"Take heed unto yourselves lest your hearts be enticed, etc.⁠": He said to them: Take care that you do not rebel against the Holy One Blessed be He. For one rebels against Him only in the midst of satiety, as it is written (Ibid. 8:12-13) "Lest you eat and be sated, and you build and inhabit good houses, and your flocks increase for you, (and whatever you have increase.⁠") What follows? (14) "and your heart be lifted and you forget the Lord your G-d.⁠" Similarly, (Ibid. 31:20) "And I shall bring them to the land that I have sworn to their fathers, flowing milk and honey, and they shall eat and be sated and grow fat, and they shall turn to other gods, and serve them, and they shall spurn Me and break My covenant.⁠" Similarly, (in the incident of the golden calf), (Shemot 32:6) "And the people sat down to eat and drink, and they arose to 'play.'"

Similarly, the men of the generation of the flood rebelled only out of satiety, it being written of them (Job 21:10) "Their bull genders and does not fail; their cow calves, and does not abort … (12) They take the timbral and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. (13) They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.⁠" This (i.e., satiety) is the cause. (14) "And they say unto G-d: 'Depart from us'": They said: All we need (from Him) is one drop of rain. We do not need Him (for that. We can manage the water problem ourselves.) (Bereshit 2:6) "And a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.⁠" The Holy One Blessed be He said to them: "You vaunt yourselves over the good that I have bestowed upon you? With it I shall exact punishment of you!⁠" — (Ibid. 7:12) "And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.⁠" R. Yossi b. Dermaskith says: They made their eyes (eineihem) rove up and down to satisfy their lust — The Holy One Blessed be He, in kind, opened upon them the upper and lower fountains (maynoth [like "eineihem"]) in order to destroy them, as it is written (Ibid. 13) "On this day were broken up all the fountains of the great deep, and the windows of heaven were opened.⁠"

And thus do you find with the men of the tower (of Bavel), that they rebelled against the Holy One Blessed be He only out of satiety, as it is written (Ibid. 11:1-2) "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they sat there.⁠" The "sitting" here refers to eating and drinking, as in (Shemot 32:6) "And the people sat down to eat and drink, and they arose to 'play.'" This is what caused them to say (Bereshit, Ibid. 4) "Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in heaven, and let us make a name for ourselves.⁠" What is said of them? (Ibid. 8) "And the Lord scattered them from there over the face of all the earth.⁠"

And thus do you find with the men of Sodom, that they rebelled only out of satiety, it being written of them (Job 28:5) "a land from which bread came forth, and whose place was overturned as with fire.⁠" The men of Sodom said: "We have food; we have silver and gold. Let us arise and banish the law of hospitality from our midst" — to which the Lord responded: "With the good that I have bestowed upon you, you want to banish the law of hospitality from your midst? I shall banish you from the world!⁠" What is written of them? (Ibid. 4) "A stream (of fire and brimstone) burst forth from its source (upon Sodom), who (i.e., the people of Sodom) caused the (code of the) wayfarer to be forgotten.⁠" (Ibid. 12:5-6) "The torch of (the) shame (of Gehinnom awaits) him who is at ease in (his) thoughts, (saying: "I shall be at peace,⁠") (and that he is) prepared (to join the ranks of) those whose foot slips. The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who anger G-d dwell secure, (and with all) that G-d has brought (to the evildoer, the 'hour' plays into) his hand.⁠" And this is the intent of (Ezekiel 16:48-50) "Behold, this was the sin of Sodom your sister. She and her daughter had pride, surfeit of bread and peaceful serenity; but she did not strengthen the land of the poor and the needy. And they grew presumptuous and committed abomination before Me, and I removed them (from the world) when I saw (their ways).⁠"

Similarly, (Bereshit 13:10) "And Lot lifted his eyes and he saw the entire plain of the Jordan, that it was all watered (mashkeh),⁠" and (Ibid. 19:33) "And they gave to drink (vatashkena [like "mashkeh"]) their father wine on that night (in order to cohabit with him).⁠" Now where could they find wine in the cave? It was "in readiness" for them for that time, viz. (Yoel 4:18) "And it shall be on that day that the mountains shall drip wine.⁠" If the Holy One Blessed be He thus "accommodates" those who anger Him, how much more so those who do His will!

R. Gamliel, R. Yehoshua, R. Elazar b. Azaryah and R. Akiva were once going to Rome, when they heard the sound of the (Roman) throng at a distance of one hundred and twenty mils — whereupon they began to cry, and, R. Akiva, to laugh. They: Why are you laughing? R. Akiva: Why are you crying? They: Shall we not cry when the idolators, who are sacrificing to the idols and bowing down to the images are dwelling in tranquility, while we — the footstool of our G-d (i.e., the Temple) has been consumed by fire and has become the habitation of wild beasts! R. Akiva: That is precisely why I am laughing. If He is so forthcoming to His angerers, how much more so to the doers of His will!

Another time, going up to Jerusalem, they came to Mount Scopus and tore their garments (in mourning over the destruction). When they saw a fox emerging from the holy of holies, they began to cry — and R. Akiva, to laugh. They: Akiva, will you always wonder why we are crying while you are laughing! He: And why are you crying? They: Why should we not cry over the place whereof it is written (Bemidbar 1:51) "And the zar (a non-priest) who comes near shall be put to death,⁠" when now a fox is emerging from it! We are fulfilling (Eichah 5:16-18) "For this our heart fails; for these our eyes are darkened: For the mountain of Zion is desolate; foxes walk in it.⁠" He: That is precisely why I was laughing. For it is written (Isaiah 8:2) "And I took for Myself faithful witnesses, Uriah the Cohein and Zecharyahu ben Yeverechyah.⁠" Now why the juxtaposition of Uriah with Zechariah? What did Zechariah say (Zechariah 8:4) "There yet shall sit old men and old women in the streets of Jerusalem, each his staff in his hand from abundance of days.⁠" And what did Uriah say? (Michah 3:12) "Therefore, because of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be heaps, and the Temple Mount as forest mounds.⁠" The Holy One Blessed be He is hereby saying: Here are My two witnesses. If the words of Uriah will be fulfilled, the words of Zechariah will be fulfilled. And if the words of Uriah will not be fulfilled, the words of Zechariah will not be fulfilled. I was happy at the fulfillment of the words of Uriah. In the end, the words of Zechariah will be fulfilled. At these words they said to him: "Akiva, you have consoled us.⁠"

Variantly: (Devarim 11:16) "Take heed unto yourselves lest your hearts be enticed": He said to them: Take care that the evil inclination not lead you astray to separate yourselves from the Torah. For once a man separates himself from the Torah, he cleaves to idolatry, as it is written (Shemot 32:8) "They have turned aside quickly from the way which I have commanded them; they have made for themselves a golden calf.⁠" And it is written (I Samuel 26:19) "If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering. And if the sons of man, let them be cursed before the Lord. For they have driven me out this day from joining the inheritance of the Lord, saying 'Go and serve other gods.'" Now would it enter your mind that David, king of Israel, would serve idolatry? (The thought is,) rather, that his ceasing to occupy himself with words of Torah is equivalent to his cleaving to idolatry.

"and you go astray": from the way of life to the way of death

"and you serve other gods": Now are they gods? Is it not written (Isaiah 37:19) "And they have cast their gods into the fire. For they are not gods, but the work of men's hands.⁠" Why, then, "other gods"? For others make them gods.

Variantly: Why are they called "other gods"? For they are "others" (i.e., "strangers") to their worshippers. And thus is it written (Ibid. 46:7) "He will also cry out to him (his god) and he will not answer. From his trouble he shall not save him.⁠"

R. Yossi says: Why are they called "elohim" ("gods")? So as not to leave an opening for future generations to say: If they (their idols) were called by His name ("Elokim"), they would have been effective. And when were they called by His name? In the days of the generation of Enosh, of which it is written (Bereshit 4:26) "And to Sheth, too, there was born a son, and he called his name Enosh. Then they began to call (artifacts) by the name of the Lord.⁠"

At that time Oceanus rose and flooded a third of the world. The Holy One Blessed be He said to them: You have made something new and called it by My name; I, too, will do something new and call it by My name, as it is written (Amos 5:8) "He called to the waters of the sea, and He spilled them out upon the face of the earth — 'the Lord' is His name.⁠" R. Yitzchak says: If the names of idolatry were to be spelled out, all the hides in the world would not suffice, (for which reason the general "other gods" is written). R. Eliezer says: Why are they called "other gods"? For they (their worshippers) fabricated for themselves many gods. For if it were made of gold and he (its maker) needed gold, he would (appropriate that and) make it of silver; if of silver and he needed that, he would make it of copper; if of copper and he needed that, he would make it of iron; if of iron and he needed that, he would make it of lead; if of lead and he needed that, he would make it of wood.

R. Chanina b. Antignos says: Come and see the rationale of the language of Scripture. Why is it called "Molech" (viz. Vayikra 18:21)? To designate anything that they made to rule (yamlichuhu") over them — even a splinter, even a pebble.

Variantly: Why are they called "other (acherim) gods"? Because they come after (acharei) the last (acharonim) of the creations (i.e., man), who made them and called them "gods.⁠"

"and you bow down to them": You bow down to them, but not to Me! And thus is it written (in respect to the golden calf, Shemot 32:8) "and they bowed down to it and they sacrificed to it.⁠" Others say: If Israel had not joined the name of the Holy One Blessed be He to that of idolatry (the golden calf), they would have been exterminated, viz. (Shemot, Ibid.) "These are your gods, O Israel, who (plural) brought you up from the land of Egypt.⁠" R. Shimon says: But is not one who joins the name of Heaven with that of idolatry liable to extermination, it being written (Ibid. 22:19) "He who sacrifices to a god will be destroyed, other than to the Lord alone!⁠" What, then, is the intent of "who (plural) brought you up"? We are hereby taught that they made for themselves many calves. And thus (that they did not join the Lord in their service) is it written (II Chronicles 29:7) "They have also shut up the doors of the ulam (the Temple hall), and they have put out the lamps, and they have not offered a burnt-offering in the holy place to the G-d of Israel.⁠" They did burn incense to something else. In the holy place they did not offer, but in chullin (a profane place) they did offer. To the G-d of Israel they did not offer, but they did offer to something else.