Q&A: The Reason of the Verse
The Reason of the Verse
Question
The Talmud in Sanhedrin 21 resolves the contradiction in Rabbi Shimon’s view, between taking a widow’s pledge (where he expounds the reason of the verse) and “his heart shall not turn away” (where it seems that Rabbi Shimon does not expound the reason of the verse):
“Rabbi Shimon could say to you: Since generally we do expound the reason of the verse, if so, let the verse write only, ‘He shall not take many wives,’ and be silent, and I would say on my own: What is the reason that he shall not take many wives? Because ‘his heart shall not turn away.’ Why, then, do I need ‘his heart shall not turn away’? To teach that even one wife, if she turns his heart away, he may not marry her. So how do I uphold ‘he shall not take many’? That means even like Abigail.”
This answer leads to an absurdity: דווקא when the Torah does not reveal the reason for the commandment/prohibition, I can expound the reason of the verse; but when it does reveal it, I cannot—because if the Torah had wanted me to expound it, it would have stayed silent and said nothing?
Answer
Exactly so. There is nothing absurd about it. According to Rabbi Shimon, who expounds the reason of the verse, the assumption is that if the reason is not written, we can determine it ourselves. So why does the Torah write it in this case? Apparently because it is not a reason but a separate law (that is, not only do we not expound the reason of the verse here, we learn a different law from it). See my article on the fifth root at length.