Sanhedrin

In the college of R. Ashi the lecture [one day] terminated at 'Three Kings.'  'To-morrow, said he, 'we will commence with our colleagues.'  [That night] Manasseh came and appeared to him in a dream. 'Thou hast called us thy colleagues and the colleagues of thy father; now, from what part [of the bread] is [the piece for reciting] the ha-mozi  to be taken?' 'I do not know,' he answered. 'Thou hast not learned this,' he jibed, 'yet thou callest us thy colleagues!'  'Teach it me,' he begged, 'and to-morrow I will teach it in thy name at the session.' He answered, 'From the part that is baked into a crust.'  He then questioned him, 'Since thou art so wise, why didst thou worship idols?' He replied, 'Wert thou there, thou wouldst have caught up the skirt of thy garment and sped after me.' The next day he observed to the students: We will commence with our teachers [so referring to the Three Kings]. Ahab denotes that he was an ah [a brother]  to Heaven, and an ab [a father] to idolatry. An ah to Heaven, as it is written, a brother [ah] is born for trouble,'  and ab [father] to idolatry, as it is written, As a father loveth his children. And it came to pass, that it were a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.  R. Johanan said: The light [minor] transgressions which Ahab committed were equal to the gravest committed by Jeroboam. Why then does Scripture make Jeroboam the exemplar  of sin? Because he was the first to corrupt. Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.  R. Johanan said: [This teaches that] there is no furrow in Palestine upon which Ahab did not plant an idol and worship it. Whence do we know that he will not enter the future world? — From the verse, And I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, him that is shut up and forsaken in Israel,'  shut up [implies] in this world; forsaken, in the next. R. Johanan said: Why did Omri merit sovereignty? Because he added a region to Palestine, as it is written, And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill Samaria,  R. Johanan said: Why did Ahab merit royalty for twenty-two years? — Because he honoured the Torah, which was given in twenty-two letters,  as it is written, And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine … Yet will I send my servants unto thee tomorrow at this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put in their hand, and take it away … Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, all that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do; but this thing I may not do.  Now what is meant by 'whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes'? Surely the Scroll of the Torah!  But perhaps [this refers to] an idol? — You cannot think so, because it is written, And all the leaders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.  But perhaps they were evil elders?  Is it not written. And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel?  Whereon R. Joseph commented: They were evil elders? — There 'and all the people' is not stated, whilst here it is written,' and all the people', and it is impossible that there were no righteous among them, for it is written, Yet I have left one seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. R. Nahman said: Ahab was equally balanced,  since it is written, And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at the Ramoth-gilead? And one said in this manner, and one said in that manner.  R. Joseph objected: He of whom it is written, But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up:  whereon it was taught: Every day she used to weigh out gold shekels for idols — yet thou sayest that he was equally balanced! But Ahab was generous with his money, and because he used to benefit scholars with his wealth, half [his sins] were forgiven. And there came forth the spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.  Which spirit [is meant]? — R. Johanan said: The spirit of Naboth the Jezreelite. What is meant by 'go forth'? — Rabina said: Go forth from within my barrier, as it is written, He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.  R. Papa observed, Thus men say, 'He who takes his vengeance destroys his own house.' And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.  R. Johanan said: [This means] that he wrote upon the gates of Samaria, 'Ahab denies the God of Israel.' Therefore he has no portion in the God of Israel. And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, for he was hid in Samaria.  R. Levi said: He was engaged in erasing the Divine Names [from the Torah] and substituting [the names of] idols in their stead. Manasseh [denotes] that he forgot God.  Another explanation: Manasseh [denotes] that he caused Israel to forget their Father in Heaven. And how do we know that he will not enter the future world? — Because it is written, Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem … and he made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel.  Just as Ahab has no portion in the world to come, so has Manasseh neither. R. JUDAH SAID: MANASSEH HATH A PORTION THEREIN, FOR IT IS WRITTEN, AND HE PRAYED UNTO HIM AND WAS INTREATED OF HIM etc. R. Johanan said: Both of them [in support of their views] expounded the same verse. For it is written, And I will cause to be removed unto all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah.  One Master  maintains, 'Because of Manasseh' who repented, whilst they did not;  whilst the other Master  maintains,