Introduction There are actually two mishnayoth in mishnah four. The first mishnah is from Rabbi Levitas of Yavneh, who does not appear anywhere else in the mishnah. Rabbi Yohanan ben Berokah was a student of Rabbi Joshua.
Rabbi Levitas a man of Yavneh said: be exceeding humble spirit, for the end of man is the worm. Usually a person should take the middle path and not be “exceedingly” anything. However, with humility one can be even exceedingly humble. For in the end all men end up in the ground, serving as food for worms.
Rabbi Yohanan ben Berokah said: whoever profanes the name of heaven in secret, he shall be punished in the open. Unwittingly or wittingly, it is all one in profaning the name. This refers to a person who commits a transgression in private which had he done it in public would have desecrated God’s name. For instance, if he is a sage or other type of communal leader, if people would have seen him sinning, they would have learned from him. Such a person will be punished in the open so that everyone can see his hypocrisy. Since profaning God’s name is such a great crime, one that can lead to other people committing even more sins, the punishment is meted out even to one who unwittingly profanes God’s name. Maimonides points out that this is not to say that a person who unwittingly profanes God’s name receives the same punishment as one who does so wittingly. This would be inherently unfair. Rather what the mishnah teaches is that each gets their punishment in public.