Study Sanhedrin folio 93A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
גדולים צדיקים יותר ממלאכי השרת, שנאמר: ״ענה ואמר הא אנא חזי גברין ארבעה שרין מהלכין בגו נורא וחבל לא איתי בהון ורוה די רביעאה דמה לבר אלהין״.
The righteous are greater than the ministering angels, as it is stated: “He answered and said: I see 4 men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the appearance of the 4th is like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25). Nebuchadnezzar saw 3 righteous people and an angel in the fire of the furnace and noted the presence of the righteous people before noting the presence of the angel.
אמר רבי תנחום בר חנילאי: בשעה שיצאו חנניה מישאל ועזריה מכבשן האש, באו כל אומות העולם וטפחו לשונאיהן של ישראל על פניהם. אמרו להם: יש לכם אלוה כזה, ואתם משתחוים לצלם?! מיד פתחו ואמרו: ״לך ה׳ הצדקה ולנו בשת הפנים כיום הזה״.
§ R' Tanḥum bar Ḥanilai says: At the moment that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah emerged from the fiery furnace, all the non-Jewish nations came and struck the enemies of Israel, a euphemism for the Jewish people, in the face and said to them: You have a God with capabilities like that and you bow to the graven image? Immediately Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah began and said: “YHWH, righteousness is Yours, but we are shamefaced, as of this day” (Daniel 9:7).
אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן: מאי דכתיב ״אמרתי אעלה בתמר אחזה בסנסניו״? ״אמרתי אעלה בתמר״ – אלו ישראל, ועכשיו לא עלה בידי אלא סנסן אחד של חנניה מישאל ועזריה.
R' Shmuel bar Naḥmani says that R' Yonatan says on a similar note: What is the meaning of that which is written: “I said: I will climb into the palm tree; I will grasp its boughs” (Song of Songs 7:9)? “I said: I will climb into the palm tree”; this is a reference to the Jewish people, who are likened to a palm tree, as they are upright and have one heart directed toward their Father in Heaven. God continues: And now that I have tested them by means of the decrees of Nebuchadnezzar, I have succeeded in grasping in My hand only the one bough of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, as only they were willing to give their lives.