Q. In Ta'anis Daf 4a R' Shmuel bar Nachmani says that three people asked Hashem shelo kahogen (incorrectly) and He replied twice kahogen and once shelo kahogen. This seems to imply that we must be "careful what we wish for" lest Hashem respond with a literal fulfillment of the request in a way we would not want. This sounds like Hashem acts like the proverbial "Monkey's Paw" which was cursed by an Indian fakir and granted wishes with horrible consequences. Is this really the message?
A. Chas Veshalom to compare Hashem's ways to the behavior of unethical and uncouth Gentiles.
Hagaos of Rav Aizik Chover, mentions that there is a Remez (allusion) to these three in the posuk 'Ish Ki Idor Neder Lashem' or "when someone makes a promise to Hashem,,' the word Ish carries the first letters of the three people who asked Hashem not correctly and to two of them, Eliezer and Shoul he did answer correctly, but not to Yiftach. To him he kept the follow up of the verse; 'Kechol asher yetze mipiv yaaseh' or whatever came out from his mouth will prevail. The reason being was that, his words were indeed mistakenly specific and not careful.
Important Numbers
