Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 9: "The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shone." After he explained to us that the tribe of Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes whom we now see prospering, pose a threat to the kingdom of Yehudah, that Retzin king of Aram had become a partner of Pekach ben Remalyahu king of Israel, king of Ephraim, and that they pose a threat to us, to Yehudah, he now says: Know this. The people who walk in darkness, those whom you now see in darkness, meaning the tribe of Yehudah, they will have a great light. When will this great light come? In the fifteenth year of Chizkiyahu, after we witness the downfall of Ashur, when 180,000 army commanders will die in a single night, then they will have a great light.
Now let us note that there is a repetition here. "The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light," and "those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death," which also seems to be an expression of gloom and darkness, "upon them a light has shone." What is the repetition? What is the meaning of these words? The Malbim says: it is possible that a person may be in darkness while outside the sun is shining. How is he in darkness? He is simply hiding from the light, so he is in darkness. There is light now, he just does not sense it. Why? He is concealed from the light, he is in darkness. How can he come to see the light? Simply by leaving the place where he is hiding, and then the light can shine upon him. Corresponding to this he told us, "The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light." Those who walk in darkness, meaning they hide their faces from the light, they will see a great light, for the light exists, it is all around, only until now they did not see it because they hid themselves in darkness.
And sometimes it may be that a person is in darkness and the gloom is in fact complete, because outside too there is no light. Not only has he put himself in a dark place, but outside as well there is no light. For example at night, when there is really no sun at all. In such a state, for him to have light, the light must shine upon him. Corresponding to this he said, "those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death," for tzalmavet is a greater darkness and gloom, "upon them a light has shone." Upon them too, even those in the land of the shadow of death where there is total darkness outside as well, upon them too the light will shine. What does "shone" (nagah) mean? The Malbim explains that nagah is the nogah (glow), when a person rises early in the morning and sees the sunrise, we see that in the minutes before sunrise, or one could even say in the half hour before sunrise, there are rays of sunlight. One who looks toward the east sees there how the dome begins to light up, even before the sun itself is visible at all. What does the Malbim say about this? This is the sun striking the clouds. So we cannot see the sun itself because the sun has not yet crossed the horizon, but nevertheless what it strikes upon the clouds, that we do see, and that is the nogah. The nogah is like the halo of light that is seen even before the dawn comes. And this is what he means by "those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death": those who are in a place of total gloom, because in terms of the time there is now gloom as well, upon them too a light has shone. Slowly that light will begin to pierce their darkness until they too will merit to be in the light.
What in fact is the analogy here? He wishes to say: there are two parts within the people of Israel. One part is the tribe of Yehudah. The tribe of Yehudah has light. They are, after all, in their land, they are under a king, so what is the problem? They are, as it were, turning their faces away from the light. As it were, hiding their faces from the light. He says to them: know this, the people who walk in darkness, in a place where there is light, have seen a great light. When the salvation comes, they too will all come to recognize that Hashem is One and His Name is One; they too will see and understand that the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over His devoted ones; they will see what a great salvation Hashem will perform, and from the dark place, as it were, in which they are, they will emerge and see that outside there is light. But there is, after all, a part of the people of Israel that is truly in gloom, for whom it is already night. Which part is this? The ten tribes. Chalach, Chavor, Nehar Gozan. For them it is already night. They are not in the light, merely hiding their faces from the light so that when you say they will reveal what was concealed they will see the light. They are entirely in gloom. He says: know this, those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death too, those who have already been exiled from the ten tribes, when the light of Hashem's salvation comes, upon them a light will shine. Upon them too the light will reach. And this is as we said, not a full light, but nevertheless they too will have some light.
To what do these words refer? We explained this when we studied in Sefer Melachim the matter of the movement of the sun that went backward in the time of Chizkiyahu, when Chizkiyahu requested a sign and a wonder, and the Holy One, blessed be He, moved the sun back fifteen degrees. And the Malbim there wondered: was this in order to prove to Chizkiyahu that he would be healed? For that, does one need to perform so wondrous a miracle? To move the sun back fifteen degrees, that means the sun went backward for many hours. Why is such a special miracle needed? Seemingly it is superfluous. The Malbim explained there that this miracle was intended for those who dwell in darkness, those in the shadow of death, those in Chalach, Chavor, Nehar Gozan, for there was no one in the world who did not see this miracle and wonder. And when they there begin to inquire, what is this? What is this thing? They will be told: the Holy One, blessed be He, performs miracles for Chizkiyahu His king in the land of Israel. This will give them a spirit of enthusiasm and a desire to return to the Holy Land. It will give them vitality in the place where they are. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, performed this wondrous miracle. If a miracle was needed for Chizkiyahu, He could have performed a private, local miracle for him, as He did for Gidon with the fleece: here there will be dryness, here rain, here dew. There, a miracle was performed for you right by your house. Why move the sun? In order to show the people who dwell in the shadow of death. So according to this the matters are in fact understood in a wonderful way and complete one another. "Those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shone," when? When the Holy One, blessed be He, causes the sun of Chizkiyahu to shine, and the Holy One, blessed be He, performs such a sign and wonder, and strikes the camp of Ashur, 180,000 army commanders. All these miracles and wonders that will occur at that time in Chizkiyahu's day, first, the people who walk in darkness will have a great light, and second, the people who dwell in the shadow of death in those places, upon them too a light will shine, and through this they will return to the Holy Land and take shelter in the shadow of Chizkiyahu. As Chazal say, according to one opinion, that Yeshayahu went... Yeshayahu, of whom is this said? Yeshayahu or Yirmeyahu? Who went and brought back the ten tribes. One of the opinions in Chazal is that the ten tribes returned as a result of what? As a result of what we now see.
"You have increased the nation, You have not increased the joy; they rejoice before You as with the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." Now the prophet, as it were, turns his face toward the Holy One, blessed be He, and says: "You have increased the nation," You have made the nation great. Who is the nation? The Malbim explains that the reference is to the camp of Sancheriv. For beforehand he called the people of Israel "the people." And if now he in fact moves to speak of "the nation," then we are not speaking here of Israel, but rather of the enemies. "You have increased the nation" means You have increased Sancheriv, You gave into his hand all the kingdoms of the earth. But by this, what did You cause? "You have not increased the joy." It is written with an alef and read with a vav. Let me first explain what is read. "Lo (to him) You have increased the joy" means You increased the joy for the tribe of Yehudah. For if someone weak comes against me and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves me, then the joy is joy. But if someone mighty comes against me who overturns armies, who succeeded in toppling kingdoms, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves me, what great joy that is. It is an immense joy. Against such a mighty enemy the Holy One, blessed be He, saved us. This is what he means: "You have increased the nation," the fact that You increased and made Sancheriv great, so that for him, for the people of Israel, You increased the joy, when we witness the downfall of the nation. And therefore it is written that the Holy One, blessed be He, exalts the nations only to destroy them. The Holy One, blessed be He, raises up the nation. Why? When one is raised high, the fall from a great height is far more forceful. The crash is heard well. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, raises up the nation: "After these things King Achashverosh promoted Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagi." From this, the height of the fall is as it should be. And this is what he says here: "You have increased the nation, to him You have increased the joy." Now, according to this we will also understand what the "lo" (not) written with an alef means. As it were, "not to him." What You increased regarding the nation is not for him. It is not for his sake. Not for his benefit. He thinks Hashem made me great, ah, that must mean I am something. No, not for you, but rather to him You increased the joy, for the people of Israel You increased the joy. For them there is great gain, for through this the fame of the people of Israel went out through all the land: behold, the only nation that could stand against Sancheriv.
"They rejoice before You as with the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." As a result of this, the people of Israel "rejoice before You as with the joy in harvest." The verse expresses two joys. A person has joy when he gathers in the harvest, and a person has joy when he divides the spoil of his enemies. He is victorious in war and divides the spoil of his enemies. The Malbim says: let us note that these two joys come to express two types of joy. Let us explain. On the one hand, a person is seemingly more joyful in gathering the harvest. Why? Because in gathering the spoil there is also some sadness. After all, the war did not end in a state where we came out with zero casualties. Every war, except for the first wars that were with Yehoshua and Moshe, but the rest of the wars caused some downfall even among the victorious nation. Among them too there were losses of life. In contrast, the joy in harvest is a great joy, a complete joy, since it is without war, without danger, we simply gathered the harvest. But on the other hand, the joy of dividing the spoil also has an advantage that the joy of harvest does not. Namely, in the joy of harvest there is no joy of victory. I gathered the harvest, I am happy, now there is... I gathered, I have much wealth. This undoubtedly causes a person joy. But in contrast, in the joy of war, besides the fact that it comes with results in that I now gather much wealth, there is also the joy that we defeated the enemy. This itself gives a person great joy. An enemy who troubled us, distressed us, a great war, and we emerged victorious. So there is an advantage to the joy of harvest, in which there are no fallen or slain, and there is an advantage to the joy of war, in which we succeeded in defeating the enemy, whereas in the joy of harvest there was no enemy standing against us, we do not have that special joy there. Here he comes and says: look, they had both advantages of joy. On the one hand, like the joy in harvest. For then it was without war, without danger, no one died. Correct? After all, the angel of Hashem went and struck the camp of Ashur. So we are like the joy of harvest, without loss of life. A great joy like the joy of harvest. On the other hand, we have the joy of "as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." We went and divided the spoil, but this was a great joy because we also defeated the enemies. So it turns out that we have both advantages. On the one hand the joy of dividing the spoil, which is the dividing of the spoil, first, and second, the victory over the enemy, and on the other hand, usually such a joy is accompanied by grief. What is the grief? We have fallen. He says no, no, no, here none of us fell. The angel defeated everything. So it was on the other hand also like the joy of harvest. Without fallen and without slain. And if so, the joy here was a complete joy.
The Malbim explains: let us note, there is here an expression of simchah (joy) and there is here an expression of gilah (rejoicing). "You have increased the joy (simchah), they rejoice (samchu) before You as with the joy in harvest, as men rejoice (yagilu) when they divide the spoil." What is the difference between yismechu and yagilu? The Malbim says that simchah always indicates the ongoing joy. In contrast to gilah, for gilah is a new joy that suddenly awakens within a person. A person, for example, will rejoice (yagil) upon finding a lost object. This is called gilah. In contrast, when he went about his business today and brought in a nice income, I would not say he rejoices (yagil), but rather he is joyful (yismach). What is the difference? This is a recurring, ongoing matter. So one day he did, another day he did not, but today, thank God, I earned well. That is simchah. It is not something outside the ordinary, something that suddenly appears like a found treasure. In contrast, a person who goes and finds a lost object has gil. It is something that was not supposed to happen, a new joy that suddenly came upon him. And therefore he says: "as with the joy in harvest." A person is joyful in the harvest, it is a recurring and ordinary matter. In contrast, "as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." Not every day does one divide spoil. And therefore for this the expression gilah is more fitting.
Rashi explains: why is it read "lo" (to him) but written "lo" (not) with an alef? "You have not increased..." how does the phrasing go? "You have not increased the joy," and we read it "You have increased the joy" (to him) with a vav. Rashi says: because Chizkiyahu's joy was not complete. Because in that chapter it is stated: "Behold, days are coming when all that is in your house shall be carried away." It is written there that at that time, when Chizkiyahu saw such a miracle, he was certain that Hashem performed the miracle for his sake. Because of him Hashem performed the miracle. And as we explained, Hashem did not perform this miracle for his sake, but rather for the people who dwell in darkness, those who dwell in the shadow of death. For them the Holy One, blessed be He, performed the miracle. And when all the kings heard that the Holy One, blessed be He, performed such a miracle, they wanted to come visit him, to see who this special person is for whom the Holy One, blessed be He, performs such a miracle. And Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan sent to him. And Chizkiyahu received him and showed him all his treasures. By receiving him and showing him his treasures, as it were, he came and said to him: Hashem performed the miracle for me. And they there, the Malbim explains, they sent in order to know for whom Hashem performed the miracle, for his people or for the king? What difference does it make? If it was for his people, there is no point in getting entangled with them, it is dangerous. But if it was for the king, a new king will come, and we will be able to come upon them. And so it indeed was in the end. He went and showed them all his treasures, they came and saw, recorded everything with them, filed it away, and afterward they waited for King Chizkiyahu to pass away, and the Holy One, blessed be He, brought this trouble upon his son. So he says: if so, it turns out that in that chapter in which there was great joy over this great miracle, in that same chapter he also receives a prophecy from Hashem, that Hashem tells him: "Behold, days are coming when all that is in your house shall be carried away." Who? That same one to whom you showed all your treasures, now he already knows everything and he also thinks it is for your sake, that is what you signaled to him, so consequently he will come after your days and take all the treasures. And therefore this is what is written here: "You have not increased the joy." In truth it was "to him You increased the joy," but there was here joy mixed with grief. And therefore the "lo" was turned into "not." "You have not increased the joy." There was joy here, but there was also a hindrance to joy, because he received here tidings... bitter tidings.
"As men rejoice when they divide the spoil." What is "as men rejoice when they divide the spoil"? As it was... when did the people of Israel divide spoil? "I will pursue, I will overtake..." in Egypt, correct? "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil." Does anyone know what spoil is spoken of here? What spoil did they divide? The spoil of the king of Ashur. Where did this spoil come from? Very good. We learned this back then, that there was... he went there, Tirhakah king of Kush, they went and plundered the spoil of Kush and the spoil of Egypt, fought against them, and returned to lay siege upon Chizkiyahu and fell. Why was all this needed? Even when he went, he said to Chizkiyahu: do not think, I will yet return, do not think that I am leaving, I will yet return, wait. And indeed he returned and fell here by the angel of Hashem. So the commentators explained there: why did the Holy One, blessed be He, do this? Because Sancheriv, king of Ashur, came without money. With empty pockets. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: no, it cannot be this way. He went, sent him to the king of Kush, sent him to Egypt, he defeated them, brought back, came with great wealth, with immense spoil. Ah, now come. Now the angel of Hashem will come, now he will finish you off, leave all the money here. And this is what he says: "they rejoice when they divide the spoil." Rashi explains: over that spoil, like "when they divide the spoil," the spoil of Egypt, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil," they will rejoice when they divide the spoil, once again they will receive the spoil of Egypt. Chizkiyahu and his people plundered it all.
"For the yoke of his burden, and the staff on his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, You have broken as on the day of Midyan." "For the yoke of his burden," now he offers another analogy. He says: like an ox, whose owner bends its shoulder in order to bear the labor of the field. And the ox has here a burden in three respects. First, the yoke. It has a yoke on its neck, it is heavy, it is a yoke on its neck. Second, the owner who walks with it, and he bends its shoulder by means of the yoke, as it were, weighing the yoke upon it so that it will plow and work. And third, it also has a rod. If the ox slows down a bit, then he gives it a blow so that it speeds up, right? Here he compares the enslavement of the people to these three respects. First, there was a heavy tax from the king of Ashur, this is the yoke. "The yoke of his burden," the yoke they bear. Second, there was here a cruel ruler. The cruel ruler is "the staff on his shoulder." He bends its shoulder to bear. This is the yoke of the tax, not merely a yoke, but someone else pressing that you pay it, weighing the yoke upon your neck, who wrings out the soul until you pay the tax. And third, there are also his forces. The forces are the camp, those who strike them at all times, anyone who is unwilling to listen and submit to Sancheriv's authority. Now, sometimes it may be that the yoke and the burden of the tax will depart from them, but the cruel ruler still exists. And sometimes it may be the opposite: the ruler has already died, but his soldiers still continue to torment the people they oppress. Therefore he comes and says: know this, when the Holy One, blessed be He, performs for them a salvation from Sancheriv, it will be a complete and comprehensive salvation. No burden will remain here. And this is what he says: in the downfall of Sancheriv, all at once everything is broken. "The yoke of his burden," and "the staff on his shoulder," and "the rod of his oppressor," which are the soldiers as we said who strike them with the rod, all of them the Holy One, blessed be He, will nullify through the angel of Hashem who will strike the camp of Ashur. And all of them "You have broken" (hachitota). Hachitota is from the language of breaking. "Made of tablets" means without breaking. "The bows of the mighty are broken" (chatim) means they were broken. All of them "You have broken as on the day of Midyan." "As on the day of Midyan" means like that Midyan that distressed Israel and were all slain by a miracle in a single night, as is written in Sefer Shoftim in chapter 6. And this downfall of theirs, both of Midyan and of Ashur, both occurred when? On the night of Pesach. As is brought that Gidon said to him: yesterday we recited the Hallel, and so on. It was on Pesach. In the merit of what? In the merit of the omer. For it is written there about Gidon that he was beating out barley to flee from Midyan, beating out wheat to flee from Midyan. There, what protected them was the harvest of the omer. And here too the downfall of Sancheriv was on the night of Pesach. Therefore he compares it: You, Hashem, will break them as You broke on the day of Midyan.
"For every boot of the tramping warrior in the battle tumult, and garment rolled in blood, shall be for burning, fuel for fire." Here the Malbim offers them an analogy. "The boot of the tramping warrior in the battle tumult." He depicts for them the boot (sa'on), sa'on is a matter from the language of noise, tumult. As if the noise, the tumult, is so strong that it, as it were, causes commotion upon itself. As if, if we want to give an example, like a bomb, some bomb that explodes everything around it, it also explodes itself, as it were. This is what he wishes to say: there will be such a noise that will cause commotion to everything around, and it itself will be lifted up and dismantled by the noise it made. This is the analogy here that he wishes to convey. "And garment rolled in blood." They had a kind of garment that they would raise on a pole, a red garment, that this garment, as it were, came to say: strengthen yourselves in war, go against the enemies, slay them. He says: this red garment that comes to symbolize war and the shedding of blood, it itself will be sullied and soiled with its own blood. That is, you come to symbolize slaying others, you yourself will be harmed. You yourself will be soiled with blood. You, the red garment came to symbolize going against the enemies, striking them, the garment itself will be red, sullied with blood and soiled with its own blood, as it were. "And shall be for burning, fuel for fire." What is "fuel for fire"? The fuel for fire will itself become for burning. In a moment I will explain the difference between "burning" (sereifah) and "fuel for fire" (ma'acholet esh). But the idea is, as it were, the enemy, who is the one who in fact burned everything, he himself will be burned. This fire that consumes all the others, in the end it will, as it were, consume itself. And if so, in fact all three ideas came to express the same thing. The boot, the noise that will come to cause commotion to others, will cause commotion to itself. The garment that comes to symbolize shedding the blood of others, its own blood will be shed, as it were. And this fire that always burns others, it itself will become fuel for fire. The meaning is that in the end that same one is the one who will be harmed by himself. How? Burning while the body remains intact. That is, no one else will come to harm you. No army will come to subdue you, but rather how? From Hashem. Their soul was burned within them. This is what he wishes to say. They will, as it were, consume themselves. They will, as it were, harm themselves. And one who looks will not see here some other force that went and harmed them.
The Malbim explains, and I will just explain the terms here. "Garment" (simlah), the Malbim says: what is the difference between simlah and kesut or beged? The Malbim says: simlah also includes something not sewn to a person's measure. Rather, even something that is simply not sewn, for example a piece of cloth, is also called simlah. "And they spread out the garment," yes? And also a flag that they would spread on a pole in order to raise it high is also called simlah for this reason, because it is not a garment. We are not speaking of a garment, we are not speaking of a covering, but rather simlah, as we said, is cloth; even if it was not sewn it is called simlah. Do you know the story with Rashi? They tell that Rashi once arrived... some tell this about the Rambam, some say it could not be. They tell that once he came to the Rambam in order to visit him, and he entered, knocked on the door, asked where the... they told him Rashi. So they say, but again I said, we will not get into names. So they tell, he knocked on the door and they opened it for him, asked him what he wanted, he said to them: the Rambam. There, he simply left. They told him that he was not in, he needs to return in an hour. Fine, he went on his way. And after they closed the door, after a few minutes they noticed that some precious garment that was hanging there had disappeared. They immediately were certain: it must be that traveler, he looked like such a poor beggar, surely he... without our noticing he took it and left. They went and searched for him throughout the city, caught him, obligated him to pay for a whole garment. His pleas did not help, he was forced to pay. Afterward when he returned, he wrote on the Rambam's door five times his own name. What was Rashi's name? Shlomo. He wrote his name five times. The Rambam arrived, saw it written on the door, tried to understand what... what is written here. And then he realized what was actually written, asked them to tell him what the story was, and then he understood what was written. And what was written there was this: Shlomo, shilmah (paid), shalmah (whole), simlah (garment), Shlomo. He wrote it five times. Why did they obligate Shlomo to pay for a whole garment? After all, he did not steal. Shlomo shilmah shalmah simlah Shlomo. And then he understood that this was a great Torah scholar and asked to go search for him throughout the city until they found him, brought him, and asked his forgiveness. Yes, as the chroniclers of history relate. Whether it was or was not, be that as it may, it is a nice story. This concerns simlah, this garment. This garment was megolalah. Megolalah means soiled. As it is written, "and Amasa wallowing in blood," or "upon the corpses of your idols" (gilulim), where the meaning is filth and defilement. And it will be for burning, fuel for fire. Here the Malbim points out something interesting. We say ma'acholet esh (fuel for fire), we say sereifat esh (burning by fire). What is the difference between them? And we have further terms of burning. There is "to kindle" (lehadlik), there is "to burn" (liv'or), there is "to ignite" (lehatzit). The Malbim says: what is the difference? The verb "consume" (achal) and the verb "burn" (saraf), first of all, are different from dalak, ba'ar, hitzit. For the verb achal and the verb saraf indicate the actual burning and the consuming of the fire. Whereas ba'ar, dalak, hitzit refer to the beginning of the kindling of the fire. At the beginning one kindles, ignites, sets fire, and among them too there is a difference, we will address this later. That is at the beginning. Afterward the fire consumes and burns. So achal and saraf are always at the second stage. The first stage is dalak, hiv'ir, or hitzit. Now what is the difference between achal and saraf? The Malbim says: achal always comes to symbolize what the fire does. The fire consumes. In contrast, saraf comes to express what happens to the object in which the fire burns. So we have here two. If we want to give an example, I have here, say, a stick, and they kindled a fire in it. They kindled, ignited, and set fire in it. The fire now consumes. The stick is burned. That is, what happens to the stick? This is the expression we call sereifah (burning). Who is the one acting upon it? This is the expression we call achilah (consuming). The fire is the one that consumes, and the stick, what happens to it, this is the action which is burning. The verb achal depicts the destruction, the verb saraf symbolizes what happens to the thing being consumed. And we say it was burned and became ashes, this is what happened to it. In contrast, the verb achal, this is what it acts upon. And this is what he says here: "and shall be for burning, fuel for fire." The enemy is symbolized by the verb achal, he is the one who always consumes. What will happen to him? "And shall be for burning." He will become ashes. He will be burned. As we said, the burning expresses what happens to the object. So what happens here to the object? The one who was always fuel for fire, who always consumed others, will become an instance of burning, he will become ashes.
How, in what manner, from where will this salvation come to us? "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the dominion shall be upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." From where will the salvation come? He says: "a child is born to us." There will be some new thing, some new fortune that will be born to us. The Malbim says that "born" (yulad) always comes to symbolize some new occurrence. Not necessarily the birth of an infant. Yes, "you do not know what a day may bring forth (yeled)." Yes, "before the decree is born (ledet chok)," or "these are the generations (toldot) of Yaakov," where the commentators explain that toldot means his events and vicissitudes. So here too, "a child is born to us" means some new fortune, some new cause that has occurred for us. And what is it? "A son is given to us." There will be a crown prince. Now who reigns? Who at present is the king? Achaz. "A son is given to us," there will be Chizkiyahu. "And the dominion shall be upon his shoulder." Until now what was upon his shoulder? The yoke of the king of Ashur, as we said. That is "the staff on his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor." That is the yoke, that is what was upon his shoulder. But now, "and the dominion shall be upon his shoulder." Now what will be upon his shoulder will be the dominion, the rule, the kingship. Let us note... well, perhaps we will speak of this afterward. "And the dominion shall be upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." What, are all these his names? Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace? No. The Malbim says: "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father," put this in parentheses. As if written in parentheses. "And his name is called," who called his name? The Holy One, blessed be He. Who is the Holy One, blessed be He? Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. What did He call his name? Prince of Peace. So if so, as it were, one should read: "and his name is called Prince of Peace." The Holy One, blessed be He, called his name Prince of Peace. Who is the Holy One, blessed be He? He describes Him: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. This comes, the Malbim says, that the Holy One, blessed be He... it comes first of all to symbolize the Holy One, blessed be He. The Holy One, blessed be He, is an instance of Wonderful Counselor. "Wonderful Counselor" means a wondrous counselor. The Holy One, blessed be He, counsels advice and performs wonders. That is Wonderful Counselor. Everlasting Father, the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Father of time. That is the meaning of Everlasting Father. The Holy One, blessed be He, for "ad" (everlasting) symbolizes the end of days, as we say "trust in Hashem forever (adei ad)." "Ad" symbolizes the end of days. This is all the time that exists in reality, this is called "ad." The Holy One, blessed be He, is the Everlasting Father. He is the Father of time and the Creator of time. The Holy One, blessed be He, His eternity does not fall under the dominion of time. The Holy One, blessed be He, is above time. He is called Everlasting Father, He is the Father of time and the Creator of time. Mighty God, the Holy One, blessed be He, is mighty and performs mighty acts with great power, as we will soon see. And the Holy One, blessed be He, called him, King Chizkiyahu, Prince of Peace. That is, his dominion will not be through wars, but rather his dominion will be through peace; there will be peace in his days.
And the three attributes here that describe the Holy One, blessed be He, are meant to symbolize before us and to say: know this, Hashem's promise will not change. Know this, if the Holy One, blessed be He, promises, it is absolute that the thing will be fulfilled. And therefore he comes and says thus: look, when you contemplate, you will see that a person's promise sometimes fails for three reasons. He promised and does not fulfill. One reason, sometimes the mind of the one who promised changes. I promised, I thought it over, I saw that it is not worthwhile, I retracted. He says: with the Holy One, blessed be He, this cannot be. Hashem is Wonderful Counselor. Wonderful Counselor, we explained, is a wondrous counselor. His counsel will not change. Second, I promised, but I see that I cannot stand up to it. This too is a reason for which sometimes a person does not fulfill his promise. He tells you: know this, the Holy One, blessed be He, is Mighty God. With the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no state in which He cannot. He is the possessor of ability in the most absolute way. Third, it may be that I promised and did not retract, it may be that I promised and I can stand up to it, I have the strength, but there is a third reason that can prevent a person from fulfilling his promise. He was taken before his time. He passed away, he did not have time to fulfill his promise. He had all the will and all the tools, but what can be done, time is not in his hands. He was taken before his time. He comes and says: with the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no such thing. He is the Everlasting Father. Who is the Father of eternity? The Holy One, blessed be He. He is the Everlasting Father. So the promise of the Holy One, blessed be He, in any manner and in any state, will in the end be fulfilled. And therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I call his name Prince of Peace, My word will not return empty.
The Radak explains: what are the expressions here, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father? The Radak says: "Wonderful" refers to the wonder that made the sun go backward. This is Wonderful Counselor. The Holy One, blessed be He, counseled a wondrous counsel in the time of Chizkiyahu. Counselor: Hashem's counsel stood, and Sancheriv's counsel was foiled. For Sancheriv said to them: do not believe what Chizkiyahu promises you, his counsel will not stand. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: let us see whose counsel will stand. Hashem's counsel stood. So Wonderful Counselor: Hashem counseled a counsel against Sancheriv, and it was Hashem's counsel that stood. Mighty God means Hashem is capable even over the mighty. Even though Sancheriv came with a great army, with immense troops, dried up the Jordan River when he crossed there, nevertheless Hashem in one small moment wiped out his entire camp. Hashem is God and He is the possessor of power even over the mighty. Everlasting Father, that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Father of time and He created it, as we explained according to the Malbim, and this comes to symbolize an additional miracle. The additional miracle, for Yeshayahu came to Chizkiyahu and told him: you have not taken a wife, the Holy One, blessed be He, is shortening your days. He arose and prayed, and what did the Holy One, blessed be He, add for him? Fifteen years to his life. Behold, who can add such a thing? Only Hashem, who is the Everlasting Father. Hashem is the Father of eternity, the years are given into His hand, and He can also add to the years. It turns out, then, that all these names came to describe the wonders that occurred in the days of that child who is born to us, upon whose shoulder the dominion shall be.
"Of the increase of the dominion and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from now and forever; the zeal of Hashem of Hosts shall do this." "Of the increase (lemarbeh) of the dominion," note here something unusual, unique in all of Tanach. A closed mem within a word. "Lemarbeh hamisrah," a lamed, a closed mem. A final mem within a word, and we will soon explain. "Of the increase of the dominion and of peace there shall be no end." He says: know this, in his days there will be no end and no limit to the abundance of dominion and to the abundance of peace. Abundance of dominion means he will have absolute rule, and he will also have absolute peace. The Malbim says: usually these are two clashing matters. Usually, if there is abundance of dominion, there is no abundance of peace. Why? When a person has some absolute rule without partners, this arouses uprising. Go see what happened in Tunisia, see what is happening in Egypt. When you increase the dominion, this arouses through it that there is no peace. But he says: with Chizkiyahu it will not be so. Chizkiyahu will have increase of dominion, he will have absolute government, and with all this, "and of peace there shall be no end." And there will be a state of peace with him without end, that there will not be a state where even a sword passes through their land.
"Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from now and forever." The Malbim says: "upon the throne of David" he will have abundance of dominion, that is, he will have great governance. "And upon his kingdom," the kingdom always symbolizes the country. "And upon his kingdom," upon his country there will be abundance of peace, as we said that a sword will not pass through his land. "To establish it." Now let us note, the Malbim says: the halves of the verse are parallel. You remember, we learned several times in the past what the concept of "the halves of the verse are parallel" means. That is, the verse is divided into four parts, first, second, third, fourth, four consecutive clauses, where the first clause corresponds to its continuation which is the third, and the second clause its continuation is the fourth. This is called "the halves of the verse are parallel." So the Malbim says: here too the halves of the verse are parallel. "Of the increase of the dominion," he will have absolute rule upon the throne of David. And of the increase of peace, the word "increase" (marbeh) applies both to the dominion and to the peace. And of the increase of peace, upon his kingdom. That is, upon his kingdom there will be peace, that there will be no sword there at all. And he will have abundance of dominion upon the throne of David, that he will have absolute rule without enemies against him. "To establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness." Here too the Malbim says: the halves of the verse are parallel. "To establish it," its continuation is "with justice." "And to uphold it," this is "with righteousness, forever."