Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 30. "And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says Hashem Elokim: Wail, 'Alas for the day!' for the day is near, the day of Hashem is near, a day of cloud, it will be the time of the nations." The Malbim explains that, as it appears, this prophecy is a completion of the prophecy given in the tenth year, where we saw that Yechezkel prophesied to him the destructions of Egypt. Afterward he juxtaposed and wrote the prophecy of the twenty seventh year, which, as we explained, was the end, the twenty seventh year of Nevuchadnetzar, the final end of Egypt, in order to tell me how the matter concluded. And after that he goes back once more and tells what happened in the tenth year. For after this we see that he describes what happened in the eleventh year and in the twelfth year, so now he returns backward to tell what happened in the tenth year, and now he will describe the matters in greater detail and also in a different style. And another thing the Malbim says: a prophecy that is repeated or stated a third time must inevitably come to pass. That is, when a prophecy is stated once, it is possible there will be a change through a change of deeds and the like, but if the prophecy is doubled and tripled, it means that the prophecy will certainly be fulfilled.
"Son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says Hashem Elokim: Wail, 'Alas for the day!'" "Wail" means make a wailing cry, an expression that appears many times in Tanach, more than ten times. Wail, make a wailing cry, and say "Alas." "Alas" is a cry of pain over that day which is the day of doom. Even though destructions have already passed over Egypt, that day will be the total destruction, the complete destruction, and therefore over this day a special wailing is needed: "Wail, 'Alas for the day!'"
"For the day is near, the day of Hashem is near, a day of cloud, it will be the time of the nations." For the day is near when it will be destroyed, and this will come right after the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. But he announces that the day of Hashem is near. The second day, which as we said will be the complete destruction, will be in the twenty seventh year of Nevuchadnetzar, so even according to us it is not near, since there is still time, but he says it is near to Hashem. For as is known, to Hashem it is near, in the eyes of HaKadosh Baruch Hu it is not considered a long time off. The first day, of which he said it is near, will be a day of cloud. And the second day, of which he said the day of Hashem is near, which is somewhat further off, will be the time of the nations. "A day of cloud" means a day of darkness and gloom, that is the meaning of a day of cloud, a figurative expression. And "the time of the nations" means that then not only will Egypt fall, but it will be the time to exact punishment also from the nations. That is the meaning of the time of the nations: all the nations that had a covenant with Egypt, on that same occasion when Egypt falls, they too will fall.
Corresponding to what he said, "a day of cloud," which is the near time, he says: "And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and there shall be trembling in Kush when the slain fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down." "A sword shall come upon Egypt" - the sword will spread throughout all of Egypt. Corresponding to "the time of the nations," which is what we said, that Hashem will settle accounts also with the nations, all the helpers and supporters of Egypt, he says: "and there shall be trembling in Kush," Kush too will be in dread, "and they shall take away her multitude" of Egypt, they will take from the multitude of Egypt, meaning they will take from the people of Egypt, and they will also destroy her foundations. Who are her foundations? Those are the nations that help her, they are the foundations of her kingdom and her might, all those who come to assist her. As he immediately details who these foundations are: "Kush and Put and Lud and all the mixed multitude and Kuv and the sons of the covenanted land shall fall with them by the sword." All these assist, they support Egypt, and all these, when Egypt falls, they too will fall, for they are, as it were, like the foundations upon which Egypt rests, and they too will be in that same downfall.
The Radak says: what is "and there shall be trembling in Kush"? He says that when the people of Kush see slain falling in Egypt, they will tremble and fear and be agitated, lest the sword come upon them too, since they are all sons of Cham. And they are sons of Cham, meaning that if some of them are falling, it is very possible that whoever settles accounts with Egypt will settle accounts with us as well. The Radak here says "Kush and Put and Lud and all the mixed multitude" - "the mixed multitude" refers to a people gathered from nations that mingled together. And so too Targum Yonatan renders "their supporters," meaning those who lean upon them and mingle together with them. And "the sons of the covenanted land" - this is not Arutzot HaBrit (the United States); "the covenanted land" means those who had a covenant with the land of Egypt. They were not from their family, but they are sons of the covenanted land. As distinct from Kush and Put and Lud, all of whom are sons of Cham and descend from Mitzrayim. As it is written: "And the sons of Cham: Kush and Mitzrayim and Put," and "Mitzrayim begot the Ludim." We see that all these are family of Egypt. They will all fall by the sword together with Egypt, and this is what he meant by "the time of the nations," a time in which all the nations close to Egypt will pay the account.
"Thus says Hashem: The supporters of Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her strength shall come down; from Migdol to Seveneh they shall fall by the sword within her, says Hashem Elokim." The Malbim explains: the might of Egypt was, first, through many peoples who helped her and assisted her. Second, through the great multitude that lived within Egypt. Third, through the Nile, the canals that surrounded Egypt, which both protected her and were her strength and power, an inexhaustible source for irrigating the fields of Egypt. Fourth, that they believed they all relied on their idols and their king at their head, as we saw that he is the great crocodile, cruel, the great idol. Upon all these they relied. Now HaKadosh Baruch Hu comes to tell them in prophecy that they will all be lost. "The supporters of Egypt shall fall," those who help and support her, as we said, and this is the first, that they begin and assist in giving strength to Egypt. So from there the downfall begins, and they shall fall "from Migdol to Seveneh," which is at one edge, and then he says "and they shall be desolate among desolate lands, and her cities shall be among ruined cities." All the lands on that side of Migdol Seveneh, they will all be desolate, meaning laid waste, all destroyed. And through this "they shall know that I am Hashem, when I set fire to Egypt and all her helpers are broken." Through the fire that I will set in Egypt, all the supporters of Egypt will be broken, as we said, as he said earlier "the supporters of Egypt shall fall," those who come to help her.
Those who were the supporters of Egypt, they will fall for several reasons. The Malbim says: the first reason, because when someone has a support and a prop, he cannot fall, someone holds him up. So Hashem will bring down the supporters of Egypt, since the goal is to bring down Egypt. So the first reason is so that Egypt should have no one to hold her up, no prop and support, no one to strengthen her. Another thing, so that the land around them too should be desolate, laid waste. As we explained in the previous chapter, that when a certain place is a wasteland but its surroundings are fertile, then it is not so alarmed, since it has somewhere to obtain grain and can be in contact with all the lands around it. But here Hashem will destroy also the supporters of Egypt, those around her who help her, so that they all be desolate, and this will increase the desolation of Egypt. Egypt will have nowhere to take from and nothing to lean on for grain and everything it needs. Not only will they have nothing, but the countries around them will have nothing either. And then there will be fulfilled what is written, "no foot of man or beast shall pass through it." For it is very possible that if the cities around her also exist, then if someone wished, he would pass through Egypt in order to reach the cities around her. But if the cities around her too are desolate, then who needs to pass through Egypt? And then it turns out that there will be fulfilled in her what is written, "no foot of man or beast shall pass through it," which shows the ultimate desolation, the absolute desolation. And the third thing, "they shall know that I am Hashem." Through this they will recognize that HaKadosh Baruch Hu, who conveyed this in prophecy, behold He brought it upon Egypt and behold His words were fulfilled, and through this they recognize that the word of Hashem stands forever.
"On that day messengers shall go forth from before Me in ships to terrify Kush who dwells securely, and there shall be trembling among them on the day of Egypt, for behold it comes." The meteg is on the alef, and therefore one must read "ba'ah" (it comes), as opposed to "ba'ah" which would be past tense. "On that day messengers shall go forth from before Me." The Malbim says: not only will her helpers, those who assisted her in war, fall and be broken, not only will the nations that are on the side of Migdol Seveneh be broken, as we saw in verse six, but on that very same day, says Hashem, messengers shall go forth from before Me. It will be by My providence that emissaries, messengers, go forth to terrify Kush, since Kush is on the other side. And how do we know? As it is written, "from Migdol Seveneh to the border of Kush." That is, Migdol Seveneh is on one side and Kush on the other side. So messengers went forth to terrify them there within their own country, where they felt secure, "to terrify Kush who dwells securely." Kush, which dwelt securely, messengers went forth to terrify them. Why did they feel secure? They felt secure, first, because the enemy was far from them. He was in Migdol Seveneh, which, as we said, is on the other side, and therefore they were not worried. Another thing, because they were surrounded by the sea. To reach them one had to cross the sea. As it is written, "the land of whirring wings which is beyond the rivers of Kush." That is, to reach them one needed the sea. Whoever needs to cross a sea to be reached is always less worried, for the sea in itself already forms a boundary that is not so simple. And therefore he tells you, even though they, as it were, dwelt securely for these reasons, nevertheless messengers went forth to terrify Kush, and there will be trembling among them like the day of Egypt. They will have fear and trembling as there was in Egypt, for the trembling now reaches their land, it is not merely a distant rumor, "for behold it comes," behold now this trembling comes upon them. And how will the trembling come if you say that they were surrounded by the sea? "On that day messengers shall go forth from before Me in ships." What are "tzim" (ships)? "Tzi" means large ships, warships, as it is written, "and a mighty ship shall not pass through it." This is why, incidentally, the shipyards of Israel are called "tzim," since "tzi" is an expression for ships, for large vessels. It is a fleet of ships, "and a mighty ship shall not pass through it."
"Thus says Hashem Elokim: I will put an end to the multitude of Egypt by the hand of Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel." Now he will describe how He will destroy the multitude of Egypt and the majority of the people who are there. He tells you, this will be by HaKadosh Baruch Hu through the agency of Nevuchadnetzar. Hashem will send Nevuchadnetzar to carry out this action. For as opposed to what is written concerning Kush, that there it will be by messengers, and there it will mainly be to terrify Kush, meaning to bring them to trembling, He will not utterly destroy the land of Kush. But regarding Egypt, there He tells you there will be complete destruction by Nevuchadnetzar. And there he will bring with him the fiercest of the nations to destroy the land. It will be destruction, and he will not suffice merely with terrifying the land as he sufficed with Kush. "He and his people with him, the fiercest of nations, are brought to destroy the land, and they shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with slain." "He and his people with him" - his people are the fiercest of nations. What are "the fiercest of nations"? Mighty warriors, fierce and harsh. That is the meaning of "the fiercest of nations." "Aritz" is from a term of might, and we also explained in the past that "aritz" is generally an expression for a wicked person. That is, people without compassion, wicked people, the fiercest of nations. And there he says, these fierce ones will come by the providence of Hashem, and the purpose of the matter will be to destroy the land. "To destroy" means, sometimes someone comes to conquer a land in order to use it. On the contrary, he is interested in its infrastructure, he is interested in everything that is there, so he does not come to destroy it. But when someone comes intending to conquer and then leave, on the contrary, he is interested in destroying, so that nothing remains, he leaves scorched earth behind him. And this is what he says here, they are brought to destroy the land, they will not come to take something and leave the place in order to use it, but to destroy, as we saw that no man or beast passed there, you will not see anyone there, the place was desolate. That is, there was here complete destruction. And then they shall draw, "they shall draw their swords against Egypt" - what does it mean to draw the sword? The sword is drawn out; "a drawn sword" is drawn from its scabbard. The scabbard is the place into which the sword is inserted. So he draws the sword, meaning he takes out the sword and fills the land with slain.
"And I will make the canals a wasteland, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked, and I will lay waste the land and its fullness by the hand of strangers; I, Hashem, have spoken." We said that Egypt had several things to lean upon. First, we said, through the peoples around her who helped her. We saw, through the great multitude that was in Egypt, and we saw that these too will be taken. The third thing we said was through the canals. Now he says how He will exact punishment from them in this matter too. They rely on their canals, they take pride in their canals, "the Nile is mine and I made myself." He says these canals, "I will make the canals a wasteland," these canals will be laid waste, meaning they will dry up. Hashem will sell the land into the hand of the wicked, "and sell the land into the hand of the wicked," they will not take care to repair the canals. What are the canals? There was the great river, and it is known that Egypt had a way, they had very advanced techniques of irrigation, by drawing from the canals, from the great river they would draw water to the fields. And here, the moment He comes and destroys the land, they will not take care to repair those canals, which are the channels through which they would draw water from the great river to irrigate the fields. So consequently, "I will make the canals a wasteland." "And sell the land into the hand of the wicked," the land will be sold into the hand of these people who are destructive people. "And I will lay waste the land and its fullness by the hand of strangers; I, Hashem, have spoken." The strangers will make the land desolate, turn it into a wasteland, even in the place where there is still settlement, says Hashem, for I, Hashem, have spoken, so what I have spoken will be manifest, now they will see that it is fulfilled before their eyes.
We said that Egypt has yet another source of confidence, and that is their idols. They believed in their idols, they worshiped the lamb, they believed that Pharaoh the great crocodile was the idol, they believed that the river, the Nile, was an idol. "Thus says Hashem Elokim: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the false gods from Nof, and there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt, and I will place fear in the land of Egypt." It is known that their main worship, says the Malbim, was in Nof, which is what is called Memphis or Memphus. Hashem says: I will put an end to the idols from Nof. "I will destroy the idols and put an end to the false gods from Nof." "Gilulim" is an expression for idolatry, and they are called "gilulim" because they are as detestable as dung. "And there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt." What is "a prince from the land of Egypt"? The prince of Egypt was the chief of the idols, so he will no longer exist. "And I will place," says Hashem, "fear in the land of Egypt." Through this, fear and dread of Hashem will fall in their hearts. Since until now they feared their idols, but now that they see the idols cut off and destroyed, then the fear will be of Hashem, "and I will place fear in the land of Egypt."
"And I will make Patros desolate, and set fire to Tzoan, and execute judgments in No." Now he will describe the order of the destruction. At first He will make Patros desolate. Patros was located in upper Egypt. Afterward He will set fire to Tzoan, which is another city. Afterward He will execute judgments in No. No is the name of a place called Alexandria, the lower part of Egypt, as we saw "Amon of No." "And I will pour out My fury upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and cut off the multitude of No." "And I will pour out My fury upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt." Sin is not China, it is not the Sin we know. He speaks here of Sin that was there in Egypt, a place in Egypt called Sin. So the multitude of No, the multitude of No and the people, they will go to take refuge in the fortress of Sin located near them, so that through this they will have protection from that trouble coming upon them. Says Hashem: I will pour out fury upon Sin, and there in that place where they wish to take refuge and be saved, says Hashem, "and cut off the multitude of No." Those same multitudes of No who come to take refuge in the fortress of Sin, they too will come and cut them off. "And I will set fire to Egypt; Sin shall writhe in agony, and No shall be breached, and Nof shall have adversaries by day." After they still persist in hardening their necks, says the Malbim, how? Through the fortress of Sin, and through the fact that No too was a place of a fortress and the sea surrounded it, as it is written, "Are you better than No Amon that sat among the rivers, water all around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was of the sea?" That is, going to No was some kind of fortification, to think they would be able to be protected. Says Hashem: I will set fire to Egypt until Sin writhes like a woman giving birth. Like a woman who gives birth, when trembling seizes her, so too will happen to Sin. And when she sits on the birthstool to bring out the child, and then in fact the membrane in which the child is found, the amniotic sac, there the membrane is breached and the child comes out, this is a parable for the breaching of the siege that will be here. This is what he says, "and No shall be breached." Since he compared it to birth, he continues and says this birth will now breach the amniotic sac, and consequently No will be breached, from this writhing the womb of the woman giving birth will be breached. "And Nof shall have adversaries by day." It means they will hate the day, they will be adversaries of the day, as in the expression of "tzarav," like his enemies, his opponents. They will be adversaries of the day, they will love the night. Why? Because specifically at night they will be able to flee, they will be able to hide, they will be able to find a hiding place, whereas during the day they are always exposed.
"The young men of Aven and Pi Beset shall fall by the sword, and these shall go into captivity." "The young men of Aven and Pi Beset" are names of places. They shall fall by the sword. "And these shall go into captivity." It should have said "and they (masculine) shall go into captivity." Why does he suddenly switch to feminine language? Here there are two explanations. One explanation is what Rashi explains, that "these" refers to those cities going into captivity. He spoke of the young men of Aven and Pi Beset, that they will fall by the sword, and the people dwelling there will fall into captivity. So who are the people dwelling there? The people dwelling in the cities. Therefore he says "these," these cities shall go into captivity. In contrast the Malbim, and so too the Radak explained in the name of his father, explains that the intent here is to refer to the women. At first he speaks of the young men, "the young men of Aven and Pi Beset shall fall by the sword," and "these," whereas the women of that place, "shall go into captivity." They will go into captivity, they will not fall by the sword.
"And in Techafnechot the day shall be darkened when I break there the yokes of Egypt, and the pride of her strength shall cease in her; as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity." The Malbim says: the war will reach the place called Techafnechot. There was the house of Pharaoh. There we saw that Yirmeyahu hid stones in the mortar in the brickwork at the entrance of Pharaoh's house, as it appears in Yirmeyahu chapter forty three. Therefore he says "for there the day shall be darkened." What is the meaning of this? He is, as it were, saying that from the beginning of the war the day, as it were, began to grow toward evening. From the beginning of the war it was like the start of sunset. Until it reached Techafnechot, where the day became completely dark. As it were, he wishes to say that, as we saw earlier, this entire reality for Egypt was a state of darkness. "Nof shall have adversaries by day" - for them the day was a trouble, so this whole reality was darkness for Egypt. So he says the beginning of the darkness began from the start of the war, and where did the darkness end, meaning the sun completely set and full night arrived? That is when it reached Techafnechot, there the day was completely darkened. The word "chasach" is written with a left shin (sin), since "chasach" means like to withhold, to prevent the thing. As in "you did not withhold from Me" and so on, meaning to withhold the thing. So "chasach" means He prevented the light of day, the light of day ceased entirely. And why does he say "chasach" and not "chashach" (darkened)? Because if one speaks of darkness (choshech), says the Malbim, darkness is something that will return and shine again. After every night comes another day. Therefore he did not want to say "the day darkened," for then it would be implied that the light of success would yet shine for them a second time. Therefore he said "chasach hayom," "chasach" meaning something that ceased entirely, was withheld from them entirely. And then the Malbim says, why does he use this expression? Because then he broke the pillars of Beit Shemesh. They had pillars through which they worshiped the sun. And therefore the very reality of "the day was withheld" is like a slap to the face of their god, that their god, which is of the nature of the sun, cannot avail or save them. And there too he broke, "when I break there the yokes of Egypt." Egypt, as it were, imposed the yokes of the world upon the countries around them. Every king who was a powerful king would collect taxes from the neighboring countries subject to him, and whoever refused, he would go out against them in war, take captives from them, harm them, and so on. So he imposed a yoke and hardship on the neighbors, this is called "the yokes of your burden," "and I will break the bars of your yoke." And then he says "when I break there the yokes of Egypt, and the pride of her strength shall cease in her." "The pride of her strength" is the pride of her might, and what is her pride? It is the pride of Pharaoh, "the Nile is mine and I made myself," who was one of great arrogance, "I do not know Hashem, and I will not send out Israel," their way was with great pride. Says Hashem: "and the pride of her strength shall cease in her." That pride and might will cease, "tishbot" from the expression of cessation. Until then "a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity." "A cloud shall cover her" as we said is a state of a day of gloom that will be theirs, and He will kill them all, "and her daughters shall go into captivity." What is "her daughters shall go into captivity"? In the plain sense it means they will take the daughters of the king, the daughters of Techafnechot, they will take them captive. But the Radak, and also Rashi thus explains based on Targum Yonatan, that "her daughters shall go into captivity" means the inhabitants of the cities near her, the inhabitants of the villages. As Targum Yonatan says, "her villages." And this is an expression that appears often, as it is written, "the daughters of Yehudah rejoiced." "The daughters of Yehudah" does not mean the daughters of Yehudah or of a place called Yehudah; rather "the daughters of Yehudah" means the cities near Yehudah, they rejoiced. That is the meaning of "the daughters of Yehudah." So here too, when it is written that "her daughters shall go into captivity," it means not only Techafnechot, but also her daughters, these are the villages near her, dwelling around her; they will certainly not have the strength to fight against the enemies, and those enemies will take them easily and lead them into captivity. "And I will execute judgments in Egypt, and they shall know that I am Hashem." "And I will execute judgments in Egypt" means throughout all of Egypt. For until here he spoke in detail about specific places. Now he wishes to say what will happen throughout all of Egypt. And through this "they shall know that I am Hashem." Through this they will know that behold, Hashem spoke and it came to be.
"And it was in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh of the month, the word of Hashem came to me, saying." The eleventh year, says the Metzudat David, refers to the exile of Yehoyachin and the reign of Tzidkiyahu. And here we are speaking of the year of the destruction. "In the first" means in the first month. "Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold it has not been bound up to apply remedies, to put a bandage to bind it, to strengthen it to grasp the sword." "I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt." The Malbim says: in the time of Yehoyachin and Yehoyakim I broke the arm of Pharaoh, but note that it does not say "his arms" but "arm." "Arm" means one arm. One arm of Pharaoh had already been broken then. For already in the time of Yehoyachin, Hashem took from him up to the Euphrates River, which is one arm of his land, they conquered from him part of the land. And although Pharaoh wanted to bind up the break, to bind up the break means to repair what was damaged, to restore to himself what had already been taken from him, he wanted to strengthen himself there, it did not help him. He says: know, behold it has not been bound up. Behold you will see that it was not bound up properly. And why? The Malbim here gives us a short course in medicine. The Malbim says: a broken arm, when one wishes to bind it up properly, requires placing remedies at the site of the break in order to draw out the blood that has congealed and scabbed there, and afterward to place a bandage of soft materials, meaning things like cotton and the like. That is the meaning of "bandage," something that wraps and swaddles. And afterward to bind and wrap tightly over the bandage. And if you wrap tightly without a bandage, you can damage the arm. You could also perhaps cause a stoppage of the blood. And if you do not place something hard to hold the break in its place, to fix the break, then we know that the break will heal in an incorrect manner or will not heal at all, since there is constant movement in the arm. Therefore it must be done in this way. First one must place remedies at the site of the break to draw out the blood that congealed and scabbed, afterward a bandage of soft materials, and afterward one wraps tightly over it. Says the Malbim: but if one binds up the break without remedy and bandage, this arm, even if it recovers, will no longer be fit for war. And this is what he says here. "And behold it has not been bound up to apply remedies, to put a bandage." It was not bound up in the manner necessary to reach complete healing. For at first one needed to place, to apply remedies, afterward to apply a bandage, in order to bind it and strengthen it, so that it would have great strength, so that afterward "to strengthen it to grasp the sword." That it would have strength and might so that afterward this arm could return and grasp the sword and operate the arm properly. In simple words, what he wishes to tell us here is that what he wanted there, to strengthen himself at the Euphrates River in order to take back what had been taken from him, the binding was not successful. This means his arm remained weak and he did not succeed in grasping the sword to stand in war in order to succeed in conquering back what had been taken from him.
"Therefore thus says Hashem Elokim: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong one and the broken one, and I will make the sword fall from his hand." Therefore says Hashem Yitbarach: "Thus says Hashem Elokim: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms." This means, when I turn My face against him, not only will one arm be broken, "and I will break his arms," both his arms will be broken. And he tells you, whether it be the broken arm, which will now be broken a second time, this was in the days of Yehoyakim and Tzidkiyahu, he went and fought at the Euphrates River when he went out from his land, so you see that already then in that same place, break upon break was broken. In the same place where his arm was already broken, it was broken a second time. Another thing, the strong arm, which is the essence of the land of Egypt itself, this is still the mighty arm, the strong arm, where there was still no break, where it was still in full might and strength. He tells you, "and I will make the sword fall from his hand." I will make the sword fall from his hand also from the second arm, and then through this, "and I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands." "And I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands." We will see this again in verse twenty six. What is "scatter" and what is "disperse"? The Malbim here suffices with a reference, and he says it is explained above in chapter twelve, verse fifteen. Let us recall what the Malbim explained above, since the Malbim explains to us based on the grammar of the Holy Tongue the difference between scattering (hafatzah) and dispersing (zeriyah). For seemingly the meaning of both is identical, to scatter and to disperse seemingly are the same thing. Says the Malbim: no, there are no redundant words in the Holy Tongue. Says the Malbim: dispersing (zeriyah) always applies to something not joined together. As in "one winnows with a fork and a winnowing fan." As in "they were not dispersed nor bound up." When they needed to heal some wound, they would sprinkle upon it medicinal substances. And therefore we said in the past that healing is called "mazor." Why is it called "mazor"? Since they would sprinkle substances upon the wound. What today they place iodine, or there are those who have blood streaming and place coffee, which is not certain to be the most recommended, but in any case they sprinkle upon the wound. So this is called "to disperse." Dispersing is something that is not joined together. In contrast "I will scatter," the Malbim explains, is from the expression of "to shatter." Something that is joined, "like a potter's vessel You shall shatter them." This is the expression of scattering. And he always describes that at first they are exiled to the nations that are around them, to the peoples that are nearby, and in the next stage Hashem scatters them to the more distant peoples. And therefore at first he uses the expression "and I will scatter Egypt among the nations." Who are these nations? These are the ones around her. For here shattering is needed, since Egypt is still one unit, it is a whole vessel, one needs to shatter it. So therefore it is "I will scatter." "I will scatter," as we said, applies to something joined, to disperse it. Afterward, when it is a matter that they are already scattered, ah, now much dispersing is needed, things that, as we said, are separated. Now what is only needed is to disperse them throughout the lands. As in "and they scattered like chaff before the wind."
"And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Bavel and put My sword into his hand, and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan the groans of a slain man before him." "And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Bavel." He tells you, know, this will be in two wars that he will wage against him in his land. As we saw, "the day is near, and the day of Hashem is near." "The day is near" is immediate, and "the day of Hashem is near" - to Hashem it is near, that is later, in the twenty seventh year of Nevuchadnetzar, which is already later, it is near only to Hashem. But in fact we are speaking here of two campaigns. The first time he says I will strengthen the arms of the king of Bavel, and he will break the arms of Pharaoh as we explained, "and he shall groan the groans of a slain man," meaning many are the slain who will fall from among the people of his nation. And we already explained what the Radak says, that he explained "na'ak na'akot chalal" (he shall groan the groans of a slain man) refers to when a person, at the time of his death, expels his final breath, he groans, a sound is heard coming from the windpipe, this is called "the groans of a slain man." "And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Bavel, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall, and they shall know that I am Hashem, when I put My sword into the hand of the king of Bavel and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. And I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands, and they shall know that I am Hashem." So here he repeats again the completion of the annihilation of Egypt, "and I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands, and they shall know that I am Hashem." One needs to understand somewhat why he doubles this. It is quite possible, for in verse twenty three he already said this, "and I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands." So again in our verse, "and I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands, and they shall know that I am Hashem." So simply, what he said earlier was the plan of action, and what he writes here is the action in practice. And through this they shall know that I am Hashem, I am Hashem who is faithful to repay recompense. The meaning is that Egypt will receive its punishment for what it did to Israel, both historically and as a broken reed of a support that throughout all the generations Israel had, that they received money in order to come and help, to defend and to save, and in the end we saw that they did not do so. And not only that, but the very fact that Egypt exists was here a place for the people of Israel to trust in. They had someone to lean upon, and so it turns out that Egypt, in its very existence, was a negative factor with respect to the people of Israel, for instead of trusting in Hashem they leaned, as it were, upon someone who was supposed to help them. And part of this was the matter of the downfall of Egypt.