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Melachim Aleph 2-7 and being caged in

Written by Anonymous

Melachim Aleph 2-7

SUMMARIES:

2 – David gives instructions to Shlomo before his death. David dies. Shlomo puts Adoniyahu to death for requesting Avishag. Yoav is put to death, Evyasar is banished, and Shimmi ben geirah punished and eventually killed.

3 – Shlomo marries the daughter of Pharoh. Shlomo requests wisdom from HaShem, and HaShem promises to grant him wisdom as well as riches, success, and a long life. 2 women come before Shlomo, each arguing that the baby is theirs. Shlomo solves the problem by ruling tht the baby should be cut in half, and the lady who objected to this was thus deemed rightfully the true mother of the child. Everyone hears about this judgement and fear Shlomo’s ’chochmas elokim.’

4 – The princes/officers of Shlomo are listed

5 – A description of Shlomo’s wealth of physical things and wealth of chochmah. Shlomo strikes a deal with Chiram to provide him with the materials to beuild the Beis Hamikdash.

6 – A description of the Beis Hamikdash, which took 7 years to build.

7 – A description of Shlomo’s palace, which took 13 years to build.

DVAR TORAH:

I would like to tell over something Rav Chaim Shmulevitz points out in perek 2. David tells Shlomo to deal with (punish/kill) Shimmi ben Geirah for having cursed David when he was on the run from Avshalom. So Shlomo has a cunning plan. He orders Shimmi ben Geirah that he must stay in Yerushalayim, and if he goes out then he will be killed. After 3 years, a couple of Shmmi’s slaves run out of Yerushalayim, and Shimmi himself runs out to bring them back. Shlomo hears and kills Shimmi, in accordance with his previous orders. That is what the pesukim tell us. Rav Chaim Shmulevitz asks the following. Shimmi ben Geirah was the head of the Sanhedrin and a massive tzadik. Yerushalayim is the holiest city in the world (The gemarra Yoma says that the world was created from Yerushalayim outwards). Thus, what sort of punishment was it to confine Shimmi ben Geirah to Yerushalayim? And furthermore, why did Shimmi need to go out to get his slaved – get the police to do it. After all, he knew the punishment was potential death?
Rav Shmulevitz answers that this tells us a massive rule about human nature. Human nature is that one cannot be locked up or confined – and this originates from Adam Harishon originally being the height of the earth to the heavens (R Pinkus). Thus, the moment Shimmi was confined to one city, he had to break free, for it went against human nature to keep someone locked it one place against one’s will.
If one looks closely, Shabbes is exactly this. We may not do many things. We must rest. We cannot go out 2000 amos. Surely this is also against our human nature? The answer is (R Pinkus) that Shabbes brings us out of our usual human nature; it is a day where we live with HaShem so to speak in direct connection and relationship with him, and thus we are beyond physical limits.
Have a great Shabbes

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