"למה לי רוב זבחיכם יאמר ה', שבעתי עולות אילים וחלב מריאים, ודם פרים וכבשים ועתודים לא חפצתי. כי תבואו לראות פני, מי ביקש זאת מידכם רמוס חצרי. לא תוסיפו הביא מנחת שוא, קטורת תועבה היא לי, חודש ושבת קרוא מקרא, לא אוכל אוון ועצרה. חודשיכם ומועדיכם שנאה נפשי, היו עלי לטורח, נלאיתי נשוא" - "Why do I need your many sacrifices, says Hashem, I am sated with burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fatted beasts, and the blood of bulls and lambs and he-goats I do not desire. When you come to appear before Me, who asked this of you, to trample My courts. Do not continue to bring vain meal offerings, incense is an abomination to Me, New Moon and Sabbath, the calling of assembly, I cannot bear iniquity with the solemn gathering. Your New Moons and your appointed times My soul hates, they have become a burden upon Me, I am weary of bearing them."
Let us explain the order of the pesukim and, in fact, what the prophet is charging them with. Hashem says to them, "Why do I need your many sacrifices, says Hashem." The people of that period were accustomed to bringing many sacrifices, fat sacrifices, because they thought that through this they would win Hashem's favor. A kind of bribe. True, we are not behaving properly, true, we are not doing what the prophets say, but look, what a sacrifice I brought today, something extraordinary. So today my livelihood is secure. I will have it for the week, the month, everything will be fine. They thought they were, as it were, buying off Hashem and bribing Him with the sacrifices they gave. To this Hashem says to them, "Why do I need your many sacrifices, says Hashem." Since the deeds you perform are deeds empty of intent, with no true intent to give satisfaction to Hashem, this is like a body without a soul. If so, then what is really the purpose of the sacrifices? Why do I need your many sacrifices, says Hashem?
Now the Malbim says: here he divides the types of sacrifices into four categories. There are four categories among the sacrifices. The first category is voluntary offerings, nedavah. Nedavah, no one obligated you. You volunteer, you want to give, you bring a voluntary offering. There are two kinds of this. There is a voluntary offering that I give entirely, I give it entirely to Hashem. What is this called? An olah. The olah offering is a voluntary offering, you are not obligated to bring an olah. There is another kind of voluntary offering, and that is the shelamim and the todah. The shelamim and todah offering: its fat is offered up, but the meat goes to whom? To the owners. The olah goes entirely to Hashem. Regarding the first, which is the olah, he says to them, "I am sated with burnt offerings of rams." It is enough for Me, I am already sated. Do you think you are satisfying Me with what you give Me? Am I, as it were, hungry and you are feeding Me? He says to him: I am sated. All the sacrifices, we are done, I am already sated with burnt offerings of rams. And what will you say, I also have a sacrifice like we said, shelamim and todah, from which, as it were, the altar takes only the fat. He says to them, "I am sated with the fat of fatted beasts." Even the fat that you brought before Me, that too, as it were, has already satisfied Me. Hashem says to them, He wants to tell them, as it were: the purpose of these sacrifices is to recognize Hashem's kindness, to see how much Hashem has bestowed upon you. Who gives a shelamim offering? Who gives a todah offering? One upon whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has bestowed good, and he wants to show gratitude to Hashem. And you, you do not intend this, but rather you think that when you bring Me this, it is not as an expression of gratitude, but to satisfy Me because I am hungry. That is your intent, you imagine that I am hungry, that I need your sacrifice. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: I am already sated with burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fatted beasts, I no longer need them.
There is an additional type, and these are obligatory sacrifices to atone for sin. For example, one who desecrated Shabbat is obligated to bring a chatat offering. There are obligatory sacrifices to atone for sin. Asham, to atone for sin. Asham gezelot, asham me'ilot, asham shifchah charufah, asham nazir, asham sotah, correct? This too is a sacrifice that comes for atonement, but it is obligatory. How is the atonement accomplished? The Gemara says, the essence of the atonement is in the sprinkling of the blood. On the sprinkling of the blood the atonement depends. And there, what does a person need to do in order to achieve atonement? The essence there is that he regret, and confess, and repent, and say I have sinned, I have transgressed, I have rebelled, and accept upon himself not to stumble again. But you do not repent when you bring the sacrifice, so what is your only intent? To offer Me the blood. You think that I need the blood that you sprinkle upon the altar. Hashem says to them, "the blood of bulls and lambs and he-goats I do not desire." I do not need the blood that you sprinkle upon the altar. I have no benefit from the blood itself.
The third kind is voluntary offerings that Hashem, as it were, made obligatory. Which voluntary offerings did Hashem make obligatory for us? These are the olat re'iyah and the shalmei chagigah. When a person makes the pilgrimage, how does the Torah put it? "And you shall not appear before Me empty." "They shall not appear before Me empty." That is to say, on one hand, if you did not make the pilgrimage, you are not obligated to bring a sacrifice. But if you did go up, you are already obligated to bring a sacrifice. "They shall not appear before Me empty." That is to say, if a person came and entered the Beit HaMikdash, appeared in the courtyard, and did not bring a sacrifice, then such a person, we say, transgressed "they shall not appear before Me empty." Now, their purpose, since Hashem commands that three times a year all your males appear, the purpose there is that a person learn the Torah of Hashem, for the lips of the kohen shall guard knowledge, and Torah they shall seek from his mouth, that he strengthen himself in the service of Hashem, learn His Torah, come to know His ways from the mouths of the kohanim and the prophets. The Torah says explicitly, "so that you may learn to fear Hashem your God." And with all this, Hashem said: bring a gift when you come to appear before Me. What is the purpose? So that I may show you thereby that I have desired you. For behold, I took from your hand a gift and an offering. If Hashem brings down fire upon the altar when we offer a sacrifice, what does this show? That it is accepted with favor. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I want to show you that your coming is close to Me, good before Me, and therefore I say bring a sacrifice, so that through this I may, as it were, show My desire and My will for you. And this is what he continues now to say, "when you come to appear before Me, who asked this of you, to trample My courts." When you come to appear before Me on the three festivals, when I command you to go up and appear before Me, what will you say? Oh, then You obligated us to bring a sacrifice. We were obligated, it is written "they shall not appear before Me empty." Hashem says, "who asked this of you, to trample My courts." The very fact that you came to the Beit HaMikdash, who obligated you? Who asked of you to trample My courts? For the obligation of the sacrifice applies only if you came to the courtyard, as we said. If you did not come to the courtyard, there is no obligation of a re'iyah sacrifice. So He says to them: it would be better that you not come to the courtyard and not offer a sacrifice. Since you do not truly intend to go up to the Beit HaMikdash, to appear before Hashem, to learn from the mouths of the kohanim, to strengthen yourself in His service, that is not your purpose. If so, you are not performing any mitzvah here. So why did you come here? In short, you came to dirty My courtyard for Me. To trample My courts. For the purpose of entering the Beit HaMikdash is to learn knowledge. It is like a person coming to a synagogue with shoes that are not the cleanest: if he comes, sits, listens to a shiur, strengthens himself, leaves, yes, he dirtied it a bit. But imagine people coming here, walking, treading here, dirtying here, and leaving. What would we say? Did he come to the courts of Hashem? No, he came to trample the courtyard of Hashem. He came to dirty the courtyard of Hashem. So Hashem says: if you came not for the appropriate purpose, then who asked this of you? This is only to trample My courts. And therefore I ask, "do not continue to bring vain meal offerings, incense is an abomination to Me, New Moon and Sabbath, the calling of assembly, I cannot bear iniquity with the solemn gathering." Since the very trampling of My courts I do not desire, it is against My will, then all the more so you should not add sin upon transgression, in that you come against My will to bring a vain meal offering. What is a vain meal offering? The chagigah and re'iyah sacrifice that I do not want at all. And He says to them, "incense is an abomination to Me." The incense of the meal offering that you offer, ketoret is the smoke that rises, the smoke, the cloud of incense from the sacrifice you offer, from the meal offering, He says to them, "it is an abomination to Me." It is like a person coming to the king's courtyard when the king does not want to see him, and moreover fills his courtyard with smoke. Do you understand? The king wants to leave, suddenly sees a screen of smoke, cannot get out, everything... After all, if you had come and I had asked and told you to offer incense before Me, fine. But this is not what I asked. What you are doing is not what I asked. So on the contrary, the incense you make is like smoke in the eyes. It is an abomination to Me.
"New Moon and Sabbath, the calling of assembly, I cannot bear iniquity with the solemn gathering." The fourth kind: so now we have spoken of three types of sacrifices. We said voluntary offerings, we said obligatory ones to atone for sin, we said voluntary offerings that Hashem made obligatory, that is the re'iyah offerings. Now he speaks of the fourth kind, which is the musaf offerings. The musaf offerings, the community would bring them on Sabbaths, on New Moons, on festivals. These had a different purpose. Since these days are holy days, Sabbaths, New Moons, festivals, these days are meant for a person to free himself from the vanities of the world and sanctify himself for the service of Hashem. And therefore they had special sacrifices, when the community would gather at the Beit HaMikdash in order to be restrained before Hashem in prayer, to leave aside matters of vanity and sanctify a day that has the aspect of an atzeret. Atzeret means to restrain oneself from all one's affairs, to hold oneself before Hashem. Now, on these days there are two aspects, these days of the atzeret. Chazal say, in one place it is written "a solemn assembly to Hashem your God." In another place it is written "a solemn assembly shall it be for you." The Gemara asks: to whom is the atzeret? Is it to Hashem or to you? Chazal say: half of it for you, half of it for Hashem. Part of it for you, eating, drinking, enjoyment, joy. And part of it for Hashem. Part of it must be devoted to the service of Hashem. To this he comes and says to them: even the mitzvah of delight and joy that you perform, when you rejoice, as it were, in the sacrifices, this must be for the sake of Hashem. He should not go and say, fine, half a day I will be a glutton and a drunkard, I do not care at all about the command of Hashem, and half a day I will learn or pray or do the will of Hashem. Even what you eat should be within the framework that avoids gluttony and drunkenness, that your eating be for the sake of Heaven, just as the kohanim eat and the owners achieve atonement. That your eating be truly in fulfillment of the command of Hashem, for Hashem commanded me to rejoice before Him. And to this he comes and says to them, "New Moon and Sabbath, the calling of assembly." These festivals that you call a holy convocation, this is called "the calling of assembly," that it is called a holy convocation. "I cannot bear iniquity with the solemn gathering." He says to them: even in the first half of the day, when you are restrained before Me in the Beit HaMikdash, I cannot bear this assembly. Since your heart is full of iniquity. You have no good intent to come and do the will of Hashem. Even in the act of the assembly, it is not for the honor of Heaven. You have no intent to sanctify yourselves before Him, no intent to do His will, but rather what? It is of the aspect of vanity.
"Your New Moons and your appointed times My soul hates, they have become a burden upon Me, I am weary of bearing them." And all the more so the second half of the day. For the second half of the day, we said, has the aspect of being entirely for you. The first part, when you come before Me in the Beit HaMikdash, if it is not for the sake of Heaven, is repugnant in My eyes. And all the more so the second part that you dedicate to your own needs, He says to them: this is not merely "I cannot bear," but rather it has the aspect of literally "My soul hates" entirely. For even in the first part there was at least a good deed, but a negative intent. In the second part, that of the half for you, both the deed is a deed of eating, which is a physical act, and the intent is negative, so if so you are not doing it at all for the sake of Hashem. Hashem says to them, then "they have become a burden upon Me." Why is this the aspect of a burden? Because in itself this thing is a burden in My eyes, it burdens Me, for it is against My will. Another matter, "I am weary of bearing them," because you persist in this for a long period already, so I am weary of bearing them. What is the meaning of these words? The Malbim explains that there is a difference between "they have become a burden upon Me" and "I am weary of bearing them." A heavy load, says the Malbim, is a burden upon a person even for a short time. They tell you to lift a sack of cement, even two minutes is heavy for you. On the other hand, a light load is not heavy for me, but over a long time it becomes heavy for me. They tell me here, lift up this tissue, hold it like this, for ten minutes. After three minutes his hand already hurts, right? Do you understand? Even without lifting a tissue, just lifting his hand, right? So the extended time causes even a light load to become heavy. And therefore he says here as follows: on one hand he says "they have become a burden upon Me." This thing itself is heavy upon Me. It is heavy upon Me and it is a burden in My eyes, for it is against My will. And He also says to them, from the aspect of the length of time that you persist and repeat the sin, He says regarding this "I am weary of bearing them." This is already, even if it is not heavy, but it is over a long time. Over a long time I can no longer bear it, I am weary of bearing it. And here he dwells on this precision, that "burden" is the thing itself. It itself is burdensome, it is heavy. "I am weary of bearing them" is from the aspect of the one bearing. For me it is heavy. Why is it heavy for me? Is it not itself not heavy? Because it has been a long time already. Because the long time turns the thing itself into something heavy for me.
"And when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you, even when you multiply prayer, I do not listen, your hands are full of blood." After until now he rebukes them and says to them, know: a good deed without heart is worth nothing. The deed is, as it were, sacrifices, to give satisfaction, but truly you have no intent to give satisfaction to Hashem, but rather your whole intent is only to continue in your evil deeds, and you come as though to bribe the Creator of the world. Now he comes and says: I want to tell you about the opposite situation. What happens when there is much heart, but the deed is not good? There is a pure and clear intent, but the deeds are not proper. And this is what he comes and says, "and when you spread out your hands." When you come to pray, one spreads out his hands in prayer, meaning he lifts his hands to Hashem. "Even when you multiply prayer." Prayer, says the Malbim, is the pouring out of the soul. Prayer always refers to prayer that comes from a true, clear and pure thought. He says to them: even then "I do not listen." "And when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you." Why? Here there is truly heart, here there is truly prayer. "Your hands are full of blood." The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: you spill innocent blood. So the wickedness of the deeds causes that all the intent and purity of heart in your prayer will not avail you. For you come with all your transgressions, with all your sins, and you say, like Adam, I sinned, I ate and I will eat more. You intend to continue your evil deeds. So what will it help that he pleads with his voice? He comes and speaks supplications, but in truth his intent is to continue doing evil, and his intent is not to abandon his corrupt deeds. In essence, what does the Holy One, blessed be He, say to them? In order for the service to be complete and whole, there must be both the person's actual deed in completeness, and the thought of the person's heart in completeness. Then these two things are accepted before Hashem. And therefore when we have a trouble, may no one have any trouble, when a person needs a salvation, he turns to a tzaddik to pray for him. Why can you not pray on your own? I can. Can you not pray from the depths of your heart? I can. And you, if you pray, perhaps you would pray better than the tzaddik, for the tzaddik now has another three hundred to pray for. You pray only for yourself, perhaps that is better? Yes, but the tzaddik has a virtue that I do not have. The tzaddik is pure of transgressions. And this is what he says, the tzaddik's hands are not full of blood. So "when you spread out your hands," "you multiply prayer," the Holy One, blessed be He, says I listen. But with us, when it comes together with "your hands are full of blood," the Holy One, blessed be He, says: by what merit shall his prayer be accepted?
"Wash yourselves, purify yourselves, remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes, cease to do evil. Learn to do good, seek justice, set right the oppressed, judge the orphan, plead for the widow." Now he comes and says to them: what is the proper way to serve Hashem? First, Rashi explains, bringing Chazal: written here are ten expressions, ten warnings of teshuvah. Wash, purify, remove, cease, learn, seek, set right, judge, plead, go. Ten expressions. Corresponding to the ten days of teshuvah. And corresponding to the ten Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot. For each we said, ten for Malchuyot, ten for Zichronot, ten for Shofarot. Ten pesukim. Now he comes and says to them: in order for your prayer to be accepted, says the Malbim, first of all "wash yourselves." Wash away the stains of the transgressions you committed in the past. How? Regret, abandonment of the sin. This is not enough. Mere washing does not suffice. "Purify yourselves." "Purify" means purification, thoroughly, remove the stain entirely. That is, be pure, do teshuvah out of love, until the stain, the blemish, becomes a precious stone. The blemish, the corruption, becomes something good and praiseworthy. For teshuvah out of love transforms deliberate sins into merits. Whereas teshuvah out of fear turns deliberate sins into unintentional ones, but does not transform them into merits. Only to say that teshuvah out of love is a very, very difficult teshuvah, and would that we merit to do teshuvah out of fear. Teshuvah out of love is a lofty and immense level entirely. Let us return to the matter. So he says to them: it is not enough to "wash yourselves," rather one must "purify yourselves." Complete purification that will remove the stain entirely, this is through teshuvah out of love. When do we do teshuvah out of love? Based on this, they explain what is written about the festival of Sukkot, it is written "and you shall take for yourselves on the first day." Chazal say: on the first day, the first for the accounting of transgressions. What is "the first for the accounting of transgressions"? Some explain, according to its plain meaning, that until Sukkot a person has no time to commit transgressions. As soon as Yom Kippur ends, he immediately builds the sukkah, runs to find the four species, he is always running about. How much time does he have? Three or four days until the festival. Well, that is... no, until the festival. From Yom Kippur he sometimes has two days, because Shabbat is in the middle, Friday, so he really has no time to commit transgressions. Chol HaMoed arrives, then he has a bit of rest. So "and you shall take for yourselves on the first day," the first for the accounting of transgressions. From here they already begin to commit transgressions. But I saw another explanation. They say that on Yom Kippur there is "the lion has roared, who will not fear," this is Yom Kippur, this is the service of Hashem out of fear, out of fasting, affliction, fearful and trembling before You. On the other hand, Sukkot is the service of Hashem out of love, it is joy. How does one serve the Holy One, blessed be He, on Sukkot? "And you shall rejoice on your festival." There is a mitzvah to be joyful all seven days. So what was until now teshuvah out of fear, now we do teshuvah out of love over it. Now, when there is teshuvah out of love, we begin to search for what transgressions we committed in the past, because now for every transgression I have a merit, we receive reward. So they say "the first for the accounting of transgressions." This is the day on which we begin to make an accounting, wait, how many transgressions did we commit in the past? Because now we are already doing teshuvah out of love, we suddenly want to remember how many transgressions we committed, because every transgression becomes a merit.
Mere regret is for transgressions between man and the Omnipresent, for transgressions between man and the Omnipresent, the transgression no longer exists. A person desecrated Shabbat two weeks ago, does the desecration of Shabbat still exist? It is over, what was, was. The moment he smoked, at that moment he desecrated Shabbat. Today the transgression no longer exists, and therefore regret suffices for it. But transgressions that still exist, such as transgressions between man and his fellow, for if I stole ten shekels from you, the transgression still exists. What does "the transgression still exists" mean? Ten shekels lie in my pocket, even if I spent them, but the transgression of the theft still exists until I return it. And therefore, this is what he adds, remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes. This refers to transgressions that still exist, which are transgressions between man and his fellow, where the sin still exists in reality, you must remove it. How? Return the theft, return the deceit, if he wounded, let the one who struck his fellow pay, one who spread an evil name must appease, this transgression still exists. All this that he has spoken of until now is to repair the past.
Now he begins to speak of repairing the future, what the conduct will be in the future. "Cease to do evil," this is the end of the pasuk, cease to do evil, this is from here onward, an acceptance for the future, accept upon yourself not to do evil deeds anymore. "Learn to do good," meaning learn, as in teach yourselves to do good. This is the meaning of "learn to do good," not the meaning that you should learn Torah, learn well, but rather the meaning is teach yourself to do good, train yourself to do good. "Seek justice," this corresponds to between man and his fellow as we said. Seek justice: you have a dispute? Go and seek the judge. Let the judge tell us what to do, he claims this, I claim that, do not flee from the matter, but rather seek justice. When you know who is truly the robbed and who is the robber, "set right the oppressed." "Set right the oppressed," "set right" is from an expression like "guide." Guide the oppressed, meaning the one who is oppressed. Guide the oppressed person, the oppressed meaning the robbed.
Guide him in the path of justice how to see to it that the theft is returned to him. And not only should you seek justice when the two litigants come to stand before you, but he also says to them, judge the case of the orphan. Even though he is small, he does not know how to summon the litigant to trial, you should see to him, you should judge the case of the orphan. Even though both do not come to trial because he does not understand, but I will be a mouth for him. And not only the case of the orphan, whose case is fixed and set and most known and clear according to halachah, he stands in his father's place for the inheritance, and there are very clear laws concerning the orphan. He says to them also "plead for the widow." The widow, first of all, has no ability to summon her adversary to trial, since she in herself has no strength or fortitude of spirit, there is no one standing behind her. Secondly, her case is not clear like the case of the orphan. The case of the orphan, we said, has clear and decided laws, but in the case of the ketubah there are claims, there are denials, some say she was given money in her lifetime, he already gave it to her while alive, some say no, he gave it on account of the ketubah, he says no, he brought it as a gift. In the ketubah there are far more windings and settlements, there is much more argument back and forth, and then one must plead in order to arrive at the judgment. What is the difference? Says the Malbim: "to plead" means, pleading is to arrange the claims in matters that are not yet clarified. So there is a dispute between them. On the other hand, "judgment" is a clarified matter, one need only decide it, one need only set it, the judge need only say this one is liable, this one is exempt. There are clear things written about it in halachah. So regarding the orphan it is "judge the orphan," but in pleading for the widow, which concerns matters of the ketubah as we said, that has many problems, so there it is "plead for the widow," meaning hear both sides and see exactly, bring the judgment out to justice and to light.
"Come now and let us reason together, says Hashem. If your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as snow, if they be red as crimson, they shall become like wool." He says to them, come now and let us reason together. Come, let us reason, "reasoning together" in the language of Tanach is from an expression of debate. Debate is not a debate like two people arguing, one says yes, the other says no. No. Debate means to prove a matter with proofs and signs and intellectual demonstrations. That is debate. You have proofs, you have logic, you have something by which you can persuade, that is debate. The debate of Iyov and his companions was of such a character. Whoever wishes may listen, we have shiurim on Iyov in full. All the proofs were through claims and responses, that they claim to him and he refutes them and he brings proofs and they bring proofs, that is debate. Hashem says to them, come now and let us reason together, meaning: come, I want now to debate with you together, I want now to understand why you do not return to Hashem as I instructed you, as the way I have just directed you. What do you fear? Why do you worry and are afraid to return? For even if your sins be dyed and red as scarlet, scarlet is the thread of shani, the shani thread was red. Behold, they shall become white as snow. If you wash yourselves, purify yourselves, as he said before, they shall become white as snow, through this you will be purified of all the sins. And not only this, but even if they be red as crimson. What is the difference between shani and tola? Shani is the dyed cloth. On the other hand, tola is the dye with which the cloth is dyed. It is the dye itself, this is called the tola. Now there is a difference in two matters between the tola and the shani. First, the tola is the dye itself as we said. The shani only received the dye. Second, the tola dyes others. The shani has no power to dye others, it is dyed but it cannot dye others. And now with this he gave analogies for two kinds of sins. He says to them: first, if you have become like tola, what is the meaning? You have become so deeply rooted in the sin, that the sin has already become part of you. It is not a white cloth that was dyed red, but rather it itself, it is the red itself. It is the red itself, you have become so rooted in the sin, meaning out of heresy, out of rebellion, not that the sin was incidental, that by chance he erred, but rather it has literally become strongly red, it itself is the red. Even if your sins be like scarlet, and, excuse me, if they be red as crimson, even then he says to them they shall become like wool. Another matter, we said the tola dyes others. This comes to say: even if you are not merely like scarlet, red, but rather like tola which can also make others red, meaning you did not sin only against yourselves, you also caused others to sin. For the shani is red for itself, but the tola is not content with being red for itself, the tola, we said, is that from which the red is produced, it dyes others too, you also caused others to sin. So he says to them: return, and even if you do not reach "they shall become white as snow," but in any case "they shall become like wool." For without any doubt the whiteness of snow is greater than the whiteness of wool. Wool is grayish, it is a bit off-white, it is not completely white, it tends slightly toward cream. On the other hand, snow is completely white. So he says to them: even though you will say, but we were like tola, the sin became intrinsic to us, the sin is such a sin that we caused others to sin, he says to them, even if you reached such a state, know that in any case teshuvah will bring you to a state where they shall become like wool. So why do you not repent? There is nothing that stands in the way of teshuvah.
I saw in the name of Me'orah shel Torah, brought in the name of Tiferet Uziel, who explains in a witty manner. "If your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as snow." It is written that when a person is young, then the blood in him boils. But an old adulterer is something the mind cannot tolerate. So the Gemara brings: a rich man who denies, a poor man who is arrogant. What, you are rich, do you have reason to deny? You have enough, why do you go to steal another hundred shekels? A poor man who is arrogant, what do you have to be proud of? You are poor. An old adulterer, this is merely arousing the evil inclination in himself. This is what he says, "if your sins be like scarlet," if your sin be in accordance with your years, he is twenty years old and he commits, say, sins of a twenty-year-old, then they say to you they shall become white as snow. He will do teshuvah, they shall become white as snow. But if not, but rather sins not in accordance with the years, he is eighty years old and he still commits adultery, then your sins are not "like scarlet," not in accordance with your years, he says then there is already no remedy. Then the remedy is very, very difficult. But at least let your sins be, then they shall be according to the measure of the years.
The prophet says, "if you are willing and you listen, you shall eat the good of the land. And if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of Hashem has spoken." This pasuk, in fact these two pesukim are a continuation of what we saw in the previous pesukim. In pasuk eighteen he said to them, come now and let us reason together, says Hashem, if your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as snow. That is to say, what is the problem? Why do you not do teshuvah? Come now and let us reason together, come let us debate, for I am ready to pardon you for the transgressions, they shall become white as snow, if they be red as crimson they shall become like wool. And if so, why do you not return in teshuvah? And then now he comes and promises them and says to them, "if you are willing and you listen, you shall eat the good of the land." Meaning: if you consent and listen to what I ask of you, then you shall eat the good of the land. That is to say, notice what harm you suffer from continuing to do evil deeds and refraining from returning in teshuvah. And this is what he says, "if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword." If you refuse to listen and rebel against the mouth of Hashem, then if so, you shall be devoured by the sword. We will soon explain the meaning of the expression "you shall be devoured." He says to them: why would you do so? "For the mouth of Hashem has spoken." If you refuse to listen, then you will receive the sword, for the mouth of Hashem has spoken. This means: from time immemorial, when Hashem spoke, His words never fell to the ground. So do not think this is an empty threat, do not think these are words that will not be fulfilled, for the mouth of Hashem has spoken. And the Holy One, blessed be He, does not retract a decree He has decreed. The Malbim explains that a person refrains from doing something only if that thing is difficult for him, or because he does not recognize its benefit. Why does he not do it? Because it will not help. A second possibility: it will help but it is difficult for me. Here the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, addresses both of these matters. First, come and see, it is not difficult. If your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as snow. In a moment a person can return in teshuvah and all his red sins will be whitened. Another matter, he comes and says to them: what will you say from the aspect that there is no benefit for me in this? He says to them: behold, you will see that if you do the will of Hashem you will merit benefit. The benefit is that you shall eat the good of the land. And if you do not do the will of Hashem, then you will have harm, that you shall be devoured by the sword. So there are two things here. One thing he says to them: this is easy, it is not heavy such that you could say that because it is heavy we refrained. Second, you will say I am not sure there is benefit, he says, come and I will show you that there is benefit, and Hashem speaks, if Hashem promises then with certainty what He says will be fulfilled one hundred percent.
Let us examine the language precisely. If you have noticed, in Sefer Yeshayahu the Malbim dwells a great deal in the section of the explanation of words, since here we deal with expressions of prophecy, and expressions of prophecy repeat themselves in what the Radak generally defines as the doubling of the matter with different words. The doubling of the matter with different words. That is, writing the same thing in different words. And as is known, the Malbim strongly opposes this approach. There is no such thing as doubling the matter with different words. If he doubled the matter, he also doubled the idea. That is to say, there is significance in the repetition and each word comes to express something different, as we elaborated in explaining the Malbim's introduction. And therefore here the Malbim says: there is a difference between one who refuses and one who is not willing. What is the difference? "You are not willing" or "you refuse," ostensibly these are two expressions that express the same idea. I am not willing in this matter, I refuse this matter. Says the Malbim: there is a difference between them. "Refuse" is with the mouth. But "not willing" is in the heart. There can be a person who is willing and refuses. He very much wants it but they offer it to him, and he says, no, no need, no, no, I am not interested. But in his heart he is willing for it. "Willing," from an expression like desiring it, only that here it is spelled with a vet with a vav. Yes? The desire of his heart. That is to say, in his heart he wants it. And it can be the opposite. A person who is not willing for something, but is not refusing. He does not want it, but they offer it to him, and he does not say no, no, no. That is to say, a state where his mouth and his heart are not aligned. On one hand it can be, as I said, that a person is willing but refuses, or is not willing and not refusing. If so, the Malbim asks: it should have been written here, if you are willing and you listen you shall eat the good of the land, and if you are not willing and you rebel you shall be devoured by the sword. To write the same expression. Why did it jump to "if you refuse"? Says the Malbim: come and see how precise this is. He says to them: it is not enough that you actually listen, but rather what is needed is that you be willing. "Willing," as we explained, is the desire of the heart. He says to them: it is not enough that you actually listen, but within yourselves you do not want to do so. If you are willing and you listen, that you have the desire of the heart to do it, then I promise you, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse, "if you refuse" means, it may be that in the heart you are willing, but with the mouth, what? You refuse. He says you will be punished. Why? Notice, says the Malbim: for most sinners who are not rebels, their heart desires to listen, only their inclination overpowers them. Most people in the world who sin and stumble, within their heart they truly want to do the will of Hashem. And the Yom Kippur we just passed proves it. The entire nation of Israel was in the synagogue. Why? Because truly, deep down, he wants to do the will of Hashem. So why does he refuse? Why does he actually refuse? Because the inclination overpowers him. But truly, what does he want in his heart? In his heart he wants to be a God-fearing person, in his heart he wants to serve Hashem, in his heart he wants to fulfill His mitzvot. Therefore he comes and says to them: I do not say "and if you are not willing and you rebel." "Not willing and rebel," as we said, means you do not want it in your heart, he says there is no need to reach such an extreme that even in the heart you do not want it. Even if you want it in your heart, but you actually refuse, you shall be devoured by the sword. For in essence most people are willing in their heart, so it is not enough for you to say my heart is pure, I want it. He says no, no, no, know: if you refuse, what are you actually doing in practice? Refusing, that is already enough that through it they will receive the punishment.
I saw an explanation, brought in the sefer Peninim Yekarim. The commentators say, this is a vort. The commentators say that it is written that the reward for mitzvot is not paid in this world. So says the Gemara in Kiddushin, there is no reward for a mitzvah in this world. So they ask, seemingly it follows then that Hashem transgresses "bal talin." The Torah states "bal talin," the wages of a hired worker shall not remain overnight. And a person works here, so bal talin. There is one answer that says, bal talin is a day, right? A thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday. So it is still on the same day, Hashem gives you the reward the same day. There is no bal talin here. But there is an additional explanation, that it is written that if a person hired another through an agent, he does not transgress bal talin. The employer does not transgress bal talin. That is to say, if I took you today as a worker, and I did not pay you on time, I transgressed bal talin. But if I sent Reuven to hire you as a worker, even if I did not pay you for two months, I did not transgress bal talin. I did not transgress the prohibition. Certainly it is not good, it is ugly, but no, I did not transgress bal talin. Now notice, we received the entire Torah from Hashem through an agent. Through whom? Moshe Rabbeinu. The entire Torah we received through an agent, so consequently one can say that Hashem transgresses bal talin? Hashem says: I hired you through an agent, through Moshe Rabbeinu. But we have a problem, there are two mitzvot for which Hashem hired us Himself. "I am Hashem your God" and "you shall have no..." from the mouth of the Almighty we heard them. The first two commandments, before the people of Israel said you speak with us and we shall listen, lest God speak with us and we die, before that the first two commandments, "I am" and "you shall have no," we heard from the mouth of Hashem. It follows then that for these two mitzvot of "I am Hashem your God" and "you shall have no other gods before Me," for these two mitzvot one must pay the person already in this world. If not, this is bal talin. And this is now what he comes and says here. "If you are willing and you listen, you shall eat the good of the land." Where is this? Here in this world. And if you come and ask, how could it be in this world? For the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no reward for a mitzvah in this world, why does He pay here the reward in this world? He tells you: because the mouth of Hashem has spoken. About what did He speak here? About idolatry. Do not worship idolatry. Idolatry, who spoke to us? Hashem Himself. When Hashem Himself speaks, then He must pay here in this world. Therefore he says you shall eat the good of the land, here in this world. This is the addition, "for the mouth of Hashem has spoken." Since the mouth of Hashem has spoken, consequently He is obligated, as it were, to give the reward here in this world, and therefore you shall eat the good of the land here in this world.