Sotah 42b — the Talmud in English

“Hear,”

listen to

the words of the battle formations

and know who are fit and permitted to return from the war,

“and let them return,”

those fit to return, such as one who built a house, planted a vineyard, betrothed a wife, or is fearful and fainthearted.

What does he say in the war

to the people? “

Hear, O Israel, you are drawing near today to the war against your enemies, a.

Let your hearts not be faint,

b.

Do not fear,

c.

and do not hasten,

d.

and do not be terrified.”

These four warnings correspond

to four things that the idolaters

would

do

in order to intimidate: a.

They strike

the shields, b.

and sound

the horns, c.

and scream

with their voices, d.

and trample

with the neighing and galloping of their horses,

and even though the Mishna also mentioned the sharpening of swords and the multitude of soldiers, these are not for intimidation, but are the substance of the war:

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 blaspheme the Name of the Lord.

Rabbi Yohanan said:

His name was Goliath because of

the fact that he stood with an unveiled face before the Holy One, blessed be He,

and was not afraid to fight against Him.

As it is stated:

(I Samuel 17:8) “Choose

(choose)

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

to fight with me.

And “man” refers 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: Behold, I shall bring him down by the hand

of

the 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 the name of his father.

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 trapped him [

the mouth of Goliath stated his downfall].

One:

when he said:

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

whose meaning is that the man should come down and overcome him, whereas he should have said, “and let him fight with me.”

And the other:

when he said:

(there 9) “If he is able to fight with me and strike me,

then we shall be servants to you; and if I am able to defeat him and strike him, you shall be servants to us and serve us”—

for he opened his mouth and stated his own misfortune beforehand.

And the other, for he said to him [

that he said]

to David:

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

And we challenge:

David also

opened his mouth for evil, for he

said to him

to Goliath

(there 45) “You come against me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin.”

And we answer: David

afterward [

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 blasphemed,”

and if so, this is not opening one’s mouth for evil, for David said to him: You come to rule over me by means of something that has no substance, whereas I come to rule over you through the Name whose victories belong to Him.

It is written there:

“And the Philistine approached early and late”

to taunt the battle lines of Israel.

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

since, when the acceptance of the Torah was delayed, power was given to him to station himself, and Israel had power against Goliath only at the end of forty days, when Moses descended from the mountain and they accepted the Torah.

“And a man of the intermediate ranks went out from the camps of the Philistines

and Goliath was his name, from Gat; his height was six cubits and a span”

who descended from the camps of the Philistines, which were on the mountain, to the valley between the camps,

What is “intermediate”?

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

Rav said: That he was built free of every blemish,

for he was well-formed and cleansed of every blemish of ugliness.

B.

And Samuel said:

That he was

the intermediate

middle

one among his brothers,

for they were four brothers.

C.

The academy of Rabbi Sheila said:

He was called “intermediate” since

he

was

made like a building

in strength.

D.

Rabbi Yohanan said:

He was called “a man of the intermediate ranks” since he was the son of a mixture,

the son of a hundred fathers

who had one hundred stepfathers

and one nana

and one father (in the Persian language), for many men came upon his mother in one night, and she became pregnant by one of them; thus one was his father, and all the others were adulterers.

“And Goliath was his name, from Gat”

Rav Yosef taught: For everyone trampled his mother as in a winepress.

It is written

(there): “

m

e'orot

of the Philistines

,” and we read: “

m

a'arakhot

of the Philistines.”

And he expounded the verse:

Rav Yosef taught: For everyone had intercourse with his mother.

Our Sages said that “the Harafa,” Goliath’s mother, was Orpah, Naomi’s daughter-in-law,

It is written

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

(Ruth), “O r p a h.”

Rav and Samuel

disagreed as to what her true name was and what was a nickname.

One said: Harafa was her name!

And why was her name called Orpah?

For everyone turned her over from behind,

for she abandoned herself like an animal, face against nape.

And one said: Orpah was her name!

And why was her name called Harafa?

For everyone trampled her like crushed grain—

crushed wheat.

And proof that crushed wheat is called harifot is,

And so it says

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

And if you wish, say: From here

a proof is to be brought that crushed wheat is called harifot:

(Proverbs 27), “Though you pound the fool in a mortar among the crushed grain 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 who were of old, men of renown, and all of them died by the hand of David and his servants,

(Samuel II 21), “And these four were born to the Harafa in Gat, and they fell into the hand of David and into the hand of his servants.”

Who were they,

who were the four sons of Harafa—[including] Goliath?

Rav Hisda said: Saph, and Madon, Goliath, and Ishbi in Nob

all of them are brought there in Samuel II, chapter 21.

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

Why did they fall specifically into the hand of David?

Because

it is written

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

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

and Ruth clung to her”

to Naomi, and she converted.

Rabbi Isaac 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 into the hand of the sons of the one who clung”

into the hand of David, who came from Ruth, who clung to her.

Rava expounded: In the merit of the four tears

two cries from two eyes

that Orpah shed over her mother-in-law, she merited, and four mighty men came forth from her,

as it is stated

(Ruth 1:14), “And they raised their voices and wept further,”

implying that she wept a second time, for above, in the same chapter, verse 9, it is already written, “And they raised their voices and wept.”

It is written

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

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

,” and we read, “The wood of his spear”

which was the handle of the spear, which was thick like the wood upon which the weavers wind the cloth,

and it was exceedingly coarse relative to the customary measure of the wood of a spear; and the iron of his spear weighed close to thirty talents. This is a very wondrous matter, indicating the power of this Philistine.

Rabbi Elazar said:

The verse called it hetz, from the expression hetzi, “half,” to inform you that

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

From here: It is forbidden to recount the praise of the wicked,

and we challenge: If it is forbidden to recount the praise of the wicked, then

do not begin it at all,

so that the verse should not recount any praise of him,

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

to make known David’s praise

that he fought with a mighty man like him. 16.

We learned in the Mishna:

“The Ammonites came through the victory of Shovakh, etc.”

It is written

(Samuel II 10:16), “Shovakh,

commander of Hadadezer,”

and it is written

(Chronicles I 19:16), “Shofakh.”

Rav and Samuel

disagreed as to what his true name was and what was a nickname,

One said: Shofakh was his name!

And why was his name called Shovakh?

For he was made like a dovecote,

for he was tall like a dovecote.

And one said: Shovakh was his name!

And why was his name called Shofakh?

For everyone who saw him was poured out before him like a pitcher,

for he shed blood like water.

Since the Gemara brought in this connection a dispute of Rav and Samuel concerning expositions of the verses, it brought here another dispute of theirs,

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

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

for their quiver, which is the vessel in which arrows are placed, is like an open grave, prepared to destroy the dead within it, since they are all mighty men trained in war, and you will not be able to escape from them.

Rav and Samuel

disagreed in explaining the matter,

and some say

that

Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi

disagreed concerning it.

One said:

Their might was that

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

And should 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 they ate much through their might,

And should you say

that they produced much refuse

because they were afflicted with intestinal illness,

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

Rav Mari said: Infer from this

learn from this statement that

one whose refuse is abundant

one whose refuse is plentiful

is afflicted with intestinal illness!

And we examine it:

What practical difference is there?

And we answer:

To trouble himself

so that he should seek remedies for himself before his illness becomes severe.

It is written in Proverbs:

(12:25), “Anxiety in a man’s heart will lower it,

but a good word will gladden it.”

Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi

disagreed in the interpretation of the word “will lower it,”

One said: “Will lower it”

will 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 trust in flesh and blood,

“For Hashem your God, who goes with you to fight for you, etc.”—this is the camp of the Ark:

And why all this?

He says to them: What is this promise with which he promised them, “For Hashem your God who goes,” and did not say, “For Hashem your God is with you”? And likewise, what is this walking, whose meaning is that He literally goes?