Introduction: A Chapter that Directly Continues the Previous One
Chapter 18 in Yeshayahu is interpreted by most commentators in one specific way: as a prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, a vision of the End of Days. However, the Malbim, who writes this at the conclusion of the chapter, disagrees and states: I do not explain it as they do. His approach is that all prophecies regarding the future era begin only from the days of Chizkiyahu onward, whereas here we are still prior to the reign of Chizkiyahu. Therefore, at this stage we do not yet have prophecies concerning Gog and Magog and the coming of Mashiach, and the entire chapter is a direct continuation of the preceding chapter.
As has been mentioned several times, the division into chapters is not of Jewish origin, but rather a Christian division. Therefore, one should not be swayed by the fact that "a new chapter begins" here; according to the Jewish division, chapter breaks carry no authoritative weight, and here, in the Malbim's view, this is a direct continuation of the preceding chapter.
"Ah, Land of Rustling Wings" - Explaining the Metaphor
הוֹי אֶרֶץ צִלְצַל כְּנָפָיִם אֲשֶׁר מֵעֵבֶר לְנַהֲרֵי־כוּשׁ׃ - "Ah, land of rustling wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush!"
In the previous chapter it was stated that there would be a "multitude of many nations," and those nations that came and overwhelmed Ephraim - the Ten Tribes - would be struck down by the Holy One, blessed be He. Now the prophet comes to explain the metaphor: who are those multitudes of many nations? It is the land beyond the rivers of Cush, the land of Ashur. And why is it called "of rustling wings" (tziltzal kenafayim)? Because many birds gathered there, as birds tend to flock in warm lands; others explain this designation as referring to ships with sails like wings. "Tziltzal" is also a species of locust, meaning they are likened to a swarm of locusts or a flock of birds.
Envoys and Messengers - The Mission of Ashur
הַשֹּׁלֵחַ בַּיָּם צִירִים וּבִכְלֵי־גֹמֶא עַל־פְּנֵי־מַיִם לְכוּ מַלְאָכִים קַלִּים אֶל־גּוֹי מְמֻשָּׁךְ וּמוֹרָט אֶל־עַם נוֹרָא מִן־הוּא וָהָלְאָה גּוֹי קַו־קָו וּמְבוּסָה אֲשֶׁר־בָּזְאוּ נְהָרִים אַרְצוֹ׃ - "That sends envoys by the sea, and in vessels of papyrus upon the waters: Go, swift messengers, to a nation dragged and plucked, to a people feared near and far, a nation measuring line by line and trodden down, whose land the rivers have despoiled!"
In this verse, the words seem barely connected at first glance, but the Malbim's approach brings clarity and order. "That sends envoys by the sea" - the king of Ashur sends emissaries to the people of Israel, placing them in reed vessels, papyrus skiffs that skim swiftly across the water.
The Malbim distinguishes here between a tzir (envoy) and a mal'ach (messenger). A mal'ach is a messenger sent simply to deliver a message, named for performing his task (melachah) - he is sent, carries out his mission, and returns home. A tzir, by contrast, is an envoy who goes and is obligated to return to his sender to deliver the reply, reporting on the final outcome. This also connects to the word tzir as the hinge upon which a door turns, swinging out and returning to the same place. Concerning this it is said, "A faithful envoy (tzir ne'eman) to those who send him" - faithful to bring back a response to his senders; and likewise, "and an envoy (tzir) is sent among the nations."
And what do these envoys say to Israel? You are a nation whose land has been portioned off with a measuring line (kav) - a kav is like a measuring cord - conquerors took your land, measured it, and divided it up, one taking this portion and another taking that portion. "And trodden down" (mevusah) - each conquered, annexed, trampled, and held fast to his portion. "Whose land the rivers have despoiled" - they have plundered even the rivers of your land.
From this comes the conclusion of the mission: You have no way of escape. What must you do? Send messengers, swift couriers, to the nation of Ashur - "Go, swift messengers, to a nation dragged and plucked." You are already in my hands, and you have no choice but to surrender and send messengers to me.
And who is this "nation dragged and shorn" (goy memushach u'morat)? "Dragged" (memushach) - a great nation whose territory extends far and wide; "and shorn" (morat) - whose sword is polished and honed, sharpened to come and take vengeance on anyone who refuses to do its bidding. "To a people feared from its beginning and onward" - a people of whom all mankind is terrified; from the place where it dwells and outward, everyone lives in mortal fear of it. This is precisely what Chizkiyahu was unwilling to do: to accept upon himself the yoke of the king of Assyria.
All Inhabitants of the World - A Mission to All Nations
כׇּל־יֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל וְשֹׁכְנֵי אָרֶץ כִּנְשֹׂא־נֵס הָרִים תִּרְאוּ וְכִתְקֹעַ שׁוֹפָר תִּשְׁמָעוּ׃ - All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you shall see; and when a shofar is sounded, you shall hear.
The emissaries of the king of Assyria declare that not only must the Jewish people surrender into his hands, but also all the inhabitants of the world at the far corners of the earth, and even the "dwellers of the earth" - those residing in unsettled regions, in tents in the wilderness. None of them will escape his grasp.
"When a banner is raised on the mountains, you shall see" - a banner (nes) is a tall pole atop which a flag is mounted. This was how armies went out to battle in ancient times, as depicted in ancient artwork: a standard-bearer marched at the head of the battle holding a high pole bearing the flag, so the army would know in which direction to advance. You will see the banner of war upon the mountains. And if that were not enough - "and when a shofar is sounded, you shall hear," the blast of the shofars that were sounded before the charge. For this reason, all inhabitants of the world must surrender to him. Thus, this mission was not directed to the people of Israel alone, but to all the nations.
Hashem's Response to Assyria: I Will Be Still and Look from My Dwelling Place
כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֵלַי אֶשְׁקֳטָה וְאַבִּיטָה בִמְכוֹנִי כְּחֹם צַח עֲלֵי־אוֹר כְּעָב טַל בְּחֹם קָצִיר׃ - For so Hashem said to me: I will be still and look from My dwelling place, like clear heat upon rain, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Now the prophet addresses Assyria and declares: The thoughts of Hashem, blessed be He, are not like your thoughts, nor are His plans like your plans. "I will be still" - at first I will remain quiet and permit you to destroy many nations and achieve numerous conquests, but do not imagine that I do not see. "And look from My dwelling place" - from My abode I will watch, as in "the place for Your dwelling which You made, Hashem; the Sanctuary, Hashem, which Your hands established." I will gaze upon Jerusalem and upon the Beis HaMikdash, ensuring that your evil does not cross into there; your plans of conquest will come to a halt there in Jerusalem, and your sword will never touch My Sanctuary.
"Like clear heat upon rain (or)" - like the heat that comes to dry up the rain ("or" here means rain), where after the rainfall, the scorching heat dries it up completely. "Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest" - and the exact opposite: at a time of harvest heat and drought, thick clouds arrive and bring down dew, and the moisture dispels the dryness and yields blessing.
The Malbim explains: Notice that the prophet selected two opposing phenomena here - on the one hand, the dryness that wipes out moisture, and on the other hand, the moisture that dispels dryness. What is the meaning of this? It is as though the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Assyria: I am performing two opposite actions. On the one hand, I am preparing you to chastise nations, investing in you the strength and might to conquer everyone; but on the other hand, I am guarding Chizkiyahu so that he will not be harmed by your hand.
Yet there is no contradiction here, for everything serves a single objective. For had the Holy One, blessed be He, rescued Chizkiyahu from a weak king, would the almighty power of Hashem have been clearly evident? Quite the contrary: specifically because I am preparing you and making you such a formidable monarch, so that ultimately, despite all your majesty, strength, and valor, you will arrive at Jerusalem and fall there - that downfall will be far greater. It turns out that both actions serve one ultimate purpose: that His Name be sanctified in the world. And regarding this it is said, "He magnifies the nations, and destroys them" - when the Holy One, blessed be He, elevates a nation to greatness, its subsequent ruin is all the more vast.
Severing the Sprigs - The Fate of Those Attached to Foreigners
כִּי־לִפְנֵי קָצִיר כְּתׇם־פֶּרַח וּבֹסֶר גֹּמֵל יִהְיֶה נִצָּה וְכָרַת הַזַּלְזַלִּים בַּמַּזְמֵרוֹת וְאֶת־הַנְּטִישׁוֹת הֵסִיר הֵתַז׃ - For before the harvest, when the bud is finished and the ripening grape becomes a blossom, He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives and remove and sever the spreading branches.
In the previous chapter, we were told that the children of Ephraim, the Ten Tribes, "planted foreign shoots": they allied themselves with the nations, intermarried with them, and introduced forbidden mixtures (kilayim) into the vineyard that the Holy One, blessed be He, had set aside for Himself. And the Holy One, blessed be He, declared that this nation would ultimately be swept away by an overflowing torrent - the rushing flood of the Assyrian army swept it away, left nothing behind, and exiled it among the nations.
And here he adds: even before the harvest ripens from that compound of foreign shoots they grafted - even before it reaches maturity, even if a blossom has already begun to bloom, and even if it sprouted and already produced fruit that is not yet fully ripe - "He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives." The Holy One, blessed be He, will prune the sprigs (zalzalim), which are the alien branches grafted into the holy vineyard, the foreign nations upon whom the tribe of Ephraim relied and with whom they intermarried.
What is the meaning of "when the bud is finished and the ripening grape becomes a blossom" (ketom perach u-boser gomel yihyeh nitzah)? The Malbim explains that in some trees, flowering precedes blossoming, as with almond trees and as said of Aaron's staff, "and it brought forth buds and produced blossoms" - first the flower and then the budding blossom. Here, Scripture speaks in this order: the completion of the flower followed by the budding blossom. In other trees, the reverse occurs: first it buds and then it flowers, as in "Israel shall blossom and bud." And "ripening unripe grapes" (boser gomel) - the ripening of boser refers to grapes that have not yet matured, as in the phrase, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes (boser), and the children's teeth are set on edge."
"The sprigs" (hazalzalim) - a word with no parallel in Tanach, appearing only this once here. According to the context, says the Malbim, it refers to the foreign branches that were smuggled in and grafted into the vineyard of the House of Israel. They are called zalzalim from the root meaning gluttonous (zolelim), seizing the moisture of the tree and sucking from it to sustain themselves; or from the root hazalah (dripping/draining), for they cause the sap and richness of the tree to drain away, as in "water shall flow (yizal) from his buckets," effectively plundering it for themselves. These sprigs He will cut off with pruning knives.
"And remove and sever the spreading branches" (ve'et hanetishot hesir hetaz) - the netishot are the branches that scatter and spread out abandoned across the field, like an army dispersed over the terrain; branches that have spread far and wide. And who are they? The Ten Tribes, who became like a grafted vine and assimilated among the nations. You became spread out across the field and mingled with the nations - therefore He will sever (hetaz) and cast you off to another land, exiling you and removing you from the Holy Land into the midst of those nations.
Food for Birds of Prey and Beasts
יֵעָזְבוּ יַחְדָּו לְעֵיט הָרִים וּלְבֶהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ וְקָץ עָלָיו הָעַיִט וְכׇל־בֶּהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ עָלָיו תֶּחֱרָף׃ - They shall be left together for the birds of prey of the mountains and for the beasts of the earth; the birds of prey shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
"They shall be left together" - they will be abandoned to the birds and the animals; in summer and in winter, all year round they will serve as food for them. "The bird of prey" (ha'ayit) is the raptor known by that name. As for "the beast of the earth" (behemat ha'aretz): some explain that this refers to wild beasts, because it is difficult to interpret literally as grazing animals (behemah), since domestic beasts do not eat flesh, whereas wild animals (chayot) do. Yet it is very likely, says the Malbim, that since the parable here deals with sprigs, with the branches of the tribe of Ephraim that will be consumed - and who eats branches? Not wild beasts, but grazing animals (behemot)! Therefore, Scripture used the term "beast of the earth." Although when speaking of human beings it would be more fitting to say food for wild beasts, since wild beasts devour humans and domestic animals do not, here the wording aligns with the parable. "The birds of prey shall summer upon them" - the bird of prey will spend the summer upon it, "and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them" - all the beasts of the earth will spend the winter eating its carcass.
A Tribute Brought to Hashem of Hosts - The Return of the Ten Tribes
בָּעֵת הַהִיא יוּבַל־שַׁי לַיהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת עַם מְמֻשָּׁךְ וּמוֹרָט וּמֵעַם נוֹרָא מִן־הוּא וָהָלְאָה גּוֹי קַו־קָו וּמְבוּסָה אֲשֶׁר בָּזְאוּ נְהָרִים אַרְצוֹ אֶל־מְקוֹם שֵׁם־יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת הַר־צִיּוֹן׃ - At that time, a tribute shall be brought to Hashem of Hosts from a people drawn out and scourged, and from a people fearsome from its inception and onwards, a nation meted out and downtrodden, whose land the rivers have despoiled, to the place of the Name of Hashem of Hosts, Mount Zion.
After the wicked among the people of Israel are cut off - referring to the Ten Tribes - "a tribute shall be brought to Hashem of Hosts." And who will bring the tribute? "A people drawn out and scourged" (am memushach u-morat) - this is Assyria, whose land is extended (meshuchah) over all lands and whose sword is sharpened and polished (memoretet). And from where will it be brought? "And from a people fearsome from its inception and onwards" - from the land of Assyria. And what will the tribute itself be? "A nation meted out and downtrodden" (goy kav-kav u-mevusah) - that nation upon whom a measuring line was drawn and whose land was partitioned by measure, and who was in a state of being trampled down, as explained above; namely, the people of Israel, the Ten Tribes. Assyria will bring them as a tribute to Hashem, blessed be He, meaning that they will return the Ten Tribes.
And if you ask: Didn't the Malbim maintain that these are not prophecies of the distant future, but rather prophecies that were already fulfilled in history? The Malbim answers: Indeed, for in the days of Chizkiyahu it is recorded that many from the Ten Tribes returned to Jerusalem to take shelter under Chizkiyahu's aegis, and in accordance with the words of Chazal, it was Yirmiyahu who brought them back. That is, Assyria was destined to permit the Ten Tribes to return. This is the meaning of "to the place of the Name of the Lord of Hosts, Mount Zion" - it is there that the Ten Tribes were destined to return, via that very people "drawn out and peeled," dispersed across the earth, who conquered many nations with a polished sword. That very empire would bring a tribute to Hashem: the Ten Tribes whom it was destined to repatriate.
In summary:
According to the Malbim's approach, this chapter is not a prophecy of the War of Gog and Magog, but rather a direct continuation of the preceding chapter, centering upon the king of Assyria. First, it describes the dispatch of emissaries and ambassadors from the land of "shadowing wings" beyond the rivers of Cush, demanding that Israel and all inhabitants of the world surrender to the nation "drawn out and peeled." Then the Holy One, blessed be He, responds: "I will be still and gaze upon My dwelling place" - I will allow Assyria to expand, yet I will protect Jerusalem; and these two seemingly opposite actions (like parching heat and like moistening dew) serve a single purpose: "He increases nations and destroys them," for the greater Assyria grows, the more colossal its downfall will be, thereby sanctifying the Name of Heaven. Later, the sprigs are cut down - the foreign branches that were grafted onto the vineyard of Israel - and the shoots are severed and hurled into exile, left as food for the birds of prey and the beasts of the earth. And in the end, the scene turns on its head: that very same mighty Assyria will bring a tribute to the Lord of Hosts at Mount Zion - the Ten Tribes returning to their land.