Sanhedrin Daf 94 סַנהֶדרִין דַף 94

The passuk says about Chizkiyahu, "לםרבה המשרה" – to him who increases [Hashem’s] authority, but the "מ" is written as a closed "ם". Bar Kappara explained: ביקש הקדוש ברוך הוא לעשות חזקיהו משיח – Hashem sought to make חזקיהו Moshiach, and make סנחריב, who attacked Yerushalayim, גוג ומגוג. But the מדת הדין protested: Ribbono Shel Olam! If דוד מלך ישראל, who sang many songs and praises before You, You did not make Moshiach, חזקיה שעשית לו כל הנסים הללו ולא אמר שירה לפניך – then Chizkiyah, for whom You performed all these miracles (being saved from סנחריב and his illness), and yet did not sing songs of gratitude to You, him You will make Moshiach? Thus, Moshiach did not come, and so the "ם" is closed. The earth then declared: Ribbono Shel Olam! אני אומרת לפניך שירה תחת צדיק זה – I will say שירה instead of this צדיק, but make him Moshiach! It began to say שירה, and a בת קול went forth, saying: רזי לי רזי לי – “It is My secret; it is My secret what prevents Moshiach’s arrival.” Rebbe Papyus said it is a discredit to Chizkiyah and those with him that they did not sing שירה to Hashem until the earth did instead of them.

The passuk says about the destruction of סנחריב’s army, that a flame would burn "תחת כבדו" – beneath his honor. Rebbe Yochanan interprets that the soldiers’ bodies were burned, but not their “honor,” (their clothing, which Rebbe Yochanan would call "מכבדותי" – those [things] which honor me). Rebbe Elazar interprets that their souls were burned, but their bodies (their “honor”) remained untouched. Rebbe Yehoshua ben Korchah said: פרעה שחירף בעצמו – Pharaoh, who personally blasphemed against Hashem (declaring “Who is Hashem that I should obey Him?”), Hashem punished him personally, which is less humiliating. סנחריב, who blasphemed through a messenger (an even greater offense), was punished through a שליח (the מלאך who destroyed his army), an even greater disgrace. סנחריב claimed Hashem told him to go up against the land and destroy it. The Gemara identifies the passuk foretelling his invasion, and asks: אלא מאי טעמא איעניש – why, then, was he punished, if he was fulfilling Hashem’s directive? It answers that the נביא only foretold his conquering the ten שבטים, איהו יהיב דעתיה על כולה ירושלים – but he set his mind on conquering even Yerushalayim, which was beyond his instruction.

The passuk says: כי לא מועף לאשר מוצק לה – there is no weariness for the one who oppresses it. Rebbe Elazar ben Berechiah explains: אין נמסר עם עייף בתורה ביד מי המציק לו – the nation which is wearied by toil in Torah will not be delivered into its oppressor’s hand (סנחריב). The passuk says: וחבל על מפני שמן – and the yoke shall be destroyed because of girth. Rebbe Yitzchak Nafcha explains: חובל עול של סנחריב מפני שמנו של חזקיהו – the yoke of Sancheiriv was broken by the oil of Chizkiyah, which burned in the synagogues and בתי מדרש for the multitudes learning Torah at night. חזקיה thrust a sword over the בית מדרש entrance and declared: כל מי שאינו עוסק בתורה ידקר בחרב זו – “Whoever does not involve himself in learning Torah should be pierced with this sword!” Later, they checked from Dan to באר שבע (i.e., all of Eretz Yisroel), and could not find a single עם הארץ. From גבת to אנטיפרס, they could not find a boy, girl, man, or woman who was not proficient even in the difficult laws of tumah and taharah. A passuk about that period teaches: אף על פי שאלף גפן באלף כסף – even though they would own land on which a thousand vines were worth a thousand pieces of silver, לשמיר ולשית יהיה – still, it will be for briars and thorns, because they abandoned the land to learn Torah.