[Avodah] Miracles Never Cease to Amaze Me

[Cantor Wolberg]

The following Midrash from Yalkut Shimoni Exodus 176 is somewhat  
troubling:

"Though Pharaoh accompanied his army when they went after Bnai  
Yisroel, he
did not go into the sea and drown, but instead  made his way to  
Nineveh, Assyria,
where he became king—the same king who when hearing the prophet  
Jonah's message
from God foretelling Nineveh's destruction, encouraged all his  
subjects to repent in order
to avert the divine decree."

If someone in contemporary times wrote a Midrash stating that God had  
spared Hitler so
that he could encourage others to do teshuva, we wouldn't take too  
well to it. Aren't there
plenty of tzaddikim who could encourage their people to repent?Also,  
aren't there plenty of
non Jews, such as the Pope, who could encourage their people to  
repent. Why use a rasha?

Of course, a Midrash doesn't mean it really is so, but nevertheless,  
the mindset of those who
wrote the Midrash is very puzzling to me. I just wonder what they were  
thinking
and how their minds worked.

Looking at it from the other side, it is true that there are  
terrorists today who did a total turn
around and go around preaching peace and risk their lives constantly.  
Walid Shoebat, former
terrorist turned Zionist, comes to mind.

I guess then, one way to look at those who wrote the Midrash in  
question, were the ultimate and
quintessential optimists.

Kol tuv.
ri
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