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- Chapter 65 Ecdippa. Achzib. Joshua 19:29; Judges 1:31. Climax Of The Tyrians.
Chapter 65 Ecdippa. Achzib. Joshua 19:29; Judges 1:31. Climax of the Tyrians.
Of Amanah we shall speak by and by. "The river (saith R. Solomon upon the place) is the river of Egypt." -- "And Chezib (saith Rambam) is the name of a place, which divided between the land of Israel, which they possessed that came up out of Babylon, and that land which they possessed that came up out of Egypt. Now that land, which they possessed that came up out of Egypt, as to the Demai" (or doubt of tithing), "is, as it were, without the land." Hence is that in the text, on which he makes this comment, "From Chezib, and beyond, is free from the Demai."
The word Chezib, and Achzib, at last passed into Ecdippa, according to the manner of the Syrian dialect; to which it is common to change zain of the Hebrews into daleth.
"Climax (or the ladder) of the Tyrians," in the Talmudists is, 'The ladder of Tyre.' "Before they came to Climax of the Tyrians, they forgot all." -- The discourse is, in the place cited, about some Romans sent to Rabban Gamaliel, to inquire of the Jewish law.
Of him also is this story, and of the same place: "When he went sometime out of Chezib, one came to him, to ask him of a certain vow of his. He said to him, who went with him, Tell him, that we have drunk an Italian quart of wine. He saith to him, Well. He saith to him that asked, Go with us, until our wine be allayed. When they came to the ladder of the Tyrians, Rabban Gamaliel came down, and veils himself, and, sitting, resolved his vow. From this example we learn these things, that a quart of wine makes one drunk, that the way allays wine," &c.
Let this be marked by the way, that it is said "A quart of wine makes drunk": and let it be compared with what R. Chaia saith, "Four pots (to be drunk by every one in their sacred feasts) contain an Italian quart of wine": and judge how soberly they carried it in those feasts, if they mingled not much water with their wine.