- Dovid falls into ישבי’s hands and אבישי saves him
Hashem said to Dovid: עד מתי יהיה עון זה טמון בידך – “Until when will this sin be hidden in your hand? Through you, נוב עיר הכהנים was annihilated, Doeg lost his share in עולם הבא, and Saul and his sons were killed.” Hashem told him to choose if his descendants would be wiped out, or he would fall into his enemy’s hand, and Dovid chose the latter. Dovid was led by the שטן to ארץ פלשתים and was captured by ישבי, גלית’s brother, who attempted to kill him. אבישי בן צרויה was bathing for Shabbos, and saw bloodstains in the water, or an agitated dove, and recognized Dovid’s danger. He rode Dovid’s personal horse because of the emergency, and passed ערפה, ישבי’s mother, and after she attempted to kill him, he killed her. When ישבי saw him approaching, he tossed Dovid into the air and stuck his spear into the ground to impale him, but Avishai said Hashem’s Name, suspending Dovid in midair (Dovid could not, because אין חבוש מוציא עצמו מבית האסורין – a prisoner cannot release himself from prison). After convincing Dovid to reverse his decision, they fled, and ישבי chased them until Avishai mentioned his mother’s death, when he weakened and they killed him.
- Yaakov’s קפיצת הארץ to return to בית אל, and remaining there overnight
A Baraisa states: שלשה קפצה להם הארץ – for three people the earth contracted, enabling them to rapidly cover great distances: (1) Avishai, when racing to rescue Dovid in the above incident, (2) Eliezer (Avraham’s servant), who told Rivka’s family that he came that day, implying he made the entire journey in a single day, and (3) Yaakov Avinu: an apparent contradiction in pesukim teaches that after reaching חרן, Yaakov said: אפשר עברתי על מקום שהתפללו בו אבותי – is it possible that I passed the place where my fathers davened (i.e., בית אל), ואני לא התפללתי בו – and I did not daven there? He decided to return, and as soon as he did, the land contracted and he immediately was in בית אל. After davening there, he attempted to return to חרן, but Hashem said: צדיק זה בא לבית מלוני – This צדיק came to my lodging place; יפטר בלא לינה – shall he leave without staying overnight? Immediately, the sun set, forcing Yaakov to stay.
- סנחריב’s vast army, and its destruction
Rav says that סנחריב’s army consisted of forty-five thousand princes in golden chariots, eighty thousand warriors wearing coats of mail, sixty thousand swordsmen, and the remainder of the 185,000 mentioned in the passuk were cavalry. The same size army came against Avraham, and the same will come in the future with גוג ומגוג. A Baraisa describes the size of his camp as four hundred פרסאות, and the total number of soldiers as two billion, six hundred million, minus one (it is unknown what size group this “one” refers to). [The Gemara explains below that the number 185,000 refers to the commanders.] Another Baraisa describes that when this massive army crossed the ירדן, the first group swam, and their passing through absorbed so much water that the second group walked upright, and the third group raised dust with their feet, and they had to find water elsewhere to drink. Numerous opinions are cited as to how the מלאך killed סנחריב’s army: he struck them with his hand, or his finger, Gavriel used his scythe (some say he killed them on his way to ripen the fruit), breathed into their nostrils, clapped his hands, or enabled them to hear the שירה sung by the חיות, killing them.