Sefer Yeshayahu chapter 28: "Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of those overcome by wine." "Woe to the crown of pride." The Malbim explains that the vision of this chapter and the next describes the troubles that befell the tribe of Yehuda through the king of Ashur, and its downfall in the end. Now, verses one through five speak about the ten tribes. Do you see? He describes Ephraim to us. Ephraim is one of the ten tribes, an expression for the ten tribes. Why did they call the ten tribes Ephraim? After all, they are ten tribes. "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone." They call them by the name Ephraim, right? "Is Ephraim a precious son to Me?" So the reason is: who was the first king of the ten tribes? Yeravam. From which tribe? Ephraim. That is why they were called Ephraim. As an inclusive name they were called Ephraim. There are other reasons too, but this is the simple one. So the Malbim says: first he tells you, come and see what happened to the ten tribes, and afterward he moves on to describe for us what happens with Yehuda, when in fact the main aim is from verse five onward, to describe what happens with Yehuda. But for that purpose he says: come and see what Hashem did to the tribe of Ephraim, and after that see what will befall the tribe of Yehuda.
The Malbim says: see that the kingdom of Ephraim has already ceased and been abolished. The kingdom of Ephraim was dissolved. But regarding the kingdom of Yehuda, the Holy One, blessed be He, still, as it were, has an expectation from them, there is hope that the kingdom of Yehuda will straighten out their ways. But he tells you this expectation was not realized, for they too strayed with wine, they too erred with strong drink, upon them too the cup will pass. That is to say, all the troubles that befell Ephraim, there will be no choice but to bring them upon Yehuda as well, for in fact through the very stumblings in which Ephraim failed, Yehuda ultimately failed too.
Now the Malbim explains: "Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim." The Malbim says: woe, behold, the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, what was their pride? In what did they take pride? In their kingdom. Why does he call it a crown of pride? The Malbim says: because it is not truly a crown of glory. There is a crown, which is what adorns the head, what is placed around the head, the crown which is a glory to him. But here he says it is not truly a crown of glory, rather it is a crown of pride. That is to say, there is a person to whom kingship is fitting, so kingship suits him, it is a glory to him. And there is a person to whom kingship is not fitting at all, some Gaddafi who rose and seized power by force, and kingship does not suit him in the least. And that is what he says: his kingship is only a crown of pride, out of arrogance he seized the kingship, but not because he was worthy, out of haughtiness, a spirit of imagination, the Malbim says, it is a lie.
"And the fading flower": their land was a very fat land, it grew choice fruits in the fattest of places, and he says that in the end it was a flower. The flower blossomed, but what came of it? This flower faded. "His glorious beauty," tzvi is also something splendid, something in which he took pride. "On the head of the fat valley," the Radak explains that he is describing here the tribe of Ephraim, how the tribe of Ephraim would delight in the good they had, and as a result their entire occupation was food and drink. In what were they occupied? Pleasures, the enjoyments of this world. They sought how... "the drunkards of Ephraim," first of all he calls them by a derogatory title because most of the time they were drunk, since they had abundant wine, they were occupied with food and drink and came to drunkenness, and through this they would vomit as drunkards do, and they were drawn after the pleasures of this world. And this is what it says in the Torah: "You grew fat, thick, gross, and forsook the God who made him," and this is exactly what happened with Ephraim.
And this is what Chazal say: "The wine of Perugita and the waters of Diomsit disposessed the ten tribes." The wine of Perugita is a special wine that was in a place called Perugita. There was there an exceedingly fine wine. The waters of Diomsit refers to streams, rivers, special waters that were in a place called Diomsit. Who arrived there? Rabbi Elazar ben Arach, right? Rabbi Elazar ben Arach thought his students would come after him, and afterward he forgot all his Torah. Where did he arrive? The waters of Diomsit. The Gemara says this is what finished off the ten tribes as well. So in simple terms, what caused their downfall? The pursuit of the desires of the world, they made their bellies their god.
And the prophet says to them: "Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim." That is, he says, they took pride, they made a crown out of pride, as if whoever has the greater ability and opportunity to boast is more praiseworthy. They would boast of their wealth, of their pleasures, and this is like a flower or a tree that is beautiful, but when the wind blows upon it, it fades, it falls to the ground, it becomes dust. He says: so too shall it be with the glorious beauty of Ephraim, the crown of their pride, this crown will not last long. It, that tzvi, that same thing, tzvi, who knows what it means in the Holy Tongue? In Aramaic, what does tzvi mean? Desire. Right, litzbot means tzvi, it means to want, a thing that a person desires. Something of "the beauty of his glory" means the special thing in which a person takes pride, that everyone wants, that everyone desires, like "it is the beauty of all lands." "Which is on the head of the fat valley," meaning the crown of pride and the flower of glory on the head of the fat valley, which means the choicest place, a place from which they would bring out oil, from so much oil that was there that they would pour on their heads, it was as if the valley was full of oil, and everyone would take oil from there. From the enormous abundance they had, those people had an enormous quantity of oil that was on the head of the fat valley, as if the oil filled the valley, filled the vale, everything full of oil, and the people there were constantly overcome by wine. As if the wine struck them, yes? Wine like hammers. "Overcome by wine," from so much being occupied all the time with the desires and pleasures of this world.
"Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, casting down to the earth with the hand." Now he will describe how their kingdom was taken from them. "Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one." Hashem has something mighty and strong. What is the meaning of mighty, what is the meaning of strong? The Malbim says: chazak (mighty) expresses great power. Chazak means something that overpowers and grows very strong. Amitz (strong), by contrast, indicates that the thing continues for a long time. And therefore it always goes together, chazak, be strong. But sometimes I can be strong for two minutes. They tell me no, ametz. Ametz means remain in this strength for a long time. That is the meaning of amitz. When you want to say a bond that is not easily undone, how do you say it? A firm (amitz) bond. Again, the same idea. The bond is tied and continues for a long time, it does not come undone easily. So chazak is strength for the moment, but he tells you ve'ametz, meaning this strength will last for a long time. So too it says here: "Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty overflowing waters."
The Malbim explains: it will be mighty like a storm of hail. A storm of hail means wind with hail, this wind, or rain with hail, breaks cedars. Sometimes hail can break; there was hail that broke car windshields for those who remember and also made dents in cars, from being like tennis balls, the hailstones. So there is a state of a storm of hail, it breaks cedars. And there is a destroying tempest (sa'ar ketev). Here "sa'ar" with a sin is like with a samech, from the expression of a stormy wind. A destroying wind, ketev. Ketev is from the expression of cutting, yes? Ketev, with a kuf, cuts everything from its place. Now if you combine them together, then it comes out that nothing will remain. Why? A storm of hail first breaks the cedars. Fine, but perhaps it broke and remained here. He says no, the destroying tempest will come and everything that was here it will sweep away and carry it all off from here. So in fact, they complement one another. There is a storm of hail here, and in the second stage there is a destroying tempest. And through this, "like a storm of mighty overflowing waters," it will be exceedingly strong, like a storm of mighty overflowing waters. The hail breaks but does not sweep away. But if a storm of waters comes after it, then they sweep everything away, carrying it far off.
And this is a parable meant to speak of the hail; the hail is in fact a parable for the killing and destruction that the men of Ashur wrought upon the children of Ephraim. And he likens it to a storm, that they exiled them to the river Gozan and to the mountains of Media. The river Gozan too expresses here a stream, a place of flooding. And now the Holy One, blessed be He, sent them off from there completely. This means, as we explained in the previous chapter, they are considered lost. Why? Because if it had only been breaking and a storm of ketev that cuts, then it could still be that they remained here. But no, there then came a storm of mighty waters that carried them off from here. So it is not a blow with them still here. They are broken but here. Rather, after breaking them here, then afterward mighty overflowing waters carried them off, swept them away and took them beyond the river Gozan, beyond the river Sambatyon, to places about which today we have in fact no knowledge whatsoever as to where they are. And this expresses the magnitude of the blow that the children of Ephraim absorbed.
"The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet." He ended the previous verse with "casting down to the earth with the hand." What is "casting down to the earth with the hand"? That first He cast down the crown of pride to the earth with His hand. This means, He removed the crown, the crown of pride is the crown that is upon the head of the king, the crown as it were of the head of the king, He brought it down to the earth. This expresses, as it were, the removal of the kingship. He removed the crown from him, cast it down to the earth with His hand, as if He removed the crown from him. In the second stage, "the crown of pride shall be trodden under feet." After He moved it and brought it down to the earth, so now in a lowly place, then "it shall be trodden under feet." He removed it from them completely, exiled them from the land. What does this mean? If sometimes I remove from one the crown of kingship, it could be that another will come and place it on his own head. What does this mean in the meaning? It means that they did not lose the kingdom, but rather the king of Ashur, let us say, came, brought the king down from here, humiliated him, and another king arose and reigned in his place. But if I say no, after they brought the crown down to the earth, this crown was trodden underfoot, what does this mean? That in fact no one else will ever reign here. And this in fact is what happened with the ten tribes. No replacement arose for them. With Yehuda there were several stages where He removed the king from them and appointed Tzidkiyahu and appointed other kings. But with Ephraim there was no such situation where they appointed someone else, but rather after He removed the crown from them to the earth, He trampled it, so that no one else arose to rule in their place.
The Malbim says: and this corresponds against the storm of hail and against the storm of mighty waters. Through the storm of hail, which is the parable for killing, a strong storm that brings down hail and kills and crushes everything, through this the crown of kingship fell. And afterward, through the storm of mighty waters, as we explained, which is what sweeps everything away after the breaking, this is a parable for the exile, which caused that "it shall be trodden under feet." It is impossible to return the kingship to another king, everyone was exiled. Chazal say that Sancheriv came upon Ephraim three times. On the first two occasions, they still had a remnant. The third time it was to be trodden underfoot until utterly destroyed, meaning that nothing remained of the tribe of Ephraim.
"And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be like a first-ripe fig before the summer, which, when he that sees it looks upon it, while it is yet in his hand, he swallows it up." After he describes for us how that crown of pride fell, he will now describe for us the downfall of the fading flower. The fading flower is now a parable for their land. The land, after all, we described as a place full of oil, a place full of wine, an abundant place. He says: come, see what happened to this place. First of all, it was a fading flower of his glorious beauty, as we explained, the thing that is the tzvi, the glory, the special thing that everyone wants, which is on the head of the fat valley, which we said was full of oil, "like a first-ripe fig before the summer." Like a fruit that ripens early, mevaker meaning bechor, that becomes a firstling, growing and completing itself even before the summer comes. And then when someone sees it, "which, when he that sees it looks upon it," so he sees here a fig full of unripe fruit, but he sees, ah, one special fruit that has already ripened and is ready, even before the summer, even before its time, it is already ready and ripe. "Which, when he that sees it looks upon it," even if he is not the owner, out of the greatness of his craving he comes and takes and picks it. It is a single fruit, thus among all the rest which are still unripe. And out of his great craving, since it is a fruit fresh in the season, there was none until now, this is the first one that grew, out of his great craving "while it is yet in his hand, he swallows it up." Even, even while it has only just reached his hand, even without chewing, he quickly puts it in. This is an expression meant to convey how great the craving for this fruit was, to the point that while it is still in his hand he swallows it, all at once, out of the preciousness of this special fruit. Thus he comes to describe those who inherited the people of Israel: first of all, who inherited them? Strangers inherited them. This is what he said, "which, when he that sees it looks upon it," even if he is not the owner, he is not the owner of the orchard, "when he that sees it looks upon it," the one who sees saw such a fig, such a special crop, referring to the land of Israel, to the place of the tribe of Ephraim, immediately he came and took it, and destroyed them while they were still rooted in their land, as when you say they still dwelled securely. And then "while it is yet in his hand, he swallows it up," he came and swallowed up those dwelling here and exiled them, and took all the spoil that was here in the land, all the special crops, all the special land that they had here.
Up to here he in fact describes for us what happened with the tribe of Ephraim. He says: behold, see, the fading flower crown of Ephraim, who were overcome by wine, they already, as we say, received their blow. Now come and see what happens with Yehuda. All this was an introduction to tell us what will happen with Yehuda. I want, perhaps, to add a small addition. There is here the expression "the fading flower of his glorious beauty." This expression is used a great deal as a figurative expression for Shabtai Tzvi, may the name of the wicked rot. That same Shabtai Tzvi, they want to refer to his name, so in order to mention his name in disgrace, to mention his name in a negative way, they call him "tzitz novel tzvi tifarto." A fading flower tzvi, yes? That he should be in the category of a fading flower. Or there are books that call him, does anyone know another expression they use for him? A broken tzvi. Good, a broken tzvi. From where, what is the source of this? Yes, the Mishna was, no, in Shabbat, "a bit of a broken tzvi for the house," yes? So here too they call him a broken tzvi, yes, that underwent breaking. And they produced a book against him to prove his falsehood and his emptiness, and they called the book "Tzitz Novel Tzvi." This is in verse four, yes? Here too on the same principle, on the same expression, they called him by this name as well, yes, may all the enemies of Hashem perish.
In this verse in fact the prophet tells them that the Holy One, blessed be He, to the remnant of His people, who are the remnant of His people? It means the kingdom of Yehuda, so Hashem will be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty. What is a diadem of beauty (tzefirat tifara)? In general what is the meaning of the word yitzpor? Does anyone know where yitzpor is written? No, tzefir izim (he-goat) is something else. It is written in Shoftim, in Shoftim chapter seven it is written there that when he gathered a great army for war, he said whoever is afraid, whoever is fearful and fainthearted let him return and yitzpor. At daybreak let him return and yitzpor. What does this mean? It means that in the morning he should go back to his home. What is yitzpor? There are several explanations there. Some say yitzpor is from tzafra, morning, meaning as soon as it is morning. But some explain "let him go and yitzpor from Mount Gilad," meaning he should make a circuit from Mount Gilad, that is the meaning of "let him go and yitzpor." So tzefira, like tzefirat tifara, means the glory, the crown that is placed on the head, something like the turban of the Ben Ish Chai, whoever has seen pictures, it is like a turban that you take and wrap around. There is the Ben Ish Chai, there is a place where he teaches how to do this, how you take and wrap it. This is called yitzpor. Yitzpor means to wrap around. "Let him go and yitzpor from Mount Gilad," let him go around Mount Gilad and return to his home. So therefore the turban too is called tzefirat tifara. The glory on his head was a tzefira, tzefira meaning a wrapping around. Or as it is written in the Mishna, the basket, whoever makes two tzefirot around its width. What are tzefirot around the width of the basket? It means that they would wrap around the barrel or the basket, that is the meaning of tzefira. So he says: on that day Hashem of Hosts will be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty, to whom? To the remnant of His people. After there will be a downfall of the kingdom of Ephraim, but the kingdom of Yehuda, the Holy One, blessed be He, will be for them a crown, will be for them a diadem of beauty.
"And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn back the battle to the gate." The Malbim says: the success of a nation depends on two things. First, that the king, the one who wears the crown, should render judgment between man and his fellow. And this is what he says, that Hashem will clothe them with a crown of glory. What is a crown of glory? A crown of glory for a spirit of judgment, so that by his spirit he may render judgment in righteousness. Second, the nation needs to have mighty men of valor, waging war, who can prevent the enemy from without from coming and harming them. So the rendering of judgment is the preservation of the nation's existence from within. The moment there is justice, there is judgment in the nation, there are foundations that can sustain the nation. And all is well and good, but if an enemy comes from without they will still be able to subdue the nation, therefore they need mighty men to guard the nation from an external enemy. And this is what he said: "and for a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people," what is the meaning of tzefira? We explained that it means the expression of surrounding, the Holy One, blessed be He, will be like a surrounding wall, and it will be in the category of "strength to them that turn back the battle to the gate." The Holy One, blessed be He, will shield them with strength so that they turn back the battle to the gate against the enemy who wants to come and destroy their land. So they will have existence, both in terms of internal strength, and this is with judgment, and in terms of external strength, and this is "strength to them that turn back the battle."
Such was the plan regarding Yehuda. But here the prophet will come and show us: come, see how, just as happened to Ephraim, as they went and deteriorated, strayed with wine as we explained, went after the desires and pleasures of this world and as a result were exiled, the prophet says there was much hope regarding Yehuda, but unfortunately the hopes were dashed, and so too, in exactly the same way, the deterioration of the kingdom of Yehuda began.
"But these also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are gone astray; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are gone astray through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." He says: come, see, the kingdom of Yehuda did not take a lesson from what happened to the kingdom of Ephraim. Behold, Ephraim were overcome by wine and see what happened to them, and so too with Yehuda they began little by little to deteriorate. At first "they erred through wine." To err is a mistake, a mistake is a small thing. And wine is considered something lesser than strong drink. In the second stage "through strong drink are gone astray." Wine is not enough for him, he needs Chivas Regal, he does not... Johnny Walker, he must have something in strong drink. But then it is no longer "erred." "Erred," as we explained, is the beginning of the mistake. After that "through strong drink are gone astray," this is already a complete mistake, a great mistake. And from this it deteriorated: "the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink." We would expect that the leaders at least, when they drink, do not lead. And here we see that the leaders erred. And this in fact says that they reached a state in which there is no direction at all for the people. For if the people err and the leaders are still sane, then that is wonderful. But if the leaders themselves go and err after the people, then who will lead them? This is what he comes and says: the priest and the prophet, those who were supposed to run the people, to lead the people, they too erred through strong drink. And to such an extent that he says, the prophet, now he will speak about the prophet, "they are swallowed up of wine." His power of prophecy was corrupted, his power of imagination which needs to be very developed was corrupted by the power of wine. And through this "they err in vision." That is, he was supposed to see visions, as the prophet is called the seer, to see visions of God, and they erred. They did not see visions of God, false burdens and delusions, says the Malbim. And the same thing happened to the priests as well. The priests "are gone astray through strong drink." It means they erred in ruling. And as a result, after all, "the lips of the priest should keep knowledge, and they should seek Torah from his mouth." Those who were the judges, those who were the magistrates, those who were the spiritual leaders of the people were the priests, for they had the time to sit and engage in Torah. Whereas the rest of the people were farmers, the rest of the people were merchants. So the priests, from them one expects to hear a matter of halacha, from them one expects to receive a ruling, after all, where was the Chamber of Hewn Stone? On the Temple Mount, right? There was the Chamber of Hewn Stone. There is the place from which ruling goes out. But he tells you: come, see, the priests too are gone astray through strong drink, and in the end "they stumble in judgment." "They stumble in judgment," Rashi explains, is from the expression of "weakness of the knees," or the expression of "puka," a stumbling block. It means they stumbled in judgment (peliliya). What is peliliya? Peliliya. Peliliya is a legal ruling, peliliya is judgment. Like "and he shall give as the judges (bifelilim) determine." So it comes out then that not only was the people in this same deterioration, but this deterioration penetrated up to the great ones. And the Malbim in fact explains that there is no redundancy here. "They are swallowed up of wine, they are gone astray through strong drink, they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." The Malbim explains that these are two parallel clauses of the verse. And there is here a reference both to the priest and to the prophet. So at first he says, the reference to the prophet: "they are swallowed up of wine," this is the prophets, "they err in vision." You see, I skipped "they are gone astray through strong drink," because here he already moves to the priests. So "they are swallowed up of wine, they err in vision," these are the prophets. After that he moves to speak about the priests. The priests "are gone astray through strong drink, they stumble in judgment." It means, as we explained, they perverted judgment as a result of strong drink, for after all it is written that a person who drank a revi'it of wine is forbidden to rule, forbidden to judge, forbidden to be in judgment. And as a result of this they stumbled, failed in issuing the ruling. The Radak brings another explanation in the name of "my father, of blessed memory," he explains what is "they err in vision"? He says: even in a matter visible to the eye. They ask him about the appearance of blood, is it pure or impure? This is a matter visible to the eye, as if you ask even a beginner, he tells you it is pure. He erred and declared it impure. Or impure, he erred and declared it pure. They would also ask him all kinds of questions that are visible to the eye, something anyone can see, it is evident, it is clear. From being so overcome by wine, they erred in vision, they err in vision, meaning even a matter that the one who sees immediately recognizes, even in this they came to error.
"For all tables are full of vomit and filth, so that there is no place clean." All their tables became full of vomit and filth, from their drunkenness. When a person drinks without limit, a point comes when the stomach begins to contract and, God have mercy, everything comes out. And they had no special place. You know, in Greece they had a special place after they finished drinking or finished eating, what would he do? It is done, the sack got full. There was a special place, with your pardon, they go and vomit everything and start over again. He returns, fills the sack once more. He says there they had no special place for this, so he would drink, drink, drink, until this drinker vomits everything. And then the tables became full of vomit and filth. What is "vomit and filth" (kei tzoa)? The Malbim explains it is like "vomit and filth." Like Reuven Shimon, which means Reuven and Shimon. So their tables became full of vomit and filth, and they would defile themselves everywhere openly. Rashi explains that their tables were of the sacrifices of the dead, meaning of idolatry, which is like vomit and filth. Thus Rashi explains. That is to say, not literally vomit and filth according to Rashi, but rather idolatry is considered like filth, as the Gemara says "say to it 'go out,'" yes? This is from the expression of filth, idolatry. "So that there is no place," which means something the mind cannot bear.
"Whom shall one teach knowledge? And whom shall one make to understand the message? Them that are weaned from the milk, them that are drawn from the breasts?" And then the prophet concludes and says: after I have rebuked them time after time, see what happened to Ephraim and they did not take a lesson, so now I ask, the priest, whom shall he teach knowledge? The prophet, whom shall he make to understand the message? After all, there is no one who wants to receive it. That is to say, even if there be a priest and a prophet who have not yet erred and not gone astray, they have still remained sane, but is there anyone to speak to? Is there anyone, whom shall one rebuke? For after all, whom shall the priest rebuke? Them that are weaned from the milk? Shall he teach knowledge to those weaned from the milk, people who are like infants, weaned from the milk, only just weaned from the milk? Whom shall he make to understand the message? Them that are drawn from the breasts, infants who have now been drawn from the breasts, meaning who have finished nursing? The Malbim explains that there is a difference between "weaned from the milk" and "drawn from the breasts." Since the infant who is "drawn from the breasts," meaning drawn from the breasts, which means he stopped nursing, is still not weaned from the milk. Because he still continues to eat butter of cattle, they would continue to give him cow's milk to drink and the like. The second stage, when he has grown a bit more, then he is also weaned from the milk. So he does not even drink milk, but rather only an adult occasionally, but it is not the essence of his food and drink. What he means to come and say is: the prophet has no one to rebuke, so what, does he need to speak with the infants? With them he can speak. With the grownups there is nothing to speak about.
"For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there." Clear? Almost. Let us explain. So this will appear again in verse thirteen, yes? So let us just try to understand what is written here. Let us explain first what the Metzudat David says, afterward we will see what the Malbim says. The Metzudat David says: because these people were so far from the commandments of Hashem, from all the pleasures they were pursuing, it was necessary to make safeguards for them. Since the safeguard is intended so that the person who approaches, what is a safeguard? It is a fence. It is intended so that the person who approaches should not touch the body of the prohibition, they needed to make a fence for him so that he would stop before, so that he would be restrained beforehand. So there is a need to make a precept, another precept, upon the precept of the Holy One, blessed be He. There is already a precept of the Holy One, blessed be He, they need to make for it another precept. Another command, another safeguard, so that he does not reach the prohibition itself. And that is not enough, for they also need for this precept, which is itself a distancing, another command, another distancing, so that he does not reach it, for if not he will reach the first precept and from the first precept he already transgresses the command of Hashem. So a precept, they need to make for it a precept, and for this precept they also need to make a precept. This is what he says "precept upon precept," and after that, after you have already made a precept, you need for this precept once again a precept upon precept. You need to make for it another safeguard, another fence, also for the fence you made. The same thing with "line upon line, line upon line." What is the "line" (kav)? The Metzudat David explains: they had a way to check that the building is being built straight, what would they do? They would set up a weight. This weight was a string, how? A plumb bob. A plumb bob, such a weight with iron, with a point at the end, and thus they would know that they were building in a straight fashion. If not, then you immediately see that the building is crooked. So he says, they needed to make a safeguard which is in fact like this weight in order to guard against crookedness, but this weight is a parable, yes, for a safeguard, for a fence, he says but this is not enough, rather also for this they needed to make, not only line upon line that Hashem said, but also the line that you made, that is the safeguard you made, line upon line, also for this you need to make another line, another weight in order to guard so that they do not reach and transgress the first safeguard.
They can barely be made ready to learn the Torah of Hashem, he says it is heavy upon them, they need to teach him a little here, a little there, he says little by little, they are barely ready to hear. That is, see to what deterioration the people reached. This is the Metzudat David.
The Malbim explains: "precept upon precept," the Malbim says, meaning it is not enough that I commanded them once, I need to go back and command them a second time, and this is not enough but I also need to go back and command and go back and command yet another time. Precept upon precept, precept upon precept. According to the Malbim this is not a matter of safeguard and fence, but of commanding. The prophet needs to repeat the matters and go back and drill and go back and drill matters that have already been said and explained several times.
And this is a continuation of the previous verse, where he says: to whom do I need to explain? To infants? With whom am I speaking? With those weaned from the milk, drawn from the breasts? He says: I explain to them as one explains to a child. How does one explain to a child? Line upon line. When you want to explain something to him, you place a board before him and begin to draw for him on the board, you explain to him, here you see there is a line here and here is a line, he does not grasp abstract things. You need to make lines for him upon the board so that he will understand. And sometimes even this he does not understand, so I need to give another introduction for this and to draw the introduction too. That is, in order to simplify the matters even further. So this is what he says, line upon line, line upon line. It means even what I make for him with a line, this too I need to go back and draw a second time in order to explain it more.
And do not think that I come to explain many things together. What I explain, I tell you that I need to explain to them as to little children, this is "a little here, a little there." This means even when I explain to them small matters, a little here, a little there, as one learns with infants. You cannot give infants four hours of Gemara, four hours of Gemara. He is not capable. Half an hour of Gemara, half an hour of break, then after that half an hour a bit of Navi, a bit of Mishnayot. A little here, a little there. So he says: understand how I need to speak to this people, since it is impossible to speak with them about more than this. What deterioration the people reached.
"For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people." The Malbim explains: the prophet seems to them as if he speaks with stammering lips, meaning as if they do not understand his words. La'ag (mockery/stammer) and ileg (stammerer), the Malbim says are from the same root, it is like keves and kesev (lamb), salma and simla (garment), lahak and kahal (assembly), yes? So here too, la'ag and ileg are from the same idea. "Stammering lips" is like "stammerer's lips." "With stammering lips and another tongue." That is, the Malbim says, sometimes a person speaks in another tongue. What is "another tongue"? For example, he is Roman and he explains to him in Persian. He is Hungarian and he explains to him in Iraqi. This is called another tongue. So it could be that he speaks in an exceedingly pure language, at a high level, but the other does not understand. He does not understand because it is not his language, it is another tongue.
Sometimes it could be that he speaks in his own language. He is Iraqi and he speaks to him in Iraqi, but he speaks with stammering lips. It means his language is not clear. He garbles the words, he does not bring out the words properly from his mouth, and then through this the person does not understand what he is telling him. This is called "with stammering lips." Now what happens if both things combine together? Also another tongue, but, well, somehow I still try to grasp it, but the other tongue too he speaks with stammering lips. So if I still have some understanding of a few words in English, he garbles them, and then even the little I understand, this too I do not understand. And this is what he says: "for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people." This means, it seems to them as if the prophet, who speaks in the Holy Tongue, in a clear and refined language, the Malbim says, it seems to them as one wants to say today, as if I spoke to him in Turkish. He does not understand at all what I am talking to him about, as if I speak to him in a foreign language, thus it seemed in their eyes.
"To whom he said, This is the rest, give rest to the weary; and this is the refreshing; yet they would not hear." He says: do not think that when he does not hear it is because he does not understand. He says, sometimes it happens that a person does not hear, and why? Because he does not want to hear. You demand of me, you demand of me things that require effort from me, require sacrifice from me, require me to afflict myself, require me to open the wallet. And so in fact I do not do these things, I do not listen to what you say because by nature it is hard for me to do what you ask, it is contrary to my nature. So he comes and says: behold, see, what will you say? That they do not listen to the matters because I asked for great things? I ask difficult things of them, therefore they say to him we do not hear what you say, we do not understand what you are talking about. Because they do not want to do it since it is hard for them. Says the prophet: come, see what did I ask of them? He said to them, "This is the rest," I told them, with this you will have rest, "and this is the refreshing," and with this you will have refreshing. What is the difference between rest (mano'ach) and refreshing (marge'a)? The Malbim says: the rest is for the body, the refreshing is for the soul. I told them, with this you will only have rest for your body and refreshing for your soul, only "give rest to the weary." A person who groans, yes, from those who oppress him, the weary one, give him rest. In simple terms, do not commit severe transgressions between man and his fellow. He says: even such simple things, it does not require sacrifice from you, it does not require effort from you, it does not demand of you afflictions, spending money, do not rob, do not oppress. And you will have with this rest for the body and refreshing for the soul. "Yet they would not hear." Even so they were not willing to hear. So do not say that it is because they do not understand what I say, for I have already explained that I explain to them in a simple manner, as one draws for a child. And do not say that it is because it is heavy upon them that they do not hear, for after all I asked of them the easiest things, not to rob and not to oppress.
"And the word of the Lord was to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." He says: but even though they do not want to hear the word of Hashem, in any case the word of Hashem will be to them, precept upon precept, command after command, warning after warning, time after time, I will explain to them and go back and explain to them, line upon line, I will draw for them and go back and draw for them. What does this help? After all, you see that in the end they do not listen. "That they might go, and fall backward." The Malbim says: a person who walks in error, he does not know that there is a stumbling block there, he walks forward. Because he is sure the way is correct. By contrast, a person who knows there is a stumbling block and nonetheless walks, this is called walking backward. He retreats backward. Since from the outset you know that this is not the place, the way is not there, forward is over there, so why do you walk here? That is to say, you deliberately want to walk backward. If I do not know, then I think forward is here. But the moment they know, this is a retreat backward. This is what he says, "that they might go, and fall backward." They will go deliberately to a place where there is a stumbling block, and then they will go backward, and through this they will have a breaking without remedy. That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, sends the prophets to them, this says it no longer helps, so why then is it beneficial? So that they be in the category of deliberate sinners. Do you hear? That is, so that you do not say I did not hear, behold, know that this is a prohibition, and now what are you doing, I want you to receive for this a punishment as a deliberate sinner. And then, even so, "and be snared and taken." The Malbim says: a stumbling block (michshol) is with a stone. A snare (mokesh) is a trapper's trap. What is the difference? A stumbling block is not necessarily something someone placed deliberately. There is a stone here, you walked, you stumbled. By contrast, a snare, someone set it for you. Someone dug a pit here so that you would be snared in it. From this comes also the expression mokshim (mines) that they place in the army, that they place in war. It means someone hid a snare for him. A snare is always something that was hidden for him. By contrast a stone, it could be that some stone simply remained here and he went and struck against it. So he says: the goal is "fall backward, and be broken," that they will have a breaking without remedy for their wound, "and snared, and taken," they will have a stumbling block with a stone of a snare, that will be in the category of a trapper's trap. That is, he comes and says, what a parable, the stumbling block is a parable for the sins they sin of themselves. And the snare is a parable for the prophets, the false prophets who would come and lead them astray. A person who stumbles of himself, that is a stumbling block, that is a stone. But if a prophet comes and leads you astray, then he in fact sets a trap for you, hides a trap for you. He places a snare for you deliberately. So they will have both this and that. So he says, is it worth it for you? Do not think that I will cease from rebuking you, I will rebuke you and in the end you will be punished as deliberate sinners.
"Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Yerushalayim." Since the Holy One, blessed be He, wants that in any case I should continue and warn, in any case I should continue and prophesy to you, even if you do not hear, so those scornful men, those who occupy themselves with scorn, you who rule over the people of Hashem in Yerushalayim the holy city, listen to the prophecy that I tell you now. And why do I call you scornful men? Because you said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with the grave we have made an agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." He will now explain what the scorn is that those people say. They say to him, "We have made a covenant with death, and with the grave we have made an agreement." The Malbim explains: death is here, as it were, in the parable, it is in fact in the category of a messenger. The grave and destruction (she'ol va'avadon) are the senders. What are she'ol va'avadon? A reference to Gehinnom, let us say for the matter. A place of she'ol and avadon. Who arrives there? All those who died and to whom punishment is due arrive there, they arrive at she'ol and avadon. She'ol and avadon, the Malbim says, are like those who cry "give, give" and are never satisfied. Like Shlomo Hamelech says, the leech, yes? "Two daughters, crying Give, give." So this is she'ol and avadon. Death is in fact their messenger. Who supplies the goods to she'ol and avadon so that they are always satisfied? It is death. So they say, we have made a covenant with death. Fine, I have a covenant that death will not harm me. Death will not injure me. But what will that help you? After all, you have she'ol and avadon, and she'ol and avadon are those who send death, death is only a messenger. He tells him do not worry, "with the grave we have made an agreement." We also have with the grave a sign with it that it will do us no evil. That is to say, neither with the messenger nor with the sender, neither with death which is the messenger nor with the sender which is she'ol and avadon, we are set with them. We made an agreement with them. "Agreement" (choze) is not in the meaning of today, today the meaning of choze is a contract. Here the meaning of choze is from the expression of a sign. And from the expression of a sign, it is like the expression of machaze, to show something. To mark something, this is called choze. So we have with it a sign that this is how it will be, we have made a covenant with death and with the grave we have made an agreement. And what does this agreement in fact say? "When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come to us." That is, not only will death not harm us and she'ol and avadon will not continue to demand our death, but also when the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come to us. Even if by chance some king passes through here going to another place, or some worldwide trouble, it will not reach us. It will not harm us. We have a covenant with death and we have an agreement with the grave, that all this will not injure us. "For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." This I will explain shortly. The Malbim beforehand says: what in fact is the meaning? Egypt is the parable for death. The wealth that is in the nation is the parable for she'ol. For in fact what brings people to us in order to come and conquer us? The fact that we have wealth. So our wealth is in fact a parable for what? It is a parable for she'ol, because it is the one that sends death. It brings Pharaoh here so that Pharaoh will fight against us. So that Pharaoh will harm us. For in fact, as we explained, death is Pharaoh, what draws him? What sends him? Our money. It draws him. It is in the category of she'ol that says to him come, come take, behold there is money here. And then they say, we have made a covenant with the king of Egypt. We are not afraid, we made a covenant with him. But what will you say? But still your money greatly entices him. The grave, death after all is only a messenger, the grave is the sender, your money still entices Pharaoh and says to him come, there is money here. They say to him we have nothing to worry about, with the grave too we made an agreement. For our wealth, this is the agreement for the fulfillment of the covenant, for we sent him our treasures, as we will see later in chapter thirty, "they will carry on the shoulder" and so on, their armies. It means, we have such an agreement that in this agreement we send him the money. So why should he come to us to conquer us if the money reaches him? So what is the worry? Egypt is death, it will not come. What are you worried about? But they send him, does your money tempt him? We already sent him our money. So we have nothing to worry about, we rely on the king of Egypt. And then also when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, even if there is some general flood that destroys lands, but it will not reach us, it shall not come to us. "For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." The Malbim says: what is the difference between falsehood (sheker) and lie (kazav)? The Malbim says: a kazav is true at its time, but it turns out to be false over time. Sheker, by contrast, from the first moment it is clearly false. And this too fits the language, for from what expression is kazav? Achzav (deceptive). "A deceptive stream (nachal achzav)." What is a deceptive stream? That is to say, it flows but it stops at a certain stage. This is a deceptive stream, right? So too kazav causes disappointment (achzava), because in the first stage there was still an expectation. There was an expectation. Sheker, by contrast, is false from the outset, from the outset there was no expectation of anything. But the kazav at first still seems like truth, but in the end it turns out that in the end it is disappointing. A hiding place (mistor), the Malbim says, is greater than a refuge (machse). That is, something in which you hide is greater than merely taking shelter in its shade. So he comes and says, the kazav will be for them as if a small sheltering in it. And the sheker, in which there is no substance at all, even at its time the sheker is not true as we explained, and they think that this will be for us a hiding place, truly a great concealment. This is truly the words of scorners. For after all the kazav, you might still say there is in it some small refuge, in the sheker after all there is no refuge at all. And they, as it were, in their words of scorn say do not worry, the sheker is what will be for us a hiding place and will protect us with great protection. What is the meaning? They trust in Egypt, they take shelter in it, and it wanted, as it were, to help them. That is, there was hope. There were plans, there was an expectation. But in the end it was like something deceptive. Like deceptive, it saved them nothing. They trusted in Ashur, they sent Ashur a tribute, a bribe. Ah, Ashur is already a hiding place. That is a great hiding place. But this was truly in the category of sheker. Why? Because immediately Ashur came and fought with them. Egypt was still deceptive, there was still some hope that it would protect us. There was still some expectation that we would still take shelter in it. But by contrast Ashur, already right from the start, after they came to terms with it and sent it the treasures, it came in order to conquer them.
On this verse there is a translation, Targum Yonatan. This verse, I am sure many recognize it from the lectures of Rav Amnon Yitzchak at the time after the Oslo Accords, so Rav Amnon Yitzchak would frequently mention this verse with the Targum. I will read you the Targum and feel a bit of current relevance. "Ari amarton, gezarna kayam im katola, ve'im mechabla avadna shelama." For you said, we made peace, we cut a treaty, we made a covenant with death. Who is "with death"? The PLO, right? It is the symbol of death. "And with the destroyer we made peace." With the terrorists we made peace. They brought him here from Tunis and made peace with them. What is the response? "A blow of the enemies, trembling shall come upon you like a rising stream." A blow will come upon you like an overflowing stream. In the Intifada. "That you say it shall not come upon us," that you say it shall not come upon us, that same blow of the enemy, no, we will make peace, we do not worry, it will be fine. "For we have set our trust in a lie and through falsehoods we have hidden ourselves." He says: after all you have set your trust in falsehood, yes, in a lie you are, as it were, protected, in whom do you take shelter? In one who is entirely falsehood and lie, for after all while he was making the agreement with them, he would go and say to his people we are working against them, we are deceiving them, this is an agreement of Quraysh, just a bit longer and we will destroy them, expel them. So this is what the prophet tells them: after all you, as it were, from the outset, already at the time of the agreement, already then you know that you are relying on falsehood. But what? For the sake of glory, to receive the Nobel Prize, to receive publicity, from the outset you go and make peace with terrorists when you know that you are making peace with falsehood.