The Torah describes the pit in which Yosef was held captive, saying, “Now the pit was empty; there was no water in it.” Rashi asks: “Do the words ‘now the pit was empty’ not imply that the pit contained no water? For what purpose did the Torah add that ‘there was no water in it’? The added phrase saying that ‘there was water in it’ teaches us,” replies Rashi, “that it was empty only of water, but it was in fact occupied by snakes and scorpions.”
Water is often used as a metaphor for Torah study. Accordingly, we can understand why the Torah alludes to the presence of snakes and scorpions in the pit by emphasizing that “there was no water in it,” instead of stating explicitly that the pit was inhabited by harmful creatures.
The arrival of snakes and scorpions—symbolic of the spiritual ills that can plague a person’s life—is not an “additional” risk faced by those who do not fill their lives with Torah study. Rather, the presence of these negative elements is synonymous with the absence of Torah study: they are its inevitable consequence. For the vacuum created when a person does not occupy his free time with Torah does not remain neutral.
When “there is no water in it,” the void automatically fills with “snakes and scorpions”—ideas that are incompatible with a holy lifestyle.
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 15, pp. 324–325
4. See Bava Kamma 17a.
