After Yechezkel concluded his description of the destruction of the Land of Israel and the calamity of the Beit HaMikdash, a new section begins here: the retribution against the nations neighboring the Land of Israel. These were the nations that distressed us, both at the time of the Churban and prior to it, gloated over our downfall and suffering, and frequently took an active role in tormenting us. The Holy One, Blessed be He, exacts punishment from them as well. We have already seen prophecies against the nations in several places - for instance, the entire Book of Ovadyah is a prophecy against Edom - and here is another such instance.
וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ בֶּן־אָדָם שִׂים פָּנֶיךָ אֶל־בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן וְהִנָּבֵא עֲלֵיהֶם׃ - And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them.
וְאָמַרְתָּ לִבְנֵי עַמּוֹן שִׁמְעוּ דְּבַר־אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה יַעַן אׇמְרֵךְ הֶאָח אֶל־מִקְדָּשִׁי כִי־נִחָל וְאֶל־אַדְמַת יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי נָשַׁמָּה וְאֶל־בֵּית יְהוּדָה כִּי הָלְכוּ בַּגּוֹלָה׃ - And say to the children of Ammon: Hear the word of the Lord Hashem! Thus says the Lord Hashem: Because you said, "Aha!" concerning My Sanctuary when it was desecrated, and concerning the land of Israel when it was desolate, and concerning the house of Yehudah when they went into exile.
"Because you said, 'Aha!' concerning My Sanctuary when it was desecrated" - when you saw that My Sanctuary was profaned (nichal from the root meaning desecration), you cried "Aha!", an expression of malicious glee: "How wonderful, at last the Beit HaMikdash is destroyed!" This is the first rejoicing. The second: "and concerning the land of Israel when it was desolate" - the land of Israel became desolate, and over this, too, you rejoiced greatly. And the third: "and concerning the house of Yehudah when they went into exile" - that even the people dwelling in Tzion went into exile. For all three of these things they will be called to account, as we will see immediately. Radak explains that "concerning the land of Israel when it was desolate" refers to the land of the Ten Tribes, which had lain desolate since the sixth year of Chizkiyahu.
לָכֵן הִנְנִי נֹתְנָךְ לִבְנֵי־קֶדֶם לְמוֹרָשָׁה וְיִשְּׁבוּ טִירוֹתֵיהֶם בָּךְ וְנָתְנוּ בָךְ מִשְׁכְּנֵיהֶם הֵמָּה יֹאכְלוּ פִרְיֵךְ וְהֵמָּה יִשְׁתּוּ חֲלָבֵךְ׃ - Therefore, behold, I am delivering you to the children of the East as a possession, and they shall set their encampments in you and place their dwellings in you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.
Who are the "children of the East"? Rashi explains that this refers to the Chaldeans and Arameans, who live to the east; Radak explains that it refers to Media and Persia. Here the children of Ammon are repaid for their three rejoicings, measure for measure: Corresponding to your rejoicing over the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash - "and they shall set their encampments in you": in the places designated for your idolatrous worship, the children of the East will come and pitch their encampments. Corresponding to your rejoicing over the conquered land of Israel - "and place their dwellings in you": they will establish their habitations upon your soil. And corresponding to your rejoicing over Israel's exile - "they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk": for you will go into exile, and those who inherit and consume the fruit of your labor will be the nations that conquer you.
וְנָתַתִּי אֶת־רַבָּה לִנְוֵה גְמַלִּים וְאֶת־בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן לְמִרְבַּץ־צֹאן וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה׃ - And I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks, and you shall know that I am Hashem.
"Rabbah" is Rabbath Bnei Ammon, mentioned numerous times in Tanach by this name. "A pasture for camels" and "a resting place for flocks" are constant idioms for a place devoid of human settlement, where only camels and sheep graze - an expression of utter ruin and desolation. At first glance, this seems to contradict the previous verse, which stated that the children of the East would dwell there and eat its fruit. Radak therefore explains: Later on, when Media and Persia leave them on their own, or when another nation comes and conquers Media and Persia, the place will then become an utter wasteland. "And you shall know that I am Hashem" - you will know that the power is in My hands, and that what befell the Jewish people, over whose distress you gloated, came from Me; and what befalls you also comes from Me, because instead of understanding that I punished Israel and empathizing with their sorrow, you chose to rejoice.
And why are camels and sheep specifically mentioned? The Malbim explains: The livelihood of the people of Kedar revolved around camels and sheep; therefore, the royal capital would become a pasture for camels, and the rest of the country a resting place for sheep.
כִּי כֹה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה יַעַן מַחְאֲךָ יָד וְרַקְעֲךָ בְּרָגֶל וַתִּשְׂמַח בְּכׇל־שָׁאטְךָ בְּנֶפֶשׁ אֶל־אַדְמַת יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - For thus said the Lord God: Because you clapped your hand and stamped with your foot, and rejoiced with all the disdain of your soul against the land of Israel.
Clapping hands and stamping feet - Rashi explains that these are expressions of joy. Although in Yechezkel chapter 6 we saw the exact opposite - "Strike your hand and stamp your foot, and say, 'Alas!'" where it was said concerning mourning - Rashi says: Do not wonder at this. There are actions performed both in mourning and in joy, and their meanings are not the same. Just like flutes for a bride and for a corpse: the Gemara says that when someone passed away, they would bring professional wailers and hire flutes for him, and at the funeral they would play a mournful, painful tune; whereas for a bride, lehavdil, there are also flutes, but there the tune is joyful. We see that two opposites, mourning and joy, utilize the very same means to express intense emotion. This is very similar to weeping: a person in grief cries, but there are also tears of joy. Everything is an outlet for an overflow of emotion, and an overflow of emotion exists in sorrow just as it exists in joy.
"With all your malice of soul [bechol sha'atecha benafesh]" - Rashi explains sha'atecha as an expression of contempt, similar to "and Esav despised [vayivez]" the birthright, meaning that you held the land of Israel in contempt. Rashi also brings another interpretation, that it is related to shoteif, surging or sweeping over, referring to how you surged in your spirit against the land of Israel.
The Malbim notes that here an additional punishment is decreed upon them for the joy they celebrated after the destruction. They did not merely rejoice in their hearts, nor did they only hand out sweets as is customary, but rather demonstrated actual joy through dancing. Furthermore, it is recorded that the children of Ammon also settled on the land of Israel following the destruction, so this was not merely schadenfreude, but joy that led to dispossessing the land. As it is written in Yirmeyahu 49: "Why has their king dispossessed Gad, and his people settled in its cities?" and regarding "they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilad to expand their border" - they penetrated into Gilad, expanded their territory, and entered the portions of Gad and Israel to conquer them. For this, they receive a separate punishment.
And what does be-sha'atecha mean according to the Malbim? It derives from shot (a whip), for a whip indicates a striking blow. It is also like "those that prick you [ha-satim otach]," which refers to thorns that sting and inflict pain, and like "and thorns in your sides [ve-listet be-tzideichem]" in Yehoshua - thorns that cause pain in their sides. When the blow is struck not by thorns but through contempt and derision, it is termed she'at ha-nefesh - anguish in the soul rather than the body. Thorns cause bodily pain, but mockery is a thorn in the soul. This is the origin of the Hebrew idiom be-she'at nefesh (with utter contempt), and we will see this further in chapter 36, verse 5.
לָכֵן הִנְנִי נָטִיתִי אֶת־יָדִי עָלֶיךָ וּנְתַתִּיךָ לְבַז לַגּוֹיִם וְהִכְרַתִּיךָ מִן־הָעַמִּים וְהַאֲבַדְתִּיךָ מִן־הָאֲרָצוֹת אַשְׁמִידְךָ וְיָדַעְתָּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה׃ - Therefore, behold, I have stretched out My hand over you, and I will deliver you as plunder to the nations; and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish from the countries; I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am Hashem.
"Behold, I have stretched out My hand over you" - meaning that even after the destruction, you will find no rest among the nations. The Malbim has already explained several times the distinction between goyim and amim: goyim refers to the lesser, less orderly societies, places without an established monarch; amim refers to the more prominent nations that have an organized monarchy. To use an analogy: Europe would be termed amim, whereas many African regions would be more fittingly described as goyim, where even if a ruler rises to power, he is not a king governing an orderly state, but often commands rival factions or militias.
Notice the written text: it is written as le-vag and read as le-vaz. This does not imply a scribal error; rather, the Malbim and the Radak explain that bag denotes sustenance or food, as with Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah - "pat-bag of the king," resolving not to defile themselves with the royal rations. In other words, in the hands of the lowly goyim, those who have no monarchy, you will be like bread - they will consume you just as one eats bread. But among the prominent nations - "and I will cut you off from the peoples [amim]" - there you will not be able to dwell at all. Among the lowly nations you might reside, but they will torment you and devour you. And if you seek to dwell independently in lands of your own, neither among the goyim nor among the amim - "and I will cause you to perish from the countries," you will vanish from human settlement, and through this, "I will destroy you," wiping you out entirely.
כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה יַעַן אֲמֹר מוֹאָב וְשֵׂעִיר הִנֵּה כְּכׇל־הַגּוֹיִם בֵּית יְהוּדָה׃ - Thus said the Lord God: Because Moav and Se'ir said, "Behold, the house of Yehudah is like all the nations."
Until now the prophecy dealt with Ammon; here it turns to Moav, who likewise distressed and harassed the Jewish people. "Se'ir" refers to Edom. And what did they say? "Behold, the house of Yehudah is like all the nations" - the Holy One, blessed be He, has ceased to love them, as Rashi explains; they have become despised, delivered into the hands of Nevuchadnezzar just like all the idolaters, for He no longer has any bond with them.
A Midrash Aggadah recounts: When they entered the Heichal and peeled off the form of the cherubim that Solomon had fashioned on the wall of the Heichal, embraced like a man and his consort, and carried them outside, they said: "Look at these people, who presented themselves as modest, see what they are engaged in!" The wording of the Midrash requires explanation: "They peeled off the form of the cherubim that Solomon had fashioned on the wall of the Heichal" implies that the form was carved into the wall, and the word kippelu ("folded") is understood like kilfu ("peeled"), meaning they scraped off and removed the engravings. Yet when we studied the structure of the Heichal in Sefer Melachim (Kings), it appears there were two large cherubim standing and spreading their wings toward each other, in addition to the two cherubim atop the Ark. If it referred to those standing cherubim themselves, they could have simply been carried out as they were without any need to peel them off, since they stood upon the floor of the Heichal.
The common explanation is that they brought out the cherubim from atop the Ark, but this is very difficult to accept, for the Ark had already been hidden away earlier - they already knew the Temple was destined for destruction and hid it away - so it would be mistaken to say the enemies brought out the Ark and its cherubim, since neither the Ark nor its cherubim were present at the end of the First Temple era. Therefore, we must say the Midrash refers to the other cherubim; however, we still need to understand why it states that they were carved into the wall of the Heichal.
Another difficulty arises: the standing cherubim cannot be described as embracing one another, for they stood with outstretched wings from right to left, the right wing of one touching the left wing of the other, with their backs as it were toward the inner sanctuary and their faces toward the entrance. If so, where did they see cherubim embracing one another? Furthermore, the teaching that the cherubim embraced as a sign that the people of Israel were doing the will of the Omnipresent, whereas when they did not, they turned back to back - this ostensibly applies to the cherubim upon the Ark. But if the Ark was hidden away, how can this be explained? And to suggest that the cherubim carved on the wall miraculously altered their form - so that when Israel fulfilled God's will they appeared carved in an embrace, and when not, they were carved turning away - where have we ever heard of such a thing? This matter requires careful examination and study, perhaps even checking textual variants.
In any event, let us accept the Midrash at face value: they entered, saw cherubim entwined in an embrace, brought them outside, and humiliated the Jewish people with them, saying: "Look at these people, who presented themselves as modest, see what they are engaged in!" Concerning this it is said, "like the space of a man and his companion (k'ma'ar ish v'loyot)," like a man embracing his companion; and concerning this it is said, "for they have uncovered her nakedness" - the hidden, innermost dimensions of the bond between the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Jewish people, which they exposed and dragged outside. This is the meaning of "Because Moab and Seir said: 'Behold, the House of Judah is like all the nations'": Look at these people whose curse was feared as a curse and whose blessing was sought as a blessing - what are they engaged in? We thought they were righteous and holy, and look at what depiction they have inside their Holy Temple - a young boy and a young girl, their wings spread toward each other as though joined! To them, this seemed a great disgrace, and it never crossed their minds for a moment that this represented the sublime union between the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Community of Israel.
We have already discussed this principle: a person judges others through the lens of his own conceptual world. We previously cited the Gemara regarding Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachiah and his disciple, "that man," who were hosted at an inn where the innkeeper went to great lengths for them. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachiah remarked, "How pleasant is this inn!" - meaning, how fine these accommodations are, and how devoted they are to our needs. That man replied to him, "Rabbi, her eyes are narrow [bleary]." As if to say: Rabbi, your taste in women is not so refined, she is not attractive, her eyes are flawed. Horrifying! Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: "Wicked one, is this what you are engaged in?" He brought out four hundred shofars and excommunicated him. The terrible thing here is not merely that he harbored such thoughts, for we have encountered cases of a scholar whose reputation was tarnished (tzurba me-rabbanan d'sani shumei), where a student of Torah stumbled in sin. The truly terrible thing is assuming that your rebbe wallows in the very same mud as you, sitting and exchanging impressions about the innkeeper's appearance with him. That reveals profound baseness, which is why he excommunicated him and refused to take him back afterward.
The same applies here: because these heathens were degraded people, immersed exclusively in vulgarity and baseness, when they saw such an image in the Holy of Holies, where did their minds go? Straight to the gutter where they themselves dwell. Their interpretation was born out of the filth and muck in which they were submerged, convinced that the people of Israel, in their greatest, most sacred, and most elevated sanctuary, were preoccupied with the same base trivialities that consumed the nations.
The Radak explains "Behold, the House of Judah is like all the nations" in another way: the House of Judah remained after the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel, and people believed that Judah would never go into exile, because we possess what the ten tribes lacked - the Temple. As we have mentioned several times, they used to say: "The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these!" There is nothing to fear; we have the Sanctuary, we have the Temple, and as long as sacrifices are offered, we are protected. There is no need to frighten or alarm anyone; all will be well, Hashem will not destroy His own House. Hence, when the Temple was destroyed, the shock was immense; it came as a complete surprise, just as we saw with the death of Yechezkel's wife, which occurred suddenly and through a plague, a devastating blow to them. Now, seeing that they too are being exiled, the nations say: "The House of Judah is like all the nations" - all the nations were struck down by Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, and behold, the House of Judah was struck down by them as well. What of their Holy Temple? The Temple did not save them. Hashem dwells in His House? He did not save them. They believed the Temple would shield them, yet it availed them nothing.
The Malbim adds that Moab, unlike Ammon, did not seize part of Israel's territory; rather, they merely rejoiced over their downfall. Moab joined Seir in declaring, "Behold, the House of Judah is like all the nations," implying that the people of Israel are subject to the laws of nature and that the Holy One, blessed be He, no longer exercises providence over them. This connects to what Chazal taught regarding their bringing out the cherubim: according to the Malbim, the nations were convinced that Israel worshipped the cherubim just as the nations worshipped their idols - a form of idolatry directed toward a physical form. This is what is stated in Yirmiyahu: "For was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves?" which rebukes them for making a mockery of the House of Israel and ridiculing them.
לָכֵן הִנְנִי פֹתֵחַ אֶת־כֶּתֶף מוֹאָב מֵהֶעָרִים מֵעָרָיו מִקָּצֵהוּ צְבִי אֶרֶץ בֵּית הַיְשִׁימֹת בַּעַל מְעוֹן וְקִרְיָתָיְמָה׃ - Therefore, behold, I will open the flank of Moab from the cities, from its cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beit-Hayeshimot, Baal-Meon, and Kiriathaim.
The Malbim explains: The enemy will invade from the settled side of the land where the cities lie, rather than from the desert side, specifically striking where the fortified cities are located, beginning the destruction "from its cities on its frontier," as explained in Yirmiyahu that the enemy conquered all the cities of Moab. The purpose of Moab's destruction begins with breaching this opening - the very breaching of the border flank constitutes the primary blow of the destruction.
לִבְנֵי־קֶדֶם עַל־בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן וּנְתַתִּיהָ לְמוֹרָשָׁה לְמַעַן לֹא־תִזָּכֵר בְּנֵי־עַמּוֹן בַּגּוֹיִם׃ - Unto the children of the east, together with the children of Ammon, and I will give it for a possession, so that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations.
"To the people of the East" - I will summon the people of the East to come against the children of Ammon; so Radak explains. Radak asks: Why does the verse return and mention the matter of the children of Ammon once again, after having already mentioned them earlier? He answers: Because they mistreated Israel and blasphemed against them even more during their exile. As written in the prophecy of Amos: "Because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to widen their border" - "the pregnant women of Gilead" refers to the cities of Gilead, and in another sense to the pregnant women in Gilead, or from the language of mountains (*harim*); and "in order to widen their border" - that they went to seize portions of the Land of Israel. And likewise in the prophecy of Tzefanyah: "I have heard the reproach of Moab and the revilings of the children of Ammon" - showing that the children of Ammon multiplied their blasphemies and taunts. And likewise here: "Because you said, Aha!", "Because you clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced" - expressions of immense hatred from Ammon toward Israel. Therefore, the text expounds heavily upon their retribution and repeats their prophecy once again.
The Malbim explains: Through the breach opened in the cities of Moab, the children of the East entered to settle in the cities of Ammon. And the purpose of giving it as an inheritance was "so that the children of Ammon will not be remembered among the nations," because they no longer had a land, and the children of the East now inhabited their territory. It is just like today: look for where the Aztecs are. They have no homeland; they are an extinct nation, and consequently they are no longer remembered among the nations. Unlike Egypt, where one says there was once Egypt and there is still Egypt today - it is not certain they are the same ancient Egyptians, but there is a name, and that name is remembered among the nations. But the children of Ammon will not be remembered, because they have no land and the children of the East inherited it.
This is measure for measure, for it was already stated: "I will not give you of their land as a heritage, for to the children of Lot I have given it as a heritage." And what is a "heritage" (*yerushah*)? The Malbim says: Something that is never interrupted or terminated. What the children of Ammon received was a permanent heritage, but they were not satisfied with the heritage the Holy One, Blessed be He, granted them - Rabbah - but rather went and seized the heritage of Israel and conquered parts of the Land of Israel. Therefore, they were punished measure for measure, that their own heritage was taken from them and given to the children of the East.
It is known, says the Malbim, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, set boundaries for the inheritance of every single nation: "When the Most High gave nations their heritage, when He separated the sons of man, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel" - to each nation He assigned its border and portion. Once He demarcated the heritage of the children of Ammon, and it was now stripped from them and given to another, they necessarily ceased to be a nation and will not be remembered among the nations. And this is the rule with all nations: the moment they have no land and heritage, they are erased.
The Jewish people is the only nation that was defined as a people before it ever had a land. With all other nations, the order is reversed: first they settle in a specific territory, coalesce, and then establish a kingdom, usually after fighting against the host nation within which they reside - like the Kurds in Turkey, who fight for self-determination, and so forth - securing a homeland in which to define themselves as a nation. But the Jewish people crystallized into a nation outside of their land, in the wilderness, teaching that the Jewish people are a nation independent of a territorial homeland. That is why they are the only nation to have preserved their identity in exile, remaining the very same people even after two thousand years, with the same Torah, the same rabbis, and the same halachot.
A Jew who arrived here from Yemen, whose ancestors were exiled as far back as the First Temple era, some two thousand five hundred years ago, and a Jew who came from Ashkenazic lands, or from Iraq, Morocco, Persia, Algeria, or any other country - all came with the exact same tefillin. No one showed up with green, yellow, or red tefillin. All have the identical Torah passages written in their tefillin, and all have the exact same Torah scrolls, without a single word differing from one Sefer Torah to another, which is an extraordinary phenomenon. In the New Testament, for instance, there are twenty-four thousand textual variants, and that is in a text far younger than the Torah - less than two thousand years old, compared to the Torah's three thousand three hundred years. Clearly, the Jewish people is not dependent on a specific landmass, and consequently endures wherever it finds itself. Other nations, however, for whom the Holy One, Blessed be He, established borders, exist only as long as they remain within their borders; once they leave and disperse, they lose their national existence. At most, they become wandering tribes: where are the Gypsies? Is there such an independent nation? Many nations that fractured and were exiled assimilated into the new places they reached, and their name was remembered no more. This is what is assured here: that the children of Ammon will not be remembered among the nations, because their land will become an inheritance for the children of the East.
וּבְמוֹאָב אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים וְיָדְעוּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה׃ - "And upon Moab I will execute judgments, and they shall know that I am the Lord."
Moab did not seize any of Israel's inheritance; they merely rejoiced over their downfall. Therefore, their punishment was lighter: the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not take away their land forever, but only "I will execute judgments." As written in Yirmiyah: "Thus far is the judgment of Moab," meaning that the judgment against Moab had a definite limit.
Regarding the children of Ammon, the verse seemingly states there as well: "And afterward I will restore the captivity of the children of Ammon" - so is their sentence not final? The Malbim answers: Do not be confused. That restoration from captivity applied to their first downfall, but following their second downfall, it was final - the Holy One, Blessed be He, erased them from being a nation, and they returned no more.
Based on this, the Malbim masterfully explains the dispute recounted in Berachot (page 28a). On that very day, Yehudah, an Ammonite convert, came before them in the Beit Midrash. Rabban Gamliel said to him: You are forbidden to enter the congregation, for "an Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord." Yet seemingly, Sancheriv had already mixed up the nations, so today we no longer have the practical status of an Egyptian convert, an Ammonite convert, or a Moabite convert. Sancheriv took nations from here and exiled them to Cuthah, Avva, and Sepharvaim, and took nations from there and resettled them here, so it is no longer possible to determine whether the people dwelling in Egypt are the original Egyptians or whether those living in Ammon are the original Ammonites. If so, the Gemara asks: How could Rabban Gamliel forbid this Ammonite convert? Rabban Gamliel replied: Is it not written, "And afterward I will restore the captivity of the children of Ammon" - indicating that regarding Ammon, Hashem promised to restore their captivity, so they must have returned to their ancestral homeland! But Rabbi Yehoshua disagreed and said to him: You are permitted to enter the congregation. Why? The Malbim explains that according to what we have clarified, this is magnificent: Hashem did indeed restore their captivity the first time, but during the second downfall they went into exile never to return, and as explained, the children of the East came and settled in their land, causing them to be remembered no more. Consequently, he is not truly of Ammonite lineage, and the halachah was indeed decided in accordance with Rabbi Yehoshua, so that if an Ammonite convert comes forward, he is permitted to marry into the congregation.
כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה יַעַן עֲשׂוֹת אֱדוֹם בִּנְקֹם נָקָם לְבֵית יְהוּדָה וַיֶּאְשְׁמוּ אָשׁוֹם וְנִקְּמוּ בָהֶם׃ - Thus said the Lord God: Because Edom acted in taking vengeance against the House of Judah, and incurred grievous guilt and took vengeance upon them.
A reading note: "Vaye'eshmu" - when two consecutive shvas appear, the grammatical rule is that the second shva becomes vocal (a shva na). Here, the first shva is silent (nach) in any case, and the second is vocal (na), and it should be read: according to the Sephardic tradition similar to a tzeireh, and according to the Yemenite tradition similar to a patach.
The Malbim explains: Edom harmed the people of Israel during the destruction of the First Temple, doing so out of vengeance, as it is written: "Because you harbored an ancient hatred and handed over the children of Israel to the power of the sword." This is the meaning of "Because Edom acted in taking vengeance" - in a manner of revenge, which is an expression of deep-seated hatred. Later, during the Second Temple period, the Edomites were circumcised and converted by the Hasmonean kings; yet when the Romans arrived, they switched allegiances and joined the Romans to help them destroy Jerusalem. This is "and incurred grievous guilt" - for violating the covenant, "and took vengeance upon them" - taking revenge on the people of Israel. This also encompasses their vengeance throughout the exile, through forced apostasy, persecutions, and devastation.
As noted previously: regarding the blood spilled by Edom - even if the Arabs were to spill blood for many more years, they would never reach what the Edomites have done to us. They would not come close, and it is far too fresh to forget. Nor does this refer only to the horrors of the Holocaust in Europe; anyone who reads of the atrocities perpetrated across the lands of Edom, the massacres of Tach veTat (1648-1649), Chmielnicki and his cohorts, and all that occurred throughout history, sees that vast rivers of blood were spilled there. However murderous the Arabs are perceived to be, it is still dwarfed by Edom's "grievous guilt" throughout history. Even today, they would gladly continue along that path, but it is not politically correct, so they do it through UN institutions and various diplomatic maneuvers that tie Israel's hands so the Arabs can strike. Then they feel virtuous, their hands clean as though they did nothing; but every time Israel seeks to respond, they tie our hands so we cannot strike back, leaving the Arabs to do the work. That is the scheme, and that is why one will never hear genuine condemnation from them for what the Arabs do, because it suits their purposes - someone else is doing their work for them. But should Israel respond, that is forbidden; Israel is expected to remain in a permanent state of absorption, merely enduring slaughter and murder, while Edom brings its design to fruition without soiling its hands with blood.
There are two textual nuances in the verse. First: "Venikemu" is pointed with a dagesh, in an intensive verb conjugation (binyan kaved), rather than "venakemu" in the simple conjugation (binyan kal). As explained on several occasions, the intensive conjugation - so called because of the greater stress on the vocal organs - signifies intensity, forcefulness, and persistence in the action. They did not merely take revenge once; they took vengeance repeatedly and relentlessly, reflecting the sheer ferocity of their revenge, persecutions, and massacres against the Jewish people. Second: it does not say "and took vengeance from them" (venakmu mehem), but rather "and took vengeance upon them" (venikemu vahem). Taking vengeance "from them" implies retaliation for a prior offense - you acted against me, so I took vengeance upon you. In contrast, taking vengeance "upon them" denotes an act driven by pure hatred, not provoked by any prior deed, but striking Israel out of malice alone.
לָכֵן כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה וְנָטִתִי יָדִי עַל־אֱדוֹם וְהִכְרַתִּי מִמֶּנָּה אָדָם וּבְהֵמָה וּנְתַתִּיהָ חׇרְבָּה מִתֵּימָן וּדְדָנֶה בַּחֶרֶב יִפֹּלוּ׃ - Therefore thus said the Lord God: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it man and beast, and I will lay it waste from Teiman, and toward Dedan they shall fall by the sword.
"I will stretch out My hand against Edom" - this took place through Nebuchadnezzar and later through the Hasmoneans, who cut off man and beast from Edom. The first time, "and I will lay it waste from Teiman," as it is written: "And your mighty men, O Teiman, shall be dismayed," meaning that from the direction of Teiman, the south, there would be desolation. The second time, "and toward Dedan they shall fall by the sword" - the region where the people of Dedan resided, who were then subjugated to them, fell with them by the sword. Why? The Malbim explains: only during the second downfall were the people of Dedan allied with them, whereas during the first they kept their distance, as written in Jeremiah 49: "Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan" - they withdrew, so the blow did not strike them. But the second time, being closely intertwined, the people of Dedan were struck down as well.
וְנָתַתִּי אֶת־נִקְמָתִי בֶּאֱדוֹם בְּיַד עַמִּי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעָשׂוּ בֶאֱדוֹם כְּאַפִּי וְכַחֲמָתִי וְיָדְעוּ אֶת־נִקְמָתִי נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - And I will execute My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they shall deal with Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath, and they shall know My vengeance, says the Lord God.
Rashi explains: Israel will serve as My emissaries to execute My vengeance. The Radak notes that this prophecy appears to point to the future, as we have not yet witnessed a time when God executed vengeance upon Edom by the hand of His people Israel - when did Israel ever take such vengeance against Edom? One might suggest this took place during the Second Temple period, when Israel gained the upper hand over them and devastated them, as occurred under the Hasmoneans. However, the Radak qualifies this: "Yet we do not know this with certainty, for the events of the Second Temple were not recorded in a book of prophecy." That is, regarding the First Temple era, we possess prophecies that provide exact accounts: when the enemy arrived, how battles were fought, and who was exiled in each wave. But prophecy ceased at the beginning of the Second Temple era; Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were the final prophets, after whom prophecy departed, making it difficult to establish with certainty what unfolded in the Second Temple era without detailed prophetic records.
The Malbim explains: "And I will execute My vengeance upon Edom" - afterward, I will take vengeance against Edom, and this vengeance is for the desecration of God's Name among the nations. For whenever the people of Israel are brought low, the Name of God is desecrated, as the nations mockingly say, "These are the people of the Lord, yet they were driven from His land," questioning how they could suffer so severely. This appears, Heaven forbid, as if God were unable to save His people, thereby desecrating His holy Name. God therefore proclaims: for this desecration of My Name, I will place My vengeance upon the nations through My people Israel. The Malbim clarifies that this refers to the future redemption, through Mashiach ben Yosef, at which point "they shall deal with Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath." This is destined for the End of Days, as it is written: "And saviors shall ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's" - the great and awesome Day of Judgment when the Holy One, blessed be He, will settle the score with Edom.
This is also why Jacob said to Esau when parting from him: "Until I come to my lord, to Seir." Rashi cites the Midrash where Chazal ask: We never find that Jacob actually traveled to Seir; did he then make a promise and fail to fulfill it? What of the verse, "Grant truth to Jacob"? Rather, Jacob was saying to him: We will indeed meet again, when at the end of history you will be called to account for everything you have done - "I will come to my lord, to Seir," parallel to "And saviors shall ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau," which is Mount Seir. I will come to bring you to justice for everything you have inflicted upon us throughout history. That will be the only meeting I am prepared to have with you; any other encounter inevitably ends poorly for me, and I gladly forfeit it.
כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה יַעַן עֲשׂוֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּים בִּנְקָמָה וַיִּנָּקְמוּ נָקָם בִּשְׁאָט בְּנֶפֶשׁ לְמַשְׁחִית אֵיבַת עוֹלָם׃ - Thus said the Lord Hashem: Because the Philistines have acted in vengeance, taking revenge with soul-deep contempt, to destroy with an everlasting enmity.
The Philistines also acted out of malice and hatred, explains the Malbim, and this is the meaning of "in vengeance." Initially in the days of Jehoiakim, when Hashem sent bands of Philistines against him, and later at the time of the Churban, when they also took revenge out of enmity. The verse proving this is: "For three transgressions of Gaza... because they carried away captive a whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom" (Amos 1:6) - Gaza refers to the Philistines. In Yoel 4:4 it likewise states that they sold the children of Judah to the Greeks. This is the meaning of "to destroy with an everlasting enmity" - that they did this out of an ancient hatred they harbored toward us. Some say these correspond to the modern Philistines, the Palestinians, who dwell in the very same places - in Gaza and the ancient Philistine regions.
"And have taken revenge with soul-deep contempt" - they degraded them in their inner souls, harming them in a manner intended to bring shame and disgrace. One can kill a person in a respectful manner, or one can kill him through humiliation. Therefore King David, when he exacted retribution from them, did so through humiliation - he cut off a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. Since the way of the Philistines was always rooted in mockery and disgrace, and their actions were acts of humiliation, so too was retribution exacted from them.
לָכֵן כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הִנְנִי נוֹטֶה יָדִי עַל־פְּלִשְׁתִּים וְהִכְרַתִּי אֶת־כְּרֵתִים וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי אֶת־שְׁאֵרִית חוֹף הַיָּם׃ - Therefore thus said the Lord Hashem: Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the seacoast.
What does "Cherethites" (Keretim) mean? There are two explanations, which we have seen previously. The first, as Targum renders: a guilty nation sentenced to destruction, meaning they are destined to be cut off (lehikaret). Rashi cites another explanation: "Since I saw elsewhere that Scripture calls the Philistines 'Cherethites' - 'Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites' in Zephaniah (2:5) - and it does not call any other nation by this name, it appears that this is not meant in the sense of being cut off, but rather that within the borders of Philistia there was a place called Kereti, and that is the reference here." This is just as it appears in I Samuel 30, regarding the raiding party that burned Ziklag: "We raided the Negev of the Cherethites" - another use of the phrase "Negev of the Cherethites," and indeed the Philistines were on the southern border of Eretz Yisrael. Radak likewise explains that the Cherethites were a prominent family among the Philistines, as written, "We raided the Negev of the Cherethites" and "the nation of the Cherethites."
"And destroy the remnant of the seacoast" - part of it was already lost during the destruction of Eretz Yisrael, for the Western Sea was their border, and the land of the Philistines included a coastal strip, just as we know that Gaza sits upon the coast. Regarding the portion that remained after the destruction of Eretz Yisrael, the Holy One, blessed be He, declares that it too will perish. This is the meaning of "and destroy" (veha'avadti) - destruction following upon destruction, in the phrasing of the Malbim.
וְעָשִׂיתִי בָם נְקָמוֹת גְּדֹלוֹת בְּתוֹכְחוֹת חֵמָה וְיָדְעוּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה בְּתִתִּי אֶת־נִקְמָתִי בָּם׃ - And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am Hashem, when I lay My vengeance upon them.