Sotah 5:4-5

Sotah 5:4

On the day that Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah was appointed head of the Academy in Yavneh, Rabbi Akiva expounded upon Exodus 15:1, “Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang this song to God, and they said, saying….” The word “saying” appears to be completely superfluous, so what does it add? We learn from it that the Jews repeated each line of the song after Moshe, in the manner that Hallel is recited. Rabbi Nechemiah says that they recited the song in the manner of Shema (i.e., in unison) rather than in the manner of Hallel.

Sotah 5:5

On that day, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hurkanos expounded that Job served God completely out of love, based on Job 13:15, “Even if He should kill me, I will trust in Him (lo ayacheil).” Nevertheless, this question is unresolved because “lo” with a vav means “I will trust in Him” but “lo” with an alef means “I will not trust.” Job 27:5 clarifies the matter: “Until I die, I will not remove my integrity from me,” from which we can see that Job was in fact motivated by love. Rabbi Yehoshua exclaimed, “If only Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai were still alive! He used to say that Job only served God out of fear as per Job 1:8, ‘a pure and upright individual who fears God and shuns evil.’ Now your student’s student, Yehoshua, has taught that he was motivated by love!”