Chapter 29 in Yeshayahu follows directly from the parables presented at the end of the previous chapter. There we learned, "Does the plowman plow all day?" - plowing is not an end in itself, but preparation for sowing; likewise, "Bread corn is crushed" - to produce bread, the grain must be ground. Here the prophet comes to explain the meaning: the afflictions that come upon Israel are not an end in themselves, but plowing whose purpose is to sow in the heart of the nation the seed of faith in Hashem, the service of Hashem, and the love of Hashem. Once the afflictions have done their work and the people return in teshuvah - they will cease.
ה֚וֹי אֲרִיאֵ֣ל אֲרִיאֵ֔ל קִרְיַ֖ת חָנָ֣ה דָוִ֑ד סְפ֥וּ שָׁנָ֛ה עַל־שָׁנָ֖ה חַגִּ֥ים יִנְקֹֽפוּ׃ - "Woe, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts cycle through."
Rashi brings one explanation following Targum Yonatan: "Ariel" is the Altar, whose source is in the Book of Yechezkel, where it states, "And the Ariel shall be twelve [cubits long]" - the measurement of the Altar. And why is the Altar called Ariel, with the word aryeh (lion)? Chazal explain that the fire that descended from heaven lay upon the Altar like a lion. Another explanation in Chazal: Ariel is the Sanctuary (Heichal), for anyone looking at the Heichal from an aerial view sees that it is narrow from behind and broad in front - just like the form of a lion, which is narrow in the rear and broad in front.
The Malbim explains that the designation "Ariel" is used in various places in Tanach: sometimes as a term for mighty warriors ("he struck down the two Ariels of Moav"), sometimes as a term for the Altar, and sometimes as a designation for Jerusalem and the nation as a whole. Here, the Malbim says, Ariel is Jerusalem. The repetition "Ariel, Ariel" comes to teach two dimensions: one - the importance of Jerusalem in its own right; and the other - by virtue of it being the strength, might, and power of Israel. And this might also stems from their king, "the city where David encamped" - the city in which King David the righteous encamped. "Chana" here is from the root of encamping (chanayah), and has no connection to the proper name Chana.
In such a city, where people should have been absorbed in the fear of Hashem and His service, what did they do instead? "Add year to year" - they add year upon year and squander their time. Another year passes and another year, and what have you added in your service of Hashem? What have you gained during this time? Nothing. "Let the feasts cycle through" - another festival and another celebration that they invent for themselves, a party here and a celebration there. The Malbim explains the term nokeif: there is nokeif in the sense of striking or cutting off, as in "like the shaking (k'nokeif) of an olive tree," and related to this is nogeif; and there is nokeif in the sense of a cycle or circumference (hekeif). When it is said that they would beat the tree (nokfim), it means they would strip the branches surrounding it - a combination of encircling and cutting off or separating. Here, it refers to the cycle of days of feasting: one year rolls into another, one feast follows another, and what have you gained from all this spiritually?
וַהֲצִיקוֹתִי לַאֲרִיאֵל וְהָיְתָה תַאֲנִיָּה וַאֲנִיָּה וְהָיְתָה לִּי כַּאֲרִיאֵל׃ - "And I will distress Ariel, and there shall be mourning and sorrow; and she shall be to Me like Ariel."
"And I will distress" - anguish of the soul. And the entire purpose is "mourning and sorrow" (ta'aniyah va'aniyah), that they will complain and groan: they will groan from the magnitude of the troubles, and out of that, they will sigh in teshuvah over the deeds that brought these troubles upon them. The intention is not to torment Jerusalem for no reason, for just as plowing is not an end in itself but preparation for sowing, so too is the affliction. And when she mourns over her sins and her wicked deeds - "and she shall be to Me like Ariel," she will return to being as she is fitting to be, and as is hoped of her to be: Ariel.
וְחָנִיתִי כַדּוּר עָלָיִךְ וְצַרְתִּי עָלַיִךְ מֻצָּב וַהֲקִימֹתִי עָלַיִךְ מְצֻרֹת׃ - "And I will encamp against you round about, and I will lay siege against you with a mound, and I will raise siege works against you."
Here the prophet returns to the second parable, "bread corn is crushed," meaning that in order to produce bread, the grain must be ground. I will encamp around you with My hosts - I will send armies to surround Jerusalem; "and will lay siege against you with a mound" - there will be a siege, none going out and none coming in; and afterwards, "and I will raise siege works against you" to capture the city and trap them. "Kadur" comes from the idea of a circle, and the letter kaf is the kaf of comparison: like a dur, like a circle. Some commentators explain that dur relates to medurah (a bonfire), as a bonfire is round. Either way, the meaning is the same: a circular perimeter that surrounds and besieges Jerusalem.
וְשָׁפַלְתְּ מֵאֶרֶץ תְּדַבֵּרִי וּמֵעָפָר תִּשַּׁח אִמְרָתֵךְ וְהָיָה כְּאוֹב מֵאֶרֶץ קוֹלֵךְ וּמֵעָפָר אִמְרָתֵךְ תְּצַפְצֵף׃ - And you shall be brought low, speaking from the earth, and your speech shall sink down from the dust; and your voice shall be like that of a necromancer from the earth, and your speech shall chirp from the dust.
Jerusalem's condition will reach such a low point that she will speak, as it were, from deep within the earth, and her words will be heard from the dust. The imagery is that of a necromancer (ba'al ov): the sacred books explain that the ov would speak with a human voice as if coming from within the ground - not a clear voice, but a muffled voice, like an echo beneath the earth, and this is how the necromancer spoke when raising a spirit. And from here, from this verse, this is derived. It is, so to speak, not the speech of a living person but from the body of a corpse, and in the end, there will not even be speech, only a chirping like the chirping of a bird. All of this comes to convey that the people of Israel will reach the lowest possible state, down to the earth and down to the dust, like those who lick the dust.
Within the verse there is an exact progression. "And you shall be brought low" (ve-shafalt) - in terms of height, descending from high to low. "Shall sink down" (tishach) - in terms of posture, becoming bent over. And likewise regarding speech: the Malbim explains that amirah (saying) is weaker than dibur (speaking). Dibur is always forceful, as in "The man, the lord of the land, spoke (diber) harshly with us," which is why a leader is called a dabar - "There is one leader (dabar) for a generation, not two leaders for a generation," for he speaks forcefully, and if he were to speak softly, he could not lead the generation. In contrast, amirah is always gentle. Therefore, we find that when a person speaks in his heart, Scripture never says "va-yedaber belibo," but rather "va-yomer": "And Haman said in his heart," "And Esau said in his heart" - for a person always speaks softly to himself, and harshly to others. Therefore, the order of the verse is a descending order: first "from the earth you shall speak," then "from the dust your speech (imratech) shall sink down" - where there is only strength left for faint saying, and finally "from the dust your speech shall chirp" - where there will not even be strength to speak, only faint chirps.
וְהָיָה כְּאָבָק דַּק הֲמוֹן זָרָיִךְ וּכְמֹץ עֹבֵר הֲמוֹן עָרִיצִים וְהָיָה לְפֶתַע פִּתְאֹם׃ - And the multitude of your foes shall become like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff; and it shall happen in an instant, suddenly.
The Malbim explains: Dust is the breaking down of a composite entity into tiny particles, and in this it differs from chaff. First, chaff is merely the external waste - if one grinds wheat, it produces dust (flour dust), but chaff is not the wheat itself, only the outer husk. Second, chaff is "passing chaff," which the wind carries easily from place to place.
The meaning of the parable: The camp of Sennacherib, who are "and I will encamp in a circle against you, and will lay siege against you with a mound" - they will surround Jerusalem, but know that they will become like fine dust that is scattered. "And the multitude of the ruthless" - the surviving warriors, the king of Assyria himself and the ministers he brought with him who did not perish in the angel's plague, will be like passing chaff carried away to another place. For Sennacherib and his sons survived the angel's strike in the camp of Assyria, and ultimately his sons killed him - Esarhaddon and his brother - while he was prostrating before Nisroch his god. That Nisroch was a wooden beam from Noah's Ark, which he worshiped, and there in that place his sons slew him. Thus, there were two categories here: those who were turned into fine dust right where they stood, and those who, like passing chaff, were transported to another place and there fell in a single moment, in a single night, "in an instant, suddenly."
Seemingly, "in an instant, suddenly" (lefeta pit'om) is redundant, but the Malbim explains that there is a difference between them: Peta denotes the speed of the action, as in "And if in an instant (b'feta), without enmity, he pushed him"; while pit'om denotes time - that the action comes abruptly, without preparation. To explain: something may arrive sooner than expected, but once it arrives, it unfolds slowly - that is pit'om. And the reverse is also possible: it arrives at its expected time, but when it arrives, it happens in a single second - that is peta. When something both arrives ahead of time and occurs with tremendous speed, Scripture says "lefeta pit'om." This is what was said here regarding the death of the ruthless tyrants: both in terms of time, earlier than they anticipated, and in terms of the act itself - in a single moment.
מֵעִם ה' צְבָאוֹת תִּפָּקֵד בְּרַעַם וּבְרַעַשׁ וְקוֹל גָּדוֹל סוּפָה וּסְעָרָה וְלַהַב אֵשׁ אוֹכֵלָה׃ - She shall be visited from the Lord of Hosts with thunder and with earthquake and a great noise, storm and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
The decree upon the king of Assyria - that he would come to the gates of Jerusalem in the days of Chizkiyahu and an angel of Hashem would strike them down - is visited upon him from Hashem. The two matters mentioned earlier return here: "For Hashem shall rise up as in Mount Peratzim" - corresponding to the earthquake; "He shall be wroth as in the valley of Giv'on" - corresponding to the thunder, for at Giv'on hailstones rained down upon them from heaven and celestial thunders fought. Thus, there will be thunder from a supernal force above, and an earthquake from the earth below. Note that "ra'ash" everywhere in the sources means an earthquake, as in the expressions "at the time of the earthquake" and "the earthquake in Tzfat." "And a great noise" - this will not occur in secret, but with a mighty sound. And accompanying this will be storm and tempest with flames of fire, where the storm will kindle the flame, as stated above: "And the light of Israel shall become a fire," and a devouring fire will consume the Assyrian camp.
The Malbim adds that this alludes to the three camps seen by Eliyahu HaNavi. When Eliyahu went into the desert to the cave where Hashem had revealed Himself to Moshe, Hashem appeared to him there, after he had said, "For they have forsaken Your covenant," etc., and sent him to anoint Elisha. There, he saw wind, earthquake, and fire, followed by a still, small voice. The Malbim explains: Here all of these will be present - wind, earthquake, and fire - except that here there will be no still, small voice; rather, quite the opposite, "and a great noise": Hashem will thunder against them with His voice and subdue them with a tremendous, overpowering sound.
וְהָיָה כַּחֲלוֹם חֲזוֹן לַיְלָה הֲמוֹן כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם הַצֹּבְאִים עַל־אֲרִיאֵל וְכָל־צֹבֶיהָ וּמְצֹדָתָהּ וְהַמְּצִיקִים לָהּ׃ - And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her stronghold, and that distress her, shall be like a dream of a night vision.
Like a person who dreams and awakens in the morning, only to realize he experienced pure illusion rather than reality. In particular, the Malbim explains, a "night vision" is something produced solely by the imagination, what a person imagines at night, which not only lacks substance but does not even leave an impression upon the person. A genuine dream still leaves an impression; a person wakes from it shaken and deeply moved. But a vision stemming from mere fantasy leaves no impression at all by morning.
Notice how the verse precisely parallels everything stated above: "that fight against Ariel" corresponds to "And I will camp against you round about"; "and all that fight against her" corresponds to "and will lay siege against you with a mound"; "and her stronghold" corresponds to "and I will raise siege works against you"; "and that distress her" corresponds to "And I will distress Ariel." Everything the Holy One, blessed be He, announced He would do to awaken Israel - Assyria came and carried out completely. And what will be the outcome of all this?
וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר יַחֲלֹם הָרָעֵב וְהִנֵּה אוֹכֵל וְהֵקִיץ וְרֵיקָה נַפְשׁוֹ וְכַאֲשֶׁר יַחֲלֹם הַצָּמֵא וְהִנֵּה שֹׁתֶה וְהֵקִיץ וְהִנֵּה עָיֵף וְנַפְשׁוֹ שׁוֹקֵקָה כֵּן יִהְיֶה הֲמוֹן כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם הַצֹּבְאִים עַל־הַר צִיּוֹן׃ - And it shall be as when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and his soul longs; so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against Mount Zion.
The hungry man dreams that he is eating even though days have passed without food entering his mouth, and when he awakes, his soul is empty. And the thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, and when he awakes, behold, he is faint and his soul longs. What is the difference between "his soul is empty" and "his soul longs"? The Malbim explains: People suffering from starvation or extreme thirst naturally dream that they are eating and drinking, for a person dreams only of the thoughts of his heart and that which his soul desires. Yet there is a difference between hunger and thirst. When a person is intensely starved, his body's natural heat rises - this is the meaning of "wasted with hunger" [mezei ra'av] - and his stomach loses its appetite. A stage arrives where he is weak and faint, yet he no longer feels hunger. This is what those who observe a ta'anit hafsakah (a continuous six-day fast without eating or drinking) say: the second day is the hardest, and afterward it becomes easier, because the stomach no longer demands food even though the body needs it. The sensation of hunger occurs mainly at the beginning; over time it subsides, leaving only physical weakness. This is the meaning of "he awakes, and his soul is empty" - his soul is empty, but it is not longing; he has no appetite for food. The Malbim defines this: "The fever nourishes the body" - the fever is the internal heat, and as is well known, sick people with a fever lose their appetite.
But with thirst, the reality is different. A feverish patient is extremely thirsty, and notice that sick people constantly ask to drink and feel parched - for while fever "nourishes" the body against hunger, it does not nourish it with hydration. Therefore, regarding the thirsty man it says, "he awakes, and behold, he is faint" - his body is exhausted just like that of the hungry man - "and his soul longs," for he genuinely craves water. Thus, the hungry man wakes up and sees that he received nothing, whereas the thirsty man not only received nothing, but came out at a deficit: now his soul yearns intensely; he saw water in his dream yet could not reach it.
And why were two parables necessary? Because there are two distinct applications here. The multitude of nations brought by the king of Assyria to besiege Jerusalem are like the hungry man: the king of Assyria told them, "Come along; there is food, gold, silver, and wealth there; be my partners." They came, and after the great blow they returned just as they had come. A hungry man entered and a hungry man left; his condition did not worsen. But "as when a thirsty man dreams" - this refers to Assyria himself, who left thirstier than when he arrived: his entire army died there, one hundred and eighty-five thousand commanders of troops were struck down by the angel of Hashem, and Sancheiriv himself lost his kingdom and his sons murdered him. He thought to quench his thirst, and ended up even thirstier.
הִתְמַהְמְהוּ וּתְמָהוּ הִשְׁתַּעַשְׁעוּ וָשֹׁעוּ שָׁכְרוּ וְלֹא־יַיִן נָעוּ וְלֹא שֵׁכָר׃ - Hesitate and be astonished; look about and turn; they are drunk, but not from wine; they stagger, but not from strong drink.
This refers to the people of Yehudah who awoke in the morning and witnessed the downfall of Sancheriv. Until the night before there was a siege, and suddenly there was silence and stillness - the angel of death had paid a visit. At first, "they hesitated": they did not rush to approach, lest it was an ambush, lest the enemy went quiet so that they would draw near and then strike - just as the three lepers who were outside the city feared. Therefore, they approach slowly, checking that this is not a trap. And once they drew close - "and were astonished", standing stunned and unable to believe their eyes. Afterward, "they looked about and turned" - an expression of she'iyah, as in "And Hashem had regard (vayisha) for Hevel and his offering, but for Kayin and his offering He had no regard," meaning to pay attention and look. They turn there, step back a little, turn and look again - stepping closer and retreating, like someone who cannot believe or absorb the reality before him.
"They are drunk, but not from wine" - they see men lying like drunkards, for after several hearty gulps, a drunkard collapses like a corpse. At first, they do not yet know that an angel of Hashem smote them all. Therefore, as they approach the camp and see the corpses, they are baffled: they look as though they have been drinking - but where is the wine? No cause is visible. "They stagger, but not from strong drink" - they roll and lie like a drunkard in his vomit, yet they drank no liquor. They cannot fathom how the siege and the immense danger vanished overnight.
Beyond this first explanation (a term denoting turning and gazing), the Radak cites in the name of his father that the verse refers to false prophets who deceived the people with empty words which the people believed. In his view, "hishta'ash'u" derives from "and seal (ve'einav hasha) his eyes," which denotes plastering over and smoothness - just as the Targum renders "and I am a smooth man" as "gevar she'i'a," and similarly "lemish'i" means smooth. "Einav hasha" means plastering over the eye until the surface becomes smooth and the eye socket is gone. According to this: the false prophets "blinded themselves" (hishta'ash'u), and "blinded the people as well" (vasho'u), feeding them illusions and untruths. The Metzudat David offers a third explanation: "hishta'ash'u" - occupy yourselves with crying out; cry out bitterly over your plight and repent, from the root of shav'ah (a cry for help), that you should cry out to Hashem, blessed be He.
כִּי־נָסַךְ עֲלֵיכֶם ה' רוּחַ תַּרְדֵּמָה וַיְעַצֵּם אֶת־עֵינֵיכֶם אֶת־הַנְּבִיאִים וְאֶת־רָאשֵׁיכֶם הַחֹזִים כִּסָּה׃ - For Hashem has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; the prophets and your heads, the seers, He has covered.
Here the prophet begins his dispute with his contemporaries, who refused to believe the words of the prophets foretelling afflictions and exile. "Nasakh" is an expression of pouring out, as in "lehasekh raglav," the libation of wine (nisukh hayayin), and "filled with mixed drink" (mele mesekh). Hashem has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep - you are as if asleep, immersed in worldly vanities. This is like the words of the Rambam read before the shofar blasts: those who forget the truth amid the vanities of time are called "sleepers" - "Awake, sleepers, from your sleep!" Through this, "He has closed your eyes." And what is the difference between one who is asleep and one who shuts his eyes? The Malbim explains: one who falls asleep has his eyes closed loosely, whereas one who shuts them (otzem) closes them forcefully. Not only have you fallen asleep, but your eyes have been forcibly clamped shut, as it were.
Notice, however, the continuation: "The prophets and your heads, the seers, He has covered." The prophet rebukes them: How can you assume that this same spirit of deep sleep and blindness that grips you also covers the prophets and the seers who are your leaders? Because you are sunken in your own blindness, you are convinced that the prophet is blind as well - that the prophet, too, cannot see and cannot understand. Now he will prove to them just how mistaken they are.
וַתְּהִי לָכֶם חָזוּת הַכֹּל כְּדִבְרֵי הַסֵּפֶר הֶחָתוּם אֲשֶׁר־יִתְּנוּ אֹתוֹ אֶל־יוֹדֵעַ סֵפֶר לֵאמֹר קְרָא נָא־זֶה וְאָמַר לֹא אוּכַל כִּי חָתוּם הוּא׃ - And the vision of all has become to you like the words of a sealed book, which one gives to someone literate, saying, "Please read this," and he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
וְנִתַּן הַסֵּפֶר עַל אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדַע סֵפֶר לֵאמֹר קְרָא נָא־זֶה וְאָמַר לֹא יָדַעְתִּי סֵפֶר׃ - "And the book is given to one who does not know a book, saying, 'Pray, read this,' and he says, 'I do not know how to read.'"
Both Radak and the Malbim explain that "the vision of all" refers to the prophecy that the Holy One, blessed be He, sends, from the terminology of the vision (chazon) of His prophets. The prophets prophesy to you, yet to you it is like a sealed book. According to Radak: if the book is handed to someone who knows how to read, he will say, "I cannot, for it is sealed." And what was a sealed book? In their day, they would fold the letter, place wax upon it, and impress a seal into it (just as a notary still does today). Anyone who opens it breaks the seal and cannot restore it, and thus they would know that the letter had been opened. And why does he not read it? Because he does not want to read it. You have no interest in hearing the prophet's words, and so you say, "It is closed, I cannot" - for had you truly wanted to read, you would have opened it and read; you are simply seeking an excuse to be rid of it. Thus your wise men do not want to hear and do not want to understand. All the more so one who cannot read, whose pretext is readily prepared: "I do not know how to read" - even if you open it for me, I cannot read.
The Malbim examines this more deeply and reveals what the prophet is specifically coming to rebuke them for. You imagine that the Holy One, blessed be He, covered the prophets and your seers as well; you are convinced that prophecy is like a sealed book even to the prophet himself - he knows that Hashem sent him, but the explanation of the prophecy and the meaning of the message he does not understand. Even the prophet who carries the book and presents it to you has not read it himself. Based on this, you claim: give the letter to someone who is literate - that is, to the prophet himself - and say to him, "Pray, read this," explain to us what is written; and he will say, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
And the source of their error was that the prophets would receive the message in riddles. Only Moshe Rabbeinu perceived through the radiant glass (aspaklaria hame'ira), of whom it was said, "in a vision, and not in riddles." The other prophets, however, saw through riddles - "I see an almond branch," "I see a seething pot" - a riddle that the prophet must decipher. Yet, as has been explained, a prophet never errs in deciphering and understanding what was delivered to him. For if he could err, how would prophecy be superior to a dream? In a dream, too, several interpretations can be offered, whereas regarding prophecy we maintain that the matter is one hundred percent certain, while in a dream there is chaff mixed with the wheat. The greatest proof of this, as the Rambam notes, is the Binding of Yitzchak: the Holy One, blessed be He, told Avraham to bind his son. If it were possible to err in understanding the word of Hashem, how could a person go and slaughter his son? Perhaps you misunderstood, perhaps the command was not clear enough? We see from here that a prophet receives the clearest instructions and understands them, and it is impossible for him to err.
Rav Dessler adds that the possibility of error exists only during the very first experience of prophecy. An example is Shmuel, who at first did not know at all that Hashem was calling him, running to Eli each time; or Yaakov, who said, "Surely Hashem is in this place, and I did not know" - could a prophet truly not know? Rather, that was the beginning of his prophecy, and at first a prophet does not yet recognize the way Hashem reveals Himself to His prophets. Once he has become familiar, however, there is no possibility of error: although the message is delivered in a riddle, its explanation is also implanted in his heart, so that he knows what the message means.
Yet the people do not want to accept the message, so they claim: the prophet speaks in riddles, and he does not understand either; hand it to him to read, and he will say, "I cannot, it is sealed, I have no permission to open it." And if the prophet who is supposed to understand does not understand - "and the book is given to one who does not know a book" - how can we, the masses, simple people who are not literate, be expected to understand? In their eyes, this was a pretext to cast off the obligation of the message: prophecy is not binding, since the prophet himself does not understand what he is saying. This parallels what the magicians said to Nevuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel, when he refused to reveal his dream to them and demanded that they recount both the dream and its interpretation, and likewise regarding the writing on the wall, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, u-Farsin": "There is no man upon the earth who can declare the king's matter." Precisely so do these people argue: no one understands this prophecy, the wise do not understand and the prophet does not understand, so what do you want from us?
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲדֹנָי יַעַן כִּי נִגַּשׁ הָעָם הַזֶּה בְּפִיו וּבִשְׂפָתָיו כִּבְּדוּנִי וְלִבּוֹ רִחַק מִמֶּנִּי וַתְּהִי יִרְאָתָם אֹתִי מִצְוַת אֲנָשִׁים מְלֻמָּדָה׃ - "And the Lord said: Because this people drew near, with their mouth and with their lips did they honor Me, but their heart was removed far from Me, and their fear of Me was a commandment of men learned by rote."
The Malbim explains: these people believe that through such claims they are actually drawing close to Hashem. How so? They say: You claim that the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks to human beings on the level of human beings? How absurd! We revere and esteem the words of Hashem, blessed be He; Hashem's words are far beyond us, profound and wondrous to the point that we cannot comprehend them. You are the one disparaging Hashem's prophecy by claiming that everyone understands it. On the contrary, Hashem's words are exceedingly exalted, and we have no grasp of them. Thus, "with their mouth and with their lips did they honor Me" - by declaring that Hashem's words are exalted, they believe they are glorifying Him. But the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I know where this truly comes from - "but their heart was removed far from Me." In truth, he does not wish to fulfill what I command, and therefore he claims that Hashem's words are too exalted.
To what can this be compared? To a person who tells his son: go over to such-and-such a place, turn right, and bring me an item. The son replies: I didn't understand, Dad, say it again, it's far, it's hard, I don't understand. Yet he is an intelligent child - why did he suddenly become dense? Because he has no energy to go. Suddenly he does not understand what is wanted, suddenly he does not know how to get there, suddenly he has misgivings. A young girl once came home from kindergarten and said: "Abba, I don't like chocolate, I really don't like chocolate." When her father looked into it, it turned out that the teacher had punished her by withholding chocolate. He told her, "I was planning to give you chocolate" - and immediately she said: "No, I love chocolate!" A person who does not want something invents stories. And so it is here: "Hashem's words are exalted, who can comprehend them?" - all of it merely an excuse to avoid doing.
And how does the end of the verse connect to this, "and their fear of Me was a commandment of men learned by rote"? It fits beautifully. For if Hashem's words are beyond all grasp, then when someone comes to perform a mitzvah - can I, a creature formed of clay, understand the mitzvah? There is simply no room to understand Hashem's commandments. Consequently, when he performs the mitzvot, why does he do them? "Learned by rote": this is what my father did, and his father did so, and his father before him. That is "a commandment of men learned by rote" - without delving into the mitzvah, without contemplating it, without the thought that one is giving satisfaction to Hashem, blessed be He. Yet the mitzvot do have reasons: tefillin on the arm corresponds to the heart, and tefillin on the head corresponds to the mind, in order to subjugate the desires that stem from the heart and the thoughts that stem from the mind. But these people, from the moment they declared that Hashem's words are beyond us and cannot be grasped, perform all their mitzvot devoid of meaning, purely out of habit. Certainly one must know that the reasons we perceive are earthly reasons, while the true reasons belong to the realm of the hidden Torah and are infinitely higher; yet when a person asserts, "It is impossible to understand, and therefore I perform it as one who does not understand," he is essentially saying that he does not want to fulfill Hashem's commandments, and that he does so only because he has no choice, simply because his father did so.
לָכֵן הִנְנִי יוֹסִף לְהַפְלִיא אֶת־הָעָם־הַזֶּה הַפְלֵא וָפֶלֶא וְאָבְדָה חָכְמַת חֲכָמָיו וּבִינַת נְבֹנָיו תִּסְתַּתָּר׃ - Therefore, behold, I will continue to perform wondrous deeds with this people, a wonder and a marvel; and the wisdom of its wise men shall perish, and the understanding of its discerning men shall be hidden.
Rashi explains: I will continue to strike this people with wonder upon wonder. More precisely, this does not refer to a physical blow, but to a clogging of the heart - layer upon layer of concealment, blockage upon blockage. For we have already seen above, "Hashem has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep" and "He has closed your eyes," showing that they reached a state of blindness because they truly do not want to hear and do not want to accept, claiming that even the prophet does not understand what he is saying. Regarding this, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: their punishment is that an additional blockage will be placed upon their hearts.
Our Sages say regarding "and the wisdom of its wise men shall perish": the departure of the righteous and the sages of Israel is twice as grievous as the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. And from where do we know that it is twice as grievous? In all the curses in Mishneh Torah (Devarim) it says, "Hashem will make your plagues wondrous" - a single wonder; whereas here, where the wisdom of its wise men perishes, referring to the passing of the sages, it says "a wonder and a marvel" - wonder upon wonder, the most extraordinary of plagues. Hence, it is doubled and more grievous than the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash.
The Malbim explains this as measure for measure: just as they claim that the words of Hashem are wondrous, concealed, hidden, and beyond their grasp - so will I do to them. "Behold, I will continue to perform wondrous deeds" - I will continue to conceal everything from them until they grasp nothing at all, and even the matters that people normally understand and accept through wisdom will be lost to them. "And the understanding of its discerning men shall be hidden" - and what is the difference between *chochmah* (wisdom) and *binah* (understanding)? The Malbim explains this frequently in Sefer Mishlei: *chochmah* is what a person receives from others, what he learned from his teacher; *binah* is when a person delves deeply and contemplates the wisdom he received, drawing deductions in areas he was not explicitly taught, understanding one concept from another. The prophet says: both the wisdom they received regarding the reasons for the mitzvot will perish from them, and understanding itself will be hidden from them.
The Malbim concludes: in truth, they should have understood that when the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks to the nation, He does not speak according to the capacity of the Speaker, but according to the capacity of the listener. Just as a rebbe teaching in a Talmud Torah cannot speak at his own level, but must descend to the level of the children - for if he spoke at his own level, he would be dismissed after a week or two, since all the students would remain completely in the dark and no one would understand what he was saying. How much more so here: it is true that the Holy One, blessed be He, is exalted, elevated, and utterly wondrous, and all this is truth - but do you think He speaks to you according to His own exaltation and sublimity? From the moment He communicates with creatures formed of clay, He conveys things that are attainable to us, and does not address us with concepts beyond our grasp - like a teacher who connects with his students and instructs them according to the breadth of their hearts, not according to the breadth of his own.
The chapter opens with a rebuke to Jerusalem, "Ariel," the prominent and fortified city where David encamped, which, instead of growing in the service of Hashem, squanders its time from year to year and from feast to feast. Therefore, distress comes upon it - not as an end in itself, but as a plowing whose purpose is mourning and sorrow, a sigh of teshuvah, until it once again becomes "unto Me as Ariel." The prophet describes the siege and the descent to the dust, followed immediately by the turning of the wheel: the camp of Sancheriv will become like fine dust and passing chaff, visited with thunder, earthquake, and consuming fire, and the entire war will turn out to be like a dream of a night vision - the multitude will awaken empty like a hungry man dreaming of food, and Assyria itself will depart thirstier than it arrived. In the morning, the people of Judah will stand astonished and bewildered at the sight of the fallen, lying like drunks without wine. Yet the people refused to listen: a spirit of deep sleep was poured over them, and they assumed that even the prophets and seers were covered, that prophecy was a sealed book that no one could understand - all an excuse to evade the message. To this, the Holy One, blessed be He, responds that honoring Him with the mouth and lips while the heart is far away, serving Him purely out of rote habit, will bring a punishment of measure for measure: just as they deemed His words concealed and beyond grasp, so will their understanding be blocked and the wisdom of their wise men perish. And the simple truth they missed is that the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks to man according to the capacity of the listener, like a teacher who instructs his students according to the capacity of their hearts.