Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 47, verse 1: "Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Bavel, sit on the ground with no throne, daughter of Kasdim, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate." Let us describe things briefly. As is known, Nevuchadnetzar ruled the world. After him his son Evil Merodach ruled. Afterward Belshatzar ruled. Belshatzar took out all the vessels, the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash, made a great feast, brought all his concubines and all his officers and declared: we are finished, seventy years of the Babylonian exile have passed, Am Yisrael was not redeemed, they will not be redeemed anymore. I no longer have anything to fear. He took out all the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash and made a feast with them. And then, that very night, a hand appeared, a piece of a hand, and wrote on the wall, the very place where he was holding the feast, the wall of the palace where he was sitting, a hand came out and wrote: Mene, Mene, Tekel, u'Pharsin. Whoever wishes can hear this on the disc about Sefer Daniel, where one can hear the whole story in full. He did not know the meaning of the matter, so they brought Daniel to him, who solved the riddle and told him: God has numbered your kingdom, and you have been weighed and found lacking, and therefore it will be divided, the Holy One, blessed be He, will cut off your kingdom. That very night Belshatzar the Babylonian was killed. That very night Belshatzar was killed by his servants. And as if that were not enough, that very night, following the tumult and everything that took place there, Madai and Paras arrived and conquered the land of Bavel. So the plundered daughter of Bavel, "happy is he who repays you," here she received her payment for what she inflicted upon Am Yisrael. The prophecy we will now read is a prophecy spoken in the wake of what happened with the kingdom of Bavel, in the wake of this downfall in which their king was killed and the kingdom itself was conquered by strangers. In the wake of this, this prophecy was spoken, and this is what we will now read.
"Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Bavel, sit on the ground with no throne, daughter of Kasdim, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate." Am Yisrael, as we saw in the previous prophecies, will rise from the dust, they will merit redemption. In contrast, you, daughter of Bavel, who were so lofty, come down and sit in the dust. The Malbim says he compares her to a princess whose forefathers were killed, and as a result she descends from the throne and sits in the dust to mourn, to lament their death. After the days of mourning have passed, she looks for the throne to return to it. Now she sat on the ground because she had to mourn, the days of mourning are over, she needs to return to her kingdom as the heir. But then she looks for the throne and cannot find it. What turns out? That while she sat mourning, at that very time the enemies plundered the land, the people, took everyone into captivity. And then they say to her: sit on the ground, do not rise from the ground but continue and sit on the ground, in the dust, virgin daughter of Bavel, sit on the ground with no throne, since no royal throne is to be found, because the entire kingdom, as we said, has already been plundered, already been conquered. And not only will you not sit on a royal throne, but they will also no longer call you tender and delicate. For now you will be compelled to do hard labor. Tender and delicate means pampered; there was a kingdom, there were officers and important people, it was beneath them to dirty their hands with hard tasks. You shall no longer be called tender and delicate. They will no longer call you tender and delicate; from now on you will go into exile and perform hard labor. This, says the Malbim, is the depiction of what happened to Bavel: Belshatzar's officers killed him, the land of Bavel was conquered, the daughter of Kasdim sat on the ground to grieve, to mourn the death of their king, the death of Belshatzar, and they thought that surely another king would arise for us, one king has died, may a new king live. And then it turned out that there was neither a king nor anything new; it turned out that the enemies came, destroyed the land, Koresh turned it into a place of desolation, and those who were the tender and delicate daughter of Kasdim became slaves.
"Take the millstones and grind flour, uncover your locks, bare the train, uncover the leg, cross rivers." "Take the millstones and grind flour." Rashi explains it simply: here we are speaking of a people going into exile, and the people going into exile, as is known, the enslaved people, sit in the pit behind the millstones. What did they do with Shimshon? Grinding at the mill. The labor of slaves, the labor of exiles, was grinding at the mill, which is the hardest labor of all. Millstones of stone that must be turned with enormous force; they would give this to oxen. They tie a beam, place it on the ox's head, and it begins to turn and grind at the mill. True, there the millstones were larger, but in any case this was considered among the hard and degrading tasks. So take the millstones and grind flour, prepare yourself, you now have hard work in your exile. "Uncover your locks" - let us perhaps explain the Malbim on "your locks." The Malbim says something is added here: the tender and delicate princess, not only has she nothing to eat. The Malbim explains "grind at the mill" not like Rashi that they will now take you out to slavery, but rather it means you will need to worry about your own livelihood. Whereas once you would receive fresh rolls, now they tell her: no, no, now go buy wheat, put it in the mill, start grinding. That is "grind at the mill." This does not come to negate Rashi's explanation, it simply follows a different explanation of what the prophet meant to tell her here. Another matter: you were not accustomed to labor, but know that from now on, "uncover your locks." Until now you had garments tied with many threads, with all sorts of fine weavings; untie them. And why? Because when a person does work, he does not work in his suit and coat and elegant clothing; he takes it all off, leaves his basic garments, and starts to work. So he says to her: uncover your locks, uncover, for "tzamah" is from the language of binding. We are today on a fast day. The Radak asks: why is it called "tzom" (fast), from what root is "tzom" named? He brings in the name of his father that "tzom" is from the language of "tzomet" (junction). What is a tzomet? A tzomet is a place where many paths converge. That is called a tzomet. A tzomet is a place where many paths converge. Therefore it is also called "tzomet ha'gidim," because it is a place where many sinews converge. That is called tzomet ha'gidim, a place where the sinews gather. And a fast day, as is known, says the Radak, was a day of assembly. A day when they would gather and pray to God. They bring out the ark to the town square, decree a fast, everyone gathers together. So "tzom" means gathering. Like tzomet, a gathering, when everyone would gather together to pray. So here too, "uncover your locks," according to the Malbim does not mean from the language of "braid" - though a braid is the same idea, gathering all the hairs to one place and binding them, also a language of gathering. Here he explains "your locks" as the language of garments that are tied, for "tzamah" is a language of binding, tying several things together. So uncover your locks, undo your elegant garments, take them off yourself, remain with the basic garments with which you can work, because until today you did not work; from today you will have to roll up your sleeves and start working. Another matter: "bare the train." The Malbim explains that "shovel" (train) refers to the legs, the bottom of the leg. As we say, the dress has a train behind it. What does this mean? There is something that drags and lengthens behind, that is the edge. "Shovel" is the edge. So the Malbim says "bare the train," you will also need to walk barefoot, as needed, according to the need of the work. So whereas before you were pampered, walking with special and magnificent shoes, prepare yourself, bare the train. Moreover, uncover the leg. You will also need to uncover your leg. And why? "Cross rivers." Since you are now going into exile and now you also need to cross rivers, so when crossing a river, what do you do? You lift the garments so they will not get wet. And consequently you will also need to uncover the leg. All this is a way of disgrace for that princess who was tender and delicate and now goes down from her lofty level to a lowly level.
"Your nakedness shall be uncovered, your shame shall also be seen; I will take vengeance and will not meet a man." "Your nakedness shall be uncovered," says the Malbim, this is also when she is not crossing the river. What does this mean? During her labor, so to speak, comparing her, as we said, to a princess, then during her labor her garments will tear and through this her shame will be seen. The Malbim says here the prophet is speaking his words, and in the midst of prophesying about Bavel he becomes stirred and begins now to describe the vengeance that the Holy One, blessed be He, will take from the kingdom of Bavel. "Your nakedness shall be uncovered, your shame shall also be seen; I will take vengeance and will not meet a man." What does "I will take vengeance and will not meet a man" mean? As Rashi explains, and so too explains the Malbim: I will not need to entreat a man; "pagoa" means to request. As in "entreat for me to Efron ben Tzochar" - request. "And do not entreat me" means do not request from me. Right? "And will not meet a man," I will not need from any man, to request from a man to carry out the vengeance for me, says the Holy One, blessed be He, I Myself will rise against them.
"Our Redeemer, Hashem Tzevakot is His name, the Holy One of Yisrael." Our Redeemer's name is Hashem Tzevakot. He is, after all, ruler over all the hosts. So does He need someone to carry out vengeance for Him? He carries out the vengeance Himself. He will fight our fight and does not need to ask any man to exact punishment from the daughter of Bavel.
"Sit silently and go into darkness, daughter of Kasdim, for you shall no longer be called mistress of kingdoms." After he describes her descent from wealth to poverty, now he will describe the descent from royalty to a state of lowliness. Like a ruling kingdom, now he says to her: do not expect that you will still have the greatness you had in the past. For a kingdom that had a king, all its days it will strive to return to power. It is a bug you cannot get rid of. Every person who was once a member of Knesset, a minister, tells you: listen, I hear the voice of the people's call summoning me at this time and demanding that I return. As for me, what do I need this trouble for, leave me alone, but what can I do? The people are pressing. They simply cannot manage without me. I understand them, truly I understand them, but but but one must take the feelings of the people into account. The Gemara already brings this - no, no, we are joking, but the Gemara brings this regarding one of the sages who said that if someone wanted to make me, to appoint me as a sage, to appoint me as head of the yeshiva, he says I would have thrown a kettle of hot water at him. And now, after they have already appointed me, whoever wants to remove me, he says, woe unto him, what I would do to him. Do you understand? That is to say, before you have tasted it, touched it, you do not want it, what do I need this headache for. But after you have touched it, try to get rid of it. This is what he says here. He says: behold, you think perhaps you will return; you shall no longer be called mistress of kingdoms. You will not merit to ever again attain the greatness you had in the past. Therefore, sit silently. What is required of you now is to sit in darkness so that you are no longer seen. Do not think: perhaps by showing myself to people, perhaps by forming connections, I will return to the kingdom. They will not call you mistress of kingdoms in any way. So sit silently and go into darkness. Who seeks the light, the publicity? One who thinks he will still be summoned. That people will still tell him: come, we need you. But he says to her: no, no one will need you. No one will want you. So sit silently and go into darkness. You have no need to create publicity for yourself, since you shall no longer be called mistress of kingdoms. They will no longer call you the lady and ruler over kingdoms.
"I was angry with My people, I profaned My inheritance and gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy, upon the elderly you made your yoke exceedingly heavy." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I was angry with My people. We see this from the psalm, "happy is he who repays you your recompense that you dealt us, happy is he who seizes and dashes your infants against the rock." This comes to express a tiny fraction of what Bavel, the people of Bavel, did to us. "By the rivers of Bavel, there we sat and also wept as we remembered Tziyon" - how much they abused us, how much evil they did to Am Yisrael. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I was angry with My people. I was angry with My people, I profaned My inheritance, I took them out of holiness and glory and handed them over, so to speak, I brought them out to the mundane, I handed them into the hand of a nation, which is the people of Bavel. You should have remembered that they are My people and My inheritance, as we said, they are children of a king. And behold, I handed you into the hand of a base, lowly scoundrel, I handed them into your hand. And you, not only did you show them no mercy - you should have had mercy on them, this is My people, this is My inheritance, as we said, one does not treat a prince like an ordinary person off the street - but even the general mercy of compassion for every person, not for princes, which every person deserves, even that you did not do. You showed them no mercy, upon the elderly you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. Against nature, for naturally one has mercy on the elderly. On an infant one has mercy. But you, upon the elderly you made your yoke exceedingly heavy, and this is truly against nature.
"And you said: I shall be a mistress forever, so that you did not take these things to heart, you did not remember its end." Now he speaks against the second matter. One must remember, they were handed over to you, but not forever. If you make your yoke too heavy upon him, the king will see his son's suffering and distress and take him back. Now he says: "and you said: I shall be a mistress forever." You forgot this. You forgot that in truth I handed My son over to you for a limited time. And you thought this was forever. "I shall be a mistress forever." You thought the Holy One, blessed be He, would be angry forever. But you forgot that the moment the Holy One, blessed be He, removes His anger from them, His anger will fall upon you. For you are the one who afflicted His son. "You did not take these things to heart" - to think that in truth the rule you have is not by your own merit, but only because this son sinned, therefore God handed him into your hands. But not because you truly have some merits and are a mistress. "You did not remember its end" - you did not remember that in the end the Holy One, blessed be He, would demand his blood from your hands.
"And now hear this, O luxurious one, who sits securely, who says in her heart: I, and there is none besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know bereavement." Behold, now the time has come for the king to take back his son. Hear now this: the time has come for God to remember His people, the luxurious one. "Adinah" is from the language of pampering, delight. Who sits securely, who says in her heart: I, and there is none besides me. You say I, and there is none besides me, there is none other than me. I am the only power in the world. "I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know bereavement." What is "widow" and what is "bereavement"? The Malbim says: the Holy One, blessed be He, brings down a kingdom in one of two ways. One possibility is a rebellion within the kingdom. People rise and rebel against the ruler. The Arab Spring. The people rise and decide to topple Mubarak, Gaddafi, Morsi soon, God willing. In short, the people rise and rebel, against Assad. The people rise and rebel. What happens? The head falls. The country becomes like a widow. It is widowed of its ruler. And through this they throw off the yoke, doing whatever comes to their mind. There is another possibility, that it does not come from within, it comes from outside. An external ruler comes, an external enemy, kills their people and through this brings down the kingdom. Like America that brought down Iraq, for example. This is called bereavement. If the first is called widowhood, because in truth here only the king, who is like the husband, dies, so she is a widow. But in contrast, when an enemy comes from outside, he captures them, kills them, this is called like bereaved parents. So you thought you were safe from both of these possibilities. You did not fear becoming a widow, that the ruler would be killed, why? Because you are the luxurious one who sits securely. With us everything is quiet. The president was elected by a majority of 99.9 percent, and the last decimal always disappears after the elections, they eliminate him. No problems, no rebels, no nothing. That is what you thought. You were certain you would not become a widow, the luxurious one who sits securely. When does a king fear for his throne? When does the throne tremble? When there is unrest among the people. But with you there was no unrest, no uprising, you sat securely. So a widow you certainly would not be. What could there be? Bereavement. That is, a king would come from outside and there would be an experience of bereavement. She did not fear this. For who fears bereavement from an external king? A weak nation. But after all, I, and there is none besides me. Who can stand against me? There is none besides me, there is no other, I, and there is none besides me. And if so, following this you said: I shall not sit as a widow, I shall not be in the category of a widow having internal unrest within the kingdom that topples my king, nor shall I know bereavement, that is, I do not fear from outside, from external enemies who would come and bring me to bereavement. And then it turns out that the halves of the verse are parallel.
"But these two shall come upon you in a moment, in one day, bereavement and widowhood; in their fullness they came upon you, despite the multitude of your sorceries, despite the great abundance of your enchantments." Now he says to her: bereavement and widowhood shall come upon you in one day. For what in fact happened at the destruction of Bavel? This is exactly what he describes here. There was widowhood and bereavement in one day. At first Belshatzar's officers rebelled, killed Belshatzar. What is that called? Widowhood, as we explained. The people from within rise and kill the head. Through this she became a widow. And that same night the army of Paras and Madai came, killed the people of the land, so there was in it also an aspect of bereavement and destruction. Behold, look, these two shall come upon you in a moment, in one day, bereavement and widowhood. Not gradually, all at once. "In their fullness they came upon you." The Malbim says: sometimes, the Malbim says, sometimes bereavement and widowhood is a blow that sweeps through the whole world. For example, in the time of Nevuchadnetzar. Who is the king who agitated kingdoms? He overturned all the kingdoms. So even if they reached a state of bereavement or widowhood, as we explained, of widowhood so to speak, the kingdoms were overturned, but this is the trouble of the many. That is, it is not only me, he also overturned things here and staged a coup there and conquered here and conquered the whole world. So sometimes there is such a situation where the condition is general, upon all the nations, and they all undergo such an experience. But he says: with you it will not be so. With you it will not be in this reality; rather, with you the bereavement and widowhood will be "in their fullness." When the bereavement and widowhood from the whole world are already complete, when the whole world sits in quiet, having established kingdoms, then what happened to you will happen. That is to say, when something happens to me that happens to everyone, the trouble of the many is half a comfort. Well, what can be done, they conquered everyone, they also conquered me. But when everyone is at ease and only I am conquered, that is a much harsher blow. This is what he wants to say. "In their fullness," when the conquest of all the kingdoms is complete, and the kingdoms already rest in tranquility and quiet, then you will be conquered. And this will be much, much harsher. Now he adds and says: this was not because you fell from your level. You had sages, and your sages' wisdom was lost. He says: no, for at that time "despite the multitude of your sorceries, despite the great abundance of your enchantments." For at that time you had very many sorcerers, enchanters, those we will later see as diviners of the heavens, these were the sages, those who understood astrology, and they were very active at that time. That is to say, there was not some natural cause here. There was not some cause where you would say: well listen, this country's sages abandoned it, it lost its power, no. That is to say, there was great strength here, and nonetheless you fell. What does this really show? It shows Divine providence from Heaven. It shows that there is someone from Heaven who took vengeance on the kingdom of Bavel for what it did to Am Yisrael.
"And you trusted in your wickedness, you said: none sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, they led you astray, and you said in your heart: I, and there is none besides me." "And you trusted in your wickedness." All your seers, all those you pay to foresee the future, none of them foresaw what was destined to befall you. Therefore, you trusted in your wickedness. The Malbim says: one who does evil will abandon his evil for one of two reasons. One reason: he fears one who will see him and can harm him, that it could lead to vengeance being taken against him. This is a reason that causes the doer of evil to abandon his evil. There is a second reason: that he himself, at a certain stage, fears - woe, I will yet regret this. That is to say, not from the standpoint of someone else, but from his own standpoint, that he is not at peace with the act he is doing, and he knows that this evil I am now doing, I will yet regret it. These deeds are not good deeds. The Malbim gives the example of people who sin out of desire, and then when their desire subsides they regret it, they are sorry for what they did. About this he says: with you, neither of these two existed. First, "and you trusted in your wickedness." We said one reason a person turns back from his wickedness is that he fears the people who see him. "You said: none sees me." None sees me. No, there is no reason for you to turn back from your wickedness, you trust in your wickedness to continue in it, who sees me? You thought there was no one watching your deeds. Another matter: what shall we say, perhaps you will recognize the mistake and, following this, turn back from your evil deeds? On the contrary, with you this was not out of desire, where I would say one day you will awaken. No, your wisdom and your knowledge, they led you astray. Your wisdom and knowledge are what brought you to sin. A sin committed out of desire is a sin from which there is a chance to turn back. Why? Now he has desire, his desire subsides, he strikes his heart. Fine, one can turn back from this. In contrast, a sin committed out of a distortion of the intellect is a very difficult sin. Why? Because the person does not simply sin, he builds an ideology. After he builds an ideology, it is already much harder. And we already spoke in the past that this is the way of the yetzer hara. How does the yetzer hara cause a person to sin? In the first stage he seduces him. He tastes once, ah, and he saw that it was good, tastes a second time, a fourth time, a fifth time, until it turns him into its addict. After he becomes its addict, he still feels ashamed. But since he already wants to throw off the yoke, at a certain stage he already removes the mask of shame from himself and does whatever he wants, openly. Well, in the next stage there is still discomfort, because, what will people say, why did you throw off the yoke? For desires? For this? You are a weak-willed person. Ah, what, you cannot... No, so now the yetzer hara comes and builds him an ideology of why this is the way to act, and this is the correct path. In the next stage he also builds an ideology of why those who abstain from all that filth in which he is immersed are not okay, that they have a problem. They have some kind of impairment, they need a psychologist, in short. He, who came out of the closet, is in the light, they are in darkness. Do you understand? These are the stages of the yetzer. Now this is the worst. Because at the stage where a person has built himself an ideology, one can no longer detach. For he is so convinced of what he is doing, and he convinces himself so much, that it is not something to regret. It is not a matter of "I erred." It is "this is how it should be, this is the ideology." And this is what he says was with Bavel. Your wisdom and your knowledge, they led you astray. Who brought you to sin? "Shovav" is from the language of turning away from the right path, straying from the straight way. Who brought you to sin? Your wisdom and your knowledge. Meaning, your sin was already committed with reasoning and intellect, with an ideology. "And you said in your heart: I, and there is none besides me." If someone wanted to come and say that your view is not correct, or you feared that someone sees you, as he said at the beginning, you feared no one. I, and there is none besides me, who else can overcome me?
"And evil shall come upon you, you shall not know its dawning; and calamity shall fall upon you, you shall not be able to atone for it; and suddenly there shall come upon you ruin you did not know." "And evil shall come upon you, you shall not know its dawning." What does "its dawning" mean? From what root is "shacharah"? Rashi explains: you will not know whose face to seek early in order to deliver yourself from it. What is "to seek early"? "Lishachar" means to come to a person to request from him, "ashacharah panav" (I will seek his face early). Why is this called "lishachar"? Because when you want to request something from someone, you do not come to him toward evening, you come in the morning. You come early and arrive. So now you arrive? Come early. "I will seek his face early" because I arrive at dawn. Therefore it is called "ashacharah." "And evil shall come upon you, you shall not know its dawning" means you will not know whose face to seek early in order to remove this evil from you. The Radak here, by the way, notes a grammatical point. "And evil shall come (u'va) upon you." Is it correct to say this? "U'va'ah" (feminine). After all, evil is feminine. You would want to say "u'va'ah alayich ra'ah" (feminine). What is "u'va alayich ra'ah" (masculine)? So the Radak says it is as if something is missing here, and it should have been written "and a day of evil shall come upon you," or "a matter of evil." Right? A matter of evil. But no, the meaning is that it comes in the singular, the day that comes, which is a day of evil. "You shall not know its dawning" - the Radak explains that the meaning is you will not know when to expect it. "Shacharah" is that you will not know when it will come, like the dawn which arrives in a single moment; so too you will not know. A person in the night, if he has no clock, does not know - there are still six hours until dawn, another two hours, another half hour. Suddenly he begins to see twilight, suddenly it begins to break. So too evil will come that you will not know when to expect. And it is always known that when there is an evil I expect, I am much more prepared. In contrast, if there is an evil I do not expect, that is the worst. Which people is it least pleasant to be around? Unpredictable people. Unpredictable people. You say something, you do not know if he will suddenly explode at you, if he will suddenly laugh at what you said, he is unpredictable, unpredictable. This is a person with mood swings. We always like predictable things. Do not surprise me. Do not surprise, you want to inform me in advance, in another week there is such and such, do not spring it on me. A person likes to be organized. Evil shall come upon you, if it is evil, all the more so. If you told me a tsunami is about to happen, I organize myself. You tell me missiles are about to fall, I organize myself. But when evil comes suddenly, in a single moment, it catches me unprepared. "Evil shall come upon you, you shall not know its dawning," meaning you will not know the time of its coming, like the dawn arrives and a person does not know when it will come. Another matter: "you shall not know its dawning," says the Radak, the dawn brings with it the light. You will not know when you will emerge from it. Meaning you will not know when the time of light will arrive. According to this explanation, the dawn is already not the time of the evil, it is already the time of emerging from the evil. Evil will come and you will not know when the dawn will arrive, when I emerge from it, when the day will already shine. The Malbim explains that when evil, at the time of the downfall of Bavel, says the Malbim, at first we saw that Belshatzar saw what was written on the wall, Mene, Mene, Tekel, u'Pharsin. And then evil shall come upon you, that at first you will not understand the vision, you shall not know its dawning. It was already written on the wall - as the saying goes, the writing was on the wall. But you shall not know its dawning, there was no one who knew how to interpret it. He brought the magicians and the Kasdim and all the wise men, and none of them knew how to interpret it. You will not know how to illuminate this evil and know its interpretation. And afterward "calamity shall fall upon you." "Hovah" is a breaking. A breaking will fall upon you, that the king was killed, Belshatzar was killed by his officers. And then this was a breaking that you could not "atone for." This breaking, so to speak, could not be cleansed - the rebellion of Belshatzar's officers. And after this, ruin will come suddenly. The ruin and the darkness, that is Madai and Paras. Blow upon blow upon blow. It began with the writing on the wall, after this the killing of Belshatzar, and afterward the sledgehammer blow, which is the officers of Madai and Paras who came and encamped upon the city. And then suddenly there shall come upon you ruin you did not know. "You did not know" means that it was done all of a sudden, you were not prepared for it. And had you been prepared for it, then certainly the situation would still have been better. "Kapparah" (atone), the Malbim says, is also from the language of covering, and the "kaporet" (the ark cover). "Perhaps I will appease his face." There is an explanation that asks: what root is "lechaper"? There is an expression that they would take, when someone sinned against the king, they would place a covering over his face. As if the king does not want to see him. So this is the meaning of "lechaper panav," meaning it would be like a mask over his face. It is likewise brought regarding Haman, there is such an expression too, that they covered his face so that Achashverosh would not see him, so that he would not become angry at him. So there shall come upon you suddenly this calamity that you shall not be able to "atone for," meaning it will not be possible to reveal its solution. And the "kapparah" here, according to the Malbim, is a language of covering, so it means like the kaporet covers the ark, so the writing that would be written on the wall would be covered, sealed, hidden. Not understood, that is the meaning of covered - not an actual covering, but rather meaning hidden from you, a matter concealed from you, you will not know its solution.
"Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you will strike terror." The people of Bavel, and in general the ancient nations, had wise men of lots, wise men of the constellations, those who gaze at the stars, those who know or are supposed to know at any rate the future, as we saw in particular with Nevuchadnetzar, who turned to the magicians, the enchanters, to all those who were supposed to know the hidden things when he dreamed dreams. So now he comes to her and says to the daughter of Bavel: you, daughter of Bavel, who have such understanding people, stand now with your enchantments, meaning ask all those who are supposed to know the hidden things among you. And also "in which you have labored from your youth," all the rest of the wisdom of the Kasdim, which are the wisdoms they toiled greatly to know, invested much in this in order to know, through all sorts of wisdoms, the hidden things. Perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you will strike terror. Perhaps through these wisdoms you will be able to profit, perhaps you will have some benefit, that the enemy will not come into your gates, that he will not harm you. Behold, you have such great sages. And if you will not be able to profit, then perhaps you will strike terror. Perhaps you will find a way, after the enemy already comes and you cannot prevent him, but at least how to fight against him. How to try to wage battle. For what happened was that they lost the kingdom even without a battle. That is to say, they truly delivered themselves immediately into the hands of their enemies. So the experts, the sages, the Kasdim, the seers of the hidden things, did not know what was destined to come upon you, and they also had no counsel on how to fight when the enemy already came.
"You are wearied by the multitude of your counsels; let them stand now and save you, the diviners of the heavens, the gazers at the stars, who make known at the new moons some of what shall come upon you." "Who make known at the new moons," possibly. "Some of what shall come upon you." He turns to her and says: you are wearied by the multitude of your counsels. For what is happening now there is no counsel or scheme to be saved. Let the diviners of the heavens stand now and save you from what shall come upon you. Let them save you from the evils that are at least ready to come upon you in the future. That is, with what is happening now you must come to terms. But perhaps at least these experts will help you in a future sense to fight against what still awaits you. After all, they are diviners of the heavens, they are gazers at the stars, they make known through visions at the new moons all the renewal of the days, they are supposed to know according to all their wisdoms. After all, you have more evils awaiting you, you have more to expect, so why should they not warn you against them? Rashi explains "diviners of the heavens" as observers of the heavens. From the language, as the Targum says, "who observe the constellations of the heavens," like "mistakei," "istaki" is a language of observing. Like Sarah - how was she called? Yiskah, who observed with ruach hakodesh. "Sechiyah" is a language of observing. So diviners of the heavens, the observers of the heavens, those who would look at the heavens and interpret all sorts of phenomena they would see in the heavens, they would interpret them. If they see such a cloud formation it means this, and if it comes from the north it means this, and if it comes from the south it means this. These were the diviners of the heavens. "Hovrei" from the language of observing the heavens. Why is it called "hovrei"? Look at what a wonderful explanation Rashi gives. From the language of "clear as the sun," and "to clarify and to clarify their speech." Those who clarify the movement of the constellations. The magicians could not determine the moments of day and night until the heavens cleared to a purity for them. That is to say, the diviners of the heavens, in order to look, one must see that the heavens are clear. And only then can he know. Therefore it is called diviners of the heavens, they need the heavens to be clear, and then he can look at the heavens in order to know. But if the heavens are all covered with clouds, he cannot know. He tells you: sir, there is a screen, there is a screen, I cannot see what is happening in the heavens. The moment this clears up, then I can see all sorts of signs and give all sorts of interpretations. As Michah says, "darkness shall be for them without divination." The meaning is that they could not perform divinations because they had darkness. When the day darkens, when there is cloudiness, they cannot perform their divinations. So behold, the diviners of the heavens will make known to you, those who need clear heavens in order to look at them, who know the future, so let them make known to you what is destined to be. "Who make known at the new moons some of what shall come upon you." What is "who make known at the new moons"? Those who would look at what renews itself. What renews? The moon renews, this is the language of "chodesh" (month). Why is a month called "chodesh"? Because the moon renews. Once every thirty days. So those who know how to look at the moon, they make known at the new moons, meaning each month he can see, according to the shape of the moon, the position of the moon, spots on the moon and the like, they are supposed to know what is destined to be. Therefore he says: make known to them what is destined to be. Note, Chazal say it is written "some of what shall come upon you" and not "all that shall come upon you." From here Chazal derive that the knowledge of the astrologers and of all those who see with all the powers given for foresight from afar, whether it be a crystal ball, Yosef's silver goblet, the astrology of the star-gazers, the observers of the heavens and knowers, the speech of palm trees, the chirping of birds, all knowledge of the future, all that a person can know, these are only faint, general pieces of knowledge. But detailed knowledge - behold, a son is born to the family of the house of David, Yoshiyahu is his name - and to state all the details, what is destined to be, what he will do, how he will act, only prophecy can. Only prophecy can stand with exactness and precision in all the details. Therefore here, when he speaks about gazers at the stars, how does he call them? "Some of what shall come upon you." They make known to you "some," "me'asher" meaning a portion of what shall come upon you. They do not make known "all that shall come." So this grants them power to know, but only "some." How did Pharaoh say it? "See, evil is before your faces." I see blood in the wilderness. Blood. What is this blood? I see their savior condemned by water. What is this "condemned by water"? They drown him in the river. But truly we know this refers to the waters of dispute. And so on. What was the blood he saw? It was the blood of circumcision, the foreskin that Yehoshua circumcised the children of Yisrael. We see, then, that in truth their knowledge is very general knowledge. And that is "some of what shall come upon you." But the prophet's knowledge is knowledge precise in details, one hundred percent. So in all that he says to them here, he in fact so to speak comes to say to Bavel: behold, Bavel, you held that you have experts, you have prophets, you have people who gaze at the stars, people who know all the futures, this is a kind of aerial umbrella so that I need not worry about anyone. So now he comes to her in a manner of, in a manner of mockery: well, well, where are your experts? Let them make known to you what happened, let them make known to you what will be, where, where has all their knowledge disappeared to?
"Behold, they are like straw, fire has burned them; they cannot save their soul from the power of the flame; there is no coal to warm oneself, no light to sit before." This verse is seemingly a complex verse whose order is not so clear and what it really wants to say. The Malbim puts the verse in order. The Malbim says: straw that is burned has two disadvantages compared to wood that is burned. Burned straw is burned even by a flame that is distant. This is the difference between a flame and a fire. A flame is distant, a fire is near. It smells fire and is burned. In contrast, wood - you need the fire to be upon it a long time until the wood truly catches fire. That is one difference. Straw is burned even by a distant fire, while wood needs only a near fire, not a flame that blazes from afar. About this he says: they were like straw that fire has burned, that they cannot even save their soul from the power of the flame. The meaning is they do not save their soul even from the power of the flame. Not only does fire burn the straw, but even a flame that is distant, even that is able to burn it. So the speed of the burning will be great, like straw quickly catches fire. Another matter: straw, after the fire has caught it, what is there to do with it? Nothing. Nothing remains, it is worth nothing. There is no benefit from it. In contrast, wood that is burned, I have a coal afterward, I warm myself by its light, I bake with it, I have benefit from it. This is what he says, "there is no coal to warm oneself." "To warm" is like to warm oneself by it. That is the meaning of "to warm." There does not remain from this straw even some light to sit before. "Light to sit before" means to warm oneself by the coal, to bake before the light, to sit before it in the time of cold; nothing remains of this for you. They cannot save their soul from the power of the flame, like straw in which even a flame catches, and also no coal remains afterward, not like wood from which there is at least some benefit.
"So have they been to you, those in whom you labored, your merchants from your youth; each has wandered to his own side, there is none to save you." All your labors, all that you strove and toiled over, was like straw. As soon as the war began, everything was lost. It is like straw that in a single moment merely smelled fire, and everything was over. And corresponding to what he said, that no coal remains from which afterward one could benefit, he says: look, sometimes when a city falls, a city that was a royal city, a place to which everyone came in order to trade, sometimes when it declines from its greatness, then still those who were accustomed to come there for commerce still come. Let us define this as a decline, not a fall. For the place still somehow manages to hold on as a place that people come to in order to trade in it. But he says to them: with you it will not be so. That is an example of wood from which a coal remains. Wood from which a coal remains is no longer wood, but let us say this way, even from the coal one can benefit. Even from the coal one can benefit, there is still some benefit in it. But he says: you were not so, rather with you nothing remained. "Your merchants from your youth," those who, even when you were young, when the city, when Bavel was still at the height of its glory, would trade in it, would come, it was a metropolis. Your merchants from your youth, each has wandered to his own side. Each one went off to his own side, nothing remained for her. That is to say, not even a coal remained. For wood as wood is very important, one can build with it, it is fit for many things. Afterward, even if it is burned, even from the coal one can benefit. Well, so perhaps you had a coal at least? No, with you it is like straw. First, the war caught you quickly like a flame from afar. Second, straw is consumed quickly, no remnant remains of it. So too there did not even remain for you merchants who would come to you out of habit. Each has wandered to his own side, there is none to save you. And if so, there is none to save you, there is no salvation that could assist you. For as long as there are merchants, as long as I am still somewhere regarded as some central city in the world, then I still have salvation. But if nothing remains, then salvation too did not remain. And if so, this is what God will bring upon the daughter of Bavel, and we have already seen how this prophecy was fulfilled. Bavel shall never be inhabited, Bavel shall be destroyed, and we have already seen that Bavel was destroyed, as appeared in explicit prophecies in the past, and we have seen that the city of Bavel, to this day its ruins exist, the ruins of ancient Bavel, to this day those ruins exist and they were never rebuilt. Even though - we spoke about this - Nevuchadnetzar, excuse me, the modern Nevuchadnetzar, that Saddam Hussein planned to rebuild it, but the war came, the Gulf War, and threw off his plans and disrupted his schemes, so that the prophet's prophecy shall stand forever. So we had a prophecy about the destruction of the city of Bavel, and here we also have a prophecy about the great downfall that will befall Bavel.