The sons of Bavel and all the Kasdim, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the sons of Ashur with them. Choice young men, governors and rulers all of them, captains and men of renown, all of them riding horses. Who are these, the sons of Bavel and all the Kasdim, Pekod and Shoa and Koa? These are the nations that submitted to the authority of Bavel. There is another explanation. Rashi says they were officers and princes and rulers. One interpretation is that these are names of provinces, right? So Targum Yonatan brings, and Rashi too brings this interpretation from Targum Yonatan. Pekod and Shoa and Koa are the nations that submitted to the authority of Bavel. And all the sons of Ashur with them, meaning all the sons of Ashur will come along with them. "Otam" here means "with them." That they too will remember the bond and connection they had with you long ago, and they too will want to restore the love as at the beginning. And regarding this he mentions, to whom did we attach ourselves earlier? We already saw this in the earlier pesukim: choice young men, governors and rulers all of them, captains and men of renown, all of them riding horses. We saw that this is what brought her to cling to them, since she saw in them, as it were, men of high standing, so they too will come to restore our love as at the beginning.
And they will come against you with weapons, chariots and wheels, and with a host of peoples. Buckler and shield and helmet they will set against you all around. And I will set judgment before them, and they will judge you by their judgments. And they will come against you with "hotzen." What is "hotzen"? The Malbim explains it as types of chariots and instruments of war. Actually the expression "hotzen" is connected to "chotzen," as it is written "chotzen and chariot," right? Like "and they will bring your sons in a chotzen." So according to the Malbim, chotzen there too he explains as a type of chariot. "They will bring your sons in a chotzen" means they will bring them in a chariot. In contrast, the Radak brings in his father's name that he explains "in a chotzen" to mean "on the arm." "They will bring your sons in a chotzen," like they will lift them on the arm. And an army is also called an arm, like "the arms of the south," which means the armies, right? So if so, "they will bring your sons in a chotzen" means with armies. So too what is written here, "and they will come against you with chotzen," means with armies. This is how the Radak's father explains it. In any case, "and they will come against you with chotzen," hotzen means chotzen, either types of chariots and instruments of war, or armies of troops. Chariots and wheels with a host of peoples, they will come with chariots and wheels with a host of peoples, meaning they will come with great might.
And I will set judgment before them. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: besides this, they will also come with buckler and shield and helmet, they will set against you all around. Meaning they will also come with many instruments of war, weapons that give whoever comes with them an advantage on the battlefield. Buckler and shield: the buckler shields against the sword. The shield protected against the arrow. The buckler surrounded him on three sides, and the shield protected from the front. The helmet was a copper covering placed on the head. So they will set against you all around, they will lay a siege around you. And here the Holy One, blessed be He, says: they will come for judgment. There will be judgment before them, the judgment being for the fact that you strayed under your husband, meaning you deviated from the path of Hashem. And this appears in Yirmiyahu chapter 1, "and they will come and each set his throne at the entrance of Yerushalayim, and I will speak My judgments against them for all their evil." That is to say, the army of Bavel will as it were be our judges. The Holy One, blessed be He, will as it were be the prosecutor, He will be the litigant, and He will as it were bring our case before them, that they should judge us for having rebelled against Him, may He be blessed. And here there will be two kinds of judgments. First, judgment from the aspect that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the litigant, He is the prosecutor. And then they will render the verdict and punishment according to the judgments of Hashem, according to the prosecutor, we follow the prosecutor here, since Hashem is the prosecutor, we follow His judgments. Second, there are also the judges here. And in the laws of the judges, the laws are different. In the laws of the judges, that is a legal system of its own, according to the customs of the gentiles. So they will punish her according to their manners and their laws, as is accepted among them. So regarding the first part he says, "and I will set judgment before them," that they should judge as we said according to the judgments of Hashem. And regarding the second part he says, "and they will judge you by their judgments," meaning they will judge you according to their own laws. And then note, it turns out she is struck doubly, for she receives both the punishment due to her according to the Torah, and also the punishment due to her according to the judgments of the nations.
And corresponding to what he says, "and I will set judgment before them," which is the judgment He will render according to the laws and halachot of the Torah, regarding this he says: and I will direct My jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. Your nose and your ears they will remove, and your remnant will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant will be devoured by fire. And I will direct My jealousy against you, like a man, a husband who is jealous over his wife who strayed under him. And corresponding to what he said, "and they will judge you by their judgments," meaning they will punish you also according to their own laws, not only according to the laws of the Torah, so that her punishment will be doubled. Regarding this he says, "and they will deal with you in fury," they will carry out the judgment in a manner of anger and fury. What does "in a manner of anger and fury" mean? So corresponding to what he said, "and I will direct My jealousy against you," he says, "your nose and your ears they will remove." They will treat you as they would do to a woman who committed adultery under her husband. When a woman committed adultery under her husband, they would treat her in a terrible and dreadful way. They would cut off her nose and cut off her ears. This would ensure that no one would look at her anymore. Beyond the fact that it is a permanent blemish in her, right? And through this she would become repulsive in the eyes of those who lusted after her. And regarding the fact that she brazened her face and inclined her ears to words of harlotry and words of lust, regarding this he says, "and your remnant will fall by the sword." The Abarbanel explains, what is "and your remnant will fall by the sword"? He explains that "your remnant" means the remnant of the garments. This is the meaning of "your remnant will fall by the sword," they will cut off the hems of the garments with the sword. And this was the greatest shame they would inflict on those women, that they would as it were expose their backsides, that is, make them dress in such a shameful manner, and this thing was a perpetual disgrace. What today some women go about doing willingly from the outset, back then was a kind of disgrace to shame her, to display her harlotry. So this is the way they would do it, they would remove the covering part from behind her. So this is what he says, they will punish you in this way for having brazened your face.
And what he says afterward, "and they will deal with you in fury," that they will carry out judgment on you according to their fury, so he says "they," the judgment that they will carry out will be aside from My judgment. "They will take your sons and your daughters" into captivity, this is aside from what I decree upon you, another punishment, they will take your sons and your daughters into captivity. "And your remnant will be devoured by fire," meaning what they did in burning the Beit HaMikdash. So there were here two more punishments. First, they took them into captivity and they were exposed and in perpetual disgrace, and another thing, "and your remnant will be devoured by fire," the Beit HaMikdash too was burned, aside from Am Yisrael going into captivity in Bavel.
The pattern we see here is essentially a pattern of measure for measure. Since Am Yisrael attached themselves to the nations, they essentially saw salvation in Mitzrayim. They saw salvation in Bavel. You anticipated them, you desired them. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: "these are the rock they trusted in. Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, drank the wine of their libations. Let them rise up and help you, let it be a shelter over you." The Chovot HaLevavot says that when a person relies on someone, the Holy One, blessed be He, hands him over to the one he relies on. So you relied on Mitzrayim, here, please, come Mitzrayim, see what Mitzrayim will do to you. A staff of a splintered reed, which pierces the palm of whoever leans on it. So therefore we see that the punishment comes specifically through those very nations to whom they attached themselves. So you thought I can attach myself to them and whenever I want I will withdraw. When you want to withdraw, as we saw earlier, "therefore Oholivah, thus says Hashem, behold I am rousing your lovers against you." They will not so easily let you detach from this great love. And then it will become clear that it was not great love here, since it turned out afterward that with terrible hatred, "I will direct My jealousy against you and they will deal with you in fury, your nose and your ears they will remove," and so on, until "your remnant will fall by the sword, they will take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant will be devoured by fire." And all this is measure for measure, for had you relied on the Holy One, blessed be He, and leaned on Him, you would have had all the salvations and all the successes and all the blessing. But since you said, Master of the Universe, we have other nations to lean on, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: they will harm you. Those on whom you leaned, from them you will suffer. Now, are those nations righteous? Certainly not. All these nations, we all know, ultimately received their judgment. The Holy One, blessed be He, exacts punishment through the nation, and afterward exacts punishment from the nation. That very nation through which He exacts punishment, ultimately also pays a price. Behold we see that Mitzrayim afflicted us for 400 years, and afterward we see that they received their plagues. Behold Bavel, we see that it chastised and afflicted us, and "O daughter of Bavel who is to be despoiled, praiseworthy is he who seizes and dashes your infants against the rock," and these things are being fulfilled before our eyes today. What is left of Bavel? What is left of Mitzrayim? What is left of all the nations that in the past afflicted us? Nothing is left of them. What you learn from this is that the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts punishment through the nation, but in the end the nation will pay a full price for everything it did all along the way.
And they will strip off your garments, and take your beautiful vessels. And they will strip off your garments, meaning the garments of beauty. The garments of beauty, Rashi explains, is a metaphor speaking about the garments of the Kehunah. And they will take your beautiful vessels, meaning the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash. And likewise everything that was precious to them, from the aspect that they are the people of Hashem, all of this they will strip away from us. And I will make your lewdness cease from you, and your harlotry from the land of Mitzrayim. And you will not lift your eyes to them, and you will remember Mitzrayim no more. Through this I will make your lewdness cease. What is your lewdness? We explained that these are the deep thoughts of harlotry. Meaning what they clung to in heresy and clung to in idolatry. I will make your lewdness cease from you. For it is written that when Am Yisrael were exiled to Bavel they no longer worshipped idolatry. And therefore it is written what is said there, "and you will worship there other gods, wood and stone," Chazal say it does not mean you worshipped other gods, for in Bavel they no longer worshipped idolatry. Rather, you served worshippers of other gods, and consequently it is as if you yourselves served other gods, since you were lowly before the idol worshippers. And the reason is, as we know, that the Men of the Great Assembly had already abolished idolatry. So at this stage, the moment prophecy ceased, idolatry too ceased. So this is what is written, "and I will make My lewdness, your lewdness cease from you." We said, already then there would no longer be lewdness and harlotry. And your harlotry from the land of Mitzrayim, from then on they no longer trust in Mitzrayim. And you will not lift your eyes to them, meaning to lewdness and to idolatry. And you will remember Mitzrayim no more, since Mitzrayim too ultimately fell, and those of the sons of Yehudah who went in order to be saved, those who remained here and whom the prophet warned not to go to Mitzrayim, and nevertheless went to Mitzrayim, in the end they too were killed with them, so that in fact you will remember Mitzrayim no more.
For thus says the Lord Hashem, behold I am giving you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul turned away. Hashem says, behold I am giving you into the hand of those you hate. Even though at the beginning we saw "behold I am rousing your lovers," that when they set out here, they will come as it were from the aspect of a covenant of love in order to renew the connection, they will want us to have a covenant with them again and to serve them. But when I give you into their hands, then it will be into the hand of those you hate. Here they will come already from the aspect of hatred, hatred will burn in their hearts, because your soul turned away from them, and they will understand that you are no longer willing for this connection, they will treat you like enemies, like adversaries. And therefore behold I am giving you into the hand of those you hate, so they will come already with hatred, and when they come with hatred then it will be to the point of destruction. And they will deal with you in hatred, and take all you have toiled for, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your harlotries will be exposed, and your lewdness and your harlotries. And they will deal with you in hatred. Now it will no longer pass, as we said, from the aspect of the earlier love, but only from the hatred of the present, that now they will see you are not willing to return and serve them, they will hate you with a great hatred. And through this they will take all you have toiled for, they will take everything you toiled for, and leave you naked and bare, they destroyed everything, they left nothing. And the nakedness of your harlotries will be exposed. And then they will not spare you at all, the nakedness of your lewdness will be exposed. What does this mean? The Malbim explains, we already saw earlier, that when it is written "your harlotries," it refers to the act of harlotry. When it is written "your lewdness," it refers to what they sank into in the thought of harlotry too, not only in the act. Meaning that they attached themselves to idolatry not only as something external, but also in deep thought, they delved into the philosophy of idolatry. And your harlotries, we explained that this is in a causative form, that they were not satisfied with worshipping idolatry themselves, but also activated others, this is "your harlotries," that is, they also caused others to worship idolatry.
These things will be done to you, for your harlotry after nations, because you were defiled with their idols. Why will you receive this great punishment? It is because of three things. For your harlotry after nations, you went down to Mitzrayim in order to receive help from them, you did not trust in Hashem. Another thing, because you were defiled with their idols, you arrived there in Mitzrayim, and furthermore worshipped idolatry like them, you did like their abominations. In the way of your sister you walked, and I will place her cup in your hand. In the way of your sister you walked, as we saw in the way of Oholah, you saw her punishment, you saw her exile, you did not take a lesson from it. And therefore, and I will place her cup in your hand. That is, that same cup of poison that Oholah drank, that same cup of poison you will now receive too, Oholivah, and she too will drink the cup of impurity. Thus says the Lord Hashem, you will drink your sister's cup, the deep and the wide. You will be for derision and for mockery, holding much. Thus says Hashem, you will drink your sister's cup. Meaning you will be exiled like her. And this cup, the deep and the wide, means do not think that this cup my sister drank and it is finished, the cup was emptied. No, this cup is deep and wide, there is much drink in it, there is much poison in it also for you. And there is still in it of the bitter waters to give you to drink, for the bitter waters as is known are what test the sotah, and this corresponds to how she strayed from the path of Hashem. And he says you will be for derision and for mockery, holding much. She will be for derision, just as Shomron drank the cup three times, three exiles were exiled through Sancheriv, so too Yerushalayim drank the cup three times. They were exiled through Nevuchadnetzar three times, as it is written in Yeshayahu, "the whole head is sick," and so on. The first time will be for derision. The Malbim says, worse than derision is mockery, since one can laugh at someone not in their presence. But to mock is usually in their presence. And the third time, after the derision and the mockery, will be "holding much," there will be so much mockery that she will no longer be able to contain it. Meaning that this signifies complete destruction.
You will be filled with drunkenness and grief. A cup of desolation and devastation, the cup of your sister Shomron. You will be filled with drunkenness and grief. The first time you will be filled with drunkenness. Not wine that a person gets drunk on and thereby reaches joy, but a drink that intoxicates and causes loss of reason, and further brings a person to a state of grief. People who get drunk often afterward begin to cry. Why? They lose their reason. So this will be the kind of drunkenness we are speaking about, drunkenness and grief. Often they enter into depression as a result of the drunkenness. A person often after getting drunk reaches a state of being depressed. So this is "you will be filled with drunkenness and grief." The second time you will drink a cup of desolation and devastation. Meaning, the whole land will be desolate. The third time he says, the cup of your sister Shomron. She will drink the cup of her sister Shomron, meaning, complete destruction, as it was with her sister Shomron who was utterly destroyed.
And you will drink it and drain it, and gnaw its shards, and tear off your breasts, for I have spoken, says the Lord Hashem. The first time, "and you will drink." Then the second time, "and drain." "Drain" means you will also extract the essence, like "drink, drain." That is, you will take and suck so that nothing remains, not a single drop will remain in the cup, even what is left at the sides. And the third time, "and gnaw its shards." What is "gnaw its shards"? "Gnaw" is from the expression "they will gnaw their bones." When they would eat and leave nothing, they would also break the bones and suck out the marrow inside them. So he wants to say here, out of wanting so much to say you will drink that same cup of poison, so she drank, and you also said that she sucked what still remained, so what is still left? He says they will further take the shards and break them in order to suck out what remains inside. Just as they do to the bones, breaking them in order to extract, he means to say you will receive this in the fullest measure possible. Further, "and gnaw its shards," also the shards, what was absorbed in them, this too you will gnaw, you will break the shards into small pieces in order to suck out the drink absorbed in the shards. And this is essentially the analogy for it, that the people were entirely consumed, only Yerushalayim, which was essentially the vessel, still had drink in it, and he tells you that this vessel will be shattered afterward into pieces. The pieces meaning Yerushalayim will crumble, and through this she will drink the bitter impure drink. What does this mean? That even after becoming pieces, the city will still be burned and destroyed. Meaning blow after blow, even as it were what remained in pieces, this too they will suck, this too they will extract.
What is "and tear off your breasts"? The Malbim explains, with the broken shards you will tear off your breasts. What does this mean? He explains that Yerushalayim is in the aspect of a mother nursing her children. Meaning, she bestows influence, for through Yerushalayim came the spiritual abundance, the physical abundance, from it the abundance descended to the whole world. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh says that if the nations knew how much abundance reaches them from the Beit HaMikdash, they would have brought here guards and legions to protect Yerushalayim and the Beit HaMikdash so that it would not be destroyed. This is if the nations only knew. That is to say, all the abundance came through the Beit HaMikdash. And then as it were the mother, "you will tear off your breasts," cuts off her breasts from the infant so that he cannot continue to nurse. Meaning, that then through this the mighty abundance that was in Yerushalayim, which is the kingship and the Kehunah and the service and prophecy, all of this will be severed from them. This is "you will tear off your breasts," that same immense abundance that Yerushalayim bestowed on her children, that same abundance will be severed. For I have spoken, says the Lord Hashem. Hashem says, so I have spoken, so that this prophecy will ultimately be fulfilled and realized. There is another interpretation here, what is "and gnaw its shards"? Rashi explains that he compares the cup of drink that comes and gives calamity to Yisrael to drink, as we explained, to an earthenware vessel. And it is written that an earthenware vessel that is broken has no repair. A metal vessel, the moment it is broken, one can melt it down anew and build the vessel again. In contrast, an earthenware vessel, the moment it is broken, there is nothing to do. What will you do? Build it again? What do you need? There is sand outside too, you don't need to take this shard and crumble it and make sand from it, why need that? So a shard once broken has no more repair. Rashi says, note there is a good promise here. He tells you "and gnaw its shards," that is, that same earthenware vessel from which you drank the cup of poison, the cup will break. Which means there will be no further calamity. This is the meaning of "gnaw its shards." Rashi says, come and observe, in contrast, regarding the idol worshippers what is written? That when the Holy One, blessed be He, gives them the cup to drink, "Bavel was a golden cup in the hand of Hashem, intoxicating all the earth," Yirmiyahu 51. For them it will be a golden cup. A golden cup, even if it is crushed, even if it is broken, they melt it and there is again a cup. That is to say, they will drink and drink again. This will be for Bavel. For Am Yisrael, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, it will be an earthenware cup, that this earthenware cup, "gnaw its shards," breaks into fragments, and then through this it will have no further revival, meaning, no further calamity will come upon them then.
Therefore thus says the Lord Hashem, because you forgot Me and cast Me behind your back. And you too bear your lewdness and your harlotries. Because you forgot Me, and now he concludes his words and says that the main reason you received all this is because you forgot Hashem entirely. Like a harlot who abandoned her husband and forgot him completely. And therefore he tells her, you too bear your lewdness, just as I bore shame on your account, that you were the people of Hashem and there was in this shame and disgrace to Heaven, that you abandoned the Holy One, blessed be He, as if it is not worthwhile to serve Hashem. And you said, "it is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we kept His charge," so you went and chose for yourselves new gods. Hashem says, you abandoned Me and I had in this great disgrace, meaning there was here a great desecration of Hashem's name, therefore you too bear your lewdness. Just as I bore shame on your account, so you too bear shame for your deeds. And Hashem said to me, son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholivah? Then declare to them their abominations. He tells him, are you yourself ready to judge? The judgments of Hashem are together righteous, both with Oholah and with Oholivah. I want you to judge them and tell them their abominations. For they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands, and with their idols they committed adultery. And even their children whom they bore to Me, they passed over to them to be consumed.
The Radak explains that what is written here is no longer a metaphor, for until now we saw that adultery is a metaphor for idolatry. But here the Radak says it is literal. For they committed adultery, they committed adultery with the wives of their fellows. For Yerushalayim, the First Temple, was destroyed over idolatry, forbidden relations, and bloodshed. There was adultery, so "for they committed adultery" is literal. And blood is on their hands, as Yeshayahu says to them, "your hands are full of blood." Therefore Yerushalayim is called "woe, city of blood." And with their idols they committed adultery, this here is already metaphorical, for they committed adultery with regard to idols, to idolatry, meaning they worshipped idolatry. And this is like the adulterous woman under her husband taking strangers, so too they took for themselves idols for idolatry. And then consequently we have here the three kinds of transgressions. There was adultery which is forbidden relations, blood on their hands which is bloodshed, with their idols they committed adultery which is idolatry. Idolatry, forbidden relations, and bloodshed, all three are mentioned here in one pasuk, as the sins that ultimately brought calamity upon them. And not only that, but even their children whom they bore to Me, they passed over to them to be consumed. Even their children whom they bore to Me. What is "bore to Me"? The Radak explains, for My service. And how do we establish that this is for My service? Because on the eighth day of their birth they entered them into the covenant. They circumcised them. And this signifies the seal of the King, that they be for the service of Hashem. And afterward they passed them over to be consumed, they passed them to the Molech, that the fire should consume them. The Malbim explains, "and even their children whom they bore to Me," the Malbim says, what is "bore to Me"? Those they dedicated to Heaven and to Torah study, those they passed over to the Baal to be burned in fire. We saw this too earlier, in Yechezkel chapter 16 in pasuk 20, "and you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to Me, and slaughtered them to them to be consumed, was your harlotry too little?" What is the meaning of "whom you bore to Me"? Specifically, as it says there, the children they dedicated to Heaven and to Torah study. That is, the priest of the Baal, of the Molech, comes and says to them, well, what is going on with you? So-and-so's family already passed one over, another family already before you, the second child too, and this family, and you, well, you haven't brought yet, not a single child, you haven't contributed to the Molech. Well, come on, we really need to do something, this is impossible. So they say, listen, who, Reuven? No, Reuven is in the army. Who, Shimon? No, Shimon just now got a position in high-tech. Who, Yehudah? No, listen, Yehudah has very very important businesses. So you know what? Aharon, he is in yeshiva, take Aharon. Take Aharon, he is in yeshiva, take him. Do you understand? To the Molech, whom did they send? Whom? The children they dedicated to Heaven and to Torah study, those they passed over to the Baal to be burned in fire. And once we brought regarding this too in that chapter, there we brought the parable of the matter of "his dish burned," which is called a bad wife. What is a bad wife? That his dish burned. What burned, she says to the husband, yours burned. No, mine didn't burn, mine is fine, the upper part of the food didn't burn, that's mine. "His dish burned" is called a bad wife. So here, what did they go to burn? The dish of the Holy One, blessed be He, the children of the Master of the Universe, this they passed over to the Molech. And this is a great lesson for us, for often a person needs to arrange something, he needs to go urgently to the bank, he needs to handle some matter, he needs to go to the municipality, National Insurance, the health fund, whatever, he needs to go handle something urgently. No, listen, in the morning I can't, because in the morning I have work. But in the afternoon there's a kollel anyway, so he goes then. So in the evening there's a shiur, ah, that, so I have more time then, do you understand? What does he take to the Molech? The time of Torah, the portion of the Master of the Universe. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says, even their children whom they bore to Me, they passed over to them to be consumed. This you pass over to the Molech? This is the portion that should be the most precious, the most important, that must not be touched, this is the portion of the Master of the Universe. But instead, a person specifically takes this for his mundane affairs.
This too they did to Me: they defiled My Sanctuary on that day, and My Shabbatot they profaned. Another thing, this too they did to Me, on the same day that they offered their children to the Molech, they would go to the Beit HaMikdash to offer a sacrifice, in order to defile the Mikdash. And they would specifically arrange for it to be on Shabbat, in order to profane Shabbat as well. So that in fact, the Malbim says, it turns out they profaned three matters that are the central matters of the entire world. And this is what is called in Sefer Yetzirah "ashan": Olam (world/space), Shanah (year/time), Nefesh (soul/being). He says, behold, the sanctified place in the world is the Beit HaMikdash, they profaned the Beit HaMikdash. The sanctified time in the year is Shabbat, they profaned time too, Shanah. Nefesh, the sanctified one in the soul is the son designated for Torah study, whom they set apart for the occupation of Torah, he is the special and superior one in the soul. And behold they damaged Olam, Shanah, Nefesh. They damaged these three holy matters, which are essentially the foundations of all spiritual matters. Olam expresses place, Shanah expresses time, Nefesh expresses man, right? The sanctified one in the soul. And they damaged these three matters.
And when they slaughtered their children to their idols, they came to My Sanctuary on that day to profane it. And behold, thus they did in the midst of My House. And this is the final sin, that on the day they slaughtered their children, they would come to My Sanctuary on that day. This shows as it were they slaughtered their children in the Beit HaMikdash. They went to slaughter their children in the Beit HaMikdash for idolatry, in the Sanctuary of Hashem. For after slaughtering their children, they come to the Sanctuary of Hashem. I consider it for them as if they slaughtered their children here within the Beit HaMikdash. And this is the most severe sin one can commit. And the Malbim says, this is similar to a woman committing adultery under her husband, in his house and in his presence, that she no longer fears him at all. This is the thing that arouses the greatest jealousy and wrath.
Moreover, they sent for men coming from afar, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold they came. For whom you bathed, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments. And he continues to show this wantonness, that she committed, as we said, her harlotry in the presence of the husband, she is like a harlot who publicly sends messengers to men who come from afar. Through a messenger, through an emissary sent to them so that they would come, she sends messengers to receive them. And for this purpose you bathed, painted, adorned yourself with ornaments. Meaning, "adorned yourself with ornaments," you put on ornaments. "Bathed," meaning she prepared herself in the bathhouse. And she painted her eyes, which is the way of harlotry that they would paint their eyes in order to find favor in the eyes of the adulterers. And the Radak explains that here this metaphor comes to speak about how she sent letters, that these letters spoke of honored matters and brought gifts in order to draw the nations to her, in order to mingle with them, in order to learn from their deeds.
And you sat on a stately bed, with a table set before it. And My incense and My oil you placed upon it. You sat on a stately bed in order to receive those clients on that bed. And before the bed was a table set with all kinds of food. And upon the table you placed oil and incense in order to make a good fragrance. And he says, and they are the oil and the incense that the husband gave her. Meaning, as it were the Holy One, blessed be He, says, what I bestowed and gave her, this she went to burn as incense for the husbands, this she went to burn as incense for those who committed harlotry with her, referring to those nations that came here and from whom we learned the corruption of idolatry and the rest of the corruption we learned from them.
And the sound of a multitude at ease was in her. And to men from among the throng were brought drunkards from the wilderness. And they placed bracelets on their hands, and a crown of glory on their heads. And the sound of a multitude at ease was in her. In this bed there is a sound of a multitude of people who are at ease. The Malbim says, this is the opposite of the way of adulterers. Since the way of adulterers, if she is a married woman, they are not at ease. They always fear lest her husband come. But here he says, the sound of a multitude at ease was in her. He says, they do not fear at all. And not only that, but they even make a sound, and they are at ease and do not fear. And to men from among the throng were brought. That is, to men who were brought from among the throng, meaning, many people went to bring them, those who committed harlotry, here. Who are these men? Drunkards from the wilderness. "Sovaim," the Malbim explains, means drunkards. Men who are drunk from the wilderness, as it is written "do not be among the drunkards of wine." Meaning, men who drank much wine and came from the wilderness. Wild, desert men. What does he want to tell you with this? Come and see that men arrived here, what are called the very bottom of the human class. Truly drunkards, drunk, from the wilderness. These men brought here. And they placed bracelets on their hands. Those who brought them placed bracelets on their hands, and a crown of glory on their heads. As it were they made these who came here into important nobles, they dressed them, gave them bracelets, to those wild men who came here, as it were dressed them like intelligentsia, great and honored nobles. And you brought to yourself men who are essentially base, this is what he wants to say, and you turned them as it were into important ones, you placed on their head crowns and bracelets in order to honor them, and in order to commit adultery with them. All this you did publicly, this you did with a loud voice. And this is, as we said, the magnitude of the sin and the severe transgression that Oholivah committed. There is another explanation, Rashi explains what "sovaim" is. "Sovaim," Rashi explains, is not from the expression of drinking, but those who dwell around her. This is the meaning of "sovaim," like "round about." The Radak explains that "Seva'im" is a name of a nation, like Seva and Savtecha and Ra'amah and so on, these are names of nations from the sons of Kush. And he means to say, if so, that you brought here the bottom of the human material in order to receive from them what, their conduct, their kinds of idolatry, and to cling to them.
And I said of her who was worn out by adulteries: now they will commit her harlotries, and she. And I said of her who was worn out by adulteries. Rashi says, my heart said to me about this one who was worn out and aged in adulteries. I thought that this one who reached a state of being already old, so I thought now they will commit her harlotries. What is the meaning of "they will commit her harlotries"? Rashi explains that "harlotry" means to go out. We explained once that the expression "to commit harlotry" means to deviate from the path, to go out from the straight path. This is the meaning of "to commit harlotry." You commit harlotry after them, meaning going out from the straight path to the crooked path, to go after the idols. And this is also the source of the expression "zonah" (harlot), the Targum says "nafkat bara" (one who goes out). See again that the expression "to commit harlotry" is a term of going out, from the expression to go out. I thought, Hashem says, since she was already worn out, so consequently they will commit her harlotries. Now the harlotry will depart from her, "tizneh" like "will go out." As it were she will distance herself from the way of harlotry, since she has already aged. But I see that she is still in her harlotries as at the beginning. And she, "and she" meaning she remained the same as she was at the beginning, so she is also now. That is to say, after being worn out and aged in adulteries, she did not change her ways. The Malbim has an interesting interpretation here. The Malbim says, "I," that is as it were the husband, and he says, this is the husband, "worn out by adulteries." You, "they will commit her harlotries, and she." Meaning, I thought these adulteries that now those committing harlotry commit, would be for wearing out. What does this mean? This harlotry will wear out and rot those committing harlotry with her. "Balah" from the expression of decay. "Her harlotries and she." Meaning both those committing harlotry with her, and she, both will be for wearing out. And what is "the wearing out"? The Malbim explains that "the balah" is an abstract term for the leprosy that infects adulterers and wears out their flesh and their bones. The Malbim says, there are diseases that are known and recognized today as venereal diseases. People who become sick with them as a result of engaging in harlotry, become sick with these diseases. The Malbim says, like the sickness of the French in this time. Apparently it was known among the French that they are famous for adultery, so it was known that they had a sickness of the type of these sicknesses, which are sicknesses that attack people who engage in harlotry. And this sickness we also see in the next pasuk, it is also called "the fires of lewdness." "Ishot hazimah" means a plural of fire. As it were it is a sickness of fever that attacks those people like fire. Fire that comes as a result of the lewdness they committed, this is called "the fires of lewdness." And this burning and feverish fire, on account of the lewdness and the great adultery, is a disease from bone to flesh. And then if so, I thought, he says, that they are worn out by adulteries. Meaning what the adulteries did will cause them to be worn out, will bring upon them leprosy, that the leprosy will cling to them, and this will wear them out, both them and her harlotries, also those committing harlotry with her, all will rot in that same leprosy, all will rot in that same sickness. And this is what I cursed them, the husband says, as it were the Holy One, blessed be He, that the wearing out that clings to adulteries, to adulterers, will come upon them. Upon her harlotries and upon her, all who commit harlotry with her, this wearing-out leprosy will cling to them. And there are all kinds of diseases of this type that attack people who engage in matters of harlotry, so today it is known as AIDS, once it was known as syphilis, and further all kinds of such diseases of their various kinds. Hashem says, I said that these diseases would wear out, they will wear out those adulterers. And they came to her as one comes to a harlot, so they came to Oholah and to Oholivah, the fires of lewdness. And the Malbim now says, Hashem, the husband, says, the curse was fulfilled. What did I curse them? That the wearing-out would come upon them. Now the curse was fulfilled, for the wearing-out came upon her and clung to her like coming to a harlot. Just as he always comes to a harlot and clings to her, so too they came to Oholivah and Oholah, who are essentially the two rebellious women, which is Shomron and Yerushalayim, this wearing-out and adulterous sickness will come upon them, yes, the adulterous one, and this sickness is the one that will be in the aspect of the fires of lewdness, fire that will burn those who commit lewdness, fire and the blaze of the heat that burns through the lewdness and the great adultery. And righteous men, they will judge them, the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of those who shed blood. For they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. And righteous men, they will judge them. This harlot to whom this leprosy clung, they will judge her as one who sheds blood. And this is simple, for as we explained now, whoever clings to her clings to her sickness. And her sickness, as we said, kills and destroys, both her and those committing harlotry with her. So it turns out then that through her harlotry she kills souls. And therefore righteous men will come and judge them on account of two sins that are in them. The one sin is the sin of harlotry, the sin as we saw that Yerushalayim was the city of blood, so this is the judgment of those who shed blood. For they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. So they have both the adultery and the blood. And righteous men, they will judge them. Who are these righteous men? Targum Yonatan says, "the innocent in their bonds." According to the deeds of these harlots, the idol worshippers are righteous compared to them. Relatively righteous men, this is as it were what he wants to tell you. The idol worshippers were as it were considered righteous relative to them. One can explain that they were considered righteous relative to them, because they did not receive the Torah. And they are not commanded regarding all these matters as Am Yisrael are commanded. So therefore they are considered relatively righteous, so that they should be the ones who come and judge Yisrael. For thus says, for thus says the Lord Hashem, bring up against them an assembly, and give them over to horror and to plunder. Thus says the Lord Hashem, bring up against them an assembly, that they should gather in order to eradicate their evil from the world, referring to the nations that will come to wage war against Yerushalayim. And give them over to horror, this is from the aspect of the trouble that will come upon them, this will be horror, "za'avah" like "za'af," wrath, wrath. And to plunder, this is because of the adultery they committed. And they will stone them with stones, the assembly, and cut them down with their swords. Their sons and their daughters they will kill, and their houses they will burn with fire. And they will stone them with stones, the assembly, the assembly of nations that will come, the Radak says, will stone them with stones, and this is like the judgment of adulteresses, they would stone the adulteresses. And the analogy for this is essentially the siege wall they built against the city and they would pelt the city with stones, and through this break the wall, by throwing catapult stones at the wall. And cut them down, "cut them down" means through the swords, "livro" is from the expression to sever. So this is "and cut them down with their swords," the nations will come and sever them with the swords. As the Targum says, "and they will pierce them with their swords." Meaning they will stab them with the sword, with their sword. The Malbim says they will judge them with the four death penalties of Beit Din. And here he mentions three out of the four. Stoning, as he says, they will stone them with stones, the assembly. Another thing is killing by sword, this is with their swords. And afterward, their houses they will burn with fire, this is burning. The Malbim asks, where is strangulation? Stoning, burning, killing by sword, and strangulation. Why is strangulation not mentioned here? The Malbim says, this he did not need to mention. Since strangulation is the death mentioned in the Torah in an unspecified manner, and it is the lightest death of them all, and it is the known judgment for any married woman who committed adultery. So this he does not need to state, for it is clear that they will be judged with strangulation like the law of a married woman who committed adultery. What he wanted to tell you is that three additional deaths were added to them in this. One can also explain, their houses they will burn with fire, that fire burns, some die by fire, some by strangulation. And then if so there is also strangulation here. Death by fire is not always through the fire itself, that they are burned. Sometimes through the smoke, right, they die by strangulation. So it could very much be that "they will burn with fire" includes here both burning and strangulation. And I will make lewdness cease from the land, and all the women will be admonished, and they will not do like your lewdness. And I will make cease, through this the benefit will be that I will make lewdness cease in a general sense, for since all the women will be admonished, "will be admonished" from the expression they will take a lesson, they will be chastened by this, and then through this they will not do, they will not do like the lewdness that this woman did. And they will place your lewdness upon you, and the sins of your idols you will bear, and you will know that I am the Lord Hashem. Until now the punishment of lewdness was upon the collective, since this thing was done in a general manner, so consequently the claim was with regard to the collective. But Hashem says, after I judge you, then the sin and the punishment will remain only upon the individuals, only upon the few. And then they will place your lewdness upon you, the punishment of lewdness will be only upon you, only upon the sinners. There will be no punishment here upon the collective. And you, the sins of your idols you will bear, this you will bear alone. And you will know that I am Hashem, when I announce in advance that I will do so, and you see that in the end it indeed comes to be, through this all will know that I am Hashem, that behold I, Hashem, spoke and ultimately fulfilled My words.