שמואל א י״ב:א׳-ה׳

ואני זקנתי ושבתי. אמרו רבותינו: זקנה קפצה עליו, כדאיתא במסכת תענית (ה ב):

I have aged and become gray. Our Rabbis said that he aged prematurely, as stated in Maseches Ta'anis.¹ 5b.

את שור מי לקחתי. לעבודתי:

Whose ox have I taken? For my work.

וחמור מי לקחתי. כשהייתי הולך מעיר לעיר לשפוט אותם על עסקי צרכיהם, הייתי הולך על החמור שלי, והיה לי ליטול משלהם:

Whose donkey have I taken? When I used to travel from city to city to judge them concerning their matters, I used to travel on my donkey, although I should have taken theirs.² See Bamidbar Rabbah 18:10. And when I brought a sacrifice for their sake, I should have taken their ox. Shmuel took this extra precaution because he witnessed how severely Eili’s sons were punished for having abused the privileges of their office. He therefore avoided any action that could be misconstrued as resembling their behavior.

את מי רצותי. כל לשון מרוצה הסמוך לעושק, לשון עשוק ורצוץ הוא, חומס דלים ורוצץ:

Whom have I oppressed? Every expression of מְרַצֶּה which follows עשֶׁק [robbery], is an expression of "robbed and oppressed,³ Devarim 28:33. one who robs the poor and oppresses them.

ואעלים עיני בו. כדי להעלים עיני מן המשפט בשביל הממון:

To look away from him. In order to hide my eyes from the judgment because of the money [bribe].

ואשיב לכם. כל מה שתאמרו:

And I will give it back to you. Whatever you will say.

ויאמר עד. בת קול יוצאת ואומרת: 'עד', וזה אחד משלשה מקומות שהופיעה רוח הקודש בבית דין של מטה, כדאיתא במסכת מכות (כג ב):

And they said [as one], "Witnessed." A heavenly voice came out and said, '[I am] a witness.' This is one of three places in which the holy spirit entered the earthly court, as it is stated in Maseches Makos.⁴ 23b. The other two places in which the holy spirit entered the earthly court are in the court of Sheim and in the court of Shlomo.