| 14b. מורד במלכות הוא ולא צריך למידייניה אמרה לו עדיין שאול קיים ולא יצא טבעך בעולם אמר לה (שמואל א כה, לג) ברוך טעמך וברוכה את אשר כליתני [היום הזה] מבא בדמים,דמים תרתי משמע אלא מלמד שגילתה את שוקה והלך לאורה ג' פרסאות אמר לה השמיעי לי אמרה לו (שמואל א כה, לא) לא תהיה זאת לך לפוקה זאת מכלל דאיכא אחריתי ומאי ניהו מעשה דבת שבע ומסקנא הכי הואי,(שמואל א כה, כט) והיתה נפש אדוני צרורה בצרור החיים כי הוות מיפטרא מיניה אמרה ליה (שמואל א כה, לא) והטיב ה' לאדוני וזכרת את אמתך,אמר רב נחמן היינו דאמרי אינשי איתתא בהדי שותא פילכא איכא דאמרי שפיל ואזיל בר אווזא ועינוהי מיטייפי,חולדה דכתיב (מלכים ב כב, יד) וילך חלקיהו הכהן ואחיקם ועכבור וגו' ובמקום דקאי ירמיה היכי מתנביא איהי אמרי בי רב משמיה דרב חולדה קרובת ירמיה היתה ולא הוה מקפיד עליה,ויאשיה גופיה היכי שביק ירמיה ומשדר לגבה אמרי דבי רבי שילא מפני שהנשים רחמניות הן,ר' יוחנן אמר ירמיה לא הוה התם שהלך להחזיר עשרת השבטים ומנלן דאהדור דכתיב (יחזקאל ז, יג) כי המוכר אל הממכר לא ישוב אפשר יובל בטל ונביא מתנבא עליו שיבטל אלא מלמד שירמיה החזירן,ויאשיהו בן אמון מלך עליהן דכתיב (מלכים ב כג, יז) ויאמר מה הציון הלז אשר אני רואה ויאמרו אליו אנשי העיר הקבר איש האלהים אשר בא מיהודה ויקרא את הדברים האלה אשר עשית על המזבח בבית אל וכי מה טיבו של יאשיהו על המזבח בבית אל אלא מלמד שיאשיהו מלך עליהן רב נחמן אמר מהכא (הושע ו, יא) גם יהודה שת קציר לך בשובי שבות עמי,אסתר דכתיב (אסתר ה, א) ויהי ביום השלישי ותלבש אסתר מלכות בגדי מלכות מיבעי ליה אלא שלבשתה רוח הקדש כתיב הכא ותלבש וכתיב התם (דברי הימים א יב, יט) ורוח לבשה את עמשי וגו',אמר רב נחמן לא יאה יהירותא לנשי תרתי נשי יהירן הויין וסניין שמייהו חדא שמה זיבורתא וחדא שמה כרכושתא זיבורתא כתיב בה (שופטים ד, ו) ותשלח ותקרא לברק ואילו איהי לא אזלה לגביה כרכושתא כתיב בה (מלכים ב כב, טו) אמרו לאיש ולא אמרה אמרו למלך,אמר רב נחמן חולדה מבני בניו של יהושע היתה כתיב הכא (מלכים ב כב, יד) בן חרחס וכתיב התם (שופטים ב,ט) בתמנת חרס,איתיביה רב עינא סבא לרב נחמן שמונה נביאים והם כהנים יצאו מרחב הזונה ואלו הן נריה ברוך ושריה מחסיה ירמיה חלקיה חנמאל ושלום רבי יהודה אומר אף חולדה הנביאה מבני בניה של רחב הזונה היתה כתיב הכא בן תקוה (מלכים ב כב, יד) וכתיב התם (יהושע ב, יח) את תקות חוט השני,אמר ליה עינא סבא ואמרי לה פתיא אוכמא מיני ומינך תסתיים שמעתא דאיגיירא ונסבה יהושע ומי הוו ליה זרעא ליהושע והכתיב (דברי הימים א ז, כז) נון בנו יהושע בנו בני לא הוו ליה בנתן הוו ליה | 14b. Nabal, your husband, bis a rebel against the throne,as David had already been anointed as king by the prophet Samuel, and Nabal refused his orders. bAndtherefore bthere is no need to try him,as a rebel is not accorded the ordinary prescriptions governing judicial proceedings. Abigail bsaid to him:You lack the authority to act in this manner, as bSaul is still alive.He is the king in actual practice, and byour seal [ itivakha /i] has notyet bspread across the world,i.e., your kingship is not yet known to all. Therefore, you are not authorized to try someone for rebelling against the monarchy. David accepted her words and bsaid to her:“And bblessed be your discretion and blessed be you who have kept me this day from coming to bloodguiltiness [ idamim /i]”(I Samuel 25:33).,The Gemara asks: The plural term idamim /i,literally, bloods, bindicates two.Why did David not use the singular term idam /i? bRather, this teaches thatAbigail brevealed her thigh,and he lusted after her, band he went three parasangs by the fireof his desire for her, and bsaid to her: Listen to me,i.e., listen to me and allow me to be intimate with you. Abigail then bsaid to him: “Let this not be a stumbling block for you”(I Samuel 25:31). bBy inference,from the word b“this,”it can be understood that bthere is someone elsewho will in fact be a stumbling block for him, band what isthis referring to? bThe incident involving Bathsheba. And in the end this is what was,as indeed he stumbled with Bathsheba. This demonstrates that Abigail was a prophetess, as she knew that this would occur. This also explains why David blessed Abigail for keeping him from being responsible for two incidents involving blood that day: Abigail’s menstrual blood and the shedding of Nabal’s blood.,Apropos Abigail, the Gemara explains additional details in the story. Abigail said to David: b“Yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bond of lifewith the Lord your God” (I Samuel 25:29), and bwhen she parted from him she said to him: “And when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, and you shall remember your handmaid”(I Samuel 25:31)., bRav Naḥman saidthat bthisexplains the folk saying bthat people say: While a woman is engaged in conversationshe also holds bthe spindle,i.e., while a woman is engaged in one activity she is already taking steps with regard to another. Abigail came to David in order to save her husband Nabal, but at the same time she indicates that if her husband dies, David should remember her and marry her. And indeed, after Nabal’s death David took Abigail for his wife. bSome saythat Rav Naḥman referred to a different saying: bThe goose stoopsits head bas it goesalong, bbut its eyes look on from afarto find what it is looking for. So too, Abigail acted in similar fashion., bHuldahwas a prophetess, bas it is written: “So Hilkiah the priest and Ahikam and Achborand Shaphan and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess” (II Kings 22:14) as emissaries of King Josiah. The Gemara asks: bBut if Jeremiah was found there, how could she prophesy?Out of respect for Jeremiah, who was her superior, it would have been fitting that she not prophesy in his presence. The Sages of bthe school of Rav say in the name of Rav: Huldah was aclose brelative of Jeremiah, and he did not object to herprophesying in his presence.,The Gemara asks: bBut how could Josiah himself ignore Jeremiah and sendemissaries btoHuldah? The Sages of bthe school of Rabbi Sheila say: Because women aremore bcompassionate,and he hoped that what she would tell them would not be overly harsh., bRabbi Yoḥa saida different answer: bJeremiah was not thereat the time, because bhe went to bring back the ten tribesfrom their exile. bAnd from where do we derive that he brought them back? As it is written: “For the seller shall not return to that which he has sold”(Ezekiel 7:13), i.e., Ezekiel prophesied that in the future the Jubilee Year would no longer be in effect. Now bis it possible that the Jubilee hadalready been bannulled?The ihalakhotof the Jubilee Year apply only when all of the tribes of Israel are settled in their respective places, which could not have happened since the exile of the ten tribes more than a century earlier, bbut the prophet is prophesying that it will ceaseonly in the future. bRather, this teaches that Jeremiah brought backthe ten tribes from their exile., bAnd Josiah the son of Amon ruled over theten tribes, bas it is written: “Then he said: What monument is that which I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel”(II Kings 23:17). bNow what connection did Josiah,king of Judea, bhave with the altar at Bethel,a city in the kingdom of Israel? bRather, this teaches that Josiah ruled over theten tribes of Israel. bRav Naḥman said:Proof that the tribes returned may be adduced bfromthe verse bhere: “Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I would return the captivity of My people”(Hosea 6:11), which indicates that they returned to their places., bEstherwas also a prophetess, bas it is written: “And it came to pass on the third day that Esther clothed herself in royalty”(Esther 5:1). bIt should have said:Esther clothed herself in broyal garments. Rather,this alludes to the fact bthat she clothed herself with a divinespirit of binspiration. It is written here: “And she clothed herself,” and it is written elsewhere: “And the spirit clothed Amasai”(I Chronicles 12:19). Just as there the reference is to being enclothed by a spirit, so too Esther was enclothed by a spirit of divine inspiration.,An additional point is mentioned with regard to the prophetesses. bRav Naḥman said: Haughtiness is not befitting a woman.And a proof to this is that bthere were two haughty women, whose names wereidentical to the names of bloathsomecreatures. bOne,Deborah, bwas called a hornet,as her Hebrew name, Devorah, means hornet; band one,Huldah, bwas called a marten,as her name is the Hebrew term for that creature. From where is it known that they were haughty? bWith regard toDeborah, bthe hornet, it is written: “And she sent and called Barak”(Judges 4:6), bbut she herself did not go to him.And bwith regard toHuldah, bthe marten, it is written: “Say to the manthat sent you to me” (II Kings 22:15), bbut she did not say: Say to the king. /b,Furthermore, bRav Naḥman said: Huldah was a descendant of Joshua.An allusion to this bis written here:“Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, bthe son of Harhas [ iḥarḥas /i]”(II Kings 22:14), band it says elsewherewith regard to Joshua: “And they buried him in the border of his inheritance bin Timnath-heres [ iḥeres /i]”(Judges 2:9), therefore intimating that there is a certain connection between them., bRav Eina the Elder raised an objectionfrom a ibaraita bto Rav Naḥman’steaching. The ibaraitaindicates that Huldah was in fact a descendant of Rahab, and seemingly not of Joshua: bEight prophets, who werealso bpriests, descended from Rahab the prostitute, and they are: Neriah;his son bBaruch; Seraiah; Mahseiah; Jeremiah;his father, bHilkiah;Jeremiah’s cousin bHanamel; andHanamel’s father, bShallum. Rabbi Yehuda said: So too, Huldah the prophetess was a descendant of Rahab the prostitute,as bit is written herewith regard to Huldah: b“The son of Tikvah,” and it is written elsewherein reference to Rahab’s escape from the destruction of Jericho: b“This cord of [ itikvat /i] scarlet thread”(Joshua 2:18).,Rav Naḥman responded to Eina the Elder and bsaid to him: Eina the Elder, and some saythat he said to him: bBlackened pot,i.e., my colleague in Torah, who has toiled and blackened his face in Torah study, bfrom me and from you the matter may be concluded,i.e., the explanation lies in a combination of our two statements. bForRahab bconverted and married Joshua,and therefore Huldah descended from both Joshua and Rahab. The Gemara raises a difficulty: bBut did Joshua have any descendants? But isn’t it writtenin the genealogical list of the tribe of Ephraim: b“Nun his son, Joshua his son”(I Chronicles 7:27)? The listing does not continue any further, implying that Joshua had no sons. The Gemara answers: Indeed, bhe did not have sons,but bhe did have daughters. /b |
