The phrase used here is identical with that in Gen. xxxvii. 19 applied to Joseph. More usually we have "The master of the dream," which merely represents the personification of the dream. See Bacher in R. E. J, xxxv. p. 238, n. 2.
M. adds : Finally Isaiah gave him his daughter in marriage, and there issued from him Manasseh and Rabshakeh. One day Hezekiah carried them on his shoulder to the Synagogue ; and one of them said, "Father's bald head would be fine for breaking nuts on," while the other said, "[It would be fine] to roast fish on." He threw them to the ground, and Rabshakeh was killed, but not Manasseh. He applied to them the verse, "The instruments also of the churl are evil ; he deviseth wicked devices" (Is. xxxii. 7).
Added by M.
M. : Johanan.
II Kings iv. 10, lit. "chamber of a wall."
See p. 56.
King Solomon was reputed to have compiled a book containing infallible prescriptions for almost all ailments. Josephus, Antiq. viii. ii. 5, mentions that he was skilled in expelling demons and "composed incantations by which distempers are alleviated." Hezekiah destroyed the book so that people in times of sickness should pray to God and not depend upon these cures.
Cf . II Kings xviii. 4.
He had his father's body borne to burial on a common pallet, because of his wickedness, instead of giving him royal honours.
II Chron. xxxii. 30.
II Kings xviii. 16.
This is a reference to II Ghron. xxx. 2 where it is mentioned that he observed the Passover in the second month. According to the Talmud, he had made a mistake in intercalation. The Hebrew month is lunar and lasts 29 or 30 days. Whether the 30th day was to be regarded as the last day of the month or the first of the new month depended upon observation of the New Moon (cf. Lane, p. 478). For the purpose of periodically adjusting the lunar and solar year (so that, e.g., the Passover which must be observed in the Spring should not occur in the Summer), an extra month was intercalated between Adar and Nisan seven times in nineteen years. On the Jewish Calendar, see J. E. III. p. 498, Oesterley and Box, pp. 346 ff.
I.e. the month having once been proclaimed Nisan, it cannot be intercalated.
By "Samuel" is meant the Amora of that name. He taught that if the year is to be intercalated, it must be announced before the 30th of Adar, since witnesses might come to testify that the New Moon had been observed on that day, and it would accordingly be reckoned as the 1st of Nisan. Hezekiah, however, thought that the 30th of Adar could never be reckoned as the 1st of Nisan. He therefore intercalated the year on that day, which afterwards proved to be the New Moon, with the consequence that he observed the Passover in the second month instead of in the first.
Because having prayed for it in his own name, it was granted in the name of another.
Lit. "chamber of a wall [kir]."
On the various meanings of aksedra (the Greek ὲξἑδρα) see Krauss, pp. 44 f.
M.: Raba b, Isaac which D.S. corrects to Rabbah b. Isaac.
He can refuse the invitation without being thought proud. To offer and accept such invitations belongs to the ordinary courtesy of Oriental life. Cf. Lane, p. 296.
Why mention "for there was his house," a fact well known? Since the preceding verse speaks of his circuit, these words are taken to apply not only to Ramah but also to the places there named.
So M. Edd, : "a holy man" ; but those words are commented upon below.
That his food did not attract flies was evidence of his being a man of God. Cf. Abot 5:8 where it is stated that one of the ten miracles wrought in the Temple was "no fly was seen in the slaughter-house" (Singer, p. 200).
So M. ; edd.: R. Jose b. Hannina.
Lit. "the splendour of her beauty." להוד יפיה is read in להדפה "to thrust her away."
Cf. fol. 63 b.
Hence in Babylon it was customary to have the reading desk, where the Precentor stood, at a lower level than the floor of the Synagogue. In modern Synagogues the Precentor's platform is raised ; see Oesterley and Box, p. 338. But according to Elbogen, the recommendation of the Talmud to pray in a lowly place is intended to apply to the individual, not the Precentor. Cf. J. Q. R. xix. p. 705 n.
Lit. "a straight foot" i.e. they were placed together so as to appear like one foot. That is the correct posture for the Tefillah. J. T. offers two reasons: (1) to imitate the angels; (2) to imitate the priests in the Temple.
M. omits "R. Isaac said in the name of R. Johanan" which some edd. insert here.
Lit. "for your blood" — your life having been restored after the night's sleep.
M. here omits "in the name of R. Jose b. R. Hannina," rightly so because he was a disciple of R. Johanan.
"To receive upon oneself the Kingdom of Heaven" is the technical expression for reading the Shema'; cf. fol. 13 a, p. 82.
The first of the two benedictions introductory to the Shema'. See Singer, p. 37.
The benedictions have to be read with the Shema' even after the third hour; and this version of Rab Hisda's statement agrees with the Mishnah and Baraita.
As he pleases, standing or reclining or walking.