"Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I too am against you, and I will execute judgments in your midst before the eyes of the nations." Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I too am against you. What is this "I too"? What does the word "too" come to include? You betrayed Me, and therefore I too am against you: this is "Behold, I am against you." Just as you did what no other nation did, says the Radak, so too I will execute judgments upon you that I never carried out against any other nation. "And I will execute judgments in your midst before the eyes of the nations." And why "before the eyes of the nations"? Because when someone else sees it, the disgrace is greater. So your disgrace will be before the eyes of the nations, that all the nations will see the judgments carried out upon you.
So the first thing the Malbim points out is what is written here, that this will come by way of judgment. And the second thing is that it will be in the open. "And I will do in you that which I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations." God says: I will do to you something that I have not done, and will never again do, to any other nation. Do you hear what dreadful matters these are? That is to say, the reality of the people of Israel will be a reality of judgments that no other nation ever experienced. Where else have we seen a nation that went through a Holocaust? Where else have we seen a nation about whom such things were said, that the people of Israel went through in its exiles and in its destructions? And in a moment we will see an example the like of which we have never seen among the nations. And this, God spare us, happened only among the people of Israel. So the first thing written here is punishments that I have not carried out and the like of which have never been done.
The second thing: "because of all your abominations." Because you too did things the like of which were never done. For as we explained, although the nations acted wickedly, they did not have a Torah. So you, who have a Torah, went and did the opposite, and although the nations acted wickedly, they did not deliberately do the opposite. But you know what the Torah says, and you deliberately did the opposite. And therefore He says: since you did this, "because of all your abominations," your punishment will be in three matters. "Therefore fathers will eat sons in your midst, and sons will eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments in you, and I will scatter all your remnant to every wind."
Therefore He says: there will be a dreadful calamity the like of which does not exist among the nations. In Sefer Yosifon he describes what happened at the time of the destruction. And there he brings an account, prefaced with an introduction, in which he writes that he is very hesitant to record it, because he fears that future generations will read the words and be skeptical about their truth; they will be very doubtful whether what he is writing them is true. And he says that indeed whoever hears it will say: had I not seen it with my own eyes I would not have written it to you. And there he brings a full description of a woman who, God spare us, ate her son. This is a matter such that even the hardhearted soldiers of the nations who saw it melted from the shock of this thing. God says: this is a thing the like of which I will never again do, and have not done. This is a thing that was never said of any nation, that mothers would eat the children they cherished, such a thing that the flesh of their sons would be eaten. This, God spare us, such a thing was never said of any nation in the world. He says: behold you will see, I did in you that which I have not done and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. Because of all the abominations that the people of Israel did, and this, says the Radak, is a great punishment that has no equal. There is nothing like it.
"And sons will eat their fathers," this is an addition, for this we do not find written in the Torah. And nevertheless God says: "and sons will eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments in you, and I will scatter all your remnant to every wind." Some went to Egypt, some went to Bavel, to Moav and to the children of Amon and to Edom, as it is written concerning Gedaliah ben Achikam, they scattered them to every wind.
The Malbim explains that now the verse will come and explain the prophecy given at the beginning of the chapter. At the beginning of the chapter we saw that He commanded him to shave his head. And we said that he divided it into three thirds. And now He will explain how the law and judgment will be with these three thirds. He says to him: sons will eat in your midst, this is the meaning of "a third you shall burn in fire in the midst of the city." What burning will there be in the midst of the city? That sons will eat their parents and parents will eat their sons. This is the burning of the hairs that He told him to burn in the midst of the city. Another thing He says: "and I will execute judgments in you," this is what Nevuchadnetzar will judge Tzidkiyahu and those who fled; he will kill them, as it is written that he spoke judgments with him. And this is what is written regarding the third: "you shall strike with the sword around it." For where did he capture him? Around Yerushalayim. So He says: you shall strike with the sword around it. And the other third, "and I will scatter all your remnant," this is the third of the hairs that He told him, after shaving them, to scatter to the wind. Where is the resolution of this act? "And I will scatter all your remnant." All those who will remain will afterward be dispersed, I will scatter them. Says the Malbim: note that it is not written "and I will execute mishpatim (judgments) in you" but "and I will execute shefatim in you," for shefatim is harsher than mishpatim, worse than mishpatim, and this comes to express severe punishments.
"Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, surely because you defiled My Sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, I too will diminish, and My eye shall not spare, and I too will not pity." Therefore, as I live, says the Lord: this is an oath. "Surely because you defiled My Sanctuary," says the Radak, Menashe placed the idol of the Asherah inside the Beit HaMikdash. And this too is part of what we saw, that they specifically went to the ultimate extreme. That is to say, had one merely worshipped some idolatry, well, so be it, he then believes in God and also worships idolatry. But to go and bring into the House of God the idol and the desolating abomination of idolatry, this is, as it were, to provoke deliberately. A gentile, even if he sinned, has no intention of provoking the Master of the world; he erred, he believed in his idolatry and went to worship it. But you took the idolatry and placed it inside the Beit HaMikdash, in the place where God said to rest His Name, to bring there the desolating abomination, the idol of the Asherah? As I live, says God, surely because you defiled My Sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations. We will see further on in Yechezkel as well that the Holy One, blessed be He, will give him a tour of the Beit HaMikdash and show him all the abominations that they do there inside the Beit HaMikdash, God spare us.
Therefore God says: "I too will diminish, and My eye shall not spare." I too will diminish, just as you diminished My honor when you placed the abominations, so too I will diminish your honor, that you will be lowly in the eyes of strangers and they will execute judgments upon you. "And I too will not pity," just as you did not pity My honor from desecrating it, God says I too will not pity your honor. And the Malbim explains that regarding all three matters we saw earlier, here He tells him: come and see that there is more than this here. First, God decrees a verdict with an oath. And it is known that a verdict with an oath cannot be annulled. And why? Because they defiled the Sanctuary, "because you defiled My Sanctuary with all your detestable things," you set up the idols in the Sanctuary. "And with all your abominations," this is what we will see later in chapter 8, verse 11, the abominations they did. And therefore He says: "I too will diminish." What is "too"? "Too" also comes to add. There will be here an addition to the diminishing that the famine, the enemy, all the troubles will diminish in you; God says there will be here a further diminishing that I will add. "And My eye shall not spare."
Here we will note that it is written "your detestable things (shikutzayich)" and "your abominations (to'evotayich)." Says the Malbim: whenever they come as parallel terms, then shikutz refers to idolatry, and to'evot refers to the other abominations, such as homosexuality, bestiality, all the forbidden relations, regarding which the term to'evah is used. And regarding things that are disgraceful and repugnant, such as idolatry or things forbidden to eat, he uses the term sheketz. "You shall utterly detest it (shaketz teshaktzenu)," yes, regarding matters of forbidden eating it is written sheketz, or "you shall not make your souls detestable (teshaktzu)." So the detestable thing (meshukatz) is idolatry and things disgraceful to eat, whereas a thing of to'evah, as we said, refers to examples of abominable acts such as matters of forbidden relations and the like.
"A third of you will die by plague and be consumed by famine in your midst; and a third will fall by the sword around you; and a third I will scatter to every wind, and I will draw a sword after them." Why does He need to say this? We already saw these punishments above. Says the Malbim: note, as we explained earlier, "and I too will not pity" comes to say that beyond what I decreed there will also be "too." And "too" is an inclusion. That is to say, upon each of these thirds there will be an addition. And how? The first third, we said He told him "a third you shall burn in fire in the midst of the city," and this is what we explained, that fathers will eat sons in famine and sons will eat their fathers. About this He says to them: this third of yours will die by plague. There is an additional severity. And what is it? There will be plague. "And be consumed by famine," and this will be in the midst of the city. So beyond the famine, that fathers will eat the flesh of their sons, there will also be plague. This is the addition to this third.
The other third, about which it is said "and you shall take a third and strike it with the sword around it" - actually, regarding this third I did not quite understand where the addition is. It is written "a third will fall by the sword around you." Part of them the Kasdim will kill from around the city. This is "and I will execute judgments in you." "And you shall take a third and strike it with the sword around it." Where here is the addition beyond what was said earlier? "A third will fall by the sword around you" is the striking with the sword written earlier. There is no addition here. Perhaps the judgments, but the judgments are written in the previous verse; the judgments are not written here. Regarding the last third it is written "and I will scatter all your remnant to every wind." This is the promise stated earlier. Here He says there will be an addition, "and I will draw a sword after them." It is not enough that they will be dispersed to every wind, but a sword will still pursue them after they are dispersed. So that in fact here too there is an addition.
"And My anger will be spent, and I will lay My fury to rest upon them, and I will be consoled. And they will know that I the Lord have spoken in My zeal, when I spend My fury upon them." "And My anger will be spent, and I will lay My fury to rest upon them, and I will be consoled." "And My anger will be spent," says the Radak, along the lines of what is said "I will spend My arrows upon them." The meaning of this: after My anger is spent and I lay My fury to rest upon them, that is, I will be consoled from the vengeance upon them; as it were, what is "I will spend My arrows upon them"? My arrows are spent but they are not spent. The meaning of this is that ultimately there will be consolation, God will be consoled over His deed even before the people of Israel are finished off. For if there still remain arrows in the arsenal, that is to say they were not used up, that means the people of Israel still exist, for behold you see the arrows are used up and the people of Israel have still not been finished off. So this is what He says: "and My anger will be spent," the anger will finish, "and I will lay My fury to rest upon them, and I will be consoled." And I will be consoled through My fury which I will bring out against them. Rashi says: "and I will be consoled," I will be consoled over the pain you caused Me when I take vengeance upon them, by exacting from them their debt; through this, as it were, My spirit will find rest over their evil deeds, and I will have consolation in this. For in general one must know that this is not to be understood in our coarse conceptions, like "He spent His fury on the wood and the stones," where people think it is like someone who becomes angry and needs something on which to unload his frustrations, so he breaks something, "He spent His fury on the wood and the stones." Certainly this is not the intention; certainly with the Holy One, blessed be He, punishments are not in the category of a venting of anger, but rather punishments follow from the accusation of the attribute of justice, and the punishment is a purification. There is no concept with the Holy One, blessed be He, of punishment for the sake of punishment. Rather, whenever there is a punishment it is so that through this punishment there will be purification. And through this the attribute of justice, which is harsh, descends and softens, and then it no longer accuses them. But punishment never comes as a punishment of "you did it, I'll show you," retribution; rather punishment comes as a purification and cleansing for those negative deeds that they did.
And the Malbim divides the matters and says: through the first third who will die in the city, with which He opened, through this "My anger will be spent." Through the second third who will fall around the city, then "I will lay My fury to rest." What is the difference between af (anger) and cheimah (fury)? This is something the Malbim explains in many places, that cheimah is the anger within, and af is the external anger. And you see this expressed also, for "a fire has kindled in My anger (af)." The af is external. When a person becomes angry, you see his nose (af) redden and flare, coals go forth from him. But by contrast, "and his fury (cheimah) burned within him." "And his fury burned in him." Cheimah is always something internal, whereas af is something external. So then, when we speak of "and My anger will be spent," through the first third who will die in the city the external anger will be spent. Through the second third who will fall around the city, then "I will lay My fury to rest." Through this the inner fury too will subside. Since always when a person becomes angry there is a first stage where the external anger goes down, and in the second stage the internal anger. Because it may well be that inside the person is still burning. So even though outwardly he has already calmed, he does not speak, he does not act, he is not... you see him at a boil, he has calmed. This is "and My anger will be spent." But still, many times inside the processes still exist. And therefore He says the second stage will be "I will lay My inner fury to rest." And through the third portion whom He will scatter to every wind, through this "and I will be consoled." Through this, as it were, there will be consolation, that is, God says with this, as it were, everything will completely pass. And all this will be for the purpose that the nations should know that I have spoken. That is, they should know that the punishment is by Divine providence from God. That the nations should know that this is "in My zeal, when I spend My fury upon them." That they should know this comes from God, and the Holy One, blessed be He, spent His fury upon them by exhausting the inner fury; then they will know it is from God. And why? Because the attribute of mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, is that He does not arouse all His fury. God does not arouse all His fury, for if He were to arouse all His fury the world could not exist for a moment. He says: and here you will see, "when I spend My fury upon them." Behold you will see here that My fury was spent. That My fury was spent means, as it were, that God aroused all His fury. This is against God's manner of conduct. This is against the accepted way. What does this hint to you? Anything done not in a natural way indicates providence. Something done in a natural way you say, well, that is nature. But if this thing is done in a manner contrary to nature, that means someone took care of it and brought it about and did it deliberately. Here you will see that I spend My fury, this is not My way. From this you will understand that there is here a great zeal, that God is zealous for the honor of the Sanctuary, "because you defiled My Sanctuary," and therefore you will see that there is here a great fury that is far beyond nature and beyond the conduct of the Holy One, blessed be He.
"And I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations that are around you, before the eyes of all who pass by." "And I will make you a ruin," says the Radak, that your land will be desolate. And not only that, but you will also be a reproach among the nations that are around you. That is to say, the very fact that your land will be desolate will itself be a reproach for you. For the nations around you are built up. "When I see every city built upon its mound, and the city of God lowered to the depths of She'ol." So that in fact the disgrace grows when specifically our land is desolate while the land of the nations is still built upon its mound. Once a Jew came to the Rav of Brisk and said to him: is it possible to say in the verse, then "Elokim cried out and lamented," "I saw every city built upon its mound and the city of God lowered to the depths of She'ol," so he said the intention is thus: "a city (ir) built upon its mound," every ir, every arousal (hitorerut) is built upon its mound, that is, the arousal is fitting and functions as it should. Only "the city of God is lowered," the arousal in matters of spirituality is lowered. Thus he wanted to explain "ir" from the language of arousal, that is, there is no arousal for the service of God. So it is told that the Rav of Brisk's way was not to respond immediately. He waited a few seconds. And then he said to him: were you ever in Paris? He said: yes. I strolled the streets of Paris. He said to him: yes. He said to him: and tell me, is it built up? He said: oho. He said to him: and America? He said: also. He said to him: London? He said: without any doubt. And Russia? He said: entirely. So he said to him: then why is it impossible to explain it according to its plain meaning? "I saw every city built upon its mound and the city of God lowered to the depths of She'ol." Understand, that is to say, the Rav of Brisk did not find it pleasing to take a verse and distort it when it has a simple understanding; open your eyes and you will see that the understanding of the verse is understood according to its plain meaning. In any case, let us return to the matter. "And I will make you a ruin and a reproach." Through the land being desolate, through this you will be a reproach among the nations that are around you, for behold their land is built up and your land is desolate. And in this it will be "before the eyes of all who pass by." The intention is before the eyes of all who pass by, everyone who passes there, as it is written "he will be appalled at it and hiss." Everyone who passes will say: why did God do thus to this land? What is this great flaring of anger? Everyone who passes will stand astonished at what befell them thus.
The Malbim explains that here in fact the verse begins to explain what we saw above in verse 4. That He told him that part of the hairs which you cut, take and cast into the fire. And from there He told him: from this fire a fire will go forth to all the House of Israel. Now He explains how. Through My making you a ruin and a reproach among the nations that are around you. Note that the Malbim does not explain "ruin (charbah)" as being from the language of destruction (churban). The Malbim explains that it is from the language of sword (cherev). Through those who remained here after the death of Gedaliah ben Achikam, who went to Egypt, who dispersed among the other lands, through their being delivered to the sword of Nevuchadnetzar there in Egypt, the remnant became a reproach; so it emerges that from here a fire went forth to all the places. It did not strike only here, but also those who went to Egypt, them too Nevuchadnetzar struck along the way, those who remained became a reproach. Behold you have seen that a fire went forth from here and, as it were, burned the remnant of the House of Israel.
"And you will be a reproach and a taunt, a lesson and an astonishment to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes; I the Lord have spoken." And you will be: Yerushalayim will be a reproach and a disgrace, "a lesson and an astonishment to the nations that are around you." The Metzudat David explains that the nations will chastise one another with Yerushalayim. That is, when a gentile wishes to chastise his fellow, that is, to threaten him or to say a curse to him, he will say to him: make trouble and may there not happen to you what happened to Yerushalayim. So it emerges that Yerushalayim will be a lesson and an astonishment to the nations. If you do evil things you will in the end suffer like Yerushalayim. So Yerushalayim will be a symbol of suffering. Just as there is also the expression that you will be a curse among the nations, that is, whenever someone wishes to curse his fellow he will use you. In contrast, "and by you they will bless," when someone wishes to bless someone: by you Israel will be blessed; they will always say "like Ephraim and like Menashe." So behold you see that sometimes there is something that is a dreadful calamity or a great blessing, yes, each according to its nature, and whenever someone wishes to curse someone or to bless someone he will use that same parable. This then is what is said here. The nations will chastise one another and say: do not make troubles, so that you not become like Yerushalayim.
What is "an astonishment (u'meshamah)"? The Metzudat David explains that the intention is astonishment (timahon). Everyone will be astonished at the magnitude of the destruction. "When I execute," when I execute upon you a judgment of calamity, then you will be a reproach and a taunt. "Reproach" is from the language of to disgrace (lecharef), "taunt" is from the language of to blaspheme (legadef). The intention is: cursed. When I execute upon you the judgment of calamity and bring upon you furious rebukes, "I the Lord have spoken." I the Lord who spoke am also able to fulfill what I said. The Malbim, by contrast, explains that the reproach and the taunt, the intention is what they will reproach you and what they will taunt you with, this itself will be a lesson and an astonishment to the nations that are around you. I will explain the difficulty that pressed the Malbim. Ostensibly, if He is speaking here about the people of Israel, it should have been written "and you will be a reproach and a taunt, a lesson and an astonishment to the nations that are around you." What is "and it (feminine) will be (vehaytah)"? Why does He say "vehaytah"? So indeed, to resolve this, the Metzudat David says: "Yerushalayim will be." But until now He was speaking of you in the feminine and said "and I will make you a ruin before the eyes of all who pass by." He should have continued "and you will be." So to make it work, he explains "and it will be" as referring to Yerushalayim. But by contrast, the Malbim says that what is written "and it will be a reproach and a taunt, a lesson and an astonishment," the meaning is that the reproach and the taunt, about them it is said "and it will be." And the reproach and the taunt, what they reproach and taunt you with, this will be a lesson and an astonishment to the nations that are around you. The meaning is: for this they will be chastised. The nations that are around you will be chastised for what? For the reproach and the taunt. For what they reproached and taunted you with, for this they will be punished. "And it will be a reproach and a taunt, a lesson and an astonishment," through this the nations who reproach and taunt the holiness of Israel will be chastised.
Says the Malbim: what is the difference between reproach (cherpah) and taunt (gidufah)? What is the difference between lecharef (to reproach) and legadef (to blaspheme)? Says the Malbim: legadef always refers to something that has holiness in it, as we saw that the blasphemer cursed with the Name of God. Yes, and whenever there is gidef it always refers to something that has holiness in it. So the reproach will be a lesson (mussar) and the taunt, the blasphemies, will be for astonishment (meshamah). Like parallel clauses of the verse: reproach and taunt, lesson and astonishment. The reproach will be for a lesson and the taunt, the blasphemies, will be for astonishment. And now let us explain. What we said, that the reproach will be for a lesson, the intention is: through what they will reproach us with over the evil of our deeds, it is fitting that this thing should be for them a moral awakening. See what happened to the people of Israel who strayed from the way. See what happened, what befell them when they defied the word of God. So the reproach will be in the category of a lesson. The very fact that they see our reproach is meant to arouse them to a moral lesson: how much you must be careful not to stray from the way, so that you too not come to such a thing. And what is "taunt and astonishment"? He says: through their blaspheming, and we explained that legadef is always about holiness, they will see what happened to us and say: ah, a sign that there is no truth in the Torah of Moshe. And all sorts of other words of blasphemy that they will say against the holy Torah, what they will blaspheme us and the Torah with, about this He says "and it will be an astonishment to the nations." The nations will be in the category of desolation. That is, for this they will suffer. So on the one hand the nations should learn a lesson from what happens to us, and on the other hand, if instead of learning a lesson they blaspheme us, they will be punished and be desolate for not having taken the appropriate lesson, for not having learned the moral fitting for them. And in particular they should have taken a lesson and known that "when I execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes." What is the meaning of this? He says: they should have understood, should have come to the conclusion, that this punishment is providential. That this punishment is from God, and this, we said, is clear proof of it, that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought the matter, if it is not natural. How? Behold you will see that there is here a punishment in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. You see that this thing came through anger, through fury, and through furious rebukes. That is, there are here rebukes (tochachot); tochachot is from the language of argument, from the language of proof (hochachah). There are here many proofs of the fury of God. That there is here Divine anger and that this is not a chance famine. How are the proofs? First, if a calamity comes upon the people of Israel, it also comes upon the nations. It makes no sense that the famine would stop at a border. If there is famine it spreads, if there is locust it spreads, if there is blight and mildew they spread. There is no logic that this would be upon one nation alone. He says: behold you will see here, "when I send upon them the evil arrows of the famine."