Sanhedrin Daf 21 - Wives and Horses of a King
Summary
- This shiur on Sanhedrin 20b–21a presents the laws and narratives surrounding Jewish kingship: the king’s share in war spoils; the limits of wives, horses, and wealth; the derivation and debate over the number eighteen for royal wives and the principle of *darshin ta'ama di-kra*; the status of בנות יפת תואר and their connection to David’s household and the Amnon–Tamar episode culminating in decrees on yichud and relations with a פנויה; the signs of Adoniyahu’s unfitness; and the king’s obligations regarding a personal Sefer Torah. The sugya anchors legal derivations in verses and traditions, attributes positions to Tannaim and Amoraim, resolves textual contradictions in Shlomo’s stables and wealth before and after Bat Paroh, and explains why the Torah rarely reveals reasons for laws, citing Shlomo’s failures when he relied on stated reasons.
- A *beraita* rules that captured royal treasuries (אוצרות מלכים) go to the king, while other spoils are split half to the king and half to the people. The division is derived from “וימשחו לה' לנגיד ולצדוק,” linking the king to Tzadok: just as the Kohen Gadol takes half the לחם הפנים—based on “והיתה לאהרן ולבניו” as taught by Rabbi—so the king receives half the non-treasury spoils.
- The *Mishnah* limits a king’s wives to eighteen, and Rabbi Yehuda states that he may expand his wives provided they do not cause *mesirat libo*, while if they do, he is limited to eighteen; the Yad Rama clarifies that no Tanna permits marrying a wicked woman, only one whose influence is uncertain. Rabbi Shimon rules that even one wife who would cause *mesirat libo* may not be married and that “לא ירבה לו נשים” limits even the most righteous wives, “אפילו כאביגיל,” to eighteen. The *Gemara* infers that Rabbi Yehuda here is *doresh ta'ama di-kra* and Rabbi Shimon is not, but from the law of taking a pledge from an almana it appears the opposite; the resolution states Rabbi Yehuda generally does not expound reasons except where the Torah itself states it (“לא ירבה לו נשים” … “ולא יסור לבבו”), whereas Rabbi Shimon, who generally expounds reasons, reads the extra “לא יסור” as a distinct prohibition for even one wife who would cause *mesirat libo*, and reads “לא ירבה” as a quantitative ceiling even for righteous wives.
- The number eighteen is derived from the list of David’s six wives in Hebron and Nathan’s rebuke promising “*kehena ve-kehena*,” read as six more and another six, totaling eighteen. The Aruch LaNer notes that David already had Bat Sheva then and answers that Nathan referred to what could have been before Bat Sheva, and he resolves a question on Rabbi Yehuda by treating the eighteen as an asmachta supported by mesorah. Ravina entertains exponential readings to reach twenty-four or forty-eight wives, supported by *beraitot*, but our Tanna equates the two “*kehena*” to six and six by *hekesh*. Rav states that “Agla” is Michal, explaining the count, and identifies the endearing term from “לולא חרשתם בעגלתי,” while the verse “ולמיכל בת שאול לא היה לה ולד עד יום מותה” is reconciled by Rav Chisda as childbirth on the day of her death and by noting that Michal’s punishment for childlessness occurred later in Jerusalem.
- Rav states that nashim are with ketubah and kiddushin, while pilagshim are without ketubah and without kiddushin. The Rambam (Hilchot Melachim 3) counts pilagshim within the eighteen, while the Raavad excludes them so that a king may have eighteen wives plus additional pilagshim, and Rashi on Chumash has a girsa distinguishing only ketubah.
- Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav that David had four hundred children who were בני יפת תואר, who wore a distinctive hairstyle, rode in golden wagons, and served as the fierce “ba‘alei egrof” at the front of the troops to instill fear; Rashi in Kiddushin explains they were soldiers’ children under David’s care, and the *Gemara* in Kiddushin states that actual combat was by מיוחסים. Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav that Tamar was a בת יפת תואר, proven from “ועתה דבר אל המלך כי לא ימנעני ממך,” implying no full sibling prohibition. Yonadav is called an “ish chacham” for evil, Tamar prepared fried foods—explained by Ben Yehoyada to justify on-the-spot cooking—and Amnon’s sudden hatred is attributed to a hair injury rendering him a כרות שפכה; the objection that Bnot Yisrael lack hair in those areas is answered that Tamar was a בת יפת תואר. Tamar’s public mourning “ותקח תמר אפר על ראשה וכתנת הפסים אשר עליה קרעה” created a great protective fence, for people reasoned that if this could happen to a princess and to the modest, then all the more so to others. Rav Yehuda said in Rav’s name that at that time they decreed against yichud and relations with a פנויה, and the *Gemara* clarifies that yichud with arayot is de’oraita from “כי יסיתך אחיך בן אמך,” while the decree was on yichud with a פנויה.
- Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav that Adoniyahu “sought to fit the crown but it did not fit,” indicating he was unfit for Davidic kingship. His fifty runners were extraordinary: all were spleenless and had the soles of their feet altered so they could run swiftly and pain-free.
- The *beraita* reads “לא ירבה לו סוסים” to forbid personal surplus, while permitting ample horses for “מרכבתו ופרשיו,” and calls unnecessary idle horses “סוסים בטלנין.” The word “סוס” teaches that even one idle horse violates “לא ירבה,” and “סוסים” teaches liability for each one individually, while “לו” permits broad estimation for the military’s needs.
- The phrase “כסף וזהב לא ירבה לו מאד” limits accumulating wealth beyond what is needed “כדי ליתן אספניא,” and “לו” again permits generous budgeting for soldiers’ and staff pay. The reuse of “לו” by women is expounded to exclude hedyotot, limiting the prohibition “לא ירבה לו נשים” to kings.
- Rabbi Yehuda reconciles “ויהי לשלמה ארבעים אלף ארוות סוסים למרכבו” with “ויהי לשלמה ארבעת אלפים ארוות סוסים” by attributing the larger figure to stalls per barn and vice versa. Rabbi Yitzchak reconciles “אין כסף נחשב בימי שלמה למאומה” with “ויתן שלמה את הכסף בירושלים כאבנים” by distinguishing before and after Shlomo married Bat Paroh. Rabbi Yitzchak states that when Shlomo married Bat Paroh, Gabriel drove a stake into the sea, accreted silt, and on it arose the great Roman metropolis. Rabbi Yitzchak explains why Ta‘amei HaTorah are not generally revealed: where reasons were stated—“לא ירבה לו נשים” and “לא ירבה לו סוסים”—Shlomo said “I will increase and not be led astray” and “I will increase and not return to Egypt,” yet “ויהי לעת זקנת שלמה נשיו הטו את לבבו” and “מרכבה ממצרים בשש” proved him wrong.
- A king must write his own Sefer Torah and may not rely on ancestral scrolls, and every Jew is likewise obligated to write a Sefer Torah from “ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה,” as stated by Rabbah. A king writes two Sifrei Torah from “וכתב לו את משנה,” one to accompany him and one to remain in his treasury, and the accompanying scroll may not enter the bathhouse or latrine, as “והיתה עמו וקרא בו” applies only in a place suitable for reading.
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