Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 32. "In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of Hashem came to me, saying." We are speaking here of the twelfth year of Tzidkiyahu's reign, one year after the destruction. "Son of man, take up a lament over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: You likened yourself to a young lion of the nations, but you are like a sea monster in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers, muddying the waters with your feet, fouling their streams."
This prophecy is a harsh one concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt, and we see that it is full of images. It compares him to a young lion of the nations, it compares him to a sea monster in the seas, and it also compares him to one who muddies the waters with his feet, trampling the rivers, and all of this we will want to understand. The Malbim explains that in one respect Pharaoh resembled a young lion (kefir), and in another respect he resembled a sea monster (tanin). Let us clarify. The Malbim in several places explains that there is a difference between a lion (aryeh) and a young lion (kefir). The aryeh is the mature lion, the kefir is the young one. The difference between them is that the aryeh goes out to seize prey, while the kefir does not go out to seize prey but hides in its den, waiting for some animal to pass by, then pounces on it and drags it inside. It does not yet have the boldness to go out and search for prey. That is called the kefir, and that is its way.
So indeed you, Pharaoh, resemble a kefir; that is how you appear in the eyes of the nations, since it is not your way to go and conquer distant lands. You are not like the aryeh who goes far off to seize prey, so you are like a kefir. You do not cause great harm from afar, but even so you do cause harm, and you harm all your neighbors, and in this you resemble a sea monster in the seas. He compares him to the sea monster of the sea. The Malbim explains that the Egyptians believed that the great tanin, which we already saw Pharaoh was called by this name and we saw an entire prophecy on this matter, the great tanin, the crocodile, was actually considered holy and a ruler over the waters according to Egyptian belief. And they believed that when it muddies the waters with its feet, it causes all the hundred rivers, not just the waters of the Nile, all of them, to begin to storm; a storm arises within them, and then all the rivers pour out their waters and channel them into the waters of the Nile. And so there is here some expression of dominion, that Pharaoh, who is as it were the great tanin that dwells within the Nile, is the parable for him, and since he believed he was a god, so he believed that this power too was under his control, that through the actions he performs, all the rivers give their waters into the Nile.
What this actually means, if we want to speak of the lesson behind the parable, is that although on land you are like a kefir who does not go beyond your border, in the seas you did great harm. You conquered the peoples who dwelt on the Euphrates River, on the seashore, and you drew off all their abundance, just as the Nile draws the abundance of the rivers and pulls it to itself. And through this the rivers were, as it were, diminished, through this their waters were fouled. The meaning is that their waters become clouded, since when there is movement and disturbance in the water, the mud at the bottom rises upward. So through this you caused "you fouled their streams," their waters became fouled, this is from the language of refesh, mud. And through this everything reaches the river of Egypt. And this is what he says to him: "But you are like a sea monster in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers." "You burst forth" (tagach) the Malbim explains is from the language of gachon, belly. "You burst forth in your rivers," you lie on your belly in your rivers, and with your feet you muddy the waters by stamping with your feet, as it were, and through this you draw all the rivers inward into the Nile.
Why does he say here "like a sea monster in the seas"? He should have said "like a sea monster in the Nile." Why does he mention the tanin here, the crocodile, this monster, specifically in the sea? The Malbim explains that the Egyptians believed that the deity ruling over the sea was at war with the deity ruling over the Nile. There is a battle between them. But you are, as it were, like a tanin who rules even in the seas. You hold yourself to have dominion even over the seas, not just over the rivers, and since this is so, you permitted yourself to take dominion over all the peoples around you.
"So says Hashem Elokim: I will spread My net over you with an assembly of many peoples, and they will haul you up in My dragnet." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: the matter is about to end, for I will spread My net over you. The Malbim explains, what is the difference between a net (reshet) and a dragnet (cherem)? "Cherem" the Targum renders as being from the language of "woven," meaning it is also a kind of net. But in contrast the Malbim explains that the reshet was spread over the surface of all the water to hinder the fish from their course, and to spread the net required many men to stretch it from several directions and spread it out. But a large fish does not come up in the reshet, since the large fish tears the net and disregards it. Since this is so, to catch a large fish the reshet is not enough; a cherem is needed. What actually is the cherem? The Malbim explains, the cherem is a kind of trap that destroys it and kills it. He does not elaborate, but simply the intent is a kind of giant hook, or spears that they would throw at the large fish, and in this way they would kill it. And this is what he says: "they will haul you up in My dragnet." It is more reasonable to say this is the giant hook that they would throw at it with bait and pull it and haul it up by means of this cherem. The meaning is that through stratagems they will bring him out of the land to go to war against the king of Bavel, and this is "they will haul you up in My dragnet." They will draw you out of your land to a war that will be outside your land, "and they will haul you up in My dragnet" to bring you to war with the king of Bavel.
"And I will cast you upon the land, I will fling you upon the open field, and I will settle upon you all the birds of the heavens, and I will sate the beasts of all the earth with you." "And I will cast you," you are like the fish that dies when it reaches dry land. There is no need to take any action to kill the fish; the moment it reaches dry land it is already dead. And so here, when I cast you upon the open field, when I fling you there, you will already die on your own. And then "I will settle upon you all the birds of the heavens." What happens when some whale reaches the shore and gets stranded there? After it dies, the birds of the heavens come and the beasts of the earth come to eat of its flesh. So this is what he says: after I fling you upon the open field, I will settle upon you all the birds of the heavens, I will sate from you, meaning from your flesh, all the beasts of the field. In simple terms this comes to say that when Pharaoh falls, everyone will swoop down on the spoil. Everyone will run to take all the spoil of Egypt, for although today Egypt is considered a kingdom and today Egypt is considered an empire, when it becomes a defeated carcass, then the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth will come to feast on its flesh.
"And I will put your flesh upon the mountains, and I will fill the valleys with your heaps." "And I will put your flesh upon the mountains." Who is "your flesh"? The Radak explains it means the flesh of your slain. Meaning the flesh of the killed, for he is not speaking now only of Pharaoh personally, he is speaking of Pharaoh and his hosts. So he says, the flesh of your slain will be upon the mountains. What does this mean, how exactly will the flesh of your slain be upon the mountains? What is the meaning here? There are several explanations. One explanation is that they will want to flee to the mountains to hide, but there they will die; they will be pursued and killed there. So consequently your flesh will be upon the mountains, the flesh of the killed soldiers will be upon the mountains. Another possibility, since we spoke about the birds coming to feast on the flesh of the great tanin, he continues here with that image: when the birds take the flesh, they take flesh and flee. They take flesh and flee, where to? To the mountains, and there they eat the flesh. So consequently it comes out that "I will put your flesh upon the mountains," that the birds will take your flesh and eat it there upon the mountains.
"And I will fill the valleys with your heaps." What is "your heaps" (ramutecha) written here? There are several explanations of this. The Radak explains one explanation, that the valleys and the lowlands will fill up so much that they become like a height (ramah) from the great quantity of flesh of the slain. This is "ramutecha," in the sense that the slain will pile up to such a great quantity that the valleys become like a mountain from the multitude of slain. Some explain that "ramutecha" means your loftiness, your exaltation. What does this mean? You were proud that you have many hosts, that you have a great army; he says to you, I will fill the valleys with those in whom you take pride. "With your ramutecha," with those over whom you exalt and pride yourself, you will see that their corpses will fill the valleys. Rashi brings an explanation: "ramutecha," Rashi says, is your being cast down, like "He hurled (ramah) into the sea." The meaning is those who will be cast down, will die, will be thrown into the valleys. This is the meaning of "ramutecha." "Ramutecha" is like "ramah into the sea," "ramah" meaning to cast, "horse and its rider He hurled (ramah) into the sea," or like when the Gemara makes a "romya," "raminan ahaddi," we cast one against the other. What is a "romya"? It is to cast from one place to another. In this place it is written one way, there it is written differently, the Gemara creates a "romya," "urminhu." This is the meaning of "ramutecha." Whoever looks in Rashi will see that in your editions, presumably, as in almost all printings, it is written "haskalatecha" (your wisdom), like "ramah into the sea." And this is a clear and obvious corruption; it is not "haskalatecha," it is "hashlachatecha" (your being cast). Yes, the letters got scrambled for them, and apparently someone wrote it this way and everyone followed after him; in almost all printings I saw they were corrupted by this corruption, but this corruption, as I said, is self-evident; it is "hashlachatecha," this is "ramutecha," like "ramah into the sea." Another explanation, and the Malbim also follows this one, Rashi brings it, that "ramutecha" is like "rimotecha." "Rimotecha" means worm and maggot, "and it became infested with worms (rimah) and stank." So he says to him, the mountains, there your flesh will be cast, and the valleys will be full of the worm and the maggot that will eat the flesh of your slain. So "ramutecha" is like "rimotecha."
"And I will water the land with your flowing blood up to the mountains, and the channels will be filled with you." Through your blood flowing to the mountains, the blood will be so abundant that it will also water the land. And more than that, until it multiplies and fills also the channels. "Channels" (afikim) are the places where the streams flow, and all the channels will be full of the blood, which will flow like abundant waters. The Malbim says, Pharaoh will have several downfalls, and here what we see now is a description of the first downfall, when Pharaoh fell outside his land. And this is like what is written above in chapter 29: "I will put hooks in your jaws and cast you out into the wilderness," the meaning being that there they will bring him out of his land, and this will be his first downfall.
"And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light." "And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens." Rashi says, "and when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens" means: when your fire is extinguished, when your blaze is put out, what happens when a candle is extinguished? Smoke begins to rise. He says this is also what will happen here. Smoke will begin to rise, and this smoke, when your blaze is extinguished, will cover the heavens and darken the luminaries. The meaning is: everyone who hears of your downfall will mourn and be astounded, and each one will think to himself, if Pharaoh has fallen, what will become of us? If flame has fallen upon the cedars, then when they hear of this trouble, through this the matter will cause them themselves to be darkened. They themselves will take the matter hard, since this thing as it were says that their end too is approaching, for if they succeeded in conquering Pharaoh, then surely the king of Bavel will already come upon them too. The Malbim explains that now we move to speak of Pharaoh's second downfall, for as we said Pharaoh will have three downfalls. So the first downfall we saw will be outside Egypt in the wilderness, and the second downfall was in his own land. And this comes to expression there in chapter 29, verse 8. And he describes this downfall as it were: his light is extinguished and through this the heavens are covered. The Malbim says, to understand these matters we need to understand Egyptian belief. What the Egyptians believed then, and then we will understand the parable and allegory that the prophet uses. The Malbim says, they believed that their light and their star was the ruler in the heavens, that it actually rules and is head over all the stars, over all the luminaries. Their light, their star, is the strongest of all and rules over all of them. We explained previously that they also believed the ram (taleh) is a god, and they believed that through this and by its power they would defeat all their enemies. Therefore the Exodus from Egypt was specifically in the month of Nisan, whose constellation is the ram, and the time when the constellation of the ram is at the height of its ascendancy is on the fifteenth. Therefore specifically on the fifteenth of Nisan Israel went out of Egypt, to show them that although their god, according to their vain belief, their god is the constellation of that month, and the essence and center of the month is the fifteenth of the month, when as it were like the full moon its power is at its peak, nevertheless the Holy One, blessed be He, brings out and redeems Israel from Egypt. So here too Hashem wanted to give expression to the reality of Egypt's vain belief, that they believed their light, their star, is the ruler in the heavens, the head of all the luminaries, they believed its light would never be extinguished, that it would always continue to shine and radiate. And if there is a state of darkness, that some cloud darkens their star, then not only would their star be as it were darkened, but a great smoke would rise and dim all the luminaries of the heavens. The meaning is, as it were, if their star begins to be extinguished, then like a candle that goes out and gives off smoke, so as it were if their star begins to have its light dimmed, as it were to be extinguished, it will give off such smoke that it will darken all the luminaries. In simple terms, if we are here then yes, if we are not here no one is here. This was as it were the Egyptian conception. He says, and this conception continued to them, the Malbim says, because in Egypt the stars of their twilight were never dimmed. That is, in Egypt there were no clouds. In Egypt there is no rain. So since this was so, they could take pride in this matter, as it were, here the star never darkens, the star of Egypt will shine forever. And if it does darken, then from its smoke this would extinguish also all the other stars. And if the light of their star is extinguished entirely, then not only would Egypt's light darken, but all the stars of the heavens would as it were be entirely extinguished. So according to their imagination, here now the prophet tells them these things. The prophet says to them, "and when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens." This is a parable for the first destruction that was in the land of Egypt, when their light was somewhat extinguished. There was a slight extinguishing of their star's light, as if to say: where is your star? Where is your god who is supposed to save you? Behold, see, you had a downfall. And then through this, by its power, according to their belief, smoke and vapor and cloud come forth, and through this the stars were darkened, meaning they too were darkened, until the sun and moon are covered, and then they do not shine downward. And this comes as it were to hint that the darkness did not touch only you, but also all those you thought would help you, all those you thought would assist you, they too had their stars' light darkened. As it were according to your reasoning, according to your distorted conception, so he says: behold, you will understand, they too will not be able to help and assist you. "All the bright luminaries in the heavens I will darken over you, and I will put darkness upon your land, says Hashem Elokim." Afterward, in the next stage, the light will be extinguished entirely. And then "all the bright luminaries in the heavens I will darken over you." Not only will there be some covering of cloud downward, but even in the heavens they will already be darkened. Even in the heavens there will no longer be light for them. And then "I will put darkness upon your land." Not like the time when there was a cloud; when there is a cloud there is still a bit of light, even a cloudy day is not night. Here it will already be complete darkness. About this he says "in the heavens I will darken them," this means complete darkness, that it is already in the heavens, not in what descends here, but as it were extinguishing the star already there. Not preventing its light from coming here, but you would say, but the star in itself still shines. No, "in the heavens I will darken them." This is complete darkness even at the root. And this is actually a parable for the final destruction that was in Egypt, which was complete darkness; the light was in a state of darkness and gloom and world-destruction and desolation, as we will see in chapter 32 further on in verse 10.
"And I will vex the heart of many peoples when I bring your downfall among the nations, upon lands that you did not know." "And I will vex the heart of many peoples," I will vex through this the heart of many peoples. And the reason is that through this reality a flood of many nations arrived all around, and they distressed also the peoples around it. The Malbim says, there is a difference between a "people" (am) and a "nation" (goy), and this is a difference the Malbim mentioned many times. A "goy" is generally the lesser nations. Generally nations that are not organized with a kingdom and a king. In contrast, an "am" is a people with an organized kingdom, a people that has a king and ruler and leader. At first he says, the peoples that have a king will be angered, since the breaking of Egypt spread further onward, and reached also the lesser nations that were under Egypt, and they too fell. And from there their land too was destroyed, and there this too spread to lands that you did not know. What does this mean? The army of the Kasdim, after it reached Egypt, from its appetite continued on to other lands. "Lands that you did not know," they too were stricken, they too suffered from the might of the arm of the army of the Kasdim. So consequently this matter will cause not only Egypt to be stricken, but many peoples will be stricken along with it.
"And I will make many peoples appalled at you, and their kings will be horrified with horror over you, when I brandish My sword before their faces. And they will tremble every moment, each man for his life, on the day of your downfall." Through this I will make appalled also many peoples. As we said, the "peoples" are those nations that do have a king. And then "their kings will be horrified with horror over you." Since the peoples have a king, the king will come to anger, the kings will be angry. And this is not inner anger, inner anger that remains in the heart, but rather horror and appalment. The meaning is, the sword will be brandished before their faces. What is "My sword before their faces"? What is "My sword"? The king of Bavel is the sword of Hashem. As it were the Holy One, blessed be He, like "Woe, Ashur, the rod of My anger." Just as Ashur is a kind of rod, a staff of Hashem's anger, when Hashem is angry He strikes by means of Ashur, it is actually the rod, so too here, the king of Bavel is a kind of sword in the hand of Hashem. When Hashem wants to strike Egypt, what is the sword with which He strikes? It is Bavel. This is what he says, "and their kings will be horrified with horror over you," there will be among them horror and appalment. How? "When I brandish My sword before their faces." When My sword is brandished over them and also before their faces. And then each one will tremble, "and they will tremble every moment, each man for his life," what is the meaning? At every moment they will tremble, each man for his life, on the day of your downfall, lest the downfall reach him too. Lest this sword strike him as well.
"For so says Hashem Elokim: the sword of the king of Bavel will come upon you." I read at the beginning "ki koh" (for so), for generally this is the expression that appears in the prophets, "ki koh amar" (for so says). But here it is "ki KOH." And the reason is, as we explained several times, that although a letter of beged-kefet at the beginning of a word normally comes with a dagesh, and if so one should say "koh amar Hashem," like "ki" which comes with a dagesh, but when there is an adjacent alef-hey-vav-yod, meaning the preceding letter ends with one of the letters alef-hey-vav-yod, then this causes the dagesh of the following word, at the beginning of the word, to fall away. Therefore many times we see "ki khoh amar Hashem." Why "ki khoh"? Since the preceding word ends with a yod, so it is an adjacent alef-hey-vav-yod, this causes the dagesh to fall. But all this on the condition that the alef-hey-vav-yod is adjacent. If the alef-hey-vav-yod is not adjacent but there is a pause, then consequently we return to the regular rule of beged-kefet at the beginning of a word with a dagesh. Therefore note, here there is a pausal cantillation mark, "ki," "koh amar Hashem Elokim." And since the cantillation is pausal, the word "koh" receives a dagesh. But if it were with a conjunctive cantillation, then we would say "ki khoh amar Hashem Elokim." Good. "For so says Hashem Elokim: the sword of the king of Bavel will come upon you." Now he explains the meaning of the parable to him. At first he says to him "the sword of the king of Bavel will come upon you." This is the lesson corresponding to the first figure, that the king of Bavel came upon him when he was outside his land. And he killed Pharaoh's hosts when he drew him out, as we saw with the cherem, drew him out beyond his land and there killed his hosts.
"By the swords of the mighty I will fell your multitude, all of them the ruthless of the nations. And they will plunder the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude will be destroyed." "By the swords of the mighty I will fell your multitude." That is, what happens afterward in the next stage, when the king of Bavel reached Egypt and killed a great multitude there, this is "by the swords of the mighty I will fell your multitude," already your multitude that is in Egypt, they too will fall. And afterward "and all its multitude will be destroyed." All its multitude will be destroyed since they have already plundered the pride of Egypt, they reached into Egypt itself, and "all its multitude will be destroyed," this is already the conclusion, this is its final destruction that left nothing of them. And now he will describe it.
"And I will destroy all its beasts from beside the abundant waters, and no foot of man will muddy them anymore, nor will the hooves of beasts muddy them." "And I will destroy all its beasts," so the reality after the destruction, the Malbim says, Egypt was desolate for forty years. The river was dry, no foot of man or beast passed there, as appears in chapter 29. And there was thus no one to muddy the river, since the great tanin that as it were lay within it, it was the one who would muddy with its feet and trample with its feet the waters of the river; there was no one to do this, and there was also no foot of man or beast from outside. And if there is nothing to muddy the river, meaning to stir it up and cause the mud below to rise, then consequently the waters flow quietly. And this is what he says, "and their waters will not be fouled," and what is "nor will the hooves of beasts muddy them"? The meaning is, the waters will not cause, there will not be such a state as we saw above, that the Nile storms and draws to itself as it were all the abundance of all the surrounding rivers through the waves it makes. And then "then I will make their waters settle, and I will make their rivers flow like oil, says Hashem Elokim." And then I will settle the waters of all the rivers, and I will make the rivers flow like oil. Like oil that flows gently and quietly; oil has no storming, it is heavier, although oil is light, it is thicker, and therefore it flows quietly, there is no dust in it, no mixtures. What this comes to say is that the king of Egypt will not take the abundance of the nations. That is, the nations, when the river as it were raised up the mud from below, this came as it were to display the possessions of what each river has, and drew this to the Nile. Here the rivers will rest and flow quietly, meaning they will not carry to the Nile all their possessions, they will have rest, this means the king of Egypt will not rule over them, they will not be slaves to him.
"When I make the land of Egypt a desolation, a land laid waste of its fullness, when I strike all who dwell in it, then they will know that I am Hashem." This is when I make the land of Egypt a desolation (shemamah) and a waste (neshamah). "Neshamah" means as it were another expression of desolation, which the Malbim says there were two stages: there was shemamah and afterward the final destruction was neshamah, as we saw that neshamah is another expression of desolation that is more severe than shemamah. So this will be when the land of Egypt becomes a desolation and becomes empty, there will not be creatures there to fill it, then I will strike all who dwell in it. And what is "a land of its fullness"? Rashi says, a land that is now full of its fullness, meaning filled with all good, will become a desolation. And then they will know that I am Hashem. I am Hashem who is faithful to repay recompense to everyone who caused distress and everyone who did evil; the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts payment from him.
"It is a lament, and they shall chant it; the daughters of the nations shall chant it. Over Egypt and over all its multitude they shall chant it, says Hashem Elokim." He mentions here the expression "lament" three times. "It is a lament and they shall chant it," "the daughters of the nations shall chant it," "and over all its multitude they shall chant it." Three times he mentioned the matter of the lament. And what actually is the intent of the matter? The Malbim explains, from the entire matter we mentioned now from beginning to end, which is the downfall of Egypt in three campaigns, the Malbim says, from all this they will make a lament. "Lament" means weeping and dirge that they chant over someone's downfall, as they would chant at a passing, so too there will be a lament concerning the downfall of Egypt. Over the first downfall, when we saw that Egypt was drawn outside its land, they drew Pharaoh and his hosts outside their land and there felled them in the wilderness, about this he says "it is a lament and they shall chant it." They will make a lament over the kefir and the tanin in the seas; they will chant over the tanin that was flung to the wilderness and all the birds of the heavens and beasts of the earth came, as we explained above. Over the second downfall, which we explained, that the Kasdim already came to their land, about this he says "the daughters of the nations shall chant it." Since then not only did Egypt fall, but many nations fell with them. All the helpers and all the assistants of theirs also fell with them, so there was a comprehensive lament. And therefore there too "the daughters of the nations shall chant them." Yes, this does not mean specifically daughters, but rather they mean it like "Yehuda and its daughters," yes, "the daughters of Yehuda rejoiced." This is not the daughters of Yehuda, this is the towns adjacent to the mountains of Yehuda, this is the meaning of "daughters of Yehuda." As the Targum there says "kafraneha," the villages that are around. So here too "the daughters of the nations," the meaning is the cities that are around, they too will chant. And one can also say it simply, that "the daughters of the nations," since it was mainly the way of women to chant laments. But the principle, as the Malbim says, is that it is already not Egypt alone. This sword strikes also the surroundings, and therefore here too the daughters of the nations will chant it as well. And then they will chant the lament as we saw above over the stars and over the sun and over the moon that will be covered by cloud, that the great light has now been covered, which is as it were Egypt. And afterward, over the third destruction, when all of Egypt was destroyed, became a wilderness desolation for forty years, about this he says "and over all its multitude they shall chant it." What does this mean? Then Egypt was destroyed and all the multitude that was there also died. So this was actually a comprehensive destruction. And then they chanted over the fact that all the luminaries of the heavens were darkened into darkness and gloom over Egypt, so that in effect the laments here were divided into three, the Malbim says. One, the people of the land of Egypt chanted. Second, the second downfall, over this the daughters of the nations also chanted, they too who fell with Egypt. And the third thing, they chanted over Egypt itself. But note, the Malbim says, here it is not written that Egypt will chant. It is written here "the daughters of the nations shall chant it, over Egypt and over all its multitude they shall chant it." It is implied that it is still the daughters of the nations. Now you are speaking here of the absolute desolation of Egypt, so why would Egypt not chant? Why do the daughters of the nations chant? The Malbim says, because there is no Egypt. There is no Egypt, so who will chant? He says consequently whoever remains to chant is only the daughters of the nations. For we said Egypt would be destroyed, we said there would be such a reality of absolute desolation. There was none of Egypt's multitude to chant, the Malbim says, only the remaining peoples chanted over them, since the remaining peoples were left to witness their downfall and they will chant over the downfall of Egypt.
"And it was in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, the word of Hashem came to me, saying." What time does this period speak of? The Malbim says, this prophecy is very obscure and it is not known what it intends. And the Abarbanel already noted that it is a future prophecy about the end of days, in the days of Gog and Magog, when all the nations will gather against Yerushalayim, and this is indeed the truth. Only he says that the Abarbanel has a certain approach in understanding the period of Gog, and I have another approach, the Malbim says, and I will explain the matters according to my way. The Malbim says, when Israel returns to its land, the nations are destined to gather and conquer Yerushalayim. And Gog, prince of Meshech and Tuval, will come from the lands of the north and the west, who are the uncircumcised called Edom. Edom are not circumcised, they are called uncircumcised. And Meshech and Tuval, who are they? These are from the sons of Yefet, who dwell in Europe, as the Yosifon wrote. Yosifon, about two thousand years ago. And he said, that Paras, Kush, and Put are with them, and likewise Beit Togarmah. Here now he is speaking of these, no, of those he mentions now he means to say that these are connected to Yishmael, who are all circumcised and hold to the Ishmaelite religion. And they will gather with the sons of Edom to conquer the land from Israel. But upon their coming there will be a commotion among them, and they will fight man against his brother. That is, Edom and Yishmael will fight one against the other. Because their belief is divided. See how amazing, for two hundred years ago, who cared two hundred years ago about religious wars among the nations? For two hundred years ago this was not the topic of discussion at the time the Malbim was writing these things. Today, who would believe that in a period that is actually the peak of progress, the wars are religious wars. Over what actually do the Arab peoples fight with Europe and America? It is essentially a religious war. Bin Laden, the symbol he leads is the symbol of religion. His war against the Americans, how does he define them? What is their title? The infidels. The infidels. That is, the war is a religious war. A war of the enlightened world against the world that is as it were represented to them as that dark world, which is the belief of the sons of Yishmael. The war will be a religious war. Their belief is divided. And there Hashem will judge them with sword and blood, as will be explained in chapter 38 and as will be explained in Zecharyah chapter 14. Now in our chapter, he actually tells what will happen to those who come to war, what will be their outcome. He says, about this he told here how they will all go to perdition. From verse 18 onward it is actually a description of the downfall of the people of Gog and Magog and all those who came to fight, how they will all fail, they will all fall here in the soil of Israel, and they will take vengeance one on the other, and actually from our perspective this is vengeance on both. For both distressed us, both Yishmael and Edom, which are the sons of Yavan and the sons of Yefet and all those who destroyed our Beit HaMikdash and all the troubles they caused us over the generations, and the sons of Ashur who destroyed the First Temple and all the troubles they caused us over the generations, for this they will pay the price here, that they will fight one another and kill each other.
"Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt, and bring it down, it and the daughters of mighty nations, to the lowest depths of the earth, with those who go down to the pit." Now he will give him a whole prophecy about their death and their removal, about the harsh downfall that will befall all the nations that come here at that time. "Wail over the multitude of Egypt." "Wail" means prophesy over them, bring it down against its will, it and the daughters of mighty nations, those who will come to fight here, where to? To the lowest depths of the earth, with those who go down to the pit. "The daughters of mighty nations" he is speaking of the sons of Edom, who are mighty. Even today the sons of Edom are mighty, the great power in the world is America. Because of Edom, that even though numerically China is larger, and India is larger than America. How many are there in America? 250 million? In China there are over a billion, in India too. But even so, when one speaks of a superpower, America is considered the great power, this is actually Edom. Weapons, certainly. So he says, wail over it, the sons of Edom who are the mighty, and likewise over the multitude of Egypt, for Egypt, the multitude of Egypt is Egypt and its partners. Its partners are Ashur and Eilam, who are attributed to the circumcised, to those who are the Ishmaelites. So this is what he says to them, to the lowest depths of the earth, with those who go down to the pit. The meaning here is the grave. They will go down to the lowest depths of the earth, they will all come, they will all end up in graves and will not be victorious in war.
"Whom do you surpass in pleasantness? Go down and be laid with the uncircumcised." "Whom do you surpass in pleasantness?" Do you think you will perhaps have a pleasant and beautiful end? He says to him, no, over whom do you think you will have such a thing? Over whom are you more pleasant and important that you do not want to come to me in the pit, to me in the grave? He says to him, go down and be laid with the uncircumcised. Go down and lie there in the grave with the uncircumcised. "They shall fall among those slain by the sword, the sword has been given; drag it away, it and all its multitudes." "They shall fall among those slain by the sword," that is, he says they too will fall with you in the war that will be between you, and you will lie with them together, you will be together with them in the grave. He says, what is "they shall fall among those slain by the sword, the sword has been given, drag it away, it and all its multitudes"? The ones slain by the sword that we mentioned earlier, they will drag away all its multitudes, all those who began the war, they will drag them with them to the grave. That is, actually both sides will die. It will be such a battle that they kill one another. These will die but will also kill them. Simply one can also apply here the principle of the atom. For if we look at a war with the sword, it is not so common that both sides die. One prevails and the other dies. But if I send an atom bomb at you and you see such a thing and you send one at me, then both sides are wiped out, there are no victors in such a war. Both sides will die. Clear? So therefore he says here, they will fall and they will drag them after them: ah, I am falling, so I will already drag him too after me, that he too will fall into the pit, that he too will die together with me.
"The mighty leaders will speak to him from the midst of Sheol with his helpers; they have gone down, they lie there, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword." He says, the mighty leaders will speak to him, "the mighty leaders" are the strong men, "leaders" like the powerful of the land. "From the midst of Sheol with his helpers, they have gone down, they lie there, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword," that is, from the midst of Sheol they will drag them and bring in those slain by the sword together with them into Sheol. Who will be there? "There is Ashur and all its assembly, its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword." They will all be slain who will fall together with those Ishmaelites, which is Egypt and all its multitude, and together with Edom whom we mentioned earlier. All the helpers and assistants will also be part of those graves that all those peoples who come to fight will have.
"Whose graves are set in the recesses of the pit, and its assembly is around its grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living." He says, "whose graves are set in the recesses of the pit." For Ashur already came here once. When? With Sancheriv. And what happened to them? 185,000 army commanders were killed. Where are they buried? Around Yerushalayim. This is what he says, "whose graves are set in the recesses of the pit." That is, in history the graves of Ashur were already set, and these graves are in the recesses of the pit, meaning in the corner, at the side of the pit, your grandfather is already there. Meaning, in short, join him. You who came once again to war, will be part of those graves in the recesses of the pit. "And its assembly is around its grave." They will be there, they will assemble around that place where the original burial of Sancheriv was, sorry, of the host of Sancheriv. And then "all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living." What is "who spread terror in the land of the living"? There is an expression about people who spread their terror in the land of the living. A person is forbidden to instill excessive dread; even as a leader it is written that he is forbidden to spread his terror in the land of the living. Not to instill excessive dread in people. Even if he must be a leader, he should lead his people with kindness. They spread their terror in the land of the living, meaning they cast their dread and their fear in the land of the living, since this is why they will come here to be judged for it.
"There is Eilam and all its multitude around its grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lowest depths of the earth, who spread their terror in the land of the living, and they bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit." To them joined Eilam, which is Eilam, this is Paras. Paras and Madai. They will come around its grave, why? To take their vengeance from them. And they too, that is, after they see what happened to Egypt, they will come to fight with them. To fight, to avenge the vengeance of Egypt. But in the end they are all slain, even those who came to help and avenge the vengeance of the fallen, they too will die. Eilam, many of them will be killed, why? The Malbim says, this comes about because they spread their terror in the land of the living, for they destroyed the Second Temple. Yes, through this now their punishment will be. "Among the slain they have set a resting place for it, with all its multitude, its graves around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for their terror was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; among the slain it is set." The Malbim says something very interesting. It is known that the disgrace for circumcised people is when they are buried with the uncircumcised. And also for the Ishmaelites, these Edomites are considered contemptible because they are uncircumcised, they are as it were unrepaired. So this is what he says here, that through their being buried with them, he says through this they bore their disgrace. They bear their disgrace, that they are set among the slain. They were set among the slain of whom? Of the Edomites who are lowly and impure in their eyes; together with him you will be buried. It is known that among the Ishmaelites, for example, if they want a certain deceased person not to reach paradise according to their conception, they must wrap him in the skin of a pig. And this causes him not to reach paradise, according to their conception, yes? We say this is in any case express to Gehinnom, but according to their conception, so all the more so for them, they are additionally uncircumcised, you understand, to be buried with the uncircumcised, they regard him as impure. And he is buried with him, so he says "and they bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit, among the slain it is set." Their disgrace that they will be with the uncircumcised among the slain, among the slain it is set, with the uncircumcised slain in the same pit.
"There is Meshech, Tuval, and all its multitude, its graves around it, all of them uncircumcised, pierced by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living." Who are those uncircumcised with whom Egypt and Ashur and Eilam will fight? He tells you, Meshech, Tuval, and all its multitude. This is the host of Gog, prince, chief of Meshech and Tuval, and all its multitude and all its surroundings; these are the additional uncircumcised who will be in that coalition that will come to fight against Yishmael, and all this "pierced by the sword" because they spread their terror in the land of the living, and they distressed Israel. "Pierced" (mecholelei) is from the language of slain (challalim), like "slain by the sword."
"And they will not lie with the mighty who fell from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and they placed their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are upon their bones, for the terror of the mighty was in the land of the living." The Malbim says, among the nations it was customary that when a person succeeded in battle and was victorious and died in battle during war, then when they bury him they place his sword under his head. As a sign of honor. This was customary among them. So this says as it were that he died in war, he did not die just casually. About this he mentions here, "and they will not lie with the mighty who fell from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war." They will not be like mighty ones, they will not die a mighty death where they place the sword under their head for their glory, to say that this one died in war. Why? Because they will lie with the uncircumcised, as we explained earlier, that they will bury them with the uncircumcised, and through this their iniquities will still remain upon their bones. Why? Because they cast their terror in the land of the living. So first of all they will have disgrace, and additionally their death is for the deed they did, for what they did in distressing Israel.
"And you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken, and you will lie with those slain by the sword." Here he says, Hashem told him to prophesy against Pharaoh, right? "Wail over Pharaoh," what was the wording? "Wail, son of man, over the multitude of Egypt, and bring it down." Right? "Whom do you surpass in pleasantness?" He addresses the king, Pharaoh and all his multitude. And then he says to him, "and you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken, and you will lie with those slain by the sword." That is, you too, Pharaoh, you too will be among the uncircumcised, among Meshech and Tuval, as we mentioned earlier that these are the peoples of Edom, and with them you will lie, for there they will bury you together with them, and this too will be a disgrace for you.
"There is Edom, its kings and all its princes, who despite their might were placed with those slain by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit." He says there, together with them Edom and its kings will come there. The Malbim says, here we are speaking now of an additional stage of the war. They will come to fight and take revenge for what was before. For what the Ishmaelites did to the sons, as we said, to the peoples of Europe. And they as it were will come to protest, will come to demand their honor. But they too will have what the rest had. He says, they too will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit. The Malbim says that there will actually be wars, there will be three wars, there will be three stages. There are the first, this is Egypt, Meshech and Tuval. Now after that the last three are Edom, its kings and all its princes. So he says thus, Ashur fights with Edom. Eilam will fight with the princes of the north, which also speaks of Europe. He says, and afterward this will be the third war, which is Eilam with the princes of the north, yes, they will fight against them. So now he comes and explains that this corresponds to what Chazal said, that Ashur will come three times. For behold, Gog will come three times. You see that there are here three rounds of war. These three rounds mean that Gog will come three times. Only I said that we have no clear knowledge of how it will be. Whether it will be with pauses, whether it will be all at once, it could be that it will be a short time one after another. That is, the first campaign will end, immediately after it the second campaign, immediately after it the third campaign. It could be immediate and it could take more time. The Malbim says, this they derived from here, that behold you see we have here three cycles of war.
"There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Tzidonians, who went down with the slain, shamed despite their terror, from their might; they lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, and they bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit." "There are the princes of the north," he says after this the princes of the north and the Tzidonians will come, and they will be struck by the camp of Eilam. And they will not fight with valor, and therefore he comes and says "shamed from their might." They are ashamed of their might, that is, as it were they will have disgraces on the battlefield, that they did not fight with valor. "And they lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword," that is, they will be the ones slain by the sword of the camp of Eilam, they will lie with them as it were, they too, they too will fall there in battle.
"These Pharaoh will see, and he will be comforted over all his multitude, over all his multitudes slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, says Hashem Elokim." All these, all these slain Pharaoh will see, and he will have comfort over his people. For behold we saw that at first there will be Pharaoh and his people, and they will be struck in great quantity. And when he sees that the other side also fell, then he will have comfort from this. That is, if the other side wins with valor and the first side flees for its life, then that is disgrace. But if the first side are slain by the sword, that is disgrace, but the moment he hears that the other side also fell and failed, then this somewhat sets his mind at ease. So therefore here he says, the wording is "and he will be comforted over all his multitudes." He will be comforted over the death of his multitudes since he will see that those who fought against him also fell. "For I put My terror in the land of the living, and he will be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, says Hashem Elokim." "For I put My terror in the land of the living," as it were the Holy One, blessed be He, comes and says, I have put My terror in the land of the living; you, until today the nations put your terror in the land of the living. Now, when Hashem comes and judges them, Hashem says, then I put My terror in the land of the living. So I will now give and show My power in the land of the living, and through this the Name of Hashem will be magnified and sanctified in the world, as we saw the prophecy in chapter 38 concludes.