Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 14. "And there came to me men from the elders of Israel, and they sat before me. And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, these men have brought their idols up upon their hearts, and the stumbling block of their sin they have placed before their faces. Should I be inquired of at all by them?" I read the first three pesukim together because they give us a perspective on what we see in the very first pasuk. Yechezkel describes that men from the elders of Israel came to him and sat before him.
And regarding these men it is written "vayavo" (and he came). "Vayavo" is written in the singular, when it should have said "vayavo'u" (and they came). Rashi says: all of them with one heart, for evil. "Vayavo" as one man with one heart, with a negative intent. The Malbim says: notice that there is a difference between the elders of Yehuda whom we saw come before him in chapter 8, who were righteous and truly came to inquire of Hashem, and these who come now, who were wicked and did not truly come to inquire of Hashem.
And therefore "and there came to me men from the elders of Israel, and they sat before me," the Holy One, blessed be He, immediately reveals Himself to him and says to him: these men have brought their idols up upon their hearts. These men raise their hearts toward their idols, serving idolatry. "They have brought their idols up upon their hearts. And the stumbling block of their sin they have placed before their faces." These men place the stumbling block of their sin before their faces. What does this mean?
The Malbim says: a person commits a sin by means of a particular thing, there is some particular thing that trips him up. It could be a forbidden food that trips him up, it could be a forbidden sight that trips him up, or any other thing that is the thing that trips him up. So there are two things here, there is the stumbling block and there is the sin in itself. Now, when a person stumbles, what should he do after the stumbling block? Cast down and remove the stumbling block, for if not, every time he passes by, again and again he will stumble in that same matter. So if there is some forbidden sight, if he does not remove the forbidden sight, every time he passes there he will stumble again. If there is a stone protruding from the ground and he fell once, then perhaps the next time or two he will be careful, but the third time he will fall again. So therefore, in order to ensure that there will not be a stumbling block again, one needs to remove the stumbling block that caused the previous fall.
He says to him: come and see, for these men the service of idols is not only in deed, they depict it in the image of the heart, "they have brought their idols up upon their hearts." There are things where a person serves idolatry externally, and there is a person who truly brings it up upon his heart and clings to it with all his heart. "And the stumbling block of their sin they have placed before their faces." What does this mean? They are not as we defined earlier, that there is a stumbling block and one removes it so as not to stumble again. On the contrary, he places the stumbling block right before his eyes. Why? So that he will return and stumble again and again. They make an effort that the cause which brings them to it will always be found; he does not go anywhere without his smartphone. "The stumbling block of their sin they have placed before their faces," he places it right before his eyes so that his eyes will always behold, so that his eyes will look straight ahead, God forbid.
And He says: behold these men, see how He defines them, He says: since these men are so attached to sin, whether in thought or in deed, "should I be inquired of at all by them?" Should I, Hashem, be inquired of by them to fulfill their will and their request? For these men are apostates in actual deeds, and they are deniers regarding the thought of idolatry. Is there still hope that they will repent? Should I be inquired of at all by them, after these men bring their idols up upon their hearts, and it is so attached, engraved upon the tablet of their hearts, and they place it before their faces so that they will always see it? Says the Holy One, blessed be He: what are the chances that I would be inquired of by these? For these men have no direction and no desire to change their way, and on the contrary, they take actions to ensure that they will remain in their crooked way.
So these men, in simple words, do not be impressed by them. They come to you supposedly to inquire of Hashem, but they have no such intentions. Hashem says to him: I reveal to you the secrets of their hearts, know that their heart is a wicked heart. Therefore "speak to them and say to them: thus says Hashem Elokim: any man of the house of Israel who brings his idols up upon his heart and places the stumbling block of his sin before his face, and comes to the prophet, I Hashem will answer him accordingly, in the abundance of his idols."
There are two explanations here that actually contradict each other, and I will begin with the explanation of the Malbim, which fits with what we explained earlier. Says the Holy One, blessed be He: since these men do not truly come in order to inquire and know the truth, but rather what? He merely, so to speak, wants to make an interesting matter of it, he wants to be updated on the news, he wants to hear what is happening, he has curiosity. And behold, see, how do I know that he does not truly come to inquire of Hashem? Since he brings his idols up upon his heart and places the stumbling block of his sin before his face. Even when he comes to inquire of Hashem, still his idols are upon his heart and the stumbling block of his sin is before his face, and he comes to the prophet. So then, why does he come to inquire of Hashem? "I Hashem will answer him." Says the Holy One, blessed be He: he, so to speak, uses Me as if I will be for him some matter to occupy himself with. He will have something to talk about, he will have something to busy himself with, for this, so to speak, he comes to the prophet. "He comes in the abundance of his idols," behold, see that this person comes in the abundance of his idols, he comes in order to deny the words of the prophet, to argue with the prophet. Sometimes they would come in order to hear something from the prophet and afterward go and say it as if it were in their own name, as if they had said the words. And there are all sorts of other crooked ways which certainly have no intention neither to repent, nor to draw near to the service of Hashem, nor to hear the words of rebuke. So this is a continuation of what we said earlier: should I be inquired of at all by them? Is it fitting for these men that I should respond to them and give them a message? These men are certainly not honest.
In contrast, the Targum Yonatan explains the opposite explanation, and this is also the line of Rashi. I will read you the wording. "Then I will prophesy to them and say to them: thus says Hashem Elokim: any man of the house of Israel who occupies himself with the service of his idols upon his heart," who brings the service of idolatry up upon his heart, "and places the stumbling block of his sin before his face," and still has the stumbling block of his sin before his face, "and comes to the prophet," and he comes toward the prophet, "I Hashem will be inquired of by him through My word." Says Hashem: I, so to speak, will answer him. "For he comes to seek instruction from before Me," for he indeed comes to inquire of the word of Hashem from before Me, "even though it is mixed with much service of his idols." Even though it is mixed with his idolatry and he still, so to speak, has not been purified, he does not come with purity of heart, but I will answer him since he comes to inquire.
So this is a somewhat different explanation. The Radak explains that they came to inquire of Hashem, but they did not abandon their idolatry. They wanted to combine the service of Hashem with idolatry. They wanted to serve Hashem in partnership. In simple words, this was a kind of idolatry in partnership. They sought Hashem but also could not detach themselves from their idolatry. And since this is so, says the Holy One, blessed be He, to these men: I will, as it were, assist and answer them in order to help them detach themselves from their idolatry. As I said, this is an explanation opposite to that of the Malbim.
"In order to seize the house of Israel by their heart, who have all become estranged from Me through their idols." So according to the explanation of the Targum Yonatan: "in order to bring the house of Israel near, to give their repentance, repentance in their hearts." The purpose is in order to seize the house of Israel by their heart, so that through My being inquired of by them and through My answering them, I will seize their heart to draw them near to My service, and through this they will remove from themselves their attachment to idolatry. "Who have all become estranged from Me through their idols," "nazoru" like a nazir who abstains, they have distanced themselves from Me through their idols, and thus I will seize the house of Israel by their heart to draw them near to My service.
The Radak explains: "I will seize them by their heart," the meaning is that they think they are concealing their hearts from Me. They do evil and crooked deeds and they think that I do not know. I will seize them by their heart by revealing the idols of their heart and their evil thoughts. I will reveal to all the terrible deeds that they do, and this is "to seize the house of Israel by their heart."
Chazal say: what is "to seize the house of Israel by their heart"? Chazal say: with idolatry the Holy One, blessed be He, joins the sinful intent to the deed. "In order to seize the house of Israel by their heart." Ah, and this is only in their heart? Yes, but this is idolatry. This is idols. With idols the Holy One, blessed be He, holds them accountable for the idolatry and judges them even though it was nothing but a thought of the heart; they are judged as if they had served the idolatry. And why? Says the Radak: because after they were exiled they no longer served idolatry. But they still thought about it. And since this is so, Hashem seized them by their heart in this matter. Why indeed with idolatry? In only two matters does the Holy One, blessed be He, judge on the thought itself. Regarding idolatry and regarding the thought of forbidden relations. And why? Because in these two matters the thought itself is a sin. It is not every thought; if I think about how to steal, the thought itself is not a sin, for the Torah did not say "do not think to steal." The Torah said "do not steal." In contrast, when I think about serving idolatry, no more than this is needed in order to deny Hashem. You have already denied Hashem, without doing any action. And the denial itself is itself the sin, the word of Hashem. To deny the Holy One, blessed be He, you need not do anything; in your heart you say "I do not believe," you think to yourself "I do not believe," this is enough. A person who contemplates serving idolatry, what greater denial is there than this? So since this itself is a sin, already for this he is punished. This is one matter. And the second matter, as we said, is the thought of forbidden relations, since in this too there is a prohibition in the Torah, "and you shall not stray after your hearts." The meaning of this is that when a person contemplates a sinful thought, in this itself, in this very thing, even if he did no deed, in this very thing he has transgressed the command of the Torah. Since this is so, in these two matters a person is punished even for the thought.
There is a third matter which, by the way, many do not know, and this is a Gemara. The Gemara says explicitly that a person who is accustomed to commit a sin and one time was prevented by circumstances and did not do it, they judge him as if he had done it. That is to say, if a person, for example, is always accustomed to steal, and one time he passed by and saw police, so he decided that he would not steal today. Today he is righteous, he came out righteous, he returns home without stealing. They judge him as if he had stolen. And why? Since he is accustomed to stealing. Since he is accustomed to stealing, they judge him as if he had stolen. By the way, it is precise from Rashi there, this is a wondrous thing, it is precise from Rashi there that it is not specifically in such a case where he is always accustomed to commit the sin. Rather, the very reason that he refrained, even one time, but he refrained not out of fear of Hashem, they judge him as if he had committed the sin. When do we see that Hashem does not hold a person accountable for the thought of a sin? Only when the person comes to commit a sin and in the end refrained. They tell you: yes, why did he refrain? If he refrained because of the command of God, the fear of Hashem, then for this they will not judge him. But if he refrained for any other reason, even if he is not accustomed to commit the sin, they judge him as if he had committed the sin and he will be punished for it in Heaven. So it is precise there from the wording of Rashi; whoever wishes may study it there inside.
In any case, the principle is learned from what is written here, "in order to seize the house of Israel by their heart." The people of Israel will be held accountable for idolatry which they only contemplated. The Malbim explains: "in order to seize the house of Israel by their heart," until now all of the people of Israel have already become estranged, as we saw, "who have all become estranged from Me through their idols." All have already, as it were, abandoned the service of Hashem and cleaved to idols. Here there was a deed, they serve idolatry in actual practice. And these elders want to seize them also by their heart, so that not only in deed but also the thought, that it too will be a thought only of a sinful matter. So these elders want to make them more wicked, for they want them to distance themselves from Hashem in thought as well. And regarding this they in fact came to the prophet, for their purpose is to come to argue with him. Their purpose is, as it were, to come and present an alternative, to come and show that the words of the prophet are not entirely correct and so on, to find in him some errors or some statements by which they can catch him and prove that what the prophet says is not correct. So if until now they had served idolatry only in actual practice, they want to seize the house of Israel by their heart, so that their heart too will be inclined after idolatry, in order to come and overturn the words of the prophet as they wish, as we explained, as it is written in Yirmiyahu chapter 23, "who steal My words each from his fellow." They go to hear a word from the prophet and steal it from him and overturn the words as they wish. And these elders want to seize the house of Israel by their heart, who have become estranged from Me.
Therefore "say to the house of Israel: thus says Hashem Elokim: return, and turn yourselves away from your idols, and from all your abominations turn your faces." He says to them: return from your way and turn your hearts away from your idols. From the idols that you bring up upon your hearts, turn your hearts away from this, distance your hearts from this. "And turn your faces" from the stumbling block that we saw earlier, that the stumbling block of the sin rises before their faces, turn your faces away from this. What is "return, and turn yourselves away"? The Radak says that this He says to the elders of Israel: you yourselves return in repentance, and turn back those around you, your wives, your sons, your young men. And the idols will not be before your faces, as we explained, meaning that you shall not turn after idolatry and after the idols.
"For any man of the house of Israel and of the stranger who sojourns in Israel, who becomes estranged from following Me, and brings his idols up upon his heart, and places the stumbling block of his sin before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I Hashem will answer him by Myself." "For any man of the house of Israel and of the stranger who sojourns in Israel, who becomes estranged from following Me, and brings his idols up upon his heart, and places the stumbling block of his sin before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I Hashem will answer him by Myself." The Radak explains: "any man of the house of Israel and of the stranger who sojourns in Israel," the meaning is essentially, why is it necessary to mention strangers? The Radak says: because at that time there were some Chaldeans who converted to the faith of Israel. When the people of Israel were exiled among them, then they saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, was present and accompanied the people of Israel. So this is a wonder, for even though there was in fact an exile here, and exile in some way expresses the weakness of the people and, as it were, also the weakness of the Deity, and despite all this they were able to see that the Holy One, blessed be He, was with them even in their exile, and on the contrary, this very thing turned them back to the true God, for behold, on the contrary, they saw: first, see how Hashem is among them; second, see that He exacts from them for their sins. So it follows that they saw here the hand of Hashem. "Why did Hashem do thus to this land, what is this great fierce anger? Because they forsook the covenant of the God of their fathers." That is to say that even the gentile arrived at such a conclusion, and therefore about this He speaks, "and of the stranger who sojourns in Israel." And they, "who becomes estranged from following Me," "yinazer" from following Me means he distances himself from Me, like "they became estranged, drawing back." "And brings his idols up upon his heart," and his idols he places upon his heart, as we saw earlier, meaning that he is attached to them. "And brings his idols up upon his heart" is not merely serving them externally, but rather they are attached to his heart itself. "And places the stumbling block of his sin before his face," and the stumbling block of his sin, in any case the stumbling block is before his face, he sees the stumbling block, and as we saw earlier and he continues, even though he knows there is a stumbling block here and he knows that he will fall in it, on the contrary, he places the stumbling block before his face in order to continue and fall in it. And nevertheless he comes to the prophet in order to inquire of Me for himself. He comes to the prophet and requests that the prophet inquire of him regarding the word of Hashem so that I will fulfill his request. Says Hashem: I Hashem will answer him by Myself. What is "I Hashem will answer him by Myself"? I will answer him for the sake of My name. The meaning of this is that I will not fulfill his request, but on the contrary, I will answer him, but in such a way that will be very, very unpleasant for him, as we will see later. Since, as we said, he does not come with a pure heart, as we said he does not truly come to repent, but rather his idols are upon his heart and the stumbling block of his sin is before his face, and in any case he comes to inquire of Hashem, says the Holy One, blessed be He: I will exact from him as befits him, as we will see in the next pasuk.
The Malbim explains that what is written, "and comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself," the Malbim says it is like "to inquire of Me on his behalf." The meaning is that he comes to inquire of Me on his behalf, this is the meaning of "to inquire of Me for himself." The Malbim says: he in fact seeks to know future events. "I Hashem will answer him by Myself." The meaning of this is: do not think that he is answered by Me. What is "answered" (na'aneh)? The Malbim explains that in fact it should have said "I will answer him" (e'eneh lo). Why is it written "na'aneiti lo" (I was answered to him)? "Na'aneiti" is past tense. "I Hashem na'aneiti lo." So thus all the commentators are troubled by the expression "I Hashem na'aneiti lo." What is "na'aneiti lo"? Reuven na'aneh (responds/is answered) to Shimon, but I na'aneh to Shimon, I would not say "I will answer Shimon," excuse me, I would not say "I na'aneh to Shimon," even though today it has become an expression, but grammatically, if you ask me, "I will answer you" (e'eneh lecha), you do not ask me and "I am answered to you." The nun is out of place. So although people use this today, but grammatically it is not correct. If you take other similar verbs you will see that we never use it this way. You tell me "take," I tell you "I will take," I do not tell you "I am taken" or "we will take." Right? And so on in this manner. In any case, what is the plain meaning of the matter here? The Malbim says: "na'aneh" means that he will have a matter and an occupation. And he seeks to know future events, what is called occupying himself in order to know, tell me what will be, what what what the future events. He has no intention to repent, he has no intention to inquire of Hashem so that Hashem will correct and the prophet will correct his deeds according to the word of Hashem. No, he merely, what is called, seeks a matter. Seeks a matter, tell me what will be, what what the future events.
Regarding this it says: "and I will set My face against that man, and I will make him a sign and a byword, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people, and you shall know that I am Hashem." "And I will set My face against that man," wherever it is written "and I will set My face against that man" the meaning is: I will turn My providence and all My affairs in order to punish him. That is to say, I will free Myself from everything in order to set My face against that man. And this person will be, "and I will make him a sign and a byword." He will be a desolation and will be a sign and a proverb. All the plagues and troubles that will come upon him, these will be a sign to the rebellious sons. People who see what happened to him, through this they will make of him a proverb and say, "may it be done to you like so-and-so." And what is "a sign and a byword"? The Malbim says that even after his death he will be a proverb, that when they want to tell a wicked person that evil will befall him, they will tell him "may evil befall you like so-and-so." And this is by means of "and I will cut him off from the midst of My people, and you shall know that I am Hashem."
"And the prophet, when he is enticed and speaks a word, I Hashem have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from the midst of My people Israel." Here there is some difficulty in the pasuk which the commentators try to resolve. "And the prophet, when he is enticed and speaks a word," the meaning is he spoke a word that is not true. How can the text say "I Hashem have enticed that prophet"? For the Holy One, blessed be He, does not entice a person to turn to evil. The Holy One, blessed be He, gives him the possibility but does not entice him. So how is it possible that it is written "I Hashem have enticed that prophet"? And afterward "and I destroyed him." If You, Hashem, enticed him, then why destroy him? Seemingly he does not deserve it. So indeed Rashi explains that "I enticed" does not mean in the sense that I enticed him to evil, but rather in fact the opening to an evil possibility, in the vein of "one who comes to defile himself, they open for him," this is "I enticed." For I gave him the option to do evil, and this itself is enticement. This is what is written "I enticed," from here one may say "one who comes to defile himself, they open for him."
The Radak explains thus as well: this will also be the punishment of the prophet "when he is enticed." He explains that the matter is like what is written, "who will entice Achav." And what is the meaning there of "who will entice Achav"? The Holy One, blessed be He, sought a way for Achav to be enticed so that he would be roused to go and wage war in order that he would fall at Ramot Gilad for the terrible deed that he did, "have you murdered and also taken possession?" Thus also the Radak says: we saw with Achav ben Kolaya and Tzidkiyahu ben Ma'aseiya. It is written about them that they committed adultery with the wives of their fellows and would come and tell them that they had received this in prophecy. And there was an agreement between them that Tzidkiyahu would come and tell the women to consort with Achav ben Kolaya and that this was transmitted in prophecy. And Achav ben Kolaya would come and tell other women to consort with Tzidkiyahu ben Ma'aseiya and that they received this in prophecy. And no one, as it were, in this suspected them of seeking their own benefit, for behold there is here a prophecy, as it were, from prophets that they should do so. And they would do many other evil things in secret, says the Radak, and in order to reveal them and publicize their disgrace, what does the Holy One, blessed be He, do? Hashem entices them so that they will fall in some matter and through this they will be revealed and their deeds will be publicized to all. And this is the reality, "the end of the matter, all having been heard: fear God and keep His commandments." And a person who commits sins in secret, the text publicizes him openly. One can see this even in our times, "not forever is one secure," and even people who might have thought for generations that they are righteous and thought that they are people of good deeds, in the end all is heard and their disgrace is revealed publicly. And there is enough shame and wrath, and what there is to grieve over is only the disgrace of the holy Torah, that all sorts of such people who adorned themselves with all sorts of feathers of righteousness and all sorts of adornments of blessings and things of this sort, upon whom suddenly a basket of vermin is revealed, and these things are publicized in the media and receive an echo, and it is terrible, and today the heart aches over the terrible desecration of Hashem's name that comes out of this matter. And one of them, two of them, these were the two false prophets who adorned themselves with false prophecy, and the Holy One, blessed be He, in order to prove to all their falsehood, the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged for them Nevuchadnetzar and his daughter, yes, and they came and tried to entice her, and then in the end he burned them, the king of Bavel roasted them in fire, and they became a sign and a byword. The meaning is they became a proverb, that when they wanted to tell someone that he would end up badly, they would give the example of Achav ben Kolaya and Tzidkiyahu ben Ma'aseiya, they became a name and a proverb. And thus they and their disgrace were publicized, so that all knew that their deeds were in wickedness and, God forbid, the matter did not come from Hashem. So therefore for this purpose there is indeed here an aspect of enticement. The enticement was in order to make him fall into a trap, and in this trap his disgrace would be publicized.
Rav Saadia Gaon explains that "I enticed" means I clarified and revealed that he was enticed. This is the meaning of "I enticed." It does not mean that I Myself enticed him, but rather I proved that what he did was out of enticement, meaning out of his evil inclination. The Malbim explains that what is written, "I Hashem have enticed," the meaning of this is that this is what the prophet claims. That is to say, "and the prophet, when he is enticed and speaks a word," "I Hashem have enticed that prophet" - the prophet speaks a word and says that I enticed him to go on this mission. The meaning here is not that the Holy One, blessed be He, says "I enticed him to speak false prophecy," but rather the meaning is that the prophet speaks a word and says that I enticed him. That is to say, this is the prophet's claim, but it is not true. The prophet claims that supposedly the Holy One, blessed be He, urged me and enticed me to say these things. And he brings another explanation in the name of the Abarbanel, that the Abarbanel also explains, on account of the difficulty, he explains that it is as a question. "And the prophet, when he is enticed and speaks a word, I Hashem have enticed that prophet?" Did this come from Me? Is this enticement from Me? He spoke a word out of his delusions, out of his desires, and this did not come from Me. And this too, as I said, is in order to resolve the difficulty, says the Malbim, and let the one who studies choose. That is to say, you have here several possibilities, and all these possibilities are to resolve the difficulty.
"And they shall bear their iniquity: as the iniquity of the inquirer, so shall be the iniquity of the prophet." "And they shall bear their iniquity," those too who receive the prophecy, they too shall bear their iniquity. They will not be able to say "the prophet misled me." No, the iniquity of the one who inquires of the prophet will be like the iniquity of the prophet himself. And the reason is simple, for you should not have gone to inquire of the false prophets. True prophets were famous and known, and these true prophets were prophets whose prophecy had been tested once, twice, and three times, and it was proven that their prophecy was true prophecy. Behold, you know who the true prophet is, why, why did you not follow him? But rather what, it was pleasant and comfortable for you to hear the words of the false prophets, and therefore you followed them. And therefore, as their punishment, so will your punishment be. "So that the house of Israel will no longer stray from following Me, and will no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions, and they shall be My people and I will be their God, says Hashem Elokim." And all this punishment of the prophet and of the one who inquires of him, yes, the false prophet and the one who inquires of him, is intended so that the house of Israel will no longer stray in matters of faith and will no longer defile themselves with sins through the false prophets, for the false prophets would cause them to sin. And therefore Hashem says: I will punish the false prophets, and in this, so says the Malbim, there was also an intention regarding Achav ben Kolaya, that they became a name and a proverb, meaning they became a proverb, that when they wanted to tell someone that he would end up badly, they would give the example of Achav ben Kolaya and Tzidkiyahu ben Ma'aseiya, they became a name and a proverb. And thus they and their disgrace were publicized, so that all knew that their deeds were in wickedness and, God forbid, the matter did not come from Hashem. So therefore for this purpose there is indeed here an aspect of enticement. The enticement was in order to make him fall into a trap, and in this trap his disgrace would be publicized.
The meaning of this is like coming in waves. And the first part, and all of them, by the way, are included in what is included here. And the evils are either heavenly evils, heavenly evils meaning something that comes from Heaven such as pestilence, that is a plague, such as famine, or evils that come through creatures of will, meaning animals, or through creatures of choice, meaning human beings. These are all the types of evils that exist in the world; "through human beings" means, for example, the evil of the sword and the like.
The Malbim says: when you follow it there, you will see that the first part includes within it pestilence, which is a type of disease, and sword, "and you shall be smitten before your enemies." Afterward, the second wave includes within it famine, "your land shall not yield its produce." Afterward the third wave includes within it wild beasts. And afterward the fourth wave once again mentions sword and pestilence and famine.
The Malbim says: from the fact that you see the famine appearing at the end, for the plagues always go and intensify. There is no situation where Hashem gives a severe plague and after it lighter plagues, for He always speaks of a reality in which you do not listen and then the Holy One, blessed be He, brings a more severe plague. And if so, then seemingly the famine that appears here as the last plague, the meaning of this is that it is the most severe plague. And indeed the prophet already said, "better were those slain by the sword than those slain by famine," for they waste away pierced and so on, since through famine the death is a slow and difficult death. We once explained that also from the spiritual aspect death by famine is the most severe. Why? Because when a person has upon him the threat of the sword, then he repents, and in his final moments even, it can be that until he stands, even from the moment he is struck, he repents and accepts upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven and confesses, and dies at least out of repentance and confession. In contrast, when a person is hungry and dies of famine, terribly terrible, say the masters of mussar, how terrible it is that a person in his final moments, what what what stood before his eyes? A fresh roll, a glass of cola. Do you understand? This, with this he concluded the song of his life, this was before his eyes. And out of these delusions and these thoughts and these terrible feelings of hunger, from this he breathed out his soul. So it follows then that famine is both physically difficult and spiritually difficult, for the person dies out of a craving for food and not out of some thought about correcting his evil ways. So if so, death by famine is the most difficult death of all.
So the Malbim says: "when a land sins against Me by acting treacherously," and this is what we speak of when they go, "you shall walk with Me with defiance" four times, as we saw there that in the fourth wave it is already the last time. And indeed it is written twice, "three times God works with a man," right? Twice, three times, "for four I will not turn it back." The meaning of this is: only twice, three times there is a possibility, after that on the fourth we are finished, this is already total annihilation. So "when a land sins against Me by acting treacherously," they go with Me with defiance four times, there will come upon them the orders of the plagues, as we saw in Parashat Bechukotai, until "I will stretch out My hand against it and break for it the staff of bread," "and I will send famine upon it," which is like the fourth order, "when I break for you every staff of bread." "And I will cut off from it man and beast," as it is written in the fifth order, "and you shall eat the flesh of your sons," which is the harshest curse of all, that the famine will be so severe that they will eat, God forbid, the flesh of their sons and daughters.