This is the second and final part of a two-part series. Part 1 is here; the outline of the series can be found at Part 1.
Shebna had 130,000 followers, compared with Hezekiah’s 110,000
מאי קשר רשעים?
שבנא
הוה דריש בתליסר רבוותא,
חזקיה
הוה דריש בחד סר רבוותא.
§ The Talmud asks:
What is the source of the halakha that a conspiracy of wicked people is not counted as part of a group?
The Talmud answers:
Shebna, a steward and a minister in King Hezekiah’s court, was a prominent and influential figure --
He would teach Torah to an audience of 130,000 followers,
whereas King Hezekiah --
would teach Torah to an audience of merely 110,000 followers.
Shebna secretly offered to surrender to Sennacherib
כי אתא סנחריב וצר עלה דירושלם,
כתב שבנא פתקא
שדא בגירא:
״שבנא וסיעתו
השלימו,
חזקיה וסיעתו
לא השלימו״.
When Sennacherib came and besieged Jerusalem,
Shebna wrote a note1
and shot it over the wall with an arrow.
It read:
Shebna and his faction
have appeased Sennacherib and are ready to surrender;
Hezekiah and his faction
have not appeased Sennacherib.
Prooftext - Psalms 11:2
שנאמר:
״כי הנה הרשעים ידרכון קשת
כוננו חצם על יתר״.
As it is stated in allusion to this incident:
“For behold, the wicked bend the bow,
they have made ready their arrow upon the string” (Psalms 11:2).
Hezekiah fears that God might follow the majority supporting surrender to Assyria
הוה קא מסתפי חזקיה,
אמר:
דילמא חס ושלום נטיה דעתיה דקודשא בריך הוא בתר רובא,
כיון דרובא מימסרי —
אינהו נמי מימסרי.
Hezekiah was afraid.
He said:
Perhaps, God forbid, the opinion of God will follow the majority;
and since the majority have submitted (מימסרי) to the Assyrians —
even those who have not submitted will also be submitted into their hands.
Isaiah reassures Hezekiah that a conspiracy of wicked people is not counted as a legitimate majority - Isaiah 8:12
בא נביא ואמר לו:
״לא תאמרון קשר
לכל אשר יאמר העם הזה קשר״,
כלומר,
קשר רשעים הוא,
וקשר רשעים אינו מן המנין.
The prophet Isaiah then came and said to him:
“Say not: A conspiracy,
concerning all of which this people say: A conspiracy” (Isaiah 8:12).
Meaning,
it is a conspiracy of wicked people,
and a conspiracy of wicked people is not counted.
Therefore, although they are many, they are not considered the majority.
Shebna’s attempt to prepare a royal burial place among the graves of the house of David, and Isaiah’s prophecy of his punishment - Isaiah 22:16–17
הלך לחצב לו קבר בקברי בית דוד.
בא נביא ואמר לו:
״מה לך פה, ומי לך פה
כי חצבת לך פה קבר...
הנה ה׳ מטלטלך טלטלה גבר״.
Shebna went to carve out a grave for himself among the graves of the house of David,
as he thought that the kingship would be given to him.
The prophet Isaiah then came and said to him:
“What have you here, and whom have you here,
that you have carved out a grave for yourself here?
You, who have carved yourself out a grave on high,
and hollowed a habitation for yourself in the rock?
Behold, YHWH will make you wander (מטלטלך) like the wandering (טלטלה) of a man (גבר);
and he will wind you round and round” (Isaiah 22:16–17).
Rav - A man’s wandering is more difficult than a woman’s - Isaiah 22:17
אמר רב:
טלטולא דגברא קשי מדאיתתא.
The Talmud mentions tangentially:
Rav says that
the wandering (טלטולא) of a man (גברא) is more difficult than that of a woman.
He derives it from the expression “like the wandering of a man.”
R’ Yosei b. Ḥanina - Derives that Shebna developed tzara’at through a verbal parallel between Isaiah’s prophecy and the law of the metzora - Isaiah 22:17; Leviticus 13:45
״ועטך עטה״ –
אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא:
מלמד שפרחה בו צרעת.
כתיב הכא
״ועטך עטה״,
וכתיב התם
״ועל שפם יעטה״.
With regard to the phrase: “And he will wind you round and round,”
R’ Yosei, son of R’ Ḥanina, says:
This teaches that Shebna developed tzara’at;
it is written here:
“And he will wind you round and round [עטך עטה - otkha ato],”
and it is written there, in the Torah, with regard to a metzora:
“And the metzora in whom the plague is, his clothes should be torn, and the hair of his head should go loose, and he should cover his upper lip”2 (Leviticus 13:45).
Baraita - Shebna sought to disgrace his master’s house, so his own glory became disgrace - Isaiah 22:18
״צנוף יצנפך צנפה
כדור אל ארץ רחבת ידים וגו׳״.
The Talmud continues to interpret the prophecy about Shebna:
“He will violently roll and toss you
[like] a ball into a large country;
there you should die,
and there should be the chariots of your glory,
you shame of your lord’s house” (Isaiah 22:18).
תנא:
הוא ביקש קלון בית אדניו,
לפיכך נהפך כבודו לקלון.
A baraita taught:
He, Shebna, desired shame (קלון) for his master’s house;
therefore his glory turned to shame.3
Gabriel prevented Shebna’s followers from accompanying him to the Assyrians
כי הוה נפיק איהו,
אתא גבריאל
אחדיה לדשא באפי משרייתיה.
This is what happened to him:
When he was going out of the gate of Jerusalem to submit to the Assyrians,
the angel Gabriel came
and held the gate in front of his camp (משרייתיה)
so they could not follow him. Consequently, he went out by himself.
The Assyrians consequently humiliated and killed Shebna
אמרו ליה: משירייתך היכא?
אמר: הדרו בי.
אמרו ליה:
אם כן,
אחוכי קא מחייכת בן
The Assyrians said to him: Where is your camp?
Shebna said: They backed out on me.
They said to him:
If so,
you are mocking us;
you led us to believe that behind you stands a large camp of supporters.
נקבוהו בעקביו
ותלאוהו בזנבי סוסיהם,
והיו מגררין אותו על הקוצים ועל הברקנין.
They punched holes in his heels
and hung him by the tails of their horses,
and dragged him on the thorns and on the bristles.4
R’ Elazar - Shebna was a hedonist, inferred through the shared Hebrew root of sokhen (steward) and sokhenet (female companion) - Isaiah 22:15; I Kings 1:2
אמר רבי אלעזר:
שבנא בעל הנאה היה.
כתיב הכא:
״לך בא אל הסכן הזה״,
וכתיב התם:
״ותהי לו סכנת״.
R’ Elazar says:
Shebna was a hedonist.5
It is written here:
“Go, get yourself to this steward [ha-sokhen], to Shebna, who is over the house” (Isaiah 22:15),
and it is written there with regard to Abishag the Shunammite:
“And let her be a companion [sokhenet] to him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may get heat” (I Kings 1:2).
Rav Yehuda / Rav Eina - Interprets the destruction of the “foundations” as either the potential destruction of Hezekiah and his followers, or of the (First) Temple - Psalms 11:3; I Samuel 2:8; Isaiah 28:29
ואומר:
״כי השתות יהרסון
צדיק מה פעל״.
רב יהודה ורב עינא:
חד אמר:
אילו חזקיה וסיעתו נהרסים --
צדיק מה פעל?
וחד אמר:
אילו בית המקדש יהרס --
צדיק מה פעל?
And following the aforementioned verse: “For behold, the wicked bend the bow, they have made ready their arrow upon the string,”
the next verse states:
“When the foundations are destroyed,
what has the Righteous One done?”
(Psalms 11:3).
Rav Yehuda and Rav Eina interpret this verse:
One says:
If Hezekiah and his camp are destroyed --
what has the Righteous One done?
And one says:
If the Temple should be destroyed --
what has the Righteous One done?
Ulla - Interprets the verse as asking what God would have accomplished if Sennacherib’s wicked plans had not been destroyed - Psalms 11:3
ועולא אמר:
אילו מחשבותיו של אותו רשע אינן נהרסות,
צדיק מה פעל?
And Ulla says:
If the intentions of that wicked person, Sennacherib, are not destroyed --
what has the Righteous One done?
בשלמא למאן דאמר:
אילו מחשבותיו של אותו רשע,
היינו דכתיב
״כי השתות יהרסון״.
The Talmud asks:
Granted, according to the one who says that
the verse means: If the intentions of that wicked person are not destroyed, what has the Righteous One done,
this is the reason that it is written:
“When the foundations [hashatot] are destroyed,”
i.e., the intentions of Sennacherib are destroyed, as intentions are called shatot.
Mishnah (Yoma 53b) - The Temple’s Foundation Stone (even shetiyya) explains the identification of the “foundations” with the Temple
ולמאן דאמר בית המקדש,
נמי –
דתנן:
אבן היתה שם מימות נביאים הראשונים,
ושתייה היתה נקראת.
And according to the one who says it is referring to the Temple,
the word hashatot is also clear,
as we learned in a Mishnah (Yoma 53b):
There was a stone in the Holy of Holies from the days of the early prophets, David and Samuel, who laid the groundwork for construction of the Temple,
and this stone was called the Foundation [shetiyya] Stone.
אלא למאן דאמר חזקיה וסיעתו,
היכא אשכחן צדיקי דאיקרו ״שתות״?
But according to the one who says that the reference is to Hezekiah and his camp,
where do we find that righteous people are referred to as shatot?
The Talmud explains the identification of righteous people with “foundations” through verses describing the pillars of the earth and divine wisdom - I Samuel 2:8; Isaiah 28:29
דכתיב:
״כי לה׳ מצקי ארץ
וישת עליהם תבל״.
The Talmud answers:
As it is written:
“He raises up the poor out of the dust, He lifts up the needy from the dung hill, to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory;
for the pillars of the earth are YHWH’s,
and He has set [va-yashet] the world upon them” (I Samuel 2:8).6
ואיבעית אימא מהכא:
״הפליא עצה
הגדיל תושיה״.
And if you wish,
say instead that it is derived from here:
“Wonderful is His counsel,
and great His wisdom [tushiyya]” (Isaiah 28:29).
Thus, we see that wise, righteous people are called shatot.
Three explanations of the term tushiyya (Torah): 1) Torah study weakens a person’s physical strength; 2) Torah was given secretly because of Satan; 3) Torah consists of seemingly strange matters upon which the world is founded - Isaiah 28:29
אמר רבי חנן:
למה נקרא שמה תושיה?
מפני שהיא מתשת כחו של אדם.
דבר אחר: תושיה – שניתנה בחשאי, מפני השטן.
דבר אחר: תושיה – דברים של תוהו שהעולם משותת עליהם.
With regard to the latter verse, R’ Ḥanan says:
Why is the Torah called tushiyya?
Because it weakens [מתשת - matteshet] the strength of a person who engages in its study.
Alternatively, tushiyya can be interpreted as an abbreviation: That it was given in secret [she-nittena be-ḥashai]. This was done because of the Satan, lest he claim that the Jewish people are not worthy of it.
Alternatively, tushiyya can be interpreted as an abbreviation for amorphous [tohu] matters that seem foreign and strange, but nevertheless the world is founded [meshotat] on them.
Ulla - Anxiety and distracting thoughts can interfere even with Torah study - Job 5:12
אמר עולא:
מחשבה מועלת אפילו לדברי תורה,
שנאמר:
״מפר מחשבות ערומים
ולא תעשינה ידיהם תושיה״.
Ulla says:
Thought, i.e., concern, is effective [mo’elet] in disturbing even the study of statements of Torah,
as it is stated:
“He frustrates the thoughts of the crafty,
so that their hands can perform nothing [ve-lo…tushiyya]” (Job 5:12),
and tushiyya is a reference to Torah.
Rabba - Anxiety cannot disrupt Torah study undertaken for its own sake (li-shma), because counsel containing God’s word endures - Proverbs 19:21
אמר רבה:
אם עסוקין לשמה --
אינה מועלת,
שנאמר:
״רבות מחשבות בלב איש
ועצת ה׳ היא תקום״.
Rabba says:
If people engage in Torah study for its own sake (לשמה) --
concern is not effective;
as it is stated:
“There are many devices in a man’s heart;
but the counsel of YHWH,
that should stand” (Proverbs 19:21).
עצה שיש בה דבר ה׳ --
היא תקום לעולם.
Rabba interprets this to mean that
a counsel that has in it the statement of YHWH --
should rise forever
and cannot be disturbed.
פתקא -
from Greek.
ya’ate - יעטה
Steinsaltz:
The Hebrew word for upper lip is from the same root as the verb in the verse cited from Isaiah.
I.e., measure-for-measure punishment (מידה כנגד מידה).
Compare Homer, Iliad 22.395–404, describing Achilles piercing Hector’s heels and dragging his corpse behind his chariot (tr. Samuel Butler):
On this he treated the body of Hektor with contumely: he pierced the sinews at the back of both his feet from heel to ankle and passed thongs of ox-hide through the slits he had made: thus he made the body fast to his chariot, letting the head trail upon the ground.
In both stories, the heels are pierced. In Homer, this is explicitly done so that Hector can be tied to the chariot (with “thongs of ox-hide through the slits”) and dragged. There are two differences: Hector is already dead, while Shebna is apparently still alive; and Hector is dragged behind a chariot, rather than by the horses’ tails. Still, the piercing of the heels is a much closer parallel than simply dragging someone behind horses. The Talmudic story may draw on a literary motif of humiliating an enemy by piercing his heels and dragging him behind horses.
בעל הנאה -
literally: “master of pleasure”.
Steinsaltz:
Since the righteous are considered the foundations of the world, this verse is interpreted in reference to them.