Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 14. Our chapter is a continuation of the previous one. In the previous chapter we saw the downfall of Bavel as a nation, and in our chapter he will speak of the downfall of Nevuchadnetzar as the ruler of Bavel. "For Hashem will have compassion on Yaakov and will yet choose Yisrael, and will settle them on their own land, and the stranger will join them and attach himself to the house of Yaakov." The Malbim says: the redemption of Am Yisrael depends on one of two things. Either it comes from Hashem's mercy, when we are not worthy, or we truly are worthy, and then it depends on our good deeds. If we are meritorious at the time of the redemption, then we do not need Hashem's mercy; this is what is called by the power of merit. Yes, just as Hashem chose us to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, so too Hashem will consider and choose us because we are worthy of it. "Hashem will have compassion on Yaakov and will yet choose Yisrael," Hashem will choose us. But if we will not be meritorious, then we will not be worthy of Hashem choosing us on our own account. Even so, from the attribute of mercy the Holy One, blessed be He, will spare us and have compassion on us. To choose something means it is the choice portion, I choose it. Hashem will choose us if we are worthy. But if we are not worthy, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will not choose us. Rather what? Hashem will only have mercy on us. He will have compassion on us, what can be done, so that we do not perish among the nations. And it is known that the name Yaakov indicates Am Yisrael at their lower level, as opposed to the name Yisrael which indicates Am Yisrael at their higher level. Yaakov is from the language of ekev (heel, lowliness), Yisrael is from the language of dominion. And this is what he is saying: the redemption will be either because "Hashem will have compassion on Yaakov," meaning we will be at the lower level, Yaakov, not worthy of Hashem choosing us, but at any rate we are worthy of mercy, Hashem will have compassion on us even though we are not worthy. Or, if we truly are proper, "and will yet choose Yisrael," there will be the possibility that we will be at the level of Yisrael, that we will do teshuvah, that we will be people of high standing, and then Hashem will choose us because we are the excellent ones, because we are the worthy ones. And then, "and will settle them on their own land," Hashem will give us rest from all the enemies, from all who trouble us all around. In order to do this, the kingdom of the Kasdim, the kingdom of Bavel, must first be nullified. And then he says, "and the stranger will join them." That is, because they will see our tranquility, the quiet that we have, the stranger will come and join us, everyone will want to come and convert in order to be part of Am Yisrael. "And attach himself to the house of Yaakov," and then they will be subordinate to the house of Yaakov. The Malbim says that both nilveh (join) and nispach (attach) mean something subordinate to the main thing. This is the difference between something that connects to another thing, which means they are equal, as opposed to something that joins another thing or attaches to another thing, which means the other is the main one; I only join, I only attach myself. So what is the difference between nilveh and nispach? The Malbim says the difference is that the nispach, as it were, also creates some deficiency in the main thing to which it attaches. Like "converts are difficult for Yisrael like a sapachat (a skin affliction)." For example, let me give you an example: there is a tree with another tree climbing on it. So there is a tree climbing on it, it joins it, but does not diminish it. There is another tree that attaches to it, it climbs on it and deprives it of air and sunlight and it does not let the tree develop properly because it attaches to it. This is called like a sapachat, something that attaches and diminishes the main thing to which it attaches.
"And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Yisrael will possess them on the land of Hashem as servants and maidservants, and they will be captors of those who took them captive and will rule over their oppressors." At first they will accept converts, since it was a time when we were still not in complete tranquility. But afterwards, the Malbim says, the nations will take them and bring them to their place, and they will no longer be accepted as converts but only possessed. "And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place," when the nations themselves will restore Am Yisrael to their land, in that situation gentiles will not be accepted but rather "the house of Yisrael will possess them," hitnachlum means from the language of possession, that is, in the aspect of servants and maidservants; they will not be ours. This is what he says, "and the house of Yisrael will possess them on the land of Hashem as servants and maidservants," we will not accept them now as converts. Why? Because it is known that converts were not accepted in the days of Shlomo, of David and Shlomo. What is the reason? Because things were good for us. The moment things are good for us, when a convert comes I immediately suspect him of coming to receive an absorption package. But at a time when things are not good for us, when we are in exile, and suddenly someone joins us saying "I want to be part of you," then it truly shows that he has a pure and genuine intention to convert; it is not one of the army conversions. It is a true convert who wants to attach himself to the inheritance of Hashem. Therefore he says, when the nations take us and restore us to our place, then those nations that will want to be part of us, "the house of Yisrael will possess them on the land of Hashem," they will give them only an inheritance here, but as servants and maidservants, we will not accept them among us as full converts. "And they will be captors of those who took them captive and will rule over their oppressors." And then we will, as it were, exact payment from the gentiles for the evil they did to us, measure for measure. Those who took them captive we will take captive; those who took us captive and abused us, now we will take them captive. And whoever added to harm us and afflicted us with backbreaking labor, we too, "and will rule over their oppressors," those who until now oppressed us, we will rule over them.
And this is what the Malbim says: what now seemingly appears to us that he is actually describing a prophecy about what will be at the redemption from Bavel, that is, the downfall of Bavel, when Am Yisrael will be redeemed. The Malbim says: seemingly then, this prophecy should already have been fulfilled. For the downfall of Bavel has already happened. And if so, why was this prophecy not fulfilled in us when Am Yisrael returned to their land? For Bavel fell into the hands of Madai, correct? Into the hands of Koresh. And if so, seemingly the continuation, "Hashem will have compassion on Yaakov, will yet choose Yisrael, settle them on their own land," this should be the continuation of the story, and it did not happen. And how, the Malbim asks, could someone come and claim: behold, here is a prophecy that was not yet fulfilled? The Malbim says: set your mind at ease with what we explained in chapter 11, that in fact the future redemption had a set time. What is the time when the redemption is supposed to occur? It is from Chizkiyahu until the redeemer comes. From Chizkiyahu we were already worthy, as Chazal say that the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to make Chizkiyahu the Mashiach. That is, already then it was fitting that Mashiach should come. Until when? Until the time when we would be meritorious. If we had been worthy, then it is written, the Malbim says, that the time of the building of the Beit HaMikdash in the Second Temple period was a time of testing for Am Yisrael. If Am Yisrael would have justified their deeds, if they would have conducted themselves with fear of Heaven, at the end of the 420 years Mashiach ben David would have come and redeemed Am Yisrael with an eternal redemption. For the Second Temple was not truly equal in power and might to the First Temple, and in the Second Temple period there was also not a complete redemption. Those who came here with Ezra and Nechemyah were about 50,000 people. Most of Am Yisrael still remained in exile. And if so, this was a time of testing. If we had been worthy, Mashiach ben David would have come and the Third Beit HaMikdash would have descended, built in fire. But since we were not worthy, and baseless hatred and all that was in the Second Temple period, as a result we went into the exile in which we find ourselves until today. That is, the possibility for redemption is from the time of Chizkiyahu until when? Until today, "if you will hearken to His voice." Until today, if you will hearken to His voice. So this prophecy, "For Hashem will have compassion on Yaakov," is still pending and standing. We have many prophecies that were not fulfilled because their time has not yet come. But we do not have a single prophecy that was supposed to be fulfilled and was not fulfilled. Not one prophecy that speaks of something historical and did not happen. Rather, all the prophecies speak of things: those that were fulfilled already happened, those that were not fulfilled are things that are to be at the coming of the redemption, which refers to the future redemption. And this is what is written, what was said to Daniel, "it breathes toward the end, and there is a vision for the appointed time," a week, two and a half weeks, all those prophecies were said about the time fitting for the redemption which is to be at a time we still await.
The Malbim dwells here on a linguistic difference. The Malbim says, "and will rule over their oppressors." A person who oppresses or rules, the Malbim says, presses the person who is oppressed or ruled over so that he will pay him tax or so that he will do the work. Only, the Malbim says, ruling (redi'ah) is usually connected to government. The government rules over the people beneath it, as Paroh ruled, or as it is written of Shlomo that he ruled from Tifsach to Azah. What is the meaning? A government that rules over another government in order to collect taxes from them or to force them to work for its needs.
"And it will be, on the day that Hashem gives you rest from your sorrow and from your turmoil and from the hard labor that was worked upon you." "And it will be, on the day that Hashem gives you rest from your sorrow and from your turmoil," the meaning is after the period of the fall of Bavel; "from the hard labor that was worked upon you," the meaning is from all that we suffered from the kingdom of Bavel. The Malbim says: sorrow and turmoil are psychological effects. A person is sorrowful in his soul, not in his body. A person is in turmoil in his soul, not in his body. Usually, the Malbim says, sorrow is over something that is lacking to me, something that I lost, I am sorrowful over it. Turmoil is over something that irritates me, something that comes to me and now causes in me a lack of quiet, a lack of tranquility. The Malbim says: therefore you will also understand that rogez (turmoil) is from the language of being shaken. Who is "marbiz mamlachot" (He who shakes kingdoms)? "Who shakes the earth from its place." What does it mean to shake something? For when something comes and irritates me, irritates me, then what happens inside? A lack of rest, a person feels that something is moving inside him all the time, not letting him rest. This is the definition of turmoil. Turmoil is movement, an oscillation caused as a result of something irritating me, something causing me an emotional agitation that gives me no rest. Labor, on the other hand, is something that creates a lack of rest for the body. As opposed to sorrow and turmoil which, as we said, create it in the soul. It could be now that the soul is at rest, but the body is in a state of labor and being shaken. And it could be the opposite, that the body is at rest, but the soul has no rest, it churns within him. He says: on the day that Hashem gives rest to your body, this is from the shaking of labor, and to your soul, this refers to the soul, and there are two things there, both from the sorrow, which is the pain over the good that was lacking from it, and also from your turmoil, which is what we said about what irritated and angered Am Yisrael. From these three things, then this indicates absolute tranquility from every aspect. The body too will rest from labor, and the soul too will rest from its sorrow and its turmoil, meaning there will be absolute tranquility from every aspect.
"And you will take up this parable against the king of Bavel and you will say: how has the oppressor ceased, the madheivah ceased!" Now he says: how could it be that suddenly the oppressor would cease from the taxes? How was the madheivah suddenly nullified? What is madheivah? Madheivah is the kingdom of gold. As you recall, when Nevuchadnetzar dreamed a dream and Daniel came and interpreted the dream for him, he said to him "the head of gold," who is that? The head of gold, whom does it symbolize? You, the kingdom of Nevuchadnetzar. What did Nevuchadnetzar afterwards command to make in the plain of Dura? An image. And what was the image? All of it made of what? Gold. Why? Because in essence he said to him, you are the head of gold, but as you begin to descend there is already bronze, and descending further there is silver, and the legs were of iron, and below the feet already of clay. That is, the further you descend you see that the value, as it were, decreases. What did Nevuchadnetzar do? He wanted to perform an act that would perpetuate his rule. What did he say? To erect a giant and mighty statue that was entirely of gold. So that you would not tell me now that the head of gold is falling, and afterwards it is already the shoulders, the arms, silver, that is already the kingdoms that will conquer me. No. Rather everything would be of gold. And he commanded everyone to bow to it. And then he thought that by performing an act below, this would also influence the upper realms; that is how they believed in their time. Yes, and therefore he commanded them to bow to that golden statue. Whoever wishes can hear about this, it is found in Sefer Daniel, we have lessons on the entire language, one can hear there all the prophecies stated there. In any case, what do we see from here? Gold, whom does it symbolize? Nevuchadnetzar, the kingdom of Bavel. And then he says, "and you will take up this parable against the king of Bavel and you will say: how has the oppressor ceased," how, what happened that suddenly the oppressor ceased, the one who collected taxes with great force? "The madheivah has ceased," the kingdom called the kingdom of gold has ceased. There is an additional explanation in Chazal: what is madheivah? The kingdom that says "medod vehaveh" (measure and bring). That is madheivah. Measure, weigh and bring, weigh and bring, weigh and bring. All the time they collected taxes with great force and great tyranny, all the time they would say "measure and bring."
And then a person will ask and wonder: how? How did that oppressor cease, how did the madheivah cease? "Hashem has broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers." To this the answer comes: it is not by chance, not that once a king rises and once falls, think it is a seesaw. No. He tells you "Hashem has broken the staff of the wicked." Hashem broke it with full providence from Him, blessed be He. "The rod of the rulers." The staff of the wicked are those who oppress, the officers who press the people. The rod of the rulers is the ruler himself. The meaning is that both the rod (shevet) and the staff (mateh) express government. Only the staff with which they strike hurts more than the rod. Being struck with the staff hurts more than the rod. So the rod expresses the government, the staff with which they strike and whose pain is great expresses the officer. The officer is the one who is supposed to carry out the government of the ruler. He is the enforcement power meant to ensure that the people accept the ruler's government. Therefore he calls it the staff of the wicked. The wicked are the striking officers, who ensure that the rod is in the hand of the rulers.
"Who struck peoples in wrath, a blow without ceasing, who ruled the nations in anger, a persecution unrestrained." He now describes the tyrannical kingdom of Nevuchadnetzar. "Who struck peoples in wrath," he would strike peoples in wrath. If you remember, we explained that there is a difference between anger (kaas) and wrath (evrah). Anger is toward someone worthy of being angry at. Wrath is toward someone who is angered at without cause. How? For example, you irritated me, so now I am angry at everyone. Someone from this nation irritated me, so I destroy the whole nation. This is called wrath. And this is what he says, "who struck peoples in wrath," that is, he has no cause to be angry at them, but he strikes them because he is angry at one, so he strikes the whole nation. "A blow without" - "a blow without ceasing." "Without ceasing (sarah)" means even though the nation did not sin, no fault was found in it, no sin or transgression was found in it, a blow without cause. Why? In wrath, out of wrath as we explained, since someone did something, because of that he strikes everyone. This is what he says about what we mentioned earlier, the staff of the wicked, it is wickedness to do so. Now we also mentioned the rod of the rulers; he says, know that the rod, with this rod he "ruled the nations in anger." The meaning is he ruled the nations in af, af meaning fury, out of anger. And even though the one persecuted was "without restraint," the meaning is even though the nation persecuted before him did not withhold itself from him, did not hide itself from him, was ready to fulfill his will, "whatever you request I will do." Even without holding back, despite all this he ruled them in anger, as though he cast off restraint. That is, when I come to rule over someone, if he immediately submits himself before me, I should not treat him cruelly. If he tries to rebel, well, you say I have a reason, he tried to rebel, I treated him cruelly. But if he immediately submitted himself before me, then I should have taken him without treating him cruelly. But he says this was not so with him. "Who ruled the nations in anger," he ruled them in anger and fury, even though the persecuted one, the persecuted nation, "without restraint," did not withhold itself from him, so what room was there to be angry and rule him in anger? Nevertheless he ruled him in his great anger, this shows his great wickedness.
"The whole earth is at rest and quiet, they break forth into song." Now, upon the death of his grandson, for as you know the kingdom of Nevuchadnetzar lasted three generations. Correct? Who reigned after Nevuchadnetzar? Belshatzar. And who reigned after him? Evil-Merodach. These were the three reigns that were promised to him for the three steps he took then when he went back to correct the letter, to write there placing first the name "the God of Yisrael," then Chizkiyahu, and then Yerushalayim. So because of those three steps he merited a kingdom of three generations, three generations. So he says now that this reality that will be here refers to after the death of his grandson, yes? But already at the death of Nevuchadnetzar the domination and wickedness that characterized his kingdom had already weakened. And afterwards when his grandson too fell, Evil-Merodach, then everything weakened and then that entire kingdom ended. So he says the whole earth is at rest and quiet, and it has already forgotten all that it went through from that tyrannical, exalted, and wicked king who ruled it. To the point that the whole earth broke forth into song. To the point that everyone, out of the great tranquility that was given to them, began to sing. We will later see the Gemara that says that throughout all the days of Nevuchadnetzar there was no smile on people's faces. Out of great sorrow and out of the harsh domination with which he ruled the entire people. The Malbim says: pay attention, there are levels here. There is rest (nach), there is quiet (sheket), there is breaking forth into song. According to the order in the holy tongue, the Malbim says, menuchah is tranquility, sheket is more than menuchah. As it is written, "I was not at quiet, and not only was I not at quiet, I was also not at rest." That is, when I shake something, after I stop, it comes to rest. The stage after that is quiet. The sea rested from its raging, it is at rest, but there are still waves. Quiet is complete quiet. So he says the earth is at rest, afterwards it reached a state of being quiet. In the third stage it turned from a state of sorrow and turmoil to a state of joy, they broke forth into song, they began to sing, after the departure of Nevuchadnetzar.
"Even the cypresses rejoiced over you, the cedars of Levanon: since you lay down, no feller has come up against us." Even the cypresses and cedars of Levanon, they too rejoiced when they were rid of Nevuchadnetzar. Why? Because from now on no feller will come up against us. The Malbim explains it according to its plain meaning, that it refers to cypresses and cedars. Why? Because when there was a king who would go and conquer kingdoms, he would cut down forests in order to make with them a siege ramp. That is, a rampart, to make a place to set upon the wall in order to conquer the besieged country. Now that you will cease irritating kingdoms and cease conquering lands, then in effect you have become part of the green party. A few more trees will remain alive, a few more trees will not suffer, yes? So this is what he says, "even the cypresses rejoiced over you, the cedars of Levanon," they rejoice now, they have quiet, "since you lay down, no feller has come up against us." Since you lay down, the feller will not cut down the cedars in order to use them for his war needs. This is the explanation according to the plain meaning of the words. The Radak explains here more deeply. The Radak says that the cypresses and cedars of Levanon come to symbolize the people and come to symbolize the kings. The kings are the cypresses, the cedars of Levanon. He says the kings too rejoiced when the kingdom and dominion of Nevuchadnetzar perished. Even the kings and ministers whom he did not enslave personally, who works? The conquered people. But I, as a king, in any case the taxes are paid by the people. And in any case I am not supposed to serve the conquering king. I am only supposed to ensure that the taxes are paid to the conquering king, but I myself independently do not serve. He says even they rejoiced that he perished. Why? "No feller will come up against us." For all the time you are under threat. For if you do not act properly, then again he will come up against you, as was the case, for example, with Tzidkiyahu. Tzidkiyahu was under the hand of the kingdom of Bavel. And when he deviated from the way, then they came upon him to cut him off, to destroy him. And when you fall, then the kings too, the cedars of Levanon, the cypresses, they are the great ones, they too rejoiced. But he says, all this indeed here above on earth there is joy, there is tranquility, there is quiet. But in its place now he says, know, there has now been aroused, there has now been renewed turmoil and anger in another place. Where? To where Nevuchadnetzar has now gone.
"Sheol beneath is stirred up for you to meet you at your coming, it rouses for you the shades, all the leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations." Sheol was stirred up, the meaning is it came to anger when it heard that you were now arriving there. They inform it, they are about to receive the patient called Nevuchadnetzar, and Sheol begins to tremble. And this is what Chazal say, we will read it later in the Gemara, that those who descend to Dumah, the people of Gehinnom, began to be afraid that Nevuchadnetzar was coming there. That is, they feared he was coming to rule over them there too. Understand that Gehinnom was like Gan Eden next to Nevuchadnetzar. You understand, when Nevuchadnetzar came, they became stressed. They think you came there to destroy nations, to destroy kingdoms, so "Sheol beneath is stirred up for you to meet you at your coming," when they heard that you were about to arrive. "It rouses for you the shades, all the leaders of the earth." And then Sheol, out of its great fear when it hears that Nevuchadnetzar, there is a patient about to be admitted here, so Sheol begins to rouse from their slumber the shades, the giants, all the leaders. Who are these, the Malbim says? These are, as it were, the ministers in the parable, that there are some ministers sleeping an eternal sleep, and as it were he comes and wakes them, saying to them: gentlemen, prepare yourselves, there is about to be a war, Nevuchadnetzar is about to arrive here. As it were, Sheol becomes stressed that you are about to arrive there. And then "it raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations." All those kings of the nations who are in Sheol, he raises them from their thrones, they begin to leave, as it were, their throne of kingship, out of fear that Nevuchadnetzar is about to come. He says but all this will be only before you come. But when you come there and they see you, then their fear will cease.
"They all answer and say to you: you too have become weak like us, you have become comparable to us." They will think you came to establish a government there, they will think you came to rule there. But when they see that it is not so, then they will say to you "you too have become weak like us." Ah, we see that you too have become sick, that loss has taken hold of you, that illness has taken hold of you, like anyone composed of flesh and blood who has a state of illness, who has a state of loss. And if so, behold, you have become comparable to us. You too have become comparable, as it is written "he is compared to the beasts that perish," so you too have become comparable to a mortal. We thought you came to rule, it turns out you are admitted as an ordinary prisoner. So then we are at ease, we are not so alarmed. We thought you were some kind of god, for as we will see later he wanted to make himself a god, for someone who has some kind of supernal powers. If not, you too have become comparable to us; we thought you came to rule, it turns out you are admitted as an ordinary prisoner. Ah, so then we are at ease, we are not so alarmed.
"Your pride is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your lyres; beneath you maggots are spread out, and worms are your covering." "Your pride is brought down to Sheol," the meaning is the great arrogance that you had, and also "the sound of your lyres." What is "the sound of your lyres"? The Malbim says: these are the other kings, even though they went down to Sheol, and Sheol in fact expresses the grave, but they still remember their kingship, they sing to them songs of praise and glory in their kingdom. They remember them favorably. Look at Rabin, may his merit protect him, look how every year there are songs and hymns about him, praising and glorifying. And especially among all the Arab peoples, among all, there stand out all sorts of songs of praise and glory that they would sing to their leader, even a deceased leader they sang to him, what a cult there was for Stalin, Lenin, they sing to them songs of praise and glory even after their death. So he says, "your pride is brought down to Sheol," with the other kings they remember them with song and pluck their praise and glory on the lyre. But he says to him, with you it is not so; rather even the lyres with you have fallen silent, they will no longer mention your deeds. Rather "beneath you maggots are spread out." "And worms are your covering," and above you from above worms. Do not think you left here some memory that someone longs for you, remembering you favorably. Rather to Sheol descends both your pride and the sound of your lyres; the sound, from the language of noise, all the music of your lyres will no longer be remembered, it too will be silent, "beneath you maggots are spread out, and worms are your covering." There is an additional explanation that Rashi gives; he says "the sound of your lyres," he says it can also be explained from the language of nevalah (disgrace, abomination), like "he did a disgrace in Yisrael." "The sound of your nevalim," the meaning is the sons of disgrace, the doers of abomination among your armies. So "your pride is brought down to Sheol and the sound of your nevalim," also the disgraceful ones among your armies, they too were brought down to Sheol, they went down and descended together with you. The Malbim says that the difference between rimah (maggot) and toleah (worm) is that the worms that are inside a certain thing, say inside a fruit, before they emerge they are called rimah. After it begins to crawl and emerge from its place, it is written "and it bred worms and became foul." The worms come out upward and then "it bred worms and became foul." As it is written "a mortal is a maggot," "how much less a mortal, a maggot, and a son of man, a worm." The mortal is the small one, he is like a maggot, this is only at the beginning. And afterwards a son of man, this is the offspring born from a person, he is like a worm, for the worm is something that separates from the maggot. The maggot, as it were, will serve as his bedding, and the worm will cover him from above. And the maggot is also the foundation for the worm; as it were, the worm is what separates from the maggot; it is like the eggs are called rimah, we still use this expression today, when we want for example to look at spices where there is a kind of spider web, we call it rimah. But if we begin to see things already moving, that is already called worms. Rimah is the bedding from which the worms grow.
"How you have fallen from heaven, O shining one, son of dawn; you have been hewn down to the earth, you who laid low the nations." "How you have fallen from heaven, O shining one, son of dawn." The Malbim says: it is known that the ancient peoples would attribute the success of the kings to the stars. And they would say, how did he succeed? His star in the heavens is now strong, his star in the heavens shines upon him, casting its light upon him. And based on this he compares the star of Nevuchadnetzar, that as it were he has some star in the heavens which is his rising star, this is his star of success, he compares his star to the light of dawn. The light that begins to shine from the east, that this star at the beginning, when it starts to rise, there is no possibility of it descending. For dawn, there is no possibility of it going back after it began to rise. It begins to rise, it rises all the way up. He says: how you have fallen from heaven, O shining one, son of dawn? Heilel, the Malbim explains, heilel is from the language of hilah (halo, radiance). That is, the shimmering of dawn. How did it fall from heaven? For the shimmering of dawn, you are the morning star, the morning star only rises, it does not descend. So how did this heilel, this radiance, how did it fall from heaven? In the midst of success, at the height of success, how did you suddenly fall a sudden fall? "You have been hewn down to the earth, you who laid low the nations." How have you been hewn down to the earth, and suddenly he who laid low the nations, suddenly we see his light was divided, the Malbim says, on earth into many portions among various nations. What is the meaning of "who laid low the nations"? The meaning is that no absolute kingdom came that ruled over the entire world like the rule of Nevuchadnetzar. Rather, as it were, his kingdom was divided among many nations, into various kingdoms. But not a mighty and strong kingdom as Nevuchadnetzar had, rather "who laid low the nations," a weak kingdom, a feeble kingdom. And this is what is written in Daniel, "and when it arises his kingdom will be broken and divided to the four winds of heaven." "And not according to his dominion which he ruled." What is the meaning? That it will not be like the dominion of Nevuchadnetzar, which was one dominion over everything. Rather he sees a figure of four beasts, or four heads, which comes to symbolize that the one great kingdom will break apart into four smaller kingdoms. This is what he says, "you have been hewn down to the earth, you who laid low the nations," your kingdom will now be a weak kingdom that will spread out among several nations.
"And you said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north." And you had other plans. You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven." The Malbim says: in order to understand the matter well, we need to understand the conception that was accepted in their time. And these are the conceptions that were accepted in the Greek and Roman mythologies; they had conceptions that were accepted then and beliefs they believed in. The peoples of ancient times, the idol worshippers, believed that in fact the deities were divided into three classes. Lower ones, middle ones, and third ones. First, there are the stars. The stars are located above, they rule with the divine power, as it were. There are the gods who dwell in the air. These are the middle ones. And there is the third class, these are the sons of the gods. They dwell on the earth, on the high mountains, which are designated as the place of their rule. And in effect they are, as it were, a hierarchy above a hierarchy. Here there are the gods ruling on earth on the high mountains, above them in the air are the middle gods, and above them, higher up, are the stars who are the rulers from above, from whose power everything descends. And above all this, who is found? The God of gods. The gentiles believed in Hashem, blessed be He. Only they believed that Hashem, blessed be He, does not deal with us, He is the God of gods. From there there are the stars, there are the middle gods, and there are the sons of the gods found here in the mountains. But Hashem, no, He is the God of gods, there is no access to Him at all, as it were He does not deal with us, He is only in the great matters, not connected to us. And the Malbim says: since they would attribute divinity to their kings, where did we see this? A simple example is with Paroh, "the Nile is mine, and I made myself." He held that he was a god. So they would designate for him some star in the heavens, that this star has some great dominion, and as it were this star in the heavens, this king is influenced by it, he belongs to it, he is connected to it. Now, this king they would, as it were, seat among the lower sons of the gods, those we said sit in the mountains, which is the third level, those who sit in the mountains here on earth. And as it were they would say in their vanities that from the place where he is found, where? Among the mountains, where it is like where the sons of the gods are found, from there, as it were, he can ascend upward to the middle gods, and from there he can ascend to become a star in the heavens. The Malbim says: I will read his language to you: as is known in the mythology in our hands, the remnant of the studies of vanities and fantasies which the ancient days produced. Which the ancient peoples produced. Yes, all sorts of vanities and fantasies that this king fought with this one and loved that one and took his wife and became angry at him and then went out to war against him and killed his son and this... all sorts of vanities and nonsense, and they have entire mythologies, and they would tell these vanities to the peoples, and these peoples would believe in all this nonsense. And this is what he tells us here. Corresponding to his star in the heavens, that he boasted, as it were, that he would reach the heavens in order to raise his throne above all the stars of God, in order to rule there with great dominion, so he says: you said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will raise my throne." "And I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north." Where did all this begin? For the king is down below. The king boasted that he sits permanently on the mount of assembly. Where? We said among the mountains, who dwells there? There sit the sons of the gods. As it were he is in a place where they live a life of bliss, as it were he has no contact with human beings. And he boasted that from that mountain, where does he ascend? To the place of the gods themselves, which we said is in the air of the heavens, between them, between the sons of the gods who are in the mountains and the stars who are above. And this is what he boasted to say, "I will ascend upon the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." He thought that, as it were, from the sons of the gods found here in the mountains, on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north, from there, as it were, he can ascend upward to the middle gods, and from there he can ascend to become a star in the heavens.
He tells him: it is all fantasies. "But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit." He tells him: as opposed to what you think and imagine for yourself, know, you will be brought down to Sheol. You imagine that you will ascend from lowliness up to the heavens, and not only to the middle heavens as we explained, but that your kingdom will spread out up to the stars of God, as it were you will take rule over the entire world, he says: you will see that in both matters it will be the complete opposite. On the one hand he tells him, corresponding to the ascent to heaven, you will be brought down to Sheol. Corresponding to the spread to the ends of the earth, you think that you will have dominion over all like the stars of the heavens, he tells him: no, not only will it not be so, but your authority, your dominion will be very restricted. Where? To the far reaches of the pit. The most you will be able to reach is the bottom of the pit, not one cubit further than there and onward. No further.
"Those who see you will gaze at you, they will look intently at you: is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms?" Even those who are accustomed to seeing you, but now they will gaze at you and look intently at you. The Malbim says: what is the difference between gazing (hashgachah) and looking intently (hitbonenut)? The Malbim says: to glance is to look like this for a single second. To gaze is a fuller glance. It is to glance but in a way that observes more carefully. To look intently is already to truly examine the thing and see it well. So he says at first "those who see you will gaze at you," and afterwards they reach the point where they look intently at you. They say to themselves: wait, is this him? Is this him? Is this Nevuchadnetzar, the one I saw here? Is he so small, or does he only seem to me like Nevuchadnetzar? They look intently at you. "Is this the man who made the earth tremble? Who shook kingdoms?" Is this the man who made the whole earth tremble with the conquests he would carry out? And through the movement and oscillation he would create on earth he shook kingdoms?
"Who made the world like a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house for his prisoners." He made the place, the world, which is the inhabited place, he made it become desolate like a wilderness. And also its cities, note, the Malbim says, "its cities" means his own cities. Even his own cities, in his anger at all sorts of cities that did not fully obey his command, he would destroy them. "He did not open the house for his prisoners." His prisoners, even those who were imprisoned in jail, often within the jail they open his shackles. Within the jail so that he can move about freely. He says: no, not even at home did he open his prisoners' shackles. The shackles that were on their hands and on their feet, even within the jail he did not open the shackles of their hands. And behold, see, this one whom they so trembled and feared, this one who was so cruel, is this the man who shook kingdoms?
"All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in honor, each in his house." All the kings of the nations had, at their passing, two kinds of honor, two matters. First, in the quality of the burial. Meaning they laid them in their graves with great honor as befitting the law of kings. A dignified grave as befitting. Another matter, the place of burial. Where did they bury them? In their own place, where they lived. Each in his house, the graves of the kings that they prepared for themselves in their lifetime, a dignified place of burial. But you, on the other hand, "and you were cast out from your grave like a despised branch, clothed with the slain, pierced by the sword, those who go down to the stones of the pit, like a trampled corpse."