Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 3. "And He said to me: Son of man, eat what you find, eat this scroll, and go speak to the House of Israel." Our chapter is a continuation of the previous one, where we saw the Holy One, blessed be He, reveal Himself and tell him: I have a command for you, to eat the scroll that I give you, and do not be defiant and rebellious against My command. We already explained then that this is a metaphor and a parable. The intent is not to take this piece of hide and parchment and eat it, but rather that the words should be absorbed within his innards. He says to him, "eat what you find, eat this scroll." Whatever you find in My hand, whatever I present and give you, eat it. And what is it, in fact? The scroll.
What does "what you find" mean? The Metzudat David explains that it means everything you find. Since the scroll was written front and back, then whatever you find on the front and whatever you find on the back, eat it all. What does "eat" mean? Learn and receive the message written here. The Malbim explains that since he saw that this scroll was written with harsh things, lamentations and moaning, things that anyone who hears them is horrified, since this really expresses troubles and disasters. Whoever accepts God's command, says the Malbim, out of compulsion and out of fear of punishment, that acquisition is not an acquisition bound to his soul, it is the acquisition of someone looking to shed it. And why? Because I do it since there is a gun to my temple, I do it because there is a terrible punishment and Gehinnom beneath my feet, but if the punishment were removed from me for a moment, then surely I would flee from fulfilling God's commandments.
If so, here Yechezkel sees these things and is concerned. These words are words of threats, these are words of punishments, troubles, lamentations, wailing. Yechezkel therefore says: here these threats will not bring this to an acquisition of the soul, such a thing is not lasting, it is something that frightens for a moment and afterward passes. Therefore God says to him: eat the scroll, so that the scroll, as it were, will enter your innards, so that it will be inscribed upon the tablet of your heart, as it is written, "and Your Torah is within my innards" and "upon the tablet of their heart I will write it," and then through this the words will truly be internal to you and not external, not merely fear of punishment and dread of retribution. No, rather the words will be internal, truly a part of your innards and a part of your heart.
"And I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll." "And I opened my mouth," as the Radak says, this is all by way of parable as we wrote. And Yonatan translated: "And I bent my soul and He made me wise in what is written in this scroll." I bent my soul and God made me wise regarding what is written in this scroll. This is the expression here of the feeding. And the Malbim says: what does this verse actually come to express? That to reach such a level, that the scroll is within my innards and inscribed upon the tablet of my heart, is impossible except with divine help. Therefore I needed only to open my mouth, and the divine help, God, fed me this scroll.
"And He said to me: Son of man, feed your belly and fill your innards with this scroll that I give you, and I ate it, and it was in my mouth like honey for sweetness." "And He said to me: Son of man, feed your belly and fill your innards." Let us read Targum Yonatan: "And He said to me: Son of man, your soul will be satisfied and your innards will be filled if you accept what is written in this scroll." If you accept what is written here in this scroll, then your soul will be satisfied and your innards will be filled. In this scroll that I give you. "And I accepted it, and its words were in my mouth like sweet honey." And I accepted it, and God's words were in my mouth like sweet honey. Since he began with the parable of eating, he also concludes with the parable of eating. He does not say to you that they were to me like a pleasing aroma. A pleasing aroma is a smell, it is not eating. And since here the parable was "eat the scroll," therefore he says the taste of the scroll was like sweet honey, because he follows that same parable. The meaning is that those things which God caused me to taste in my palate were like sweet honey, they were things that were acceptable to my mind.
And this is what the Malbim says, that God commands him "feed your belly and fill your innards." He wanted to tell him: not merely like a person who eats with his mouth, what we might call merely chewing, but the words must go down into the chambers of the belly. "And fill your innards," what does "fill" mean? That you should have no other things in your innards. What are other things? Ice cream and pizza. In short, that you should have no other pleasures and delights of this world in your innards, but rather that these words of Torah and these words of the scroll fill your belly, that your belly be filled with God's word alone, full, with nothing else. And then "it was in my mouth like honey for sweetness," that beyond his finding the good things in God's words, which is good in and of itself, it was also pleasant to his palate. And as is well known, there are three things: there is the good, there is the pleasant, and there is the beneficial. The good is not necessarily pleasant. Here he comes to say that the words were both good and pleasant.
"And He said to me: Son of man, go, come to the House of Israel, and speak with My words to them." God says to him: Son of man, go, come to the House of Israel, and speak with My words. What does "speak with My words" mean? The Malbim says: the exiles had become accustomed to speaking the Chaldean tongue. They had become accustomed to speaking the language of the nations. Therefore He commands the prophet that he should speak his words in the Holy Tongue. "Speak with My words," just as I speak, so shall you speak to them, as you received from God. And do not say that you must speak in the Chaldean tongue. The Chaldean tongue I do not understand; these are a people already here in Babylon, they have already learned the language, I do not know that language. God says to him: there is no need, you shall speak with My words, you shall speak the things I tell you, and that is in the Holy Tongue.
The Radak also says: "speak with My words" in the language in which I speak with you, for they are not of a foreign tongue that they would not understand your language. That is, you have nothing to worry about, they still know the Holy Tongue and they will understand your language. In contrast, the Metzudat David explains that the meaning is: do not change from the words. "Speak with My words" is not talking here about the Holy Tongue and the Chaldean tongue, but rather according to the arrangement of the words spoken by God's mouth, so shall you say. Do not change a thing, for the arrangement of the words themselves as spoken by God's mouth is more accepted upon the heart. That is, many times the prophet speaks and he speaks with pathos and adds words and says things for the beauty of the rhetoric. Certainly it is all precise and all from God, but no two prophets prophesy in a single style. That is, it passes through the vessel of each one's understanding and comes out in a certain form. Here He tells him that it will be precise words, exactly as you heard, so shall you say.
"For you are not sent to a people of deep speech and heavy tongue, but to the House of Israel." He says to him, "for not to a people of deep speech and heavy tongue." I am not sending you to a people of deep speech who have some deep language you do not know, explains Rashi. For I am sending you to the House of Israel whose language is like your language. As the Malbim says, they understand the Holy Tongue. This is not a people who went into exile in Babylon 2,000 years ago or 200 years ago, so that you would say they had already lost their language. You know that people who came here to the Land from abroad, whether from Europe, from Iraq, from Yemen, or from wherever, the adults for many years afterward continued to speak the language of their country. For many years afterward. Some communities more, some less. Among the Ashkenazim it was very common to speak Yiddish. So too among the Persians, there are those who have been in the Land for 50 years and still speak Persian. He will not speak Hebrew; at home he speaks Persian. Most of the other communities have already changed their language, but the Persians are very zealous about their language and they continue to speak it, you see it even 50 years later. What this means is that this people who went into exile in Babylon did not go long ago, and consequently they will understand the language you speak with them, they understand the Holy Tongue.
"Not to many peoples of deep speech and heavy tongue whose words you cannot understand; surely, had I sent you to them, they would listen to you." "Not to many peoples of deep speech and heavy tongue." What does "many peoples" mean? The Radak explains that the meaning is "many" in the sense of "distant." How is "many" connected to "distant"? The distance is great, so he explains. "Many peoples" means peoples upon whom the distances are great. So I am not sending you to peoples whose language you have not heard, whom you would be expected to speak to, and you say I do not know their language. Then He says to him: "surely, had I sent you to them, they would listen to you." That is, "had I not," the Radak explains it as a language of oath. As if He says to him: truly, had I sent you to them, they would listen to you. Even though they would not understand your language and you would not understand their language, they would seek someone to interpret for them. That is, there is a claim here, as it were, that had I sent you to distant peoples, they would still seek an interpreter to hear what you have to say. And here, as it were, you are sent to a people who do not listen to your words, you are sent to a people who do not heed what you say, even though your language is essentially their language.
The Malbim explains that He says to him here: do not say that I would need to deliver my prophecy in the Chaldean tongue. But why? Have we not seen that the people still know the Holy Tongue? The answer is that perhaps there is a purpose here that the gentiles too should understand. As we have seen with many prophecies where the prophets are sent to the nations. Prophets are also sent, for example "the burden of Damascus," "the burden of Egypt," the prophet has prophecies also to the nations. So perhaps here this prophecy is meant also for the Chaldeans, and consequently the language I would need to deliver it in is the Chaldean tongue. God says to him: "not to many peoples of deep speech and heavy tongue whose words you cannot understand." You are not sent to many peoples of deep speech, that is, whose language is deep for you, you do not know it, you would need to learn their language in order to know it. And in any case God says to him: nevertheless I tell you, even had I not sent you to them, even though your prophecy is not intended for them, in any case they would listen to you. When the matter of the prophecy became known to them, they would listen and accept. That is, even though you are not really sent to them but to the people of Israel, in any case they would accept your words. And the Malbim says that in his explanation we gain that it is according to its plain meaning. Since the commentators explain that "had I not" is a language of oath, whereas according to the Malbim's explanation, "had I not" is according to its plain meaning. That is, had I not sent you to them, they would listen to you. The peoples, even if I do not send you to them, would listen to you. Whereas here, to the people of Israel, I do send you to them, and they, the people of Israel, you can speak with them in the Holy Tongue, and through this your words will be understood by them.
"But the House of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me, for all the House of Israel are hard of forehead and stiff of heart." He says to him: I am not sending you to the peoples, and although, had I sent you to Israel and the peoples would hear you, they would heed you, even though the prophecy is not personally intended for them. This is what He says: "surely, had I sent you to them, they would listen to you." The other peoples, even had I not sent you to them directly, would listen to you. But the House of Israel will not be willing to listen to you. In contrast, the House of Israel, to our sorrow, are not willing to heed, for they are not willing to listen to Me. What does "they will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me" mean? The Radak explains: why will they not be willing to listen to you? Because they are not willing to listen to Me. That is, do not think that they have rejected you. They have rejected Me. Therefore they do not want to listen to the words of My prophets. For all the House of Israel are hard of forehead and stiff of heart.
The Malbim explains that what is written, "the House of Israel will not be willing to listen to you," is a continuation of what we said earlier. We said that you are not going to speak to a people of deep speech, those who do not understand your language, and they will not be willing to listen to you not because of the problem of understanding the language, but only because they are not willing to listen to Me. Therefore they give reasons and excuses that I do not understand what the prophet says, his language is heavy upon me, I cannot interpret his intent. God says to him: all the House of Israel are hard of forehead. They have a forehead of bronze to deny the proofs, the wonders, the evidence that you bring them. This is brazenness of forehead. And stiff of heart, for one who has a soft heart, when he hears of trouble, of disaster approaching, he becomes emotional, and his heart recoils. But one who is stiff of heart, he does not fear the punishments with which the prophet threatens them.
"Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads." He says to him: I have made your face strong, do not fear their evil, and your forehead strong, do not fear and do not be ashamed before them. Let us explain. When we speak of "your face strong," the meaning is that although there were threats against the prophet that they would harm him, your face should be strong not to fear. The forehead always comes to express brazenness. He says to him: there is a concern that perhaps you will be ashamed to tell them the words, but here brazenness of holiness is required. Therefore He says to him "your forehead strong against their foreheads," that here brazenness is needed so as not to be ashamed.
"Like adamant harder than flint I have made your forehead; do not fear them and do not be dismayed before them, for they are a house of rebellion." "Like adamant harder than flint I have made your forehead." What is this "shamir"? Rashi brings that it is a kind of worm, which is shown upon the stone and it splits before it. And the Malbim in fact continues along this line, that the shamir is the shamir worm. He says to him: although the shamir worm in itself is very weak, it is harder than flint, meaning in terms of its special property, it can even split flint. So it turns out that it overcomes it. Thus it is stronger than flint. So too He says to him: I have made your forehead so that you will overcome them, not through your personal might. So too the shamir in itself is not strong, but through your special power. And your special power means the divine force within you that sends you to them. So although physically they are stronger than you, in terms of divine power you are stronger than them, just as the shamir, in terms of the power within it, is stronger than the rock, even though physically it is weaker. He says to him: do not fear them and do not lower yourself in your own eyes, that is, do not think "who am I and what am I," for they are a house of rebellion. He says: they are of the category of a house of rebellion, they defy God's word, and they will be nullified before you.
So that is one explanation, that "like adamant harder than flint" means the shamir worm which is harder than the stone and splits it. There is also a gloss in Rashi's language, which brings two more explanations. One explanation is that shamir is a hard rock. And in the Jerusalem Targum it is the translation of "tzur" (flint). "Of flint rock," "shamir tinra." So "chalamish" (flint) is "tinra" and "tzur" is "shamir." So we see, then, that the term "shamir" is also an expression for a rock. There is an additional explanation brought in the gloss in Rashi, that shamir is hard iron. Just as strong flint is called shamir, so too iron is called shamir because it is as hard as flint. So "like shamir" means, as we say, your forehead is bronze, it is copper, it will not fear the assailants, so too "like adamant harder than flint I have made your forehead," you will have a forehead of iron according to the third explanation, that it is in the meaning of iron.
"And He said to me: Son of man, all My words that I speak to you, take into your heart and hear with your ears." God says to him: all My words that I speak to you, take these things into your heart and hear them with your ears. And indeed anyone who reads the verse is puzzled, for the order is reversed. Take all the words and hear them with your ears, and after that take them into your heart. Does a person first take into his heart and afterward hear? How is that possible? So the Radak explains and says: we have found something like this. Like "we sinned, You were angry, and You saved us." "You were angry and You saved us"? "We sinned and You were angry." So too there, just as there it is "You were angry" after "we sinned," so it is the sinning first, so too here "take into your heart and hear with your ears," this is after "hear with your ears." The verse comes to tell us that this thing was first.
The Malbim has a different way to explain the matter. The Malbim says: "take into your heart." The Malbim says: the prophet attained wondrous visions, he attained the Account of the Chariot, the building of the Third Temple, as we will see later. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: these things you must take into your heart. These are deep things, these are things that require preparation of the heart. "And hear with your ears" what I send you to rebuke the people. So it turns out that there are two separate matters here. Take into your heart all the things I teach you, the Account of the Chariot that you saw, the building of the Third Temple, all these you must prepare a broad heart that will be capable of receiving them. And apart from this, "and hear with your ears," hear with your ears the mission upon which I send you to rebuke the people. The Malbim says that according to this explanation the question is resolved, since these are two different commands, so He is not saying that you should take the same thing into your heart and then hear it. How can I take into my heart something I have not yet heard? So we have here the explanation of the Radak and the explanation of the Malbim.
"And go, come to the exile, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God, whether they hear or whether they cease." What does "go, come to the exile, to the children of your people" mean? He was already in the exile. Rather the meaning is that he was in one place, says the Radak, and some of the exiles to whom he was sent were in another place. They too were by the river Kevar. He sends him to go to them. What does "and speak to them, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God" mean? What is the redundancy of "speak" and "say"? So the Radak wants to say that there is a doubling of the matter here in order to express the strength and force of the words. Speak and speak again, and say again, time after time, "and speak to them and say to them," perhaps they will hear. In contrast, Targum Yonatan explains that "and speak to them" is: you shall prophesy to them, and "and say to them" is: you shall speak the prophecy. That is, there are two things here, there is the prophecy and there is the saying.
"Whether they hear or whether they cease," this is an expression we already saw above in the previous chapter. He essentially tells him that even though you doubt whether there is anyone to speak to at all, He tells him: you must say the words. "Whether they hear or whether they cease" is not your concern. You are commanded to speak, whether they hear or whether they cease, do your task. The Malbim explains that He said to him: go, come to the exile. What does "go, come to the exile" mean? To teach him that he is not sent to the children of Israel. We asked, was he not already in the exile? So the Radak said from place to place within the exile. But the Malbim says no, indeed he is in the exile, but it may well be that he thinks perhaps his prophecies are intended for those still in the Land. God says to him: no, those in the Land have their own prophet, and their prophet at that time was Yirmeyahu. You I send to the exile, direct your prophecy to those dwelling here in the exile. Another matter: also you will not go to prophesy to other peoples. As we have seen that there were prophets who prophesied to the nations, as we saw with Yirmeyahu and other prophets who prophesied also to the other nations. Here He says to him: I am not telling you to prophesy to the other nations, I am telling you to prophesy only to the children of your people. Since the prophecies to the gentiles, the one who was commanded to announce them was Yirmeyahu, as we saw in chapter 26. Here He commands him to announce the prophecies only to the people of Israel. And He says to him: therefore "and speak to them." What does "and speak to them" mean? Only to the exiles and not to the nations.
The Malbim says that there is a difference between speaking and saying. A saying is a brief expression. "I told him." It could be three words, "I told him." But when a person wants to speak with someone at length, he says: "I have something to speak with you about," right? "I spoke with him." "I spoke with him" is not a command. "I spoke with him," generally even today we use this as an expression for a lengthy saying. A saying is a brief saying, do this and it is over, that is a saying, "I told him," that is it. But in contrast, speaking is at length. Therefore He says: speak to them at length, and say to them that you are not fabricating these things from your own heart, but only tell them "Thus says the Lord God." That you should not think these words of mine are things I fabricate from my heart and from myself, but rather I am sent to you from God.
"And a spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a sound of great rushing: Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place." What is this "a spirit lifted me up" that enters here, and how is it connected to the matter? Rashi explains: "a spirit lifted me up," that after the Holy One, blessed be He, finished the command, "go, come to the exile, to the children of your people," after God finished His words, God commanded the spirit to carry Yechezkel to the place where the exiles were, so that he could prophesy to them. In simple terms, Yechezkel does not now need to get on a bus to reach the exiles. Rather he is in one place, they are in another place, "and a spirit lifted me up." A spirit carries me and brings me to the exiles. In contrast, the Radak explains that "a spirit lifted me up" was said within the vision of prophecy and not in reality. No spirit came and carried Yechezkel. The Radak says: within the vision of prophecy it seemed to me that a spirit carried me to go to the exile. Thus I see within the vision of prophecy how a spirit carries me to the exile.
And then I hear behind me a sound of great rushing: Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place. What is "behind me"? Since in the vision of prophecy I see myself, that a spirit carries me from the place where I was, I hear behind me, at the place where I prophesied. At the place where I prophesied, the spirit had, as it were, already carried me from there, so I hear behind me, from the place where I earlier prophesied, where God earlier delivered His words to me, there I hear a sound, and the sound says "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place." What is the meaning of this? The Radak says: this is when God departs from His place. And what is the place of the Holy One, blessed be He, where does the holy Shechinah dwell? Between the two Keruvim upon the Kaporet. When we pray we direct ourselves: toward the Land of Israel for those abroad, toward Jerusalem for those in the Land of Israel, toward the Temple and the Holy of Holies, toward the Shechinah that rests upon the Ark between the Keruvim. So this is how one must direct oneself during prayer, standing before the King of kings of kings. So it turns out that the place of the Shechinah is upon the Kaporet. The Kaporet is the cover of the Ark, and the Keruvim were the angels whose wings overlapped one toward the other, and there, as it were, is what is the place, this is the place of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the people of Israel were diminishing His glory. Since they were engaging in idolatry, there was a blemish here in God's glory, there was, as it were, a blemish in the resting of the Shechinah. The image of jealousy that provokes to jealousy were symbols of idolatry, as we will see later in Yechezkel, where God takes him on a tour of the Temple and shows him: come see how much the people anger and what terrible things they do in the Temple. And then God says to him: do not think that because they did such things My glory was diminished. We have already spoken about this several times, that God's glory cannot be harmed. The meaning is: you can cause God's glory to be desecrated for yourself, but God's glory in terms of His essence is not diminished in the least. Therefore He says: pay attention, it is written "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place." What is "blessed"? "Blessed" is a language of abundance and flow. According to the Kabbalists it is from the language of "the supernal pool," that the pool overflows and pours forth, this too is the source of the expression "blessing." And this is also what is written later on, "and the glory of the God of Israel rose from upon the Keruv upon which it had been, to the threshold of the House." So it turns out that He tells them: through God's glory the abundance increases despite the deeds they do. That is, they do not blemish the glory of the Creator, blessed be He. Rather, if a person blemishes, he blemishes only his own portion, he blemishes with his deeds, he ruins his portion in the World to Come, but God's glory cannot be blemished. And we saw that, moreover, Rav Dessler says, the divine plan will in any case come to fruition. And the divine plan is: all that was created in My name and for My glory I created, formed, and even made. The entire world was created in order to sanctify the name of Heaven. We spoke about this at length in the past: the choice is in your hand. Either it will be through you or it will be upon you. But the name of Heaven will be sanctified. If you want it to be through you, go in the path I have laid out, and through you you will merit eternity of eternities through the name of Heaven being sanctified through you. All the nations will come here and see, "all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon you," and through this all will praise and laud the Lord, God of Israel. But if you do not go in God's path, then what will happen is that the name of Heaven will be sanctified, but upon you. You will be exiled, you will suffer blows, you will be tormented, there will be holocausts, there will be persecutions, there will be murders, there will be pogroms, and then the gentile will stand and be astonished, "why did the Lord do thus to this land? What is this great anger?" "Because they forsook the Lord, God of their fathers." So the name of the Lord will be sanctified. And all will understand: behold, you see, when the glory of Heaven is harmed one is punished. Only you decide whether the name of the Lord will be sanctified through you or upon you. So too here, "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place," God's glory does not move from its place, God's glory is not diminished, God's glory is sanctified and will be sanctified come what may, only it is in your hand to choose which path. Do you want to be a partner in this sanctification of God's name, or do you want to be the one who suffers from that sanctification of God's name because you did not take part in that role.
The Malbim explains "and a spirit lifted me up," the Malbim says God's spirit carried him upward. And then I hear a sound of great rushing. What is that sound of great rushing? The Malbim finds here the connection to the Account of the Chariot we saw above. The Malbim says: Yechezkel envisioned a chariot. A chariot upon which, as we explained, the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Rider, and we explained that there is the reality of the world of angels, and there is the reality of the world of the spheres which are the wheels of the chariot, there are the holy Chayot that convey the chariot. And then Yechezkel describes: I saw this vision and I hear a sound of great rushing. What great rushing? That the chariot is moving, and where to? That is, as it were, what is the direction of the supernal Providence? It is going to shake kingdoms. We saw this above, that in fact this was shown to Yechezkel to say how, as it were, the supernal Providence is now going in order to destroy the Temple. And this is the fire we saw there that Yechezkel saw. What does that fire come to express? This very idea, that now the Temple is going to a burning of fire, all this and for this purpose the chariot was shown to him. And now he says: I hear a sound of great rushing, as it were, of the chariot in its movement, the spheres, the wheels, the holy Chayot, that they are going to shake kingdoms. "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place." What is this entering here? The Malbim says: the idea of the words is that although God's glory is departing from the Temple, since the Temple will be destroyed, and the blessing and the abundance will no longer descend through Jerusalem, since it was there that God commanded the blessing, know that despite all this, the source of the blessing is there. "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place." That is, although it seems to you that the abundance comes only through the Temple and through the Ark and the Keruvim and the altar and so forth, He says: but know, God's place has not departed. "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place," the source of the blessing is in the place where God is. Or it may be explained that "from His place" means: even if God will not be there, but wherever He is, from there the blessing will flow. This is seemingly more precise in the Malbim's language. That the meaning is that although the Temple is destroyed and although now there is no altar and no Ark and no Keruvim, but blessed is the glory of the Lord from whatever place it may be. From wherever His place is, from there the abundance will come. So even if it is not from here, in any case from whatever place He, blessed be He, will be, He will pour forth abundance. And in fact, in terms of reality, the first explanation seems more likely, since we still pray toward the place of the Temple, toward the place of the Keruvim and the Ark. That is, the Shechinah did not move from there, so we still understand that there is still the place. But even if not, from whatever place, the abundance descends from Him, blessed be He, so from whatever place He, blessed be He, is, He will pour forth abundance.
"And a sound, the sound of the wings of the Chayot touching one another, and the sound of the wheels alongside them, and a sound of great rushing." The sound of the wings of the Chayot, he hears the Chayot lifting their wings and they touch. "Touching," the Radak gives it in two explanations. Either from the language of "kissing," or, as Targum Yonatan says, "knocking." And this is an exchange of letters, and apparently it is not for nothing. "Kissing" (noshkot) and "knocking" (nokshot) is not for nothing. Since you say "his knees knocked one against the other," the knees knock, so they also kiss one another. And we know that there are many verbs that are reversed, like "kevess" and "keses" (lamb), "salmah" and "simlah" (garment), "kahal" and "lahak," and one can also say "noshkot" and "nokshot," that these too are of these verbs, that they actually strike one against the other. So the wings of the Chayot either kiss one another or strike one against the other. One could say that there is perhaps some difference, for kissing does not necessarily have to be with a sound. In contrast, knocking is generally with a sound. Since it knocks, the sound of the knocking is heard. Whereas kissing does not necessarily have to be with a sound. In any case, however it may be, the Malbim explains that we already saw above when we explained the Account of the Chariot, that when the Chayot lift their wings upward, this indicates a supernal spiritual conduct. When the Chayot walk, we saw that this is conduct in the way of nature, in the way of walking, in the way of the legs. When the Chayot raise their wings, then it is like flight. When they fly, this is conduct above nature. This is spiritual conduct, this is elevated conduct that comes from the supernal worlds. So the Malbim says: now he sees the sound of the wings of the Chayot touching one another, that they are actually lifting their wings, and this shows that the Holy One, blessed be He, now has a plan that is above nature. That is, according to the way of nature it is not now necessary for the Holy One, blessed be He, to go and shake and overturn kingdoms. But God is now doing something that is above nature, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is now placing this power in the hands of the Chayot who receive it, as we said, through the wings, for the wings are like channels through which the abundance descends from the supernal spiritual worlds downward, and this is the touching of the wings one to another, which means that this abundance descends downward, and then there is a sound of great rushing. What is the great rushing? This is the war, this is the rushing, this is the shaking of kingdoms, all that is about to happen here now, the Holy One, blessed be He, shows him in that vision, and behold now he sees all the wheels alongside them and a great rushing, that is, from here a process begins to unfold that is not in the way of nature. A process that is supernatural, that is a heavenly process from God, since they conducted themselves not in God's way, so the Holy One, blessed be He, now brings upon them a supernatural process in order to chastise them and in order to destroy the Temple.
"And a spirit lifted me up and took me, and I went embittered in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong upon me." "And a spirit lifted me up and took me." And then a spirit lifts me up and takes me. What is that spirit? So again, according to Rashi, as its plain meaning: a spirit carried him against his will to go and prophesy to the people. And as we explained above, the spirit needed to take him from the place where he was to the place where the people were. And why did there need to be a spirit that took him, "and I went embittered in the heat of my spirit"? Because it was, as it were, against my will. Since I need to tell them harsh things, since I need to tell them things that I naturally have no desire to say, consequently it turns out that this spirit takes me in the heat of my spirit. I have no desire to say these harsh things to the people, but as God forces it upon me and a prophet who suppresses his prophecy is liable for death, so I have no choice and I must deliver the words as they are from God. The Radak, in contrast, as he explained above, holds that this spirit is only an expression for the vision that he saw within the vision of prophecy. What he said above, "and a spirit lifted me up," so he says "and a spirit lifted me up." And now, since he interrupted earlier with the hearing of the sound, he returns to that spirit. What I told you earlier, "and a spirit lifted me up," I return to the matter, "and a spirit lifted me up." Since the hearing of the sound interrupted here in the middle, he returns to the previous matter. And so too below we will see "and a spirit lifted me up and brought me to Chaldea, to the exile, in a vision by the spirit of God." The Malbim says: all that you see from here until there, we are in chapter 3 and that is chapter 11, verse 24, "in a spirit lifted me up and brought me to Chaldea," the Malbim says: all that you see from here until there, all of it was within the vision of prophecy. And we will see that he comes to the exile and we will see that he sat there seven days, and we will see afterward that he went out to the valley, "take yourself a brick," "lie on your side," "take yourself wheat," "take yourself a sharp sword." All this was within the vision of prophecy, as we will see later, until the stage of "and brought me to Chaldea," and there, when he brought him to Chaldea, then he said the words. So, as it were, he received the instruction to deliver, but here he is actually at the stage where God is still speaking with him. He is still giving him instructions on what to say to them. The Malbim says: "and a spirit lifted me up and took me," why the redundancy? So the Radak said that it is the same spirit we spoke of earlier, he returned to the previous matter. The Malbim has a different line. The Malbim says that at first the spirit lifted him up in the air in place. And now it takes him to the new place. So there are two things here. There is "and a spirit lifted me up," it raised me. After that "lifted me up and took me and I went embittered" and so forth, it now takes me to another place. So there is the raising up and there is the taking, and for this reason the redundancy. "And I went embittered in the heat of my spirit," that is, the prophet in himself, since he sees the future, it was bitter for him. So says the Malbim. Not really bitter over the mission itself as the Radak says, but bitter over the very matter that I see what troubles are destined to come, over this it pained me greatly. Only that the hand of the Lord and the power of prophecy were strong upon me, to arouse me with great force to carry out God's mission.