(See "Genesis
according to the Talmud," p. 288, No. 16.)
"And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, etc.; for ye showed
kindness to all the children of Israel" (1 Sam. xv. 6). And did they
show kindness to all the children of Israel? No; but what is written is
to teach that he who receives a disciple of the wise as a guest into his
house, and gives him to eat and to drink, is as if he had shown kindness
to all the children of Israel.
_Midrash Sh'muel_, chap. 18.
Rabbi Levi says, "When Solomon introduced the ark into the Temple, all
the woodwork thereof freshened with sap and began to yield fruit, as it
is said (Ps. xcii. 13), 'Those that be planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God.' And thus it continued to bear
fruit, which abundantly supplied the juveniles of the priestly caste
till the time of Manasseh; but he, by introducing an image into the
Temple, caused the Shechinah to depart and the fruit to wither; as it is
said (Nah. i. 4), 'And the flower of Lebanon languisheth.'"
_Midrash Tillin Terumah._
The land of Israel is situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem
in the centre of the land of Israel, and the Temple in the centre of
Jerusalem, and the Holy of holies in the centre of the Temple, and the
foundation-stone on which the world was grounded, is situated in front
of the ark.
Pages:
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431