Yevamot 79a — the Talmud in English

But as for what was done to

the netinim,

we are able to remedy it. Therefore

let us call them and appease them

[let us call the netinim and appease them].

Immediately — “

And the Lord became angry with Saul and with the house of blood, because he killed the Gibeonites.

And the king called the Gibeonites and said to them:

What shall I do for you, and with what shall I make atonement?

And bless the inheritance of the Lord!”

And the Gibeonites said to him: We have no silver or gold with Saul or with his household

but only lives!”

He sought to appease them with money, but they did not wish it. He said: Perhaps they are embarrassed before one another? He went and appeased each one separately, but they were not appeased.

Therefore it is written: not “I have” silver and gold [Rashi, Samuel, in the name of the Jerusalem Talmud].

“And we have no man

to kill in Israel.”

We have no man to kill among all the other Children of Israel, who did not sin against us. “

And [David said to the Gibeonites]: What are you saying—I shall do for you!” “And they said to the king: The man who consumed us

—let seven men of his sons be given to us

[from the offspring of Saul],

and we shall hang them for the Lord!”

We shall hang them for the sake of the Omnipresent, to make His judgment known, Rashi, Samuel”] .

David appeased them

and

they were not appeased

[the version of Ein Yaakov: David appeased them and asked them to forgive, but the Gibeonites were not persuaded].

Therefore David decreed concerning them that they should not marry them, because he

said

David:

There are three signs in this nation

[Israel]:

a.

Merciful.

b.

And bashful.

c.

And practicing acts of kindness.

And from where is all this?

Merciful —

for

it

is written: And He will grant you mercy

[that is, He will grant you the attribute of mercy, so that you will have mercy on creatures, Maharsha]

and will have mercy upon you and multiply you.

Bashful —

for

it

is written: So that His fear may be

upon your faces,

and as explained in Nedarim [20a], this is bashfulness, for the fear recognizable on the face is bashfulness, and this is called “shamefacedness,” [Maharsha].

Practicing acts of kindness —

for

it

is written:

For I have known him [Abraham]

so that he may command his sons and his household after him

and they shall keep “the way of the Lord” to perform righteousness and judgment.

Anyone who possesses these signs is fit to cleave to this nation,

and anyone who does not possess them is not fit to cleave to it. “

Let seven men of his sons be given to us, and the king said: I shall give them. And the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul.

And the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.”

What is different about these

[why did David choose these to die] and not the rest of the offspring of Saul?

Rav Huna said: They passed them

—the offspring of Saul—

before

the

Ark. Anyone whom

the

Ark selected

would go

to death,

and

anyone whom

the

Ark did not select

was separated

for life.

Rav Hana bar Ketina raised an objection

to the words of Rav Huna:

But it is written:

“And the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,”

and it enters our mind that he passed him before the Ark and it did not select him; and if so, what mercy is there in the matter?!

And we answer:

He did not pass

David Mephibosheth before the Ark.

And we wonder about this:

For

is that so?

Is there partiality in the matter,

meaning: Is it so that David was to show partiality in capital cases? He should have passed them all before it?!

Rather, he passed him

before the Ark,

and it selected him, and he requested

David

mercy for him and it released him.

But still, is there partiality in the matter,

for since the Ark selected him, David should not have killed another in his place [Rashi]?!

Rather, he requested

David

mercy

for Mephibosheth

that the Ark should not select him.

Here the Gemara returns to the principal punishment imposed upon the offspring of Saul on account of Saul’s sin; and the Gemara asks:

But it is written: Fathers shall not be put to death because of sons

and sons shall not be put to death because of fathers; each man shall be put to death for his own sin,” and how did the Divine Presence agree—when the Ark selected them—to kill the offspring of Saul for their father’s sin, and to uproot this mitzva [Ritba]?!

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan:

They died for this reason, because

it is better that one letter be uprooted

from the Torah, and that the Name of Heaven not be profaned publicly,

for the nations were saying: This nation is not fit to cleave to, for they extended their hands against displaced converts to take their sustenance, and did not exact vengeance upon them.

It is written:

“And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth, and spread it for herself toward the rock

[she spread and laid out the sackcloth for herself to sit by the mountain where they were hanged, Metzudot] ],

from the beginning of the barley harvest

[this was the time when they were hanged]

until water was poured upon them from the heavens

[that is, until the days of rain, Rashi] ]

and she did not allow the birds of the heavens to rest upon them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night”—

And we ask: How did they leave them upon the tree from the beginning of the barley harvest until the falling of the rain?

But it is written: “You shall not leave his corpse overnight upon the tree”?!

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak:

It is better that one letter be uprooted [“

You shall not leave his corpse overnight upon the tree”]

from the Torah, and that the Name of Heaven be sanctified publicly,

through their being hanged—

For

as a result

passersby would say:

What is the nature of these?

And they would answer them:

These are sons of kings.

And what did they do?

And they would answer them and say:

They extended their hands against dragged-along converts.

After the passersby saw and heard all this,

the passersby

and those coming by said:

There is no nation

that is fit to cleave to as is

a nation

this

[Israel], for:

What

did

sons of kings

do

thus,

to

sons of commoners—

if they were to act as they acted—

all the more so

that they would do this to them.

And what

did they do for a crime committed against

dragged-along converts

to the sons of kings

thus,

for a crime committed against

Israel, all the more so.

Immediately one hundred and fifty thousand

converts were added to Israel—

as it is said: And Solomon had seventy thousand bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountain,

and these were the converts, as he explains and proceeds.

And we explain:

But perhaps

those one hundred and fifty thousand were slaves

Israelites

and not converts?!

It cannot enter your mind, for

it

is written: And of the Children of Israel Solomon did not make a slave,

and necessarily these slaves were from among the converts.

And

we still ask about this:

Perhaps

they were Israelites in any event, and indeed they were not slaves but merely

hired laborers

[hirelings]

in general.

Rather,

from the force of this question the Gemara proves that those one hundred and fifty thousand were indeed converts and not Israelites,

from here: And Solomon counted all the men who were converts in the land of Israel, and so forth, and they numbered one hundred and fifty thousand, and so forth

and he made of them seventy thousand bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountain.

Here the Gemara returns to the principal statement of Rav Hana bar Adda, who said: David decreed concerning the netinim, and the Gemara asks about this:

And

is it so that

David decreed concerning the netinim?!

But

Moses

had already

decreed concerning them, as it is written: From the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water.

And we answer:

Moses decreed for that generation

[for that generation], whereas

David decreed for all generations

[for all generations].

But still

we wonder: But

Joshua

was the one who

decreed concerning them

! For it is written: And Joshua made them on that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord.

And Joshua surely decreed for the generations to come, as it is also said: And now you are cursed, and none of you shall be cut off from being a slave.

And we answer:

Joshua decreed

concerning them servitude only

when the Temple is standing,

as it is said: “For the altar of the Lord” [Rashi].

Whereas

David decreed

concerning them servitude even

when the Temple is not standing.