Digging vs Understanding

(14) Rabbi Elazar said:Be diligent in the study the torah; And know how to answer an epicuros, And know before whom you toil, and that your employer is faithful, for He will pay you the reward of your labor.

Rabbi Zadok said: do not make them a crown for self-exaltation, nor a spade with which to dig.

(22) Ben Bag Bag said:Turn it over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein. And look into it; And become gray and old therein; And do not move away from it, for you have no better portion than it.

(23) Ben He He said: According to the labor is the reward.

§ Rabbi Yitzḥak said in the style of a previous passage: If a person says to you: I have labored and not found success, do not believe him. Similarly, if he says to you: I have not labored but nevertheless I have found success, do not believe him. If, however, he says to you: I have labored and I have found success, believe him. The Gemara comments: This applies only to matters of Torah, as success with respect to Torah study is in accordance with the toil and effort invested. But with regard to success in business, it all depends upon assistance from Heaven, as there is no correlation between success and effort. And even with regard to matters of Torah, we said this only with regard to sharpening one’s understanding of Torah, as the more one labors, the deeper the understanding of the material he achieves. However, to preserve what one has learned, it is dependent upon assistance from Heaven. Not everyone achieves this, even with much effort.

(1) It is a rabbinic positive precept to visit the sick; comfort the mourners; see out the dead; welcome the bride; accompany the [departing] guests; to take care of all burial-related needs, to bear the pall, to go before [the deceased], to eulogize and to dig and to bury.