Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 21. "And the word of Hashem came to me, saying. Son of man, set your face toward Teiman, and preach toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field, the Negev." Yechezkel describes a prophecy that he receives from Hashem, and the Holy One tells him to set his face toward Teiman. The prophet was in Bavel, and the Holy One tells him to turn toward the south, meaning to set his face toward the south, and the south is Yerushalayim. We know that Bavel is to the north of Yerushalayim. So if Bavel is in the north, then Yerushalayim relative to Bavel is in the south. Therefore the Holy One tells Yechezkel, who was by the river Kevar, who was in Bavel, set your face toward Teiman, meaning prophesy toward Yerushalayim. "And preach toward the south" - the word "preach" is a term of speech. As in "do not preach," as we say a person preaches, yes, it is a term of speech. We will see later why it is called preaching. "And prophesy against the forest of the field, the Negev." Yerushalayim is also called the forest of the field, by way of a parable, for just as a forest contains good trees and bad trees, so too Yerushalayim is like a forest. A forest includes everything within it, there are righteous people and wicked people there. And there we see that the righteous perished, the few righteous ones perished on account of the sin of the wicked, who were many.
The Malbim explains "set your face toward Teiman": setting one's face, says the Malbim, is the preparation for prophecy. This is the meaning of the expression "set your face." "Set your face" means prepare yourself for prophecy. And here the prophecy is what he prophesies about the siege that will befall Yerushalayim. From verse 13 onward he prophesies about a siege that will befall Yerushalayim, and there he prophesies about Nebuchadnezzar, who performed divinations to decide whether to go to the left, to Rabbath of the children of Ammon, or to go to the right, to Yerushalayim, and in the end the lot came out that he should go to Yerushalayim. The lot told him to go toward Teiman, to go to the right, as it is written "at his right hand was the divination for Yerushalayim," as we will see later. The divination directed him to go specifically to Yerushalayim. So here he comes to introduce the statement that the Holy One made to him ahead of this prophecy, "set your face," meaning prepare yourself to prophesy about what Nebuchadnezzar will do and about his divinations, how he will come to destroy Yerushalayim.
"And preach toward the south." What is "preach"? The Malbim says that preaching is a small and short prophecy. And the meaning of the matter is what he will prophesy briefly about the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, as it is written "sigh with the breaking of your loins," which is a short prophecy and is called preaching. The Malbim explains why a short prophecy is called preaching: because the speech is short, yes, and this speech, so preaching is short speech as opposed to lengthy speech, for lengthy speech is, as it were, a flowing of water. So preaching is a dripping of water. To preach is to say few words. In contrast, to speak, the speech is like a flowing stream. About this the Holy One says to him, "and preach toward the south." Preach, deliver a short prophecy concerning Yerushalayim. And why is Yerushalayim called "south" (darom)? Chazal say that darom is like "dar rom," dwelling on high. Darom means dwelling at a height. And why is it called a height? Because the ancients would divide the globe into north and south, the north being a low place and the south being a high place. And why is it called a high place? Because the sun rules there more strongly. So it is, as it were, closer to the sun, and is thus, as it were, a higher place. In contrast to the north, which is colder because the sun rules there less, so it is more distant. Being more distant relative to the sun means lower, means deeper. So the south is "dar rom," it is, as it were, in a high place.
"And prophesy against the forest of the field, the Negev." The prophecy is about the killing that will occur throughout all of Eretz Yisrael, as we will see later, "and say to the forest of the Negev." And it is explained: "say to the land of Yisrael," and he describes it as being like a forest full of trees, so too it is full of people. And why does he call it the Negev? Because the southern side is drier and more parched than the north. Therefore the Negev is called Negev on account of it being parched (naguv). The Malbim says, note then, that we have here three expressions for the south: Teiman, darom, Negev. And all three expressions seemingly express the same thing. The Malbim explains that the difference between them is this: from the aspect of the place being parched, I call it Negev. From the aspect that it faces to the right, as we saw that from the place where he was located it is to the right, therefore it is called Teiman, from the word "right" (yamin). And the lot that he cast was also a lot for the right or the left, so once again the term Teiman fits, being from the word "right." The Beit HaMikdash was the highest place in the world, as we have spoken several times that Yerushalayim was the highest place, so "darom," "dar rom," being from the word "height," fits this. So in practice, all three expressions here connect to this matter of Yerushalayim.
"And say to the forest of the Negev, hear the word of Hashem. Thus says Hashem Elokim, behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree; the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it." "And say to the forest of the Negev." Now he arranges these prophecies for us, these three prophecies from bottom to top. First he arranges for us, tells us of the prophecy that concerned the forest of the Negev. The forest of the Negev means all of Eretz Yisrael. "Behold, I will kindle a fire in you." The Malbim says that kindling, that he sets the entire forest ablaze at once with a great fire, is called kindling. "And it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree." First it will consume the green ones, afterward the dry ones. Note that all of this is still a parable, and shortly we will see that he interprets the meaning. But meanwhile he is presenting a parable that the forest will burn. And in the forest the green trees will be consumed first and afterward the dry ones. And why? Because if the dry trees were consumed first, says the Malbim, when the fire reaches the green trees it would stop. And the goal is to create a great conflagration that the fire will not stop, that the fire will go and spread. Therefore first I will kindle every green tree, and afterward when I kindle the dry trees, the fire will not be quenched. "And every dry tree; it shall not be quenched." "The flaming flame." What does "the flaming flame" mean? The Malbim explains that the flame is what comes out of the fire and spreads far. And "shalhevet" is essentially a word combined from "esh" (fire) and "lehavet" (flame). Lahav, lehavet, yes, this is what comes out of the fire into the distance, and when one wishes to refer to the fire itself, one says "shalhevet," as in "a flaming fire." That is, the flame comes out and spreads from the fire. In any case, he tells us here that through this fire "all faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it." The fire that began to burn in the forest on the southern side will spread to the northern side, until through this flame that comes out from the Negev, all the faces located in the north will be scorched. "Scorched" means they will dry up, will be burned, yes, like the scorching of a boil. And shortly we will understand who is the north and what the nature of that fire is.
"And all flesh shall see that I, Hashem, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched." Through this they will recognize that I, Hashem, have kindled it. And why? We have already explained several times that anything done in the way of nature does not reveal the hand of Hashem within it. But when something is done contrary to the way of nature, in this it is recognized that it is from Hashem. Fire naturally consumes the dry and stops at the green. Here it will begin the opposite way, the fire begins from the green and afterward catches in the dry, as we said, in order to burn everything. Hashem says that through this, they will see that this fire does not operate in the way of nature, "and all flesh shall see that I, Hashem, have kindled it." Through this it will be recognized that this fire is a fire from Hashem, "it shall not be quenched." Why did I kindle it in this way? As we explained earlier. Because when it first catches in the green and finishes them, then it can continue to burn the dry without interruption and will not be quenched. Therefore I did it in this way, first the green and afterward the dry, so that it will not be quenched.
"And I said, alas, Hashem Elokim, they say of me, is he not a maker of parables?" "And I said, alas, Hashem Elokim." After the matters come to him by way of parable and riddle, as we saw, fire, south, north, he says: Master of the Universe, what good is it that I tell them such a prophecy? They say of me that my way is to make parables, and they have no understanding of what I say to them, and since this is so, they do not accept the matters. "Do they not say of me, is he not a maker of parables?" The Malbim brings the words of the Rambam, who wrote in Moreh Nevuchim and in Hilchot De'ot, that among the conditions of complete prophecy is that no parables and riddles are found in it. The more complete the prophecy is, the higher its level, the clearer and more lucid the vision is. This is called a clear speculum. A speculum that does not shine means an unpolished mirror, and consequently, in order for the prophet to understand, one must present a parable to him. He cannot reach the comprehension, cannot see the matters with great clarity, since he himself is not refined to that degree. And since this is so, they show it to him from Heaven by way of a parable. So here the abundance of parables, says the Malbim, indicates the intensification of the power of imagination and that prophecy comes to him rarely, and therefore through this he sees through windows and screens like one who watches something from afar. Therefore we understand why Yechezkel receives his prophecy in this manner. The Malbim asks: why does it not say "is he not one who makes (mamshil) parables," why "a maker (memashel) of parables"? You will see this many times in grammar, that it appears as the difference between the intensive (heavy) form and the simple (light) form. If we say "mashal," that is a light verb. Or "mamshil," that is a light verb. If I say "memashel," that is a heavy verb. A heavy verb always weighs more heavily on the utterances of the mouth. Yes, like "rotze'ach" and "meratze'ach." "Meratze'ach" is a heavy verb. "Rotze'ach" is a light verb. And we have already explained several times, according to the Malbim, that when a word comes in the heavy form, it means that it comes with intensity, that it comes with force. He says here too, the parable is obscure. When I say "memashel," it is even more obscure. That is, it intensifies the matter. It is not "mamshil parables," it is not "moshel parables," it is "memashel parables." That means it comes with force, that is, if a parable is obscure, here the parable is the most obscure of the obscure. The meaning is always with greater intensity.
"And the word of Hashem came to me, saying." Now the Holy One reveals Himself to him in order to explain the interpretation to him. "Son of man, set your face toward Yerushalayim, and preach toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Yisrael." "Son of man, set your face toward Yerushalayim," the Holy One tells him, I will explain to you what the prophecy is about. We spoke of a forest, we spoke of the south, we spoke of all kinds of expressions where the term Yerushalayim is not stated explicitly. But here the Holy One, as we said, comes to open up the prophecy and clarify it, and therefore He explains to him. What I told you, "set your face toward Teiman," I meant set your face toward Yerushalayim. "And preach toward the holy places," what I told you, "and preach toward the south," now He explains to him, I meant preach, meaning to preach, we explained, is something like prophecy, smaller than prophecy, "and preach toward the south." We explained "and preach" as a term of dripping. What are "holy places" (mikdashim)? "Mikdashim" is written in the plural. There is one explanation, as the commentators bring and the Malbim also follows the same line, that the intent is the Mikdash, which contains within it sections. There is the Ulam, there is the Heichal, there is the Beit Kodesh HaKodashim, therefore it is called "holy places," and each one is holier than the other. Another possibility, as Rashi says, is that the intent is the two destructions. He essentially comes to tell him here about the two destructions of the Beit HaMikdash, the destruction of the First Temple and the destruction of the Second Temple, and therefore he alludes to these two matters, and the Radak also follows this line.
"And say to the land of Yisrael, thus says Hashem, behold, I am against you, and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked." You shall say to the land of Yisrael, "thus says Hashem, behold, I am against you." "Behold, I am against you" means that now He explains to him the parable with which he began. "Behold, I am against you," I come to punish you with a providential punishment, as we explained. The meaning is that it is recognizable that it is from Hashem, "and all flesh shall see that I, Hashem, have kindled it," it will be recognizable here that it is from Hashem. Hashem says I will draw My sword out of its sheath. What does it mean to draw the sword out of its sheath? The Radak explains, the sheath is the case of the sword. So to draw the sword from its sheath, a sword drawn from its sheath against your adversaries, means to draw it out of the case of the sword. And this is the explanation of what we saw earlier, "behold, I will kindle a fire in you," that the sword will consume people just as the fire burns the forest. "And I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked." This is what He said earlier, "and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree." First the green, we explained, and afterward the dry. The righteous person is like a fresh, green, moist tree. Whereas the wicked person is a dry tree that has nothing in it, has no moisture of Torah, of fear of Heaven, of good character, of proper conduct. So the wicked person is called a dry tree, the righteous person is called a green tree. So the meaning of the matter is that I will cut off from you the green tree and the dry, I will cut off the righteous and the wicked. What is astonishing here is: why would He cut off the righteous? A second difficulty: why would He begin with them? Seemingly it should have said "and I will cut off from you the wicked." And if you want to say also the righteous, then say "the wicked and the righteous," for He does not distinguish. But why, why does it begin with the righteous? Indeed, Chazal already address this, and Chazal say that when fire breaks out, the fire first burns the produce, as it is written "if a fire breaks out and finds thorns." The cause of the fire breaking out is because of the thorns, which is the category of the wicked. "And a stack or the standing grain is consumed," first it consumes the stack, which means first the righteous. Fine, we explained that this is the reality, but we have not explained why. Why should it truly be this way? For if the fire consumes, breaks out because of the wicked, then let it also first consume, at least, the wicked.
So first of all there is an explanation here by Rav Saadia Gaon, who explains a novel interpretation here. He explains that where it is written "the righteous and the wicked," the intent is not a righteous person who serves Hashem and a wicked person who does not serve Hashem. He explains that "the righteous and the wicked" means both are worshippers of the Baal. Only one is called righteous for the Baal and one is called wicked for the Baal. That is, toward the Baal there are those who serve him, as it were, devoutly, he is righteous for the Baal. And toward the Baal there are those who only come on Sunday to church, that is it, no more than that. Yes, so he is called wicked for the Baal, he is not really, he is halfhearted, he is not... So he says it turns out that "the righteous and the wicked" means both are wicked. Only one is righteous for the Baal and one is wicked for the Baal. He also brings an example of this: "do not speak with Yaakov either good or evil." What is the meaning of "either good or evil"? Good for Lavan would be if he could rob Yaakov of his property without killing him. And evil if he were to kill him. So it turns out that "good or evil" is according to Lavan's concept. On Lavan's level, in Lavan's understanding. What is good? If I can rob him of his property, that is good. What is evil? If I am also forced to murder him. So he says, what have you learned? That we speak of good and evil according to his perception. So here too, where it is written "the righteous and the wicked," it is according to the Baal's perception. According to how the Baal understands, there is one who serves it more, one who serves it less, that one is called righteous, this one is called wicked. Fine, that is a novel interpretation. The Targum Yonatan says "and I will exile from you your righteous ones in order to destroy your guilty ones." That is, when Chazal come to explain why the Holy One first cuts off the righteous, there are several reasons. One reason, so that the righteous will not witness the punishment that comes upon the wicked. And there is one reason, so that the righteous will not protect the wicked. We now go, according to what is implied by the Targum Yonatan, that the reason is so that the righteous will not be a shield and protection for the wicked. The Holy One wishes to bring calamity; He is, as it were, prevented from bringing calamity because the righteous protect the generation. The Holy One says "I will exile from you your righteous ones," through My first exiling the righteous, through this, "in order to destroy your guilty ones," through this I will destroy the wicked. Another thing we gain here, that "I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked," these are two types of cutting off. The cutting off of the righteous is exile. The cutting off of the wicked is destruction. Note the language carefully, "and I will exile from you your righteous ones," I will exile from you the righteous, "in order to destroy your guilty ones," in order to destroy the wicked. So it turns out that there is here a good promise regarding the righteous, that the righteous will only be exiled and not destroyed, and there is here an evil promise for the wicked, that the righteous will not be able to protect them.
The Malbim explains that here he comes to explain the parable with which he began, saying "behold, I am against you" in order to punish you, we said with a providential punishment. "And I will draw My sword out of its sheath," this is what he said, "behold, I will kindle a fire in you," that the sword will consume as we said, just as the fire burns the forest. "And I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked," this is "every green tree and every dry tree." And why the righteous first? The Malbim says, like the second reason that Chazal give, so that the righteous will not witness the distress of the generation. The meaning of the matter, when the righteous person sees that distress is coming, that a calamity is coming, the righteous person has great anguish. The Holy One takes the righteous person first, so that the distress and the fear and the persecutions and everything that generation will go through will not pass over the righteous person. As we saw that Metushelach died before the coming of the Flood, yes. That is, the goal is that the righteous person will not suffer. Another reason, says the Malbim, as we saw in the Targum Yonatan, that the intent is so that the righteous will not hold back the calamity. The Malbim asks: why? Because it will be a particular evil as we explained, that the intent is specifically that the Holy One, through providence, will direct it only to the sinners. And then the righteous, through this, will be saved. But note, after the Holy One decrees a decree, then there is no longer any barrier before the fire. All of this is in the first stage, when in the first stage there was a particular decree against the wicked. But in contrast, when there is a decree and the decree is all-encompassing, then there is no longer any distinction between the righteous and the wicked. The Malbim says, and this is the next verse.
"Because I have cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north." "Because I have cut off from you," since I first cut off from you the righteous and afterward the wicked, therefore now My sword shall go out of its sheath from the south to the north. From Eretz Yisrael it goes out back toward the nations. The nations dwell in the north. The meaning of the matter, after he conquers Yerushalayim, he will return to conquer all the nations that are around. And then he will also sweep away Yisrael who fled there. That is, also the righteous. In simple words the Holy One says, when the fire and the calamity go out, then it already takes everything.
"And all flesh shall know that I, Hashem, have drawn My sword out of its sheath; it shall not return anymore." All flesh shall know that I, Hashem, have drawn My sword out of its sheath, it will be recognizable that it is from Hashem, "and it shall not return anymore" to its sheath, meaning the sword will not return back to the scabbard, until it cuts off the nations mentioned in the words of the prophets, that the sword of Hashem will go out against them. And then the matter will be recognizable that it is by providence, for there is none who holds back the sword. And this is what is written, "for I, Hashem, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched," this is the explanation of the parable of the fire, that since it comes from Hashem, consequently this fire will not be quenched. The Radak explains why there is also a prophecy here regarding the nations. There is here a rebuke to the people of Yisrael, how does he insert the nations here? The Radak explains, that since I took great vengeance upon you, and they rejoiced over you, your enemies, and not only this but, as we saw in the Ramban, I was slightly angry and they helped for evil. The meaning of the matter, they added of their own accord even more great evil out of the evil of their hearts, beyond what I decreed. He says therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath and shall strike the nations as well.
"And you, son of man, sigh with the breaking of your loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes." After he prophesies about Eretz Yisrael, we saw that there were three prophecies there, He now commands him about the prophecy of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. As He told him, "and preach toward the holy places," and we explained that the intent is the First or Second Temple, and the Second, or that the intent is about the Heichal and the Devir, the Kodesh HaKodashim. About this He tells him, sigh a great sigh until the loins break from the abundance of sighing. And that this sighing should be with great bitterness, and that this sighing should be before their eyes. And the goal is that they will ask him, why do you sigh? What did you see? What harsh vision was told to you that you sigh in such a difficult manner? All of this you shall do before their eyes.
"And it shall be, when they say to you, why do you sigh? that you shall say, because of the tidings that come; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall grow feeble, and every spirit shall grow faint, and all knees shall turn to water; behold, it comes and shall be, says Hashem Elokim." You shall say to them that I sigh because of the tidings that come. The tidings of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, says the Malbim, come suddenly, as we will see later in chapter 33, verse 21. They were certain that the Beit HaMikdash would not be destroyed. They were certain that the exiles would still return. And when the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, every heart melted and all hands grew feeble. And we saw that they would say "the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem are these," they were certain that as long as we have the Beit HaMikdash, offering sacrifices there, it will not be destroyed. They were certain the Holy One will not destroy His Temple; what, will Hashem destroy His house? And if you ask what they relied on, do they not have explicit prophecies? We have already seen throughout the words of the prophets that opposite the prophets who prophesied prophecies of wrath, there were always the media outlets, the prophets of the Baal, the false prophets, the imposters who imitated and pretended to be prophets of truth, who always calmed the people and said there is no need, and do not be alarmed, and they are just frightening you with Gog and Magog, and we have a wonderful nation, and our youth are marvelous, and everything is fine, and there is nothing to worry about, do not frighten yourselves, and on the contrary, good prophecies that the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash will yet return, and the exiles will come back, and everything will be good, how lovely, wonder of wonders, to the glory of the State of Yisrael. They would always tell them pleasant things, hold ceremonies for them, celebrations and... all just so that they would be calm, everything will be fine, only do not repent. Only do not be alarmed. And then when the tidings came that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, every heart melted and all hands grew feeble. Suddenly they saw that everything they were sold was all a lie, suddenly it became clear to them that what the prophets said was all true. And from then on they gave up doing anything to return to the land, they understood that it was over, the Beit HaMikdash was already destroyed, there was no longer any possibility to return to the land. And also "every spirit shall grow faint." "Every spirit shall grow faint," the Malbim explains, refers here to the spiritual power that was in the nation. A spirit of wisdom, a spirit of prophecy. The Malbim explains that when the immense light from which prophecy was influenced sank, from which the flow was influenced to the entire world, which is the Beit HaMikdash, the moment it sank, consequently the spirit of prophecy also sank. We know that from the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, prophecy went and diminished, until already in the Second Temple there were no longer prophets. That is, it is understood to us that this reality of the flow came from within the Beit HaMikdash, this was the source from which flow descends and pours to the entire world. Like the famous incident that occurred with Yirmiyahu, and some say Aristotle, some say here that this is not precise, some say that it is not possible chronologically, some say... several approaches. He told him to ask him questions, he saw him crying, asked him why are you crying? He told him because the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. He told him it does not befit a wise man like you, a great philosopher like you, to cry over the destruction of stones. He told him it is not stones, this house, he tells him, was a source of the flow of all spirituality. He told him ask me any question you wish. He came and asked him very deep questions, and he answered him for every question he asked he gave him an answer. And he was greatly amazed at the extent of his wisdom. He told him and this is a small portion of the wisdom that was in this house. He tells him all this wisdom we drew from this house, which is a place of flow, of spiritual influence from which it descends and flows to the entire world. So consequently through this "it comes and every heart melts and all hands grow feeble," and this is not enough but "every spirit grows faint." Also spirit, as we explained, which is the spirit of holiness and the spirit of prophecy that would go out and be influenced from the Beit HaMikdash, it too grew faint, its light too already dimmed. "And all knees shall turn to water." From the abundance of dread over what will be in the future, knees shall turn to water. The knees, as it were, turned to water. They have no strength to stand. That when the tidings came to Bavel, the Beit HaMikdash was already destroyed, and therefore note, "and all knees shall turn to water; behold, it comes and shall be, says Hashem Elokim." Why does this appear with the expression "it comes and shall be," is this not a prophecy? He explains that when it reached Bavel, then it already came and was. That is, it is already something that passed, because by the time the tidings reached Bavel, it had already been earlier, what would be called old news. It had already been earlier. The other commentators explain that "it comes and shall be" means the prophet sees it in his mind's eye as if it already came and was. That is, the prophet already sees the matters as if they are already in the past. And then this matter means that there is already nothing to do. Let us return to the Malbim, "it comes and shall be," when Bavel hears it, there is already nothing to do, it is already what is called a done matter, they already hear the completed thing, the matter after it is finished, it is no longer possible to reverse the decree.
"And the word of Hashem came to me, saying." Now he will begin the third prophecy, what He told him, "set your face toward Yerushalayim." And he will now describe the manner in which Nebuchadnezzar arrived, and how Nebuchadnezzar will set his face toward Teiman, toward Yerushalayim, not by way of the left as we saw that he was in doubt, not by way of the left to Rabbath of the children of Ammon, as it is written "appoint yourself two ways." And to this he prefaces some special description in order to describe the matter of the siege that will be upon Yerushalayim.
"Son of man, prophesy and say, thus says Hashem. Say, a sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished. For the sake of slaughtering a slaughter it is sharpened; for the sake of having a flash it is polished. Or shall we rejoice, the rod of my son, that despises every tree? And it is given to be polished, to be grasped by the hand; this sword is sharpened, and it is polished to place it in the hand of the slayer." The verses here are quite obscure, and we will clarify the matters according to how the Malbim clarifies them. First of all, what must be understood here, what is "a sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished." What is the doubling of "sword," and what is "sharpened" and what is "polished"? Rashi explains that here we speak of two swords. One sword of the king of Bavel, and afterward the sword of the children of Ammon in the hands of Yishmael ben Netanya, who will kill Gedalya and those who gathered there from the remnant of the survivors who still remained in Eretz Yisrael. What is "polished"? In this too the explanations abound. There are those who explain that it is from a term of drawing, like plucking hair and the like. But we want to see the whole approach according to the Malbim's explanation, and the Malbim has here an original and wonderful explanation, and therefore we will delve only into it. The Malbim says, here he describes the sword that arrives at Yerushalayim, that this sword, one half of it, as it were, was sharpened in order to slaughter a slaughter, and the other half of it was polished, meaning it lost its edge. So the Malbim explains. That is, there is here a sword that this sword, as it were, underwent grinding, that this grinding was intended to dull the edge, so that there would be no edge there. The Malbim explains that this is the meaning of "polished." In the sense like plucking hair, so too they would polish the rope, the sword. What is the meaning? Usually this comes as an expression that means they would make it shine. The shining, until the sword would be polished, would be like a mirror, would have a flash, this is the polishing of the sword. This is called a polished sword, a burnished sword. And here he wanted to say also that they would polish it and burnish it and remove the edge from it. So there is here a sword that on one side is sharp and kills, and on the other side they polished away the edge, meaning they smoothed and turned the other side into a place that can be held, that can be grasped by the hand. Because if the entire sword is only an edge, one cannot grasp it in one's hand. If it has no hilt, I cannot grasp it in my hand. And the polishing, as we said, was intended to remove the sharpening so that through this it would be possible to grasp the sword. The Malbim says that we do not find anywhere that "polished" comes as a verb of sharpening. A polished sword, a sharpened one, the Malbim says, this we have not seen anywhere. Therefore this will be the Malbim's line here, that the polishing of the sword means that on one side of the sword they removed and took away the edge, and on the other side they left the edge or sharpened it, and this is "sharpened." "Sharpened" means it was sharpened so that it would be easy to slaughter with it, so that it would be easy to kill with it. Note, the sword that is polished, they do this so that it will have a flash. The meaning of the matter, the killing sword has no flash. Why? It becomes dirtied with blood, it loses its flash, it is not burnished. Therefore they would polish the sword so that the sword would remain shining. And why? Because this creates fear. When they would see an army approaching and see the swords polished like this like reflectors, the sun reflecting off them, this creates fear and terror. A burnished and polished sword creates fear and terror, it makes an impression of something very sharp. Therefore they would burnish and polish the sword so that the sword would appear as a frightening sword. About this he says, "it is sharpened, for the sake of having a flash it is polished." So that it will have a flash, they polished it as we explained. "Or shall we rejoice, the rod of my son, that despises every tree?" These are seemingly obscure expressions. The Malbim says, but if you want to rejoice, what is the meaning? To be glad.
If you want to see, ah, how lovely, you said now that the sword, they removed the flash from it and removed from it, that is, "polished" means we removed the edge from it, so that the sword would be a place where one can grasp the sword, so we removed the edge from there, you might understand that removing the edge comes to say that there is no danger from the sword. It is not sharp. Here, see that they took and ground the sword in order to remove the edge from it. So he says you have a mistake. They ground the sword so that it would have a handle in order to be able to use it on its other side. Because as we explained, this sword was sharpened, and since it is entirely sharpened without any place to grasp, it could not be used. Therefore on one side it is polished in this sense that they ground and smoothed it so that it could be held in the hand, and then it would be possible to use it and to use and kill with its sharp side. So when you see how they grind the sword and remove its edge, you are certain, ah, that is it, this means there will be no war. This means "and they shall beat their swords into plowshares," they removed the edge from it. He says no, know that the opposite is true. Know that they did this so that it would be possible to grasp the sword in order to kill with it.
And this sword was prepared to be, as he says, "the rod of my son." It was prepared to be a rod for my son, a rod is designated, a rod of rulers, a rod is designated in order to chastise, this is in order to subdue and chastise my son. "That despises every tree." What is the meaning of "that despises every tree"? One cannot make it a hilt of wood. For a sword one usually made a hilt of wood. First, because a wooden hilt is lighter, second, because it is more comfortable to grasp, as opposed to metal, which both heats up and slips from the hand, they would make a hilt of wood. About this he says, there is here, it is not applicable here to make a wooden hilt for this sword, and if the entire thing is sharpened and one cannot grasp it in one's hand, then a wooden hilt is impossible, entirely sharpened is impossible, so what did he do? He ground one side so that there it would be possible to grasp the sword. So do not rejoice that you see the sword now ground, since its other side is sharp and ready for slaughter. This is what he says, the sword is sharpened, there is a side that was sharpened in order to be ready for slaughter, and it is polished, the side that there it is polished and the sharpening was removed from it, this is in order to place it in the hand of the slayer, so that on this side he can grasp it in order to murder.
What is actually the interpretation here of this whole matter? Here the Malbim has a very wonderful explanation. The Malbim says, Nebuchadnezzar, as is known, besieged Yerushalayim for many days. And as is known, what caused the defeat and subjugation in the end, how Nebuchadnezzar succeeded, this was not through his might, but rather through the internal quarrels that were within Yerushalayim. Through the disputes that were within Yerushalayim. They were fighting one against his brother. It is written that they would make themselves a small knife, a short knife, and would walk in the marketplace, and when someone whom they wanted to settle a score with reached them, they would stab him like this without anyone seeing, stab him in his belly and continue as if nothing had happened. Suddenly the man collapses, they begin to search, until the ambulance arrives, then one already needs to call the burial society, and by the time the police arrive, in short they do not know who and how. Heaven help us, Yerushalayim was full of blood from end to end. There was a very difficult reality of dispute, of factionalism within Yerushalayim. The reality of the sects that split in Yerushalayim created a situation in which the destruction began from within.
And this is as it is written in Yirmiyahu 21, "behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight the king of Bavel, and I will gather them into the midst of this city." The meaning of the matter, those same weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight one another, I will now bring them to the king of Bavel, so that the king of Bavel will come and through this subdue you by means of the internal war that is among you. And this is as it is written "the kings of the earth did not believe, nor all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and enemy would enter the gates of Yerushalayim." And why did he ultimately enter? "For the sins of her prophets, the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst." That is, the destruction was through the sins of her prophets, the false prophets, the iniquities of her priests, the priests of the Baal, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst, who would kill one another; by the strength of this Nebuchadnezzar conquered them.
And if you thought we learned something, in the Second Temple it was exactly the same thing. Also in the destruction of the Second Temple, Titus saw that he could not conquer Yerushalayim, and he saw that when they come to fight against us, then we unite, and they would go out against him in order to destroy the Romans, and therefore what did he do? He took a pause. And what was this pause intended for? The pause was intended for, as they say, let them destroy themselves from within. Let them fight with themselves from within. Do not worry, these will bring them the new fund, these will write them a Goldstone report, these... do not worry, from within they will devour one another. They already have, they already have a self-destruction mechanism. And through this he came and conquered them. So it turns out that the main sword that consumed them was the sword of their own.
The Malbim says, so too did Nebuchadnezzar do. When Nebuchadnezzar saw that he could not defeat them as long as he went to fight against them frontally, they united forces against him, for this is the reality of the people of Yisrael, when an enemy comes from outside, then they unite against him. What did he do? In the middle of the siege he departed. In the middle of the siege he left. What did the people who saw this think? How lovely, the sword is polished. How lovely, the sword now, its edge is polished. As we explained, the intent is ground. They were certain, it is over, this sword does not kill. And what did this cause? The moment we have no dispute from outside, the disputes begin from within. Through this they destroyed one another inside, from this killings and murders occurred within Yerushalayim, and then what became clear to us? That what you saw, the sword ground to remove its edge, it was a mistake to think that since this sword will not kill anymore. Rather, the sword was intended so that it would be possible to grasp it, and therefore one side was polished and its edge removed in order to have a handle to grasp the sword, so that through this Nebuchadnezzar could come a second time and strike you and also succeed in conquering what he could not do previously.
The prophet says to them, about this do not rejoice. When you see that Nebuchadnezzar leaves, know that this is Nebuchadnezzar's cunning, since Nebuchadnezzar's sword is a sword that wishes to kill and destroy, only he has no hilt, he has no way to grasp it. And this is essentially the metaphor of the matter, says the Malbim, that the siege mounds and the siege wall and the siege instruments with which they would conquer the city, this was, as it were, the handle. This is the handle of the sword. This is, with these instruments they use in order to kill with the sword. He saw that this handle was not sufficient. "That despises every tree." This is a sword that has no, it is impossible to attach a handle to it. It is impossible to attach a hilt to it, "despises every tree," it is impossible with these instruments to kill. And therefore the Malbim says, he calls it "the rod of my son." This sword in their eyes is only like a rod, not like a sword. Since the people of Yisrael were strong compared to Nebuchadnezzar. He could not prevail over them. "The rod of my son," how did Nebuchadnezzar appear to us? As if only a stick. Well, with a stick one does not kill. This is how they thought, this is how they were certain. So just as the rod, the handle by which one grasps the rod is of the same type as the rod, that is, it is a stick, so too for the sword one must make a handle, a hilt, of the same type. How? By grinding the sword itself. And therefore what did he do? He made himself as one who seeks peace, as one who lets go of the matter, as one who leaves, and through this they destroyed among themselves and the officials destroyed them, and through this he could grasp. Now he has a handle. Now he has a hilt with which to conquer Yerushalayim and slaughter a slaughter.
About this he warns them and tells them, do not err in this illusion, since the entire goal is only to conquer through the fact that he now gave a pause, through this you from within will devour one another and then it will be easier for him to conquer it. The Malbim says, and this is what is written "a sword, a sword." Now you understand why there is a doubling. The doubling is since there was here the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, but truly this sword received a pause. And which sword was it that worked? The sword of the people of Yisrael from within, who killed one another. So there is here "a sword, a sword." There are here two kinds of swords, and the two kinds of swords, "cherev" is from the word "churban" (destruction), they are the ones who in the end destroyed the nation dwelling in Zion.