הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, הַכֹּל נָתוּן בְּעֵרָבוֹן, וּמְצוּדָה פְרוּסָה עַל כָּל הַחַיִּים. הַחֲנוּת פְּתוּחָה, וְהַחֶנְוָנִי מֵקִיף, וְהַפִּנְקָס פָּתוּחַ, וְהַיָּד כּוֹתֶבֶת, וְכָל הָרוֹצֶה לִלְווֹת יָבֹא וְיִלְוֶה, וְהַגַּבָּאִים מַחֲזִירִים תָּדִיר בְּכָל יוֹם, וְנִפְרָעִין מִן הָאָדָם מִדַּעְתּוֹ וְשֶׁלֹּא מִדַּעְתּוֹ, וְיֵשׁ לָהֶם עַל מַה שֶּׁיִּסְמֹכוּ, וְהַדִּין דִּין אֱמֶת, וְהַכֹּל מְתֻקָּן לַסְּעוּדָה:
He was wont to say: All is given in surety. [Succah 53a): "A man's feet are surety for him to bring him to the place where he is claimed."], and a net [(afflictions and death)] is spread over all of the living. The shop is open [and men enter and buy on credit], and the Shopkeeper gives credit [and trusts all who come to take. So, men sin every day, and the Holy One Blessed be He waits for them until their time comes], and the ledger is open [to write down the credit given so that it not be forgotten], and the hand writes, [so that it not be said: Even though the ledger is open, sometimes the shopkeeper is busy and does not write everything down — wherefore: "And the hand writes."], and all who wish to borrow may come and borrow [i.e., "and permission is given" (above). No one is forced to borrow against his will.], and the collecters [(afflictions and sore vicissitudes)] go around constantly, each day and exact ["repayment"] of the man [sometimes] to his knowledge [(Sometimes he remembers his debt and says: "Well have You judged me")], and [sometimes] not to his knowledge [(Sometimes he forgets and rails at G-d's judgment)]; but they have what to rely on, [the ledger and the Shopkeeper who is trusted with His ledger. So, these afflictions "rely" upon the man's deeds, which are remembered by G-d but forgotten by man.], and the judgment is a true judgment [For the Holy One Blessed be He does not tyrannize over His creations (Avodah Zarah 3a)], and all is set for the repast. [Both the righteous and the wicked (after their debt has been claimed) have a share in the world to come.]
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
In G–d's Master Plan the timetable for such developments has been recorded. If the Jewish people proceed irrespective of G–d's timetable, then they are liable for any damage which their sparks cause. If they act in accordance with G–d's timetable, they are not liable for damage inflicted on Esau. When the storekeeper placed his Chanukah lights at the side of the road on Chanukah, he had complied with G–d's timetable for the emission of such "sparks," hence Rabbi Yehudah holds that he is not liable for any damage inflicted on the flax. Jewish history has known periods when some people tried to hasten the arrival of the Messiah. The first time this occurred was when members of the tribe of Ephrayim (misreading G–d's timetable 30 years before the Exodus) rebelled, left Egypt and attacked the Philistines in d,. According to our tradition this resulted in the death of 200,000 of their number. (cf. Chronicles I 7,21. Zavad and his brother Shutelach are assumed to have been the leaders of that ill fated expedition. More about this in Sanhedrin 92). The metaphor of the camel laden with flax passing the "merchant's store" with a light lit before it, is an allusion to Esau passing G–d's Temple endangering it with hazardous material. G–d is the "merchant" in the Midrash. [He is perceived as extending credit to man and recording the amount of credit extended. Man repays by performing the מצות in the Torah. Ed] The store is a metaphor for the ארבע אמות של הלכה, the four cubits of Halachah that G–d claims on earth in our days. According to Berachot 8, this is all that G–d "owns" in our world since the day the Temple was destroyed. The site of these four cubits is where the Temple used to stand, seeing G–d loves the gates of Zion as we know from Psalms 87,2 and Berachot 8a. The Temple has been referred to as בירה, the same word used for the conflagration caused by the fire described in Talmud Baba Kama 62, when the burning flax sets fire to the building of the merchant i.e. G–d's Temple (in an example where the animal was so overloaded that part of the flax crossed the threshold of the store). In that example, the owner of the camel is liable.
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