This chapter in Chavakuk is a cry and an outcry of bewilderment: the prophet sees the rise of the Chaldean empire, its cruelty and its unrestrained success, and he lodges a plea before the Holy One, Blessed be He - how can it be that the wicked swallows one more righteous than himself? In the section before us, the prophet first describes the character of the conqueror: his power, his swiftness, his ambition, and his arrogance, to the point where he attributes his strength to his god. From there, he moves to prayer and wonder at the tranquility of the wicked and the concealment of the Divine Face. We will follow the verses according to the commentary of the Malbim.
כִּי הִנְנִי מֵקִים אֶת הַכַּשְׂדִּים הַגּוֹי הַמַּר וְהַנִּמְהָר הַהוֹלֵךְ לְמֶרְחֲבֵי אֶרֶץ לָרֶשֶׁת מִשְׁכָּנוֹת לֹּא לוֹ׃ - For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, which marches through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places not its own.
Hashem says: I am raising up the Chaldeans. They will rise from their lowly station and rule over all the nations. The Malbim explains the wonder of this: sometimes a nation rises and becomes a leader through flattery and smooth speech, forging treaties with its neighbors and drawing them in with gentle words. Here, that is not the case - this is a bitter and cruel nation that charms no one with flattery. At other times, a nation leads others through stratagems, cunning, and clever coalitions. That, too, is absent here, for this is an impetuous nation. A prudent person acts with deliberation and foresight, while the impetuous is rash, acting in an instant, without counsel and without understanding.
One would expect these very traits to cause its downfall. Yet the prophet says: look at the opposite - "which marches through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places not its own." Despite all this, it advances across the expanses of the earth and conquers lands. The Malbim notes precisely: "the breadth of the earth" does not refer to traveling from east to west, but from north to south. When a nation conquers lands located in the same climate as its own, it has the ability to cope - it is accustomed to that climate and knows how to fight under those conditions. But moving from north to south means a dramatic change in climate: one who comes from a very cold region to a hot one cannot tolerate the heat, finding it hard to breathe and survive; and likewise, one coming from a hot region to a cold one cannot endure the cold.
This phenomenon is famously known as "General Winter," a term invoked twice in history. The first was when Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812: a brutal winter set in, causing his defeat. Napoleon thought he could conquer Russia, and although his army advanced and managed to subdue the Russian forces, he was ultimately defeated because his soldiers had no food upon reaching Moscow and froze to death. They were conquered not by a Russian general, but by General Winter. Similarly, when the Germans invaded Russia, what ultimately broke them was also General Winter. Thus, a change in climate alone is enough to prevent one nation from waging war against another. Yet the Chaldeans march through the breadth of the earth and succeed.
"To possess dwelling places not its own" - the Malbim adds: sometimes a nation sets out to take possession of a land with some claim in hand, some pretext or rationale at the root of the war explaining why it believes the land is owed to it. For example, Abu Mazen seeks to dispossess Israel under the claim that he is descended from the ancient Canaanites - were that true, we would know that the commandment "you shall not leave alive any soul" applies to him as well, for regarding the ancient Canaanites it was said, "you shall not leave alive any soul." Eastern imagination is known to be fertile, and someone whose doctoral dissertation was written on Holocaust denial has no qualms about claiming descent from the ancient Canaanites while asserting that we have no connection to Jerusalem. Be that as it may, when a nation takes up arms against another, it arrives with some pretext. Here, however, it says "dwelling places not its own" - dwellings that do not belong to it, where even the conqueror himself admits he has no historical connection to them. He does not even offer an excuse.
אָיֹם וְנוֹרָא הוּא מִמֶּנּוּ מִשְׁפָּטוֹ וּשְׂאֵתוֹ יֵצֵא׃ - Dreaded and fearsome is he; his justice and his majesty proceed from himself.
The Malbim explains that there is a distinction between "ayom" (dreaded) and "nora" (fearsome). "Ayom" refers to something that is menacing by its very essence - an imposing entity that poses a threat simply by virtue of its size and presence. "Nora" refers to something we fear because of the harm it might inflict. Something can be fearsome without being imposing: it may not appear threatening, yet it can cause immense damage. Conversely, something can be menacing without causing actual damage, striking fear purely by its imposing presence. Here, the Chaldeans are both dreaded in their essence and fearsome in the deeds they commit.
The verse now elaborates on both dimensions. Corresponding to "fearsome" - "his justice proceeds from himself": the Chaldeans do not abide by international law and justice, nor do they feel bound by the Geneva Conventions. The Malbim explains that customary laws exist among nations and kings, dictating that a king does not provoke another nation or ruler without cause or justification if they have done him no wrong, especially if they have already submitted to him, in which case there is certainly no reason to attack them. Such conventions were accepted among nations even in their time. Yet the Chaldean pays no heed to international norms, and the laws of nations mean nothing to him. He invents his own constitution anew - "his justice proceeds from himself," meaning that law and justice emanate from him alone; he dictates them and changes the rules of the game. This is the root of the dread he inspires: just as we say today of someone who disregards all rules and acts with total reckless disregard, people fear him because his actions are entirely unpredictable.
And corresponding to "dreaded" - "and his majesty proceeds from himself." "Se'eit" denotes something elevated and exalted. Some nations gain power through other kings, supported by alliances with kingdoms they have partnered with, which is why others avoid provoking them. For instance, Saddam Hussein paid a very heavy price, being imprisoned and ultimately executed, for his venture in invading Kuwait to seize its oil fields. Kuwait is not a country with a formidable army - if it has an army, it is one for parades rather than war - yet one dared not meddle with it because it held ties and alliances with far more powerful nations. When Saddam moved against Kuwait, he ultimately entangled himself with America, where the bond was financial, as America could not permit harm to the liquid so vital to powering the wheels of its industry. Thus, there are nations with no intrinsic power whose strength stems entirely from alliances with surrounding nations. But of the Chaldeans it is said: "his majesty proceeds from himself" - his eminence is intrinsic; he is mighty, elevated, and exalted without relying on other nations or allied kings to support him. Therefore, the terror he inspires is immense.
וְקַלּוּ מִנְּמֵרִים סוּסָיו וְחַדּוּ מִזְּאֵבֵי עֶרֶב וּפָשׁוּ פָּרָשָׁיו וּפָרָשָׁיו מֵרָחוֹק יָבֹאוּ יָעֻפוּ כְּנֶשֶׁר חָשׁ לֶאֱכוֹל׃ - And his horses are swifter than leopards and sharper than evening wolves, and his horsemen spread far and wide; his horsemen come from afar, flying like an eagle hastening to devour.
"And his horses are swifter than leopards" - his horses are swifter in their stride than leopards, and leopards are known for their swiftness. The verse speaks metaphorically: he possesses horses faster than leopards. "And sharper than evening wolves" - they are sharper and fiercer than wolves. And what is "erev" (evening or wilderness)? The Malbim presents several possibilities: it may be related to "midbar" and "aravah" (wilderness and plains), meaning wolves that dwell in the open plains; or wolves in an entangled thicket, where the wolf is in its natural element and exceedingly dangerous; or that a wolf is most dangerous toward evening ("le'et erev"), having spent the entire day hunting, ravenous and impatient, when encountering one is perilous. Some explain that "chadu" (sharper) connotes keen and sharp, that is, alert and quick-witted.
"And his horsemen spread far and wide" - horses like these, swifter than leopards and fiercer than wolves, are beasts people are usually terrified to mount. A person would say: This horse suddenly kicks into overdrive, I do not know how I can hold on; or, this horse is so wild, I do not know how I will survive riding it. Yet despite all this, "and his horsemen spread far and wide" - his riders are numerous. Consider what formidable riders the Chaldeans have, who feel completely at ease mounting even such terrifying steeds.
"And his horsemen come from afar, flying like an eagle hastening to devour" - even though they come from afar, and someone traveling from a distance is typically road-weary and unprepared to immediately join battle, they do not rest at all. The moment they arrive from afar, they swoop down like an eagle diving straight for its prey - instantly engaging in battle, conquering, and seizing spoils, without delay and without any need for rest.
The Malbim further explains regarding "and his horsemen spread [u-fashu]": the root "pashu" denotes not merely numerical increase, but growth that multiplies vigorously of its own accord, as in the verse "you grow fat like a threshing heifer and neigh like stallions [u-fashtem ka-abirim]," which refers to body fat and vigor that naturally increases. According to this, the horsemen here are robust, powerful, and burly - not only numerous in quantity, but also physically mighty.
כֻּלֹּה לְחָמָס יָבוֹא מְגַמַּת פְּנֵיהֶם קָדִימָה וַיֶּאֱסֹף כַּחוֹל שֶׁבִי׃ - All of them come for violence; the thrust of their faces is eastward, and he gathers captives like the sand.
Here the prophet provides another description of the Chaldeans: their objective in conquering lands is neither prestige nor building imperial power. For if that were the case, he would not lay the lands to waste, nor would he return to his own land immediately after the conquest. One who seeks glory desires to rule over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces; he begins to organize the conquered territory, integrating it into his empire and expanding outward from there - much like the colonial rule of the British Empire, which aimed to conquer territories and establish governance over them. The Chaldeans had no such aim: "All of them come for violence" - to plunder and head back. Had his true intent been to govern, he would have had to remain there, yet he does not stay.
"And he gathers captives like the sand" - he amasses captives and does not leave them in their conquered homeland, but hauls them off to his own land. This, too, demonstrates that he has no interest in governing locally, but only in wreaking havoc and looting. This is the meaning of "the thrust of their faces is eastward [kedimah]": the land of the Chaldeans, Babylonia, lay to the east, and as he conquers here, his face is already set back toward the east - he did not come to conquer in order to settle, but to seize what he conquered and return with it eastward. Their objective is to return home, for their entire goal is nothing but plunder.
"Megamat" is a hapax legomenon in Scripture, having no exact parallel. However, commentators attempt to decipher its meaning from related words: in Iyov it says, "With noise and rage he swallows the ground [yegamma eretz]," and similarly, "Please let me sip [hagmi'ini na] a little water," meaning to swallow or gulp down. There the reference is to horses devouring the terrain, just as we say of someone who swallowed vast distances in a short time. This is "megamat peneihem": the horses swallow the earth just as a person gulps down water, drinking up the land - swallowing the distance with ease and charging forward. The Radak offers another interpretation: "megamat peneihem" means directly in front of their faces, corresponding to Targum Yonatan's translation "nokach apeihein," facing straight ahead. The Metzudos explains that "megamah" refers to intent and longing, an unparalleled term, so that "megamat peneihem" denotes the yearning and ambition directed before them, like an aspiration, and adds that it may also derive from the root of "hagmi'ini" (swallowing or craving).
וְהוּא בַּמְּלָכִים יִתְקַלָּס וְרֹזְנִים מִשְׂחָק לוֹ הוּא לְכָל מִבְצָר יִשְׂחָק וַיִּצְבֹּר עָפָר וַיִּלְכְּדָהּ׃ - And he scoffs at kings, and princes are a mockery to him; he laughs at every fortress, for he heaps up earth and captures it.
Even the kings he conquers, and even those who submit to him, he does not respect. He shows no honor toward them; on the contrary - he degrades and humiliates them. And princes, who are council ministers and advisors, are "a mockery to him" - like a mere joke, he pays no heed to them and even ridicules them. What does this mean? He does not need the princes to seek their counsel, nor does he need kings to assist him, for as we have seen, he is mighty and terrifying entirely on his own.
Likewise, he does not fear the fortresses of his enemies: "he laughs at every fortress." When told that a place is fortified, he makes fun of it - what fortress? He is completely unfazed: "I can take it effortlessly." And why? Because of the multitude of his troops: "he heaps up earth and captures it." With his vast numbers of soldiers, he piles up an earthen rampart against the fortress and captures it. We have already explained several times how fortresses were besieged: either with a battering ram - a massive, mighty iron beam suspended from ropes, swung back and forth to breach the wall; or by means of an earthen ramp - piling dirt against the wall until a rampart was formed, allowing them to climb to the top of the wall and descend on the other side. This is why it says "he laughs at every fortress," for he possesses an enormous army with the power to "heap up earth and capture it."
אָז חָלַף רוּחַ וַיַּעֲבֹר וְאָשֵׁם זוּ כֹחוֹ לֵאלֹהוֹ׃ - Then his spirit swept through and passed over, and he became guilty, attributing this strength of his to his god.
The prophet sees that his success continues until a spirit passes over him. The Malbim explains that "spirit" refers to the thoughts and inner conceptions that arise in a person's soul. He makes a precise distinction: chalaf ("swept through") always refers to something temporary, whereas ve'avar ("and passed over") denotes permanency. At first, this spirit sweeps through him occasionally, but then "he passed over" - it became fixed within him, until "he became guilty" - incurring liability for punishment.
And what is that spirit? "This strength of his is his god." He comes to believe that his idol gave him the power to conquer: Where does my might come from? How do I conquer everyone? Through the power of my deity, for the idol enclothes itself in my strength so that my power is divine power; the god has invested himself in me, and from this I received the immense strength to conquer all the kingdoms. The Malbim further explains that this means he envisions in his spirit that his own strength is his god. For throughout history, whenever someone possessed supernatural power, people would call him a god - like Daniel, who could interpret dreams supernaturally and even know what a person was thinking, so Nebuchadnezzar called him a god and wanted to offer sacrifices to him, because he possessed superhuman power. Here, too, he adopts this view: If I have conquered such kingdoms, it is a sign that I am a god; this power proves that divinity resides in me, and by that power I have succeeded in conquering so much.
The Malbim explains that this refers to Belshazzar, who imagined that through his supposed divine power he had triumphed over the gods - he had reached the land and seized the vessels of the Beis HaMikdash. That is why he ultimately ordered those vessels brought out to be defiled and drunk from at his great feast, and through this they praised idols, saying: Look, Belshazzar is a god, see what he achieved, and see that even the God of Israel cannot withstand him. Daniel rebuked him for this, saying: "And you have exalted yourself against the Master of Heaven" - you grew arrogant against the Master of Heaven; "and they brought the vessels of His house before you" - and you praised the gods of silver and gold, as though that idolatry had invested itself in you and granted you strength. Because of this, as the verse says, "and he became guilty," guilt fell upon him and he incurred retribution. A hand appeared and wrote upon the wall of his palace: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, u-Pharsin" - your kingdom has been numbered and found wanting. "On that very night Belshazzar was killed" - may all Your enemies perish so, Hashem. We learn from here that because he believed he possessed divine power, and attributed his success to it, he had the audacity to bring out the sacred vessels of the Beis HaMikdash and drink from them, confident that Israel would never be redeemed.
Before the prophet tells us what was decreed upon him on that night, as we will see in the next chapter, he pauses the narrative here, says the Malbim, and turns to prayer before Hashem. His prayer concerns the tranquility of the wicked: Why do the wicked prosper in peace, when will we finally see the downfall of the Babylonian empire that rules over us, and how can it be that the wicked are at ease while the righteous suffer? Through this, he speaks of the judgment that Hashem will execute upon him as punishment for that spirit that swept through him and for his guilt.
הֲלוֹא אַתָּה מִקֶּדֶם יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהַי קְדֹשִׁי לֹא נָמוּת יְהֹוָה לְמִשְׁפָּט שַׂמְתּוֹ וְצוּר לְהוֹכִיחַ יְסַדְתּוֹ׃ - Are You not from everlasting, Hashem my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. Hashem, You have ordained him for judgment; and You, O Rock, have established him for chastisement.
The prophet prays and says: You are Hashem, my God, my Holy One, are You not from everlasting? You did not appoint him to destroy us completely, but rather "You have ordained him for judgment." Your purpose in raising up this wicked ruler is as a rod of chastisement, as it is said, "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger," to serve as a staff to rebuke us. You did not appoint him to kill us, but to execute judgment upon us - not to annihilate all the nations he reaches, but to reprove them, for You, Hashem, desire repentance. Therefore, surely "You have ordained him for judgment" - to punish sinners and awaken them to rectify their ways, not that we should die at his hand.
Here, then, is a plea and an outcry before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, why do You allow him to do what he is doing now, striking us and killing us, if You did not designate him to kill us, but only for judgment? The prophet adds: since You are "my God, my Holy One" - what You did was out of Your desire that we be holy and not depart from the Torah, and for this purpose You prepared this wicked one as "the rod of My anger", to shake and agitate nations and kingdoms in order to awaken them. If so, You did not establish him so that we should perish. The primary mission for which You sent him was to rebuke, so that people would repent; and even after they did not accept the rebuke, You did not appoint him to put us all to death. Why, then, is this the reality unfolding before our eyes, that he strikes us down and slaughters us, when it is clear to me that this was not the purpose for which You appointed him from of old?
טְהוֹר עֵינַיִם מֵרְאוֹת רָע וְהַבִּיט אֶל עָמָל לֹא תוּכָל לָמָּה תַבִּיט בּוֹגְדִים תַּחֲרִישׁ בְּבַלַּע רָשָׁע צַדִּיק מִמֶּנּוּ׃ - You are of eyes too pure to behold evil, and You cannot look upon iniquity; why do You look upon the treacherous, and remain silent when a wicked person swallows one more righteous than he?
Here comes the second argument, from the standpoint of Hashem's providence and righteousness. The clauses here are parallel, as we have explained several times regarding biblical parallelism: there are four clauses, where the continuation of the first is the third, and the continuation of the second is the fourth. "You are of eyes too pure to behold evil" corresponds to "why do You look upon the treacherous," and "and You cannot look upon iniquity" corresponds to "and remain silent when a wicked person swallows one more righteous than he."
"Why do You look upon the treacherous" - the wicked conqueror himself is treacherous, unworthy of being looked upon. To "look upon" (lehabbit) implies gazing with close scrutiny, which signifies individual divine providence (hashgachah peratit). It is unfitting, Master of the Universe, that You should grant him personal providence to make him succeed, for on the contrary, You are pure of eyes - Your providence is one of purity, and You do not look upon evil or desire wickedness. How, then, can You watch over him to make him successful in doing evil and malice? On the other hand: "and You cannot look upon iniquity" - "amal" denotes depravity of soul and evil intent, as the word amal always indicates scheming toward evil. And if You cannot look upon iniquity, why do You remain silent "when a wicked person swallows one more righteous than he"? When this villain, who is certainly more wicked than we are, swallows us and strikes us down - this violates the attribute of justice, that the wicked should swallow one more righteous than himself; how can You remain silent and not act to save us from his hand? Rashi explains that what is said here, "one more righteous than he," refers to his blinding of King Tzidkiyahu.
וַתַּעֲשֶׂה אָדָם כִּדְגֵי הַיָּם כְּרֶמֶשׂ לֹא מֹשֵׁל בּוֹ׃ - And You have made man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them.
Here is the third argument. The prophet comes and says: if we were to suggest that all of this is taking place, so to speak, outside of Hashem's providence and without His knowledge - and of course, God forbid that we should say Hashem does not know something, but there is a reality of "And I will surely hide My face," where the Holy One, blessed be He, conceals His countenance. By the way, we have mentioned in the past that this is the answer to those who ask where Hashem was during the Holocaust, and the answer is: He was not there. That is, He was not there, and He forewarned that He would not be there. The Holy One, blessed be He, says that when sins multiply, "And I will surely hide My face from them on that day," and "they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them." In advance, the Holy One, blessed be He, declared that severe troubles would occur because He would hide His face. What, then, is the question of where He was? He concealed His face, and announced in advance that He would do so. A person cannot sink as low as he wishes and then ask why he is not being shown consideration. From the moment you hide your face from Hashem, that concealment brings about a corresponding concealment against you, for "God has made one corresponding to the other," and "Hashem is your shadow upon your right hand" - and the Midrash states: just as the face you show Him, so He shows to you. If you show Him a smiling face, He will show you a smiling face; but if you hide your face from Him, refusing to see Divinity, do not wonder why Divinity does not look upon you.
Here too, the prophet argues along these lines: and if you were to say that this happens without providence and knowledge, because You handed us over to blind chance since we hid our faces from You and You hid Your face from us - Master of the Universe, could such a thing be done? "And You have made man like the fish of the sea" - is it possible to leave us like the fish of the sea, where the large fish swallows the small one? Whether just or unjust, fitting or unfitting, whoever is slightly stronger swallows the one who is weaker, even if the weaker one is righteous and the larger one is wicked. Is man really to be treated like the fish of the sea?
And even more: "like creeping things that have no ruler over them." For fish, the sea at least provides some protection; whoever wishes to catch them needs a hook, needs a net, needs various methods to succeed. But over creeping things, anyone can rule with ease: any homemaker with a slipper can crush an ordinary cockroach. Over creeping things, anyone has dominion, and they possess no strength at all. And this is the claim: is this how You created man, like a creeping thing over which anyone who wishes can rule? Did You create human beings only to place them in a state where You do not watch over them, do not guard them, and do not protect them - are they fish of the sea or creeping insects?
כֻּלֹּה בְּחַכָּה הֵעֲלָה יְגֹרֵהוּ בְחֶרְמוֹ וְיַאַסְפֵהוּ בְּמִכְמַרְתּוֹ עַל כֵּן יִשְׂמַח וְיָגִיל׃ - He brings them all up with a hook, drags them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet; therefore he rejoices and exults.
The Malbim explains: Notice that there are three types of fishing gear here - a fishhook, a net-trap, and a dragnet - and consider the difference between them. With a hook they would catch large fish; with a net-trap, medium-sized ones; and with a dragnet, small ones. The hook is just as we know it. The net-trap (cherem), as its name implies, was a kind of vessel used as an enclosure: they would place it in the sea, usually near the shore, and fish would swim inside and be trapped. Hence the expression "nets and snares" (cheramim u'metzudim) that frequently appears together, for a cherem is an enclosed trap used to catch animals or fish. The practice was to lay out many such traps - many jars or vessels of this sort, with each catching just a few fish. The dragnet (michmoret), on the other hand, is the large net cast over the surface of the water, as fishermen do, and whatever enters it cannot escape. Its advantage is that it gathers a vast number of fish all at once, unlike the net-traps, each of which catches only a few, requiring many to be spread around.
Accordingly, the prophet describes three stages. At first, "he brings all of them up with a hook" - the king of the Chaldeans came and conquered states one by one, like a fisherman pulling up a fish on a hook, catching one and then another. Sovereign states are something significant, corresponding to the hook with which one catches large fish. Afterwards, "he gathers them in his net-trap" (yegurehu bechermo), from the root of agirah (accumulating) - he gathered the smaller and scattered states in net-traps, which are small enclosures in each of which he captured a few more and a few more, corresponding to the medium-sized fish. And in the third stage, "and gathers them in his dragnet" - he swept all the peoples into captivity, like a fisherman scooping up small fish in a net. "Therefore he rejoices and is glad" - over his overwhelming success, rejoicing that everything went smoothly and easily for him, exactly as he wished. And regarding this, the prophet comes and cries out: Master of the Universe, how can You look upon all this and look away, failing to shield and protect Your people, and even the other nations, from the cruelty of that wicked empire?
The Malbim closely analyzes the dual phrasing, "yegurehu" and "ye'asfehu." One who gathers (an oger) collects scattered items one by one, as in the verse "she gathers (agrah) her food in harvest" - the ant picks up a grain and carries it to the nest, then another grain and carries it to the nest; anyone who gathers one by one is called an oger. By contrast, one who collects (an osef) brings in a large quantity all at once. Therefore the text says "he gathers them in his net-trap" (yegurehu bechermo), because with a net-trap one collects little by little, since it is a trap entered by only one or two fish; whereas with the dragnet it says "and gathers them" (ve-ye'asfehu), for that gathering takes in a vast multitude at once, as is the way of a net.
There is also another paired expression: "he rejoices and is glad" (yismach ve-yagil). The Malbim has taught us in several places that simchah denotes continuous, lasting joy, whereas gil is always an outburst - an event that has just triggered great jubilation, a fresh awakening of joy. Therefore here: "he rejoices" (yismach) over what is already subdued under his dominion, a continuous satisfaction; and over each new conquest, "he is glad" (ve-yagil), a fresh burst of celebration. And so the cycle repeats: what is already in his grasp brings steady joy, and every additional conquest brings renewed jubilation.
עַל כֵּן יְזַבֵּחַ לְחֶרְמוֹ וִיקַטֵּר לְמִכְמַרְתּוֹ כִּי בָהֵמָּה שָׁמֵן חֶלְקוֹ וּמַאֲכָלוֹ בְּרִאָה׃ - Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, because through them his portion is fat and his food rich.
Since, as we have seen, he imagines that he accomplished everything through his own prowess, he therefore "sacrifices to his net." He is like a fisherman who believes that the net and the dragnet provide his livelihood, and attributes divinity to them: "Were it not for this net, were it not for this hook, I would have had no sustenance today" - and so they become his god. In practical terms, this means that he sacrifices to raw power, to the celestial force from which he supposedly draws his strength, and to them he offers sacrifices and burns incense.
The Malbim explains that this is a metaphorical description of slaughtering sacrifices and burning incense. Slaughtering sacrifices represents his killing of many nations, for zevichah is slaughter, as in "and you shall sacrifice" (ve-zavachta), which means and you shall slaughter - he slaughtered many nations, meaning he killed them. And burning incense - "and burns incense to his dragnet" - incense is always connected to fire: the smoke of incense, the cloud of incense, the smoke of a furnace. This is what he would do to cities upon completing their conquest: sending them up in smoke, burning them to the ground. The entire purpose of this destruction was so that he could continue moving forward and hunting other nations in their stead.
"Because through them his portion is fat and his food rich" - through them, by means of the net-trap and the dragnet, his portion is rich and his food abundant. The Malbim observes precisely: there is healthy food that is not rich, and there is rich food that is unhealthy for the body; but for him, everything came together - both rich and healthy. Today it is widely understood that fatty foods are unhealthy, but in his case his spoil was both indulgent and invigorating.
The Malbim further notes the deliberate order of "he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet": animal sacrifice is always the primary worship, while burning incense is secondary to it. In pagan worship as well, the main rite was animal sacrifice, while the incense was, so to speak, the dessert of idolatrous worship, with the slaughter being the main course. So too here: the fact that he utterly destroyed (hecherim) kingdoms was primary in his eyes, and therefore "he sacrifices to his net (cherem)"; whereas sweeping nations into captivity and hauling them to his own land was in his eyes merely a dividend and secondary. What mattered most to him was that he succeeded in annihilating nations and wiping out peoples, and that is what fed his sense of greatness and haughtiness of heart.
הַעַל כֵּן יָרִיק חֶרְמוֹ וְתָמִיד לַהֲרֹג גּוֹיִם לֹא יַחְמוֹל׃ - Shall he therefore empty his net, and continually slay nations without pity?
Here the prophet concludes his wonderment, saying to the Master of the World: As we have seen, "You appointed him for judgment" - You appointed him so that Hashem's power would be recognized, revealing how Hashem punishes the wicked. Yet he does not attribute this power to You at all, but to himself, while consuming and destroying many nations! "Shall he therefore empty his net" - was it for this purpose that You appointed him, to continuously empty his net and hunt many nations without pity? Like a fisherman, the Malbim explains, who empties and casts out the fish caught in his net in order to catch others, repeatedly emptying and catching again, emptying and catching again - so too would he execute the captives and plunder that fell into his hands in order to seize others and take their place. Therefore, "continually to slay nations" - he would incessantly slaughter nations to put others in their stead, "and not spare" - possessing no compassion whatsoever.
If so, Master of the World, was it for this objective and this purpose that You appointed him? Was it for this that You granted him kingship and dominion? This should not be so, for kingship and dominion are appropriately granted to bring people to repentance, so that they recognize the power of Hashem and consequently mend their ways - yet here, this does not lead to such an outcome at all. With this outcry of wonderment, the prophet concludes his prophecy at this stage, and in the next chapter we will see how he continues to present further arguments.
In this section of the chapter, the prophet depicts the kingdom of the Chaldeans in all its ugliness: a bitter and impetuous nation that employs neither flattery nor cunning, yet swallows up lands and climates, inheriting dwellings that even it admits are not its own; dreaded in essence and fearsome in its actions, subject to no law and bound by no treaty; its horses swifter than leopards, and its horsemen fierce and tireless, fearing neither king, counselor, nor fortress. Its sole objective is violence, and having conquered nation after nation with hook, net, and dragnet, it grew swollen with pride and attributed its might to its idol - until "he transgressed and became guilty," leading to Belshazzar's downfall in a single night. From here, the prophet presents three arguments before the Creator of the world: Did You not appoint him for judgment, rather than for total annihilation? Are You not of eyes too pure to behold evil, so how can You remain silent when a wicked person swallows one more righteous than he? And did You make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler? These perplexities, concerning the tranquility of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous, will propel the continuation of the prophecy in the next chapter.