Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 17. "And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, pose a riddle and relate a parable to the house of Yisrael."
"Pose a riddle": Rashi explains that the prophecy we are about to see is expressed in the form of a riddle. In this riddle he compares Nevuchadnetzar to an eagle, and he compares the kings of Yehuda to the top of a cedar, and we will soon see what he wishes to convey through this parable. The Malbim says that he should pose a riddle, and the solution of the riddle will be a parable to the house of Yisrael. There is really a difficulty here: "pose a riddle and relate a parable." A riddle is one thing and a parable is another, so why does he actually use two different expressions, and what is the redundancy? What did he mean by "pose a riddle" and by "relate a parable"? The Malbim answers that a riddle is a hidden thing, something that must be understood through contemplation and careful study. When a person contemplates a riddle it sharpens the mind. The Ben Ish Chai composed the sefer Imrei Bina, a work made up entirely of riddles. Part of it consists of riddles about matters of Torah study, that is, holy matters, and part of it consists of general riddles, not specifically about holy matters but about worldly subjects, all sorts of riddles meant to sharpen the mind. The riddle, says the Malbim, sharpens the mind, as it is written, "and a man sharpens the face of his fellow." What does "sharpens" mean? It comes from the language of sharpening. They sharpen one another like two Torah scholars who sharpen each other, like two knives that sharpen one another. A parable, by contrast, says the Malbim, is not a hidden thing like a riddle. A parable is something revealed. When I want to illustrate for you some unknown matter, I tell you a parable. And here He tells him: pose a riddle, whose solution will be a parable about the events that befell the people of Yisrael, so that in effect this riddle will turn into a parable. "Pose a riddle and relate a parable": a riddle whose end, or whose solution, is the parable that I wish to make known to the people.
"And you shall say: Thus says Hashem Elokim: The great eagle, great of wings, long of pinions, full of feathers, which had varied colors, came to the Levanon and took the top of the cedar."
"The great eagle": the Malbim already reveals to us the riddle. The Malbim says the great eagle is the king of Bavel. He is compared to an eagle, for the eagle is mighty, it soars high above all the birds, it is the king of the birds, and therefore the king of Bavel soared to the heights, to the Levanon, upon the tops of the cedars, which are the tallest of the trees. Here he describes it with four descriptions. First, "great of wings." The Malbim explains "great of wings": since the Levanon is at the tops of the lofty cedars, to reach there one needs a very strong power of flight. Therefore the first thing he says is that it is great of wings: the feathers of the pinion with which it flies, which are called the wing, are large, and through this it soars with ease. What is the pinion? He says "great of wings, long of pinions." "Long of pinions" refers to the wing bone itself. That is, when you receive a plucked bird, what do you receive there? The pinion. You essentially receive the wing itself without the feathers, without anything. That is called the pinion, the pinion itself. So "long of pinions" means that the wing itself is inherently long. Another point: "full of feathers." Its body and its limbs are all full of feathers. The "feathers" here are the smaller feathers. Another point: "which had varied colors." It has beautiful feathers painted in various hues, unlike the eagle whose color is generally black; here it is not so, but rather full of colors. Up to here is the parable. What does he wish to say? Nevuchadnetzar corresponds to this. How? First, as we said, "great of wings": the feathers of the pinion, we said, are long, and through this he easily flies great distances. Another point: the pinion is long. The pinion, as we said, is the body of the wing itself, the flesh, the body of the wing itself, and it is long; this shows strength, this shows might. The Malbim says: pay attention, later on we will see another eagle. The second eagle will be a description of Mitzrayim. But notice that the descriptions here are mightier than the description of the king of Mitzrayim, because indeed the king of Mitzrayim was lesser in might compared to the king of Bavel. Regarding the second eagle, the Malbim says that there it does not write "long of pinions," because indeed he did not have such might as the king of Bavel had. Therefore, specifically here, we can say "long of pinions," meaning he has a long wing, and that wing indicates might. Third, "full of feathers." "Full of feathers" means his land is full of people. This shows might: a great land is a mighty land. This is not the case, says the Malbim, again pay attention, with the second eagle that symbolizes Paroh, for there it is written "abundant of feathers," not "full." There is a numerous people there, but they do not fill the entire land, and therefore their might is lesser. And the fourth point, "which had varied colors": we said, beautiful painted feathers, he has glory and splendor, all the desirable treasures, which is really the parable of the varied colors, and all of this is not stated regarding the second eagle, all of this is not stated regarding Mitzrayim.
This eagle, as we said, is the king of Bavel; we are speaking here of Nevuchadnetzar. He will come to the Levanon and take the top of the cedar, "and took the top of the cedar." The top is the upper part. What does this mean? The top is the king, the head. Whom will he take? He will exile Yehoyachin, for Yehoyachin was the head of the nation, and he will also exile the officers, the mighty men; they are all in the category of the top, they are all the head of the kingdom.
"He cropped off the top of its young shoots and brought it to a land of merchants, in a city of traders he placed it."
"He cropped off the top of its young shoots": the young shoots, says the Malbim, are the branches that grow on the sides of the tree and draw nourishment from it. The parable here: "branches" means boughs, boughs that grow from the sides of the cedar and draw nourishment from the cedar itself. The parable here is to the officers and the important people who were in Yehuda, the craftsmen and the smiths, all the important people who were in Eretz Yisrael; he will exile them. About this he says "he cropped off the top of its young shoots." "And brought it to a land of merchants": what does "to a land of Kena'an" mean? Seemingly he should have said "and brought it to Bavel." We are here in Kena'an. What does "and brought it to a land of Kena'an" mean? The Malbim explains it means to the land of the Kasdim, where the merchants would gather. "Kena'an" means a merchant, "Kena'an" means a trader. And there "in a city of traders he placed it." He placed it in a city of traders, meaning in Bavel; as it were, he was handed over there into the hands of the traders, and the traders, so to speak, pass him from house to house, for a trader goes from house to house. They made use of them, the people of Yisrael who were exiled there, they used them for their needs, they ran them from place to place like the trader who runs from place to place. The Malbim says that the "rochel" (peddler) is the one who circulates with merchandise from house to house, and he is smaller in terms of his trade than the "Kena'ani." For the Kena'ani, we said, is called a trader. And the Kena'ani, who is the trader, is smaller than the merchant. When it writes "merchant" (socher) it means a large trader. When it writes "Kena'ani" it is smaller, and when it writes "rochel" it is a small vendor, the peddlers who circulate among the towns and go from house to house.
Here the Malbim has a lengthy explanation that we will not study, but just so we can see the greatness of the Malbim. The Malbim says: here it is written "its young shoots." The Malbim says the branches of a tree have many names. Now listen to how many: amir, bad, dalya, zemora, zalzal, choter, yonek, netisha ("netishotav," yes), netzer, sa'if, sar'af, sansan ("sansinei," from a pasuk), anaf, ofeh, para, socha, sh'licha, sarig. Do you hear? All of these are names for branches. Now, whoever wants to understand the difference between one and another should study the Malbim here in his explanation of the words; he explains the differences between them. We do not want to dwell on this, so it just shows the genius of the Malbim and his might and his absolute mastery of all of Tanach, and his ability to understand every matter, where it is written and in what context, and why it differs from another expression that seemingly also expresses the same idea, why it is the same idea but not exactly, so that each one has a distinction from the other name and the other expression, and this is the special wonder in the work of the Malbim.
"And he took of the seed of the land and set it in a field of seed, took by many waters, a willow he placed it."
"And he took of the seed of the land": he took that which is fit to be grafted onto another tree; this is called "the seed of the land" with regard to trees. The Malbim says there is a difference in trees between seed (zera), plant (neta), and transplant (shatal). What is the difference between them? Unlike what we are accustomed to in spoken Hebrew, the Malbim says that "neta" is by means of a kernel. We usually speak of "planting" as taking the actual sapling and planting it, but he does not explain it that way. He says that "neta" means by means of a kernel. "Zera": we always speak of sowing as putting into the ground, but the Malbim does not explain it that way; the Malbim says that "zera" is that which is grafted onto another tree, that is called "zera." Therefore it often comes in the context of grafting trees together. And "shatal" is when a person uproots a tree from here in order to plant it in another place; that is called "shatal." So then, here, the Malbim says he took that which is fit to be grafted onto another tree, which is called "zera," therefore "and he took of the seed of the land"; we said that the matter of "zera" always concerns grafting. "And set it in a field of seed": he grafted it onto another seed. "Took by many waters": he took of the seed of the land, whose seed's beginning of growth was, as we said, by many waters, and this he took and grafted, where? "A willow he placed it." He grafted it onto a willow. A "tzaftzafa" is a kind of willow that grows in the mountains and grows without water. Here this comes to show inferiority, since the willow is an inferior species. You might say: are there not better species in Bavel? The Malbim says this is not so, for "upon the willows there we hung our harps," so we see that there were willows there. Why did they need to plant it on a willow? He wished to express through this that the willow is inferior, and in place of all the abundance that was here in Eretz Yisrael, which was by many waters, where did he place it? He grafted it onto a willow, "a willow he placed it." He grafted this seed onto a willow tree. The interpretation here is to the king of Bavel, who is the great eagle, and he came upon the cedar, which is really Tzidkiyahu, who was of the royal seed; he made him king so that he would be under him. It comes out, then, that he grafted it into a field of seed, so that he would reign under him, like a branch that is grafted, and from where does it draw nourishment? From where is its vitality? From the tree, from the source. So this branch that you grafted onto another tree becomes a parasite to it and essentially draws nourishment from it; its vitality comes from it. Here this comes to express that you will essentially be a king appointed by Nevuchadnetzar; he will be the trunk and you will be like some branch grafted onto it, and you will draw nourishment from it, and your vitality will come from it. So instead of what you were before, in eminence and rank, by many waters, now they will place you as a graft onto something inferior, onto a willow, and you will be under the rule of Nevuchadnetzar.
"And it sprouted and became a spreading vine, low of stature, its tendrils turning toward him and its roots being under him, and it became a vine and produced boughs and sent forth branches" (or "porot," since the alef here is silent).
The Radak says, let us begin with the Radak. The Radak says "and it sprouted and became a spreading vine": until Tzidkiyahu rebelled he had success. He grew quickly. His rebellion, says the Radak, was in the fifth year of his reign. In the fourth year of his reign he went to Bavel, as it is written in Sefer Yirmiyahu, that he went to greet the king of Bavel when he made him king. He set him as ruler over all the kings around him, that is, the king of Edom, Moav, Amon, Tzor, Tzidon, as is brought in Sefer Yirmiyahu, that these kings sent messengers to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehuda since they were in fact subordinate to him. "And it became a spreading vine": "soracha," says the Radak, is like the language of "seracha odef" (excess overhang), as it is written regarding the covering of the Mishkan, "it shall overhang the back of the Mishkan"; "tisrach" means it shall extend and be in excess behind the Mishkan. Incidentally, based on this I once explained to you what is written in the sefarim regarding the footsteps of Mashiach, "the wisdom of scribes will be seracha." What does "tisrach" mean? It is commonly understood as being from the language of a foul odor (siruchon): people will, as it were, not want to hear the wisdom of the scribes; it will be foul in their eyes. But there is one who explains "the wisdom of scribes will be seracha" as: you give the scribes, you give the Torah scholars the microphone to speak; he speaks for two hours, it goes on and on and on; his wisdom will overhang, when he begins to speak it drags on, there is no one to stop him. That is "the wisdom of scribes will be seracha." In any case, so "and it became a spreading vine," from the language of excess overhang; it became a vine seed that is long and large. The Radak says: do not think that the comparison here to a vine is a comparison of praise. The Radak says no, on the contrary, the comparison here is a comparison of disgrace, since beforehand he was in the category of a cedar, and the cedar, we said, is tall, it has a mighty top, and since it went and dwindled, and this began already from the time King Menashe reigned, the creaking already began, for Menashe was a wicked king and filled Yerushalayim with blood from end to end and brought an idol into the Heichal, so from that mighty and great cedar it became a low and lowly vine. At first it was a cedar and now it is lowly and low. You might say: but the vine surely has an advantage, surely it has an advantage over the cedar? Afterward he will tell you that this is a vine that does not produce fruit. And since it does not produce fruit, what advantage does it have? What use can be made of it? The cedar is mighty, it is great, it is tall, there are trees there that can be used, that can be built with, but here it is a small vine without fruit. The Radak says: the king of Bavel gave greatness to Tzidkiyahu; his intention was that he be lowly under him, that he do his will, and behold, come and see that he did not act so. That lowly vine, from which it was expected that after having been a great cedar it would become a lowly vine subdued under the hand of the king of Bavel, did not behave in that manner. Rather, we see that later on he revealed the disgrace of Nevuchadnetzar in the matter that he ate a live hare and publicized it, even though he had sworn to him not to publicize it, so this caused him not to endure under him. "And its roots being under him": the roots of the vine will not spread far; this is another expression, says the Radak, of the fact that he was in fact absolutely subordinate to Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel. The tendrils, says the Radak, are a parable for the bribe that he would give him. What is the bribe? The service, a king who was subdued to another king would pay him tribute. He would serve him. So this is the tendrils; the tendrils mean that which he draws up and gives to the second king, to Nevuchadnetzar, in exchange for his not killing him, not exiling him, so it is like paying a bribe, silver and gold, so that he leaves you in the situation as it is. Therefore he made him swear by Elokim. "And produced boughs and sent forth branches": what are these branches? The Radak says it is written "pe'orot." Although the Radak writes so, in our sefarim it is written pe-alef-reish, not pe-reish-alef. It is written pe-alef-reish. But we will explain what he says, that the "pe'orot," says the Radak, the boughs are the thick ones, and the branches (pe'orot or porot) are the boughs that come out of them. That is, there is the thick bough, and from it come out smaller boughs. So too Tzidkiyahu had rule over those around him. So he is indeed a larger bough that comes out of the trunk, where, if you will, the trunk here is Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel. He is the large bough and he produces smaller boughs, for there are those who are placed under him, as we saw above that the Radak explained to us, Amon, Tzor, Tzidon, Moav; all of these were placed, Nevuchadnetzar placed them, under Tzidkiyahu, so that in effect he himself is a bough that produces, and from him come out additional boughs. And behold, you see that they were supposed to obey him, but they did not obey him, and not only that, says the Radak, notice that no fruit is mentioned here for the vine, since indeed this vine had no fruit, for we know that his sons did not endure, the sons of Tzidkiyahu, for they were slaughtered before his eyes when he defied the word of the king of Bavel, defied the oath, so that in effect it has no fruit; this vine is barren.
The Malbim explains that what is written here, "and it sprouted," means, says the Malbim, that the seed grafted onto the willow sprouted and became a vine. As the Radak explained, instead of being a mighty cedar it became a vine. And the vine is not tall but "spreading." "Spreading" means lowly; this is another expression of the lowliness of this kingdom. Its stature will overhang along the ground; it will spread outward, not upward. This is like what is written, "to be a lowly kingdom that does not exalt itself." The lowly vine is an expression of the fact that we became a lowly kingdom as a result of what Nevuchadnetzar did here; he took the mighty men, and through this they too will no longer be a mighty cedar, but rather like a vine that is not a strong tree, but only that which will give him tribute, as we said. "Its tendrils turning toward him and its roots being under him": the tendrils, says the Malbim, are from the language of something drawn up, rising to a height; these are boughs that rise to the top. But here he lowers them, "its tendrils turning toward him," that is, that very thing that was supposed to be lofty in you, Tzidkiyahu, this part turns and is subordinate to the willow, which is Nevuchadnetzar; in effect he rules over him absolutely, and he is subordinate to him and submits to him. And the roots too will be subordinate under him, as it is written, "to keep his covenant so that it may stand," which we will see below in pasuk 14, that he obligated him to keep his covenant and stand by his covenant and not break his covenant. "And it became a vine and produced boughs." But it became a vine in its own right. What kind of vine? For now I grafted you onto a willow. "Took by many waters, a willow he placed it." And yet what did you do? You went to be a vine in your own right; this is an expression of rebellion. This is "and it became a vine." "And it became a vine" means he abandoned the willow, he detached from it and went, as it were, to be a vine in his own right. And he was not satisfied with this, but also sent forth boughs. Boughs are the branches that come out of the tree; the Malbim says these are close to the root, and equal to the tree, and they are strong, they are thick. "And sent forth branches": these are boughs that produce fruit. Note, not as the Radak explains it from the language of "pe'orot," yes? These "porot" here are from the language of "peri" (fruit), as the Malbim explains, that Tzidkiyahu grew strong there in his reign and he was already, as it were, producing fruit and was in the category of an independent ruler who is not dependent on the king above him, not dependent on Nevuchadnetzar. And the Malbim says the root of this word, "porot," says the Malbim, is like the root of "peri, para, poreh," yes? "A root bearing (poreh) poison and wormwood"; this whole idea comes to express the same matter, that something goes and spreads and produces fruit, grows, has fruit; so too "pe'orot" expresses this same idea and the same principle.
"And there was one other great eagle, great of wings and abundant of feathers, and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and sent forth its tendrils to him, that he might water it from the beds of its planting."
"And there was one other eagle": who is this eagle that now enters the picture for us? We already mentioned it above; we saw that the first eagle was Nevuchadnetzar, and this eagle, we already said, is less mighty; this eagle is Paroh king of Mitzrayim. And he too, notice, of him too he says "great of wings," not "long of pinions," as we saw with Nevuchadnetzar, which expresses might; he is only great of wings. And this vine, says the Malbim, "bent its roots toward him." The roots of the vine wished to draw nourishment and to connect to the second eagle. And then what did they do? "And sent forth its tendrils to him." It sent forth the tendrils so that he might water it, from what? "From the beds of its planting," so that he might water it from the beds of his plantation. That is, we saw that the first eagle, which was Nevuchadnetzar, bent the tendrils so that they would spread along the ground. He prevented it from connecting with the... he prevented it from water and prevented it from the possibility of self-vitality, which is really an expression of the fact that Nevuchadnetzar prevented Tzidkiyahu from independent existence, but only that he be subordinate to him. What, then, does Tzidkiyahu do now? He connects to another source of water. To whom? To the second eagle. And who is the smaller second eagle? It is in fact Paroh king of Mitzrayim. He desired the second eagle, that it would raise the tendrils there, that he might drink much water there, and he thought that through Paroh he would have satiety and abundance and blessing and would not need to continue being subordinate to Nevuchadnetzar.
"In a good field, by many waters, it was transplanted, to produce boughs and to bear fruit, to be a majestic vine."
"In a good field, by many waters": now he explains why he needed to do this. After all, Tzidkiyahu was in a good situation, he had honor with Nevuchadnetzar. Why did he rebel against him? Why did he go and violate his oath? For had he not done so, he would have produced a bough, borne fruit, and we will see later on that Tzidkiyahu lost his sons, so that he had no fruit; so that had he been planted there in a good field and by many waters, he would have been transplanted, would have produced a bough and borne fruit. What did he need to go and rebel against Nevuchadnetzar for? On the contrary, the prophet told him to be subdued under him. The Malbim explains that "transplanting" with regard to trees is always an expression of uprooting a tree from one place and planting it in another place. Whenever "transplanting" is written, this is the expression. So he says here that he wished to transplant the vine into a good field. Here he describes what Tzidkiyahu did. Tzidkiyahu abandoned Nevuchadnetzar who made him king, and went to receive support and help from Paroh king of Mitzrayim. So this is what he says, "in a good field, by many waters, it was transplanted." He went to transplant himself to Mitzrayim, where he would find many waters, to leave the domain of Nevuchadnetzar for the domain of Paroh, in order to produce a bough and bear fruit, to be a majestic vine, that he might have a kingdom in his own right, that he not be subordinate and enslaved to the kingdom of Nevuchadnetzar.
"Say: Thus says Hashem Elokim: Shall it prosper? Will he not tear out its roots and strip off its fruit so that it withers, so that all the fresh leaves of its growth wither? And not with great strength or a numerous people will it be lifted from its roots."
"Say": Rashi makes a comment here, that the entire alef-bet is in this pasuk, and I wonder that it is not counted in the Masorah. This pasuk is a unique pasuk that contains the entire alef-bet. Rashi says: but it is a wonder, for in the Masorah several pesukim are counted that contain the entire alef-bet, that the whole alef-bet is included in them, and this pasuk, they did not mention it. In any case, the pasuk says, "Say: Thus says Hashem Elokim: Shall it prosper?" Will you succeed? "Will he not tear out its roots": for you are going to lean on the second eagle, which is Paroh, and through this to escape from the hand of the first eagle, who is Nevuchadnetzar. He says: behold, the first eagle will tear out its roots. "And strip off its fruit so that it withers": the fruit he will "strip off" (yekoseis), "yekoseis" is like "yekotzeitz" (cut off), yes? It is "yekoseis," or as in the language of "gnawing" (kesisa), but "gnawing" is with the letter kaf, and here it becomes with the letter kof, therefore the Malbim connects it with "yekotzeitz" (cut off). The Malbim says it has no companion, meaning there is no other word similar to it in Scripture. But in any case the meaning of the matter is that Nevuchadnetzar will not sit quietly. Nevuchadnetzar will see how you rebelled against him and went to connect with Paroh king of Mitzrayim, so "he will tear out its roots and cut off the fruit," and also its leaves, the common folk, them too he will dry up; he will uproot the kingdom and cut off its people, so the leaves too, which are considered the simple people, they too will wither. And to this he adds and says, "and not with great strength or a numerous people." Do not think that this means Nevuchadnetzar will need to invest much energy. He will not need great strength, he will not need a mighty hand, he will not need a numerous people in order to remove it from its roots. This is what "to lift it from its roots" means. That is, Paroh will not come to help, and consequently Nevuchadnetzar will easily take you. This is what he wishes to say. You went and relied on Paroh; Nevuchadnetzar will not, on account of this, need to invest greater effort, since Paroh is a broken reed of a staff upon which there is nothing to rely, and consequently Nevuchadnetzar will come and easily exile you.
"And behold, though transplanted, shall it prosper? Will it not, when the east wind touches it, wither completely? Upon the beds of its growth it shall wither."