Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 2: "The word that Yeshayahu son of Amotz saw concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim. And it will be at the end of days that the mountain of the House of Hashem will be established at the top of the mountains, and lifted above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it."
Here at the outset he describes for us how at the end of days all the peoples will walk in the name of Hashem. And from this matter, what will be at the end of days, the navi comes and rouses the people and tells them: if all the nations at the end of days will follow Hashem, why will you, Am Yisrael, not already walk right now in the light of Hashem? The nations today are in darkness, and that is why they do not walk today in Hashem's light, but you today, you have light, Am Yisrael. So if the nations will reach such a conclusion in the end, and you already see this now, why not begin already now to walk in the light of Hashem? This is the essence of the rebuke that he will deliver in this chapter.
And in the midst of seeing the situation of the nations that will be in the future, and looking by contrast at the situation of his own generation as it is now, he becomes alarmed by the state of his generation and begins, in the middle, to speak words of rebuke as well. Now, whoever reads pasuk 2, "And it will be at the end of days that the mountain of the House of Hashem will be established, and many peoples will go and say," thinks this is a prophecy to the nations. That it is some message to the peoples, and the neviim, as we will see going forward, had many messages for the nations. They were not neviim only of Am Yisrael, they also delivered messages to the nations. Therefore the navi comes and at the very beginning of his words says: no, no, do not be mistaken, this is not a prophecy said to the nations, this is a prophecy said to Am Yisrael, that they should learn a moral lesson from what the nations will do in the future. But it was said to Am Yisrael. Where does he tell them this? In the first pasuk: "The word that Yeshayahu son of Amotz saw concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim." This is an introduction. Do not mistakenly think that if I mention nations here in a moment, I am speaking to the nations. I am speaking to Yehudah and to Yerushalayim.
And then he tells them, "And it will be at the end of days that the mountain of the House of Hashem will be established at the top of the mountains." At the end of days, the days of Mashiach. "Established" means it will be founded, it will stand on its foundation in all its beauty and glory. The mountain of the House of Hashem at the top of the mountains, and lifted above the hills. The mountain of the House of Hashem is the mountain on which the Beit HaMikdash will be built, this is Har HaBayit. It will be at the top of the mountains and lifted above the hills. The meaning is that relative to the hills around it, it will be raised and elevated and exalted higher. These hills are the lower ones, and the mountains are the higher ones. "The mountains danced like rams, the hills like young sheep." Rams are large, hills are like young sheep, they are smaller. And by means of the hills around it, it will stand over them as a landmark, that is, it will be seen and stand out as elevated. "And all the nations will stream to it." The nations will be drawn to the mountain of the House of Hashem like a river that flows, and therefore he wrote "stream." And even though it will be a very high place, and also spiritually high, meaning an elevated and lofty thing, the nations will stream to it out of great desire, as if it were something in a low place. A river, after all, flows to a low place; here it will be a high place, and he is telling you that out of great desire the water will rise upward. "And all the nations will stream to it."
"And many peoples will go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of Hashem, to the House of the God of Yaakov, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths, for from Tzion will go forth Torah, and the word of Hashem from Yerushalayim." "And many peoples will go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the House of Hashem, to the House of the God of Yaakov." First let us see what Rashi says. Why "the God of Yaakov"? Why specifically Yaakov? Rashi says: because Yaakov called the mountain a house, called it a house. Correct? Yaakov called it a house, Beit El. Therefore he calls it "the House of the God of Yaakov." How did Avraham call it? A mountain. Yitzchak called it a field. And this comes to characterize also the order of the elevation of the place. At first it was on the level of a mountain, a rocky mountain. Afterward a field; a field is already a settled place, not yet with people, but already sown, already put to use. Yaakov came and the place had already been refined, elevated by the work of Avraham, the work of Yitzchak, the work of Yaakov, and it became a house. A house is already a place fit for dwelling. So since now we are speaking about the reality of a house, therefore he comes and refers to it as "the House of the God of Yaakov," for it was Yaakov who called it a house.
And then, "And many peoples will go." "And many peoples will go" means they will go nation to nation, and they will say, who will say? The peoples; one will say to his fellow, come, you, and we will go up with you to the mountain of the House of Hashem. "Let us go up to the mountain of the House of Hashem," from the mountain we will go up to the House of the God of Yaakov, to the House. For the mountain is Har HaBayit, and the House is already the Beit HaMikdash itself. And let us note, in the previous pasuk it says "and all the nations (goyim) will stream to it," and afterward pasuk 3 says "and many peoples (amim) will go." What is the difference? The Malbim says there is a fundamental difference between goyim and amim, and we will encounter this several more times going forward, so we need to remember it. The Malbim says: amim are on a higher level than goyim. "Goyim" indicates a gathering of people without a government over them, without rule and law. For example, if we wanted to say it, we would say that in the primeval forests of Africa there are goyim, whereas by contrast in Europe there are amim. "Amim" means a gathering of people who have law and order and justice and government. So at first, "and all the goyim will stream to it," those who anyway have nothing, no law, no justice, no government, they will stream. But he says, do not think it is only them, rather in a second stage, "and many amim will go." Also these, the so-called refined, enlightened nations, those who have government and law and order, also they, also the amim, "many peoples will go" and say to one another, come, let us go up to the mountain of the House of Hashem.
"And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths." What is the difference between "ways" (derachim) and "paths" (orchot)? "Ways," says the Malbim, means a main road, a highway. "Paths" are already smaller trails, winding paths, correct? "Those who walk on the way, tell of it, winding paths." "Paths" means already the branchings that split off from the great roads. And they say, let us go to the mountain of the House of Hashem, to the House of the God of Yaakov, and He will teach us of His ways. Hashem will show us the main principles of the ways of His service. What is a "way," as we said? The wide road, the main ways. He will not teach us the clauses and sub-clauses, but only the main principles of the way. And not even all of it, but only "of His ways," part of the main ones; let us say, the foundations of faith in Hashem, the thirteen principles, "He will teach us of His ways." And then, "and we will walk," after He shows us the main principles of His ways, we ourselves will already walk in His paths. We ourselves will already search out the small clause in the Mishnah Berurah in order to keep it too. We ourselves will already search out the paths, the winding and small ways, all the details and sub-clauses of the service of Hashem. And therefore note: Hashem will teach us only "of His ways," only part of the foundations He will teach us. After that, we will walk in His paths, not just some of His paths, but in His paths, meaning in the smallest clauses. Not part of His paths, but we will already search out all His paths, all the details and details of details, to serve Hashem according to all the smallest details.
And why? "For from Tzion will go forth Torah, and the word of Hashem from Yerushalayim." Tzion, there was the seat of the Sanhedrin and the Kohen Gadol and the kingdom of the House of David. From there Torah will go forth to all the world. "If a matter of law is too difficult for you, you shall rise and go up to the place that Hashem will choose." This was only in Yerushalayim. "And the word of Hashem from Yerushalayim." "The word of Hashem" is already prophecy. Prophecy was throughout Yerushalayim, for the neviim would gather in Yerushalayim, it is a place more fit for ruach hakodesh, they would draw ruach hakodesh throughout the city. And therefore they did not sit, and therefore he does not say "the word of Hashem from Tzion." Tzion, as we said, is the Beit HaMikdash. In Tzion they would not find prophecy there, rather prophecy was throughout the city. But by contrast, where would the Sanhedrin sit? Within Tzion itself, that is, on Har HaBayit itself, in the Beit HaMikdash itself. And therefore he tells you, "for from Tzion will go forth Torah, and the word of Hashem from Yerushalayim."
"And He will judge between the nations and reprove many peoples, and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will learn war no more." The navi says: when they come and seek Hashem, so it will truly be. For the one who will judge then in the time to come will be the Mashiach. The Mashiach will be the judge, and the Mashiach will also be the one who reproves. "And He will judge between the nations and reprove many peoples." What does this mean? The Malbim says: there is a need for the decision of an army and for the decision of war in two situations. First, between nation and nation. When there are two nations, separate nations have separate laws. So you cannot come and say the law will decide. It is not like today, when there are universal laws, there is the Geneva Convention. That is accepted by all the refined nations. In their time, no; the law of this nation was not the law of that nation. And then, in order to decide all sorts of disputes, they would decide by the decision of the sword, they would go out to war. Whoever succeeds, whoever prevails, he is the ruler, he is the one in control. There are times when there is also a need for the decision of the sword in order that the ruler can hold on to his own government. And this is very common in third-world countries, he maintains an army not in order to fight enemies, but so that they will not carry out a coup against him, so that they will not rebel against him. So in a country that is usually not democratic, and in their time all the countries had monarchic rule, not democratic rule, the king would maintain an army in order to rule over his own people, so that his people would not break his decrees, would not oppose him. Now note, with his own people he has no problem with the law. For what is accepted here is accepted upon the whole country. You cannot say this law is not acceptable to me. It is not like between two nations, where between two nations your law is not acceptable to me, there is a dispute between us about the very law. Within the nation there is no dispute about the very law, for the law binds all the citizens of the country. But in any case one must keep order so that everyone implements the law.
And he comes and says: in the future there will be such a situation that the disputes that will be between the nations, what does "between the nations" mean? It means, as we explained, between goy and goy, He will judge. And the disputes that will be within the peoples, as we explained, meaning that within the nation itself there are arguments between the king and the government, He will reprove. He is the one who will straighten out the differences between them. They will not need to fight between goy and goy, nor will they need an army to enforce the law in that country. Now the Malbim says: see how wondrous this is. A judge is a person who bases his words on law. It could be Divine law, Torah, it could be human law that the parliament enacted. The judge bases his words on law. By contrast, the one who reproves comes to reprove on the basis of morality. On the basis of reason, on the basis of the ways of morality. What you are doing is not proper, what you are doing is not fitting. The one who reproves does not speak to you about law, that it is not legal, that is the judge. The judge determines what the law is and checks whether you act according to the law. The one who reproves comes to reprove according to the way of morality. Now he comes and says: behold, see, between nation and nation we said there is no fixed law. He comes and says to you: if so, seemingly what should there be between nation and nation? That the Mashiach should come and establish some law that will straighten out the differences between the two. He comes and tells you: the virtue of the judge, that between two separate nations who have different faiths, he will devise a fixed law for a code of justice. Do you hear? Even though they are two separate nations, each with a separate law, he will have the power to come and legislate a law that will be accepted upon both of them. He will decide by the power of law. And between nation and nation, and, excuse me, matters of dispute that exist within the country, as we explained, those can easily be judged, there is a law for the country. Within the country we said there is no problem, there is an internal law. This judge, the Mashiach, tells you, will not need law. He will judge them on the basis of morality. And this is what he says, "and He will judge between the nations and reprove many peoples." Reproof is by way of morality. Within the nation he will not need the law, he will not need to use law in order to demand of part of the nation to do what the king asks. No, reproof will suffice for the nation to accept, he will not need justice. Whereas between the nations, where there is no justice at all, by his power he will establish for them a justice that will be accepted upon both, upon two goyim who are essentially different nations. This shows the greatness of the virtue of Melech HaMashiach, who by the immense power he will have will be able both to legislate laws between nations, and by his moral power to reprove the nations themselves.
Today there is, it is written here "and they will beat their swords into plowshares." The moment they will not need war, when there is someone who decides, that will be the Mashiach, then what will they do with the sword? A plowshare. They will use it for digging, "and they will beat their swords into plowshares." "And their spears," the spear, what will they use it for? Pruning hooks. They will use it to prune the vineyard. For "nation will not lift up sword against nation," a nation will not fight against another nation, and consequently "they will learn war no more," so they will also not need there to be a faculty for a faculty for the military thing, right? Today there is a military academy and there are places where they study strategy. They will not need it, they will learn war no more, they will not even know what war is. There are today such countries that disarm because of all sorts of treaties and all sorts of obligations. I read that there were some who take the missiles, and missiles, some of them are made of expensive materials. It needs to be of a very strong material and very light and various other materials that are not found on the open market. And they take them and simply melt them down, and from their metal they make all sorts of vessels that are important, expensive, all sorts of very high-quality pots, and I even just read that they made pens, luxury pens, there are luxury pens, metal pens of titanium, yes, that use that same metal to produce those pens. So I said this is the fulfillment of the words of the prophecy, "and they will beat their swords into pens." Correct? They took the sword, the missiles, and make pens from them. Well, that is in a chapter, this is in 2, never mind, yes.
"House of Yaakov, come, let us walk in the light of Hashem." Who says to whom? So Rashi indeed explains that the nations say it to one another. When they go up, "and many peoples will go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the House of Hashem, and He will teach us of His ways," the nations call to one another, House of Yaakov, come, let us walk in the light of Hashem, they will call to us too. So Rashi explains. But the Radak and also the Malbim do not explain this way. The Radak and the Malbim explain that after all this introduction, now the navi says to Am Yisrael: House of Yaakov, after all, this whole introduction was meant for you. House of Yaakov, if so, then you walk from now in the light of Hashem. Learn a kal vachomer: if the nations only in the future will have the light of Hashem shine upon them, and they will begin to understand and follow Him, you, after all, are not like all the nations. The nations have to seek Hashem from the darkness, but you, you walk in the light of Hashem. Today the light of Hashem has already shone upon us. They will need to wait for the coming of the Mashiach for the light of Hashem to shine upon them. They walk in darkness, in darkness they are silenced. But you, House of Yaakov, are already in the light of Hashem today. Hashem has already given us the Torah, and we had neviim, and we know what Hashem wants from us. So if that is so, why will you not already walk today in the light of Hashem, and learn by kal vachomer from what they are destined to discover, what you already know today?
And following this, says the Malbim, the navi becomes greatly moved and sees the failing of his generation, sees the sins of his generation, and he turns to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and says: "For You have forsaken Your people, the House of Yaakov, for they are filled from the east, and are soothsayers like the Pelishtim, and with the children of strangers they are satisfied." "For You have forsaken Your people, the House of Yaakov, for they are filled from the east." The word "ki" (for) can be interpreted in several ways. The Malbim says that the first is from the sense of "if." If You, Master of the Universe, have forsaken Your people, the House of Yaakov, You did so justly. You did it fittingly, You did it uprightly. "For they are filled from the east." What this means, we will explain. Your people, the House of Yaakov, You forsook them, Master of the Universe, because they were filled with sins and because they are, as it were, no longer Your people, they are not the people of Hashem. They have already lost even the lineage of "Your people, the House of Yaakov," even that they lost. And he explains, what You forsook them, "for You have forsaken," if You forsook Your people, the House of Yaakov, the reason is "for they are filled from the east." What You forsook them, that they are not in the category of Your people, is because they were filled with the deeds that the Arameans did who dwelt to the east; "kedem" means in the east. They went and imitated the deeds of the Arameans. "And are soothsayers like the Pelishtim." Soothsayers means they use all sorts of methods of sorcery and divining of times. That is, this season is good for this, this season is good for that. And this is a way that HaKadosh Baruch Hu said one may not use. We go according to the way of Hashem and not according to soothsayers and sorcerers who say this way is correct to use, begin on this date, this time is fit to act in. A black cat came out of his house, he will not succeed that day, and he lost the deal, he will have a loss, and all sorts of other things of this kind. He comes and says, that is not our way. And they are soothsayers like the Pelishtim, behaving like the Pelishtim who dwelt in the west of Eretz Yisrael and were soothsayers like them. Or they behaved like the Arameans who dwelt in the east, in the eastern part of Eretz Yisrael. And from this standpoint they are no longer like Your people, Yisrael, for it is written "for there is no divination in Yaakov." For You have forsaken Your people, the House of Yaakov, they are no longer worthy to be called by the name of Yaakov, there is divination in them, there is soothsaying in them.
And what You forsook them from being the House of Yaakov, that is, that the name of Yaakov is no longer called upon them, "and with the children of strangers they are satisfied." They take for themselves foreign women, they beget from those foreign women sons, "and are satisfied," that suffices for them, enough for their satisfaction and their need. They do not see a need to take, perhaps as a dessert, also a woman of Yisrael so that at least you would have continuity, for the son born to you from a woman of Yisrael, from a Jewish woman, would be a Jew. No, he has a wife, he has children from his non-Jewish woman, they satisfy, he tells you, these children are enough for me. So he says, if that is so, Master of the Universe, "for You have forsaken Your people, the House of Yaakov," what You forsook Your people, the House of Yaakov, that the name House of Yaakov is no longer upon them, they cut off the branch, they are no longer the continuation of the dynasty, they lost the lineage. Why? Justly, "for they are filled from the east and are soothsayers like the Pelishtim, and with the children of strangers they are satisfied." Because they did all these deeds, it is not possible that the name Yaakov and Yisrael should continue to be called upon them.
"And his land was filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to his treasures; and his land was filled with horses, and there is no end to his chariots." Now he comes to magnify the sin of the people and to show both the sin itself and the causes that bring about the sin. He opens with the causes that led them to sin. "And his land was filled with silver and gold." Silver and gold You gave them, yes, silver You gave them, and gold they multiplied for Baal. From the abundance of silver and gold, "you grew fat, thick, and gross." And through the abundance of horses they had to go down as a result to Mitzrayim, though Hashem warned not to bring the people down to Mitzrayim in order to multiply horses. These were the causes. "There is no end to his treasures" means like there is no measure to his treasures, there is no limit to his treasures. His land was filled with horses, there is no end to his chariots. And it is written that a king is permitted to keep only as many as he needs for his chariots. And here they all went down to Mitzrayim in order to bring horses, which the Torah opposed doing.
"And his land was filled with idols; to the work of his hands they bow, to that which his fingers made." And this now comes and magnifies the sin greatly. What ingrates you are. For "his land was filled with silver and gold," Hashem bestowed upon you economic prosperity, silver, gold, no end to treasures. What do you do with it? Out of the abundance of success and good, instead of serving Hashem out of the abundance of good, "and his land was filled with idols." He goes and fills his land with idols. And what idols? "To the work of his hands they bow, to that which his fingers made." He makes idols that are actually the work of his hands and what he produced with his fingers. What is the difference between "the work of his hands" and "that which his fingers made"? The Malbim says: "the work of his hands" means also what is done by my instruction is considered the work of my hands. Shlomo HaMelech says, "and I turned to all my works that my hands had done." Did Shlomo do something with his hands? Everything was slaves, everyone received instructions from him. What I instruct and you do is also called the work of my hands. He says: not only to the work of his hands does he bow, but "to that which his fingers made." And this shows a much greater foolishness. Ten minutes ago you produced it with your fingers, and had you bought it from the store, fine. But he produced it with his fingers, as the navi reproves them, half of it he uses to bake his food in the oven, half of the wood he places there to bake in the oven, and the other half he makes into a god and says, you formed me. What a fool this is. This is what he says, "to that which his fingers made." "His fingers" means with his own hands. And this is like it is written, "it is the finger of God." What does "it is the finger of God" mean? What, before this it was not God? Rather, nature is the messenger of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. "The finger of God" is HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself. This is what we are saying now, "to that which his fingers made," the Malbim says, this is with his own hands literally. "The work of his hands" could also be by his instruction, could also be his messengers. So such idols they went and made for themselves.
"And man is bowed down, and the individual is brought low; and do not forgive them." And he comes and says, Master of the Universe, even if man bows down. "Man is bowed down" means he submits in his heart. And even if the individual is brought low, meaning in his body. How? Through fasting, through all sorts of deeds that he does as a supposed way of teshuvah. "Do not forgive them." It means, Master of the Universe, do not pardon their sins. And why? We will soon see. The Malbim says: "bowing" (shechut) is with regard to the thing itself, and "lowness" (hashpalah) is from the standpoint of place. Bowing, if for example there is an upright tree, and the tree bowed. In the thing itself there was a bowing, the tree was upright, now it bent over. By contrast, if I want to say I can, I say this tree is lower than the rest of the trees. Why? It is in a valley. From the standpoint of its place it is lower. So it is a reality that now it is lower, but that is already from the standpoint of its place. But if the tree bent over, I will not say it is low, I will say it is bowed. "Bowed" means bent over. This is from the standpoint of the thing itself. And therefore he comes and says, the analog here is "and man is bowed down." "Bowed down" means submission in the heart, that he abandons the eminence and greatness he had and lowers himself. And afterward he speaks of "the individual is brought low." "The individual is brought low," the Malbim says, speaks about the eminence he has not from his own self, but the eminence he has from his surroundings. This is not a true, intrinsic eminence, but eminence from, so to speak, he defines it as an incidental eminence. For example, he has wealth. Wealth is not an intrinsic eminence. It is the same person, only this one with money, this one without money. That is not an intrinsic eminence. By contrast, if for example a person is wise, that is an intrinsic eminence. I do not say it is the same, only this one with intellect, this one without intellect. Intellect is from his very self, it is part of him. Now the Malbim says there is a difference between "ish" (individual) and "adam" (man). "Adam" speaks only of the human species. By contrast, "ish" speaks also of all of creation. Who will give me an example that "ish" speaks of all of creation, whereas "adam" speaks only of the human species, only of humans? [Ish ish] about what? No. Very good, Noach. In our parashah we read, "they came to Noach from the animals, an ish and his wife." From the animals, an ish and his wife. This teaches you that there can be an ish and his wife who behave like animals. But that is an additional teaching. What you learn from here is that even regarding an animal the concept of "ish and his wife" applies. So the Malbim says: "ish" is a general term for everything that exists. It is from the language of "i," from the language of "yesh" (there is). Yes? Rather, everything that exists, to this he ascribes submission in practice. He will subdue his existence. "Ish" is from the language of "yesh," he will subdue his existence. By contrast, "adam" speaks of the human species. The human species, we said, is the eminence in man. That is the level of man relative to all the other creatures. And of this it speaks of "bowing." Bowing, as we explained, his intrinsic eminence, which is submission of the heart, his inner level. By contrast, when it speaks of "ish," then "he is brought low." That speaks of the body, that speaks of afflicting himself with fasting. But when it speaks of "adam," it speaks of his inner part, of his high spiritual part, he is adam, he is not ish, he is adam. As an adam he needs "man is bowed down," that he should lower and subdue his heart, his inner part.
"Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the fear of Hashem and from the glory of His majesty." Master of the Universe, do not accept their teshuvah. Man is bowed and the individual is brought low, do not forgive them. Rather, "enter into the rock, and hide in the dust." These people who will receive the punishment coming to them, they will need to enter into the rock. "Tzur" means rock. And they will need to hide in the dust. And why? "From before the fear of Hashem and from the glory of His majesty." "Enter into the rock," the Malbim says, rock is stronger than dust. Dust is not strong. Rock, by contrast, is strong. Now the Malbim explains that the "doors" of the verse are parallel. The doors of the verse are parallel means that one part of the verse corresponds to the second part. And we have explained this several times; I will explain it again. There is a sentence composed of four parts. Let us call them 1, 2, 3, 4. "The doors of the verse are parallel" means, part 1 of the verse, its continuation is 3. And part 2 of the verse, its continuation is 4. Let us now read the verse and see. "Enter into the rock" - one. "Hide in the dust" - two. "From before the fear of Hashem" - that is three. "And from the glory of His majesty" - that is four. "Enter into the rock from before the fear of Hashem." Part 1 connects to part 3. "And hide in the dust from the glory of His majesty." This is called "the doors of the verse are parallel." They are parallel to one another, it is not one after the other, but they are parallel to one another. Meaning the first and the third are parallel, the second and the fourth are parallel. In many places the Malbim adopts this approach in explaining the verses. And now he explains: the rock is a place where you can hide from harm. For if I shoot arrows at you and you are behind a rock, you are saved. And even if I can throw a bomb at you, if you are in a rock strong enough, you are saved. And therefore he says "enter into the rock from before the fear of Hashem." "Fear" means fear of the punishment. From the punishment you can enter into the rock, you can be sheltered and saved from the fear of Hashem. But in the dust it is only "hide from the glory of His majesty." "Hide" means an enemy pursues me, I only hide from him. If he shoots here, he will hit me, for what is it, it is a mound of dust. It is not something in which I can be saved, but I can hide in it. And therefore he comes and says, from before the fear of Hashem, what is needed? Is dust enough for me? No, "enter into the rock from before the fear of Hashem." By contrast, "from the glory of His majesty," the glory of His majesty does not speak of fear of Him, but the awe of exaltedness. Like a bat that cannot bear to see the light, it flees to a dark place. So we will hide in the dust from the glory of His majesty. When we see the glory of the majesty of Hashem, we will hide like Adam HaRishon, who, following HaKadosh Baruch Hu's revealing Himself, what did he immediately do? He went and hid behind the tree. From the glory of His majesty, he could not bear the glory of the face of Hashem.
"The haughty eyes of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; and Hashem alone will be exalted on that day." "The haughty eyes of man will be brought low," that is, Master of the Universe, You will bring low the haughty eyes of man. The lofty humans, says the Malbim, in their very selves. What does "in their very selves" mean? As I explained before, he has an intrinsic eminence. It is not his money that made him great, it is not the appointment as minister that made him important, but rather he is from the standpoint of his eminence in wisdom, in might; they are the haughty eyes of man that will be brought low. They will lower their eyes and subdue themselves before Hashem Yitbarach. "And humbled," also men who have no intrinsic eminence, only an incidental eminence, as we explained, meaning a wealthy man or a man who is a minister who has an important appointment, also these men, "and the loftiness of men will be humbled." The loftiness of men will be bowed, their stature will be lowered before Hashem. And consequently who will be the exalted and lofty one? Who will be the exalted one? "Hashem alone on that day." Then only Hashem alone will be exalted. Only HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and there is none besides Him. And what will be the cause that will rouse them to submit? What will rouse them to return in teshuvah?
"For there is a day for Hashem Tzevakot against all that is proud and lofty, and against all that is lifted up and low." There is a day prepared for Hashem Yitbarach that on this day HaKadosh Baruch Hu will visit upon all that is proud and lofty. Both the one who is haughty and is truly lofty, meaning he is truly of the people of eminence, and the one who is lifted up but is in fact low. The Malbim explains that there is a difference between "lofty" (ram) and "lifted up" (nisa). "Lofty" means from his own self. By contrast, "lifted up" means one who goes and raises himself. "For there is a day for Hashem Tzevakot against all that is proud and lofty." HaKadosh Baruch Hu has a day when He will come and visit upon everyone who is proud, as we explained, one who from his own self has, so to speak, an eminence, but he is haughty in it, and this is repulsive in the eyes of Hashem. "And against all that is lifted up," someone tries to raise himself, lifted up, going and elevating himself, going and raising himself. "Lifted up" is from the language of lifting, from the language of raising. "And against all that is lifted up," he is not truly lofty, he has no intrinsic eminence, he is only lifted up, but what is he in truth? Low. He is in his own self low, but he is lifted up, he goes and does deeds in order to, so to speak, grab eminence. On that day HaKadosh Baruch Hu will clear them all out.
"And against all the cedars of the Levanon that are high and lifted up, and against all the oaks of the Bashan." "Against all the cedars of the Levanon," which have an intrinsic eminence, as we explained before, like in wisdom or like in might. A cedar is a mighty one, it is strong. This is the analogy for "proud and lofty" that we said before, who from his own self has an eminence. "And against all the oaks of the Bashan," the oaks of the Bashan are smaller than the cedars, this is the "lifted up," this is what we said, that he is essentially low in his own self, but he tries to raise himself, to make wind, to make noise, like a great one.
"And against all the high mountains, and against all the lifted up hills." The high mountains are the mountains that dwell in high places, they are, so to speak, safe from enemies, one has a place to be sheltered in, one has a place to be saved in. And this is the analogy for the great mighty ones, like the "proud and lofty" we said before, who from his own self has an eminence. And also the small hills, which is what we explained before, "lifted up and low," who from his own self has no eminence, but he, so to speak, tries to make an impression. Upon all of it Hashem will visit.
"And against every high tower, and against every fortified wall." So each and every pasuk here corresponds to the "proud and lofty" and to the "lifted up and low." A high tower is a place they would build atop the wall, and this place is very fortified. Beyond the wall which is fortified, the tower is even more fortified, for from it they would shoot arrows. The warriors would be inside the tower, and there in the tower there were arrow slits from which they would shoot arrows against the enemies. So a high tower is the stronger one, it is like the cedars, it is like the "proud and lofty." And Hashem will also clear out every fortified wall, for the fortified wall is the "lifted up and low." He tries to raise himself, he is low, but he too wants to be haughty, and even though the fortified wall is essentially inferior in its strength to the high tower. From all of it, from them too Hashem will take vengeance.
"And against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the desirable objects." "The ships of Tarshish" means the ships that travel and sail on the sea of Tarshish. They would sail on the sea of Tarshish; Shlomo sent to bring from there what? [Gold] You need to review, review the Sefer Melachim, my friends. It is there in all the language. Ivory and peacocks, and to bring gold. From where would he send for this? From Africa. The ships of Tarshish, he would send to bring from the sea of Tarshish. "Against all the ships of Tarshish, against all the desirable objects." "Sechiyot HaChemdah" (desirable objects), Rashi explains that it is from the language of "maskit." What is a maskit? "A figured stone (even maskit) you shall not place in your land." "Maskit" means a stone with which they would pave the ground, upon which it is forbidden to bow. That is to say, in places where there is truly stone paving, there is a not-simple problem to do push-ups. There are those who are concerned about this because of even maskit. Therefore, if one wishes, one should place a rug there. With ceramic tile there is more room for leniency, since it is not the stone itself, but rather it is processed from some stone that was ground and produced from it. But by contrast, with actual stone, the poskim say that it is proper to be careful. Whenever one wishes, one should place a cloth, a mattress, a blanket, and not do it on the stone itself. In any case, "desirable objects" means a very precious place that was paved with very precious stones, the most luxurious marble stones. This is called "sechiyot hachemdah." And "chemdah" is from the language of something that a person covets. There is another explanation, "sechiyot chemdah," the Radak explains that it means paintings. Like "a man in the chambers of his maskit," they had more inner rooms that were adorned and painted, that had special decorations of paintings that were on the walls. So this is another explanation of what is called "sechiyot chemdah," the chambers of his maskit, meaning the inner rooms where the people would place their treasures, the desirable things, from the language that people covet them, they would place them in those places. So now he comes and tells us, "against all the ships of Tarshish," this is people who are haughty in the wealth they have, in that they bring gold from Ofir which is on the sea of Tarshish, this corresponds to the "proud and lofty." And corresponding to those of the "desirable objects," things, people who have things that are desirable and they are haughty in them, and this is a smaller level, he is not an owner of silver and gold coming from Tarshish, but he has desirable objects, he has some things that people still desire, hidden away there in their chambers, this is a smaller level, this corresponds to the "lifted up and low."
"And the haughtiness of man will be bowed down, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; and Hashem alone will be exalted on that day." And then Hashem will bow down the haughtiness of the great humans, corresponding to the "lofty" and the "lifted up," what we said, who has haughtiness from his own self. When the glory of Hashem is revealed, then what will become clear? That all the honor and all the greatness that a person thought he had, or an eminence that he thought he had, is like naught and like nothing, and emptiness, and vanity in which they went astray. It will become clear that it is all a lie. What eminence do you have? What greatness do you have compared to the greatness of Hashem Yitbarach? This is like, if we wanted to make an analogy for it, this is like a person walking with a candle, and he is haughty, what are you, you have a candle, I have a flashlight. And a third brings, what are you, you have a flashlight, I have a spotlight. And he will feel, oh, do you know who I am, look what eminence, look what light I spread. Suddenly the sun arrives. What are you with your spotlight, it does nothing. You perhaps even darken; better that you turn it off. There is the sun. Then the nothingness becomes clear. And this is what he says, "and the haughtiness of man will be bowed down." Through the majesty of Hashem being revealed, Hashem alone being exalted on that day, then all the haughtiness of man, those with the intrinsic eminence, "and the loftiness of men will be humbled," those who went and raised themselves even though they had no eminence, they too will have their eminence humbled. Why? Hashem alone will be exalted on that day. The majesty of Hashem and His greatness will be revealed, and consequently all haughtiness and all greatness is but like naught and like nothing beside HaMakom Baruch Hu.
"And the idols will completely pass away." The idols, the Radak says, even though already in his time, and the Radak writes 700 years ago, already in his time the Radak says, the idols have ceased from most of the nations. Even so, today, he says, there are still some in the far east. What is the far east? The Far East. That is called the far east. When Avraham Avinu gave gifts to the children of the concubines, he gave them the name of impurity, to work with all sorts of sorceries. So that name of impurity, to where did he send them with it? It is written, "eastward, to the land of the children of the east." What does the deep meaning say there? That is the east of the east. The east of the east. The Far East, so he says. "Eastward, to the land of the children of the east." What is "eastward" twice? The east of the east. That is the Far East. And there you see that they always used, until this day, all sorts of names of impurity. And this is what we said, that it was their way to say "avra kadavra." "Avra kadavra" in Aramaic is "Avraham spoke." "Avra ka davra," Avraham who spoke. Yes? And as it were, before every sorcery they would say, this we received from Avraham. So through this they would act and perform their sorceries. And this is what he says, "and the idols will completely pass away," the Radak says, although the reality of idols already today is what is called uncommon, it is exceedingly faint, even so "they will completely pass away." The idols will pass away entirely. It means they will be nullified entirely, so that there will no longer be at all a reality of anyone serving some power that is called an idol, except Hashem alone.
"And they will enter into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the dust, from before the fear of Hashem and from the glory of His majesty, when He rises to shatter the earth." The Malbim says, and then indeed what is destined to be, that they will enter into the caves of the rocks. Why? From before the fear of Hashem. Corresponding to what the navi said in pasuk 10, that please, Hashem, do not forgive their sin, that they should enter into the clefts of the rocks from before the fear of Hashem, he says, so it will truly be when Hashem reveals Himself. Then, when Hashem reveals Himself to break all the tyrants and all those wicked ones who cause troubles in the land, he says then indeed they will enter into the caves of the rocks. And note, here too the doors of the verse are parallel. "And they will enter into the caves of the rocks from before the fear of Hashem." "And into the holes of the dust from the glory of His majesty." When? "When He rises to shatter the earth." When Hashem rises to shatter the earth, "la'arotz" means from the language of "to crush." What is the difference between a cave and a hole? The Malbim says: a cave is something that is formed naturally. By contrast, a hole is what people build and form and dig, holes by themselves. So the holes are in the dust, because people do not form holes in rock, that is very hard, certainly not with the mechanics they had in their time. And therefore in the dust, in the holes of the dust, they can only be sheltered from the glory of His majesty. But it is not possible there to hide from the sword and from harm. But one can only be sheltered from the glory of His majesty, that the light of Hashem should not shine upon him, out of shame from Hashem. But into the caves of the rocks, there they will go in order to be saved, as it were, from the punishment before Hashem, for the rock, as we said, is strong.
"On that day man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made for him to bow to, to the moles and to the bats." On that day man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold. And likewise what was for the moles and for the bats. The moles and the bats, the Malbim says, that they are types of idols. And this is an enormous wonder. I can understand that a person made for himself an idol of the wild ox. Well, a large, frightening animal, he made himself a lion as an idol, that I can still understand. But for a person to make an idol of a mouse? A bat? What, what is the understanding in this? The Malbim says: the ancients would ascribe divinities to the form of animals when they wanted to use that form for their needs. The Malbim says: the animals of the land, of the settled area, of the desert, of the sea, winged birds, all of them were for them types of idols, from which they would draw, as it were, influences for success in those matters that they needed. For example, if they needed success now before one goes into the desert, he would take that image of the desert animal and would serve it so that it would, as it were, draw for him good influences in the desert. If now he needed to sail on the sea, then he goes and serves, for example, the god Dagon. Because through it he would, as it were, draw influences, for it is the god of the sea. And if he needed, for example, now to make holes in the dust, then he would go and take for himself as an idol the moles, a mole that digs in the ground, and the bats, which are those that rule in caves, in diggings, they are the ones for whom this is their natural place, their habitat. And for every need they had a certain avodah zarah. And therefore, says the Malbim, when they would need to hide in caves and in holes, to what would they bow? What is the idol that rules here? They would need to bow to these forms of the moles and the bats, which are those that rule there. But he comes and tells you, after the idols completely pass away, they will not do what they do today. And when they go to hide in caves and bow to the moles and the bats, they will no longer continue in this way. And therefore he prefaces and says, on that day man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold. Even the important idols of silver and gold that he already had beforehand, he will cast them away. What will you say, but now he will make for himself idols according to the need? He is now hiding in a cave, he is hiding in a hole, he needs an idol according to the need that he now requires, which means an idol of a bat or an idol of a mole. He says, even those he will not serve, even those he will cast away.
And why? "To enter into the clefts of the rocks and into the crevices of the crags, from before the fear of Hashem and from the glory of His majesty, when He rises to shatter the earth." For his entering into the clefts of the rocks is from before the fear of Hashem, from the punishment and from the awe of exaltedness. So how could it be that there inside the hole, inside that place where he is going to be saved from Hashem, he would serve another god? There they will already abandon their idols, they will already abandon the avodah zarah that was accepted then. "To enter into the clefts of the rocks and into the crevices of the crags." The Malbim says that "neker" is a round hollow. And this is specific to the gouging of eyes, to gouge out his eyes, for a round hollow is formed as a result of gouging the eyes. And therefore "a pit have you gouged them." A pit, a well you gouged them. For the gouging tool forms a round hole. And this was found in the rocks, where they would hide, there were clefts. And the crag is softer, and the crag has all sorts of branchings, yes? Compared to the cleft, as we explained, compared to the clefts of the rocks. A rock is very strong. A crag is considered relatively soft compared to the rock. And there are crevices, meaning the crag branches out, there is a hole that branches out here and branches out there. And therefore he calls it "the crevices of the crags," places that branch out from place to place.
"Cease from man, in whose nostril is breath, for of what account is he?" In the midst of mentioning all the follies of the people of that generation who exchanged their honor for emptiness that will not avail, and bowed to creeping things and to moles and to bats, and these were more important to them than man himself. For consider, if I bow to a mole, then who is more important? The mole. For the lowly one always bows to the loftier and more lifted-up one. And he says, if that is what you do, then "cease from man." Cease being called by the name "adam," "in whose nostril is breath." You are not at all of the human species. "For of what account is he?" In what are you more important than the animal? What does this mean? The Malbim says: any sentence whose beginning contradicts its end, in order to resolve it I need either to change its beginning or to change its end. For if not, there is a contradiction. Now, if I come and say that man should bow to animals, this is an internal contradiction. Man is the one with eminence, the one with level, the lofty and lifted-up one. Should he bow to animals? That means he is lowly. So one of the two: either I will explain that "adam" is not to be taken literally, one cannot call him adam, he is not one with eminence, or I will say that the animals are not ones with eminence. But it is not possible to say man is one with eminence and should bow to animals, this is an internal contradiction. And therefore he comes and says, "cease from man." Stop being called adam. Why? "For of what account is he." What importance do you have if you bow to animals? Consequently the title "adam" is no longer fitting to be called upon you.