00:00 Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 16. "And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations." The Malbim explains that here, throughout the entire chapter, we will see how the prophet compares the people of Israel to a certain generous man who found a foundling, a baby girl who had been abandoned by her parents, who cast her out into a desolate wilderness out of disgust, and a generous man passed by there and saw her and had compassion on her and set his eyes upon her for good, until he raised her and married her.
Now the minimal expectation from such a situation would be gratitude, that she would appreciate what had been done for her. After he had shown her every kind of kindness, says the Malbim, she forgot all his benefits toward her and betrayed him with adultery to provoke him. How great is the wrath against such a terrible deed. This is similar to what the pasuk says, "He found him in a desert land, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye, He made him ride upon the high places of the earth" - all these are descriptions of the kindnesses that the Holy One, blessed be He, did for us when He took us out of Egypt. And afterward, "Yeshurun grew fat and kicked, you grew fat, you grew thick, you became gross." This is essentially what the Torah says, and here we will see it at length, how he describes this reality among the people of Israel.
The Gemara in Masechet Megillah, daf 25b, says: "Make known to Jerusalem her abominations" is read and translated. It is read and also translated. There are things that are read but not translated, such as the incident of Reuven and so on. Here it is read and translated. "Translated" refers to what is familiar among the Yemenites, who would read a pasuk in the Mikra and read a pasuk in the Targum. Immediately after reading the Mikra there is the Targum. This is called "translated." The Gemara asks: This is obvious, why would they not read and translate it? The Gemara answers: This comes to exclude the view of Rabbi Eliezer. This comes to exclude the position of Rabbi Eliezer, for Rabbi Eliezer holds that no, it is not translated, it is not read and translated. That it is neither read nor translated. For it was taught: There was an incident with a certain man who was reading before Rabbi Eliezer, "Make known to Jerusalem her abominations." He was reading it, meaning reading it as the maftir. Rabbi Eliezer said to him: Before you examine the abominations of Jerusalem, go and examine the abominations of your own mother. They investigated his lineage and found in him a trace of disqualification. The Yerushalmi says they found that he was a mamzer.
So Rabbi Eliezer is particular not to read "Make known to Jerusalem her abominations," as if he is searching for flaws in Jerusalem, and this matter itself indicates a flaw in himself. And indeed, in practice, the only ones who read "Make known to Jerusalem" as the haftarah are the Yemenites. In the haftarah of Shemot they are the only ones who read... I now hear that the Baghdadi Jews also read it and use it as the haftarah for Shemot, but in any case, we should know that most of the world does not read it. This is apparently based on this, even though the halacha is not decided according to Rabbi Eliezer. The halacha is not like Rabbi Eliezer; we hold that one may indeed read "Make known to Jerusalem," and so the Rambam rules, and despite this, the other communities did not practice this way.
Only that the Ritva asks: About what did Rabbi Eliezer become angry? After all, the Rabbanan say that one may read it. So this man read "Make known to Jerusalem her abominations" according to the view of the Sages; why was Rabbi Eliezer so particular? He explains that since this was in the place of Rabbi Eliezer, and you know that Rabbi Eliezer says one should not use this as a haftarah, then in the place of Rabbi Eliezer one should have been careful and at least asked him. To ask him whether we should follow the Rabbanan, whether we should follow his honor, and use it as the haftarah. Whoever does not show honor to the Sages, says the Ritva, Rabbi Eliezer said, has a disqualification in him. Therefore they investigated his lineage and found that he had a disqualification, because to come and do such a thing before Rabbi Eliezer, which was contrary to Rabbi Eliezer's view, is a matter that contains a flaw, and as he said, so it truly was, as the Ritva brings in the name of "my teacher, may the Merciful One protect and redeem him."
So let us return to our topic. As we said, this matter is a haftarah, and one who does practice reading this haftarah will immediately notice that these pesukim are familiar pesukim. Some are familiar to us from the Haggadah of Pesach, and for those who do practice reading it, it is familiar from the haftarah.
"And say: Thus says the Lord Hashem to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite." He begins to describe what the origin was, from where the people of Israel came. He tells them, he tells the prophet to say this rebuke to them by way of a parable. And even so, says the Radak, when he was dwelling in Babylon, the Radak says, He commanded him to make it known to them there by means of a letter, perhaps they would listen and repent. The difficulty here is "Make known to Jerusalem." How can I, dwelling in Babylon, make it known to Jerusalem? He says: Send them a letter. This is the meaning of "make it known to them by means of a book," perhaps they will listen and repent.
And now the Malbim says, describing "your origin and your birth," and describing, as it were, as we saw at the beginning, that the subject is a certain little girl, a foundling from a foreign land. The place where her ancestors were is the land of the Canaanite. Her father and mother also were not from one nation. Her father was an Amorite, her mother was a Hittite. And the Malbim says that this was the reason they did not have compassion on the child born to them. Because neither one saw this child as belonging to himself. The Hittite mother saw the child as an Amorite, and the Amorite father saw the child as a Hittite. And since this was so, they did not care for the child as they should and did not have compassion on him. And the father is an Amorite, the Malbim says this is not written for no reason, because the Amorites were more wicked and worse than the other nations. And the mother is a Hittite, this too is not written for no reason, because the uniqueness of the Hittite women was that they were worse than other women. Worse even than the Amorite women. Even though the Amorites were the worst of the nations, the Hittite women were worse than them. Where do we see this? "I am disgusted with my life because of the daughters of Cheit." We see that the daughters of Cheit were the worst, to the point that she was disgusted with her life.
And then essentially, says the Malbim, the analogy here is to tell them that I took you at a time when you were not yet any special nation. You were connected to the father and mother from whom you were born. You were connected to the Amorites, to the Hittites, you learned from their ways, they were your guides, as it were they were your father and mother. The Malbim asks: Why does he call them father and mother? After all, we did not really come from them when we speak of the lineage. Our lineage is not Amorite and Hittite. So why indeed does he characterize us as Amorites and Hittites? The Malbim says: They had the character of the land where they were born. They were born in the land of Cheit, Chevron, where Avraham and Yitzchak dwelled, belonged to the children of Cheit. The figurative expression, the Malbim explains, describes the nation as if it were like a father to the people who are there. The nation is like the father of the individuals, of the people who dwell there. And the reason for this is that just as a father teaches his children the ways of conduct, so the nation in general teaches those who dwell within it, the individuals, the way to conduct themselves. We acquire our behaviors from the nation we dwell within.
And incidentally, one can see this. We have no greater sign of this than the ingathering of the exiles that the people of Israel merited in the last 70 years, and one can see how each community that came here, even though they all stem from a single source, each community acquired the same behaviors accepted in the nation it had been residing in. For example, among the Sephardim there is a great matter of hachnasat orchim. The Sephardim were in the lands of the children of Yishmael. In the lands of the children of Yishmael, hachnasat orchim is very customary, and therefore among the Sephardim this matter is very prevalent. Among the Ashkenazim there are other matters. For example, among the Ashkenazim there is the matter of literacy. That is, the matter of study, of scholarship, of education, occupies a broad place there. Because in the eastern lands, in the Arab lands, they did not engage much in study. In the European lands, by contrast, there are universities and the cradle of culture and so on, and consequently there was importance and great value placed on acquiring knowledge, and therefore we see that literacy was given as well, and among the Ashkenazim we see it far more than among the Sephardim. And so on in this manner, one can give many more examples. But a person learned from the place where he lived. The people among whom he was present, a person is influenced by them.
And the land where a person was born, this he describes like a mother. Because from the land a person draws his sustenance, and the characteristics of the child resemble the character of the soil and its fruits and its air. "From the type of his field one can eat." And indeed this is why it is written that there is a land that raises mighty men, and a land that raises weak men. The meaning is that many times the produce of the land, the nature of the land, influences the creatures who grow in it. The Rambam says that in Africa there are people who are darkened in intellect. That is, whoever looks does not see much of the famous African scientist. Yes, they are not, they are not necessarily, the world's great scholars did not emerge from there in terms of study. And why? Because the Rambam says their water is murky. And murky water produces a murky intellect. And in lands where the water is purified and clean, they produce a clear and pure intellect. That is, we see that there is an influence to what you eat, to the produce of the land, this has an influence on whoever grows up there.
So consequently, what he says here, "your origin and your birth," there are two things here. The place where you dwelled, "your origin" is like "your dwellings," only the difference is that dwelling is temporary and "origin" is permanent. Like your dwellings. Your origin and your birth, this corresponds to the father and the mother. This is the nation where they were born and the place, the land, where they dwelled. What he wanted to tell them: You have not yet separated from the practices of the gentiles. You are still connected to the nation and its practices, connected to the land and to what it raised, and consequently all these matters still stir within you, it was necessary to cleanse you from this, it was necessary to purify you from this, and this is what he will soon describe, how that generous man came and took and brought them out of all this reality.
Targum Yonatan, by contrast, explains that what is written here, "your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite," he says: In the merit of your fathers I drive out the Amorite from before you and destroy the Hittite. In the merit of your father and in the merit of your mother I bring you out from the Amorites and the Hittites. This is how he explains the matter of "your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite." In the merit of your father He brought you out from the Amorite, and in the merit of your mother He brought you out from the Hittites. Yes, "I will destroy and drive out," meaning I will dispossess and cast down the Amorites and the Hittites from before you. In the merit of the fathers, in the merit of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.
"And as for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all." After he described the place there, what we call the background into which that daughter was born, he now describes how she was born. The actual birth. "And as for your birth," what was done with her on the day of birth? First, "on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut." The Malbim says: The custom was to perform four kinds of preparations for a newborn child, none of which were done for you.
First, as soon as the child is born, they cut the umbilical cord. This is "your navel cord was not cut." "Your navel cord" is like your navel, the center of the body. So "your navel cord was not cut," first, the navel was not cut. Until now the infant was drawing its sustenance through the navel. The Malbim says: it was on the level of a plant. A plant draws through the root; an infant also draws through the navel, which is like a root connected to the mother. When the navel is cut and tied off, from now on it receives its food through the mouth. When the navel is not cut, it is still on the previous level, still on the level of a plant. And the analogy, says the Malbim: when the nation was born here, they needed to separate from the nation within which they had been. They needed to separate from the mother. But they remained, "your navel cord was not cut." The navel still remained, they were connected by their navel to the nation from which they were born. They were still cleaving to the deeds of the Canaanites. And the deeds of the Canaanites are very grave deeds, as the Torah warns not to do as their deeds.
The second thing that is done for an infant: they wash it in water to remove the blood and the filth, in the language of the Malbim. And in the analogy of the nation, the wise of heart, the people who are more enlightened, wash away the corrupt traits by means of the waters of wisdom and knowledge. As the Rambam says that immersion does not have to be in a mikveh; a person can immerse in the waters of wisdom and knowledge. That is, they institute new practices, not like the nations among whom we grew up, but they wash themselves, wash and repair their traits to upright and correct traits. Not according to what we received from the mother who bore us, for what did we receive from them? Blood and filth. That is, we are ugly with bad traits from the nations that bore us. But there it is customary to perform a washing, and here he says this reality did not exist. "Nor were you washed with water for cleansing." What is "for cleansing"? "For cleansing" means in a manner that smooths the flesh. "Cleansing" means smooth. "Esav was a hairy man and Yaakov a smooth man," the Targum says "smooth." And also today they use this expression when shaving; there is a cream that is called a smoothing agent, with which one removes hairs with a chemical rather than with a blade. So in any case "for cleansing" means in a smooth manner. They did not smooth your flesh for cleansing.
The third thing: after this they salt the infant in order to strengthen the flesh. This is not familiar to us today, but it was their way to put salt on the body in order to strengthen the skin and flesh of the infant. And the fourth thing, they would swaddle it to straighten the limbs. Yes, whoever was once at a brit of Rav Machpud saw how he does this. It was their way to do this, especially in Yemen it was very customary; they would take the infant, not necessarily when circumcising the infant but as a regular practice, they would take the infant, bind its legs tightly and straighten them so that the legs would grow straight, so they would straighten the legs and swaddle them. This is what he says, they swaddle it to straighten the limbs. Even from the time of Chazal they would do this. The Malbim says: because in the mother's womb the flesh is spongy and the limbs are bent, its head between its knees, folded like a ledger as the Gemara says, so it needs to be straightened. And the analogy is likewise to the nation, that one needs to strengthen the individuals, the people who are part of the nation that has now grown, we are speaking here now about that foundling girl who grew up there among the nations, to straighten the collective, to place over them heads and judges until it becomes like a straight, strong, and mighty body whose limbs are straightened. He says: this was not done for you. So you grew up crooked, with the filth of the blood and the filth, with the navel that still remained connected to the nations you were connected to, without undergoing salting to strengthen the flesh, so that the reality of the people of Israel was very bad. And the Holy One, blessed be He, will soon describe how from this reality He took and built a wonderful and unique nation, the people of Israel.
"No eye had pity on you to do any of these for you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out into the open field, in the loathing of your soul, on the day you were born." "No eye had pity on you to do any of these for you, to have compassion on you." Here there is "pity," here there is "compassion." None of these things were done for you out of compassion. The Malbim asks: What is the difference between "pity" and "compassion"? This is something he repeats in several places. The Malbim says: whenever someone has pity on something, it is because he has a need for it. I pity it because I am interested in it, because I want it. For example, the Malbim says, like "let your eye not have pity on your belongings." I am interested in the belongings, I pity them. "You had pity on the gourd," I am interested in the gourd, I pity it. By contrast, the Malbim says, one who has compassion is one who wants the existence of the thing for its own sake. This thing is good in my eyes, not because I want and am interested in that thing, not because I need it. Rather, out of compassion for the thing. You know what, even if I will not benefit from it, still I have compassion on it. I have compassion on it, it would be a shame to destroy it, even if nothing will come to me from it. Like "for the people had compassion on the best of the sheep and the cattle, and were unwilling to destroy them." They had compassion on them, from the standpoint that it would be a shame to simply destroy the sheep and cattle, and they were unwilling to destroy them.
The Malbim says: so too here he says, no one had pity on her, on this girl who was born; we saw that the Amorite father and the Hittite mother do not pity her from the standpoint of their need, so that they would have continuity. You have a benefit in her. If you raise her, you will have a second generation and a third generation and so on, you will have a continuation of children. So he did not pity her from the standpoint of benefit, this is what he said regarding "your birth." Now what he explains, "on the day you were born," because immediately on the day you were born they cast you out into the open field, in the loathing of your soul, and there was no compassion on you either in this sense that even if I will have no benefit, at least let us have compassion on her so that she survives, it would be a shame for her. This too was not a reason to have compassion, and then, following this, she was cast out from there, from the land, to the field. What is "the field"? The meaning is the land of Egypt, where in the land of Egypt they abused them and worked them in all kinds of labor in the field.
Targum Yonatan explains that what is written here, "no pity was on you, and you were cast out," Targum Yonatan says that "and you were cast out" here speaks of the casting out that we remember from Egypt. "And the eye of Pharaoh had no pity on you." Who had no pity on you? This is Pharaoh. To do you a single good deed, to have mercy on you. And he decreed against you a decree of complete destruction, he decreed against you a decree of annihilation. To cast your males into the river to destroy you. To cast your firstborn into the river to destroy you. At the time you were in Egypt, at the time you were still in Egypt.
"And I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said to you: In your blood, live! And I said to you: In your blood, live!" "And I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood," the Radak explains, here the matter of the parable and the figurative expression corresponds to Aharon, Miriam, and Moshe, whom the Holy One, blessed be He, sent in order to redeem the people of Israel and to say to them, "Each man, cast away the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt." It is written that Aharon, even before Moshe, would speak prophecies to the people in order to distance them from idolatry. "And I saw you wallowing in your blood," as we explained, this is defiled with the blood of birth. The Radak explains that the meaning is that they were wallowing in the mud and clay from which they made the bricks. They did not even have leisure to clean themselves from it. Because for that one needs free time, and they had no free time, they were forced to make the bricks day by day without rest. The Radak says: so even for the sake of cleanliness, to clean themselves, they could not, they were wallowing in their filth.
"And I said to you: In your blood, live," the Radak says: Do not fear lest you die from the heaviness of the labor and from the filth and the grime, He tells them: from this you will live and grow like the plant of the field. "Live," the Radak says, is like a command, "live," you shall live out of this reality. Chazal say: what is the repetition of "And I said to you: In your blood, live! And I said to you: In your blood, live!"? The Radak, in his manner, often explains that the repetition is meant to strengthen the matter. When something is said once, that is once; when it is said twice, this is to strengthen the matter. So too here, it is the way of scripture to double the matter to strengthen it. Chazal expound the repetition: "And I said to you: In your blood, live," the blood of Pesach and the blood of milah. The first "in your blood" is the blood of Pesach, the second is the blood of milah. Or the reverse, the first is the blood of milah, for first they circumcised, and afterward they offered the Pesach. And this is "in your blood, live," in the merit of these two mitzvot. Since he describes that the people of Israel were in a state of "naked and bare" as we will see further on. That is, they had no merit and no mitzvah with which to be redeemed. What then would be the thing that would bring them to live by its power? He says: "in your blood, live, in your blood, live," the blood of Pesach and the blood of milah, these were the two merits that the people of Israel had, and these two merits we have already discussed in the past, whoever wishes can hear it in our discourses for Pesach, that they were very weak merits. Because whoever knows, the blood of Pesach, when the people of Israel offered the korban Pesach, it is brought there that the people of Israel at first did not come to take an animal in order to offer it. And why? Because this obligated them to circumcise. And they did not want to circumcise. Do you hear? They did not even want to circumcise. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He spread the aroma of the Pesach throughout all of Egypt. Ah, the aroma of Gan Eden, it is written, He placed in the korban Pesach the aroma of Gan Eden. Everyone smells it, ah, where? Someone is making steaks here. Tell me, where is it? What kind of roast? What is this? From where? He tells them: You must circumcise first. Ah, only after they went and circumcised... So understand that the entire matter of the Pesach was only after they circumcised, and the entire matter of the milah was only after they craved it because they smelled its aroma, and only following this did the Holy One, blessed be He, they went and did these mitzvot, and in the merit of two such mitzvot, which seemingly are weak mitzvot that came, as it were, under compulsion and for lack of choice, they were already worthy of being redeemed. From here, incidentally, is an answer to all those who say: so what are our merits to be redeemed? Look at what weak mitzvot the mitzvot were back then, which were performed under compulsion and for lack of choice, and were a cause for the redemption. "And I said to you: In your blood, live! And I said to you: In your blood, live!" The people of Israel today, who are full of mitzvot like a pomegranate, all the more so are worthy of being redeemed.
Let us look at the Malbim. The Malbim says: "And I passed by you and saw you," here he describes, as we saw, that there is a certain guardian, a certain generous man who went and saw the girl cast out like this, and went to save her, saw her wallowing in your blood. The Malbim says: it is not enough that she was defiled with the blood of birth that we saw earlier, but they also cast her out, and since they cast her out she was wounded and blood of injury came out of her, besides the blood of birth. Therefore he says "wallowing in your blood," these are two kinds of blood. One blood is the blood of birth, the second blood is the blood of the casting out. And then he would watch over her and see, and would say to her: You shall live in the blood of these wounds, do not fear that you will die from the power of this blood. And essentially the analogy is that the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over them during the exile; even though Pharaoh struck them and killed among them and wounded them, the Holy One, blessed be He, watched over them so that the people of Israel, God forbid, would not experience annihilation.
"I made you numerous like the plant of the field, and you increased and grew and came to great beauty; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare." In this reality where he comes and finds her in the field, he compares her, "numerous like the plant of the field." She grew great in abundance until the time of blossoming and budding arrived, as the Malbim says. Beautiful flowers, adorned blossoms, which are essentially the glory of the growths, of the flower. And what were these adornments? "And you came to great beauty," what are those adornments? "Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown," which means the time of love had already arrived. But "yet you were naked and bare." The meaning is that in reality the time of love was not applicable, since you are naked and bare, there are no garments and, as it were, the place of nakedness is exposed. What essentially is the analogy? The Holy One, blessed be He, watched over the people of Israel so that they would be fruitful and multiply. "As they afflicted him, so he multiplied and so he spread out." And this is "I made you numerous like the plant of the field." Until the time of redemption arrived, "and you increased and grew and came to great beauty." Who is this time, who are those who will bring us to great beauty? "Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown." The expression of the breasts always refers to nursing, to giving and providing the milk. And the expression here is Moshe and Aharon, who were, as it were, the ones nursing the people of Israel, they raised the people of Israel and provided them with Torah, provided them with Torah. And this is, as it were, those "breasts were formed and your hair had grown," Moshe and Aharon are ready to redeem you. Only "yet you were naked and bare," the people of Israel were still naked, they did not have Torah and mitzvot. This is essentially the garments of the soul, as we have spoken several times, it appears often in the words of the prophecy, that the garments are the merits, the mitzvot, the good deeds. "Remove the filthy garments from yourself," this refers to the sons who married foreign wives, and so on in this manner. The garments are essentially like the "rabbinic robe" for the world of truth, which are the merits that are produced from the deeds a person does here in this world. So although you are already numerous, although you increased and grew and you now have here the redeemers, "your breasts were formed and your hair had grown," but in any case "yet you were naked and bare," you still have no merits, you have no mitzvot with which you are worthy to adorn yourselves. So although you reached the time when you are worthy of being redeemed, but you do not have the merits.
"And I passed by you and saw you, and behold, your time was the time of love, and I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness; and I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Hashem, and you became Mine." And then "and I passed by you," the Malbim says the beloved passed by a second time, and behold he sees that the time of love had arrived, the time of redemption arrived, that now he must spread his wings over her. And the figurative expression is like what is written, "and you shall spread your skirt over your handmaid." It is brought there regarding Ruth, the meaning of the matter is that he designated her for himself, so she says to Boaz. So too here, "and I spread My skirt over you" means I will designate you for Myself, for My name, as it is written, "Israel is My firstborn son." And through this, "and covered your nakedness," through the mitzvah of milah. As long as the people of Israel are uncircumcised, they have a disgrace, this is a state of nakedness, this is a state of disgrace. But "I covered your nakedness" through the mitzvah of milah that He gave them, through this He cleansed them from the state of the foreskin, of the filth. "And I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you," as it is written, "and I remembered My covenant," that the Holy One, blessed be He, made a covenant with us, and this covenant guarantees our redemption. "And you became Mine," this is the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, took us at the event of Har Sinai and designated us for Himself, this is "and you became Mine."
"Then I washed you with water and rinsed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil." "Then I washed you with water," corresponding to what we saw at the beginning, that he found that infant, found that she "was not washed with water." Hashem says: now I washed you and rinsed your blood from you. Corresponding to what we saw earlier, "you were not salted at all," now "and anointed you with oil" in order to soften the flesh. Corresponding to what we saw, "nor swaddled at all," that is, no one wrapped you in garments, about this he says, "and I clothed you with embroidered cloth." Behold, now I also clothed you. And what essentially is the analogy? That the Holy One, blessed be He, removed from the people of Israel the false beliefs, the ideological corruption that the people of Israel had in Egypt; "and the Egyptians did evil to us," that they made us evil, we were idolaters like them. Our beliefs became corrupted and confused. And by what means, how was the washing? The Malbim says: by means of the waters of the Sea of Reeds. Hashem washed them in the waters of the Sea of Reeds. What did the washing of the waters of the Sea of Reeds bring them? "And they believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant." So although they did not immerse there in the water, but in the water there they received the faith. Following the waters of the Sea of Reeds they believed in Hashem, and through this the false beliefs were nullified, that they had believed in all kinds of strange conceptions and all kinds of idols. Now they see that Hashem is the God. Afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, anointed them with oil. The oil is the holy anointing oil, as it is written there, "there He set for him a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested him," which refers to the statutes that the Holy One, blessed be He, taught the people of Israel. And afterward He clothed them with embroidered cloth, this was the wondrous event, the event of Har Sinai, He gave them Torah and mitzvot, and we said that the Torah and mitzvot are essentially the garments, they changed their clothing, and then "and you rose to royalty." And through this they would become for Him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
As the Radak says, the entire matter up to "and you rose to royalty" is an expansion of the figurative expression regarding the abundance of the good that they had in the wilderness. In food and drink and every pleasure and in clothing and in shoes. That is, the Radak explains the matters more according to the plain meaning. That everything we see here as expressions of physical pleasures are physical pleasures literally that were in the wilderness. The Malbim takes all of this to spiritual expressions, such as, for example, the garments are the Torah and mitzvot that they received at the event of Har Sinai, He anointed them with oil, "there He set for him a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested him," and so on. The Radak, by contrast, explains that all these things are literal. This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, did for us in the wilderness. "Your garment did not wear out upon you, nor did your foot swell, these forty years." So there is here an expression of all the physical goods that the Holy One, blessed be He, did for us while we were in the wilderness. And essentially, in simple truth, both things are true. "These and these are the words of the living God." Both the physical benefits are included here and also the spiritual benefits, with the physical being only a metaphor for it.
"I clothed you with embroidered cloth and shod you with tachash leather, and I wound fine linen about you and covered you with silk." "I clothed you with embroidered cloth" corresponds to the four priestly garments. The lower garment, which is the tunic, yes, this is what is close to the body, this was embroidered cloth. The trousers in the woman, the Malbim says, correspond to the shoes in the woman, for this is the lower part of the clothing, this is "and shod you with tachash leather." "And I wound fine linen about you," as the Targum says: "And I sanctified from you priests to serve before Me in turbans of fine linen." "I wound fine linen about you" refers to the turban that the priests wear on their heads, this is "I sanctified from you priests to serve before Me in a turban of fine linen." "And covered you with silk," and the Kohen Gadol I covered with colored garments. "And covered you with silk," which is a covering that wraps the head and the body.
The Radak brings a midrash: Rabbi Yehuda beRabbi Simon said, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Do not think that you are repaying the 13 things that you set aside for Me, corresponding to the 13 things that I did for you in Egypt. The 13 things that you set aside for Me are silver, copper, techeilet and argaman, crimson wool and fine linen and goat hair and so on. There are there 13 kinds of what the people of Israel gave. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Do not think that by this you are repaying Me corresponding to the 13 things that I did for you in Egypt. Corresponding to this we have here 13 matters about which we have now read. "I washed you with water, rinsed off your blood, anointed you with oil, shod you with tachash leather," and so on. We have here 13 things, "I clothed you with embroidered cloth." And the Holy One, blessed be He, tells them: Do not think that by this you are repaying Me, one for one. But nevertheless I regard it as though you are repaying Me. As David said, "I will sing to Hashem, for He has dealt bountifully with me." I will sing to Hashem for the fact that what I do and give to Him, whose is it? His own; the Holy One, blessed be He, regards it for me as though I am repaying Him. He credits me with the matter, "for He has dealt bountifully," as though I dealt bountifully with Hashem, may He be blessed. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I do not regard it for you as repayment; rather, in the World to Come I will reward you. That is, I still regard it for you as a merit. Do you hear? As it were, you still have a merit with Me. It is not one for one and that is it, the account is closed. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: No, I regard it for you as though you are repaying Me, and nevertheless I still remember it for you for the future. How? In the World to Come I will reward you corresponding to these 13 things. "And Hashem will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day and smoke, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a canopy and a shelter, to be a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a hiding place from storm and from rain." And he says, "I will sing to Hashem, for He has dealt bountifully with me." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I still remember it for you for the World to Come. So then what the midrash says here, "do not think that you are repaying Me," that is, you repaid, so there is here one for one and that is it, the account is closed. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: No, I regard it for you as though you are repaying Me, and nevertheless I still remember it for you for the future. That is, I regard it for you as though you are repaying Me, this is what is called a certain aspect, this is "on My account." And what you did in any case, I will still give you reward for it in the World to Come, and this is from the abundance of the goodness of Hashem, may He be blessed, and this is "I will sing to Hashem, for He has dealt bountifully with me."