Sotah 9b (ט:) — the Talmud in English

And similarly we find concerning the primordial serpent -

the serpent who caused Adam and Eve to sin

who set his eyes on what was not fitting for him

who set his eyes upon Eve and had relations with her; his punishment was -

he was not given what he sought.

And furthermore,

what he possessed -

was taken away from him.

For previously the serpent walked upright, but after his punishment, he walks on his belly.

The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I said

before he sinned

let

the serpent

be king over every domesticated animal and wild animal; but now

that he has sinned,

he is cursed above every domesticated animal and every beast of the field. I said, “Let him walk upright”; now he shall walk on his belly.

I said, “Let his food be human food,”

superior to that of animals and birds;

but now he shall eat dust.

He

the serpent

said

in his heart:

“I shall kill Adam and marry

Eve

as a wife.” Now: “I will place enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.” And similarly we find -

with Cain -

he coveted the additional twin sister who was born with Abel.

Korah -

he coveted the priesthood.

Balaam -

he coveted Balak’s money.

Doeg -

he was jealous of King David.

Ahithophel -

he coveted the kingship.

Gehazi -

he coveted Naaman’s wealth.

Adonijah -

he coveted Abishag.

Uzziah -

he coveted the priesthood.

And Haman.

All of these

who set their eyes on what was not fitting for them: what they sought was not given to them, and what they possessed -

was taken away from them. The thigh began the transgression, and so the thigh is punished first, and so forth; the belly began the transgression, and so the belly is punished first, and so forth.

What is the source of these matters?

From where do we know that this is the order of the punishment: first the thigh and afterward the belly?.

?

If you say

if

it is because it is written: “When the Lord makes your thigh fall and your belly swell,”

indicating that the order is first the thigh and afterward the belly,

but is it not written

in another verse that the opposite is implied:

“And her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall fall”?

Thus, it appears that first comes the belly and afterward the thigh. And we answer:

Abaye said: When he curses her,

when the koen recites the curses before her, which is the beginning of her punishment, then

he first curses the thigh

and afterward he curses the belly.

He mentions the thigh first and afterward the belly

, but when they examine her -

when she drinks the water and is examined by it,

they examine her in their usual manner -

they examine her in the order in which they entered the woman’s body;

the belly first -

and afterward the thigh.

First her belly swells, and afterward her thigh falls.

And we challenge this:

The curse also states: “To swell the belly and to cause the thigh to fall,”

the Torah also presents the order of the events in the curse as beginning with the belly, and this contradicts the other verse concerning the curse, which begins with the thigh. And we answer: In truth, in the curse the koen mentions the thigh first; and that verse in the curse which states the opposite,

that one -

is informing her that the belly comes first and afterward the thigh, so as not to cast aspersion on the bitter water. -

It teaches us that the koen explains to her that the order of her punishment is first the belly and afterward the thigh, unlike the order stated in the curse. This is so that people should not cast aspersion on the water, saying that the water did not act as the Torah says, and therefore he had to tell her how she would die.

Mishna:

We learned in the previous Mishna that by the measure with which a person measures, they measure for him; now the Mishna brings several examples of this principle -

Samson followed his eyes

in that he sought to marry the Philistine woman who found favor in his eyes.

.

Therefore

his punishment was that

the Philistines gouged out his eyes.

As it is stated -

“The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes.”

And similarly we find that

Absalom took pride in his hair

which was beautiful.

Therefore

his punishment was that he

was hung by his hair.

And because he came

Absalom

upon his father’s ten concubines,

therefore

his punishment was that

they drove

the men who stabbed

ten spears into him

when they killed him.

.

As it is stated -

“Ten young men who carried Joab’s weapons surrounded him,”

and all ten stabbed him with spears.

And because he stole

that is, deceived

three

hearts -

the

heart of his father

King David,

and

the

heart of the court,

because Absalom was a nazirite forever, and his hair was long. He wished to ease his burden, as it weighed heavily upon him, and he told David that he wanted to go to Hebron to fulfill his vow and offer the nazirite offering. He asked David to write him a document stating that any two men whom he wished to accompany him were obligated to attach themselves to him. He displayed David’s seal to two hundred members of the Sanhedrin, and they all went with him. They went innocently, intending to escort him, and did not know that he intended to rebel against David. Thus, he deceived both David and the Sanhedrin.

And

similarly we find that he deceived the

heart of Israel.

As it is stated -

“Absalom stole the heart of the men of Israel.”

Therefore they drove

they drove into him

in

the heart

three spears,

corresponding to the three hearts that he stole.

As it is stated -

“And he took

Joab

three spears in his hand and drove them into the heart of Absalom.”

And so

just as

with regard to good,

when a person performs a mitzva, his reward is measure for measure, as we find -

that

Miriam waited for Moses for one hour

to see what would happen to Moses’ basket in the river.

As it is stated -

“And his sister stood from afar”

to know what would be done to him.

Therefore

Miriam merited that when she was afflicted with leprosy,

they delayed

in captivity

for her

with

Israel seven days in the wilderness

until she recovered from her leprosy.

.

As it is stated -

“And the people did not journey”

on their journeys

until

she had recovered

Miriam.

And similarly we find -

for

Joseph merited

he wished to merit

burying his father, and

although

there was none among his brothers greater than he,

for he was king,

,

nevertheless he went to bury his father.

And as

it is stated -

“Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up both chariots and horsemen.”

Therefore he merited - as it is stated of him:

“Who among us is greater than Joseph?”

for he merited great honor at his burial,

for his burial was not attended to by

the burial of

him except by Moses,

who was no one greater than him.

For

Moses merited

he wished to merit attending

to

the burial of

Joseph’s bones, and there was none in Israel greater than him,

than Moses our teacher.

.

As it is stated -

“Moses took Joseph’s bones with him.”

And similarly we find:

For

who was greater than Moses

our teacher? Nevertheless, he himself attended to Joseph’s burial.

His burial was not attended to by

the burial of

him

of Moses,

but by the Omnipresent,

the Holy One, blessed be He, in His very honor, as it were, buried him.

As it is stated -

“And He buried him in the valley.”

And

they said this not only about Moses,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, attends to their burial,

but

also

about all the righteous.

As it is stated -

“Your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall gather you,”

indicating that the Holy One, blessed be He, gathers the souls of the righteous and attends to their burial.

.

Gemara:

To explain the sugya, we will first briefly recount the story of Samson:

The Holy One, blessed be He, promised Manoah and his wife that a son would be born to them who would save Israel, but he had to be a nazirite all his life, and if a son were born to them, they were to name him Samson. At first, Samson went down to Timnah and saw a Philistine woman there. He told his father that she found favor in his eyes and married her because he wanted to fight the Philistines, thinking that it would be preferable first to marry one of them. Later, his wife was divorced from him, and in revenge he took three hundred foxes, placed torches between their tails, and thereby burned the fields of the Philistines. Afterward, Samson went to Gaza, saw a prostitute there, and had relations with her. When the Philistines heard that he was in the city, they sought to kill him, but Samson placed the doors of the city gate on his shoulders and carried them away. Afterward, Samson loved a woman named Delilah. The Philistines asked her to entice him to tell her the secret of his great strength. Delilah succeeded in enticing him, and he told her that his great strength came from his being a nazirite from birth, and that on the day his hair was shaved, his strength would depart. She then shaved his hair, after which the Philistines came, gouged out his eyes, and imprisoned him. Later, the Philistines gathered to celebrate Samson’s capture. Samson then asked the Holy One, blessed be He, to restore his strength one more time, and he seized the pillars of the building and brought the building down upon its inhabitants.

The Sages taught:

Samson rebelled against the Holy One, blessed be He, through his eyes

against the Holy One, blessed be He.

As it is stated -

“And Samson said to his father: Take her for me, for she is upright in my eyes,”

he asked his father to give him as a wife the woman who found favor in his eyes, and through this he rebelled against the Holy One, blessed be He by means of his eyes.

And

therefore

he was punished measure for measure:

the Philistines gouged out his eyes.

As it is stated -

“The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes.”

The Gemara asks:

Is that so?

How can it be that his telling his father that he wanted the woman who found favor in his eyes is considered rebellion? -

But is it not written: “His father and mother did not know”

that his desire to marry the woman was

“from the Lord,”

and it is explained that the Holy One, blessed be He, caused him to desire her so that he could provoke the Philistines? If so, this was not rebellion against the Holy One, blessed be He, but rather the Creator’s will.

The Gemara answers:

When he went, in any event,

although the matter was from His providence, nevertheless, his choosing this particular woman

was because he followed her uprightness

because she found favor in his eyes and he followed his eyes.

It was taught

we learned in a beraita -

Rabbi says: The beginning of his corruption

of Samson was

in Gaza -

therefore he was punished in Gaza.

From where do we know that

the beginning of his corruption was in Gaza?

As it is written -

“And Samson went to Gaza, and he saw there a prostitute, and so forth.”

From where do we know that

therefore he was punished

that the beginning of his punishment was

in Gaza?

As it is written -

“And they brought him down to Gaza.”

The Gemara asks:

But is it not written -

“And Samson went down to Timnah,”

and concerning this it is written: “And he saw there a woman from among the daughters of the Philistines, and she pleased Samson’s eyes”?

Thus, the incident in Timnah occurred before the incident in Gaza. If so, why did the beraita not say that the beginning of his corruption was in Timnah?

The Gemara answers:

The beginning of his corruption, in any event, was in Gaza

because concerning the incident in Timnah it is written that he took her as a wife, and this is not complete corruption, since he took her as a wife and did not have relations with her promiscuously, whereas only the incident in Gaza is considered corruption, since he saw a prostitute and had relations with her:

It is written in the verse -

“And it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the Wadi of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.”

And why was she called Delilah? -

It was taught: Rabbi says -

Had it not been

even if

not

she had been

called by the name

from birth

Delilah, she was fit to be called Delilah.

And because she

weakened

drained

his strength,

that of Samson,

she weakened

drained

his heart,

and

she weakened

and drained

his deeds.

She weakened his strength

From where do we know this?

As it is written -

after she removed his hair,

“His strength departed from him,”

meaning that his strength departed from him.

She weakened his heart

From where do we know this?

As it is written -

“Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart,”

that he had told her everything in his heart, namely, that he had revealed to her the entire secret of his strength.

She weakened his deeds

for

the Divine Presence departed from him,

the Divine Presence departed from him after she removed his hair.

.

As it is written -

“But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him”:

“Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart” -

The Gemara asks:

How did she know

that he had told her his heart? After all, he had told her several lies previously, and she had found him to be a liar.

The Gemara answers:

Rabbi Hanin said that Rabbi said: Words of truth are recognizable

when a person speaks words of truth, they are accepted by the heart.

Since he told her that his hair was the cause of his strength, and she had also seen that his hair was more abundant than that of other people, she understood that what he told her—that his great strength was because he was a nazirite of God—was also true.

Abaye said -

for

she knew of that righteous man that he would not utter

that he would not utter

the Name of Heaven in vain.

Once he said

that the reason for his strength was that

“I am a nazirite of God,”

and he invoked the Name of God,

she said,

Delilah:

“Now he is certainly speaking the truth,”

for now he was speaking words of truth.

It is written in the verse -

“And it came to pass, when she tormented him”

Delilah

with her words all the days,

that he should reveal to her the secret of the source of his great strength,

and she pressed him -

What does “and she pressed him” mean?

How did she succeed in forcing him to reveal his secret? -

Rabbi Yitzhak of the school of Rabbi Ami said -

At the time of the completion of intercourse,

when a person’s desire is greatest,

she slipped away from beneath him,

and this forced him to reveal his secret:

It is written in the verse that the angel warned Samson’s mother while she was pregnant,

“And now, please beware, and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything impure” -

What is meant by “anything impure”?

Which impure things did the prophet tell her not to eat?

And furthermore,

there is another difficulty: Did

until now

now

she eat impure things

—did she eat things forbidden for consumption.

.

Rabbi Yitzhak of the school of Rabbi Ami said -

Things forbidden to a nazirite

Although he told her that since he would be a nazirite of God she was forbidden to eat from the vine, and was likewise forbidden to drink wine and strong drink, we still would have no proof that she was forbidden grape infusion—that is, if grapes are soaked in water and the water acquires the taste of wine, that she would be forbidden to drink it. Therefore he told her that she was forbidden every impure thing.

It is written in the verse -

“And God split open the hollow

the place where the tooth is fixed

that is in Lehi,”

for the Holy One, blessed be He, split open the jawbone of the donkey, and a miracle occurred: water emerged from it for Samson the mighty when he was thirsty -

Rabbi Yitzhak of the school of Rabbi Ami said -

He

after all,

desired

longed

for an impure thing

to marry the daughter of a gentile woman.

Therefore his life depended on an impure thing,

the jawbone of the donkey, through which a miracle was performed for him when he was thirsty, and water emerged from the donkey.

.

It is written in the verse -

“And the spirit of the Lord began to move him,” and so forth -

Rabbi Hama bar Rabbi Hanina said

how is the verse interpreted? -

Now

was fulfilled

came to pass

the prophecy of Jacob our father -

As it is written,

in the blessings of Jacob our father -

“Let Dan be a serpent on the road,”

indicating that through the Divine Spirit he compared Dan to a serpent. When Samson was born, Jacob’s prophecy was fulfilled, for Samson was from the tribe of Dan, and he was compared to a serpent on the road: Just as a serpent takes revenge and bears a grudge, so Samson took revenge and bore a grudge.

And what is the meaning of

“to move him in the camp of Dan”? -

Rabbi Yitzhak of the school of Rabbi Ami said -

This teaches that the Divine Presence tinkled before him like a bell

the Divine Presence, as it were, accompanied him wherever he went, like a pair of bells.

And from where do we know this? -

It is written here,

in Jacob’s blessings,

“to move him in the camp of Dan,”

indicating that the wording is related to a bell.

And it is written there,

concerning the koen gadol who wore a robe on which there were

“a bell and a pomegranate,”

and there the Divine Presence rested upon the koen gadol.

It is written in the verse: “And the spirit of the Lord began to move him”

“between Zorah and Eshtaol,”

implying that in the particular place between Zorah and Eshtaol the Divine Spirit began to move him, and what is this matter -

Rabbi Asi said:

Tzar'ah and Eshtaol were two great mountains, and Samson uprooted them and ground them against each other

and between the two mountains Samson's strength began, and this was the place where the Divine Spirit of Jacob began to pulsate within him.

It is written in the verse: When the angel came to the wife of Manoah, Samson's mother, he said to her: “Behold, you are pregnant and will bear a son, one who is destined to be called Samson the mighty,”

“and he shall begin to save Israel.”