may fall headlong and die. But, said God to Job, to prevent this I
provide an eagle to catch the kid upon its wings, and then carry and lay
it before its cruel mother. Now, if that eagle should be too soon or too
late by one second only, instant death to the kid could not be averted;
but with Me one second is never changed for another. Shall Job be now
changed by Me, therefore, into an enemy. (Comp. Job ix. 17, and xxxiv.
35.)
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 16, cols. 1, 2.
A generation can have one leader only, and not two.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 8, col. 1.
"Like the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces" (Jer. xxiii. 29). As
a hammer divideth fire into many sparks, so one verse of Scripture has
many meanings and many explanations.
Ibid., fol. 34, col. 1.
In the Machser for Pentecost (p. 69) God is said to have
"explained the law to His people, face to face, and on every
point ninety-eight explanations are given."
Adam was created one without Eve. Why? That the Sadducees might not
assert the plurality of powers in heaven.
Ibid., fol. 37, col. i.
As the Sadducees did not believe in a plurality of powers in
heaven, but only the Christians, in the regard of the Jews, did
so (by their profession of the doctrine of the Trinity), it is
obvious that here, as well as often elsewhere, the latter and
not the former are intended.
"And the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt" (Exod. viii. i; A.
V. viii. 6). "There was but one frog," said Rabbi Elazar, "and she so
multiplied as to fill the whole land of Egypt." "Yes, indeed," said
Rabbi Akiva. "there was, as you say, but one frog, but she herself was
so large as to fill all the land of Egypt." Whereupon Rabbi Elazar ben
Azariah said unto him, "Akiva, what business hast thou with Haggadah? Be
off with thy legends, and get thee to the laws thou art familiar with
about plagues and tents. Though thou sayest right in this matter, for
there was only one frog, but she croaked so loud that the frogs came
from everywhere else to her croaking."
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