Chapter 10 of Hoshea continues the prophet's rebuke of the Kingdom of Ephraim in its final days, depicting its downfall in agricultural imagery of fields and plowing: sowing and reaping, furrows and ridges, a heifer and a yoke. The prophet demonstrates how the scheme Israel devised to bring down their king - by informing on him to the king of Assyria - was the very thing that brought about their destruction, and how the roots of their corruption extend back to the days of the Gibeah. Alongside this, the prophet also presents the alternative path: "Sow for yourselves righteousness." We will follow the order of the verses, primarily according to the Malbim, alongside Rashi, Radak, and Targum Yonatan.
נִדְמֶה שֹׁמְרוֹן מַלְכָּהּ כְּקֶצֶף עַל פְּנֵי מָיִם׃ (ז) - As for Shomron, her king is cut off like foam upon the face of the water. (7)
The word nidmeh is interpreted in four ways. Targum Yonatan renders it: "Shomron was ashamed of her king" - from the concept of shame (bushah): Shomron was disgraced by its king. We thought the king would save us, yet his strength proved to be like foam upon the face of the water, an expression for something of no substance at all, which disappears and is wiped away in a single moment. Rashi explains nidmeh as related to stillness and silence (dumiyah), as in "Do not be silent (al domi lach)": the king of Shomron has been silenced, and he is like foam upon the face of the water. Radak explains it as destruction and cutting off, as in "My people are cut off (nidmeh ami)": the king of Shomron was cut off. He endured the siege for so long, yet in the end he could not escape it and went into exile.
And what is ketzef? Targum Yonatan renders it: "like froth upon the face of boiling water" - the foam created by boiling water, and similarly Rashi explains it as "escuma in Old French," just as he explains in the Talmud, where the Gemara notes that one should avoid drinking the froth atop a beverage. Radak, on the other hand, explains that ketzef refers to tree bark, as in "and stripped my fig tree (liktzafah)," meaning bark that is tossed and bobbing upon the surface of the water.
The Malbim explains that here the prophet comes to explain what he stated earlier, "and Israel shall be ashamed of its own counsel": the very scheme by which they planned to depose Hoshea - by summoning the king of Assyria and informing him that Hoshea had rebelled against him - is what brought about their own downfall. According to this, nidmeh is from the root of comparison and metaphor (dimyon): they became like foam upon the face of the water. Boiling causes foam to rise, and when the water shifts and surges, the foam dissolves and the water becomes smooth again. So it was here: around the king, agitation and turmoil arose among the people - like foam - and the people rebelled against the king; they conspired against Pekach ben Remalyahu, put him to death, and crowned Hoshea ben Elah in his stead. Then that very foam was carried into exile, through that same act of informing on Hoshea to the king of Assyria. Just as the movement of water clears away the foam, so this turmoil swept them away to Assyria, and their plots to strengthen the calf worship failed, as ultimately all of them went into exile.
וְנִשְׁמְדוּ בָּמוֹת אָוֶן חַטַּאת יִשְׂרָאֵל קוֹץ וְדַרְדַּר יַעֲלֶה עַל מִזְבְּחוֹתָם וְאָמְרוּ לֶהָרִים כַּסּוּנוּ וְלַגְּבָעוֹת נִפְלוּ עָלֵינוּ׃ (ח) - The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; thorns and thistles shall grow up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall upon us!" (8)
"The high places of Aven" - Rashi, following the Targum, explains that this refers to the altars of Beit El. These high places were "the sin of Israel"; they were Israel's stumbling block, and through the nation's downfall, they too would be destroyed. "Thorns and thistles shall grow up on their altars" - an expression describing an abandoned and uninhabited place that becomes overgrown with thorns and briars. The altars will no longer be in use, and so thorns and thistles will overtake them, leaving them desolate and ruined.
"And they shall say to the mountains, 'Cover us!' and to the hills, 'Fall upon us!'" - according to one interpretation, it is the altars that say this. The altars stood upon the mountains and hills, and from utter desolation, the mountains and hills will collapse and cover them, burying the altars beneath heaps of dirt. This is a familiar reality: in an abandoned place that is not maintained, dust and earth continually accumulate until everything is buried. As we see at the Kotel, where meters of the wall's depth were covered by earth over the generations.
Rashi and Radak, however, explain that this statement is not a metaphor spoken by the altars, but the cry of the people of Israel. When they witness the immense shame and overwhelming distress into which they have fallen, they will plead for the mountains and hills to cover them - that they might be buried beneath them rather than endure this suffering, agony, and disgrace. In other words: I would rather be buried alive than undergo the calamity that is overtaking us.
מִימֵי הַגִּבְעָה חָטָאתָ יִשְׂרָאֵל שָׁם עָמָדוּ לֹא תַשִּׂיגֵם בַּגִּבְעָה מִלְחָמָה עַל בְּנֵי עַלְוָה׃ (ט) - From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; there they stood; shall not the war against the children of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?
Rashi explains, consistent with his approach above: "From the days of Gibeah" refers to the incident of the Concubine of Gibeah (Pilegesh b'Givah), from the time of Othniel ben Kenaz, the first of the Judges in the days of Cushan-rishathaim, in whose era the idol of Micah also existed. The prophet says: your sin is ancient; already back then you committed grave sins. "There they stood" - in that very same place you stand today as well, holding fast to the same conduct, the same corruption, and the same flawed trait.
"Shall not the war against the children of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah" - let us refresh our memory. The people of Israel went out to battle against the tribe of Benjamin and demanded that they hand over the criminals who had abused the concubine in Gibeah. The descendants of Benjamin refused, wishing to judge members of their own tribe themselves rather than submit to the jurisdiction of the other tribes; and in the wake of this refusal, Israel went to war. This took place after the concubine's husband took her after her death, cut her into twelve pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel, effectively telling them to be appalled by this and execute justice against the perpetrators. In the first two battles, Israel suffered defeat as Benjamin overcame them, and only in the third battle did Israel prevail against Benjamin.
And why did they not succeed initially? Rashi explains: because the sin of idolatry was in their hands, as they had not eradicated idolatry. As the Gemara recounts, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: "For My honor you did not protest, yet for the honor of flesh and blood you did protest?" For Micah's idol was standing, its smoke mingling with the smoke of Shiloh and the smoke of the altar's pyre, and against that you did not protest. Therefore, their merits were insufficient to vanquish Benjamin. "Bnei alvah" - means children of iniquity (bnei avlah); Radak explains that this is an instance of transposed letters, like zo'ah and za'avah, keves and keshev, simlah and salmah, ya'ef and ayeif.
Targum Yonatan explains "from the days of Gibeah" as referring to their demand for a king, when they asked for a king in Givat Shaul and crowned Saul, and that was the indictment against them. However, Rashi writes that this does not fit the Hebrew wording, nor does the rest of the passage flow naturally with the matter of demanding a king, fitting instead the first interpretation. Radak likewise writes that the verse does not fit well with this explanation; therefore, Rashi's explanation appears more compelling.
Radak similarly explains: "From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel" - when the tribe of Benjamin insisted on upholding the outrage and refused to surrender the criminals; and the other tribes were also punished because there were idolaters among them. "There they stood" - the sinners of this generation persist in that very same conduct, and since that is so, they will now pay the penalty for what took place back then as well.
The Malbim interprets differently: "From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel" - the high places and sins of Israel, which are idolatry, date back to the days of Gibeah. That is, "Gibeah" here does not refer to the actual incident of the Concubine of Gibeah, but rather to the idolatry that existed at that time. Micah's idol stood in Dan, and later Jeroboam likewise erected one of his golden calves in Dan. Why specifically in Dan? Because the place had already become established in their minds as a site of idol worship, for Micah's idol had been immensely popular and the city had served as a center for pagan worship. When Jeroboam came to establish a site of idolatry, he built it upon the foundation of that lingering attraction to Micah's idol. Thus, it was from the days of Gibeah that their iniquities began, when they first set up idols for themselves.
According to the Malbim, "there they stood" means that there the high places and idols stood from ancient times - unlike Rashi and Radak, who explained that the people continue in that same path. This was also the reason Israel did not prevail in battle: because of Micah's idol. "Did not overtake them" (lo tasigem) - related to retreating (nasog achor): the war in Gibeah did not cause the children of Benjamin to retreat, even though it was a battle "against the children of iniquity," against the men of Benjamin who had acted wickedly. This shows that already back then idolatry existed among them, and already back then they felt no zeal against it.
בְּאַוָּתִי וְאֶסֳּרֵם וְאֻסְּפוּ עֲלֵיהֶם עַמִּים בְּאׇסְרָם לִשְׁתֵּי עוֹנֹתָם׃ (י) - When I desire, I will chastise them; and nations shall be gathered against them, when they are harnessed for their two furrows.
Rashi explains "when I desire" (be'avati) as derived from longing and will: it is My will and desire to chastise them. Since they do not accept reproof from Me through the prophets who admonish them, it is My will to chastise them - by means of "and nations shall be gathered against them," where foreign nations will come and assemble against them in war, and these afflictions will bring them to repent and rectify their evil deeds.
"When they are harnessed for their two furrows" - just as oxen are harnessed to plow. "Onotam" derives from ma'anit, the furrow in a plowed field. Radak explains that plowing a field produces gedudim, ridges, and the mounds of earth on either side are called furrows (telamim). He explains that Judah and Ephraim are compared here to two plowing cows, which I expected to plow well, yet in the end they plowed poorly; they harnessed themselves to one another - "when they are harnessed for their two furrows."
And what is the meaning of this? For a long period, Binyamin was righteous, but in a later period we see an alliance forming between Yehudah and Binyamin and Ephraim - that is, Shomron and the Ten Tribes. When? When Yehoshaphat intermarried with Achav, king of Yisrael, forming a match between their families, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, sent him a prophecy: "Because you allied yourself with him, Hashem has breached your deeds." Even though Yehoshaphat was a righteous king, the very association with evil had a negative impact on him. Thus, "when they are bound to their two furrows" is an expression of binding and yoking together: two cows tied together, which instead of plowing well, do what is evil in the eyes of Hashem. And as we saw with Yehoram, who did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem and walked in the ways of the kings of Yisrael, and in his days Edom rebelled from under the hand of Yehudah, and so too did Achazyahu. This alliance brought no good, only harm.
The Malbim explains: When I desired to chastise them and punish them for the sin of idolatry, I did not gather a group from within the people of Yisrael against them to fight the sinners, because Yisrael were not zealous with indignation against idolatry. There was no point in bringing people from among them to fight and rebuke, for they were all sinning and continuing down a negative path. Therefore, there was no choice but that "nations will be gathered against them" - foreign nations from outside, the camp of Ashur. And "when they are bound to their two furrows" - that they will be bound to two furrows of the plow. When one wishes to overburden an ox, one yokes it to a plow that does not dig one furrow, but two furrows at once, which demands double its strength. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: This is the punishment I brought upon them; I chastised them with such harsh subjugation, hoping it might bring them to rectify their deeds.
וְאֶפְרַיִם עֶגְלָה מְלֻמָּדָה אֹהַבְתִּי לָדוּשׁ וַאֲנִי עָבַרְתִּי עַל טוּב צַוָּארָהּ אַרְכִּיב אֶפְרַיִם יַחֲרוֹשׁ יְהוּדָה יְשַׂדֶּד לוֹ יַעֲקֹב׃ (יא) - Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, and I passed over her fair neck; I will harness Ephraim, Yehudah shall plow, Yaakov shall harrow for him. (11)
The Malbim explains: Hashem placed upon them the yoke of a plow that digs two furrows at once, a burden heavy even for an ox. And come and see: Ephraim is not an ox at all, but a heifer, lacking the strength of an ox to plow the earth. Ephraim is like a calf trained only for light tasks, not heavy labor. "Loves to thresh" - it loves to thresh grain. What is threshing? Walking upon the grain and treading it down. There is no pulling or heavy load here, only treading. The calf prances over the grain and threshes it, and also eats while threshing, as the Torah says, "You shall not muzzle an ox in its threshing" - a rewarding job. Thus, plowing is not Ephraim's work, for Ephraim is a heifer that loves to thresh: to bear a light subjugation and avoid heavy tasks.
For this reason, they turned to the king of Mitzrayim for help: the king of Mitzrayim did not impose harsh labor upon them, while on the other hand, they would eat of the fat of the land and profit from commerce there, as Mitzrayim was considered an economic powerhouse. They felt things would be easier for them in Mitzrayim, and they did not want to bear the heavy yoke of the king of Ashur upon their neck.
The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: "And I passed over her fair neck" - I visited her and saw the beauty and delicacy of her neck, which was plump, tender, and fleshy, while the yoke sat upon the neck and chafed it. I took pity on that heifer, and it was never My intention to deliver her into the hands of the nations, who would bind her to two furrows and impose upon her the plowing of two furrows at once. I thought they would bring themselves under My service, which is a light service that does not require overwhelming strain, and through this they would not be handed over to harsh masters. I thought they would join with the Kingdom of Yehudah, serve Hashem, and plow the holy land.
"I will harness Ephraim" - I intended to attach and join Ephraim to Yehudah, so that both of them would engage in the service of Hashem together. "Yehudah shall plow" - the tribe of Yehudah, who were already accustomed to the service of Hashem and skilled at plowing, would do the plowing; "Yaakov shall harrow for him" - and Yaakov, who were not trained to plow, would do the lighter work. Yaakov always denotes the lower level, akin to the heel (ekev), just as Yaakov stands in contrast to Yisrael, which is a higher level, and similarly Yehudah, who is on a higher level. And harrowing refers to this: after plowing, large ridges and clods of earth remain, and one must crush and break the clods so they become fine and suitable for sowing seed - a much lighter labor.
On a deeper level, the Malbim explains: Yehudah would prepare the soil of the soul, plowing it until it was ready to receive the planting of righteousness and good deeds, and Yaakov - who are the Ten Tribes - would come and finish the work of plowing and preparation. This entire parable describes the spiritual preparation with which I prepared them to accept the service of Hashem. Yet he, this "Ephraim, a trained heifer that loves to thresh," went to serve Mitzrayim. I thought he was seeking light labor, and so I gave him My service, which is light; but if he insists specifically on harsh labor - says Hashem - I will bind them to their two furrows; I will tie them and attach them to Ashur like an ox to two plow-furrows, to backbreaking labor that will break their bodies.
זִרְעוּ לָכֶם לִצְדָקָה קִצְרוּ לְפִי חֶסֶד נִירוּ לָכֶם נִיר וְעֵת לִדְרוֹשׁ אֶת ה' עַד יָבוֹא וְיֹרֶה צֶדֶק לָכֶם׃ (יב) - Sow for yourselves for righteousness, reap according to kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek Hashem, until He comes and rains justice upon you. (12)
You plowed evil, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I ask of you, "Sow for yourselves for righteousness, reap according to kindness" - perform actions that bring you closer to spirituality. Radak explains: Do what is good in My eyes, and what I will give you will be manifold greater than what you invest and give. This is why the term sowing is used: no one sows a kilogram of wheat to get back a kilogram of wheat, but rather to yield a hundred kilograms. You do the act of sowing, and I respond to you, "Reap according to kindness." And kindness (chesed) is always greater than justice or charity (tzedakah): tzedakah denotes justice, where I give you what you deserve and demand of you what you are obligated to give, whereas the Holy One, Blessed be He, promises to give far more than what you put in. Yet despite all this, they were not persuaded to do the will of Hashem.
And Chazal say: Acts of lovingkindness (gemilut chasadim) are greater than charity (tzedakah), as it is stated, "Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (tzedakah), reap according to lovingkindness (chesed)" - one who sows is in doubt whether he will eat or not, but one who reaps will certainly eat. When you sow, you do not know if anything will grow; but once you have reaped, it is done, it is already in your hand. Tzedakah consists of giving money, and even after the poor man receives the money, he must still make an effort: he must go and purchase wheat, sift it, grind it, and so forth, and his soul departs before he finally sees bread. In contrast, with acts of lovingkindness, the recipient benefits immediately. This is illustrated in the Gemara regarding the woman who said to her husband, whose feet were burning in the furnace: "Place your feet upon my feet." He asked her: "Why are your feet not burning?" and felt disheartened. She told him: "My bread is readily available to the poor, whereas you give them coins, and until the pauper goes and buys food with them, time elapses." Thus we learn that chesed is greater than tzedakah.
"Break up your fallow ground (Niru lachem nir)" - after you reap, return and plow again, and sow again, so that good deeds never cease. Often, a person performs a good deed and rests on his laurels; to this the prophet says: continue plowing again, do not become complacent in good deeds. And "nir" refers to newly broken ground. The Radak explains that this plowing represents awakening the hearts to accept words of rebuke. In the words of Scripture elsewhere: "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns" - one who sows among thorns sees no growth, for the thorns choke everything growing there. Therefore, first break up your fallow ground, plow thoroughly, and only then sow, so that the crop may flourish properly.
Here, a parable from the Dubno Maggid is very fitting. Some people ask: "I have strengthened myself in this area and that, yet I find it exceedingly difficult, and in short, it simply isn't working." This is comparable to a man who wore an old, ragged beggar's suit for a long time and decided to order a new suit from a tailor. The tailor took his measurements and made the suit. The man came, took the new suit, tried to put it on, and said: "It won't go on; it doesn't fit!" The tailor looked at him and said: "You foolish man, take off the old suit first, and then put on the new one; do you expect to wear this suit over the old rags? Of course it won't fit!"
In the same way, a person often wishes to grow and accepts upon himself various good resolutions, yet leaves all the filth and decay unaddressed. He wants to do good deeds while clinging to his evil ways, remaining in his corruption and assuming he can merely pile on mitzvot. That does not work, because for every mitzvah performed, an opposing sin is committed, and an עבירה מכבה מצוה - a sin extinguishes a mitzvah. When it extinguishes the mitzvah, the mitzvah cannot radiate light, the principle of "one mitzvah leads to another" fails to take effect, and one ends up like a yo-yo: pulled toward good one moment, and toward evil the next. But that is not the way. The way is "Break up your fallow ground": first plow, do not sow among thorns. What will grow for someone who sows among thorns? Uproot the thorns, cast away all the corruption, all the filth and rot. When someone comes to repent, he is told first of all: stop committing the sins, and gradually take on good resolutions. One cannot continue desecrating Shabbat, continue frequenting the same clubs and venues as before, continue exposing oneself to everything seen before, and simultaneously attempt to take on mitzvot, only to complain later: "My heart simply isn't opening up." How could it open up when you are trying to slip a fine suit over filthy rags? Remove the soiled garments and then put on the suit, and you will see that it fits beautifully.
"And it is time to seek Hashem, until He comes and teaches righteousness to you" - seek Hashem to know His Torah, and He will come and teach you righteousness, in the spirit of "one who comes to purify himself is granted assistance from Above." You will merit Heavenly assistance (siyata d'Shemaya), and the Holy One, blessed be He, will grant you double the kindness you extend, guiding you in the path of righteousness. At the highest levels, Hashem even sends an angel to teach a person Torah - this is the deeper meaning of "and He will teach righteousness to you." The Beit Yosef reached such spiritual heights that Hashem sent him a Maggid, an angelic mentor who instructed him in righteousness. And the Maggid, as is well known, rebuked the Beit Yosef on numerous occasions regarding his conduct. From those very rebukes, one can grasp the Beit Yosef's extraordinary stature: rebuke for drinking a single extra cup of water, for lifting his foot in the marketplace while momentarily not contemplating Hashem, and similar minute matters. Thus, when a person reaches great spiritual heights, "He will teach righteousness to you" - Hashem sends him an angel to guide him in righteousness. And even short of that, at the very least Heavenly assistance will descend upon him from Hashem the moment He sees genuine spiritual awakening.
The Radak cites another explanation in the name of his father: "Reap according to kindness" - everything you reap in this world is an act of pure kindness; whereas "until He comes and directs righteousness to you" refers to the righteousness, that which is due to you by strict justice, which will be granted in the World to Come. Here in this world, we receive only the dividends. Thus, whatever you reap here is an act of kindness, as though Hashem is performing chesed with you by distributing dividends now, without detracting in the least from the reward awaiting you in the World to Come. Ultimately, Hashem will direct righteousness to you and grant you what is rightfully yours by justice, and the bounty He channels to you in this world will not diminish the principal reward at all.
The Malbim explains that "and it is time to seek Hashem" applies after the plowing and sowing have been prepared: only then can you seek Hashem properly, and the rain will arrive, representing bounty from on high. According to the Malbim, the word "veyoreh" does not derive from instruction (moreh tzedek), but from the term for the early autumn rain (yoreh): until the Holy One, blessed be He, comes and pours down Heavenly abundance. And what is "righteousness for you" (tzedek lachem)? It is the very abundance He will bestow so that the spiritual deeds you have performed take root within you, influence you, ignite an inner awakening, and satisfy your thirsty soul with the rains of His might and holy bounty. As it is written: "Drip down, heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness" (Yeshayahu 45:8) - supreme spiritual bounty will pour down upon a person, providing divine assistance to our desire to draw close to Him.
חֲרַשְׁתֶּם רֶשַׁע עַוְלָתָה קְצַרְתֶּם אֲכַלְתֶּם פְּרִי כָחַשׁ כִּי בָטַחְתָּ בְדַרְכְּךָ בְּרֹב גִּבּוֹרֶיךָ׃ (יג) - "You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of falsehood, because you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men." (13)
Those were the plans envisioned in the previous verse, but what were the actual results? The prophet continues with the metaphor of the field, consistent with his approach throughout the chapter: "Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh," "Judah will plow, Jacob will break his clods," "Sow for yourselves according to righteousness." And here: "You have plowed wickedness." The plowing here operates on two levels: both in the sense of "one who devises (literally plows) wicked schemes," and in the literal agricultural sense, continuing the parable. By plowing evil deeds, what did you reap? "You have reaped iniquity," and you ate the fruit of falsehood and denial of Hashem. What you cultivated is precisely what you reaped.
"Because you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men" - this is the reason you did not repent: you placed your trust in your corrupt ways, believing you had no need for Hashem's assistance and could manage entirely on your own. "We have mighty warriors; we have men capable of waging war." You thought you would be saved through strategic counsel and military might, and that is why you were never aroused to serve Hashem.
וְקָאם שָׁאוֹן בְּעַמֶּךָ וְכָל מִבְצָרֶיךָ יוּשַּׁד כְּשֹׁד שַׁלְמַן בֵּית אַרְבֵאל בְּיוֹם מִלְחָמָה אֵם עַל בָּנִים רֻטָּשָׁה׃ (יד) - A tumult shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beit-arbel on the day of battle; the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. (14)
"A tumult shall arise among your people" - the Malbim explains this based on what was explained earlier, that they rebelled against the king who wished to abolish the worship of the calves. *Sha'on* means noise or tumult, and a rebellion arose within the people. *Ve-kam* ("וקאם"), although written with an *alef*, is an expression of rising. Through this, "and all your fortresses shall be spoiled": because of the infighting among them, the fortresses were delivered into the hands of the enemy. For they themselves called upon the enemy to come and overthrow the king, but the enemy arrived and ultimately overthrew them together with the king. It turns out that they shot themselves in the foot and brought harm upon themselves.
And who is "Shalman"? The Ibn Ezra, and likewise the Radak quoting his father, and the Malbim follows this view as well, explain that Shalman is an abbreviation of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who arrived here and conquered the land. "Beit-arbel" was the name of a fortress in the kingdom of Ephraim, which on the day of battle was handed over to him due to the rebellion among them; they thought he would come, topple the king, and grant them freedom, but ultimately he took them as well, in addition to bringing down the king.
The Malbim further adds a reason for the phrase "the spoil of Shalman": in practice, they surrendered the fortress to him without a battle. That fifth column among them informed against the king, reporting that he had made peace with the king of Egypt, which aroused the wrath of the king of Assyria against him. Thus, the king of Assyria received the land on a silver platter, and everything was taken peacefully - this is the meaning of "as the spoil of Shalman", that the plunderer came and received the land peacefully (*be-shalom*), without battle. Yet despite all this - "Beit-arbel on the day of battle": he treated them like a king who conquered the land through war. And there is a vast difference: a king who conquers a land avenges himself on the people for rebelling and resisting, whereas a king who receives the land on a silver platter is willing to be far more favorable toward them, to leave them in place and grant them autonomy, since they did not fight him. Here, he received it on a silver platter, yet he treated them as if he had conquered it by force in the midst of battle.
And so came "the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children". The Malbim explains that *retishah* (dashing to pieces or mangling) is not mere killing, but a slaying where the body can no longer be recognized in its original form. Even today in Hebrew one speaks of a "mangled body" (*gufah meruteshet*), whose human likeness can no longer be discerned. That is to say, this was an act of vengeance and hatred carried out with utter ruthlessness; he was prepared to slaughter even mother with children, and not only to kill, but to tear them to pieces.
The Radak also brings another explanation: Shalman was a well-known enemy in those days, and this Shalman came upon Beit-arbel suddenly, and the raiders with him struck down mother upon children and left nothing behind. So when the prophet comes to warn that the enemy will arrive with crushing force to destroy everything, he says: it will be like the spoil of Shalman; just as the Shalman familiar to you plundered Beit-arbel, so will be done to you. And what is "the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children"? The Radak explains that when they come to take a child from a mother, the mother throws herself over her child to save him, so that if the arrow or sword strikes, it will strike her and not her child; yet the enemy showed no mercy, killing both her and her child. According to this explanation, *retishah* denotes dashing them to the ground so as to cleave them open.
The Radak cites yet another explanation in the name of Chazal, that *rutashah* is an expression of abandonment, just as the Targum translates "you shall let it rest and abandon it (*u-netashtah*)" as "*tarteshinah*", meaning you shall leave it. According to this, the meaning is: out of their great terror of the sword and of famine, men would abandon their wives and children and flee, leaving the mother abandoned with her children. And what is the distinction between *natush* and *ratush*? The Radak explains: *ratush* implies a deliberate choice, where one willingly leaves the place, whereas *natush* is against one's will, when one is forced to abandon it.
כָּכָה עָשָׂה לָכֶם בֵּית אֵל מִפְּנֵי רָעַת רָעַתְכֶם בַּשַּׁחַר נִדְמֹה נִדְמָה מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ (טו) - So has Beit-El done to you because of your great wickedness; at dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off. (15)
"So has Beit-El done to you" - the calf in Beit-El is the cause of all this affliction. "Because of your great wickedness" - on account of your grave evil, which is idolatry, which brought all this calamity upon you. "At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off" - "at dawn" means at the very beginning of his reign. For in his sixth year it is written that the king of Assyria imprisoned him, and in the seventh year he marched against Samaria, besieged it for three years, and captured it. Even prior to that, from the beginning of his reign, it is written that he paid tribute to him and was subject to the king of Assyria. Only afterward did he turn to the king of Egypt, whereupon the king of Assyria advanced against him following the denunciation by those people who were here in the land, and through this, Hoshea was cut off, and the people were cut off as well.
The chapter opens with the fall of Samaria and its king - "like foam upon the water", for the very commotion they initiated themselves, the rebellion and the betrayal, is what wiped them out. The high places and altars are destroyed and overgrown with thorns and thistles, buried under mounds of earth, until they will beg to be buried beneath the mountains rather than endure the shame. And the root of this downfall is ancient: "From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel", tracing back to the idol of Micah and the sin of idolatry that went unprotested. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, had to chastise them by the hands of outside nations, harnessing them like an ox to two furrows. Ephraim, who desired only the easy labor of threshing and turned to Egypt, could have joined with Judah and plowed the holy soil; instead, he received a crushing yoke from Assyria. In contrast, the prophet sets forth the proper path: "Sow for yourselves in righteousness, reap in accordance with lovingkindness, break up your fallow ground" - to sow a little and reap in abundance, not to rest on one's laurels, and above all to weed out the thorns before sowing, for one does not put a new suit over filthy clothes. And whoever genuinely seeks Hashem, Hashem will rain down righteousness upon him with divine assistance and abundant blessing from Above. But they "plowed wickedness" and trusted in their own way and in their mighty warriors; therefore, a tumult arose among the people, the fortresses were delivered into the hands of Shalmaneser, who received the land peacefully yet treated it as a brutal conqueror - all "because of your great wickedness", on account of the calf of Beit-El.