Before we enter into the Book of Yechezkel, it is fitting to examine the Malbim's preface to the book. In this preface, he lays out his approach, the objective of his commentary, and the unique challenges this book poses to the student. From it, we will also learn how one ought to approach the words of the prophet.
The Malbim opens: "According to these words my heart opens, and with Hashem's help I shall be aided." He begins by stating that it should not be considered audacity or haughtiness of heart on his part that he pitched the tent of his commentary very far from the camp of our holy teachers, the classical commentators. That is: when I come to resolve the questions I have raised - what is the reason for the wordiness, why is there no poetic splendor here, why does the prophet repeat the same matter four times - and the answers I give diverge from the interpretations of the other commentators, the reader should not see this as insolence.
The foundation for this was already taught to us by the holy Or HaChaim: a commentator is permitted to interpret as he sees fit, as long as his words do not contradict Halachah or Torah hashkafah, and he does not "reveal aspects of the Torah contrary to Halachah." Even if his explanation does not align with the other commentators, he is permitted to interpret. But naturally, he must be a person of Torah, not someone devoid of knowledge. A woman once made a certain assertion, and when asked, "Where did you make that up from?", she replied, "There are seventy faces to the Torah." She was told: "True, and 'the face of the generation is like the face of a dog' is also a kind of face, and we have just been exposed to it." Not every notion is a legitimate facet of Torah. One must be a great Torah scholar, and only then can he offer an explanation or propose an idea. But someone who pulls all sorts of bizarre notions from a confused, disordered spirit within himself - that is neither a facet nor even a hint of a facet of Torah, but utter foolishness.
The Malbim gave each of his works on the books of Tanach a distinctive name - on Yehoshua, on Shoftim, on Shmuel, on Melachim, each has its own title. His commentary on Yechezkel he entitled Mikra'ei Kodesh, Ohel Moed ("Sacred Convocations, Tent of Meeting"). He explains the title as follows: to say that whoever seeks Hashem, whoever desires to understand His holy words, must go outside the camp. And why outside the camp? Because there the prophets removed the veil and the covering, for the skin of their face shone when speaking with Him, and it was as if a veil lay over their face. Therefore, he pitched his tent outside the camp - for there the prophet removes the veil, and there one can understand what was truly conveyed.
"There, the vision of it all will no longer be to him like the words of a sealed book, shut tight with none to open" - meaning, he will no longer stand without understanding. "The preachers of righteousness and uprightness will no longer speak to him with stammering lips and in a strange tongue lacking understanding, for their tongue holds a balance and scales of justice" - everything they say is measured with absolute precision on the balance and scales. There is neither excess nor lack in their words, neither redundancy nor omission, for every single word is counted and measured according to deliberate contemplation, crafted with poetic skill and by the Holy Spirit.
"It was not to rebel against the honor of the Rishonim that I spoke thus" - lemrot ("to rebel") comes from the root of defying their authority. I have not come to rebel against the honor of our early sages, from whose waters we drink. "Only to gouge out the eyes of fools who are wise in their own eyes, who say that with their sorceries they too can produce poetry like that of the prophets." That is to say: there are those who think the prophet merely wrote a book of rhetoric and poetry, and therefore, "I too can write like him." Everyone composes a poem or a verse and considers himself a national poet, confident that his words are in no way inferior to the words of the prophets, "who say that they too can take up song like them and elevate themselves with their poetic flourishes." Regarding these people, the Malbim says: I have come to gouge out their eyes. These are the ones who think that everything is mere verse and rhetoric, and that lofty ideas can just be tucked into poetry, failing to understand that the prophets wrote their words with exacting precision, without lack or defect, every word in its rightful place and holding a sublime concept within it. They mistakenly believe that external beauty is all that matters.
"To gouge out the eyes of the rebellious" - those who come to defy the words of the prophets and the word of Hashem, as meri signifies rebellion - "who say of God's poets: the Greeks were superior in their poems, Homer in his rhetoric, and the fools in their idolatrous songs." That is: the Greeks had more beautiful poems, Homer had finer rhetoric, and the fools had more elegant phrasing in their songs of idolatry in terms of poetic flourish. To them he replies: "Can you breathe a spirit of life into idols that have decayed with age? Let the simpletons defy!" - idols that have already deteriorated from old age, do you really imagine you can breathe a spirit of life into them? In simple terms: the words of the prophets are living words, words carrying a message, words rich in substance. But their works have no substance at all, only empty rhetoric.
He continues: "When did wisdom ever dwell within them? When was folly ever a dwelling place for understanding?" - since when have these people, who embody foolishness, become a home and residence for understanding? "How can you fools compare your rhetoric to the rhetoric of a seer of God? Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes" - how can you compare the rhetoric of fools to the rhetoric of a seer of God, a prophet who perceived divinity and received messages from Hashem? And "your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes" is a verse in Iyov, meaning: you and your words are comparable to ashes.
"Mere talk of the lips" - a shortening of "mere talk of the lips leads only to poverty" (Mishlei 14:23), meaning, why should I multiply words and speak excessively. "A fading, withered blossom with no life in it" - these are the poems of the Greeks and other secular poets. And in contrast: "Behold the saplings of the Tree of Life" - these are the words of prophecy and the words of the prophets. "Planted of old upon the holy mountain, towering like the cedars of God" - they grew exalted, from the root sagi. "They are still fresh, they still bear fruit" - these words convey a message for our time as well; this is not something written back then that is no longer relevant. "Their shoots shall yet spread like a blossoming date palm, olive-like splendor is theirs, and fragrance like Lebanon" - the majesty of an olive tree and fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. "Eat of their fruit and your soul shall live, for he who eats from the Tree of Life lives forever."
"Behold, my commentary is ordered in all things and secure, built like a majestic tower and arranged so that in the word of God there shall not be found superfluous words or duplicated matters" - you will not find unnecessary repetition in the prophet's words. "And so that there shall not be found husks without an inner core" - external matters devoid of inner essence - "lifeless husks without a breath of life, but rather a rational intent concealed within every utterance, good doctrine, insight, and knowledge, until all flesh shall know that not as man speaks does the living God speak." When man speaks, he produces much chatter and babble devoid of content; but the living God - every word is vitality, every word is the divine word.
"Wherever a repetition of subject matter appears in different words within a single chapter, I have clarified the matter according to the paths and ways I revealed in my introduction to the commentary on Yeshayahu" - meaning wherever the prophet repeats the same subject in the same place in different words, he has principles for this that he revealed in his introduction to Yeshayahu. "For these paths I paved across all the Sacred Scriptures, turning not aside from them" - these rules apply throughout Tanach. "And the reader must gaze with rational contemplation, with an analytical eye, upon every passage" - meaning, to ponder properly and study what he wrote with depth.
He further says: "He will also pay attention to the repetitions, redundancies, and anomalies that arise in every passage according to the explanations of the commentators" - for the commentators often explain in a simpler way, and then difficulties remain. He arranged these difficulties in the format of the questions he set out in Peirush Nahar, which is his commentary on Nevi'im Rishonim. In the earlier sections, he first arranged a series of questions followed by the explanation, while in the later sections he bypassed the explicit questions and went straight to the elucidation. His entire aim in this was: come and see that if you studied the passage according to the commentaries of all the exegetes, I could ask you question A, B, C, and D, and according to all their approaches you would not be able to explain what is written - you would spread your hands in helplessness and be left with a difficulty without an answer. But I come and give you an explanation that clarifies everything: why he said A and why he said B, why he phrased it this way, why he repeated it, and why he subsequently needed to speak in the future tense about what he had previously spoken of in the past tense.
And this is the unique virtue of the Malbim's commentary: every word and every expression is exact, and everything is explained through the grammar of the Holy Tongue and from within the verses themselves, giving shape to the overarching concept. For many of the commentators explained locally - this verse, followed by the next verse; but the Malbim's approach is to take the entire passage, summarize it, and demonstrate how the parts form a unified idea. We saw this most clearly in Iyov, where the verses seem completely disconnected from one another, yet the Malbim demonstrates how they join together into a single, cohesive concept.
"And then let him read my commentary, Bi'ur Ha'inyan and Bi'ur Hamilot" - for his commentary is divided into two: Bi'ur Ha'inyan (Explanation of the Subject), which is the overarching idea, and Bi'ur Hamilot (Explanation of the Words), in which he clarifies specific words. "And he will know my labor that I labored in the garden of God that is in the Eden of the Sacred Scriptures" - you will realize what immense labor I invested here.
From this we can appreciate how much investment and labor went into his commentary. It is well known that the Chafetz Chaim frequently cites Artzot Hachayim at the beginning of the Mishnah Berurah, but does not cite it later on - because the Malbim, author of Artzot Hachayim, composed it only on the first section of Shulchan Aruch. This pained the Chafetz Chaim greatly, as he held him in very high regard and quoted him almost everywhere. He said to him: Why did you stop? You have a magnificent commentary, continue with it! The Malbim replied: If you take upon yourself my work on Tanach, I will find the time to continue Artzot Hachayim. For according to the need of the generation - as the Maskilim of the time were heavily occupied with Tanach, and the Malbim was a powerful living refutation of their ideas - this is the work I am needed for right now. The Chafetz Chaim said to him: That I cannot do; what you have done on Tanach, I cannot do. It is also known that the Malbim was fiercely persecuted, and the Chafetz Chaim told him: Do not worry, a generation will yet come when not one of them will be remembered, while you will be remembered forever, and then people will appreciate your accomplishment and the extraordinary work you achieved.
"Also, regarding all the difficult, sealed, and obscure passages, I have, thank God, removed the tight seal that closed them, and solved their riddle in new, true, and wondrous ways." He continues: "And behold, the divine spirit that rested upon our prophet had a wondrous, unique property, in that it was always cloaked in parables and riddles, so much so that he himself took note of this, that people were saying of him, 'Is he not a teller of parables?'" - as explicitly stated in chapter 21. One must be careful not to confuse parables (meshalim) with florid rhetoric (melitzot): florid rhetoric - that is, poetic, ornate language - is not found here in this book; but parables - such as the parables of the Dubno Maggid, where a story is told that serves as an allegory for something else - are abundant in this book beyond measure compared to other places. The prophet does not speak of the matter itself directly, but by way of a parable.
"And not only did the words of his prophecies come in parables, but he himself served as a parable, a sign, and a wonder." Meaning: if a person is told to perform a specific action so that others see it and learn from it, he himself is the parable (mashal), and the lesson they are meant to learn is the meaning (nimshal). "And you will not find any other prophet whom Hashem commanded to perform so many actual deeds, including strange actions, and over an extended period of time, as this prophet of ours was commanded, becoming a wonder." Examples include his lying for 430 days on his two sides - first on one side and then on the other; shaving his head and beard with a razor; and not mourning the death of his wife, and the like. All of these were parables meant to convey a message to the people, such as the matter of mourning, hinting that, Heaven forbid, they would find themselves in a state of bereavement.
"And in the sense that he himself was a parable for the entire congregation, and his deeds and circumstances were a parable for their deeds and circumstances" - what happens to you serves as a parable for them, showing that the same will happen to them. We find something similar with the prophet [Hoshea] who was commanded to marry a woman, Gomer bas Divlayim, whose children were not his own, and later to divorce her - all of which was a parable and a message to the nation; some say it was a message for the prophet himself, but in any case, it is a parable. Thus, there is a reality in which the prophet himself undergoes certain experiences intended to serve as a parable and an example for others. The Malbim adds: "Regarding these parables and riddles as well, I have set my heart to uncover their hidden meanings, and to always explain the exact correspondence between the parable and its message, and what is intended by it" - often, one hears a parable where the application does not correspond perfectly to it, but in my commentary, I will show how the parable and its interpretation align completely.
"The most wondrous riddle is the awe-inspiring and sealed vision that he saw with the spirit of God by the Chevar River at the beginning of his prophecy," which is the very first chapter opening the book, "and afterward a second time in other passages," in chapters 8, 9, and 10, "which is referred to by Chazal as Ma'aseh Merkavah (the Account of the Chariot). It blocks those passing through the entrance of this sealed book." Note this: the book itself is sealed, and right at its beginning stands like a high mountain blocking the way. The moment one wishes to begin studying Sefer Yechezkel, Ma'aseh Merkavah confronts him - something incomprehensible, profoundly deep: what is he seeing there, what is the *chashmal*, what is the chariot? Indeed, Chazal explicitly forbade gazing into these matters.
"And it is sealed with a seal within a seal, shut tight" - these matters are profound and closed off, beyond human comprehension. "In addition to being cautioned by Chazal to conceal the matter and to cover and hide the secret, along with the fact that these matters are veiled in their very essence, hidden and concealed" - for even on their own terms they are covered, such that anyone who attempts to read them cannot understand.
"And you already know the explanation given to this vision by the righteous guide in the *Moreh Nevuchim*" - the Rambam in the *Guide for the Perplexed* explained the Ma'aseh Merkavah of Yechezkel. "And besides the fact that archers shot at it" - meaning that many came out against his explanation - "this interpretation has already been nullified by the collapse of the foundations upon which he built it." That is to say: "For the foundations of ancient astronomy, natural science, and philosophy, which were the pillars and foundations of his explanation, were entirely overturned and discarded with the breakthrough of inquiry in recent generations, who rebuilt the edifice of celestial astronomy and the palace of natural sciences upon different, firm, and reliable foundations."
And indeed, who studies the books of Aristotle today as works from which one can learn anything about the natural world? On the contrary, they are viewed as the writings of primitive thinkers who had very rudimentary tools, attempting through rough estimates and conjectures to grasp what occurs with celestial bodies, their orbits and movements, and the like. No one today relies upon the ancient investigations in astronomy, nature, and philosophy as the ancients understood them, for it is clear to all that their ability to investigate these matters was meager and limited. Therefore, says the Malbim: I do not even need to refute the Rambam's explanation; since his words were based on ancient astronomy, physics, and philosophy, once the foundation falls, the building collapses, and consequently, the explanation built upon them can no longer stand.
"And through the kindness and mercy of Hashem, windows and gates opened for us to gaze with inner contemplation into the inner chambers, peering through the lattices, beams of light and torches, radiance and lightning, from the hidden light, a clear light in the skies. And the wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament, in the light of Hashem, light sown for the righteous." And he immediately adds: "Yet I have spread the curtain over the mystery, and drawn the veil over the concealed and the unfathomable. In that which is too wondrous for you, do not inquire, and with the heifer of the secret, do not plow." "Unfathomable" (*belimah*) means without substance, without human comprehension; and over that which is meant to remain hidden, he drew the veil.
"In that which you were permitted to contemplate, then build and establish, to recognize that which is enclothed in its garment, and the hidden from within that which is revealed; take heed not to ascend the mountain or touch its edge." In short: I revealed and I concealed. On the one hand, I revealed enough to understand the plain meaning of the verses, and on the other hand, I concealed that which we have no permission to delve into. Only from what is revealed to us are we permitted to gain understanding, but do not ascend the mountain or touch its edge in realms where you are not permitted.
"Do not approach the thick cloud, for God and His host are there, arrayed in formation around the throne of kingship" - arrayed like a crown around the royal throne - "for around the cherubim rests the revolving flaming sword. Cloud and thick darkness surround Him; fear your God and bow down to Him, and in His temple all proclaim His glory."
And the Malbim concludes with a prayer: "Until when shall Your heritage be a disgrace in the hand of strangers, afflicted children atop the mountains. And the structure that we have envisioned in spirit and contemplation, may our eyes behold in Your desolate Sanctuary in Zion, the city of our assemblies, for You are Hashem our God. And I hope in You, for You have fashioned, founded, and built; Your Sanctuary in the heights" - upon the lofty mountains - "show it to us in Your lovingkindness, as our eyes pine and our souls yearn, to establish it and build it, and to see it eye to eye. And may Hashem relent toward us, and establish the work of our hands upon us, and direct our actions; grant us life that we may live before You, and fulfill for Your servant Your promise which leads to awe of You, and do not take Your holy spirit from me; give me understanding that I may preserve Your Torah, and do not conceal Your mitzvos from me." And he concludes: Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5627 [1867], Luntschitz, Meir Leibush Malbim.