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Yevamos 79a

יבמות ע״ט ע״א

Yevamot 79a

Learn Yevamos 79a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Why the גבעונים (נתינים) are kept out of the Jewish people: the end of דוד's search for the cause of the famine, his attempt to appease the גבעונים, his statement about the three signs of the Jewish nation, and how the seven sons of שאול were chosen.

Overview

This amud finishes the story of the famine in דוד's days. It is too late to eulogize שאול, so דוד tries to make peace with the גבעונים, whom שאול had wronged. They refuse every offer and demand seven of שאול's sons. Seeing their cruelty, דוד says the Jewish people are marked by mercy, bashfulness and kindness, and only someone with these traits may join them. רב הונא explains that the ארון picked the seven sons. The גמרא then works out how דוד could spare מפיבשת without showing משוא פנים. Next it asks how the תורה's rules could be set aside: children killed for a father's sin, and bodies left hanging unburied. It answers that this prevented a חילול השם and brought a great קידוש השם, which led 150,000 converts to join. Finally the גמרא explains that משה, יהושע and דוד each decreed against the נתינים, and דוד's decree reached the furthest.

Opening lines

תְּרֵיסַר יַרְחֵי שַׁתָּא,

The twelve months of the year [of mourning have passed],

וְלָא דַּרְכֵּיהּ לְמִסְפְּדֵיהּ.

and it is not the proper way to eulogize him [now].

נְתִינִים נִיקְרִינְהוּ וּנְפַיְּיסִינְהוּ:

The Gibeonites: let us call them and appease them.

״וַיִּקְרָא הַמֶּלֶךְ לַגִּבְעוֹנִים

"And the king called the Gibeonites

The steps (27)

  1. StatementToo late to eulogize שאול
  2. Statementדוד tries to appease the גבעונים
  3. StatementThe three signs of the Jewish nation
  4. ProofA פסוק for each of the three signs
  5. ConclusionOnly someone with these traits may join the nation
  6. QuestionWhy were these seven sons chosen?
  7. ResponseThe ארון chose them
  8. ChallengeThe king had pity on מפיבשת
  9. Resolutionדוד did not pass מפיבשת before the ארון
  10. ChallengeCan favoritism be shown here?
  11. ResolutionThe ארון held him, then released him after prayer
  12. ChallengeStill favoritism
  13. Resolutionדוד prayed beforehand that the ארון not pick him
  14. ChallengeFathers and sons are not killed for each other
  15. ResolutionBetter to uproot a letter than to cause public חילול השם
  16. Statementרצפה guards the bodies from harvest until the rain
  17. ChallengeA body may not stay overnight on the tree
  18. ResolutionLeaving the bodies up caused a great public sanctification of Heaven's name
  19. Statement150,000 people converted as a result
  20. ChallengeMaybe those workers were born Jews
  21. Resolutionשלמה did not make Jews into slaves
  22. RejectionMaybe they were just public workers, not slaves
  23. ProofA better proof: שלמה counted the converts
  24. ChallengeDidn't משה already make the decree against the נתינים?
  25. Resolutionמשה's decree was for one generation; דוד's was for all generations
  26. Challengeיהושע already decreed against the גבעונים
  27. Resolutionיהושע's decree was for the time of the בית המקדש, דוד's for all times