There were four men (kings) who made themselves into gods and [consequently] were penetrated like women . . . Hiram, Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, and Yoash. 1) From where do we learn of Hiram? As it says, “Say to [Hiram,] the Prince of Tyre, ‘So says the Lord God: Because you have been so haughty and have said “I am a god” . . . I will bring against you strangers, the most ruthless of nations. They shall unsheathe their swords against your prized shrewdness and they shall strike down your splendor’” (
Ezek. 28:3–7). Since he claimed that he was a god, he was penetrated as a woman, as it says, “Your heart was haughty because of your beauty, you debased your wisdom for the sake of splendor; I have cast you to the ground before kings and given you over to them to make an exhibition of you” (
Ezek. 28:17). What does it mean “to make an exhibition of you”—they will have their desire will with you. 2) From where do we learn of Nebuchadnezzar? [About Nebuchadnezzar] it is written: “Once you thought in your heart, ‘I will climb the sky, I will set my throne higher than the stars of God . . . I will match the Most High” (
Isa. 14:13–14). God replied to him, “Instead, you are brought down to Sheol, to the bottom of the pit” (
Isa. 14:15). [God] exiled him from his kingdom and fed him grass like a beast, as it says [referring to Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel], “You will be driven away from men and have your habitation with the beasts of the field.” [What does this mean?] Beasts will see him in the form of a beast and sexually penetrate him. 3) From where do we learn of Yoash? After king Yehoiada’s death, the princes of Judah came to bow before the king [Yoash] (
2 Chron. 24:17). What does it mean that they bowed before the king? They deified him and he accepted it. . . . [Later, in the same chapter we discover the fate of king Yoash.] It is written, “They inflicted punishments on Yoash” (
2 Chron. 24:24). Taught Rabbi Ishmael: This teaches that they appointed over him cruel guards who never knew a woman, and they would abuse him the way one abuses a woman. 4) From where do we learn that Pharaoh deemed himself a god and was penetrated like a woman? From the verse, “I will deal with you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt . . . who says ‘The Nile is mine, I made it for myself ’ (
Ezek. 29:3). It is I who created myself ”! Pharaoh made himself a god, and [as punishment] he was penetrated like a woman, as it says, “Behold I will deliver Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies” (
Jer. 44:30). Why was his name Hophra? Because he spread him open [phar’a] from behind. This is Pharaoh who was a male and was made into a female.
[Translation by Rabbi Steve Greenberg]
