We are on folio 95, side B, immediately after the parenthesis. We continue the discussion about Sennacherib. When he went to destroy Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash, he traveled ten stations in a single day. He was so eager to destroy Jerusalem that he rushed there, covering in one day what would ordinarily have taken much longer.
The verse lists the places through which he passed, but there seem to be more than ten—approximately twelve. The Gemara answers that one part of the verse is not describing destinations to which he traveled. Rather, it was addressing the Jewish people: “Rejoice, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not be afraid of the small lion, and do not be afraid of Nebuchadnezzar the wicked, who is compared to a lion.” This is as the verse says, “A lion has risen from its den.”
The Gemara asks about the continuation of the verse, which refers to the prophet from Anatot. This is Jeremiah, who came from Anatot and prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed, and his prophecy would be fulfilled.
But the Gemara asks: You are calling Nebuchadnezzar a lion because the verse calls him a lion. Who says that this word refers to a lion? Perhaps it is a different word. The Gemara answers that a lion has six different names. Once we remove that section of the verse from the list of destinations, there are fewer than ten stations. Therefore, one must count Avru and Ma’avara as two separate stops, bringing the total back to ten.
The verse then mentions Nov. When we hear the name Nov, we remember Nov, the city of the priests, which Saul destroyed as a result of the story involving David, Doeg, and the priests. The Gemara says that on that particular day, the final day had arrived on which God was still exacting punishment for what happened in Nov.
In other words, if Sennacherib had destroyed the Temple on that day, he would have succeeded, because that day was the final day of the account. Once it passed, there would already have been atonement. That is why Sennacherib was rushing to reach Jerusalem on that very day: he understood that there was only one day left for the sin of Nov to be punished.
His astrologers told him, “If you go to Jerusalem now, you will be able to conquer it. But if you wait even one additional day, you will no longer be able to do so.” Ordinarily, the journey should have taken ten days, but he arrived in one day.
When he reached Jerusalem, they placed mats and mattresses beneath him and lifted him until he was above the wall, so that he could see the entire city from above. When he looked out over Jerusalem, it appeared small to him. He said, “This is Jerusalem? This is the city I came to conquer? After I gathered my entire army and conquered all the other countries along the way, this is what I have reached? I conquered all those countries in order to arrive at this small and weak city.”
He stood in place, gesturing with his head and hands. His general said, “Let us go and conquer it today. Let us destroy it immediately.” Sennacherib replied, “You are tired from the journey. We traveled a great distance today. Tomorrow, each one of you will bring me a small piece of Jerusalem’s wall.”
Although his astrologers had told him that this was the day, when he saw Jerusalem he dismissed it. He thought, “What is this? It is nothing. We will deal with it today or tomorrow; there is no reason to worry.” Through that delay, Jerusalem was saved.
That night, an angel of God went out to the camp of Assyria and killed 185,000 soldiers while they were sleeping. In the morning, all those mighty men were dead.
Rabbi Pappa said that this is reflected in a popular saying: “When the judgment is delayed, the judgment is annulled.” The judgment against Jerusalem was delayed, and it consequently passed.
The Gemara now returns to the story of Nov. What was the sin of Nov, and why did it continue to hover over the Jewish people for so many years?
There was a man named Yishbi. The Gemara says that he was the brother of Goliath and the son of Harafah. Harafah, the Gemara explains, was Orpah. Yishbi wore a heavy helmet and armor. His intention was to capture David as revenge for David’s having killed his brother Goliath.
The Gemara tells how Avishai, the son of Zeruyah, miraculously came to David’s aid and saved him. What does it mean that Yishbi was in Nov? Yishbi was a Philistine, so why was he in Nov? The Gemara answers that he came to punish David for the sin of Nov, the city of the priests.
God said to David, “How long will this sin remain in your hands? Through you, the priests of Nov were killed.” David did not intend to have the priests of Nov killed. However, he had taken food from the priests, and Saul concluded that the priests were siding with David and rebelling against him. Saul acted on Doeg’s advice, but David had been indirectly involved.
There therefore needed to be a rectification. God told David that, as a result of this sin, he had lost his share in the World to Come indirectly through David, and Saul and his three sons would die in battle against the Philistines. These events were punishments for what had happened to Nov.
God gave David two options for rectifying the matter: either his descendants would be destroyed, or he would be delivered into the hands of his enemies. David replied, “Master of the Universe, it is better that I be delivered into the hands of my enemies than that my descendants be destroyed.”
The Gemara then tells how God delivered David into the hands of his enemies. One day, David went out hunting birds. Satan came and appeared to him as a deer. David shot an arrow at the deer but did not hit it. The deer continued farther and farther, and David pursued it until he found himself in Philistine territory. The deer had drawn him out of the Land of Israel into the land of the Philistines.
Yishbi suddenly saw David and said, “This is the man who killed my brother Goliath.” He tied David up and placed him in an olive press, intending to lower it onto David and crush him. A miracle occurred: a small portion of the ground opened, and David was able to slip into that space, where the olive press could not crush him. This is what David meant when he said, “You widened the place beneath me, and I did not lose my footing.” David was saying that he had been saved miraculously.
That day was Shabbat. Meanwhile, Avishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruyah, was bathing and washing his hair. He saw traces of blood in the water. Some say that a bird had been killed in front of him while he was bathing, and its blood entered the water. He took this as a sign that the Jewish people were in trouble, because the Jewish people are compared to a dove.
Avishai immediately went to David’s house, but David was not there. He now had to determine what to do. We had already learned in the Mishnah that one may not use the king’s horse or scepter. However, Avishai needed David’s animal in order to search for him. The question was whether one was permitted to use the king’s animal. The answer was that it was permitted. Avishai mounted David’s mule and set out.
Along the way, a lion came near him. Whom did he see? He saw Orpah, the mother of Yishbi. Orpah was sitting and weaving with weaving sticks. When she saw Avishai, she deliberately threw one of the sticks at him, pretending that she had dropped it accidentally. Her intention was to kill him.
She said to him, “Young man, please pick up my weaving stick. I dropped it.” Her intention had been to strike him, but she did not want to say so openly. Avishai picked it up and threw it at her head, killing her. This was the mother of Goliath and the mother of Yishbi.
When Yishbi saw what had happened, he said, “Now it is David and Avishai against me. They will kill me.” He saw Avishai approaching and decided to kill David before Avishai could reach him. He took David and threw him into the air. He then took his spear and thrust it into the ground, intending for David to fall onto it and die.
If Yishbi had wanted simply to kill David, he could have killed him directly. Instead, he wanted to demonstrate his strength. He wanted to show that he could throw David into the air as though he were nothing and then cause him to fall onto the spear.
Avishai invoked one of the Divine Names, and David remained suspended in the air. He did not fall. The Gemara asks why David himself did not invoke the Divine Name. It answers with the rule that a prisoner cannot free himself from prison; he requires someone else to free him. David was in danger and needed Avishai, who was outside, to rescue him.
Avishai called out to David, who was still suspended in the air, “What are you doing there? Why did you enter enemy territory?” David replied, “God gave me two options: either my descendants should be destroyed or I should be delivered into the hands of my enemies. I chose to be delivered into the hands of my enemies. This is the consequence I am now receiving.”
Avishai said, “Reverse your prayer. Pray for the other option. You would rather let your grandchildren sell wax than experience this suffering. Take the other option, that your descendants should be destroyed, but do not endure this pain.” David replied, “You must help me. You must change the decree.”
This is what the verse means when it says that Avishai, the son of Zeruyah, helped him. Rabbi Yehudah said in the name of Rav that Avishai helped him through prayer. Avishai invoked another Divine Name and brought David back down to the ground.
Yishbi chased after them. When they reached Kube, which was near the border, Avishai said, “Let us kill him.” Nevertheless, they were still afraid. Yishbi was extremely powerful. When they reached the city of Betre, they said, “Two young animals should be able to kill the lion.” They devised a trick to weaken Yishbi. They told him, “You should go visit your mother. She is in the grave.”
When Yishbi heard his mother’s name, he lost his strength for a moment and became weak. They killed him immediately. After seeing how close David had come to being killed, they said that David could no longer be allowed to go out alone, because the enemy might capture him.
The Gemara then discusses three people in history about whom it can be said that the land came to them—that the distance seemed to shorten for them. We have just discussed one example, and the Gemara now turns to Jacob.
Jacob left for the house of Laban and arrived there that same day, even though the journey should have taken several days. He later arrived at Betuel. He went to sleep there because the sun had set.
There is a difficulty in the verses. One verse says that Jacob came to Haran, while the next says that he reached a place and slept there. Haran is beyond Bethel. Did Jacob reach Haran, or did he reach Bethel?
The Gemara answers that he reached Haran. Jacob said, in effect, “If I am now in the place where my parents were buried and I have not prayed there, and I have passed the place where my father prayed without praying there, I will return.” He wanted to go back to the place of the Temple and pray there.
As he was returning, the land came to him. Suddenly, he reached the place. The verse says that he encountered the place, which indicates something sudden, like a person walking along and unexpectedly meeting a friend. He encountered the place, and he prayed there.
Jacob then went to sleep because the sun had set. The Gemara asks why the verse first says that he went to sleep and only afterward explains that the sun had set. It could simply have said that the sun set and Jacob went to sleep. By placing the sleep first, the verse implies that Jacob had not originally intended to sleep there.
What had Jacob intended to do? After praying, he intended to return to Haran. God said, “This righteous man has come to My house, to the place where My Divine Presence is, and he is not going to sleep here?” God wanted to give Jacob a prophecy there, so He caused Jacob to sleep in that place.
The sun therefore set early in order to make Jacob sleep there. Jacob did not realize that the time had arrived for sunset; the sun set prematurely. The Gemara similarly explains the verse that says that the sun rose for Jacob when he fought the angel. The sun rises for everyone, but the sun that had set for Jacob rose for Jacob.
This teaches a lesson. When the sun set for Jacob, it marked the beginning of the troubles he would experience. He was about to go to an unfamiliar land and to Laban, and he would endure difficulties involving his children and many other events. But after he completed the twenty-two years with Laban and all those troubles, the sun rose for him. The same God who caused the sun to set for him, bringing him into periods of difficulty and testing, also caused it to rise for him.
The sun’s rising indicated that Jacob would ultimately succeed. God was with him from the beginning through the end. When the sun went down, God was with him during the troubles. When the sun rose, Jacob was able to overcome the angel and emerge whole.
The Gemara now returns to the story of David. David had chosen the possibility that his descendants would be destroyed. The Gemara says that his enemies came close to destroying all the descendants of David. A woman went and killed all the surviving descendants of David’s royal family, leaving only one child, Yoash.
The verse says that Athaliah was from the royal family of the Kingdom of Israel and that she killed the entire royal family. Yet this was not completely so; one survivor remained. The Gemara compares this to what happened in Nov. Not all the priests were killed there either, because Evyatar survived. In the same way, God spared one descendant of David.
Everyone knows that Evyatar survived. He replaced one of the descendants of Ahitofel, and his name was Evyatar. Rabbi Yehudah said in the name of Rav that the one who replaced Evyatar of Ahitofel was Evyatar, the descendant of David. If Evyatar had not been saved, there would have been no remnant of David’s family. The continuation of David’s family through Yoash was possible because Evyatar had been saved.
The Gemara then gives the numbers of the armies involved. There were 45,000 of one group and 80,000 mighty men, as well as 60,000 additional soldiers. It was an impressive army. The same number of soldiers came against Abraham when he fought the four kings. There were also 185,000 soldiers when Sennacherib tried to save Lot, and this would likewise be the number of soldiers who would come in the time of Gog and Magog to fight against Israel. From that conflict, the final redemption would emerge.
The Gemara describes the length of Sennacherib’s camp as 400 parasangs. One explanation given is that the length was 400 parasangs, with each parasang containing four mil. A mil is approximately 1,000 cubits, close to a kilometer, making the total distance approximately 1,600 kilometers.
The camp was so broad that the horses stood neck to neck. The numerical discussion then becomes difficult. The figures seem to describe an enormous number, perhaps 2.6 billion, or perhaps another calculation. The exact unit is unclear. The Gemara continues to calculate the number using various units and subtracting one, but the precise meaning of the calculation is questioned.
Why does the Gemara involve itself in such a calculation? What practical halachic consequence could emerge from it? It is history, and one might ask who cares whether the number was one amount or ten thousand. Yet the discussion suggests that there must be some halachic significance. Perhaps the calculation relates to the measure of a mil, although that is not stated explicitly.
The Tannaim then explain how Sennacherib’s armies crossed the Jordan River to enter the Land of Israel. The first group had to swim because the river was extremely deep. As they crossed, they displaced and carried away so much water through the movement of the horses and the force of their passage that the water level dropped.
The second group was able to walk across, with the water reaching only their necks. By the time the last group reached the river, there was dirt beneath their feet and no water remained. The multitude of soldiers had drained the Jordan so thoroughly that there was not even enough water left for them to drink. They had to obtain drinking water from another source.
It is difficult to believe that an army could drain the Jordan River in this way, but that is what the Gemara describes.
The Gemara had just mentioned approximately two billion soldiers under Sennacherib, but earlier it had said that 185,000 died. What is the explanation? The 185,000 were the generals. Each general commanded a much larger group of soldiers beneath him. When the verse says that 185,000 died, it is referring to the officers; many more soldiers died that day.
Rabbi Asher says that this is also precise. The verse states, “Through his mighty ones, leanness,” indicating that the curse fell specifically upon the leaders, the strong ones. There were many other deaths as well, but the novel point was that the mighty leaders were struck.
The verse also says that God sent an angel. The angel came to the camp and struck the soldiers. Rabbi Elazar explains that the 185,000 included the higher-ranking officers.
How did the angel kill them? Rabbi Ezra Mir explains that the expression “the great hand” recalls the great hand that was seen in Egypt. The hand that was revealed in Egypt was the same hand that would eventually strike Sennacherib. In Egypt, the Jewish people saw the great hand of God. Here, an angel performed the act, but the same great hand was revealed through him.
The question then arises: What does it mean that the destruction occurred at the sea? One explanation is that the judgment had already been determined at the Sea of Reeds. When the Jewish people left Egypt, God had already decided that the armies of Sennacherib would ultimately be destroyed. This does not mean that they drowned in the sea; rather, their deaths had already been determined there.
Another interpretation explains the verse through the image of a finger. At the time of the plague in Egypt, the magicians said, “This is the finger of God.” They had already perceived that, in the future, God would destroy Sennacherib’s armies with a single finger.
Gabriel was then told to sharpen his sickle. The sickle had been prepared since the six days of creation. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai said that Gabriel was the angel responsible for ripening fruit. At that time, the season for ripening fruit had arrived, and the Holy One, blessed be He, told Gabriel, “When you go down to ripen the fruit, do not go down to kill them.”
As Gabriel went down, he was instructed to divert from his route and kill the soldiers of Sennacherib. The expression “in the middle of the night” is understood as describing a sudden attack, catching the enemy off guard. Some say that Gabriel blew into their nostrils, and they died.
It is also said that God clapped His hands, so to speak, and His anger subsided. God opened their ears so that they could hear things ordinarily hidden from human beings. What did they hear? They heard the songs that the ministering angels were singing from the exalted realms.
When all the pagan soldiers died, the question arose whether anyone survived. Rav said that ten survived. Another opinion gives a different number. The discussion asks how many people could write the number ten. A child wrote down the number, and the Gemara derives from this that the number was ten. Since the letter representing ten is simple to write, even a child could write it.
Another opinion says that nine survived. This is derived from the expression describing a small cluster of grapes or a small gathering of olives: two or three, four or five. Four and five together make nine.
The verse is then interpreted as indicating two groups: two and three, which make five, and four and five, which make nine. Together, these references yield fourteen. The calculation includes Sennacherib, his two sons, Nebuchadnezzar, and another figure. Sennacherib and his two sons make three; Nebuchadnezzar and the chief butcher associated with him make two more. The precise identities of the final survivors are discussed, and some of the names are not clearly established in the passage.
The Gemara says that Nebuchadnezzar was among those who survived. In the Book of Daniel, when Nebuchadnezzar relates his dream, he describes the angel he saw. How did he know what an angel looked like? He must have seen an angel previously. When did Nebuchadnezzar see an angel? He saw one that night when the angel came to kill Sennacherib’s soldiers. Nebuchadnezzar therefore survived that event and had an image of an angel from what he had witnessed.
The verse states that Nebuchadnezzar saw a figure resembling a son of the gods. The Gemara asks how he could identify the figure as an angel unless he had previously seen one. His experience in the camp of Sennacherib provided that knowledge.
Finally, the Gemara says that Sennacherib and his two sons also survived that night. When they returned to their place of worship to pray, Sennacherib was killed together with his two sons. The fact that they were killed on the way back indicates that they had remained alive after the destruction of the army.
May the Name of God be blessed forever and ever. Amen and amen.