Study Sanhedrin folio 44B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אמר ליה: אמש ביטלתם תמיד של בין הערבים, ועכשיו ביטלתם תלמוד תורה. על איזה מהן באת? אמר ליה: ״עתה באתי״.
The Talmud understands the words of the angel that Joshua encountered as a rebuke for some offense Joshua committed: The angel said to Joshua: Yesterday, in the afternoon, you neglected sacrificing the daily afternoon offering because you were engaged in warfare, and now, when it is dark, you neglected Torah study. Joshua asked him: For which of these sins have you come to reprove me? The angel said to him: “I have now come,” i.e., the fact that I did not come before, but waited until now, when it is dark, indicates that the sin of neglecting Torah study is the more severe one.
מיד ״וילן יהושע בלילה ההוא בתוך העמק״, ואמר רבי יוחנן: מלמד שלן בעומקה של הלכה.
Joshua immediately acted to rectify the matter by deciding that he must devote more time to Torah study, as it is stated: “And Joshua lodged that night” (Joshua 8:9) “into the midst of the valley [ha’emek]” (Joshua 8:13). And R' Yoḥanan says: This teaches that he lodged all night in the depth [be’omekah] of halakha, thereby atoning for his previous neglect of Torah study.
אמר שמואל בר איניא משמיה דרב: גדול תלמוד תורה יותר מהקרבת תמידין, שנאמר: ״עתה באתי״.
Shmuel bar Unya says in the name of Rav: Torah study is greater than the sacrificing of the daily offerings, as it is stated: “I have now come,” demonstrating that the neglect of Torah study is a more serious offense than the neglect of the daily offerings.
אמר ליה אביי לרב דימי: האי קרא במערבא במאי מוקמיתו ליה: ״אל תצא לריב מהר פן מה תעשה באחריתה בהכלים אתך רעך. ריבך ריב את רעך וסוד אחר אל תגל״?
§ Abaye said to Rav Dimi, who descended to Babylonia from Eretz Yisrael: How do you explain this verse in the West, Eretz Yisrael: “Do not proceed hastily to litigation, lest you know not what to do in the end of it, when your neighbor has put you to shame. Debate your cause with your neighbor, and do not reveal the secret of another” (Proverbs 25:8–9)?