This sugya weaves together two legendary accounts that link Abraham’s miraculous power with the later figure of Naḥum Ish Gam Zo (1st century CE).1
It opens with Rav Ḥana bar Leva’ei’s report that Shem, the son of Noah and ancestor of Abraham, once asked Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, how his master Abraham had defeated the coalition of four mighty kings described in Genesis 14. Eliezer answers that God placed Abraham at His right hand, and that in the heat of battle they would cast mere dust and straw, which miraculously transformed into swords and arrows.
To ground this in Scripture, verses from Psalms (110:1) and Isaiah (41:2) are cited, portraying Abraham as God’s chosen warrior who subdues kings with weapons wrought from earth itself.
This segues into a narrative about Naḥum of Gam-Zo, (supposedly) so named because of his habit of responding to every misfortune with the words, “This too (‘gam zo’) is for the best.”2 The Jews, needing to send tribute to the Roman emperor, choose Naḥum as their emissary due to his reputation for miracles.
On his journey, however, unscrupulous innkeepers steal the treasures meant for the emperor and replace them with dirt. When the gift is presented in Rome, the emperor is enraged at what he sees as mockery and orders Naḥum executed.
Remaining steadfast, Naḥum utters his refrain. At this critical moment Elijah appears in the guise of a Roman and suggests that the dirt may in fact be the same miraculous dust that Abraham used in his battles. Tested in war, the earth enables Rome to conquer a province previously unconquerable. Impressed, the emperor rewards Naḥum richly, filling his chest with gold.
The story concludes with poetic justice: the innkeepers, hoping to replicate Naḥum’s success, bring their own earth to the emperor. When it proves useless, they are executed.
Outline
Intro
The Passage - From Dust to Swords: Linking Abraham’s Battle in Genesis 14 With Naḥum of Gimzo’s Mission to Rome (Sanhedrin 108b-109a)
Rav Ḥana bar Leva’ei - Shem asks Eliezer how Abraham defeated the four kings (Genesis 14)
Eliezer responds that God placed Abraham at His right hand, and when they threw dirt it turned into swords, and straw became arrows
Biblical verses are cited to support this (Psalms 110:1; Isaiah 41:2).
Naḥum of Gam Zo was known for saying “This too [‘gam zo’] is for the best” in every circumstance
When Jews decide to send a gift to the Roman emperor, they choose Naḥum because of his reputation for miracles
On the way, innkeepers steal the contents of his chest and replace them with dirt
Brought before the emperor, the chest appears empty of value
Naḥum is about to be executed, but Elijah incarnates as a Roman and suggests the dirt might be Abraham’s miraculous dust
The emperor tests it in battle, and it enables victory where Rome had failed
The emperor rewards Naḥum by filling his chest with gold
When the innkeepers try the same scheme, bringing their own dirt as a gift, it fails, and they are executed.
The Passage
Rav Ḥana bar Leva’ei - Shem asks Eliezer how Abraham defeated the four kings (Genesis 14)
אמר רב חנה בר לואי:
אמר שם רבא לאליעזר:
כי אתו עלייכו מלכי מזרח ומערב,
אתון היכי עבידיתו?
§ Rav Ḥana bar Leva’ei says that
Shem the Great said to Eliezer, servant of Abraham:
When the four great kings of the east and the west3 came upon you to wage war with Abraham,
what did you do?
Eliezer responds that God placed Abraham at His right hand, and when they threw dirt it turned into swords, and straw became arrows
אמר ליה:
אייתי הקדוש ברוך הוא לאברהם
ואותביה מימיניה,
והוה שדינן עפרא
והוו חרבי,
גילי
והוו גירי
Eliezer said to him:
God brought Abraham
and placed him to His right,
and we would throw dirt (עפרא)
and it became swords,
and we threw straw (גילי)
and it became arrows (גירי)
Biblical verses are cited to support this (Psalms 110:1; Isaiah 41:2).
שנאמר:
״מזמור לדוד
נאם ה׳ לאדני
שב לימיני
עד אשית איביך הדם לרגליך״
as it is stated:
“A Psalm of David.
YHWH says to my master:
Sit to My right,
until I make your enemies your footstool” (Psalms 110:1),
וכתיב:
״מי העיר ממזרח צדק
יקראהו לרגלו
יתן לפניו גוים
ומלכים ירד
יתן כעפר חרבו
כקש נדף קשתו״.
and it is written:
“Who has raised up one from the east4
at whose steps victory attends?
He gives nations before him,
and makes him rule over kings;
his sword makes them as the dust,5
his bow as driven straw” (Isaiah 41:2).
Naḥum of Gam Zo was known for saying “This too [‘gam zo’] is for the best” in every circumstance
נחום איש גם זו הוה רגיל,
דכל דהוה סלקא ליה
אמר: ״גם זו לטובה״.
Apropos Abraham’s miraculous weapons, the Talmud relates:
Naḥum of Gam Zo was accustomed that
in response to any circumstance that arose in his regard,
he would say: “This too [gam zo] is for the best”
When Jews decide to send a gift to the Roman emperor, they choose Naḥum because of his reputation for miracles
יומא חד
בעו [ישראל] לשדורי דורון לקיסר.
אמרי:
בהדי מאן נשדר?
נשדר בהדי נחום איש גם זו,
דמלומד בנסים הוא.
One day the Jewish people sought to send a gift [doron] to the emperor.6
They said:
With whom shall we send the gift?
They decided: We will send it with Naḥum of Gam Zo,
as he is experienced in miracles7
On the way, innkeepers steal the contents of his chest and replace them with dirt
כי מטא לההוא דיורא,
בעא למיבת.
אמרי ליה: מאי איכא בהדך?
אמר להו: קא מובילנא כרגא לקיסר.
קמו בליליא,
שרונהו לסיפטיה,
ושקלו כל דהוה גביה
ומלונהו עפרא.
When he reached a certain lodging,
he sought to sleep there.
The residents of that lodging said to him: What do you have with you?
Naḥum said to them: I am taking the head tax (כרגא) to the emperor.
They rose in the night,
opened his chest (סיפטיה)
and took everything that was in it,
and then filled the chest with dirt.
Brought before the emperor, the chest appears empty of value
כי מטא להתם,
אישתכח עפרא.
אמר: אחוכי קא מחייכי בי יהודאי.
אפקוה למקטליה.
אמר: גם זו לטובה.
When he arrived there, in Rome,
earth was discovered in the chest.
The emperor said: The Jews are mocking8 me by giving me this gift.
They took Naḥum out to kill him.
Naḥum said: “This too is for the best”
Naḥum is about to be executed, but Elijah incarnates as a Roman and suggests the dirt might be Abraham’s miraculous dust
אתא אליהו
ואידמי להו כחד מינייהו.
אמר להו:
דילמא האי עפרא מעפרא דאברהם אבינו הוא,
דהוה שדי עפרא הוו חרבי, גילי הוו גירי.
בדוק
ואשכחו הכי.
Elijah the prophet came
and appeared to them as one of them9
Elijah said to them:
Perhaps this dirt is from the dirt of Abraham our forefather,
who would throw dirt and it became swords, and who would throw straw and it became arrows.
They examined the dirt
and discovered that it was indeed the dirt of Abraham.
The emperor tests it in battle, and it enables victory where Rome had failed
הוה מחוזא דלא הוו קא יכלי ליה למיכבשיה.
שדו מההוא עפרא עליה
וכבשוה.
There was a province (מחוזא) that the Romans were unable to conquer.
They threw some of this earth upon that province
and they conquered it.
The emperor rewards Naḥum by filling his chest with gold
עיילוה לבי גנזא,
אמרי: שקול דניחא לך.
מלייה לסיפטא דהבא.
In appreciation for the gift that Naḥum of Gam Zo had brought on behalf of the Jewish people, they brought him into the treasury
and said: Take that which is preferable to you.
He filled his chest with gold.
When the innkeepers try the same scheme, bringing their own dirt as a gift, it fails, and they are executed.
כי הדר אתא,
אמרו ליה הנך דיורי: מאי אמטית לבי מלכא?
אמר להו:
מאי דשקלי מהכא
אמטאי להתם.
When he returned to that lodging,
those residents said to him: What did you bring to the king’s palace?
Naḥum said to them:
What I took from here,
I brought to there.
שקלי אינהו
אמטו להתם.
קטלינהו להנך דיורי.
The residents concluded that the earth with which they had filled the chest had miraculous properties.
They took earth
and brought it to the emperor.
Once the Romans discovered that the earth was ineffective in battle, they executed those residents.
This appears right after the sugya of the biblical Flood, that I analyzed in the previous series.
The current sugya appears by association of Shem asking Eliezer; the same rabbi says it, and the same formula is used:
אמר רב חנה בר לואי:
אמר שם רבא לאליעזר
[…]
Rav Ḥana bar Leva’ei says:
Shem the Great (רבא) said to Eliezer:
[…]
In fact, “Gimzo” is simply a toponym; he was from the town of Gimzo.
מלכי מזרח ומערב.
A common Talmudic merism (see results here), meaning “all kings, an international coalition of kings”, see my previous note on this.
מי העיר ממזרח צדק.
Understood as referring to Abraham (“righteous from the east”).
Compare Bava_Batra.15a.9:
אמר רב:
איתן האזרחי זה הוא אברהם –
כתיב הכא:
״איתן האזרחי״,
וכתיב התם:
״מי העיר ממזרח צדק [וגו׳]״.
Rav says:
Ethan the Ezrahite is the same person as Abraham.
Proof for this is the fact that
it is written here:
“A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite” (Psalms 89:1),
and it is written there:
“Who raised up one from the east [mizraḥ], whom righteousness met wherever he set his foot” (Isaiah 41:2).
The latter verse is understood as referring to Abraham, who came from the east, and for that reason he is called Ethan the Ezrahite in the former verse.
יתן כעפר חרבו.
This is homiletically understood by the Talmud here to mean that dirt acted as a sword.
מלומד בנסים - literally: “learned in miracles”; a common Talmudic idiom.
See the similar sentence—similarly in the context of sending an emissary to Rome—in my “Pt2 Debates and Miracles: Logic, Exorcism, and the Repeal of Roman Anti-Jewish Laws (Meilah 17a-b)“, section “R’ Shimon ben Yohai and R’ Shimon ben Yosi“:
אמרו: מי ילך ויבטל הגזרות?
ילך רבי שמעון בן יוחאי,
שהוא מלומד בנסים.
The Sages then said: Who will go and nullify these decrees?
Let R' Shimon ben Yoḥai go to Rome,
as he is accustomed to experiencing miracles.
אחוכי קא מחייכי - literally: “laughing”.
Ed. Steinsaltz interprets that Elijah appeared (i.e. was incarnated as) one of “Naḥum’s traveling party.“
However, the more likely interpretation is that Elijah appeared as a Roman. In general, Elijah often incarnates in the Talmudic stories as a non-Jew. Compare my “Three Charges, Many Miracles: The Trial of R’ Elazar ben Perata (Avodah Zarah 17b)“, section ““Why did you free your slave?”“:
אתא אליהו,
אידמי ליה כחד מחשובי דמלכותא
Elijah came
appearing as a Roman aristocrat (חד מחשובי דמלכותא - literally: “one of the important ones of the kingdom”)
In general, see my ““He appeared to him as a [X]”: Talmudic Stories of Incarnations of God, Eliyahu, Satan, and Demons“.