Before delving into the in-depth study of Tanach through the commentary of the Malbim, it is worthwhile to examine his great introduction to Tanach. In this introduction, the Malbim reveals what led him to compose his magnificent work, why he invested so many years of toil in it, and above all: what deficiency he saw in the earlier works that preceded him, prompting him to gird his loins like a warrior and set out to write a new commentary on the entirety of the Sacred Scriptures. The Malbim - Rabbi Meir Leibush, whose name forms the acronym "Malbim" - lived about one hundred and fifty years ago, and his commentary accomplishes what many of the commentators did not. By reading his words, we will understand both his guiding approach in interpreting Tanach and the distinction between him and the other commentators.
"שטף הפירושים והמון הביאורים הזורם ושוטף ועובר מעת לעת בנהרי הנביאים ונחלי הכתובים, מרבית הביאורים והתרגומים היוצאים ונולדים וצומחים יום יום בדורנו זה על הררי המקרא שדי תרומותיו, כגלים על תלמי שדי, המה יתנו עדיהם כי הנפשות השוקקות להבין במקרא ולחשוף תעלומותיו, לא מצאו רוויה במי באר חפרוה שרים, כרוה נדיבי קדם במחוקק במשענותם" - "The surge of commentaries and the multitude of explanations that stream, rush, and pass from time to time through the rivers of the Prophets and the brooks of the Writings, the vast majority of explanations and translations that emerge, are born, and sprout daily in this generation of ours upon the mountains of Scripture and its bountiful fields, like heaps upon the furrows of the field - they bear witness that the souls thirsting to understand Scripture and uncover its mysteries have not found satisfaction in the waters of the well dug by princes, excavated by the nobles of antiquity with the lawgiver and their staves."
"Galim" (waves/heaps) here means mounds or heaps, and "they shall bear their testimony" means: they prove it. The very proliferation of commentaries proves that people did not find satisfaction in the existing commentators, which is why they are constantly seeking new commentaries and additional explanations. He continues: "Therefore, they search and dig other wells and seek water. The sign and proof is that this generation - a generation wise in its own eyes, examining the root of everything and investigating thoroughly - has not found its soul's satisfaction and finds no rest in the commentaries brought forth by their fathers' generation." This generation seeks to delve deeply and understand why it is written this way, why the prophet says this, what this word means - and it is not enough for them; they draw no satisfaction from the commentaries produced by earlier generations. "Therefore, demand has multiplied and investigation has intensified greatly to discover the mysteries of the Sacred Scriptures and resolve their riddles; and therefore, be'erim sprout from city to city like grass of the earth." The word "be'erim" is a double entendre: both in the sense of a well (be'er) and in the sense of explanation (bi'ur) - new works are constantly being authored.
"אמנם כן, לב הראשונים היה פתוח כפתחו של אולם. המה ידעו חוכמת הלשון, השכילו דרכיה, הבינו נתיבותיה, והמה מצאו דעת קדושים בינה" - "Indeed, the heart of the Rishonim was open like the entrance of the Ulam [the Temple Hall]. They knew the wisdom of the language, understood its ways, discerned its paths, and attained the discerning knowledge of the holy ones."
The Rishonim truly went deep in understanding everything. However, they were the pioneers of this craft: "And since they were the beginners of this work, and before them this land was a wilderness, an unsown land, they exerted tremendous diligence and laboured intensely to dig in the valley, hoe in the mountains, and harrow the soil of Scripture, to resolve difficult words and decipher the depth of the passages, opening their enclosures with the key of straightforward peshat, so that they would no longer be like obscure riddles, like a foreign tongue too deep to comprehend." That is, the primary focus of their work was to clarify the words so that one could understand what was written in the verses, as they possessed vast mastery of Lashon HaKodesh (the Holy Tongue).
He continues with a beautiful parable: "Therefore, Rashi of blessed memory sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold, and Hashem blessed him, and it yielded grain; until Kimchi came and ground fine flour with millstones and baked matzah cakes." Rashi sowed, produced grain, and found a hundredfold; then came the "Kimchi" - Rabbeinu David Kimchi, the Radak - and ground the grain into fine flour. Indeed, Rashi's commentary is very concise, and whoever studies the Radak sees in it greater illumination: Rashi primarily explains the meaning of individual words, whereas the Radak already explains the overall idea and meaning of the verse, not just the word. He advanced the matter a step further.
"היה כל עסק המפרשים הפרי עמלם למצוא ראשית דעת פתרוני המילות ודקדוקם לבד, ולא נטו באלה להוליד ילדי הרעיונות הנשגבים המעופפים בכוח אמיץ על מרומי המליצות האלוהיות, אשר גבהו מאוד מן הילדים כגילם, הנולדים על ברכי רוח איש ובינת אדם כגבוה שמיים על הארץ" - "The entire pursuit of the commentators, the fruit of their toil, was solely to attain the primary understanding of the meaning of the words and their grammar. They did not incline in these to bring forth the offspring of the sublime ideas that soar with mighty strength upon the heights of divine poetic expression, which are as high above children of their own age - born upon the knees of the human spirit and mortal understanding - as the heavens are high above the earth."
Their main focus was explaining the words: what this word means and what that word means. They did not delve into explaining the full breadth of the matter - not due to any lack of depth on their part, Heaven forbid, but because it was so clear to them that they saw no need to spell it out. As for the broader conceptual meaning as a whole, for this they gave us neither introductions nor detailed explanations.
"Therefore, every reader and meditator who applies his heart and understanding to comprehend Scripture will know and understand this: not only do many poetic expressions, entire passages, and complete prophecies still remain from whose face the covering veil, the shroud concealing their true intent, has not been removed, but a tight seal is also closed and a mantle of darkness spread over the resolution of their statements and the interpretation of their words."
The word iden means "still" (adayin), a term the Malbim frequently uses. Many poetic expressions, entire passages, and complete prophecies still remain whose covering has not been removed so that their depth can be understood. In grammatical nuance as well - in many areas, darkness is still cast over them, and we do not yet fully comprehend them. "For even the prophecies that at first glance seem to us to be elucidated and explained have also not been fully clarified and refined, until we take to heart that these poetic speakers, holy princes, spoke through the spirit of Hashem - when we remember that it was not by human spirit, but by a Divine spirit, a mighty holy spirit that spoke through them, with His word upon their tongue." The prophets did not speak in simple, ordinary language; it is a Divine spirit speaking through them.
"A sublime, exceedingly mighty spirit, hidden from the ordinary human spirit, soaring upward in flights of emotion upon the heights of poetic eloquence, rising aloft in the elevation of the soul upon the wings of song, through the mighty power of the imagination and the stirring of the human soul." Here, vaya'af means rising and soaring, and this is the very essence of prophecy: the tremendous intensity of the imaginative faculty through which a person cleaves to the supreme spiritual realm. "And if even then the soul is empowered and strengthened to speak sublime things, how much more so when it is filled with the strength of the spirit of Hashem and the attribute of might, when Hashem places His spirit upon it!" That is to say: if an ordinary person speaks loftily in moments of emotional elevation, how much more so when the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks through a prophet - the words are incomparably more sublime.
"If I lodge in the power of God, it speaks wonders and words drawn from the Primary Cause of all speech. And how can it be pleasant to our palate, every inquiring student will ask, when the commentators have prepared for us delicacies that compare the delights of the seers and the poetic expressions of spiritual men to tasteless mallow juice?"
Rir chalamut is an expression that appears in Iyov, referring to a tasteless plant that produces a great deal of slime. The Malbim asks: How can we be satisfied when we fail to penetrate the depth of the words, studying the verses as though they were tasteless? He continues: "And how can we see human daughters and their songs as perfections of beauty, their poetic expressions dripping grace and pleasant speech, with a golden chain around their neck, while the daughters of the Most High walk about like village maidens, dressed like shepherds, their poetic style appearing feeble, obscure in speech, stammering of tongue, and lacking understanding?" When we examine poems composed by mortal human beings, what beauty, what sublime rhetoric! Yet the "daughters of the Most High" - the prophecies of Hashem - appear, as it were, simple in their attire. Anyone who reads the words of the prophets without grasping their depth is utterly astonished: How could these be the words of the prophets, when songs composed by mortal men appear more beautiful?
"And how can our soul receive the lesson of their commentaries, if according to them the poetic expressions of Scripture appear exceedingly poor and ill-favored, shriveled, thin, and scorched by the east wind - and the good, full stalks of grain are swallowed up by those thin, wretched stalks?" How can we absorb the intended lesson if, according to these superficial explanations, the words of Scripture seem so impoverished that the thin, bad stalks of human speech swallow up the good, full stalks?
The holy Zohar already articulated this: whoever thinks the Torah came merely to tell us stories - there are more engaging novels, there are stories composed by mortal authors that are far more captivating. If the Torah came only to recount that such and such happened with Avraham, and then with Yitzchak, and with Yosef and his brothers, there are certainly more elaborate stories than these. This is merely the outermost garment of the holy Torah; its true depth is the book of the Creator of the universe, and what could be more sublime than that? "Thus inquiring students would ask, and thus they would wonder" - an expression borrowed from Shmuel II, "They would surely ask in Avel, and so they completed it" - and thus they would conclude their question, without receiving an answer.
"Yet it is not of this that I will speak with you now. I have not called you here to seek your attention, that you should incline your ear to hear my discourse regarding the commentaries on the holy books that were written and spoken in the manner of poetry and eloquence - to enlighten your understanding concerning the flaws found in the commentaries on those books, and to inform you how I have paved the highway, cleared it of stones, and established a new pathway and road, which shall be called the Way of Holiness."
The Malbim says: I have not called you now for this purpose - to show you the new explanation in the words of the prophets, how I cleared away the stones, meaning the difficulties, and established a new approach. "For now is not the time, nor is this the place, to speak of these matters. Bear with me a little, for the vision is yet for the appointed time, and there are still words on God's behalf in the introduction to those books, each in its place and in its proper season" - of that I will speak in the future. "For now, I have come only to awaken you, to open your ear to hear with understanding that which motivated me to sow and plant in this field that ripened first, whose words are entirely presented in the style of narrative and chronicle, in simple statements." The field that ripened first refers to the Early Prophets (Nevi'im Rishonim), and he anticipates the question people might ask: What need is there to compose a work on Sefer Yehoshua? To write on Yeshayahu, Yirmiyahu, Mishlei, or Michah is understandable; but Sefer Yehoshua - every child studies it, so what could be unclear about it?
"Lest your heart imagine that nothing can be added to the words of the commentators upon them, what more could you innovate, since the matters seem simple and easily explained to any discerning student, and what slight matter can be heard in them - therefore I will place in your hand a plumb line, a level, and scales of justice, and you shall weigh in the scales of your intellect and see, that the verses too have shifted their courses and you would not know their hidden and sealed intent, until you place my words as a lamp to your feet and my commentary as a light to your path."
The Malbim composed his commentaries in the form of questions followed by an explanation of the verses. Nearly every section of his opens with four or five questions that show you that you had not understood what is written here at all: Why was it phrased this way? Why is there repetition? Why the wordiness? Why an unclear expression? Afterwards, he presents the explanation, and then you see how the verse takes on a whole new light. This is what he meant: even in the simple matters, where the plain meaning seemingly appears clear and we already have Rashi and Radak, I will show you that the verses have shifted their courses and you do not know their hidden intent until I explain it to you - and then you will see how you suddenly fathom the depths of the text's true intent.
"Even if you were to compare and contrast these chronicles with secular histories, written by the wise chroniclers of each generation recording the annals of each nation from days of old, it would appear to the reader that the value of these holy books, according to the commentators' explanations, falls short of the value of the books by wise-hearted masters of the ready quill in such matters, standing at a low level in comparison to them in all their details."
In other words, if you measure the stories of Tanach against the narratives of secular historians, a superficial glance would make it appear that the historians' accounts are far more successful. From here, the Malbim proceeds to enumerate the conditions that writers require for a book's perfection and literary beauty, showing how the Sacred Scriptures seemingly lack them.
"For every writer of historical records stipulates the perfection and beauty of a book upon this: First, that the author set before his eyes a specific purpose. This shall serve as his objective according to which he arranges the words of his narrative... whether he links the stories and events he records through cause and effect... or depicts the unfolding of history forward or backward in an unbroken chain of time, place, and circumstance... or sets his goal to depict the moral or political state of nations based on the events that resulted from this situation, whether for blessing or for chastisement."
A historian builds an orderly chronology, year by year and date by date, describing the state of the nation, its economic and political standing, who the kings were - a very detailed account rich in background descriptions. In Tanach, by contrast, there is almost no background description: we are told that there was a war, this king against that king, such and such happened - yet we are not told who that king was, what the state of the kingdom was, or even what era is being discussed. For many events in Tanach, we do not know their timeframe. An example of this is the idol of Michah, which appears at the end of Sefer Shoftim, whereas according to Chazal it took place at the very beginning of the era of the Shoftim. There are many other matters where the chronology and order do not follow the conventional historical flow.
"And the writer must keep an unalterable rule, that all the details he includes in his narrative must align with the objective toward which he set his aim." When an author tells a story, he has a defined direction and maintains it throughout. By contrast, the narratives of Tanach seemingly jump from one matter to another and from one subject to another.
"He must preserve the order of events, so that he does not place earlier what occurred later in time or causality, nor delay what came earlier, and certainly ensure that his words are not jumbled and confused."
In the Torah and Tanakh, however, this is not the case, for "there is no chronological order in the Torah."
"He must weigh his words on the scales of justice, neither withholding necessary discourse from the reader nor multiplying words without purpose."
Where one needs to elaborate, one should not abbreviate into two words, and where one needs to be brief, one should not ramble. Yet in Tanakh this often seems absent, and at times the text repeats the exact same thing three times. A striking example is the story of Eliezer and Rivkah: it describes at length how Avraham charges Eliezer, then how Eliezer recounts this to Betuel and Lavan, and then everything is related once again - great verbosity that seemingly appears superfluous.
"He must choose the language of the prudent, pure and lucid, words sweet and pleasing to the listening ear, speaking in poetic eloquence."
Here it is worth addressing an intriguing question: there is one feature abundant in all poetry that is completely absent from Tanakh - rhyme. There is no rhymed poetry in Tanakh. The poems of Rabbi Shlomo ibn Gabirol, the poems of Ibn Ezra - everything is built on meter and rhyme; yet in Tanakh we find no rhyme, not even in Shir HaShirim, even though in many other contexts people write in rhyme, whether in a song or an epic poem. Why is this?
The king of the Khazars asks this very question of the Chaver in Sefer HaKuzari, and this is his reply: a person who writes in rhyme is forced to compromise and alter words to fit the rhyme. For the Author of the Book, however, expressing the concepts in precise language was far more important than preserving a rhyme. Rhyme is pleasant and rings melodiously to the ear, but it forces one to substitute words: if you wrote "window" and wanted next to write "ball," they do not rhyme, so you are forced to substitute "balloon" - yet that was not your original meaning! It was therefore essential to express matters in their most exact form, because poetic flourish is external, whereas the essential goal is to convey the truth in its authentic phrasing.
"And when we examine the words of these holy books according to the exposition of the commentators in the crucible of this test: as for the purpose at which the writers aimed in their narratives, it is clearly evident that their goal was to demonstrate how Hashem's constant Providence accompanied the nation close to Him throughout all these generations, and how they rose or fell, prospered or diminished according to their deeds for good or for bad, and how all matters of their guidance were conducted in a wondrous, miraculous, and Divine manner."
The author wishes to show Hashem's Providence over His people, "in addition to teachings of mussar and conduct, matters of Torah and faith that he wove throughout his narratives. Nevertheless, throughout the narratives many episodes are found that seem to miss this objective" - leaving you to wonder: what is this coming to teach me, and what is this narrative meant to show? "And intermingled within them are numerous stories whose purpose in being mentioned remains unknown" - why did the text recount all of this? Not for mussar, not for proper conduct, not for Torah, and not for faith. Therefore, commentary is required to explain why this episode was recorded.
He then continues to the second apparent defect: "Most matters appear mixed together and disordered, putting what is later first or delaying what was early; sometimes it skips from one topic to another, and in the middle inserts other matters completely unrelated to the subject at hand, or introduces an earlier matter before the topic being discussed, constantly shifting back and forth" - chronological order is not preserved in the narratives of Tanakh.
And the third: "He needlessly repeats words and matters, and in them there are many words with little substance" - at times repeating the exact same sentence twice, whereas a wise person expresses his thoughts concisely and succinctly.
And the fourth: "He speaks in strange rhetoric and unchosen language, and sometimes takes hold of a subject and abandons it, begins and does not finish. And so with many such anomalies which you will see in every single passage. If you read the questions I have arranged for each and every subject, through the window of these questions you will look upon the vision, and your heart will understand to know that 'counsel in the heart of man is like deep water,' hidden in the depths of these narratives, but 'a man of understanding will draw it out'" - to draw out these deep waters requires a man of understanding.
"And I have drawn living waters, pure, cool, flowing from the source of the well that I dug; and I have satisfied all the trees of Hashem, the cedars of God in the Eden of God's garden; and I have watered the wilderness, the parched land and the desert, that it blossom like a rose; and I have quenched your weary soul, and it shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And you shall be filled with the blessing of Hashem, and your soul shall also bless me."
And why? "Because after I examined every hidden matter" - I explained every detail and every hidden point: why it was written this way, why this preceded that, and why it repeated. "Behold, my commentary is ordered in all things and secured; in it I have made the crooked straight and the rough places a plain; there is no repetition and no deficiency, no confusion and no lack of order, for all the Scriptures are filled with heartfelt wisdom and great understanding. And the words testify to themselves that they are the words of the living God, spoken through the spirit of God by men of the spirit, and the tablets are the work of God. And I arranged the words of the commentary with great brevity and in clear language, so that everyone who reads it and understands a matter thoroughly may run through it, if he reads my words with care and does not rush his heart."
"And I turned to the commentators who explained the Scriptures after Kimchi" - after Radak - "they are the mighty men of old, men of renown, yet no one takes courage to breathe the spirit of life into the verses according to the path of Peshat." I find no one who breathes the breath of life into the verses; rather, they merely provide definitions of words. "Except for the minister, Don Isaac Abarbanel" - whom the Malbim mentions frequently and whose approach he holds in high esteem - "and his circle of companions who lived in his generation; and I extracted pearls from the depths of their words whenever their explanations found favor before me, and gathered them into my home. Know that commentators other than these turned to the path of Derash, which we are not engaged in here." Many follow the approach of Chazal's midrashic teachings, taking a word and deriving wondrous expositions from it - but this is not the literal meaning of the verses (Peshat), nor is it the primary intent of the author of the book on the level of Peshat. "And the commentators of the recent generation have nothing new to offer; they either reiterate and compile from early commentaries, or the east wind has carried them away and they pasture on wind" - and some truly heaped up nonsense.
"As I conclude my words, I spread my hands out to Hashem; my request is for Your help from on high, and may You support me from the sanctuary. Lead me in Your truth and let a generous spirit uphold me; shine Your face upon Your servant and graciously grant me Your Torah. Even unto old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim Your strength to the generation, to all who are to come Your holy might, and I will thank Your Name for Your kindness and for Your truth. Signed, 26 Tammuz 5626, in the city of Leczyca (Luntshitz), Meir Leibush Malbim."
To practically understand what the Malbim means when he says that he explained both the matter and its depth, let us bring examples. One who studies Tanach with the Malbim leaves aside all other commentators and remains attached to him alone. The uniqueness of his commentary lies first of all in the fact that he explains every variation in wording: not only why the verse repeats a concept, but also why it uses this specific order.
"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth" - why is "hear" said to the heavens and "give ear" to the earth? "Children have I reared and brought up" - why both "reared" and "brought up"? "An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's crib" - what is the difference between "its owner" and "its master's crib"? "Israel does not know, My people do not discern" - why the repetition, "does not know" and "does not discern"? And a particularly clear example: "Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, corrupt children" - he repeats the same theme several times. And what is the connection: why is "nation" specifically "sinful" and "people" specifically "heavy with iniquity"? Could it have said "Ah, a nation heavy with iniquity"? And why this order: nation, people, offspring, children; sinful, heavy with iniquity, evildoers, corrupt? All of this requires explanation, and the Malbim in his methodical way explains everything. Suddenly, you see a great light: it becomes clear that the author did not just pluck words out of a dictionary to write fancy rhetoric; rather, he has a defined line and order, placing something first because he wanted to emphasize it, and everything proceeds in precise sequence.
Another unique aspect of the Malbim is his ability to explain the distinct nuance and specific meaning of every single word. One can express the same concept with several different words: ani, dal, rash, evyon, dakh, makh - all denote poverty. Yet each expresses poverty in a different essence, to a different degree, or in a different context. Likewise, gilah, rinah, ditzah, chedvah, simchah - each expresses a different kind of joy, a different type of exultation. The Malbim elucidates each word according to its precise context, and through this, one understands why Scripture chose one term here and a different term there - thereby casting a whole new light over all of Scripture.
In his introduction, the Malbim reveals the underlying reason for his work: the sheer multitude of existing commentaries testifies that the thirsty heart was never fully quenched, for the Rishonim, in their greatness, focused primarily on resolving the literal meaning of words and their grammar, rather than drawing out the sublime ideas embedded in the spirit of prophecy. As a result, to a superficial glance, the Holy Scriptures appear to lack a unified purpose and order, seeming repetitive and needlessly long-winded - whereas in truth, "deep waters is hidden counsel," and a person of understanding will draw it out. The Malbim took it upon himself to make the crooked straight: to raise the questions on every matter and to demonstrate that there is no redundancy, no omission, and no confusion, but that every single word, order, and shift in language is precisely calibrated to its purpose - until the text itself bears witness that these are the words of the Living God. May it be His will that we merit to study the entire Tanach with the commentary of the Malbim, to behold this great light, and thereby merit the imminent redemption, amen and amen.