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Lyrical Aspects of Samuel the Thirdʼs Poetry 45*
same yotser for Wayyera, ְּגד ֹו ָלה ִהיא לּו ְג ָמה ֶׁשְּמ ָק ֶר ֶבת ְרח ֹו ִקים ּו ְמ ַר ֶח ֶקת ְקר ֹו ִבים
(gedolah hi lugmah she-meqarevet rechoqim u-meracheqet qerovim),
“Of great importance is the mouthful, which draws near those who are
distant and alienates those who are near,” would have been recognised
by attendants because of an almost literal rendering of the words from b.
Sanhedrin 103b. This type of verse line seems almost a kind of versified
prose, repeated in the same poem in a verse like ִמיַּדִּמים ְּב ַה ְרּ ֵבה ִד ְמי ֹונ ֹות
( ְּפ ָע ִמים ֲא ָנִׁשים ְּפ ָע ִמים ַמ ְלָא ִכים ְּדמּו ָתם ָּתו ֳע ַרְךmiddamim be-harbeh dimyonot
pe‘amim anashim pe‘amim mal’akhim demutam to‘orakh), “In many
appearances they resemble sometimes people, sometimes angels; this is
how their appearance is likened/set.” The literal wording pe‘amim anashim
pe‘amim mal’akhim comes from Genesis Rabbah 21:9, but the tradition is
told at full length in Tanhuma B Wayyera 20: Abraham called them “men”
because that is how they appeared to him. However, in accordance with Gen
19:1, Lot considered them to be angels: “The two angels arrived at Sodom
in the evening.” Nevertheless, the paytanic element is realised by three
repetitive forms from the root d-m-h and by the use of the verb ‘arakh in
Hof‘al. When Samuel turns to halakhic sources, then, at times, the prosaic/
narrative element is even stronger. For instance, in his yotser for Ki Tissa,
one encounters two lines of extreme length: א ֹו ָתם ִׁשיַּמע ְׁשק ֹול ַעל ְי ֵדי ִּג ְזָּב ִרים
ׁשּו ְל ָח ִנים ְּבִׁש ְבָּתם ּג ֹו ִבין ֵמ ֶהם ֶׁשֹּלא/ ָׁשל ֹוׁש ּו ַמ ְרּכ ֹו ִלין ֶׁש ַבע ְו ַכ ְת ִלי ִקים ְׁש ַנ ִים ִל ְפ ִדָּיי ָתם
( ְּבט ֹו ָב ָתם ְוֹלא ְי ַמְׁשְּכנּו ְמ ַכְּפ ֵרי ַאְׁש ָמ ָתםotam shima’ sheqol ‘al yedey gizbarim
shalosh u-markolin sheva’ we-khatliqim shenayim lifdiyatam / shulchanim
be-shivtam govin mehem she-lo be-tovatam we-lo yemashkenu mekhaprey
ashmatam). This translates as: “To those Moses told to pay the sheqel by
two treasurers, three administrators and seven financers for the sake of their
redemption; when tables are set up they collect [the sheqel] from them not
for their benefit, and they do not exact pledges from those who atone for
their guilt [the kohanim].” Such lines are derived directly from the Jerusalem
Talmud, tractate Sheqalim 5,2,49a and Mishnah Sheqalim 1,3—pure prose
were it not for the deliberately designed poetic framework within which
these halakhot are incorporated. There are many more long verse lines, up
to ten words per line, demonstrating that Samuel felt free to insert them with
