"Therefore, thus says Hashem of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people wormwood, and give them poisoned water to drink." Hashem says: I will feed this people wormwood. Wormwood, Rashi explains, is a bitter herb. "Poisoned water" (mei rosh) refers to the venom of a snake. The liquid that comes out of its head, that is the meaning of mei rosh. There is another explanation, that mei rosh is the water pressed from an herb called rosh (reish, vav, shin). It is called mei rosh because they would press out a herb that is extremely bitter, and the liquid coming from this herb is called rosh. He gives a parable here and says the troubles will be like wormwood and rosh, which is a deadly poison. Therefore "Behold, I will feed them wormwood," says the Malbim, just as they nourished their souls with bitter foods, meaning he is speaking here about the spiritual dimension, that this refers to poisonous beliefs that corrupt the soul. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: corresponding to this they will have mei rosh and wormwood, that is what they will eat. What you brought into your head, all sorts of empty matters, corresponding to this will come the rosh and the wormwood, which will be the corruption.
"And I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them." "And I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known" - just as they worshiped other gods that they and their fathers did not know and did not imagine, so too they will be scattered among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known. "And I will scatter them among the nations until I have consumed them." The Radak says "consumed them" means most of them. Since there is a promise that Israel will never be completely destroyed, it is impossible to understand what is written here, "until I have consumed them," as absolute annihilation. Rather, "consumed them" means until most of them are consumed.
"Thus says Hashem of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women that they may come, and send for the wise women that they may come." "Thus says Hashem: Consider" - consider the calamity that is drawing near, "and call for the mourning women." Note, it does not say "for mourning women" (limkonenot) but "for the mourning women" (lamkonenot). The lamed here indicates the definite article. Like the definite "heh." The mourning women, the known ones, the recognized ones. Its meaning is those who are mourning women, what is called experienced. These are the experts, for the mourning women, for the best of the mourning women, for the experts among them. Since here there is something very serious to mourn over, so call those who are truly expert in the subject. "For the mourning women that they may come." "And for the wise women" - the wise women means those who are expert and skilled in words of eulogy and lament, call for them too, "send for them that they may come." The Malbim asks, what is the consideration here? He says: consider that the killing, the destruction, all the troubles that have now befallen them, is not like the other periods in which there were troubles, disasters, and killing. Always when they would call for the mourning women, what is the role of the mourning woman? To lament over the deceased. Over those who are no longer among the living. So there is trouble, there is a disaster, and the mourning woman comes and laments over those who died, over those who are no longer among the living, they are lamented. Who laments? The one who remains laments over the one who is no longer here. He says, but here, come and consider, the lament will be different. And the difference of the lament is that its essence will be over those who remain, not over those who have departed. On the contrary, it is quite possible that those who departed are relatively better off compared to the troubles awaiting them. Therefore the lament will be over those who remain. And so he says "Consider" - consider your deeds, meaning do not seek to weep over the dead who have already died, rather you can change your ways. Since now we are calling for the mourning women, "for the mourning women that they may come," the mourning women who always come to lament over the dead, they will now come to lament over you. And send for the wise women that they too may come, the wise women who will have counsel and their wisdom about how to preserve life so that they do not die. The wise women are not needed to lament. On the contrary, the wise women will give counsel on how to save the people. Therefore call for them, that perhaps they will save the people from the troubles about to befall them, so the wise women are those who may perhaps provide a remedy for the future situation. The Malbim says: note that there are two expressions here. It is written "Consider, and call for the mourning women that they may come, and send for the wise women that they may come." Why does it say "call" for the mourning women but "send" for the wise women? And not only that, why does it twice use the language of coming? It should have said "Consider, call for the mourning women and send for the wise women that they may come." Say "that they may come" once for all of them. Instead it says once "that they may come" (vetavoenah) and a second time "that they may come" (vetavonah), where each of them is a coming in its own right. The Malbim says: since the mourning women were found in every single city. For what are mourning women? It is like today, l'havdil, the chevra kadisha. When there was a funeral, just as, l'havdil, at a wedding one hires a band, when there was a funeral they would hire a band of mourning women. And a band would come. In the Mishnah it is written that flutes would come. That is, they had actual special melodies of lament. So since mourning women are found everywhere, just as a cemetery is found everywhere, of the mourning women he says "call." And "call" means they are here in the area, you just call and she comes. By contrast, the wise women are not found everywhere. The wise women are few in the country, therefore "send." "Send" means a special mission. According to this you will understand why it is written twice...
Because when you call for the mourning women they will come immediately, since they are found here in the area, for mourning women are everywhere. By contrast, the wise women are scattered throughout the country, and therefore it is written again "that they may come," because it will take them time to arrive, since they come from afar, so for them you must "send," and until the messengers arrive and until... then they will "come," this will be a coming in its own right, apart from the coming of the mourning women who come immediately, since they, as we said, live here in the area.
"Let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with water." "Let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us" - that is, when the mourning women take counsel with the wise women, then note, as we said earlier, they will not weep over the dead, for the dead have already departed from here, they are already in a place of rest. Over whom will they weep? "And take up a wailing for us." The wailing is a term of lament, a term of weeping. They will understand that the ones to weep over are us. Those who are still here with all the suffering still ahead of them, that is us. And note, do not delay, but "let them make haste," call for them to come quickly, like a sick person who is at the very verge of the end, then one hurries to call the doctor because perhaps he can save him. So too here "let them make haste," tell the mourning women to come quickly, for the mourning women and wise women, as we said, come to change life, as it were to inform and prepare the people about what is destined to happen to them, so perhaps when the people hear this, perhaps this is what will bring them back in repentance, for the wise women, as we said, are meant to awaken repentance.
And then "that our eyes may run down with tears." The Malbim says that the eyelids indicate the eyes that are closed by the eyelid. And when we open them, then we will see the corpses lying before us, we will see those who are no longer among the living, and then over them "our eyes will run down with tears." When one saw, God forbid, rachmana litzlan, their relatives lying before them, their eyes would run down with tears. But "our eyelids will gush out with water" - what is "our eyelids"? When we close our eyes, as we discussed that the eyelids symbolize covering, then what will we actually do? We will not look at the dead before us, rather when one closes one's eyes one thinks ahead, one contemplates, and then whom will we think of? Ourselves, not those who are already lying dead before us. And then when we understand the message, what it actually holds in store for us for the future, then he says our eyes will not run down with tears, rather "our eyelids will gush out with water," here it will be a faucet, here there will be water without cease. Why? Because we will see with the eye of the intellect, says the Malbim, that death is preferable to this life of contempt and disgrace. Death, God forbid, is better and preferable to the future that, as we saw, is destined to be extremely harsh, as the prophet said Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and so on, a lair of jackals. So when we understand what is destined to be, through this we will weep much more over ourselves than we weep over those who are no longer among the living.
"For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: How are we ruined! We are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings." "For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion." Why specifically from Zion? The Radak says: it is true that a voice of wailing is heard from the other places as well, since they too were conquered. But before Zion was conquered, they still thought the story was not over. And why? Because as long as Zion exists - Zion meaning Jerusalem - then the other cities will return to be rebuilt. We will flee, we will escape, we will take refuge in Zion, there we will hide, and afterward the other cities will return to be settled. So it was in the time of Sennacherib, who conquered everything except Jerusalem, so Jerusalem was a place of refuge for them, and afterward when Sennacherib withdrew from them, they returned and settled in the other places. But here he says a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, the moment Zion too is conquered, then a voice of wailing is heard, then a voice of weeping is heard, since then they say "How are we ruined!" This situation caused us to be utterly ruined, we no longer have any survival. "We are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken the land" - we are greatly ashamed since now we have forsaken the land. As long as Jerusalem existed, we still said we can still remain here and we will stay in the land. But now a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, so we have forsaken the land completely.
"Because they have cast down our dwellings." "They have cast down our dwellings" is a difficult verse, a difficult expression. "They have cast down our dwellings" - it should have said "because we were cast out from our dwellings." Our dwellings are our houses, and they exiled us, so we were cast out from our dwellings. What is "they have cast down our dwellings"? There are two explanations here. One explanation: our dwellings cast us out. That is "they have cast down our dwellings," our dwellings cast out. As if our house cast us outside, like "and the land will not vomit you out," as if the land itself vomits and throws out, so too our houses, as it were, cast us out. The Radak says, there is no greater shame than this, that a person is, as it were, forced and compelled to leave his house. Therefore they say in this "we are greatly ashamed because they have cast down our dwellings," our dwellings, our houses ejected us out. Another explanation, which seems more reasonable according to the plain meaning of the text: "they have cast down our dwellings" means the enemies cast us out of our dwellings. That is the meaning of "they have cast down our dwellings." But Rashi explains "they have cast down our dwellings" means they threw our dwellings to the ground. That is, they destroyed our houses. That is the meaning of "they have cast down our dwellings."
The Malbim explains that this relates to what we saw above, that he sent word and said call for the wise women, call for the mourning women. Now he explains and says: what we said about sending for the wise women and the mourning women because a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, what they say "How are we ruined!" - they raised a voice of wailing over the plundering, over the disaster that happened to them in the past. About this he says this is not the main disaster, this is not the main weeping. The main wailing, as we explained earlier, is not over the dead, not over those who are no longer, but over those who are still alive, for whom a future that is not rosy is destined. Over them, he said, one must weep. Therefore he says the main wailing is over those who are alive, for "we are greatly ashamed because we have forsaken the land." That is, we are alive, we still feel secure, he says: no, "because we have forsaken the land." That is, we are destined to go into exile, and not to a nearby place, rather "they have cast down our dwellings." The Malbim says that "casting" is always to a distance. Every time there is an expression of casting, casting is to a distance. So we did not simply go into exile, we did not simply forsake the land and then you say fine, to a nearby place, we will return soon. No, it is to a distant place, for "they have cast down our dwellings," they cast us to dwell in a distant place, "and He cast them into another land." And so it turns out that over the shame and over the troubles that will befall the living, over them one must weep, over them one must eulogize, and not over those who have already died, for those who already died - what happened to them is already finished. But here the future troubles are for those who are still alive.
"For hear, O women, the word of Hashem, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and each woman her neighbor a lament." So first of all we see that he is speaking about women. And why women? The Radak says, because eulogy and wailing are mostly among women, meaning for the most part, because they are more tender-hearted than men. Whenever, God forbid, there is trouble, whenever there is a funeral or a time of trouble and disaster, may Hashem save us, the women are tender-hearted and they weep first. Therefore he says "For hear, O women, the word of Hashem, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and each woman her neighbor a lament." The matter of lament and wailing is mainly among women. The Malbim explains that beyond this, hear, O mourning women, that He will teach you how to raise wailing and lament. That is, according to what you hear from the word of Hashem, so shall you teach your daughters the wailing and the lament. What does this mean? You attribute everything that happens to chance. And so consequently your weeping is not proper weeping, it is not fitting weeping, it is not worthy weeping, since according to your perception everything is happenstance. But when you understand that everything that happens here is a planned matter, then through this you will know how to lament, and to lament properly. This is what he is actually saying. This is the "teach," "teach your daughters wailing, and each woman her neighbor a lament." The Malbim explains what "your daughters wailing and each woman a lament" means. Why for the daughters wailing and for the woman a lament? He explains that the manner of lament was that the married women would speak the lament, meaning the lament was that they would say expressions of grief, and the young girls would respond with wailing. That is, it was like a verse and refrain. So they would say some particular passage of lament, and the young girls would respond with wailing, like a refrain, they would respond with some sound of weeping. So since this is the case, he says teach your daughters wailing, to respond with wailing, and each woman should teach her neighbor to say the lament. And as we said, the lament had to be said properly. Therefore he says "hear, O women, the word of Hashem," listen to what Hashem is about to say to you, since Hashem will teach you what to lament over and in what manner, and this will characterize the magnitude of the trouble that will befall you.
"For death has come up into our windows, has entered into our palaces, to cut off the young child from outside, and the young men from the streets." "For death has come up into our windows." The Malbim says: how do you lament? How do you mourn? You say "death has come up into our windows." As if, first of all, death came up on its own. "Death has come up," as if it were something happenstance, death came up. It is not attributed to the Holy One, blessed be He. Furthermore, as if it came stealthily. As if it came, entered through the window. One who enters openly enters through the door. But one who enters through the window comes like a thief. So as if death came like a thief, stealthily, through the window. And you lament that, as it were, it came up to the windows and from there entered the palaces in order to cut off the young child and the young men. The Malbim says: "the young child from outside, the young men from the streets." The streets are the place of the marketplace, where the young men are found. And "outside" is the part behind the houses, which is called "outside" or muktzeh in the language of Chazal, so there the young children were usually found, the little ones nursing at the breast, they were usually found in the part behind the houses. So each is characterized by its location. The Radak explains that the palace is a tall house, and when they would close the doors, one essentially cannot enter into the palace. But you might say, does the palace have windows? But since the palace itself is tall, then one cannot enter through the windows either, since they are high. It is difficult to climb up and reach a window located high up. For this reason they would also leave the palace windows open, because they are considered safer places, for who can reach the palace window? A palace window, as we said, is a high place. So he wishes to say, as it were, come and see that death found its way in the place that remained open, which is the window, and from there it penetrated our palaces. "Death has come up into our windows." And this comes to express the surprise. As if it came to us from a place we did not expect. The window is a safe place, it is high in the palace, and nevertheless it was specifically through there that death arrived. And even though the prophets, says the Radak, warned them, they did not listen to them and did not believe that the trouble would be so great and harsh.
"Speak, thus says Hashem: The carcasses of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, and like a sheaf after the reaper, with none to gather them." As the Malbim explained, the prophet essentially says to them, you women do not know how to lament. And since this is so, you shall wait for the word of Hashem. "Hear, O women, the word of Hashem, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth," so learn, O women, the lament. So you shall learn how to lament. But now you do not know how to lament. And what is your error in lamenting? You say that death came up into our windows. Death is, as it were, a separate entity and it came through our windows, it came, as it were, like a thief. He says: no, no, no, "Speak, thus says Hashem." Speak and say in the lament, "thus says Hashem," this is how Hashem spoke. Hashem sent the destroyer, the destroyer did not come on its own, it is not "death came up into our windows," oy, what a chance thing befell us. No, rather it is from Hashem. And it did not come through windows, rather he says: know that this will be revealed to all. The carcasses of men shall fall like dung upon the open field and like a sheaf after the reaper, with none to gather them. Anyone who reads this verse cannot help but have images surface of the terrible and dreadful Holocaust that occurred in Europe. Anyone who saw images of what happened there, this very verse surfaces and rises. "Thus says Hashem, and the carcasses of men shall fall like dung upon the open field and like a sheaf after the reaper, with none to gather them," for indeed there was also none to gather. There was no one to gather the carcasses of men. And the Malbim explains why on one hand he compares it to a sheaf after the reaper, and on the other hand compares it to dung on the open field. Dung is refuse. And the sheaf is the wheat that the reaper reaps. So the Malbim says: the sheaf, though the reaper reaped it, nevertheless they gather it home. Even though they severed it from its source of life, they now bring it home, they make use of it. By contrast, the dung, the refuse, on one hand it falls on the open field, no one reaps it or performs any action with it, and on the other hand no one gathers it either. No one goes to gather dung, the dung remains there. So what he wishes to say to them is: on one hand your carcasses will fall like a sheaf, and this will be by the reaper, meaning it will be with deliberate intent, someone will come and reap, it will not be like dung. Rather it will be with deliberate intent, someone, God forbid, will come and reap them. And if you say fine, if it is like the harvest, then at least the harvest is gathered afterward. So they will come to burial. He says: no, and regarding their burial they will be like dung on the open field. They will remain like dung on the open field that no one will gather for burial.
"Thus says Hashem: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches." Let us read another verse: "But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Hashem who does kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says Hashem." "Thus says Hashem: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom." Let us first read Targum Yonatan. Targum Yonatan explains this verse without connection to what we saw earlier. "Let Solomon son of David the wise not boast in his wisdom, and let Samson son of Manoah the mighty man not boast in his might, and let Ahab son of Omri the wealthy not boast in his wealth." That is, this characterizes three of the great ones, each of whom was great in his area. Solomon was great in wisdom, let Solomon son of David the wise not boast in his wisdom. And let Samson, who was mighty, not boast in his might. And let Ahab son of Omri, King Ahab who was wealthy, not boast in his wealth. Now let us explain this in relation to us, in relation to the verses we saw earlier. Hashem says to them: if there are wise men among you, let them not boast and glory saying "don't worry, whatever trouble comes we will know how to get out of it." The IDF will respond at the time and place it sees fit and everything is under control and we will know how to overcome all the challenges of the Middle East and all sorts of arrogant words. He says to them: no, no, no, if there are wise men among you, let them not glory in their wisdom, for it will not avail them. Why? They did not know Hashem, they did not walk in His ways, what will their wisdom avail them? And if there are mighty men among you, don't worry, our mighty men will know how, let them not glory in their might, for it will not avail to save them from death or captivity. And if you have wealthy men, then the wealthy man is confident that with his money he buys everything, both freedom and life, everything. He says to them: let not the rich man glory in his riches, for his wealth will not redeem him from the sword, and in the end he and his wealth will perish. And why did he mention these three things? The Radak says, specifically because these three things are usually the ones that help and save. Since the wise man, many times through the schemes of his cunning and wisdom, can be saved. As it is written that there was a wise man there and he saved that city with his wisdom. Sometimes through wisdom one can be saved. The mighty man certainly can be saved through his might. And the wealthy man, we know that many times he redeems his life with his money from the hand of the enemy. So he tells you: know, even though it is the way of the world to be saved through these three, says the Radak, the prophet informs them that the wise man should not glory in his wisdom, "I will redeem myself," nor the rich man in his riches nor the mighty man in his might, since if Hashem informs of the future trouble, then no one will be able to be saved from it.
Rav Shach once related that when he became engaged, his future father-in-law was not a wealthy man, he was even quite poor, and he did not even have money to rent them an apartment. What they did was simply place a plywood partition in the middle of the room in his father-in-law's house, and on one side were his father-in-law and his wife, and on the other side Rav Shach and his wife. And in those days, he says, the outstanding young men in the yeshiva would receive support (kest) and a dowry. A wise young man would usually have a wealthy benefactor who would commit to supporting him at his table for years. And Rav Shach relates that in the first days after he sealed the match, after he became engaged, he was afraid to come to the yeshiva so they would not ask him with whom and how much he received and what, and so on. What would he tell them? Embarrassments. And what else, says Rav Shach, in the first days I did not come to the yeshiva, he sat and studied in some study hall. Well, and afterward he indeed began life this way and, baruch Hashem. He relates that when the whole war began to reverberate in Europe, and his friends who, baruch Hashem, all received estates and houses and full arrangements, he says his friends found it very hard to uproot, since they were about to lose all their assets. By contrast, my wife and I, says Rav Shach, as soon as we heard that the situation was beginning to become a bit dangerous and the ground was burning under our feet, we took one suitcase with us, because that is all we had. We took one suitcase with us, we put all our clothes into one suitcase. Today a woman alone needs 40 suitcases. Yes, but back then we took just one suitcase, he says, we packed ourselves up and traveled and fled. And all my friends, may Hashem save us, in the valley of slaughter. He says, here, you see, a person thinks. He said this to a young man who was delaying in matchmaking because he was waiting for someone to give him a full arrangement, waiting for someone to guarantee him financially. He says to him: do you think that is what a person needs? He says to him: here, you see that I, specifically the one who did not seek this, this saved my life. And they - I am not saying that this is what caused their death, but at any rate understand and see that wealth guarantees a person nothing. Because when something is destined to happen to a person, his money will not save him, and it is quite possible that exactly the opposite. Specifically the fact that you have no money will be the cause of your salvation. So to delay in matchmaking for the sake of money, he said to him, certainly is no calculation.
The Malbim explains: "Thus says Hashem: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom." The Malbim says this refers back to what we saw above. He said to them "Thus says Hashem," know that the death and the troubles and the disasters - death did not come up into our windows by chance, but "thus says Hashem," this is the word of Hashem, everything that happens here is under full providence from Him, blessed be He. And what is the reason that the wise man should not glory in his wisdom? So that they know there is no wisdom, no counsel, and no understanding, no might against Hashem. And what a person thinks of being saved through wisdom and scheming, or through wealth and money and might, if Hashem has decreed evil against you, nothing will help. And "Speak, thus says Hashem, and the carcasses of men shall fall," this came from the mouth of Hashem. So all the schemes you think to make against the decree of Hashem certainly will not avail. "But let him that glories glory in this" - if there is a reality in which a person can glory in wisdom, in might, in wealth, it is only if he uses them for a positive purpose. Then indeed we can say "let him that glories glory in this." Use it as an instrument for the service of Hashem. If he uses wisdom, "but let him that glories glory in this," why? "That he understands and knows Me." Wonderful. You took the wisdom that Hashem gave you and used it for the primary purpose for which it was intended. Why was wisdom intended? So that you would invent an atom bomb? Is that what wisdom was intended for? So that you would invent an innovative method for filling out the lottery? Is that why you were given intellect? Why was wisdom intended? Someone showed me that there is someone who invented a machine to solve the Rubik's cube in two seconds. Is that what you received intellect for? So that a person would work for months and invent a machine. I said to him: what are you so impressed by, someone invented a calculator that solves math problems in 0.0 seconds, what is there to be impressed by, a machine does it. Like, what... so a person goes and wastes his time and his wisdom on what? On empty matters and foolishness. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: do you know why wisdom was intended? "But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me." If he received wisdom and through this wisdom he becomes enlightened in the service of Hashem, in attaining the Divine, through the laws of wisdom he will attain to know Hashem. Through might, through wealth, "does kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth." Through might, on one hand, one does justice for the oppressed. Saves the oppressed from the hand of his oppressor. Through the might and power of government within him, he saves the people who are subject to being trampled by those stronger than them. Wonderful, the might led you and was an instrument for the service of Hashem. Through wealth, one does kindness, righteousness, and justice. So it is wonderful, so it turns out that the instruments the Holy One, blessed be He, gave you truly brought you closer to His service. On this he continues and says "for in these things I delight, says Hashem." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: this is the desired purpose for Me, this is the main goal, that you use all the instruments I gave you to attain spirituality.
The Malbim adds another explanation by way of derush. He says: a person who glories in wisdom, in might, in wealth, in what are you actually glorying? In something that is not you. For let us think, wisdom, what is wisdom? What did you do for wisdom? Nothing, you were born wise. The Holy One, blessed be He, brought you into the world with an IQ, with an immense analytical ability, with comprehension ability, with memory, with depth. What did you do for this? This is how you were born. You could have been born with an IQ of 60 and you were born with 160. Fine, so you did nothing for this. Might - there are people who are by nature mighty people, two meters twenty in height, the person is entirely muscular and... it is possible that he developed this, but he himself, the person, was born more in the aspect of a physical object than in the aspect of a person. Yes, he is a refrigerator, an Amcor 18. Fine, so what did you do for this? This is how you were born. And wealth, this we certainly all know, that the decree of wealth is from Him, blessed be He. For a person can invest all his days in wealth and nothing will come of it. And on the other hand there are people who invested nothing, and it was consequently decreed upon them, for "this drop, what shall become of it" is determined even before the child descends into the world's air. And whether he will be rich or poor, this is already determined in advance. So he says, if this is so, what does a person have to glory in this? Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom nor the mighty man in his might nor the rich man in his riches, for in truth he did nothing for it. None of these things are from your labor. And even if you say you added to it, at any rate in nature, Hashem gave you a nature with an inclination to wisdom, a nature with an inclination to wealth, to might. So if this is so, all these things do not belong to you, they are a deposit from Hashem. The one who deserves to glory in this is the Holy One, blessed be He, He is the one who gave. The glory does not befit you and not you. But if he uses these three elements to know Hashem, to do kindness, justice, righteousness - note, this already depends on my choice. This no one can say "you received." What did I receive? I received wealth. What I do with it is already purely my choice. Without the intervention of the Holy One, blessed be He. And if there is intervention, then for what do I deserve reward? Without any doubt, if I decide to do charity with the wealth, this is already my choice. If I decide with the wisdom to study Torah and attain the Divine, this is already my choice. If I decide with the might to save the oppressed from the hand of his oppressor and do good with it, this is already my choice. So "let him that glories glory in this," here you truly deserve glory. And why? Because you did something that belongs to you. What belongs to you? The good choice out of the wealth, out of the wisdom, out of the might. Note how wonderful, about this he says "for in these things I delight, says Hashem." What is "in these things I delight"? The Malbim says: regarding the Holy One, blessed be He, it is not applicable to say that Hashem delights in some matter. Why? Because the moment Hashem wants something, He said "and it was." The moment Hashem delights in something, the thing immediately happens. There is no need for... it is not like I can say "I very much desire to have something, item X," and I saved up and went and bought it. My desire is one thing and the result is another thing. But the Holy One, blessed be He, His will and His knowledge are all one. So the moment Hashem delights in something, then immediately the thing exists. In what does it not? Only regarding the free choice of man. Regarding the free choice of man, here the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, places a barrier and obstacle, that on one hand I very much desire that you be righteous, on the other hand my desire is not immediately fulfilled by my will. For if my desire were immediately fulfilled by my will, then where is your free choice? The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, here places a barrier between the will and the actual implementation. I very much desire that you perform mitzvot and be righteous, but this already depends on you. My desire is not fulfilled automatically, says the Holy One, blessed be He. So it turns out, says the Malbim, see how wonderful, regarding this it is applicable to say "for in these things I delight, says Hashem." Regarding all other things it is not applicable to say "I delight," because the moment I delighted it immediately came to be. But regarding these it is only "I delight," here it remains in the category of desire, because the implementation, says the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were does not depend on Me. The implementation I gave entirely to you, so that through it you would merit the life of the World to Come. So only in these matters, in what? How to use the instruments? Whether to use them in a positive or negative way? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: here I can say "in this I delight," that you use them in a positive way, and if you do so, then "let him that glories glory in this." This is free choice, this belongs only to you, and then you truly deserve to glory in this, for this can be said to be something that belongs to the choosing person, and therefore for this he deserves reward without the bread of shame, for here he deserves the reward because for this he truly exerted himself. Hashem says "in these I delight," but in your hand is whether the desire of Hashem will be fulfilled or not.
"In these I delight, that he understands and knows Me." The Malbim says something he explained in several places: what is the difference between "understanding" (haskel) and "knowing" (yadoa), and "knowledge" (daat)? Enlightenment (haskalah) is from the earlier to the later. That is, I comprehend things from their beginning and from this I estimate what will happen further on. By contrast, knowledge (daat) is through the sense or through proofs, from the later to the earlier. I see a result and from this I know what was at the beginning. But again, there is no certainty that I will be correct in this, because I can now see something and, out of lack of knowledge, think that at the beginning it appeared differently. Like when I did not draw the correct conclusions. Like the example we once gave of researchers who examined a stalactite cave, and they reached the conclusion that this cave already existed for a million years, according to the rate of growth of the stalactites. People came and testified before them that fifty years ago they knew this cave, there was nothing here. What turned out? It turned out that there was once a stream above, and when there was a stream, the flow rate was immense. And then the stalactite would add a centimeter each day. By contrast, today, once every 10 years it adds a centimeter, since the water has already run out. So they reached the conclusion, if once every 10 years it adds a centimeter, let us multiply the centimeters and reach hundreds and thousands and millions of years. Whereas you reached a conclusion from the later to the earlier, but not according to the correct measures, not according to the correct tools, and therefore the conclusion is mistaken. So I say again, a person can reach conclusions from the later to the earlier, but many times this will be in the category of estimation and not in the category of absolute knowledge of the thing itself.
"Behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised." "Behold, days are coming, says Hashem." "Coming" means already near to coming, says the Radak. And these days, let us read another verse: "when I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised: Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart." He mentions here all the nations, that these nations were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. And he and his offspring too, says the Radak, were ultimately stricken, since through them they truly caused distress and harmed Israel the most. And what is "I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised"? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will punish all who are circumcised - "mul" meaning circumcised, that is the meaning of "mul." I will punish all who are circumcised, and the words "I will punish all" as it were carry over. "And I will punish all who are circumcised, and I will punish all who are in the uncircumcised." That is the meaning of "I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised." Like "who has not made our portion like theirs, nor set our lot like all their multitude." Yes, so that means "has not set" repeats twice. So too here "I will punish," this is how both the Radak and the Malbim explain, that it refers back to both of them. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: days will come and I will punish both the circumcised and the uncircumcised as one. And now he specifies: Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut, who dwell in the wilderness. Who are those I spoke about? For all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel too are considered uncircumcised of heart. The Radak explains, all those whom we mention here, he speaks about those whom the king of Assyria destroyed - this is Israel, the kingdom of Ephraim, whom the king of Assyria destroyed. That is why, by the way, Ephraim is not mentioned here, it is written about Egypt and Judah, because Judah was not yet destroyed. And Judah was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. And about them he says I will punish, "and all who have the corners of their hair cut." Who are these "who have the corners of their hair cut, who dwell in the wilderness"? The Radak says, this is Kedar and the kingdom of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar struck, as Yirmiyahu prophesies at the end of the book. And what is "who have the corners cut"? These are those who dwell at the corner of the edge. Pe'ah means corner. The corner of the world, to the northern corner, to the southern corner, pe'ah is an edge. Those who dwell at the corner of the edge is "those who have the corners cut." These dwell at the corners of the edges, meaning in the distant places. By the way, for this reason the pe'ot of the head are also called pe'ah, for the same reason. Why are the pe'ot called pe'ot? Because it is the corner of the head, meaning at the corners of the head, at the edges of the head. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will punish them, and this is Kedar, these are those who have the corners cut who dwell in the wilderness. Kedar refers to the Ishmaelites. Yes. "And all the nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart." All the nations - he says, now I will explain what I told you earlier about "all who are circumcised and all who are in the uncircumcised." He says: I will punish the nations who are uncircumcised, and I will punish Israel even though they are circumcised, but they are in the category of uncircumcised of heart. Their circumcision is external, it is merely circumcision of the flesh, but their heart remained uncircumcised as before. The Radak says, and do not understand that the Holy One, blessed be He, says I will punish the nations because they are uncircumcised. What is there to punish them for being uncircumcised? They were not commanded regarding circumcision. And if they were not commanded regarding circumcision, what is there to punish them for? The Radak says, that is not the meaning, rather the meaning is that the nations who are uncircumcised and Israel who are, as it were, circumcised, are one and the same. Since the nations have the foreskin of the flesh and Israel has the foreskin of the heart. So if this is so, it turns out, says the Holy One, blessed be He, I will punish these and those. So he does not come to say that He will punish the nations because of their foreskin. He will punish the nations because of their iniquities, as he wrote earlier that they caused much distress to Israel, because of this He will punish them. But at any rate, Israel too will be in a reality where Hashem will punish, since as it were they are no different from them. What would you say, but we are circumcised? But you are still uncircumcised of heart. The meaning of this, says the Radak, is that the circumcision of the flesh will not avail them and it is as if they were not circumcised. For the circumcision of the flesh was given as a covenant and a sign, to be a treasure from among all the peoples to serve Hashem, as an eternal covenant for you, to be your God and the God of your offspring after you, and a sign was sealed in their flesh so that they would always remember that they are separate from the nations. But what do they do? They go, despite their circumcision, and mingle with the nations and learn from their deeds. He says, if so, then it turns out that they are like them, there is no difference. Israel are uncircumcised of heart and the nations are uncircumcised of flesh, and if so it turns out that the judgment of Israel will, God forbid, be like the judgment of the nations.
The Malbim explains that "those who have the corners cut" refers to the children of Keturah and the children of Ishmael. And why does he define them as "those who have the corners cut"? Since the children of Kedar and the children of Ishmael cut the corner of their body, they too are circumcised. And so it turns out that "those who have the corners cut" is according to its plain meaning, they are cut, not as the Radak explained, and also as Rashi explains, those who are set apart at the edge of the wilderness, dwelling at the corners of the wilderness. No, rather "those who have the corners cut" means pe'ah does not speak about the wilderness, pe'ah or the corner of the world, it speaks about the corner of the body. And what is the corner of the body? Its edge, that is the circumcision, one of the corners of the body. And they are "those who have the corners cut," meaning they too are circumcised, this is the children of Kedar and the children of Ishmael. So he says about them and about all of them essentially, all of them the Holy One, blessed be He, will punish. And all of Israel, even though their circumcision is a more complete circumcision, for they also perform circumcision and periah, nevertheless they still have the foreskin of the heart, and therefore for this they must be punished. The Malbim explains that the juxtaposition of this verse to the next verse essentially comes to say - the next verse, let us perhaps already mention it, is the beginning of the next chapter, that Hashem warns "do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed at them." The Malbim says: we see that the astrologers would say that Nebuchadnezzar would rule over the uncircumcised, not over the circumcised. This was their illusion. Do not fear. And we have already spoken several times that the false prophets always calmed them. They always told them the enemy will not come, they always told them the Temple will protect us, they always calmed them that the Holy One, blessed be He, loves His people and the Holy One, blessed be He, will guard them and save them. This was always their way to dissolve and nullify the words of the prophets. When the prophets aroused to repentance, then the false prophets always lulled the people, calmed them that there is no need to fear and no need to return in repentance and no need to be alarmed by all sorts of apocalyptic forecasts that those rabbis always love to frighten with, and Gog and Magog and more, leave it, no need, it will be fine, it will be fine, and we have a wonderful people and our youth are terrific and everything is fine, everything is fine. Even then there were media outlets. At any rate, says the Malbim, their manner of calming was: Nebuchadnezzar cannot harm people who are circumcised, he will harm only the uncircumcised. Don't worry, he will not harm you. About this he comes and says to them: know, says Hashem, that He will punish both circumcised and uncircumcised. And if you argue but we are circumcised, he says: what is circumcision worth if you are uncircumcised, uncircumcised of heart? So how will your circumcision save you if you still have the foreskin of the heart? Therefore he says: do not believe the words of the astrologers, since in truth in the end Nebuchadnezzar will come and do so.