"And I came to the exiles at Tel Aviv, who dwelt by the river Kevar, and I sat where they sat, and I sat there seven days astonished among them." "And I came to the exiles at Tel Aviv." Now, Tel Aviv, says the Radak, is the name of a place, as we already know. Tel Aviv, says the Radak, is a place name, like Tel Melach, Tel Charsha, and perhaps it is one of them. This was a place in the exile, not a place in Eretz Yisrael. It is a place in the exile, and he tells you explicitly "by the river Kevar," that this place was located next to the river Kevar. "And I sat where they sat." I see them dwelling there, and I dwell there. The Malbim explains that even though I dwelt in the place where they dwell, meaning among the people, and even though "I sat there seven days," that I dwelt with them seven days, nevertheless I sat "astonished among them." That is, I said nothing. I was silent, I was mute, I said nothing at all. That is "and I sat astonished among them." And what does this mean? Seemingly he should have said some word of prophecy. Says the Malbim, no specific word of Hashem reached him, that is, in detail what to say, and since this was so, I sat and was silent.
"And it was at the end of seven days, that the word of Hashem came to me, saying." After seven days I do receive prophecy from Hashem. And then the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, and you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them from Me." I will read a few pesukim and afterward we will explain them. "When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you did not warn him, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to keep him alive, he, the wicked one, shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. But you, if you have warned the wicked and he did not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have saved your soul. And when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die, for you did not warn him; in his sin he shall die, and his righteous deeds which he did shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require from your hand. But you, if you have warned the righteous man not to sin, and the righteous man did not sin, he shall surely live because he was warned, and you have saved your soul." Good, the Holy One, blessed be He, here tells him a long prophecy, and in essence there is a clear message here as we understand, only we want to understand what the message is. Hashem says to him, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel..."
A watchman, this is an expression well known in their times, like in the era of walls and towers, they would make a wall and build a tower, and there would be a man who would go up on the tower and whose job was to be a watchman. His job was to see and look out whether anyone was approaching the wall, whether troops and enemies were already at a distance and wanting to reach here. By the way, you should know that this exists today as well; there are observers, there are people whose job this is, only that today they do it in front of a screen. These are usually female soldiers, who sit in front of a screen in some bunker, and the entire fence is wired, and their job is to watch. And not once and not twice, through some situation where they raised an alert about some matter, a major attack was prevented. That is to say, not everything can always be detected through technological means; many times there needs to be a watchman, and even today they use those same means, there is no substitute for the human eye. "I have made you a watchman." So in their times the watchman would look into the distance and would warn the people. And if the watchman, as they say today, fell asleep on guard duty, woe and alas, a great disaster. So He says to him, "I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel," and your job is "you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them from Me." When you hear a word from My mouth, you must warn them in My name; the things you heard from Me you must tell them.
The Malbim explains that here there was a rebuke toward the prophet. For we saw that the prophet sat there seven days astonished among them. What is "astonished"? Silent. About this Hashem rebukes the prophet. Hashem says to him, why are you not speaking? He is destroying souls, says the Malbim. He says, I placed you as a watchman at the top of the tower to see something and warn the people. But if you do not warn them, know that you will bear their iniquity. And therefore here the Holy One, blessed be He, brings him several possibilities. "When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you did not warn him, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to keep him alive, he, the wicked one, shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand."
When I say to the wicked man, "You shall surely die," and I decree upon him the punishment of death, and I send you to make the matter known, if you do not inform him that the punishment of death has been decreed upon him, or you do not rebuke him from the standpoint of reason by way of admonition, hence the repetition, "to warn the wicked from his wicked way to keep him alive." There is here "and you did not warn him" and "nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to keep him alive." What does this mean? There are two things here. First, you must tell him, death has been decreed upon you. Second, you must speak with him by way of reason. By way of reason, even without the threat, even without the harsh words. There are people who, when they are told things about Gehinnom, are deterred. So even without the threat, tell him things by way of reason, by way of admonition, in order to keep him alive. So if it happens that you see that you spoke with this person and he does not accept it, "he, the wicked one, shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand." That is to say, if you do not warn him, if you do not tell him what I command you, this wicked man will die in his iniquity. You are not guilty of his death, he dies in his iniquity. But nevertheless, "his blood I will require from your hand." And why? Because you could have prevented it by rebuking him.
And now do not think to yourself, saying, listen, it is better not to speak, because in this reality when you speak you turn him into an intentional sinner. As long as you have not spoken, better that they be unintentional sinners and not intentional sinners. And then it could be that if he is an unintentional sinner, it is better that he remain so and then perhaps he will not die. So seemingly in this situation it is better not to speak. He says to him, you are mistaken, know that the opposite is true. First of all, he will die. What do you think, to save him by having him be an unintentional sinner and thereby be saved? No, know that he will die. And second, he will die a wicked man. If you had spoken with him, there was a chance he would be saved. First, second, and even if he dies, he will at least die as one who repented. But you, by not speaking with him, first, you did not prevent his death and he died, second, he died as a wicked man. So it turns out then that you did not help him but only harmed him.
"But you, if you have warned the wicked and he did not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have saved your soul." But if you warned him and he did not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, this seemingly is not understood, "from his wickedness and from his wicked way" is a repetition. Rather the meaning is he did not turn from his wickedness that he did until now, from his previous wickedness, and from his wicked way he continues in it. He continues to walk in his wicked way even further onward. He says, do not think that he died through you, because I warned him and he continued and became an intentional sinner and through this he is punished, that because of me he died. He says to him, no, a mistake. He shall die in his iniquity, and you do not bear the iniquity of his guilt, and you have saved your soul. He is wicked, he will die in his iniquity, you are not liable for it, and on the contrary, you have saved your soul by warning him, you have even saved your soul. And therefore you have no reason to fear going and rebuking them, and on the contrary, I command you to go and rebuke them and not to refrain from it.
"And when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die, for you did not warn him; in his sin he shall die, and his righteous deeds which he did shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require from your hand." "And when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I place a stumbling block before him." Why would Hashem place a stumbling block before him? Rashi explains that here we are speaking of a righteous man who commits a wicked deed in secret. Here we are speaking of a righteous man who makes an outward impression of being righteous, but deep inside commits a wicked deed. Hashem says, what shall I do in such a situation? I will give him some transgression that will publicize his evil deeds. And why? What is the point in this? The point in this is that if people see that this so-called righteous man receives evil, then people will say, did you see? Here a righteous man suffers, here a righteous man has evil. Hashem says, no, I will cause this righteous man to stumble in a matter he did not think of, and then through this his wickedness will be publicized through a stumbling block he did not expect, through this his wickedness will be publicized, and then everyone will know, no, this one only made himself out to be righteous, this one only appeared righteous. And then through this everyone will consequently understand that when he receives the punishment, it is a punishment he deserves. And unfortunately today we see all sorts of so-called wonder-workers and all sorts of illusionists and charlatans and people who make easy money off the innocent public, in whom the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfills this pasuk. Every time you hear of some new scandal exposed about some new wonder-worker, placing him in a disgraceful light so that people understand who is being discussed and through this distance themselves from him so as not to be led astray after him. So Hashem says, "and I place a stumbling block before him," I give a publicized transgression before him in order to reveal his deeds, and when they see it about him they will not question Me, through this they will not question the deeds of Hashem.
And this man, when evil befalls him, they will judge him, "his righteous deeds shall not be remembered." This matter is puzzling. Why shall his righteous deeds not be remembered? For we are speaking of a situation where a person did a good deed, did an evil deed, and we know that in Heaven there are no offsets. The meaning is, for the good he will receive good and for the evil he will receive evil. And even though Chazal say that a transgression extinguishes a mitzvah, Chazal did not say that a transgression nullifies a mitzvah. The meaning is, the mitzvah has no power to illuminate, but when the person repents for the transgression or is purified from it in Gehinnom, then there is no transgression, then it no longer extinguishes the mitzvah, then the mitzvot will return and illuminate. In simple words, there are no offsets up above. Why shall his righteous deeds not be remembered? Chazal ask this question, and Chazal say that here we are speaking of one who regrets his earlier deeds. "One who regrets his earlier deeds" means that the righteous man performed many acts of righteousness, was God-fearing, was righteous, was a servant of Hashem, and at a certain stage abandoned observance. And then he said to himself, oh, what a shame that I wasted my young years at the shtender, may his mouth be filled with dust. What a shame that I kept mitzvot, when I was young I could have enjoyed myself, lived it up, and so on, a shame about the mitzvot I kept. They say to him, a shame? They are erased for you. Do not regret them; it pains you over them? They are erased for you. So in fact this matter was said only regarding one who regrets his earlier deeds, but a person who committed transgressions, however many transgressions he commits, this will not erase the mitzvot he kept. For the transgressions he will pay the punishment he deserves for transgressions, and for the mitzvot he will receive the reward he deserves as one who kept mitzvot.
What is the stumbling block written here? About what stumbling block is it written that Hashem says, "and I place a stumbling block before him"? What is that stumbling block that Hashem gives? The Radak explains in the name of his father, the stumbling block is that he will have success in all matters of this world. And what kind of stumbling block is that? Since he deserves great reward, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives him the reward here, and this is a stumbling block for him. This is what Moshe Rabbeinu says, "He does not delay with the one who hates Him; to his face He repays him." Says Rashi, "to his face," in this world He pays him his reward of the World to Come. So this is terrible and dreadful, because when a person sees someone succeeding, many times he envies him. But if a person understood that there is nothing to envy, rather the Holy One, blessed be He, says "and I place a stumbling block," what is the stumbling block? That he succeeds, that is the stumbling block. It is not only that it is not success, but it is even the mishap, all his success that you now see is the stumbling block. It is the reward of the World to Come that was given to him here in this world. And "his righteous deeds shall not be remembered," why? Because the reward for them he already received here in this world.
We have here, then, two explanations. One explanation, that he regrets his earlier deeds, and another explanation, as we said, a person to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, gives the reward of the World to Come here in this world. Rav Elchanan Wasserman once asked the Chafetz Chaim a very famous question in his name, as is well known and famous. He asked him, why is the Shaarei Teshuvah so amazed that Hashem gave the possibility of repentance? For in the normal way, a person who sinned, if a person sinned against a king, would it enter one's mind that he would come and say I have sinned, I have transgressed, I have rebelled, and what, his iniquity would be erased for him? And here this person comes and confesses and Hashem erases his iniquity for him. And he is amazed by this, that here, look, what a wondrous thing, this is something contrary to nature, and Hashem did a tremendous act of kindness in the matter of repentance. Rav Elchanan Wasserman asked, where is the kindness? For here you see that it works the opposite way too. Here you see that if a person did mitzvot all his days, and at the end of his days regretted his earlier deeds, felt remorse, he erased the mitzvot he did. So why are you amazed that Hashem erases transgressions? For the attribute of good is five hundred times greater than the attribute of retribution. Five hundred times. And if here you see that in the attribute of retribution the Holy One, blessed be He, says you did good deeds, you felt remorse, that is erasure, then why, if a person did evil deeds and felt remorse, would that not be erasure? For the attribute of kindness and goodness of the Holy One, blessed be He, is five hundred times greater. So if so, all the more so that when a person does evil, Hashem would erase it for him. Where is the kindness? For this is law, this is a rule that the Holy One, blessed be He, engraved into creation. The proof, you see that it works the other way too. If a person did good deeds and felt remorse, Hashem engraved into creation, whoever feels remorse over what was, it is erased. So what difference does it make to me if it was good and he felt remorse and did evil, what difference does it make to me if it was evil and he felt remorse and did good? In any case remorse erases, so where is the great kindness that the Holy One, blessed be He, accepts a person in repentance?
So in fact the Chafetz Chaim answered and said to Rav Elchanan Wasserman that the answer is that it depends on what type of repentance we are speaking of. When you are discussing repentance out of fear, then yes indeed, there is no great kindness here, since the Holy One, blessed be He, erased the transgressions just as if you regretted mitzvot Hashem erased the mitzvot. Here there is no kindness. He said, but in repentance out of love we find that intentional sins are transformed into merits. He said, that is a tremendous kindness. Where have you seen such a thing on the other side? The Holy One, blessed be He, erased his mitzvot for him, but tell me, did He transform them into transgressions? There is no such thing. He erased the mitzvot, there was nothing. Here, when the Holy One, blessed be He, says I erase your transgressions for you, I erase the transgressions and transform them into merits. He says, that is a tremendous kindness, that is what one should be amazed by. Nevertheless Rav Elchanan Wasserman himself did not accept this, that is, he said that this is not the plain meaning in the words of Rabbeinu Yonah, since from Rabbeinu Yonah and from other sources it is implied that the very fact that a person sinned and his iniquities are erased for him, this itself is a tremendous kindness the like of which does not exist on earth. And that is the meaning there, even without speaking of the additional kindness that intentional sins are transformed into merits. The very fact that they let you off, that itself is already a kindness. That is to say, he sees in this itself some tremendous kindness that exceeds all bounds of logic. According to the words of the Chafetz Chaim, no, this is truly logical, just as mitzvot are erased so too transgressions are erased. The kindness is that they also transformed the transgressions for you into merits. That is the kindness, but that is not implied there from what Rabbeinu Yonah says, for a murder or...
There is an additional answer that they give and say, that in every act a person does he in fact damages on two planes. One plane, the Holy One, blessed be He, told him to do it and he did it, there is here rebellion against the mouth of Hashem. And the second plane, he created a corruption in all the upper worlds. These are two separate planes. And not only are they separate planes, their rectification is also completely different. Many people ask, it is written a person repents, he is forgiven. How can this be? It is written, go see what is written in the Arizal, in Reshit Chochmah and in other books, how many rectifications each and every transgression requires. Where is it written there that he is forgiven? You see how many rectifications are needed, how many mortifications, that half his life he needs fasts. So where, where do they tell us of repentance? He does not budge from there until he is forgiven, he repented, Yom Kippur brings forgiveness, and if a person does not believe in the forgiveness of Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur does not atone. This implies that there is immediate atonement. What is the answer? The answer is, it depends on which plane. When we speak of the plane of rebellion against the mouth of Hashem, that is forgiven for him immediately. And this depends, here too there are distinctions of atonement. A positive commandment, a negative commandment, yes, there is repentance that suspends and Yom Kippur atones, repentance that suspends and suffering, Yom Kippur also requires suffering, there is repentance of the day of death, there are several distinctions of atonement. But that is regarding rebellion against the mouth of Hashem. Regarding the corruption that a person created in the upper worlds, that is a matter in itself, that requires a whole other process in order for a person to rectify it. Through mortifications, through fasts, through, as the Gra says, that a person should guard his mouth from speaking forbidden speech, which is better than anything a person can guard his mouth from eating, yes, that is a far greater level, and so on. There are matters of rectifications, and above them all rises the study of Torah. That a person engages in Torah, that is the greatest rectification for all transgressions entirely. But we see from here, then, that there are two matters. There is repentance, what does repentance do immediately? For rebellion against the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, as we said, He forgives you, and the rectification is still needed.
Come and see, when a person did mitzvot and afterward the person felt remorse, then a person who felt remorse over the mitzvot, what in fact happened here? There were two things here. He did a mitzvah, he made a rectification in all the worlds. And on the other hand, now that he felt remorse, and he also, by the way, did the will of Hashem. There is here, as with a transgression, here it is the opposite. There is rectification in all the worlds, he built worlds, and second, there is fulfillment of the will of Hashem. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, erase, "shall not be remembered"? What Hashem does not remember is the fulfillment of the will of Hashem. He said, and My word was done; that the Holy One, blessed be He, erases for him. Every mitzvah, what is a mitzvah? I fulfilled the command; that Hashem erases. But the rectifications in all the worlds, they remain in existence forever, that is a reality. That will never be erased, it is an existing reality. In contrast, note, with a transgression, when a person commits a transgression, we said he created flaws in all the worlds entirely, here through repentance of remorse, through mortification, through Torah study, through prayer, and "in my death may his poison be dissolved" and more, you can also rectify all the corruption you did in all the worlds. So we see, then, that repentance has a far, far greater kindness. And why? Because repentance in fact has the power also to remove your corruption in the worlds. In contrast, when a person committed a transgression and afterward the person did a mitzvah and afterward felt remorse, then only the matter of the command of Hashem, that Hashem erases. What exists in all the worlds still remains, the rectification still remains in the worlds. It turns out, then, that here we see a far, far greater kindness. Which is not the case when a person regrets his earlier deeds, and we have here the possibility of taking all the corruption we did in all the worlds and rectifying it.
There is an additional answer they give to this, I do not recall now in whose name, but it is a very simple and wonderful answer. Imagine, for example, that you owe me a thousand dollars, and one day you came to me and said to me, listen, I am not demanding the money. I forgo it, I do not want the money at all. Legitimate or not legitimate? Excellent. Wonderful. You, I owe you a thousand dollars, and you came to me and said to me, peace upon Israel, you do not want the money. That is an option, and it is a legitimate option. Imagine that I would say, ah, if so, wonderful, then we can say yes, what was is erased. There was no loan, there was nothing, you are not collecting anything, correct? Wonderful. So one day I come to you, knock on the door, I owe you a thousand dollars, correct? What was is erased. What was is erased. We said it is possible, there was a loan, it is possible to erase it, I owe you a thousand dollars, what was is erased. Do you accept this? What are you talking about? You borrowed a thousand dollars, are you going to erase them? Ah, he lent you a thousand dollars, he can erase them. But you cannot say, since we saw that if a person gave a loan to his friend and said it is erased, it is erased, then consequently the borrower too can erase it. The lender can erase it, the borrower cannot erase it. Now listen to what a wonderful resolution. When a person comes and says, Master of the World, You are my debtor, correct? You owe me money. You owe me the World to Come. Correct? You owe me a million dollars in the World to Come. I forgo it for You, Master of the World, I do not need it. Thank you very much, I do not need it, do not give it to me. What happens at that moment? He has no World to Come. Do I have merits with You, Master of the World? Erase them, I forgo them. I do not want the World to Come, I regret that I did these things, I regret that I kept mitzvot. What does that mean? Erase my debt. Good. Afterward the person comes and says, wait wait, besides this, Master of the World, I owe You a hundred million dollars. I regret that I took the loan, erase them, Master of the World, erase the debt. Really, now you owe money, what do you mean erase? When you owe, how can you erase? When you have merits with the Master of the World, you say, Master of the World, You owe me a million dollars? I forgo it. Then you can, that is your right. You can say I do not want to receive favors. That is what the one who regrets his earlier deeds did. The one who regrets his earlier deeds said, Master of the World, neither You nor Your World to Come nor a shame about the mitzvot I kept. Excellent, you feel remorse, you erased, He erases. But what does the person now want to come and say? So, Master of the World, take too, when I owe You a hundred million dollars, then erase it. What are you talking about, from where do you have the power to say such a thing? Hashem, if He wishes, will say I erase, but that you should say, that you should say erase, that does not depend on you. So if so it turns out that repentance has no logic. That repentance where a person comes and says I felt remorse, erase, so, no, you erase your merits, you do not erase your debts. You can forgo your merits, you cannot forgo your debts. This is a very wonderful and logical resolution, truly acceptable to the mind in settling the matter.
We will now continue with the explanation of the pasuk "and when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits injustice." The Malbim does not learn the pasuk as Chazal explain, that it speaks here of one who regrets his earlier deeds, rather the Malbim explains that here we are speaking of a righteous man who committed some injustice unintentionally. He is truly a righteous man, but he stumbled in some iniquity unintentionally. That is "and when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits injustice." And what does this mean? Note, "from his righteousness and commits injustice." The injustice he did is relative to his righteousness. Since he is a great righteous man, then for him this is considered an injustice. But we do not mean to say, as we said, one who regrets his earlier deeds and does not commit severe transgressions; that is not what is being discussed. Rather, "when a righteous man turns" from the level of his righteousness "and commits injustice," that relative to his righteousness even an unintentional act, as we said, becomes and is considered an injustice. For Hashem is exacting with the righteous to a hair's breadth, and unintentional acts are treated for him like intentional sins. So if a wicked man had committed such an iniquity, they would not have considered it an iniquity for him and he would not have been punished for it. In contrast, here it is written "and I place a stumbling block before him." Even though it is only a stumbling block, for as we explained he stumbled unintentionally, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "before him," it is considered a stumbling block relative to his standing. "Before him" it is a stumbling block. If it were before the wicked man it would not be a stumbling block, but this stumbling block "I place before him," or relative to him. And since this is so, then this cause brings about death. Since the Holy One, blessed be He, is exacting with the righteous to a hair's breadth, and even for a small matter, if another person would not have been punished for such a thing. He says to him, and if so, then perhaps you, the prophet, will think, about this I do not need to warn. First, this is a stumbling block, it is unintentional. Unintentionally, well, so he stumbled unintentionally. So it is not so terrible as intentional, so perhaps you will think that in this it is not my obligation to alert and warn the righteous man. Second, this righteous man also has many merits, so even if he stumbled in something unintentionally, then the merits are what is called overshadowing and protecting the righteous man even against the things in which he stumbled unintentionally. So perhaps in any case in this I am exempt from rebuking. Hashem says to him, know that in this too you are mistaken. If you do not rebuke him, if you did not warn him, he will die in his sin. You say it is only unintentional, it is an unintentional act that one dies for. For the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Moshe, "Go up and die on this mountain," why? "Because you did not believe in Me." Was that intentional? What Moshe Rabbeinu did, for with a magnifying glass the commentators there try to understand what the sin was. There are ten explanations that the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh rejects them all and brings his own explanation in order to show you how much one must search for this sin with candles without understanding what the sin was. And nevertheless you see that he was punished with death and did not enter the Land. You see that there is a situation where the righteous man, even for an unintentional act, will die in his sin. So do not think it is only unintentional. No, sir, if you do not warn him, he will die in his sin. Another thing, do not think that his merits will protect him against the sins. He says to him, about this the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "and his righteous deeds which he did shall not be remembered." They ask, how does he explain this in a wonderful way. Do not think that his many merits will offset the sin or protect even against the sin in which he stumbled. His merits shall not be remembered; this righteous man, who is still a great righteous man, but stumbled unintentionally, these merits have no power to protect him in order to save him from the punishment. Moshe Rabbeinu, with all his mighty merits, brought Israel out of Egypt, carried them as a nursing father carries the suckling, protected them countless times, brought down the Torah for the people of Israel, and nevertheless his righteous deeds are not remembered on the day of Hashem's fierce anger. When the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed death upon him for the unintentional act, then the righteous deeds are not remembered. Consequently it turns out that if you, as a prophet whom I sent to rebuke this righteous man for these unintentional acts, if you do not rebuke him, then his blood I will require from your hand. So his death, his blood, I will require from your hand.
"But you, if you have warned the righteous man not to sin, and the righteous man did not sin, he shall surely live because he was warned, and you have saved your soul." "But you, if you have warned him, the righteous man." "You have warned him, the righteous man" is like "and he changed his behavior," "and you have defiled their food," and several other examples of this kind, as the Radak brings here. The meaning is, and you, if you have warned the righteous man. That is "you have warned him, the righteous man." For "you have warned him," you have not yet said whom, only afterward you say "the righteous man." You would still say, he was a righteous man whom you warned, then I understand. But "you have warned him," you first say a pronoun and afterward tell me of whom you are speaking. We have seen such pesukim. "But you, if you have warned him, the righteous man," this man who was already righteous and you warned him not to sin, that is, not to stumble in sin, that is, not to turn from his righteousness as we explained, that he not fall into the category of one who regrets his earlier deeds, "and the righteous man did not sin," and he truly listened to you and did not regret his earlier deeds, "he shall surely live because he was warned." Through this he will have life since he truly listened to the sound of your words and was warned, did not regret his earlier deeds, he will have life through this, "and you have saved your soul." The Malbim explains, "but you, if you have warned him, the righteous man," what is the meaning of "you have warned him"? From the aspect that he is righteous, and you said to him, you are a righteous man, so it is your obligation to be careful even with a light unintentional act. That is "you have warned him, the righteous man." You warned him, and why did you warn him? He tells you, what, this is nothing, this is a light matter. No, but you are a righteous man. And as a righteous man, you will be held accountable even for such things. That is what you warned him about. And then you will have a double gain. First, "he shall surely live." He will listen to you, for we are speaking of a righteous man according to the Malbim's approach. And if so, when he hears that this is a sin that one must be careful of even though it is unintentional and light, in any case he will listen to you, so through this "he shall surely live." He will listen to your words and you will save his soul, he will not die. Second, you also "have saved your soul." The meaning is, for if he dies, we saw that Hashem will require his blood from you. Why did you not warn him? And if you warned him and through this he lives, then you too have saved your soul, Hashem will not require it from you, because you truly warned him properly.
Another explanation the Malbim says, "but you, if you have warned him, the righteous man," the Malbim says, do not think that he will not listen to you and then if he does not listen to me he will become a wicked man. Rather, even though you warn him, "but you, if you have warned him, the righteous man." Even though you warn him, he will not refuse your words and become wicked, rather he will listen to you. That is, he will remain righteous and accept your words. According to the Malbim we truly understand why all this lengthy discussion was needed. "When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you did not warn him, nor speak," and so on. Afterward "you have warned the wicked and he did not turn from his wickedness, from his evil way." "And when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits injustice." Why are all these examples needed? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, in fact covered here all the possibilities in which Yechezkel could come and permit himself not to rebuke about this matter. Or not to rebuke this person. Why? That one I will turn from an unintentional sinner into an intentional one. The second one is a righteous man, and if he is righteous then consequently the unintentional act is not so terrible and he will not die from it and his merits will protect him, and so on. In short, the Holy One, blessed be He, told him that he should not think that there is anyone he is exempt from rebuking. And therefore He gave several examples in order to tell you, in each and every one there is still a need and an obligation to rebuke.
"And the hand of Hashem was upon me there, and He said to me, Arise, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you." "And the hand of Hashem was upon me there," there, he was in Babylonia, in a place called Tel Aviv, and there He commanded him to go out to the valley. There we saw that he saw the glory that he had seen by the river Kevar. The valley was the more special place, because it is a place that is purer than Tel Aviv. And we are not speaking of the Tel Aviv of our days, but even the Tel Aviv of their times. And why? Since the valley is a place without human beings, so there are no transgressions there. In contrast, a place where human beings dwell, then they can arrive at many transgressions. Theft, baseless hatred, deception, between a person and his fellow, endless examples. Since this is so, He said to him, go out to the valley, there I will speak with you. There in the valley is a purer place, there indeed is a place where it is more fitting for the Shechinah to reveal itself to him. He repeats this to him time after time in order to show him the Divine providence, the hand of Hashem and the conduct of Hashem. Another thing the Radak says, since in that same valley Babylonia was built. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him, come and see that in this place, for I confounded their language, in this place their scheme was thwarted. For they planned to erect a tower, to make war against the Master of the World. He says to him, come and see that there in this place I acted against those who did evil. So He says to him, this is the place where you will see the hand of Hashem. Since this place already had providence in the past, then understand that this place is now fit for providence and for Divine revelation. The Malbim says, "Arise, go out to the valley," this is in order that he isolate himself. When a person isolates himself he is fit and prepared for prophecy. This is what the prophets would do, either they would isolate themselves or as "when the musician played," all these were ways to draw upon themselves the abundance of prophecy. Another thing, similar to what we explained according to the Radak, the people were not fit for the spirit of Hashem to rest upon them. Therefore he needed to distance himself from the people. So according to the Radak this is because the valley is a pure place. According to the Malbim this is because the people are like impediments. As it is written, there was here one fitting for the Shechinah to rest upon him, only the generation was not worthy, and they set their eyes on Shmuel HaKatan, and so on. That is to say, we see that the people can constitute a limitation. So there among the people it was a limitation, but when he distanced himself from the people, then it was a place where he was no longer in the company of those who impede prophecy.
"And I arose and went out to the valley, and behold, there the glory of Hashem stood, like the glory which I saw by the river Kevar, and I fell on my face." "And I arose and went out to the valley," and there I see the glory of Hashem standing. Says Rashi, He preceded him in going there. That is to say, Hashem sends me there and I see that Hashem has already preceded me and He is already there. An attribute of extraordinary humility, something it is not the way of flesh and blood to do so. The student waits for the teacher, and here the teacher waits for the student. Normally the student waits for the teacher. After the whole class arrives, then the teacher arrives. He does not arrive early and then everyone begins to gather. And so it is everywhere. And here come and see that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the one who preceded. He preceded him in going there, an attribute of extraordinary humility. The Malbim says that here He showed him a second time how the Shechinah, that even though it is ready to go to Jerusalem in order to destroy it, and this He showed him in the vision of the chariot, that we saw that He showed him there an aspect of fire in order to tell him that He is going to burn Jerusalem. Come and see that the Holy One, blessed be He, is still here. Come and see, behold there the glory of Hashem stands. The meaning is, the Holy One, blessed be He, is still with the people who are here and watches over them. That you should not think that if there is fierce anger now that the glory of Hashem is going to Jerusalem in order to destroy Jerusalem, then He removes His providence from the people dwelling here in the exile. And therefore He shows him, there the glory of Hashem stands, like the glory which I saw by the river Kevar. That is, even though they are in the land of their enemies I have not despised them and have not abhorred them to destroy them, to break My covenant with them, and My providence is still given to them.
"And a spirit entered into me and stood me upon my feet, and He spoke with me and said to me, Come, shut yourself within your house." "And a spirit entered into me and stood me upon my feet," and that spirit, yes, says the Radak, at first He commanded him to be silent. Why? For He commands him, your silence is like speech. And afterward, why did He tell him to be silent? If you recall we saw He told him "for they are a rebellious house." He tells him, they are rebellious. And afterward He commands him to be shut within his house, that he should not even come among them, so as not to rebuke them, until He finishes telling him all the prophecies, until the pasuk "and a spirit lifted me up and brought me to Chaldea," as the Radak already mentioned this matter above. That in chapter 11 there He sends him to begin saying the prophecies. But at this stage, so to speak, he is still in the loading. He is still loading upon him the words of prophecy and rebuke. When will you bring the matters into actuality? Only afterward, "and a spirit lifted me up and brought me to Chaldea," then you will say the matters. And therefore understand why He told him, do not rebuke them now, for they are a rebellious house. And why does He tell him, shut yourself within your house? Because all these matters in fact say, it is not the time now for words of rebuke. The words of rebuke will be only later. In the meantime I am only instructing you and teaching you what you will say. The Malbim explains that the shutting up here is in fact a preface to what we will see in the next chapter, that the Holy One, blessed be He, told him that throughout the days of the siege he will need to shut himself in and lie there on his side, for the iniquity of the house of Judah and for the iniquity of the house of Israel, lie on your left side, lie on your right side, as we will explain the matters later on. And therefore here He tells him, come and shut yourself in. Here the matter is the shutting up for the purpose of lying on his right side and on his left side.
Verse 25. "And you, son of man, behold, they have placed ropes upon you and bound you with them, and you shall not go out among them." "Behold, they have placed ropes upon you," that is, you will be confined in your house, says Rashi, as if you were bound with ropes. And according to Rashi's approach, the matter of the confinement is in order to show that they are not fit for rebuke. "And they have placed ropes upon you," not literally, rather I want you to be shut in there as if you are bound. Yes? "The decree of My words upon you is like being bound with cords." The decree of My judgment upon you as if you are tied and bound. The Malbim explains that what is written here, "they have placed ropes upon you," is like what we will see below in chapter 4 verse 8, that there too the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him, "I have placed ropes upon you and you shall not turn from one side to the other." The meaning is that there is here a kind of reality in which the prophet suffers as a result of the sins of the people. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him, it turns out then that it is as if they placed ropes upon you. "And behold, son of man, behold, they have placed ropes upon you." Since this reality stems from the power of whom? From the power of the people. Since through them came the decree that you would be shut in and it would be upon you like ropes, then the one who caused you this is the one placing the ropes. That is the meaning here, "behold, they have placed ropes upon you," the people are like those placing ropes upon you, "and you shall not go out among them," and they too will not come to you.
"And I will make your tongue cling to your palate, and you shall be mute, and you shall not be for them a man who rebukes, for they are a rebellious house." "And I will make your tongue cling to your palate," the tongue will as it were be stuck to your palate and you will be mute. The meaning is, you will not speak to them, you will not rebuke them, rather literally like a mute man his tongue clung to his palate. The Malbim explains that the repetition here, "and you shall not be for them," "I will make your tongue cling to your palate, and you shall be mute, and you shall not be for them a man who rebukes," the repetition here is not only that you shall not say words of prophecy to them, but also words of rational admonition. That is to say, there is a reality in which the prophet comes in order to say the word of Hashem, it may be words of rebuke and harsh matters, but it is the word of Hashem. And there is a reality in which the prophet gathers the people, to give them a scolding, to give them moral instruction. And this is on his own, as a leader, as one who rebukes. So He tells him, this too will not be. "And you shall not be for them a man who rebukes," that is to say, not only what I deliver in prophecy you shall not deliver, but also as a man who rebukes on his own you shall not deliver. And why? Because they are a rebellious house, and surely they will not listen to your rebukes.
"And when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, Thus said the Lord Hashem, He who hears, let him hear, and he who refrains, let him refrain, for they are a rebellious house." "And when I speak with you, I will open your mouth," Hashem tells him, when I wish to speak with you, I will open your mouth. But then you shall not rebuke them like a man who rebukes, for we said a man who rebukes is one who rebukes on his own, telling them words of moral instruction on his own. Rather, you shall tell them a brief statement. "Thus said Hashem," a moral rebuke, one who merits will hear, for he shall surely live, and one who refrains from hearing the moral instruction shall cease from the world. Thus said Hashem. Do not tell them a lengthy discourse, do not tell them things that contain something to arouse the heart, no. Thus and thus said Hashem, whoever wishes to hear will hear, whoever does not, will not. Whoever does not wish, will not hear. This "shall refrain," what does "shall refrain" mean according to the Malbim's explanation? It means he shall cease from the world. Some explain that "he who hears, let him hear," and whoever hears, "he who refrains, let him refrain," through this he shall cease from his evil deeds. So some explain. So this does not speak here of two groups, that whoever hears will hear, and whoever does not hear refrains from hearing. That is not what is being discussed. Rather there is one who hears and will cease from doing his evil deeds; that is another explanation of "he who refrains, let him refrain."