Introduction: Shlomo's Inquiry into the Cause of Evil
In the verses before us, King Shlomo describes the course of his great inquiry. He turned his attention to seek and understand the underlying calculation of Creation, the wisdom of the Holy One, Blessed be He, in governing His world, and above all - he sought to understand one perplexing question that gave him no rest: How is it possible that a person, knowing full well that the act before him is harmful and destroys his soul, is nonetheless drawn after it? The answer to this bewilderment will be provided in the following verse.
"I Turned My Heart" - What Shlomo Sought
סַבּוֹתִי אֲנִי וְלִבִּי לָדַעַת וְלָתוּר וּבַקֵּשׁ חׇכְמָה וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן וְלָדַעַת רֶשַׁע כֶּסֶל וְהַסִּכְלוּת הוֹלֵלוֹת׃ - I turned about, and my heart was set, to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the reckoning, and to know that wickedness is folly, and foolishness is madness.
Rashi explains: "I turned about to know and to search out and to seek" - this refers to the wisdom of the Parah Adumah (the Red Heifer). This is the meaning of "to know and to search out and to seek wisdom." "And the reckoning" refers to the calculation of the end of days, the time of the final redemption. Shlomo sought to know this as well, the very calculation mentioned in the Book of Daniel, "a time, times, and half a time." Although the Book of Daniel was written after Shlomo, the underlying concept is understanding when the redemption will arrive. Regarding this, Shlomo says: I turned about to understand, and I saw how far this wisdom was from me, and how even in this I had no grasp or comprehension.
And what is "to know that wickedness is folly"? Rashi explains: to fathom the depths of heresy and folly, which are intertwined with madness and delirium. In other words, within heresy and foolishness lie elements of wildness and absurdity. All those bizarre notions of the Greek and Roman pantheons, all the mythologies of warring gods and spiritual forces - they "multiply vanity," in the words of the Malbim. Shlomo says: I see that there is much madness and folly there, all sorts of unfounded theories about supposed wars at the beginning of Creation from which the universe was born, along with other vanities and absurdities. I turned about to examine them, and I saw how steeped in folly, madness, and insanity they were - Rashi notes that the word for delirium here denotes madness, matters that border on lunacy.
The Imrei Shefer: Seeking the Reckoning of the Creator
The Imrei Shefer explains that here King Shlomo describes how he began to travel throughout the world, to observe and examine the myriads of creatures in existence, like a person inspecting a machine to understand how it functions and how it was crafted. Thus Shlomo says: I sought out wisdom and reckoning - to understand God's calculation in His deeds. Why does one person have great abundance while another does not? Why is one brilliant while another is simple? Why is one born healthy and another ill? Why does He bring one low and raise another up? All this I turned about to observe: according to what reckoning does the Holy One, Blessed be He, govern His world?
The Great Wonder: Why Does Man Choose Poison?
"And to know that wickedness is folly, and foolishness is madness" - here, says the Imrei Shefer, Shlomo conducts another investigation, troubled by a question that gives him no rest. If a person sees food that is a delight to the eyes, intensely craves it, and after elaborate preparations sits down to eat it - and suddenly someone says, "Wait, I think a drop of poison fell into it; I'm not certain, but it seems so" - he immediately loses his appetite. Even if he does not lose his appetite, reason dictates: I am not touching this. And what if he is told there is only a one in a hundred chance? If someone were handed a gun with one bullet loaded out of a hundred chambers and told, "Shoot yourself in the head" - he would never pull the trigger. A one in a hundred chance of losing a hundred shekels - fine. But a one in a hundred chance of losing one's life - who would take such a gamble?
From this we see that when a person faces great temptation and trial, yet recognizes that the matter is harmful and dangerous, he keeps his distance. If so, Shlomo asks, why do we see people seduced by the desires of this world? After all, the lusts of this world are laced with poison; there is no doubt about it, they bring spiritual death to the soul, and man knows this in advance. A person knows that all this pursuit does not lead to eternal life; this is clear to him - and nonetheless, he is drawn after it. How can this be?
Wickedness as Folly versus Foolishness as Madness
Shlomo divides the verse in two: there are transgressions that are "the wickedness of folly" (resha kesel), and there are transgressions that are "foolish madness" (siklut holelut). When a person does something and later regrets it - his heart aching over what he did and over his failure - it is said of him, "You have acted foolishly" (hiskalta aso); look at what you have done. And if he has already regretted it and yet chooses it again, that is foolishness compounded upon foolishness. If he knew in advance that he would regret his deed and did it anyway - there is no greater foolishness than this. According to this, the term "fool" (sachal) applies to all sins, for it is sheer folly when a person knows he is destined to regret his choice and chooses sin nonetheless.
However, there are sins categorized as "wickedness of folly": murder, violence, robbery, extortion - where wickedness is readily apparent. Sins in general are folly, as mentioned, but in these there is also wickedness: taking what is not yours, severely harming another human being, robbing, murdering. This is not mere folly; it is folly accompanied by malice. In contrast, there are transgressions that are "foolish madness" - sins stemming from insanity and loss of reason: forbidden speech, adultery, forbidden foods. In those cases, one cannot say that wickedness is evident, as the person did not directly harm anyone else through his act, yet there is sheer madness in the deed itself. Concerning both of these, Shlomo declares: I am astonished. Whether regarding transgressions in which a person's wickedness is evident, or transgressions characterized by madness, lack of reason, foolishness, and succumbing to lust - I cannot comprehend the reason for this folly, why people are drawn after these sins.
The Sforno: The Serpent, Chavah, and Adam
The Sforno explains the verse in reference to the serpent, Chavah, and Adam HaRishon. "The wickedness of folly" refers to the serpent, who acted with malice and folly when he went to cause Adam and Chavah to sin. "And foolishness" refers to Chavah, who listened to him and had no fear of punishment; after all, she herself had noted that on the day they ate from it they would surely die, and yet she went ahead and ate - that is foolishness. "Madness" refers to Adam HaRishon, who had warned Chavah himself, yet suddenly Chavah brings it to him to eat, and he eats. That is madness: falling for the heretical claim of the serpent, who said, "You shall be like God, knowing good and evil" - as if God ate from the tree and created worlds, and you could do so too. Shlomo says: I observed all of this and could not fathom how there could be such wickedness of folly from the serpent, foolishness from the woman, and madness from the man.
The Malbim: Defining Kesel, Siklut, and Holelut
In Sefer HaKarmel, the Malbim clarifies the terms themselves. Kesel (folly or unwarranted confidence) describes someone who feels confident that no harm will befall him. The word kislam appearing in Tehillim and elsewhere denotes the unwarranted trust people place without any justifiable reason. A person relies on it, feeling serene: "Do not worry, everything will be fine" - that is called kesel. Siklut (foolishness) refers to one who deviates from the paths of wisdom out of lust or habit; such a person is called a sachal. Thus, it is understandable that foolishness is defined as madness (holelut): the Rambam defines holelut as a deficiency of reason and outright insanity. A person who turns away from the dictates of wisdom on account of his desires and habits - that is veritable madness.
A story was told of a man suffering from diabetes, Heaven protect us, who came to see an acquaintance after having his leg amputated. The acquaintance asked him: Tell me, do you not take care of yourself? He replied: What can I do, I love to eat! It was shocking. A person loves to eat - do you not love life even more? After all, it is obvious that if one fails to take care of oneself, deterioration comes in stages, and the subsequent stages are all too clear. Indeed, after some time, he saw him no more; he met his son, and it turned out they had just escorted him to Har HaMenuchot. This is precisely what the Malbim describes: turning away from the laws of wisdom on account of lust and habit. The person is swept away by his desires even while knowing he is destroying himself. What is this called? Shlomo calls it madness (holelut). And the Malbim explains: madness is insanity. You understand the consequences, you see the devastation - so why continue in that very foolishness and madness?
"And I Find More Bitter than Death the Woman" - The Answer
וּמוֹצֶא אֲנִי מַר מִמָּוֶת אֶת־הָאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר־הִיא מְצוֹדִים וַחֲרָמִים לִבָּהּ אֲסוּרִים יָדֶיהָ טוֹב לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים יִמָּלֵט מִמֶּנָּה וְחוֹטֵא יִלָּכֶד בָּהּ׃ - And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands are bonds; one who is good before God shall escape from her, but a sinner shall be caught by her.
Rashi explains: "I find more bitter than death the woman" - for she is harsher than the ten harsh things created in the world, as stated in Bava Batra in Perek HaShutafin. Yet I find something even more bitter and harsh than her - and this "woman" is heresy (apikorsut). There is nothing more bitter than death and harsher than heresy. You attempt to converse with a heretic, trying to persuade him, and you see that the person is utterly closed off. It is far better to flee from him. "Know what to answer an apikores" - our Sages did not say "go and answer him," but rather know for yourself how to answer, so that you are not swayed by his queries and challenges, having answers for every issue. But for the most part, a heretic cannot be brought back to repentance, and nothing is more obstinate than heresy.
"Whose heart is snares and nets (cheramim)" - cheramim refers to a trawl, meaning a fishing net, as Rashi explains. Heresy traps a person and sweeps him into its net. This is why King Shlomo warns so frequently in Mishlei against the strange woman who entices man with her smooth lips - and Chazal explain that this refers to heresy and apostasy. "Her hands are bonds" - the person's hands are bound by her hands; one who embraces heresy is bound in thick ropes. "Bonds" means tied up, his hands tied by hers. It binds and clutches him in such a way that it becomes exceedingly difficult for him to break free. Not only is it a trap and a net, but escaping from these snares and nets is profoundly difficult.
The Pesikta Zutarta likewise states: "'And I find more bitter than death the woman' - this refers to heresy, which misleads the world to cast it away from beneath the wings of the Shechinah." Likewise, any false religion that lies outside the Torah of Moshe, the man of God, and outside the teachings of the Sages of Israel is termed more bitter than death. Anything that exists outside the Torah, outside of what was handed down to us from Moshe, falls into the category of "more bitter than death."
The Imrei Shefer: One Cause for Both Categories
The Imrei Shefer explains that here Shlomo comes to investigate the root cause of evil. After expressing great wonder at "the wickedness of folly" and "the foolishness of madness" - both sins of deliberate wickedness and sins born of mere frivolity and lust - he finds here a single cause for both phenomena. "And I find" - I discover the root of this terrible evil. And what is it? "The woman whose heart is snares and nets." Just as a person stumbles when trapped in a snare set before him, so a person falls after a woman; with the smoothness of her speech she entices him, and he forgets his bitter end, as Shlomo elaborated at length in Mishlei chapter 7.
This is the explanation for the first matter - the foolishness of madness, which speaks of lust, heresy, and adultery. Why did he begin with this? Because the lust for immorality is more powerful than all other desires. Regarding it our Torah states, "If any man's wife goes astray (tisteh)," and our Sages explained: A person does not sin unless a spirit of folly (ru'ach shtut) enters him. Therefore, he sought a cause specifically for this sin, because madness is seen here with greatest intensity. A person may stay far away from many sins, yet in this specific sin you see he cannot hold back. The woman is the madness that deranges and twists his intellect. That is why one suddenly sees people holding very high positions in society, yet they fall in such matters. One cannot comprehend it: you are the president of the country, what are you getting involved in? And then the scandals are splashed across the front pages of the newspapers. What accounts for it? Folly and madness. Do not look for logic.
This is a spirit of folly: at that moment, the person is essentially a madman who has no control over himself. Therefore, whenever such a scandal is exposed, all those who endured similar experiences, Heaven protect us, find the courage to come forward and tell their stories, and then one hears endlessly about this one and that one - that Chief of Staff, this minister, that Member of Knesset, the famous singer, the one who ended up in prison, and the one serving time elsewhere. And you wonder: my good sir, what are you doing? But the answer is madness and folly. When one investigates how people bring such immense ruin upon themselves, it is nothing other than madness and folly - the yetzer hara turning a person's head.
"Her Hands Are Bands" - The Source of the Wickedness of Folly
And I see another element: "Her hands are bands." Like a man bound in handcuffs whose hands are tied behind his back - does he wish to stretch his hands behind him? No, it is against his will; someone bound his hands. In the same way, a woman can bind the hands of her husband, directing them toward whatever she desires, even to extort and steal. This is "the wickedness of folly." Why? Because she has demands and requests, needing things, purchases, necessities, and so she sends her husband to do things that run counter to halachah and the law. She will not let him rest at home; day and night her hand lies heavy upon him. This is the source of the wickedness of folly - for this too, Shlomo found that the address is the woman.
"Whoever Is Good Before God Shall Escape Her" - Setting the Boundaries
"Whoever is good before God shall escape her" - this means escaping her harm, knowing not to follow her negative influence. There is no instruction here to avoid marriage, Heaven forbid. As the saying goes: one cannot live with her, nor can one live without her. We see that the Holy One, blessed be He, certainly desires a person to marry: "and they shall become one flesh." Rather, a person must set the boundaries in the proper place. In all material matters, a man must love his wife as himself and honor her more than himself. But in all spiritual matters, the husband must take the lead. That is, if a wife says, "Let us go here, let us go shopping" - very well, but not at the expense of a shiur or Torah study. Afterwards is fine, beforehand is fine, but not at the expense of engaging in Torah. In spiritual matters he must not heed her in this, for otherwise it falls under folly and madness, and she can cause him to decline spiritually.
There are also opposite situations, where the husband is indifferent and the wife pushes him to attend a Torah shiur and learn - and here we see that a woman can build and a woman can destroy. A woman has the power to build up a person's spirituality, and if that is the case, all the better. It is taught regarding Devorah that she merited prophecy because she sent Barak, her husband - knowing he was an unlearned man (am ha'aretz) - sending wicks with him to the Mishkan. She did not berate him; she said: "What is he capable of? He is unlearned, so at least let him make wicks for the Mishkan" - and in that merit she achieved prophecy. We see the power of a woman who knows how to draw from her husband according to his level and abilities, elevating him spiritually. Sometimes it is in a positive way, and sometimes, as Shlomo says, it is snares and nets, against which one must take guard.
The Words of the Gemara and the Midrash
Rava says in the Gemara in Yevamot (63b): Come and see how terrible an evil woman is, as it is written: "And I find more bitter than death the woman." But did we not explain that the verse refers to heresy? Rather, Rava explains: if the verse speaks of her literally, see how great her harm is, for Scripture condemns her in this manner. And if the verse speaks of Gehinnom - or as we said, heresy, or anything else - learn from here how terrible an evil woman is, that Gehinnom is compared to her. For she was used as a metaphor, and why? Because when an analogy is drawn, it is taken from something terrible. Therefore, even if you say the literal meaning does not refer to a woman, since the verse used the metaphor of a woman, it is a sign that something is also being said about her directly.
And why is that? The Midrash states: The Rabbis said, because she demands things from him that he cannot bear, ultimately she brings him to a bitter death. This corresponds to what we explained above: when she drives him to take on yet another job, and another burden, and another, because of endless desires and demands, she causes him to die a bitter death.
And regarding "her hands are bonds," the Midrash Rabbah cites: Rabbi Elazar said, were it not written of her "her hands are bonds," she would seize a man in the marketplace and say to him, "Come unto me" - Heaven forbid! That is to say, the Holy One, blessed be He, bound her hands, which is what the Gemara means when it states that a woman does not initiate explicitly with her mouth - and this in itself is like "her hands are bonds." Even among non-observant people, and even among the nations, a woman still feels a natural shame to initiate explicitly, and this is as though her hands were bound. Were it not so, alas, how immeasurably licentiousness would have multiplied and spread.
"He who is pleasing before God shall escape from her" - the Midrash says: This refers to Yosef, this refers to Pinchas, this refers to Palti. Yosef with the wife of Potiphar, Pinchas with Zimri the son of Salu and Cozbi the daughter of Tzur, and Palti ben Laish with the daughter of Shaul. "And the sinner shall be caught by her" - this refers to Potiphar, this refers to Zimri, this refers to Amnon: Amnon and his sister Tamar.
In summary:
King Shlomo turned to investigate the reckoning of Creation, and found that ultimate wisdom was far from him: neither the secret of the Parah Adumah nor the calculation of the Final Redemption could be grasped by human intellect, and along the paths of heresy he found madness and folly intermingled. Yet one perplexity occupied his mind above all: how a person who is unwilling to take even a one-in-a-hundred risk with his physical body is willing to forfeit his soul for desires he knows to be poison. He divided transgressions into "the wickedness of folly" - offenses where malice, theft, and extortion are evident - and "the foolishness of madness" - offenses born of irrational craze, lust, and adultery. And the root cause of both he found in the subsequent verse: that "woman" who is snares and nets, which Chazal expounded as heresy and atheism, and in its plain sense also as an evil wife who demands what her husband cannot bear and leads him astray. From this emerges the true path in life: not to abstain from marriage, but to know where the boundary lies - in worldly matters to love and honor her more than his own body, but in spiritual matters never to be led astray. And when a wife aids in spiritual life, like Devorah who sent wicks to the Sanctuary with her husband Barak, she possesses the power to build. "He who is pleasing before God shall escape from her" - this is Yosef, this is Pinchas, this is Palti; "and the sinner shall be caught by her" - this is Potiphar, this is Zimri, this is Amnon.