Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 26. "And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, that the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, because Tzor said concerning Yerushalayim, Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken, it has turned to me, I shall be filled now that she is laid waste." When was this? In the eleventh year, on the first of the month. The Radak writes that this was the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu, which was the year of the destruction. And at that time Tzor said concerning Yerushalayim, Aha, rejoicing over the downfall of Yerushalayim. Our chapter, like the previous one, expresses a prophecy of punishment against the nations. Just as we saw regarding Moav and Ammon, who rejoiced over our downfall and from whom the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution, so too here He speaks of Tzor, who also rejoiced over our downfall, and from her too the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution. So when was this? In the eleventh year, on the first of the month. The eleventh year is not stated of whom, but it refers to Tzidkiyahu, this was the year of the destruction. On the first of the month, this is even more difficult, because here it does not even tell us which month is meant. The Radak says that it did not reveal which month, and therefore the Radak estimates that this refers to the month of the destruction, which is the month of Av. The Malbim, on the other hand, also says that it did not explain which month, but he wants to say that it refers to the month of Elul or Tishrei, which was after the destruction, because they were in fact rejoicing over the destruction, so it stands to reason that this was some time afterward.
Tzor always had a covenant with Yerushalayim. We saw this in the time of David, we saw it in the time of Shlomo, when they sent helpers to build the Beit Hamikdash, they brought craftsmen from Tzor and from Tzidon. We had a covenant with Tzor, and we see also with David and with Shlomo that there were exchanges of land and exchanges of resources with Tzor. We had a good relationship with Tzor and with Tzidon. This was in the time of David and Shlomo. If so, their rejoicing was different from the rejoicing of Ammon and Moav. For the rejoicing of Ammon, Moav, and the Pelishtim as well, as we saw in the previous chapter, came out of hatred. In contrast, with Tzor it was not rejoicing out of hatred, but rather rejoicing like a businessman who is glad that his competitor has gone bankrupt. Because up until now he had constant battles and had to keep cutting prices and profits because the other one kept running sales, and in short things were hard for him. Now that the other business has fallen, one cannot help but rejoice. So now this is, God forbid, not out of hatred that I hate him and therefore rejoice, but rather I expect that from his downfall my own economy will stabilize. And this is exactly what happened with Tzor. They thought that through the downfall of Israel they would benefit. Where does this find expression? Look, their rejoicing was that they said, Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken. Yerushalayim was a city of merchant peoples. "Merchant of the peoples" refers essentially to its central location, and it was a place to which the merchants would come, the peoples would come to buy and to sell, they would bring their wares there. It is called the gate of the peoples because all the peoples entered through this gate. And therefore now she thought, Behold, the gate of the peoples is broken, it has turned to me. So now all the merchants will come to me, to Tzor and to Tzidon, which as is known was also a city of merchant peoples. It was also a port city, and merchants would come there and bring their wares. Another explanation of why it is called the gate of the peoples is because it was a barrier before the peoples who dwelt in the south, in the east, and in the north, whose route to Tzor was through Yerushalayim. And so it was like a closed door that they could not pass through until the door was opened. Now that this door, which is Yerushalayim, has been opened, the peoples can pass through there and come to buy from me in Tzor.
Hashem says, "I shall be filled now that she is laid waste." This means their houses were filled from the destruction of Yerushalayim. For this the Malbim brings pesukim in Sefer Yoel, which we studied, chapter 4, in verses 4 through 8: "And what are you to Me, Tzor and Tzidon and all the regions of Peleshet? Are you rendering Me a recompense? And if you recompense Me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head. For you have taken My silver and My gold, and My precious treasures you have brought into your palaces." That is to say, we see that in the wake of the downfall of Yerushalayim they would take the silver and gold that was here. And this is "I shall be filled now that she is laid waste." She was filled from the destruction of Yerushalayim. "And the children of Yehudah and the children of Yerushalayim you have sold to the sons of the Yevanim, in order to remove them far from their border." That is to say, they also took slaves from here and sold them. "Behold, I will rouse them from the place to which you sold them, and I will return your recompense upon your own head. And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Yehudah, and they will sell them to the Sheva'im, to a distant nation, for Hashem has spoken." What do you see? That they plundered and looted and gathered silver and gold and slaves, and were thereby filled from the destruction of Yerushalayim. On this pasuk the well-known and famous statement of Chazal is said: Tzor was only filled from the destruction of Yerushalayim, and Yerushalayim was only filled from the destruction of Tzor. The meaning is this: if they tell you that both Tzor and Yerushalayim are settled, do not believe it. If they tell you that both Tzor and Yerushalayim are in ruins, do not believe it. Rather, there are even those who have drawn this as a picture, showing an image of a scale, of a large seesaw, and on one side you see Tzor at the bottom of the seesaw, and you see Yerushalayim at the high end of the seesaw. This means that Yerushalayim was filled from the destruction of Tzor. That is to say, essentially there are in the world two opposing forces, two opposing forces, the force of impurity and the kelippah, and the force of holiness. And they do not hold sway together. Rather, when holiness is aroused then the kelippah is brought low, and when the kelippah raises its head then holiness is brought low. So when Yerushalayim is full, this is necessarily at the expense of the destruction of Tzor, and vice versa.
"Therefore thus said Hashem Elokim: Behold, I am against you, Tzor, and I will bring up against you many nations, as the sea brings up its waves." Therefore thus said Hashem. Nevuchadnetzar, says the Malbim, destroys Tzor in the twenty-seventh year of his reign. After he gathered all its spoil, he set about destroying the city, and afterward the sea also rose and flooded it, because as we said Tzor was a city that lay on the seashore. If we continue in a northerly direction, then the location of Levanon is more or less the region of Tzor and Tzidon. That region in that direction is the place known as Tzor and Tzidon. So then, since they were situated on the seashore, the sea rose and swept over them, as we shall soon see. And as it is written also in chapter 29, "and he had no wages, nor did his army," right? And why did he and his army have no wages? Because after he gathered all its spoil, the sea came and swept everything away. So Nevuchadnetzar destroyed them and received no wage, since the sea washed away all his wage. "As the sea brings up its waves." This means, when a wind blows over the sea, then it raises up waves. The Targum Yonatan says, like the raising up of the sea with the tumult of its waves. He explains "as the sea brings up its waves" to mean, like the sea churning and roaring when its waves rise up.
"And they shall destroy the walls of Tzor and demolish her towers, and I will scrape her dust from her and make her a bare rock." Tzor was built on a rock in the midst of the sea. Now in order to build Tzor, says the Radak, they needed to put down soil, because you cannot dwell on bare rock, you need soil, you need vegetation and so forth. So in order to succeed in establishing it, they placed soil for the sake of settlement. When they covered it over from the sea, they cast off the soil. They dragged away the soil, and so what remained of Tzor? "And I will make her a bare rock." She remained a dry rock. This is called a bare rock (tzechiach sela). The highest point on a rock, says the Radak, is called tzechiach. And why? From the expression "parched with thirst" (tzicheh tzama). It means a dry place, a place that is thirsty. And this is like it is written, "and He will satisfy your soul in dry places" (tzachtzachot) - meaning your thirsty soul, that He will satisfy. Yonatan translates that what is written here means the smoothness of the surface of the waves. It means that the rock will be smooth and there will be no soil upon it. This is the meaning of "a bare rock": it comes from the word smooth (shaia), which means a smooth place where nothing will grow.
The Malbim says that there are here two parts. There is one part, "and they shall destroy the walls of Tzor and demolish her towers" - this the enemies will do. The second part, "and I will scrape her dust from her" - this is the part that the Holy One, blessed be He, will do. It means Hashem will detach the soil. Which soil is meant? According to the Radak, as we explained, it refers to the soil that they placed on the rocks in order to settle the place. But according to the Malbim it means that this is the soil that holds back the sea. The meaning is this: wherever the Holy One, blessed be He, set a boundary for the sea that it should not cross, Hashem placed soil, there are dunes of soil, there is high soil, and this soil is what blocks the sea from going out and overstepping its bounds. But the moment the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I have scraped away the soil, it means that the Holy One, blessed be He, will move it aside; "scrape" is like "shift," right? It means He will remove and displace and move the soil from its place, and then the sea will flood over them. A great tsunami will come and sweep them away entirely, and then there will remain only a rock unfit for settlement, and she will exist no more from now on. The Malbim says "and I will scrape" is like "the house of the proud will Hashem uproot," meaning He will move and uproot it from its place.
"A spreading place for nets shall she be in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken, says Hashem Elokim, and she shall become a spoil for the nations." "A spreading place for nets shall she be." Charamim is an expression for snares. It is written of a woman that she is "snares and nets" (charamim u-metzodim), right? It means a snare. Charamim were nets that they would spread out in the sea in order to catch fish. So the fishermen, after they would draw the nets out of the sea, since they had to carry them back to their place, would spread them out on a bare rock in order to dry them. Because to drag the nets back to their homes is very heavy, the nets are soaked with water. So while they would sort the fish and do what they needed to do there, they would set the net out to dry, and then when the net dried it was much easier to take it and carry it to their home. He tells you, this place will be a spreading place for nets in the midst of the sea. In that place the fishermen will spread out their nets in order to dry them. And then "she shall become a spoil for the nations." The nations that come against her afterward will plunder her and loot her. When will this be? Afterward it is written "and withhold her many waters," right? That is, the Malbim explains that in the first stage many waters will come. Now when many waters come, one cannot loot anything from her, since she is flooded with water. But afterward, says the Malbim, the sea will return to its place, and then a dry, parched rock will remain, and then "she shall become a spoil for the nations." Then the nations will come and loot and plunder all that remains there.
"And her daughters that are in the field shall be slain by the sword, and they shall know that I am Hashem." "And her daughters that are in the field." Now generally the Targum Yonatan explains and translates "and her daughters" as "and her villages": all the daughters of Yehudah will be exiled. This does not refer to the daughters of Yehudah, not women, that is not what is spoken of here. "All the daughters of Yehudah will be exiled" means all the villages that are around Yehudah. This is the meaning of "her daughters." "Her daughters" in the sense of the villages that are around, which are like daughters to the central city. So too what is written here, "and her daughters that are in the field," refers to the villages that were subject to her and that surrounded her. "They shall be slain, and they shall know that I am Hashem." The Malbim says: before the siege he will kill all those who are in the field, and only afterward will he strike Tzor herself.
"For thus said Hashem Elokim: Behold, I am bringing against Tzor Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel from the north, a king of kings, with horses and with chariots and with horsemen and an assembly and much people." Thus said Hashem Elokim, Behold, I am bringing against Tzor Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel. And how does He describe him, Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel? He calls him a king of kings. "A king of kings" means, since he ruled over other kings, he is called a king of kings. This means he ruled over the whole world. And then he will come with horses and with chariots and with horsemen, who are his army, and there will also come an assembly and much people from the rest of the nations who gather to go with him, for we said that he rules over kings. And this is essentially an expression of the great storm that will be in the sea. In practice we see here two approaches among the commentators. Either to explain that the great storm is an expression that is a metaphor for the great flooding sea, which is Nevuchadnetzar, or to explain according to the plain sense that the sea simply rose and flooded them. In practice, in plain terms, it seems that both things are true, since both things came about. That is to say, both the sea flooded them, and Nevuchadnetzar came to sweep over them like a flooding sea. And indeed we see that the Malbim joins the two things together: that first Nevuchadnetzar came and took its spoil, but did not manage to take its spoil because the sea, as we said, took it and washed it inward. So we see that both things happened.
"Your daughters in the field he shall slay with the sword, and he shall set up a siege wall against you and pour up a mound against you and raise up a shield against you." At the outset he will kill the cities belonging to Tzor that were in the field, meaning outside the sea. And afterward he will lay siege to Tzor. And the way of the siege will be in this order. First he will set up a siege wall (dayek). What is a dayek? They would build a wall around it so that no person from the city could escape. Afterward they pour up a mound. He pours up soil to a height in order to climb up by means of the soil, a kind of ramp that they build adjacent to the wall, and they would climb up from it in order to hurl slingstones into the city. And from there those who are on the wall, as we have discussed more than once, have the advantage of height, because they are above and can thereby strike the people fighting against them below. Against this the people fighting below need to make themselves a shield. And this is what is written here, "and raise up a shield against you." He will raise up a shield, a buckler and a shield. A tzinah is a kind of shield to receive the arrows that will be shot at his troops; this shield will protect him so that they do not strike him.
"And the stroke of his battering rams he shall set against your walls, and your towers he shall break down with his swords." "And the stroke of his mechi kavlo." What is mechi kavlo? The Malbim explains that it refers to the shield, which is meant to receive (l'kabel) the arrows. And "mechi kavlo," the Malbim explains, comes from the expression like when one wipes clean a dish. "To wipe" (limchot) means to empty out and clean off. He will empty out and clean off what the shield received. They shoot at the shield, and the arrows lodge in it. So the wiping, the cleaning of the shield from the arrows lodged in it, by them and by their force he will conquer you. The meaning is: "and the stroke of his battering rams he shall set against your walls," what this wishes to say is, he will not need to bring weapons from outside in order to fight you. The arrows that you shoot at him to drive him off, he will simply take those same arrows, wipe them off his shield, and throw them at you. This comes to say that with ease he will be able to conquer the walls of Tzor. With ease he will be able to lay siege to her and subdue her. And not only that, "and your towers he shall break down with his swords." He says he will also not need artillery, large slingstones, but a sword will suffice him to break down the towers. Towers need to be broken down with rams, with iron sledgehammers, but he will not need this. A sword will suffice him to break down your towers, and your walls he will bring down by means of the arrows they shoot at him, which he cleans off his shield; this will suffice to subdue you. Another explanation he says: mechi can also be understood not only from the expression "to wipe," meaning to clean off, but also from the expression of striking (hakaah), right? Like "he struck him," that he hit him on his head. Mechi is from the expression of striking. So he will strike you with those same arrows and be content with that and will not need to bring further heavy weaponry from outside.
"From the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you; from the sound of horsemen and wheels and chariots your walls shall shake, when he enters your gates as one enters a breached city." "From the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you." The dust of the horses will suffice to cover you; from the sheer multitude of horses there will be such dust that he will not even need to fight. Again, here too this is a figurative expression to say that the mighty force with which Nevuchadnetzar will come against Tzor will be so overpowering that even the mere dust the horses make will suffice to cover Tzor. "From the sound of horsemen and wheels and chariots your walls shall shake." The sound of horsemen and wheels will suffice; they will make such an enormous noise that when they reach your walls the walls will already shake, will already tremble, that is, will fall from the sheer force merely of the sound of horsemen and wheels, of the horsemen and the chariot wheels. "Your walls shall shake when he enters your gates as one enters a breached city." When he comes into your gates he will already be like a man entering a breached city. He will no longer need to breach the city. From the sheer fear and terror of the size of the camp, the walls and the towers will be breached from the sound alone.
"With the hooves of his horses he shall trample all your streets; your people he shall slay with the sword, and the pillars of your strength shall come down to the ground." "With the hooves of his horses he shall trample all your streets." As it were, by means of the hooves of the horses he tramples the streets, as though there is no longer a paved floor there, no ground, but he tramples everything, making everything into a kind of mud. This is again an expression of the ease of the conquest. When he conquers the city it will be with such ease that with the hooves he will flatten everything. And not only that, he says "your people he shall slay with the sword." When he enters within, he will slay the people with the sword, "and the pillars of your strength shall come down to the ground." This means the mighty pillars, that is, a place where they would take shelter and had mighty fortifications, he says these will come down to the ground; he will bring their glory down to the ground and subdue them.
"And they shall plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise, and they shall break down your walls and demolish your delightful houses, and your stones and your timber and your dust they shall place in the midst of the water." "And they shall plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise." What is the difference between your wealth and your merchandise? What is the difference between plunder and loot? The Malbim has already explained in several places that plunder (shalal) is what the enemy takes from what remains of its own accord. That is, the conquered people flees and leaves the plunder there. This is called plunder. In contrast, looting (bizah) is what the men of war loot each for himself. Each one goes and takes for himself. So on this he says: the treasuries, whatever will be there with you, those treasuries will become plunder. You will abandon and leave all your treasuries and flee. And what the men of war loot each for himself, he says this will be your merchandise. Your merchandise refers to the small wares of the merchants; this the enemy will come in and each one, each soldier, will take for himself from your merchandise. Therefore this is called "they looted," because it is looting by individuals, each individual going and taking for himself. And afterward, after the plunder, they will set about destroying the wall and turning everything to water. And this is what he says, "and your delightful houses" - "and they shall break down your walls and demolish your delightful houses" - meaning your lovely and beautiful houses, they will demolish them, break them, "and your stones and your timber and your dust they shall place in the midst of the water." Everything will end up in the water, whereas the way of conquering enemies is generally to leave scorched earth. But here, as we shall see further on, there was no scorched earth but rather earth flooded with water, since the sea rose over Tzor. Another expression that appears here in doubled form, says the Malbim: there is here breaking down, "and they shall break down your walls," and afterward "and your delightful houses they shall demolish." So the Malbim explains, and this he has explained in several places, that there is a difference between breaking down (laharos) and demolishing (lintotz). To break down means to shatter. To demolish means to crumble into small pieces. This is always the expression of demolition. So he says: they will not be content merely with breaking down the walls, they will also want to demolish your delightful houses and turn them into fine gravel.
"And I will silence the sound of your songs, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more." Here it is already the speech of Hashem, may He be blessed. Hashem says: afterward I will engage with you to silence the sound of your songs. What is the meaning of these words? We saw earlier that it is written concerning Tzor, "Take a harp, go about the city, forgotten harlot." After Tzor was destroyed by the king of Ashur in the time of Chizkiyahu, we saw earlier that she was rebuilt a second time. As it were, after the destruction she had a renewal. And then, the second time she was rebuilt, he describes it as though she took a harp, sang songs in order to remind all those who consorted with her that she had returned to her prime, returned to her former state. What is the parable's meaning? Those who consorted with her, the meaning of this, are those who did business with her. That is, Tzor, as we said, is the merchant of the peoples, a place to which all would come in order to buy and sell, so when she fell there was damage to the peoples, and when she returned and arose she wanted to announce to all that she was still continuing in her trade. So she takes a harp in order to announce to all. And this is what he says, "Take a harp, go about the city, forgotten harlot." But now, says Hashem, the second downfall will be absolute. And then, "and I will silence the sound of your songs." You will no longer go about with a harp to announce that you have returned to operation. "And the sound of your harps shall be heard no more." It shall not be heard again in the future, not like the previous time when there was a downfall and afterward the sound of your harps was heard, when you called the merchants to return to you. Rather, here it will be a downfall in which the sound of your harps shall be heard no more. They will not hear again that you are returning and calling and calling the merchants to return to you, for your downfall will be absolute and there will be a complete extinction, as we shall see further on.
"And I will make you a bare rock; a spreading place for nets shall you be; you shall not be built again, for I, Hashem, have spoken, says Hashem Elokim." "And I will make you" - you, Tzor, will be a bare rock. A bare rock (tzechiach sela) means a rock that is dried out. And we said that the sea will rise and flood Tzor, and thereby the soil that was upon her will be removed, will be washed away, and what will remain is only a bare rock, a dried-out rock will remain. And why is it called a parched place? Because it is exposed to the sun, and so it is dried out. What will it be fit for? For settlement it will no longer be fit. What will it still be fit for? For a spreading place for nets. As we explained earlier, to spread out upon it the nets that the fishermen would dry at the end of their work; they would dry the nets so that it would be easy for them to carry them, since they are soaked with water. So the spreading place for nets: there on the rock it will be convenient for them to spread out their nets, because it is not convenient to spread the nets out on soil, since the net becomes muddy. But when they spread it out, they spread it on a dry rock, and thereby the net dries. So he says she will never be built again. Rather she will only be fit for a spreading place for nets. The Abarbanel, as the Malbim brings here, asks: but we see that she was built a second time until Alexander the Macedonian destroyed her. And therefore he explains that this prophecy was said concerning the destruction carried out by Alexander. For if you say that this was done by Nevuchadnetzar, how does he say "you shall not be built again"? We see that afterward Alexander the Macedonian came, who was already later by several hundred years, at least 300 years later was Alexander the Macedonian. And if you see that Alexander the Macedonian comes and destroys her, that means she was built a second time. So what is the meaning of what is written here, "you shall not be built again"? Therefore he is forced to explain that the prophecy here refers to Alexander the Macedonian. But the Malbim says this is not the plain sense. The plain sense is, as we saw earlier, that he explicitly mentions Nevuchadnetzar. Therefore when we speak here, we are speaking of the conquest of Nevuchadnetzar. What do you ask, but she was indeed built again and afterward we see Alexander the Macedonian destroying her? So how do you tell me here that she shall not be built again? Alexander the Macedonian destroyed her after she was built. This is not a difficulty, says the Malbim, since she was built not in her original place. As it is written concerning the wayward city, "it shall not be built again" - it is not built to be as it was, but it is built for gardens and orchards. The meaning is this: they did not build this same city in the same place, but rather they built alongside it. And this is the city of Tzor that Alexander the Macedonian destroyed. That is to say, do not be surprised: behold, Alexander the Macedonian destroys Tzor, this is a different place. This is the Tzor that was alongside the original Tzor. So too we saw regarding Yericho, that there was a ban there not to build Yericho, and there too we saw the same idea, that Chiel of Beit HaEli went and built Yericho not in that same place, but built it alongside. But there the warning was not to build a city by the name of Yericho, and also not to build in the same place and change its name. That is to say, it is forbidden to build alongside Yericho by the same name, and also not to change the name and build. In any case, its name may not be remembered. And therefore he too was punished. But in any case you have learned the principle that many times they would build alongside the original city. So too here it refers to the fact that this Tzor which was destroyed by Alexander the Macedonian hundreds of years later is not the original ancient Tzor, for she was destroyed and shall not be built again, for it is the prophecy of Hashem. And what they afterward built alongside, this Alexander the Macedonian destroyed.
"Thus said Hashem Elokim to Tzor: Shall not the coastlands quake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is slaughtered in your midst?" Thus said Hashem Elokim, shall not the coastlands quake at the sound of your fall. We saw, "the coastlands shall tremble on the day of your fall." The meaning is that the coastlands will tremble on the day the fall occurred. And yet it is written that the coastlands quaked, and all the more so will they tremble on the day of the fall, when the fall will be an absolute fall, when the sea will flood her and from this there will be no more recovery. Now he wants to say that there are essentially two stages here. The first stage, he says: merely at the sound of your fall, merely from the very report, even before the coastlands were completely destroyed, before the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall as we shall see further on, still merely when there was only a report of the matter, merely at the sound of your fall, already this thing created quaking. "When the wounded groan, when the slaughter is slaughtered in your midst." Merely from hearing that you fell, when the wounded groaned and the slaughter was slaughtered in your midst; during the war there was the groaning of the wounded, afterward when they conquered the city there was slaughter upon slaughter; the wounded (chalal) is generally through war, and afterward when they conquer then they already kill everyone. So this is the second stage. He says: over this already the coastlands will quake. Even before there was such a state that your fall was absolute, merely from hearing that something there was shaken, already the coastlands will quake. He says, and behold you shall see, all this until "and all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and they shall remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments; they shall clothe themselves in trembling, upon the ground they shall sit, and they shall tremble at every moment and be appalled at you." He says: see the magnitude of the fall, what a stir it will cause all around, that all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, will remove their royal garments, and not only that, they will also remove their robes. "They shall clothe themselves in trembling." The clothing will be a clothing of trembling. He will remove his robe, and in its place he will clothe himself in trembling, in the garb of sackcloth and ashes. How does one clothe oneself in trembling? What is a clothing of trembling? A clothing of trembling means the garb of sackcloth and ashes, which shows that they are trembling. So they will remove their robes and clothe themselves in trembling, the garb of sackcloth and ashes. And they will come down from their thrones, how? Upon the ground they shall sit. And then they will tremble, says the Malbim, and this will be in two respects. One, that they will tremble at every moment, because their trembling will be, perhaps the enemy is about to arrive here. The second thing, "and be appalled at you," they will mourn over your distress. The Malbim explains "and they shall tremble at every moment" to mean that they will tremble that at every moment the enemy will come against them. In contrast, Rashi explains that "at moments" means to fragments. This is how he translates the word lirgaim, right, lest the enemy come against them and there be for them a breaking like yours; they will tremble to fragments, lest they too be broken. Where do you see an expression of "moments" (regaim) in the sense of breaking? As it is written, "He stirs up the sea" (roga hayam), "in a moment" (ori rega), "upon the clods of the earth" (rigvei aretz), right? Thus he explains that it is in the sense of breaking. In contrast, he brings that Menachem explained that it is from the expression "moment" (rega), like "for a moment in His anger" (ki rega b'apo), and this is the line the Malbim followed when he explained that they will tremble at every moment lest the enemy come against them.
"And they shall take up a lament over you and say to you: How you are destroyed, you who were inhabited from the seas, the renowned city that was mighty in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who imposed their terror on all her inhabitants." And then "they shall take up a lament over you." They will lament over you, all the kings who sat upon the ground and hear of your fall. They say: How are you destroyed? For by nature it was difficult to conquer you. So how were you conquered? And this was difficult for several reasons. One, they will say: How are you destroyed, you who were inhabited from the seas. For you dwell in the midst of the seas. The sea is considered a place of protection, a stronghold, a shelter. This is if we vocalize "inhabited" (noshevet), "from the seas" (miyamim). "Miyamim" with a dagesh in the mem, as in "the gathering of the waters He called seas" (yamim). With a dagesh in the mem it is "seas" in the plural. In contrast, Rashi brings that some vocalize it soft. Some vocalize "noshevet miyamim." "Inhabited from days" (miyamim) means from days of old. Without the dagesh, this changes the meaning to "day" and not "sea." So "inhabited from days," you have seniority, you have dwelt already from days of old, so how could they prevail over you? The renowned city, the city that was mighty in the sea, you had fortresses, you had towers. And not only that, "who was mighty in the sea, she and her inhabitants." She was mighty, she and her inhabitants; her inhabitants were mighty and strong. And not only that, but "who imposed their terror on all her inhabitants." The seas in which she dwelt imposed their terror and their dread on all her inhabitants. They were strong by means of the sea that surrounded them all around, and all the mighty men of the sea, those who were around, would help her. By imposing their terror and their dread on anyone who would want to harm Tzor. As it is written, "and the dread of you and the terror of you," the meaning being that they would cast dread upon anyone who would want to harm Tzor. And if so, how is it possible that a city that had so many reasons to succeed in holding out and overcoming the enemies, how is it possible that she fell? How are you destroyed?
"Now the coastlands shall tremble on the day of your fall, and the coastlands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure." Now at this point he concludes what he began earlier. He said, if merely at the sound of your fall they made such a stir - and that sound was still not something clear, it was only a report that they began to hear that there had been a fall there - if at the sound of your fall there was such a stir, to the point that we saw all the princes of the sea come down from their thrones and so forth, then now the coastlands shall tremble on the day of your fall. Now it is not a sound, now it is a day. Now it is the very day of the fall, an absolute fall. "And the coastlands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure." The coastlands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure, that you depart from the sea. The waters will cover you, as it were, your departure; you will no longer be recognizable upon the face of the sea, you will have departed from the category of coastlands. This is the meaning of "your departure." You depart from the category of coastlands, since the sea covered you and nothing remained of her but a few rocks upon which they would spread out the nets for drying. So this thing, that there will be an absolute fall, how much stir will it make? What quaking will it bring?
"For thus said Hashem Elokim: When I make you a ruined city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up over you the deep and the many waters cover you." Thus said Hashem, when I make you: your destruction will be in such a manner that it will seem as though there was never any settlement in you. All settlement will be erased by My bringing up over you the waters of the deep, as though you had never been inhabited. The Radak explains, bringing this according to the Targum Yonatan, that he interprets it by way of a parable. What is written here, "when I bring up over you the deep and the many waters cover you," as we saw earlier, means that many peoples will come and cover you. So many times we see that the enemy, when he comes against the nation against which he fights and conquers it, this is expressed in the parable of many waters that flood the opposing nation. So he says, so too here, this is a metaphorical expression for the enemy who floods and erases everything. But we already spoke at the beginning of the chapter that both things are true. That there was here both the matter of the sea flooding them, and also the figurative expression that comes to say that the enemy came against her with great force, and this is like flooding waters.
"And I will bring you down with those who descend to the pit, to the people of old, and I will settle you in the lowest parts of the earth, like the ruins of old, with those who descend to the pit, so that you shall not be inhabited, and I will set beauty in the land of the living." "And I will bring you down with those who descend to the pit." That is, the people and the multitude who dwell there in Tzor will go down with those who descend to the pit, to the people of old. Who are these? This is the generation of the Flood, who were all erased in the waters. And there you shall dwell, like the ruins of old with those who descend to the pit. This means among those who dwell there from of old. This settlement will not rise a second time, but rather "so that you shall not be inhabited." You shall dwell there like the ruins of old with those who descend to the pit, so that you shall not be inhabited; you shall dwell with them there in order to ensure that you shall exist no more. That is, that she shall not return to be rebuilt a second time. By the ruins remaining in the lowest parts of the earth, one will not be able to make anything new, one will not be able to establish anything new. A place that is destroyed, then you can generally, as we discussed several times in the past, it was customary in their time that when a city was destroyed, they would rebuild the city there anew. For several reasons. One, there is already infrastructure. So to go now and begin to bring water to the city and begin to dig cisterns and begin to bring stones to build with, that is a very complex affair. In their time when they would build, they would take the stones of the old structure and build anew from them. Because the stones were not blocks. Today a block that you have demolished from a structure, there is nothing to do with it, it goes to waste. In contrast, in their time when they demolished a structure, all its stones were still intact. They would take them and use them to build anew. Because what are stones? They are hewn rocks. A rock, even if it is demolished, generally does not become crumbs, it does not become gravel. So they knocked down the structure, they take the stones and set them up anew, like Lego bricks that have fallen. It turns out, then, that the natural way is that in the same place they demolished, in that same place they build. But here he says, you shall be in the lowest parts of the earth, like the ruins of old with those who descend to the pit, so that you shall not be inhabited. Since here the waters flooded you and the entire city went down beneath the surface of the sea, therefore you, the land, shall not be inhabited. This land shall not be inhabited ever again. This land shall not return, no one shall return to build it, for it will not be possible to build this place, as we said, since the place itself sank. And then, "and I will set beauty in the land of the living." And then there will be existence and endurance for whom? For the land of the living. And this is what we explained earlier, Yerushalayim was only built from the destruction of Tzor. The moment Tzor is destroyed, then there will be beauty (tzvi), there will be My desire, or there will be existence and endurance for the land of the living, for Yerushalayim the holy city.
"Terrors I will make you, and you shall be no more; you shall be sought but never found again forever, says Hashem Elokim." Balahot, what is the meaning of the word balahot? Rashi brings from the Targum Yonatan that balahot means "as though it were not." What is the meaning of "as though it were not"? Like "without being." As though it never was. This is the meaning of balahot. Balahot, as though it were not, as though it never was. Some explain, says Rashi, that it is from the expression of a place where demons and destructive spirits dance. The Radak explains what is seemingly the interpretation closest to the meaning in the Holy Tongue; he says that balahot is like behalot (terrors/panics). Like keves and kesev, simlah and salmah, lehek and kahal, and so on in this manner. So too balahot is like behalot. "I will make you": everyone who sees you will be terrified from the annihilation and the absolute destruction that came upon her, upon Tzor. The Malbim explains that the meaning is as though she will go to the balahot. For we saw that He settled her in the lowest parts of the earth, brought her to the depths of the sea; who are the balahot? These are the demons that are beneath the sea. And even if you are sought and they wish to establish a settled city in your place, you shall never be found again forever. It will not be possible, since your place is not found, for the sea covered you. And the settlement that they afterward made and called by the name of Tzor, as we said, the Malbim says, is not the ancient Tzor. The ancient Tzor was erased completely afterward when Nevuchadnetzar, after he gathered the spoil, the sea came and washed everything away. But that which they built as Tzor was in a place alongside that former place.