagreement between them,

It is written concerning the troops of Nebuchadnezzar, describing their might:

(Jeremiah 5): “His quiver is like an open grave; they are all mighty men,”

for their quiver—the container in which they placed their arrows—was like an open grave, prepared to destroy the dead within it, because they were all mighty men, trained in warfare, and one could not escape from them.

Rav and Shmuel

disagreed about the meaning of this,

and some say

that

Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi

disagreed about it.

One said:

Their might was that

when they shot an arrow, they made heaps upon heaps of corpses,

And lest you say

that they did this because

they

were

skilled in battle,

and not because they were mighty,

the verse states: “They are all mighty men.”

And one said:

Their might was that

when they relieved themselves, they made heaps upon heaps of refuse

because, owing to their might, they ate a great deal,

And lest you say

that they produced a great deal of refuse

because they suffered from intestinal disease,

the verse states: “They are all mighty men.”

Rav Mari said: Learn from this

[learn from this statement] that

one whose excrement is abundant

[whose refuse is abundant]—

suffers from intestinal disease!

We inquire about this:

What practical difference does it make?

And we answer:

He should trouble himself

to seek remedies before his illness becomes severe.

It is written in Proverbs:

(12:25): “If there is anxiety in a man’s heart, he should suppress it

and a good word will make him glad”

Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi

disagreed about the interpretation of the word “suppress it”,

One said: “He should suppress it”

[divert it]

from his mind

And one said: “He should speak of it to others”

We learned in the Mishna:

“But you are not so”

you do not place your trust in flesh and blood;

“For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to wage war for you, etc.” This refers to the camp of the Ark:

And why does it say this at such length?

He says to them: What is the nature of this assurance with which He assured them, “For the Lord your God is the One who goes,” rather than saying, “For the Lord your God is with you”? And likewise, what is this going that implies that He literally goes?