Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 45. "When you divide the land as an inheritance, you shall set aside a portion to Hashem, a holy portion of the land, twenty five thousand long and ten thousand wide; it shall be holy throughout all its boundary round about." I will read further pesukim. "Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred by five hundred, square, round about, and fifty cubits open space around it. And from this measure you shall measure a length of twenty five thousand and a width of ten thousand, and in it shall be the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the Kohanim who minister in the sanctuary, who draw near to serve Hashem; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary."
Before we continue further, let us give here a brief overview of what we are speaking about. We need to know that the division familiar to us today, the division of the land among the tribes, will not be the future division. The future division will be different. We will see this more explicitly in chapter 48, where it describes in what manner the land will be divided, and when we understand the way in which the land will be divided, it will be easy for us to understand the description he gives here. What I am saying now requires a bit of imagination, but it is not too complicated. Yes? Let us picture in what manner the land will be divided. If we wish to divide the land into south, north, east, and west, where the west is the side of the sea and the east is the side, let us say for the sake of discussion, of Yerushalayim, and we now begin to spread out the land from the direction of the sea toward Yerushalayim. We will need to divide it into 12 slices, and I begin from the southernmost side of the land, let us say from the area of Eilat and the like, and I begin to slice it into strips until I reach the area of Lebanon. I slice it into strips, beginning the cut from the west and finishing it in the east. One could do the reverse, it makes no difference, but what emerges for me in the end, picture to yourselves the land divided into strips.
How many such strips will there be? There will be 13 such strips. Why 13? After all, there are 12 tribes, so it should be divided into 12 strips. The answer is that there will be an additional strip which is called the terumah. This will be a unique strip in which will be the Beit HaMikdash, in which will be the portion of the Nasi, meaning Melech HaMashiach, in which will be the portion of the Kohanim, the portion of the Levi'im, Yerushalayim, and Har HaBayit. And regarding this portion we will give special attention shortly, in order to understand in what manner this thing was made and its location, but let us first see in broad terms in what manner the land was divided.
The 12 tribes, as we said, each will have a strip from north to south of 25,000 kanim. We remember that the measurement of the Beit HaMikdash was done with a kaneh, and we saw that each kaneh was six cubits long; the angel with the kaneh measured out the Beit HaMikdash for him. Each kaneh was six cubits long. So if I am now speaking of each such strip whose width is 25,000 kanim, that means I am speaking of 150,000 cubits. 150,000 cubits, divide it by 2,000 cubits, and 2,000 cubits is a mil, and we get in total 75 mil. That is, the width of each strip is 75 mil. The length of each strip is from the sea, from the west, to the edge in the east, to the end of Eretz Yisrael toward the Jordan. That was the length of the strip, and the width of each strip is 75 mil. Whoever wants to know how much that is in measurement in meters, if we calculate the mil as 960 meters, then we are talking about 72,000 meters, or if you like, 72 kilometers. That was the width of each strip.
Now, these strips, if I begin from the south and start to place the tribes, I will read to you now the tribes in order, in what manner it will be arranged. From the south it begins with Gad, after it, adjacent to it, Zevulun, after that Yissachar, after that Shimon, after that Binyamin, and not after that Yehudah, but between Binyamin and Yehudah, there will be the 13th strip that I mentioned before, the extra one; between Binyamin and Yehudah, there will be the strip which is the strip of the Beit HaMikdash. After that Reuven, Ephraim, Menashe, Naftali, Asher, with Dan actually sealing the strips, being the last strip in the area of Tel Dan, there in the more northern area of the Holy Land.
When we speak of the central strip, which is actually the strip, it is not exactly in the middle, the one that lies between Binyamin and Yehudah, which is the strip called the terumah, since it is like a terumah of holiness, we are speaking of the strip in which Yerushalayim will be, and this strip will be divided into three parts. That is, before I explain the whole matter of the strip, let us explain in what manner it will be built. First of all, in the middle of the 13th strip, which is here between Binyamin and Yehudah, the extra strip, in the middle we will have a place called Yerushalayim. Now I do not mean to say that all of it was Yerushalayim, but this itself was divided. So the central square which was actually located in the middle of the strip of the terumah was itself divided into three. Its division into three was not an equal division. As we said about its size, its size was 25,000 kanim. 25,000 kanim, as we explained, means 72 kilometers. The 25,000 kanim were divided into 10,000, 10,000, 5,000. In this way it was divided, and note, the division begins from the north with 10,000, then another 10,000, and then another 5,000. We got in total a width of 25,000. And now, the length too was 25,000. The width was 25,000 which is divided.
Now let us explain how it was divided. The upper part, when I take the square itself, which again, is the square in the middle of the strip, the upper part of the square, meaning the part closer to the north, was the part called that of the Kohanim. That is, the first 10,000 are called for the Kohanim. Shortly I will explain what exactly was there. The second part, which is an additional 10,000, was the part where the dwelling place of the Levi'im was. The third part, which is only 5,000, half of the rest of the strips, this part was for Yisrael. And within this part was the city. The city itself, its size was 4,500 kanim by 4,500 kanim, and they had another 50 cubits around it which was open space. Open space for the city. All this was in the lower strip of Yisrael. Above it was the strip of 10,000, as I said, 10,000 kanim which is the strip of the Levi'im, and above it 10,000 kanim which is the strip of the Kohanim.
Now, in the strip of the Kohanim, within it was Har HaBayit and the Beit HaMikdash. It was relatively small. That is, whoever takes the strip and searches there for Har HaBayit will find a point. Har HaBayit itself was 500 kanim by 500 kanim. 500 kanim by 500 kanim, when we multiply it by six cubits per kaneh, we get 3,000 cubits. That was the size of Har HaBayit, 3,000 cubits by 3,000 cubits, which is approximately something like 1,500 meters, a kilometer and a half. And it was in the middle. And it adds and says, "Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred by five hundred, square, round about, and fifty cubits open space around it." Besides this there were another 50 cubits of open space that were around, open space meaning an empty place that was around the wall of Har HaBayit.
After we have this picture in our head more or less, let us now look at the pesukim and understand how it was divided. "When you divide the land as an inheritance," as we will see in chapter 48 the division of the land, how it will be divided as an inheritance into strips, "you shall set aside a portion to Hashem, a holy portion of the land." The terumah, as we explained, is the extra strip that was between Binyamin and Yehudah. "Twenty five thousand long, and ten thousand wide; it shall be holy throughout all its boundary round about." A length of 25,000, and the width was 10,000. This was the part of the Kohanim. "Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred by five hundred, square, round about, and fifty cubits open space around it." Of this part which we now explained is the part of the Kohanim, whose part of the Kohanim was of a length of 25,000 and a width of 10,000, which we defined as holy, as the part of the Kohanim, within it there shall be of this for the sanctuary, meaning there shall be of this for the Beit HaMikdash itself, which we said is actually the point located in the middle of the part of the Kohanim, and this part will be 500 by 500 square round about. It means a length of 500 kanim by 500 kanim on each side.
"And from this measure you shall measure a length of twenty five thousand and a width of ten thousand, and in it shall be the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies." What does he come to add to us here? Seemingly he is repeating here what he mentioned before. Says the Malbim, since we do not know the measure of the kaneh with which he measured the length of 25,000 and width of 10,000, which we said is the entire part of the Kohanim, he did not tell us what the measure of the kaneh would be. He explains to us that it will be by the same measure with which he measured the 500 of Har HaBayit. Just as the 500 of Har HaBayit was measured with a kaneh, and the kaneh was of six tefachim, so too it will be here. This we have already seen above, he does not need to remind me, for Har HaBayit we already saw, Yechezkel went on a tour with the angel who showed him all of Har HaBayit, and there we saw that it was done with a kaneh, and we saw that the kaneh was six tefachim long. So this matter of the measurement of Har HaBayit, we already saw above with what it was done. He says to you, "And from this measure you shall measure a length of twenty five thousand and a width of ten thousand." With this very measure, with that same kaneh which was six cubits long, with this kaneh you shall also measure the length of the entire place of the Kohanim, which is 25,000 long by a width of 10,000. And thus it emerges that the length of 75 mil and width of 30 mil, in it shall be the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.
The Malbim explains that we have here a gradation in holiness. When he says to me "the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies," he actually wants to tell us the gradation there is in holiness, that up to the sanctuary we have five levels of holiness, one above the other. The terumah of the Nasi, this was holy, this is corresponding to Eretz Yisrael, it is called terumah. The part belonging to the city was holy relative to the terumah of the Nasi, it is already holier than it. The part of the Levi'im is already holier than Yerushalayim itself, than the city, and it is holier than it, it is already the third. The part of the Kohanim is holier than that of the Levi'im, it is already the fourth. The part of Har HaBayit is holier also than the part of the rest of the Kohanim, this is a fifth holiness which is the holiest of all. Afterward, in Har HaBayit itself there were another five levels of holiness. There was the outer courtyard, above it was the inner courtyard which is holier than it, above it was the Ulam, above it was the Heichal, which is already inward, the place where the table, the Menorah, and so on were, above it was the Kodesh HaKodashim where the Aron and the Keruvim were. So then we had five gradations in holiness up to Har HaBayit, and five gradations in holiness within Har HaBayit itself. And therefore he emphasizes to us here "the Holy of Holies," meaning that it is holy relative to the holiness preceding it.
"It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the Kohanim who minister in the sanctuary, who draw near to serve Hashem; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary." "It is a holy portion of the land," meaning to say, this place is holier than the rest of the land, since it is designated for the Kohanim, and the Kohanim are the ministers of Hashem. And this place they will not take as an inheritance to make in it fields and vineyards, as will be in the part of the Levi'im, but rather this place will be for them a place for houses. The Kohanim have no permission to occupy themselves either with fields or with vineyards, but only to build there houses in which to dwell. "And a holy place for the sanctuary," that there will be a preparation of holiness for the sanctuary; through this preparation of holiness, Har HaBayit will be the Holy of Holies.
"And twenty five thousand long, and ten thousand wide, shall be for the Levi'im who minister in the House, for them as a possession, twenty chambers." After we go down the first 10,000 kanim, which we said is the part of the Kohanim, afterward we go down to the lower part. The part of the Kohanim was close to the part of Yehudah. We go down to the lower part, drawing closer to the part of Binyamin, and this is an additional part, 10,000 kanim wide, 25 kanim, 25,000 kanim long. This was the part of the Levi'im. In the part of the Levi'im, the Levi'im who minister in the House had for them as a possession twenty chambers. He tells us, next to the part of the Kohanim was the part of the Levi'im, since they are lower than the Kohanim but adjacent to them, since in level they are the closest to the Kohanim, more than the Yisrael. And this also includes, says the Malbim, the Kohanim who were disqualified from the service, who we saw above are called ministers of the House. To them were given the lower services, not the services of offering the korban which were given only to the Kohanim, the sons of Tzadok who did not deviate from the way of Hashem and did not serve idolatry. They too dwelt in the part of the Levi'im, and this will be for them as a possession. As a possession, unlike what we saw in the part of the Kohanim which was for houses, that only houses could be built there; the part of the Levi'im, one could also make a possession of field and vineyard. And therefore here is written the expression "as a possession" and not only for houses. And there too there were twenty chambers. This place will be divided into 20 parts, in each part being a city for the Levi'im. That is, in the past we saw that the Levi'im had 42 cities, aside from the cities of refuge which were six cities. 42 cities were called the cities of the Levi'im, and they were designated for the Kohanim and the Levi'im. Now he tells you, in the third Beit HaMikdash the Levi'im will have 20 cities. They will actually divide their part, which is the part of the Levi'im, to be divided into 20 parts. The Radak learns the matter of the chambers a bit differently, and he learns that the chambers will be located in the part of the Levi'im, closer and more adjacent to the part of the Kohanim, but we learn the matter, as I said, according to the Malbim.
"And the possession of the city you shall assign five thousand wide, and twenty five thousand long, alongside the holy terumah; it shall be for all the House of Yisrael." So after we have a strip of 10,000 for the Kohanim, an additional strip of 10,000 for the Levi'im, since the length in total is 25,000, this is the width, so a width of 10 and 10 gives us already 20, remaining for us is the last width, which is the width of Yerushalayim itself. This is what is called the possession of the city. This is the remaining strip, which is 5,000, and it will be alongside the holy terumah. The meaning of this is that its length will be the length of the holy terumah. And this part will be for all the House of Yisrael. "For all the House of Yisrael" means whoever from Yisrael wishes to dwell there can dwell there. And there in this place will be the city, whose size is 4,500 kaneh by 4,500 kaneh; this will be the size of the city, and around it there was also open space, as there was around the Beit HaMikdash.
"And for the Nasi, on this side and on that side of the holy terumah and of the possession of the city, before the holy terumah and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward; and the length corresponding to one of the portions, from the western border to the eastern border." Now he tells us what remains of the strip of 25,000 by 25,000. That is, we explained, I say it again, that the strip begins from the sea, from the west, to the eastern edge of Eretz Yisrael. All this was one long strip of a width of 25,000 kanim. What we spoke of now, we spoke only about the middle of the strip, where we divided, that there was a part that went to the Kohanim, a part to the Levi'im, a part to Yisrael. This was a square in the middle of the strip. What happens with the rest of the strip? After all, this entire strip is extra, it is not designated for a particular tribe. So although in the middle of the strip we saw a square of Kohanim, Levi'im, Yisrael, the Beit HaMikdash, all was there in that same square. But there still remains for us from that place to the sea, which is the western part, from that place to the eastern edge of Eretz Yisrael, which is the eastern part. To whom belonged all the rest of this strip? On this he now tells us, this will be for the Nasi. Who actually is the Nasi? The Malbim learns that the intent is Melech HaMashiach. This is the meaning of the Nasi. What remained of the strip up to the sea, will be the possession of the Nasi, who is Melech HaMashiach, and he will have of this and of that, on both sides. That is, both the part from this place we mentioned now, which is the entire place of the sanctuary and the Kohanim and the Levi'im, eastward, and also from there westward. All will belong to the Nasi, to Melech HaMashiach. And he will have a portion like the portion of one of the tribes, from west to east, and likewise from the House and toward the west as well.
"The land shall be for him as a possession in Yisrael, and My princes shall no longer oppress My people, and the land they shall give to the House of Yisrael according to their tribes." "The land shall be for him as a possession in Yisrael." This place will be the land and possession for him, like one tribe of Yisrael. Except for what is in the middle, as we said that what is in the middle does not belong to him; what is in the middle is Kohanim, Levi'im, Yisrael. But apart from this, all the rest of the strip will belong to him. "And My princes shall no longer oppress My people." The intent is, in the past the king had no possession of his own, so he would take fields and vineyards from the people, robbing them by force. The example is Achav, that when some fine vineyard appealed to him, the vineyard of Navot the Yizreeli, he went and framed him with a false accusation through Izevel, yes, murdered him and took his vineyard. So "My princes shall no longer oppress My people," the princes will no longer take an inheritance from someone else by force and oppress My people and cause them distress; regarding oppression, the Malbim explains that oppression refers both to oppression of money and to oppression of words, for to oppress means to cause distress. So to cause distress can be either through oppression of money, that he causes him distress and takes from him his money, or through oppression of words, a person who says to his fellow things that are not pleasant for his ears to hear, "a man shall not oppress his fellow," which speaks of not causing distress to his fellow. So he says now, "My princes shall no longer oppress My people." Why will they no longer oppress? They will no longer oppress because they already have enough. The Nasi received such a large expanse, almost like an entire tribe, this will be his portion, he will not need to cause anyone distress in order to rob his inheritance. You will have a sufficient inheritance in what you will now have in the future division of the land. The Radak explains an additional reason, and moreover, that they will have a new heart to fear Hashem and to keep His commandments. That is, there is no need here to speak with them about oppressing, they will have a new heart, it will be a situation in which people will not do evil and will not destroy in all My holy mountain, they will already be God fearing and complete, and then in any case they will not reach such a state that they oppress others. What is written here, "the land shall be for him as a possession in Yisrael," the Malbim says that one must explain here either that the lamed is in place of a heh, as if it is written "the land shall be for him as a possession in Yisrael," for the Nasi, or another explanation he says, that the intent is that this place will be for him as a land. Meaning it will be called the land of the Nasi. This is the meaning of "the land shall be for him." It will be called for him as his land, the land designated for him.
"Thus says Hashem Elokim: Enough for you, princes of Yisrael! Remove violence and robbery, and do justice and righteousness; take away your expulsions from My people, says Hashem Elokim." According to this Hashem now says to the princes, "Enough for you." What is "Enough for you"? According to how the Malbim explained, the intent is wondrous. He says to them, now you see that you received much. The Nasi, prince of Yisrael, you received much, you received a portion almost like an entire tribe. So you no longer need to rob, you now have a large portion, you will not need to take from others. And in any case, remove violence and robbery. So in any case do not compel yourselves to use violence and robbery. Moreover, do also justice and righteousness in order to save the robbed from the hand of his oppressor. And "take away your expulsions." What is "take away your expulsions"? We are not speaking here of divorce, of a person who divorces from his wife, but of a person who is expelled from his inheritance. "Take away your expulsions" means, do not expel My people from their inheritance any longer, as the princes did until now, that they would take people, expel them from their inheritance, and take their possession. "Take away your expulsions," remove from yourselves this trait of expelling people from their inheritance. This is the meaning of "take away your expulsions from My people, says Hashem Elokim." The Radak, by contrast, explains that this refers back to the period before the destruction, that Hashem said to these princes of Yisrael, the kings of Yehudah who were before the destruction, "Enough for you," for a long time you held onto violence and robbery, for a long time you did evil, and as it were now the matter is finished, now there will be a new reality. But according to what the Malbim explains, and this is seemingly more reasonable according to the order of the pesukim, that Hashem here speaks with the current princes. What sense is there to speak about those who were then? So therefore according to the Malbim, this speaks now about the Nasi who will now receive such an expansive portion in the land, almost like one of the tribes, "Enough for you," you now have a large portion, you will not need to take from others.
"Just balances, a just ephah, and a just bat, you shall have." Now he commands the princes that they also watch over the measures, that they be in righteousness. Measures that are in righteousness means that the Nasi is commanded to do justice honestly. As it is written, "You shall not do wrong in judgment, in measure, in weight, or in volume." Chazal in the Sifra and Sifrei, and also in Bava Batra 89, say that one must appoint officials over this. And in the past there were officials who would go from place to place to check and verify that everything was done properly and lawfully, they would weigh the weights, they would check that there were no deceptions, they had special instruments in order to know by them whether the weights that are used are just weights or not. If not, they would confiscate the weights and obligate the person to take new weights and use them. And this was very not simple, because in their time a person prepares himself a weight, he could prepare it himself, make it of somewhat lighter material, could make it somewhat hollow inside, and then he places on the pan of the scale a weight, and instead of a kilo it weighs 900 grams. The person does not know, he profits 10 percent on every sale, and do the calculation when it comes to quantities, this is a very significant profit. Therefore it was an obligation to appoint people who would be in charge of the checking of this matter. They tell a joke that once there was someone who sued the baker, the baker, he sued him to Torah law. Over what? He says, look, every day I buy a loaf of bread from him. A loaf of bread is by the kilo. A loaf of bread is labeled as a kilo. He says, one day I decided to check, I see that the loaf does not weigh a kilo, it weighs 900 grams. Now he comes wanting to sue him retroactively. They say to the baker, well, what do you have to say? He says, look, I will tell you the truth, the fat that I buy to put in the loaves, the margarine that I buy, I buy from him. He says, and I have no weight. I buy from him a kilo of margarine, put it on one pan of the scale, on the other pan I put the loaf, I see that it is the same thing. He says, that is how I weigh my loaves. In short, you understand, one cheats and afterward has complaints against others about why they cheat. When did I recall this matter? I recalled this matter that the singers always complain about why they are robbed, why their discs are always copied, we work and produce, and a person for a shekel, yes, has my disc. And today one does not even need a shekel, he uploads it, I do not know what, to a smartphone, to a computer, and does not even take out that shekel. So they always complain. Once they conducted a survey and found that most of the artists have audio programs, pirated programs, which are not in amounts of shekels but in amounts of thousands of dollars, you understand? So one complains, that one steals from me, and you, you steal from that one. Well, so is theft permitted only from one side? In any case, let us return to the matter, so that we know that this matter of a just ephah, a just hin, was something requiring checking. By the way, so that we know that even today, even today there is a department whose job this is, in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, whose job is to calibrate, for example, gas stations. To check that when you buy a liter, it is a liter. You will see that sometimes on the gas station, you will see that there is a marking that this thing passed inspection, that indeed what you buy is a liter. It is enough for him to reduce for you a few milliliters from every refueling, from every person, do the calculation as to what profit he reaches. And likewise scales and several other matters, there is a special division whose job this is to check this matter. So there need to be officials who check the matter of just balances and a just ephah and a just bat you shall have. Now he warns the Nasi, that the Nasi watch over the scales with which they would weigh the coins. By contrast, there is also a need for a just ephah, for the just ephah is the measure of dry goods. And by contrast there is also a need for the just hin, the just bat. The just bat is the measure of liquid. So we have just balances, a just ephah, a just bat. Just balances of coins, a just ephah of dry goods, a just bat of liquid. And that they not behave as they behaved beforehand, to reduce the ephah and enlarge the shekel and distort deceptive balances. Thus the prophet rebukes them, that this was their way. Here he commands the Nasi that the Nasi not behave in this way, but on the contrary, ensure that everything is precise, and through this commerce will be with fairness and honesty.
"The ephah and the bat shall be of one measure, so that the bat contains a tenth of a chomer, and the ephah a tenth of a chomer; by the chomer shall its proportion be." "The ephah and the bat." The Malbim explains that the chomer was 30 se'ah. Whether for liquid or for dry goods, this is the amount of the chomer. In today's measure, if we wish to estimate according to Rav Chaim Naeh, the chomer is actually a measure of volume, a measure of close to 250 liters. According to this will also be set the small measure from which they would take the tithe for the king's portion. That is, you shall know what the large measure is, and according to it you shall know that from it one takes 10 percent and gives a tithe to the king. And here one must be careful not to enlarge the measure so as not to enlarge the tithe, so that he not demand a tithe in an amount that is higher. And therefore he says to them that they should have one measure for the matter of taking a tithe. To take the tithe of the chomer, the bat, that it always be a tithe of the chomer. What does this mean? The bat is the measure of liquid, and the tenth of the chomer will be the measure of the ephah in the measure of dry goods, it will always be a tenth. Whether you take the measure of liquid or whether you take the measure of dry goods, in any case the amount is a tithe. When we speak of the measure of the bat, the bat is a measure, and this measure of the bat is in the amount of a tenth of the chomer, of the kor, of the 30 se'ah, as we said. So that is, if we speak of, for example, about 250 liters, then I am speaking of the tenth, about 25 liters. This they had to give to the Nasi. And the tenth of the chomer will also be in the measure of dry goods. This too one gives a tenth, 10 percent of it, so that if you reduce the chomer, you shall also reduce the ephah and the bat.
"And the shekel shall be twenty gerah; twenty shekels, twenty five shekels, ten and five shekels, shall be your maneh." Thus too will be the standard of the coins that issue from the king. Says the Malbim, here it is required that the coins have consistency, that they not be counterfeit, that there be no deception in them, that there not be one who gives a coin that is a bit smaller.
Smaller, one a bit larger, especially in their time when the coins were of actual silver, of actual gold, so there is significance if the coin is small, it means it lacks grams of gold, it lacks grams of silver. And therefore he says, that there should be coins that issue from the king and the coins should be fixed. The shekel will be twenty gerah, this will be its amount. The maneh will be sixty shekels, which is two hundred and forty zehuvim. Thus too will be the maneh of silver. And he commands them to make coins of twenty shekels, of twenty five, of ten, and of five shekels. All these will be types of coins. Almost like we have today, we do not have of twenty five, but all these will be types of coins that the king will make, that the Nasi will make.
And he commands that whoever has a maneh and wishes to make change of it, will have all kinds of coins with which he can make change of the maneh. Because if we are speaking that one must give sixty, the Nasi takes his maneh, yes, takes a shekel from it, and the maneh, yes, is the sixty, so that in whatever way he wishes to make change he can make change. Because we say that there is here twenty five and twenty and ten and five, in total this is sixty. Now he can in whatever way he wishes reach sixty. For example, twice twenty five and once ten, he reached sixty. Twice twenty five and another two times five, or twice twenty and once ten, in whatever way he makes change so that he can reach sixty, says the Malbim, and this is for the benefit of the country. There is in this a benefit for the country, the meaning of this being that through this the coins are available and in whatever way a person wishes to pay he can pay.