Succah 53: Satisfying The Mizbeach

Let's learn a shtikel gemara:-).

 When Dovid dug the Pits, the Deep arose and threatened to submerge the world. "Is there anyone", Dovid inquired, "who knows whether it is permitted to inscribe the [Ineffable] Name upon a shard, and cast it into the Deep that its waves should subside?" There was none who answered a word. Said David, "Whoever knows the answer and does not speak, may he be
suffocated in his throat [יחנק בגרונו]". Whereupon Achitophel adduced an a kal va-chomer argument to himself: "If, for the purpose of establishing harmony between man and wife, the Torah said, Let My name that was written in sanctity  be blotted out by the water, how much more so may it be done in order to establish peace in the world!" He, therefore, said to him, "It is permitted!" [David] thereupon inscribed the [Ineffable] Name upon a shard, cast it into the Deep and it subsided sixteen thousand cubits. When he saw that it had subsided to such a great extent, he said, "The nearer it is to the earth, the better the earth can be kept watered" and he uttered the fifteen Songs of Ascent and the Deep reascended fifteen thousand cubits and remained one thousand cubits [below the surface]’. [Succah 53a/b]

We have to understand why Dovid said that the person who knows the answer should be suffocated  in his throat? It would have been enough to say that he should be suffocated?

A mashal from halacha should help us understand better. There is a dispute with respect to forbidden foods if the prohibition is on הנאת גרונו [pleasure of the throat] or הנאת מעיו [gastronomic pleasure]? For example - if a person vomits his food there is הנאת גרונו but no הנאת מעיו.

Some cite the gemara in Succah [49b] in this context: Resh Lakish stated, When the wine-libation was poured upon the altar, the Pits were stopped up ['So that the wine should not run away immediately and the hole present the sight of a throat full of ‘drink, satiety and plenty’- Rashi] , in order to fulfill what is written, בקודש הסך נסך שכר להשם  'In holiness you shall pour out a drink-offering of strong drink [nesech shechar] unto the Lord’. But how does this imply it? — R. Papa answered, Shechar is an expression suggestive of drink, satiety and plenty. From this it may be inferred, R. Papa observed that when a man has his fill of wine, it is due to his filling of his throat [by drinking with large gulps he is satiated and not by drinking a large quantity of wine but in small increments - Rashi].

We see that with respect to drinking there is no question that the decisive factor is הנאת גרונו - the pleasure of the throat and not the stomach.  The feeling of being satiated is caused by the filling of the throat all at once more than a steady trickle of wine. The reason they stopped up the Pits of the mizbeach was so that the mizbeach should appear satiated. Right after they finished pouring they removed the stopper and the wine or water went to the depths.

The reason Dovid dug the depths was so that the service of the pouring of wine should be performed. If during the digging something went wrong and the water was going to flood the world it had to be stopped in order that later the service of pouring the wine to the depths could be properly performed. The person who refrained from revealing whether it was permitted to erase Hashem's name in order to stop the flood was effectively preventing the service of the libations. And we saw that this avoda must be performed on a 'full throat', the throat should almost "choke" because of the volume of wine poured into it. Thus, the person withholding the information regarding the permissibility of stopping the flood by erasing Hashem's name should be "choked" - middah ki-neged middah. He prevented the choking of the mizbeach [in the positive sense] so he too should be choked.

[Maamarei Pachad Yitzchak 121]