"Sing to Hashem a new song, His praise from the end of the earth. Those who go down to the sea and all that fills it, the islands and their inhabitants." Rashi says: "His praise from the end of the earth" means that against their will, when they see My might toward Israel, all the nations will acknowledge that I am God, that I possess power. They will all admit that only Hashem can do such things. What does "all" include? "All" includes even those who go down to the sea, meaning those who set sail in ships. What is "those who go down to the sea and all that fills it"? Look at the original interpretation Rashi offers. Rashi says "and all that fills it" refers to people who are settled in the sea itself, not on islands, for afterward he says "the islands and their inhabitants." So what is "the sea and all that fills it"? Rashi says: people who are settled in the sea, not on islands but within the water itself. Each one pours earth enough to make a house, and they travel from house to house by boat, such as the city of Venice. Do you hear? Venice in Italy. He is telling you people place earth and build a house upon it. Yes, and today, somewhere in Saudi Arabia or wherever it is, they even built an entire city on the water. Yes, so you understand there are situations where it is possible for you to be "the sea and all that fills it." Not merely those who go down to the sea in ships, but "all that fills it": you fill the sea and dwell there.
The Radak explains: what is "the sea and all that fills it"? He says "all that fills it" refers to the fish of the sea, which fill the sea. Will you say the fish of the sea will sing a new song? A fish is silent, how would it begin to sing? He says it is like the verse "and all the trees of the field shall clap hands." Do trees clap hands? Rather, the intent is to express in poetic language that, as it were, all of creation will praise and extol, so he says even the fish of the sea will sing. This is figurative language, and one should not take it literally.
The Malbim explains: come and see the difference between the wonders about which I inform you that Hashem will perform, what is called "new things I declare before they sprout," and the wonders I have already performed in the past. In the past, when Hashem revealed Himself, it was in the midst of the settled world. It was in Egypt, in Eretz Yisrael, and from there it spread to all the ends of the earth, and the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, became known throughout the entire world. But he says that in the future it will begin the opposite way. The miracles will be revealed all at once at the end of the earth, until from the end of the earth it comes to the center. From the desert, from the sea, from the islands, it will come to the settled world. Understand that something emanating from the settled world can much more easily spread to the ends of the earth. In contrast, something coming from the end of the earth, where there are few people, where most of the world is not found, that such a thing should be at the end of the earth, places where people are few, and from there become known within the center of the settled world, this shows something that made an enormous impression, that the few at the edge of the world can publicize it until its fame reaches the center of the settled world. This is what he says: in the future the miracles will be revealed from the end of the earth, and therefore "sing to Hashem a new song," for this song did not exist in the past. The song we sang, the Song of the Sea and all the songs we sang, were about a natural spreading from the center of the settled world to the ends of the earth. But here it is from the end of the earth to the center of the settled world, which is a wonder in itself, and therefore it is a new song, not the usual song. What is the reason for the new song? Because "His praise from the end of the earth." From where will His praise begin? From "those who go down to the sea and all that fills it," the ships that travel the sea. And not only the ships that come, for you might say perhaps they came from the settled world and the fame began there. No, he says, from "the islands and their inhabitants." Those who dwell on the islands are entirely separate from the settled world, and from them and from there His praises will come here and be publicized.
"Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages where Kedar dwells. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the mountaintops." This song, the new song that all will sing, praising Hashem for the miracles and wonders that the Holy One, blessed be He, will perform for us in the future redemption, "let the desert and its cities lift up." The desert and the mountains found there, again, these are places far from the settled world. And not only the cities in the desert, where you might say there is a gathering of people, a multitude of people because there are cities in the desert. He tells you they will begin to sing this song even in "the villages where Kedar dwells." The people of Kedar, the tents of Kedar, those who dwell in villages, "villages" meaning an unfortified place in the desert, not a city. This refers to far more isolated ones, some groups of Bedouin. They will sing the song of Hashem. You might say perhaps there is still some cluster of people there. He says more than that: "let the inhabitants of Sela sing." Each one alone, people who live among the rocks. Like some bin Laden living in a cave in some rock, they too will sing and praise the Creator. And from the tops of the high mountains they will shout to whom? To those who are below, they will tell them of the signs and wonders that Hashem performed. In simple terms, these will be signs and wonders that are not ordinary, not standard, that come from a central place and spread to the whole world, but rather signs and wonders that from all the world, from the edges, they will come and tell them, and from there it will reach the center of the settled world. Rashi explains that "the inhabitants of Sela" here refers to the dead who will come back to life. That is the meaning of "the inhabitants of Sela": one who was buried in a rock and will suddenly rise. "Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the mountaintops": those who rise in the resurrection of the dead will raise their voices from the mountaintops.
"Let them give glory to Hashem, and declare His praise in the islands." Let them give glory to Hashem, for through this the renewal of the world will be recognized, through this the providence of Hashem will be recognized. And then "declare His praise in the islands." Everyone, even in the distant islands, will recognize the oneness of Hashem, will recognize that Hashem overturns the natural order. This is what is written, "My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images," as we saw above. This is what he repeats here, "and declare His praise in the islands," so that all will recognize that there is none besides Him and that Hashem alone is God, "declare His praise in the islands."
And then, "Hashem will go forth like a mighty warrior, like a man of war He will stir up zeal. He will shout, yea, roar; He will prevail over His enemies." A verse we all know from the Days of Awe. "Hashem will go forth like a mighty warrior." The Malbim says: what is the difference between a mighty warrior and a man of war who stirs up zeal? A mighty warrior's strength is in his loins. He goes out to war himself, he is mighty, he has tremendous power. So Hashem will go forth like a mighty warrior. The man of war is not necessarily mighty, so what is he? He is skilled in the tactics of war. Nimble of hand, not necessarily strong, but he knows all the tactics. There is a man of war who does not fight himself, so what is he? He is a strategist. He knows how to organize the army for battle, he knows how to devise plans, from where to attack, he is a strategist, not a hands-on fighter. Such a person operates the army, and this is "like a man of war He will stir up zeal." A man of war who rouses the army, stirring their zeal against the enemy to go out and fight. He knows how to inspire them, how to rouse them, how to arrange them in the right way, this is "a man of war He will stir up zeal." What is the analogy? Just as the mighty warrior fights himself, so the Holy One, blessed be He, will appear in overturning nature and the order of things, meaning supernatural acts by His own power. And just as the man of war has complete control over the soldiers to arrange them as he wishes for battle, so too Hashem will arrange nature and the natural order so that everything will, as it were, complete and consent to His actions against the enemies, for Hashem has control over all the hidden powers of nature.
"He will shout, yea, roar; He will prevail over His enemies." "He will shout": the man of war sounds shouts of victory, and by this he strengthens the battalions. As is well known, when they want the battalion to advance against the enemy, they usually sound a battle cry, or the sound of horns, or trumpets, or cries, or drums. This creates something demonic and frightening, something terrible in the eyes of the enemy. Suddenly he hears a mighty noise, and it creates the impression of ten times the enemy's actual strength. They come in a vast quantity, that is the impression it creates. Regarding this, the way of the man of war was to sound the battle cry. How is it written there, "do not fear," of what should one not be afraid? When the Torah warns not to fear the enemies, of what should one not be afraid? Of all the horns, so says Rashi. They would sound the horns, and this created terror. Imagine now hundreds of shofarot being blown at once, it creates fear and terror. Do not fear all the horns, all the cries, all the alarm the enemy tries to instill. So here too he says, when Hashem comes against the nations, "He will shout, yea, roar." What is "He will roar"? "He will roar" means He will cause others to scream. He makes them scream, yes, a causative form. Hashem will cause the enemies to scream with cries of ruin. Hashem will terrify them with His stratagems, through which their hearts will melt, they will fear and be alarmed, and then "He will prevail over His enemies."
"I have long held My peace; I have kept silent, I have restrained Myself. Now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant together." Rashi explains "I have long held My peace": Rashi says this means that for many days I held My peace over the destruction of My House and I always kept silent. "I have long held My peace." "I have restrained Myself" means that until now I restrained Myself, and when a person restrains himself something troubles him inside. Until now My spirit has troubled Me, says Rashi. But Hashem says: enough, it will not always be so. From now, "like a woman in labor I will cry out." And not only that, "I will gasp and pant together." Like a woman giving birth, what happens at the time of birth? She screams and cries out, so Hashem says at the time of the birth of the redemption, "like a woman in labor I will cry out, I will gasp and pant together," to destroy all My enemies together. That is to say, all that he comes to tell us here: know that all you see now, dark matters as if the exile continues, as if there will be no redemption, he says: look at history. I spoke in advance and announced in advance the exile that would be in Egypt, and I announced the redemption, and so I fulfilled it. So too what I announce now, so too I will fulfill in the future. And if you see that "I have long held My peace," do not draw conclusions from this about the future. For the stage will arrive when this will cease, and then "like a woman in labor I will cry out, I will gasp and pant together," to destroy all My enemies.
The Malbim explains that this is phrased as a question. "Have I held My peace forever?" Have I from time immemorial held My peace, that now you think I will keep silent and restrain Myself? Just as I never held My peace but paid out vengeance to those who anger Me, so too now I will not be silent. Just as in the past I exacted punishment from Pharaoh, from the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, from the enemies, and from Titus, from the enemies who came against Israel, and I did not hold My peace, so too you need not worry that My present silence will be prolonged, for "have I held My peace forever?" Have you seen that I was silent in the past? Rather, he says to them, "like a woman in labor I will cry out." He describes to them how, as it were, the anger that accumulates in Hashem, in quotation marks, as it were, in His belly, is like a pregnant woman whose time to give birth arrives and she cries out loudly. And then she breathes very rapidly during labor, until the breath, which the Malbim says is the part a person exhales, "I will pant," which is the inhalation, the part a person draws inward, the air he takes in, this will be at high speed. When a person is panting, what happens? It is as if both what he exhales and what he inhales come at once. This is what is written "I will gasp," meaning "I will gasp and I will pant." The intent is that what I exhale and what I inhale will be together, out of the great urgency to act and exact punishment from the enemies, from the great inner pulse that will race within My heart, as it were, says the Holy One, blessed be He, I will cry out loudly, I will gasp and pant together in order to come and exact punishment from the enemies.
Let us note, it is written here "I have held My peace" (hechesheiti), and it is written here "I will keep silent" (acharish). The Malbim says: what is the difference between chashah and charash? What is the difference between these two verbs? The Malbim says: the verb lehachashot denotes the silence of a person who does not speak. He could speak, and he holds his peace. Macharish, in contrast, is a person who was asked a question and does not answer. Macharish is always a response to a question. The one keeping silent was supposed to answer and he keeps silent. The one holding his peace was supposed to speak and he holds his peace. Hechashah is when one should speak; lehacharish is when someone asks me a question and I do not answer. As it is written, "upon your walls, Yerushalayim, I have set watchmen, all day they shall not hold their peace." No one asked them anything, but they will not speak. "And the people kept silent and answered him not a word." When does one keep silent? When one does not answer. When a question is asked and you do not answer, the verb lehacharish always applies to this. The Malbim adds another point: the verb lehachashot is also an expression for a person who should perform an action and does not do it. He is called mechasheh. For example, "do you know that today Hashem takes your master from over you, and why do you hold your peace?" Who said this? To whom was it said? To the disciples of the prophets, when Eliyahu was about to ascend in a whirlwind to heaven. "And you hold your peace" means you do not perform any action. And why is this called lehachashot? Because it is the opposite of the expression chish. Chish means swift. Pa'al chish. And he mechasheh, meaning the opposite of swiftness, he abandons the action, he does not act. "And you hold your peace" means you do not perform any action. The same applies to one who should speak and does not speak, here too he abandons the action of speech. The same also when I want to say that the sea rested from its raging. How would we express this matter that the sea rested from its raging with this expression? "And their waves held their peace." Correct? What is the meaning of "held their peace"? They abandoned the action, they did not act and they dashed against the dry land, "and their waves held their peace." So lehachashot is to abandon the action, whether the action of speech, whether the deed, whether the raging of the sea. Charash, for example, or lehacharish, is from the term cheresh (deaf) of the ears, as though he does not hear. They spoke to him, they asked him, and he keeps silent. What is macharish? Like a deaf person, he does not answer.
And this is what he says here: for I never held My peace. And "I held My peace," we explained, means one who only stays silent and does not speak. This I never did, even in a matter that does not touch upon My honor. So now that it touches upon My honor, that they harm and desecrate the name of Heaven, which is then like a question, they are directing some statement toward Him, Hashem says: shall I keep silent? Shall I not answer this? Shall I not respond to this? And not only that, but what, shall I restrain Myself? For that is not merely keeping silent, as though they act against Hashem and Hashem keeps silent and does not respond. Rather, even more, shall I restrain Myself, meaning keep the force of silence within My belly and not let it out? Hashem says: no, rather "like a woman in labor I will cry out, I will gasp and pant together."
And how will this be expressed? "I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into islands, and dry up the pools." He gave us an example and description of a woman sitting on the birthstool crying out bitterly. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says, here, as it were, something is cooking inside, the child has been inside for many months, developing and preparing for its emergence, and then the stage will arrive when Hashem will no longer be silent but will raise His voice and exact punishment from the enemies. This actually expresses the birth. What is the birth here? The Malbim says: he describes with this, as it were, an earthquake, a volcano that emerges and erupts. And this, note, is now the analogue. The woman in labor is the parable. What is the analogue? What exactly happens inside a volcano? There are gases within the earth. There is boiling lava within the earth. And often, one who knows, before a volcano erupts, sometimes months in advance, hears strong tremors within the earth, hears sounds like explosions within the earth. This is what is called developing inside, like a woman in labor whose child grows in order to burst forth and come out. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: at a certain stage I will cry out like a woman in labor at the time of birth, and then those volcanoes will erupt and burst forth. And then "I will lay waste mountains and hills." It comes out, and when it comes out, he says "I will gasp and pant together." What did he say? The woman in labor has short breaths, both breathing and, meaning exhaling air and inhaling inward together out of the great speed. This too describes the action that occurs in a volcano. For in a volcano tremendous lava erupts and bursts outward, but air also enters. Because this must be so, for a vacuum is created. The moment mighty lava begins to pour out, he says then this is exactly the same action as "I will gasp and pant." Meaning it expels the boiling lava with those poisonous gases, and also "I will pant," meaning, excuse me, "I will pant," meaning it breathes in the air. That same action that occurs in a volcano, so says the Holy One, blessed be He, will emerge at the time of Hashem's wrath. And then "I will lay waste mountains and hills." Through this the mountain itself will be laid waste. What then will happen to everything found there? "All their vegetation I will dry up." One who knows, all the places where there was lava, everything dries up. Whoever will be in Teveria sees a great deal of basalt rock there. This basalt is a result of lava. All the places where there is lava, afterward, this is molten rock, afterward a kind of rock layer forms where nothing grows. This is what he says, "all their vegetation I will dry up." The vegetation will all dry up by the force of that lava and by the force of those poisonous gases found there. And through the mountain being ruined and falling into the valley, that mountain will shatter and fall into the valley, through this "I will turn rivers into islands." The river found below there, that boiling lava will come down, and then what happens to that river in a place where water should flow? It becomes an island. The river dried up, for there began here a tremendous flow of rock and stones emerging from that volcano, and they become an island within that river. The Malbim explains "and dry up the pools." What is "and dry up the pools"? The Malbim says: what is the difference between a river and a pool? A river flows. It is always from the term "and all the nations shall stream to it." Correct? What is "shall stream"? Shall flow. Nahar (river) is from the term of flowing. In contrast, an agam (pool) is a gathering of water. Water gathers in a certain place; if it is small it is a puddle, if it is large it is a pool, as opposed to a place where there is flowing. So the moment "I will turn rivers into islands," what becomes of the place that flowed, what becomes of that body of standing water? It becomes a pool. And this pool too I will dry up. It too will ultimately dry up. When will this be? When Hashem reveals His wrath against the nations.
"I will lead the blind by a way they knew not, in paths they knew not I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them, and rough places into level ground. These are the things I have done, and I have not forsaken them." And then the Holy One, blessed be He, says, the redemption of Israel will come. "I will lead the blind by a way they knew not." Who are these blind ones? This is the people of Israel. The people of Israel, who until now did not look toward Hashem, did not walk in the good way, are considered blind. And those blind ones, Rashi explains, I will lead them by a way they knew not, in paths they knew not I will guide them. And the darkness I will set before them as light, I will remove from them all the obstacles in order to lead them to the complete redemption. The Malbim explains: after we saw in the previous verse that Hashem will lay waste the mountains and hills, He will remove the mountains that impede walking on the straight road. As we saw, "every valley shall be lifted up," and we explained there that when they wish to return to the land there are valleys and there are mountains and it is hard to cross them, so the Holy One, blessed be He, will lift up the valleys and lower the mountains, that is, He will turn the place into level ground through which one can easily reach Eretz Yisrael. So after I remove the mountains, "I will lay waste mountains and hills" as we saw in the previous verse, he says even the blind will be able to direct himself along the way he walks. That is to say, when there is a rough road, a blind person cannot walk it. But if it is a straight road, a straight path, and the blind person knows the way, he can walk even in a place he cannot see, he can walk. But he says here it will not be so. "I will lead them by a way they knew not." And not only do they not know the main road, but they also do not know the small branches off the road, what is that called? That is called paths. "In paths they knew not I will guide them." And if they do not know the paths, all the more so the main road that they do not know, there Hashem says: I will guide them. And here even the blind will need guidance, for if you say the blind can walk in places he knows, but this is a way he does not know, this is "a way they knew not," this is "paths they knew not I will guide them." And do not think that I will only lead them by the hand, rather I will also guide them. What does "to guide" mean? If there is some machine that you do not know how to operate, I guide you how to operate the machine. Do you need me afterward? No, you can operate it yourself, I have guided you. The Malbim says: so too here. "I will guide them" means I will guide them how to be able to walk on their own without needing anyone to lead them. And the Malbim adds and says: there are three causes that can prevent a person from finding the right way. One cause is that he is blind. A blind person cannot see. Regarding this he says "I will lead the blind by a way." There is a second cause: he is not blind, he sees, thank God, but what will he do now with darkness? Night, darkness, gloom, he cannot see. Regarding this he says "I will make darkness into light before them." And the Malbim explains, the darkness into light, what is this? Since when does darkness become light? Is the darkness the cause of the light? He says yes, if you recall what happened at the Exodus from Egypt, this is exactly what happened there. The reality there was that the darkness for the Egyptians was itself the cause of light for Israel. So too at the Exodus, that same pillar of cloud that gave us light gave the Egyptians darkness. So that is to say, there is a situation where the darkness for the nations will be for the children of Israel in the nature of light. There is a third cause for a person to err in the way, for it may well be a time of light and it may well be that he is not blind, he sees well. But what will he do? The road is crooked. And then he, as it were, gets lost. Regarding this he adds and says "and rough places into level ground." If the road is crooked, akushah meaning not straight, like the teeth of the fox that are akushot, akushot meaning bent. If the road is not straight, then even the rough places I will make level for them, so that the road will be level and through this they will be able to walk securely. And regarding this he says "these are the things I have done, and I have not forsaken them." This refers back to what he said before, "have I held My peace forever?" Was I silent in the past? Have I held My peace forever, that now I will be silent? For these things I have done. All these things we have already experienced once. When? At the Exodus from Egypt. For there was a cloud that straightened the road for them, for Hashem guided them before them in a pillar of cloud by day and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. So all these things already existed, we have already seen them: "I will lead the blind by a way they knew not" we have already seen; "in paths they knew not I will guide them," "I will make darkness into light before them," "rough places into level ground," this we have already seen. So Hashem says: have I held My peace forever? Have I from time immemorial been silent, that now I will be silent? Just as then I did not forsake them, so too I will not forsake them now.