Yerushalmi Sotah 9:13 ירושלמי סוטה ט׳:י״ג

MISHNAH: After the earlier prophets died, Urim and Tummim²⁰³The oracle carried by the High Priest. stopped. When the Temple was destroyed, the shamir and flowing bee’s honey stopped and trusting men disappeared, as it was said²⁰⁴Ps. 12:2.: “Help, o Eternal, for the pious man is finished, for the trusting have vanished from mankind.”

HALAKHAH: “After the earlier prophets died, Urim and Tummim stopped.” Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: These are Samuel and David²⁰⁵Since there is no explicit reference in Scripture about priestly oracles in books later than Samuel. In the Babli, 48b, this is the opinion of Rav Huna, the most prominent of Rav’s students.. Rebbi Abba bar Cahana in the name of Rav: These are Gad and Nathan²⁰⁶David’s court prophets.. Rebbi Jeremiah, Rebbi Samuel bar Isaac in the name of Rav: These are Jeremiah and Barukh. The word of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi implies that these are Jeremiah and Barukh. For Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said²⁰⁷2Chr. 26:5. The quote proves that oracles were used by kings after David (even though Zacariah is not mentioned in the list of high priests in Ezra 7 and Urim and Tummim were high-priestly oracles), as pointed out in the Babli by Rabba bar Samuel, a slightly younger contemporary of R. Joshua ben Levi. The Tosephta, 13:3, states that the oracle disappeared only with the destruction of the first Temple. In many quotes in Babli and Yerushalmi (e. g., Ta‘aniot 2:1 65a line 64, Yoma 21b) the oracle is mentioned in the list of five things missing in the second Temple., “it was when he asked God in the days of Zacariah who understood God’s visions.”

After the last prophets, Haggai, Zacariah, and Malachi, died, the Holy Ghost stopped from them, but nevertheless they were using the disembodied voice²⁰⁹Tosephta 13:3; Babli 48b. In the Tosephta: “nevertheless they (the Heavenly Court) were communicating the disembodied voice.”. If happened that Simeon the Just heard a disembodied voice coming out of the holiest-of-holies saying: Gaius Caligula was killed and his decisions became void.²¹⁰Tosephta 13:6, Babli 33a. At least one of the names mentioned here cannot be correct. It happened that young men went to fight at Antiochia when Joḥanan the High Priest heard a disembodied voice coming out of the holiest-of-holies saying: The young people are victorious who fought at Antiochia. At that time they wrote down the exact time and found that it happened exactly at that hour²¹¹Tosephta 13:5, Babli 33a. It was remarked that the voice spoke Aramaic which is not understood by angels..

²¹²Tosephta 13:3–4; Babli 48b, Sanhedrin 11a, Berakhot 57a; Yerushalmi Avodah zarah 3:1 (42c 1. 32), Horaiot 3:7 (48c 1. 41). It happened that Elders came together in the house Gadia²¹³In both Babli sources: Guriah. in Jericho, when a disembodied voice came and said to them: There is among you one man who would be worthy that the Holy Spirit should rest on him²¹⁴That he should be a prophet., only the generation is not worthy. They all looked at Hillel the Elder. When he died, they said about him, o meek, pious student of Ezra. Again it happened that Elders came together in a second floor at Jabne, when a disembodied voice came and said to them: There is among you one man who would be worthy that the Holy Spirit should rest on him, only the generation is not worthy. They all looked at Samuel Minor. Why was he called Minor? Because he effaced himself. Some say, because he was slightly below Samuel from Ramah²¹⁵The biblical prophet.. When he died, they said about him o meek, pious student of Hillel the Elder. When he was dying he said²¹⁶It is clear that Samuel Minor lived in the time of Gamliel I, Hillel’s grandson, and that there already was an academy at Jabneh at that time.: Simeon and Ismael²¹⁷Simeon ben Gamliel, president of the revolutionary government in the war of 68–70, and Ismael, the High Priest during the revolt; both executed after Titus’s triumph in Rome. (Late and secondary transformation of this source: Mekhilta dR. Ismael Mišpaṭim18, Šemaḥot 8). to the sword, the rest of the people to plunder, immense troubles will be. He said that in Aramaic and they did not understand what he was saying. For Rebbi Jehudah ben Baba they intended to say o meek, pious, but the time was torn²¹⁸He was executed in the aftermath of the war of Bar Kokhba..

It was stated²¹⁹Tosephta 15:1 the entire paragraph. The Babli, 48b, quotes only the part referring to R. Jehudah’s statement, and that anonymously.
In many places, the shamir is listed as a creature whose existence was part of the plan of Creation but which came into being only at its appointed time (the expression being: it was created Friday evening at dusk): Mishnah Abot5:6, Babli Pesaḥim 54a, Sifry Deut. 355, Mekhilta Bešallaḥ Wayyissa‘ 5, Abot dR. Nathan B 37, Pirqe R. Eliezer19,31, Tanḥuma Wayyera 23, Pseudo-Jonathan Num. 22:28, Midraš Ma‘aśeh
Torah (Jellinek vol. 2, p. 100). Cf. also the story of Solomon and the shamir in Babli Giṭṭin 68b.: Rebbi Jehudah said, what was this shamir? It is a creature that existed from the creation of the world and if one shows it stones those would open themselves like the two boards of a pinax²²⁰A writing tablet of two smooth wooden plates hinged together and covered with wax. Greek πίναξ, - ακος, ὁ, “board, plank, anything made of wood; writing tablet, catalogs, etc.”, and Solomon built the Temple with it. That is what is written²²¹1K. 6:7.: “During the building of the House, it was built from whole carried stones, and hammers or axe or any iron implement was not heard in the House when it was built.” Rebbi Nehemiah says, they were sawed. That is what is written²²²1K. 7:9.: “All these were expensive stones, in the measure of ashlars, sawed with a saw inside and out.” Say now, at the building site they were not treated at all but they were finished outside and then brought inside²²³Since iron may not be used in the building of the Temple, Ex. 20:25.. Rebbi says, the words of Rebbi Jehudah are convincing for the stones of the Temple and those of Rebbi Nehemiah for the stones of Solomon’s palace. But since nothing can withstand it, and even when it was put on a stone or a box sheet it would split it and fall down, what did they do to restrain it? One was binding it with wool fibers and put it into a lead cylinder filled with barley bran. That is what is written²²⁴Am. 5:9; this is taken as referring to the shamir.: “He enjoys robbing the strong.”

“And flowing bee’s honey”. Rebbi Eleazar said, honey that comes with floaters. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Ḥanina said, farina which floats on the sieve kneaded with honey and butter²²⁵He explains the recipe R. Eleazar had in mind, as a delicacy which lost its taste with the destruction of the first Temple. Babli 48b, in the name of Rav.. ²²⁶This is from Chapter 1, Note 298; explained in Peah Chapter 7, Notes 71–75. Rebbi Joḥanan said, the second quality fruit we ate in our youth tasted better that the peaches we ate in our old age, because during his lifetime the world changed. Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said, one seah of Arbel grain did yield one seah of fine flour, one seah of white flour, one seah of dark flour, one seah of bran, one seah of coarse bran. But today, we do not even get one for one.

“Trusting men disappeared.” Rebbi Ze‘ira said, men who trusted in Torah, as one teacher who was teaching Bible to his brother in Tyre when they were calling on him for a business deal²²⁷Greek πραγματεία, ἡ, “occupation, business, diligent study, prosecution of business”.. He said, I do not push aside my set time²²⁸Time set aside for study every day at the same hour.. If it is destined to come to me, it will come to me²²⁹This essentially disproves the Mishnah that there are no longer people trusting in God..