Chapter 44 of Yeshayahu continues the great campaign launched by the prophet against heretics and idolaters. In the passage before us, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, summons those who dispute Him to a debate, presenting before them a series of clear proofs of His existence, His unity, and His providence. Following the Malbim, we will see how from the world itself - from its existence, its order, and the unfolding of time - it is inescapable that there is one Creator, eternal, and there is none besides Him.
The Shard of Glass: A Designed Object Points to a Designer
Let us begin with a parable. A person finds a shard of glass on the ground, and someone comes along and explains to him: There must have been a massive explosion here. After all, what is glass? Melted sand. The explosion melted the sand, and that is how this shard was formed. The listener looks at him in bewilderment: Can't you see that this is part of a bottle? Can't you see the Coca-Cola logo stamped on it? And the other replies: No, no; take all the raw materials in this bottle to a laboratory, and you will find them on the moon as well, so why couldn't it have formed on its own? Surely no one would ever entertain such a notion, and anyone who suggested it would be deemed a fool.
And if we had found an intact glass, all the more so. And if we had found something more complex than a drinking glass - an electronic device, even a simple product like a car key fob, not a smartphone - would anyone dream that an explosion accidentally created an electric circuit? After all, mineral deposits, rubber, and whatever else are all present there, and yet no one would say such a thing. And why? For a simple reason: when you see something designed, it is a sign that it has a designer. It is impossible to argue against this proof.
The Creator's Wisdom in the Human Body
And when you look at the human body, it is the most intricately designed creation in all of nature. Scientists have still not finished investigating it, nor the harmony of its function. Even looking only at external features: the eye is housed within a socket, for woe to it if it were exposed - the slightest blow would destroy it. Above the eyes are eyebrows, so that if we sweat, salt will not enter the eye. The eye catches dust, and so there is a "wiper" that cleans it at regular intervals. And likewise the fingernails: imagine if the fingernail were on the other side of the finger, on the bottom rather than the top. Our entire lives would change; you would not even be able to turn a page. And if the hand had just slightly more or slightly less moisture, the simplest actions would be impossible: you would pick up an object, it would stick to your hand, and you would be unable to let go.
And all this is without even touching upon DNA and its complexity, the internal organs and the harmony between them, or the body's ability to fight off microbes and repel pathogens. This is immense proof that someone designed it. Where did this machine come from? What explosion could produce such a machine? If an explosion cannot even produce a shard of a Coke bottle, could an explosion produce a human being?
The Bedouin and the Big Bang
A Bedouin was once asked where everything came from, and in response to being told about the "Big Bang," an explosion, he said: If I saw your hand sticking out of your head, your leg coming out of your cheek, and your ear on your knee, I would say - an explosion must have happened here. But when I see you standing like this, so ordered and so handsome, what explosion? Could any explosion ever produce such things? How many explosions would you have to set off before something like this emerged?
The Creator is Greater than the Creation
The Malbim explains: this is the second proof. When you see something structured and orderly, by necessity someone arranged it; it is impossible to conceive of a reality so ordered without an Arranger. And once you must conclude that this reality was arranged by someone, it is impossible that this Arranger is not eternal, possessing immense power that transcends this reality. For if someone created reality, it indicates that he is higher than it. Who is wiser, man or the computer he created? Surely man; the computer is an inanimate tool. Even today, scientists have concluded that there are things a computer can never be taught: intuition, emotion. You can feed it data, and you can let it select among options, but how can you instill intuition? The same applies to translation: it will take light-years before a computer can translate a book the way a human being does. Have you ever seen a document translated by a computer? You need a great deal of guesswork to understand what it meant. A single word can have several entirely different meanings, and how much wisdom is needed to know which sense is intended here! Moreover, words are often written allegorically or poetically rather than literally. And if the one who made the computer is wiser than it, will the One who created man not be wiser than man? Surely He is a separate existence, far wiser and more transcendent than anything seen in creation. And as noted, this also necessitates that He be unique and solitary, for otherwise - who created Him? Thus, from observing an ordered world, one arrives at all the conclusions: that there is One, that He is eternal, and that there is none besides Him.
Verse 7: "And Who Is Like Me That He Can Call" - Three Proofs
וּמִי כָמוֹנִי יִקְרָא וְיַגִּידֶהָ וְיַעְרְכֶהָ לִי מִשּׂוּמִי עַם עוֹלָם וְאֹתִיּוֹת וַאֲשֶׁר תָּבֹאנָה יַגִּידוּ לָמוֹ׃ - "And who is like Me that can proclaim it, and tell it, and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming, and that shall come to pass, let them declare to them."
Whoever claims to be a god like Me - I will pose questions to him. First, "and declare it for Me, since I established an eternal people": let him tell Me from what is evident and visible, from the reality of the world and the nation within it, that there is necessarily no power other than Him, blessed be He. For someone created this nation, someone created this world. And this is the first proof, the philosophical proof we discussed: if we see reality before us, there is certainly a unified power that created it, for everything that exists in this world is not a necessary existent, and there must necessarily be a Necessary Existent who created everything.
Second, "and set it in order for Me." The Malbim notes: there are two expressions here, "and declare it" and "set it in order." "Set in order" (ya'archeha) comes from the root of an arranged, ordered matter - like a shulchan aruch, a set table. Do you not see that this world is orderly? Do you not see that it has enduring existence and clear stability? And what we have spoken of so far pertains only to man, and even regarding him we have not touched upon the barest fraction. Scientists say the exact same things about the entire creation.
If the sun were even slightly closer to us - and we are not speaking of hundreds of thousands of kilometers, but of mere kilometers - there would be unbearable heat here, and the entire world would dry up within decades and cease to exist. And if it were slightly farther away, the polar ice would cover the entire earth, we would live in an expanse of ice, and the world would revert to chaos. The same applies to the entire arrangement of celestial bodies: the gravitational pull on Earth is determined by the distance from other celestial bodies, and if we were closer to other planets, gravity would be disrupted. On the moon, gravity is one-sixth of what it is here, and therefore a person cannot function normally; he starts floating. Could you place a cup of tea on the table without gravity? Conversely, if gravity were heavier, a person would not be able to stand up at all, for gravity acts like the earth's magnetic pull, and if it were stronger, it would pin us to the ground. It turns out that our ability to rise and function stems from the Holy One, blessed be He, calibrating a precise measure of gravity.
The same is true with carbon dioxide and the composition of the air: if the air were slightly thinner, we would not be able to survive, like people climbing high mountains who cannot breathe; and if it were denser, it would likewise be uninhabitable. And photosynthesis, carried out by trees, which replenishes oxygen and allows man to breathe - the green lungs of the earth - someone designed this entire system. An explosion did not produce this reality. And this is "and set it in order for Me": the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I want to see who will tell Me that this set, orderly world came into being on its own, that all this design occurred without a Supreme Power.
The Third Proof: From Past, Present, and Future
Here the Malbim introduces a third proof, from time. You see that reality operates according to a specific order; you see how history is orchestrated; you see the actions of mankind and the reward and punishment that follow them; you see how the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts retribution from the people of Israel when they stray from the path, leading to exile. There is an order to creation. You see the Patriarchs of the world, and how twelve tribes descend from them, and from them six hundred thousand of Israel. You see that the world is moving toward a specific purpose, and that there is progress in the world. The very existence of the world and its order across generations - in terms of past, present, and future - also proves that there is a Supreme Power orchestrating everything.
And this is the conclusion of the verse: "and the things that are coming, and that shall come to pass, let them declare to them." What is meant by otiyot ("things that are coming")? The Malbim explains that it comes from the root ata, meaning to come, as in, "The watchman said: 'Morning comes (ata), and also night'" (Isaiah 21:12). And "that shall come to pass" (va'asher tavo'nah) also means coming. What, then, is the difference between the two? The Malbim explains that ata refers to an absolute arrival, something that has already materialized in practice and is right before your eyes, whereas ba refers to an arrival that is not yet actualized, things that are destined to occur. The future is difficult to prove, since you have not yet seen it; however, one can rely on the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, foretold events destined to happen, and some of them have already been fulfilled. This is decisive proof - behold, ata. And regarding what has not yet arrived, faith is called for: just as what Hashem has spoken until now has indeed come (ata), so too "shall come to pass" (tavo'nah) everything He foretold regarding the future. Thus, the ordered world on the one hand, and the Holy One, blessed be He, Who declares the end from the beginning on the other, prove that there is no power besides Him.
Verse 8: "Fear not, nor be afraid"
אַל תִּפְחֲדוּ וְאַל תִּרְהוּ הֲלֹא מֵאָז הִשְׁמַעְתִּיךָ וְהִגַּדְתִּי וְאַתֶּם עֵדָי הֲיֵשׁ אֱלוֹהַּ מִבַּלְעָדַי וְאֵין צוּר בַּל יָדָעְתִּי׃ - "Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not announced to you of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses: Is there a God beside Me? Yea, there is no Rock; I know not any."
Regarding the word tirhu ("be afraid"), Rashi comments: It has no parallel in Scripture. Incidentally, this expression is familiar to us from the Yamim Nora'im in one of its conjugations: ma'ayanai rohim ("my troubled thoughts"), which appears in the Viddui, seemingly that of Rav Nissim Gaon. Look for it on Yom Kippur and remember that we learned its source here.
Here it is worth mentioning the two approaches the early commentators used to interpret and translate words in Tanach. One approach is the concordance method: finding the word elsewhere in Scripture where its meaning is clear, and deducing that it bears the same meaning here. But the difficulty arises when a word has no other occurrences; then commentators attempt to compare it to similar words, and opinions differ on whether it genuinely shares the same root or is a distinct word. The second approach is contextual interpretation: having no other source from which to derive it, one reads the verse and interprets it according to context. Here, "fear not, nor be afraid (tirhu)" resonates naturally with "fear not, neither be dismayed (tira)."
Therefore, Rashi explains that this word has no parallel in Scripture, meaning we find no similar source anywhere in Tanach, and its interpretation is according to the context - like "do not shrink back" from making My Name known among the nations. From Rashi it appears that this is not like "do not fear," but like "do not be broken," from the language of shattering: "made without fear (chat)" means unbreakable, and "the bows of the mighty are broken (chattim)" means their bow is shattered. Thus, "do not fear and do not be dismayed (techat)" means do not be afraid and do not be broken. So too here: do not be broken from proclaiming My Name among the nations; do not hesitate to publicize the Name of Heaven before the peoples.
"Have I not announced it to you from of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses" - from the time of the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, where I revealed Myself and demonstrated that there is no god besides Me, for He opened seven heavens and seven levels for them and showed them that there is none else beside Him. And who can testify to this? The people of Israel. This is "and you are My witnesses." "Is there a god besides Me?" - for you yourselves saw that there is no power besides Hashem, blessed be He.
"And there is no rock (tzur) that I do not know" - "tzur" means strong, in the sense of powerful. One might have interpreted "that I do not know" as meaning that I am unfamiliar with it, but that is not Rashi's simple understanding. Rashi explains according to the Targum: "And there is no mighty one except him to whom strength was given from before Me" - there is no power in the world except for a power that received its strength from Me. That is, there is no possessor of power in the world whose strength did not come from Me and through Me. This is the meaning of "that I do not know" - in the sense of receiving power from Me, as in the verses "and I knew you by name," and "I knew you in the wilderness." If so, there is no power in creation of which you could say that reality exists because of it, but only because of Hashem, blessed be He.
The Malbim explains that here the prophet continues to confront the notions discussed earlier of the deniers who claimed that the Holy One, blessed be He, has limited power, that there exists something other than Him, and that He is not eternal. In the view of these deniers, He lacks the ability to perform wonders and overturn the laws of nature. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: Do not be afraid and do not be terrified (tirhu). According to the Malbim, "tirhu" stems from the root "raha," which interchanges with "ra'ah" - not in the sense of evil, but in the sense of a thought or notion (ra'ayon), meaning: do not let notions arise within you that lead to apprehension. "Have I not announced it to you from of old and declared it?" - at the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, I showed you that there is none else beside Him, and you yourselves can testify to the Divine Providence (hashgachah pratit) with which I guide you. For according to the deniers, Hashem does not have the capacity to supervise and act within creation, and therefore they claimed that even if He created the world, He is not involved in it - He created it and has no concern for what transpires. This is a denial of Judaism, for Judaism affirms that Hashem created the world and at every single moment watches over it, sustains it, and ensures that every creature receives according to its needs. And you are witnesses to this Divine Providence and to the wonders I performed with you. First, "Is there a god besides Me?" - against those who assert a duality, for you saw when I opened the seven realms above and below that there is none else beside Him. And second, "And there is no rock that I do not know" - against those who claim He is neither first nor last, but entered creation at a certain stage; He tells them: there was no power before Me and there will be none after Me that did not derive from My strength. And with this, He refutes their claims.
Pasuk 9: "The makers of idols are all vanity"
יֹצְרֵי פֶסֶל כֻּלָּם תֹּהוּ וַחֲמוּדֵיהֶם בַּל יוֹעִילוּ וְעֵדֵיהֶם הֵמָּה בַּל יִרְאוּ וּבַל יֵדְעוּ לְמַעַן יֵבֹשׁוּ׃ - The makers of idols are all vanity, and their precious things will not avail; and they are their own witnesses that they neither see nor know, so that they will be put to shame.
From here, the prophet turns to the arguments of the opposing side: not those who deny the existence of Hashem, but rather those who make a god out of an image and worship it.
Rashi explains: "And they are their own witnesses" - these are the idols, and they testify to the shame of their worshippers. That is, when you worship an idol and there is no response, you wait in vain until disappointed, and in the end you are left humiliated by the matter, for in doing so you reveal in whom you placed your trust: look how much you cried out to it and how much you prayed, yet it gave you nothing. "They neither see nor know" - the idols neither see nor know, and nevertheless people worship them, "so that they will be put to shame" - so that those who worship them will be ashamed. Look at what you worshipped, whom you took as a god: one who lacks the power even to help itself.
Radak explains: "The makers of idols" are the craftsmen who fashion the idol; "are all vanity" - their deeds are futile and worthless. "And their precious things" - the idols they love and cherish; "will not avail" - they bring them no benefit whatsoever. If so, why do you love something so much from which you derive no benefit? And if you ask how it is known that they are of no avail - "and they are their own witnesses," the idols themselves testify to this, for "they neither see nor know": you see that the idol is an inanimate object, it does not see, know, hear, or understand. And if it cannot help itself, will it help you? The proof is that you speak and it does nothing. "So that they will be put to shame" - that they will suffer humiliation from their worship.
Radak brings another explanation for "and they are their own witnesses": they testify about themselves that they have no power. How so? Burn the idol, smash the idol - can it defend itself? If it cannot protect itself, will it protect you? Thus, the proof of their utter helplessness, impotence, and complete lack of influence comes from the idols themselves.
And so said Gideon's father. Gideon's father had fattened a bull for seven years for idolatry, and at a certain point Gideon arose, slaughtered it, offered it as an elevation offering to Hashem, and destroyed the altar of Baal. The men of the city came to execute judgment upon him and kill him. His father said to them: Why should you contend with him? True, he dealt a severe blow to Baal, but you must give Baal the credit - let him take retribution for himself. "Yerubbaal," let the Baal contend with him. Will you execute judgment on Baal's behalf? Let Baal handle him. And the wonder is that they accepted the argument. And they are still waiting for Baal to awaken and shake off his slumber like one drunk on wine to claim his honor. This teaches how attached they were to Baal, or that they did not want to say anything else, as any other statement would have been regarded as heresy against Baal; therefore they said: Yes, let Baal handle him.
The Three Factions Among Idolaters
The Malbim explains that here the prophet debates the second group, those who deny Hashem's Divine Providence and consequently worship celestial bodies and engage in idolatry. Among them were three factions. One faction attributed divinity to the idol itself, believing that it possessed real power and that its form was exalted. Regarding them he says, "The fashioners of an idol are all futility" - those who breathed a divine form into it, as it were, their handiwork is futility. These are the most ignorant of all, for anyone who truly believes that a block of wood has power is caught up in utter, unthinkable nonsense and vanity.
The second faction, which formed the majority, believed that the idol had no intrinsic power, but served merely as a vessel and preparation to channel spiritual forces. This was the error in the Sin of the Golden Calf, and the error of those who fashioned talismans - all kinds of effigies fashioned from human skulls to draw down higher powers upon them. That is, they understood that higher powers exist - demons, spirits, or divine forces attributed to the stars - and believed that such power would rest upon the physical object they had crafted. This was an argument with far greater appeal, for indeed the Calf began to proclaim, "I am Hashem your God," through the higher spiritual power infused into it. According to their logic, the star is the one that desires this idol: "I worship the star, and because the star covets the statue - made in its likeness or in its honor - it channels influence into it, which then flows to me." Thus, they did not worship the statue itself, but used it as a conduit to derive benefit from the star.
Regarding this, Scripture says, "and their cherished things shall not profit" - you imagine that the stars covet the form you crafted, love it, and channel influence into it? You will derive no benefit from it whatsoever. "And their own witnesses" - in contrast to the People of Israel, who testify to Hashem's unity and power having witnessed the Revelation at Mount Sinai, here the idol worshipers bear witness regarding their idols that "they see not, nor know": they see nothing to watch over their worshipers, and they have no awareness of what occurs outside them or even within themselves. "That they may be ashamed" - through this, their witnesses, namely those who worship them, will be put to shame: Look at what you served! You went and worshiped an image into which you hoped to draw down higher powers, yet those higher powers neither know nor see anything that happens to you. Furthermore, as for "their cherished things" - the higher powers, stars, and spiritual influences do not covet the effigy you made, and therefore have no interest or motivation to do good to you on its account.
In summary:
In these verses, the Holy One, Blessed is He, presents the deniers with three proofs: from the very existence of the world - that there can be no reality without the Necessary Existent Who created it; from the wondrous order and design of the world - that something designed necessarily testifies to a Designer, and the Designer is far higher and more exalted than what is designed, and must be singular and eternal; and from time - from the prophecies that have already arrived ("ata") and those that "shall come" ("tavonah"), demonstrating that He declares the end from the beginning. The People of Israel are the witnesses to all of this, having seen at Mount Sinai that there is none besides Him, and having experienced Divine Providence firsthand. In contrast, regarding the idol worshipers, "their own witnesses are they": the idols themselves, which neither see nor know and cannot save even themselves, testify to the futility of this worship and to the shame of their worshipers - both those who regarded the idol as a deity, and those who saw it as a conduit to draw down celestial forces.