אִם יִרְצֶה הַשֵּׁם
י״ד חֶשְׁוָן תשפ״ז
After Fire under his glory the sugya is still Sanheriv.
Neither post nor transcript has been reviewed by Rav Avigdor Miller zt"l nor the Toras Avigdor organization.
Yaakov left Beer Sheva and reached Haran the same day. He turned back because he had passed the place where the Avos had prayed and had not stopped. When he decided to return, the land leaped under him.
The land leaped
Vayivga ba-makom.
The place met him so suddenly that the place seemed to meet him. He prayed there. Piggiah (he pressed): Avraham for Sedom, Moshe for the Am.
After he prayed he wanted to continue. HaKadosh Baruch Hu did not let him leave without lodging. The sun set for him before its time.
The same sun later rose early when he wrestled the malach. Rav Miller zt"l: the sun that set for the man who returned to the place of the Avos rose early to end the agony of the wrestling that was for the future of the Am.
When they yearn for the place of the Avos for the sake of serving HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and not for refuge or wealth, HaKadosh Baruch Hu makes kvitzas ha-derech (the road leaped) for them. Yaakov prayed there not for himself but for the Am. The longer he stayed the more he prayed.
One remained because one remained
The Gemara returns to the seed of David. Atalyah arose and destroyed the royal children when she saw her son dead. Yoash alone remained, because Evyatar had remained of the Kohanim of Nov. Had none of Achimelech's children escaped, none of David's seed would have escaped.
David is charged for the death of the Kohanim of Nov. He came to them for food, weapons, and the Urim ve-Tumim. That brought Shaul's suspicion. Even though he did not intend their death, Rav Miller zt"l: a man is accountable when death comes through him, as in the case of the wagon that overturned on the boy who was sent.
Minus one
Sanheriv came with forty-five thousand sons of kings in gold chariots, with queens and their retinues. Eighty thousand heroes in scale armor and six hundred thousand sword-bearers went before him. The enumerated 185,000 are the officers. The infantry and the nations he had uprooted were far greater. The total is given as two hundred and sixty times ten thousand thousands, minus one.
Abaye leaves the minus one. It may mean that everything required for victory was present except the echad (the one). Rav Miller zt"l: no host, however large, conquers when the echad is missing. The end is the same as the earlier attempts against the Am.
The first of the host crossed the Yarden swimming. The middle walked with the water to the neck. The last raised dust on their feet and found no water left to drink until they dug wells elsewhere.
The malach struck 185,000 in the camp of Ashur. Those are the officers, the fat ones. The common soldiers are not numbered. The verse that speaks of sending leanness on the fat ones, and the verse that lists every man of valor, every leader and officer, show that the count is of the heads.
While you are about it
R. Elazar says the malach smote them by the yad that is destined to take retribution from Sanheriv, the same degree that was at Krias Yam Suf. Others say by the ezba destined for him, the degree of the Makkos.
Gabriel was asked whether his scythe was sharpened. He answered that he had been waiting from the beginning of the world for the time when righteousness shows its head and the great opposition appears. Rav Miller zt"l: the sharp scythe is prepared for the enemies. The reaping comes in its season.
HaKadosh Baruch Hu said to Gabriel: when you go to ripen the crops, take care of the enemy as well. Agav urche (while you are on the way). The chesed that gives the world its sustenance has no purpose unless the Am Yisrael, the nation that accepted the Torah, continues to exist. Without them the world is not kedai to stand.
He blew into their noses. He clapped palm on palm. He opened their ears so they heard the shirah of the malachim and died. Rav Miller zt"l: the same greatness that is joy for the tzaddikim is destruction for the resha'im, as the sun taken from its sheath is enjoyment for one and suffering for the other.
The old man began to shear him
Rav says ten, for a child can write a yud. Shmuel says nine, taking the final number of the lone grapes and olives. R. Yehoshua b Levi adds every number in the verse and reaches fourteen. R. Yochanan says five: Sanheriv, his two sons, Nevuchadnezzar and Nevuzaradan, needed for the later pur'anus (the later blow).
If the verse had not written it, one would not say it. On that day HaKadosh Baruch Hu will shave with a hired razor the king of Ashur beyond the river: the head, the hair of the feet, and the beard will be destroyed.
An old man met Sanheriv as he fled and asked how he would face the kings of the east and west whose sons he had brought and caused to die. Sanheriv said he sat in that fear. The old man told him to disguise himself and travel unrecognized through the lands he had conquered. He brought scissors and the old man began to shear him.
Which measure is the smiting, the yad of Krias Yam Suf or the ezba of the Makkos?
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