"Those who say, let Him hurry, let Him hasten His deed so that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, so that we may know it." The prophet informs them that they should repent because of the calamities that are destined to come upon them. He tells them: look, if you do not repent you will suffer, if you do not repent evil will befall you. Then the people who hear this rebuke say to him: but the prophecies you speak of are about distant eras, you are not speaking about the near era, you are not speaking about something that is supposed to happen immediately. And if it were supposed to happen immediately, it would move people more, it would impress people more. Therefore they say, it would be very desirable that Hashem hurry the thing you are speaking about. And a second thing, that He hasten it. What is the difference between hurrying (lemaher) and hastening (lehachish)? Says the Malbim, in Lashon HaKodesh, to hurry relates to time, while to hasten relates to the person. An example: if I call a person and the moment I call him he comes, but he walks slowly. Says the Malbim, this person is called one who hurries but does not hasten. He hurried to do what I told him, he did not delay for an hour, the moment I called him he came, but he walked slowly, so he did not hasten. On the other hand, if he comes after an hour but really running, then I would say he hastened but did not hurry. To hurry relates to time, to hasten relates to the person. So the person ran, true, he hastened, but he did not hurry because he delayed, that is, he lingered until he arrived. So here he says two things: "those who say, let Him hurry, let Him hasten." First, let Him hurry in time, that you should not prophesy to me for ten years, twenty years from now, but rather let Him hurry, immediately, what will happen tomorrow, what will happen the day after. Second, that He hasten, that He do it swiftly, that the events not happen sluggishly, but that they happen fast, in one moment, with speed, "let Him hasten quickly."
But now, since you delay it in time, you say it will happen years from now, and additionally, He also brings the decree gradually, it does not come in one moment, but even when it does come, it comes in stages and comes gradually, what does this cause? That people attribute it to chance. They say it just happened. You see it by way of nature. When something happens immediately, as with Iyov, it was immediately clear that it was by divine providence. "While this one was still speaking, another came," in one moment everything happened, he lost everything, "naked I came from my mother's womb," everything was lost through terrible calamity within a short time. This shows providence. But when things happen sluggishly and it takes time until they arrive, it appears as if it is by chance and not from Hashem. We ask, let Him hurry, let Him hasten, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come. What does counsel mean? Says the Malbim, there is counsel and there is deed. For if we pay attention, here there is "those who say, let Him hurry, let Him hasten His deed," and "let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come." The Holy One of Israel is Hashem Yitbarach. Let His counsel draw near and come. What is the difference between His deed and His counsel? Says the Malbim, a king, for example, against whom some country has rebelled, and he now wants, he seeks counsel on how to subdue them. So he thinks about several strategies to bring him to his goal, that the rebellious country will submit to him. Afterward, one of the strategies is an army. So he takes an army and the army goes and conquers the country and with great force overpowers them. That is His deed. His deed means, in practice, how I carry out the matters. His counsel is the goal. What was the goal? When we sat to take counsel, what was the aim? How I subdue them to myself. Now the deed is war. The hoped for result, that is called the goal of the matter, the result is that as a consequence this country will be subject to the king's authority, will pay him taxes, and will be ruled by him. So the deed is the actual thing, while the result of the matters is the counsel. How we, what we take counsel about, and essentially what is the bottom line I want to attain from that thing. So with the Holy One, blessed be He, every time we say counsel, it means the goal for the sake of which Hashem performs His deeds. For what purpose, what is the goal? It is for the final result. So if we wish to speak in our terms, the Holy One, blessed be He, wants, and the goal is, through the afflictions He brings, the afflictions are the deed. What is the goal? That the people of Israel should recognize His greatness. That the people of Israel should be subject to His service, recognize His divinity. That is the counsel. So the calamities that Hashem brings, the calamity is the deed. While the return to Hashem Yitbarach, the recognition of His greatness, His service, may He be blessed, that is called His deed. That is called, excuse me, His counsel.
And according to this he comes and says, that the goal of Hashem's intent in punishment is repentance. So if that is the case, if Hashem wants us to repent, how will we repent? Only if it will be clear to us that the punishment is from Hashem. How will it be clear to us that the punishment is from Hashem? When, first, Hashem hurries, immediately, after the prophet warns, the trouble immediately begins to come. Second, the trouble itself comes quickly, happens urgently, and does not come immediately but happens drop by drop, but rather everything happens at once immediately. And this is what he says, "let Him hurry," and he also says "let it draw near." "Let it draw near" means that it should not be a distant thing, but rather that it should be close, immediate, something visible. "And come." "And come" likewise, it does not mean that it should be close but stand there, no, but rather it should keep drawing nearer and nearer, so that it will be evident to all that this terrible decree comes from Hashem. But now, since between Hashem's deed, which is the evil decree, and the goal, which as we explained is the result in order that we serve Him, they do not happen quickly, they do not, it takes time, these processes are drawn out, then if so, how do they want us to repent? We do not see the things in a way that would cause us to repent. This is the claim of those who draw out sin, what he said in the previous verse, "woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood." Why is he drawn after sin? We said because he has intellectual arguments. The intellect, as it were, compels him to commit sins, he even enlists the intellect for his desires. How? He says, if we saw Hashem's providence, if we saw immediate punishments, we would repent. But you only keep threatening about future matters. The war of Gog and Magog, Gog and Magog, for hundreds of years already Gog and Magog. Well, where is it? Ah, we do not see it, so a person goes according to the desires of his heart. But he tells you, know this, these are cords of falsehood, this is vanity and emptiness. Because if Hashem did so, free choice would be nullified. What does Hashem want? That in one moment you become righteous? He could flip a switch in your brain and you would become righteous. Is that what Hashem seeks? Surely the Holy One, blessed be He, wants there to be free choice and that you choose the good. So all that Hashem does is only a form of prompting, but always leaving you the right and the choice not to do Hashem's will. But if He puts a gun to your head until you do His will, where is the free choice? As it were Hashem says, I did not, I did not seek robots, I did not create robots. Rather what? There must be a threat, because there must be a situation in which a person knows that if he does evil there is evil, if he does good there will be good. But if it happens immediately, then it is over, then there is no free choice, no reward, no punishment, nothing. So your entire claim, that He should bring it quickly and do it immediately, is an illogical claim, since it is contrary to the way of the conduct of Hashem Yitbarach.
Verse 20. A note: if we pay attention, "those who say, let Him hurry, let Him hasten His deed so that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come." With a person, first he takes counsel, afterward he performs a deed, and then when he reaches the goal, I say his counsel has come. We have reached the goal, this is what we counseled back then, and now behold we have attained the objective. The whole country is subject to the king's will. But note, with the Holy One, blessed be He, counsel is not mentioned at the beginning, because Hashem does not need to take counsel at the beginning. Therefore only when what happens at the end happens, do I say this was His counsel. With Hashem the counsel and the deed are not two separate things, but rather it is all one. So there is no counsel and afterward a deed. Only when there is the deed, I still do not know what the goal is. When I see the results, then I understand what His counsel was. But one cannot write His counsel at the beginning, because Hashem does not sit and take counsel first. With Hashem there is no counsel prior to the deed, since with the Holy One, blessed be He, He has no one with whom to take counsel, He does not, He does not need to take counsel with anyone, but rather immediately His deed, and the results explain to us what His counsel was from the outset.
Verse 20. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." "Woe to those who say." Here he triples his words, corresponding to three faculties of discernment that exist among the human faculties. A person has intellectual discernment, he knows how to distinguish between good and evil. Such as what is called a mitzvah, what is called a sin. Between good and evil. He knows what is truth and what is falsehood. This power of discernment resides in the intellect. A person has the power of imagination, and the power of imagination too helps him distinguish between the beneficial and the non beneficial, between light and darkness, or the power of sight. A person also has the power of the sensing soul, which helps him distinguish between the pleasant and the unpleasant. He senses, feels tastes, knows this is honey and this is wormwood, through the sense of taste in his mouth. So just as there is a person who is ill, so he senses the bitter as sweet and the sweet as bitter. There are sick people, so they bring him tasty things and he tells you this is spoiled, this is not tasty. On the other hand, a person could, for example, have a blocked nose. I once saw a case where a person, his nose was blocked, he ate egg salad that just from my getting close, just from the smell, it was horrible and terrible. But he, since he had a cold, so he did not sense it, his sense of taste was impaired, and his sense of smell was certainly impaired, so he was unable to smell that this egg salad was spoiled. That is to say, a person who is ill puts evil for good and good for evil, it tasted good to him. And on the other hand, there is a sick person, you bring him tasty things, he tells you I do not know, this disgusts me, I do not sense any taste in it, it is "the slime of the white of an egg," in the language of Iyov. It is something that revolts him. This is from bodily illness. There is illness of the eyes, where a person sees light as darkness and darkness as light. There are those who all the time just see lights, but even without that, there are people who cannot distinguish, who do not know how to notice the difference between darkness and light. So he says, likewise there is the illness of the soul. "Those who call evil good and good evil," like them, they are sick like those who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who are blind, unable to see. And they are sick like those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, whose sense of taste has been lost from the severity of their illness, and consequently they cannot discern whether this thing is sweet, whether this thing is bitter. His illness of the soul resembles the bodily illness of these people who put darkness for light and bitter for sweet.
But the sick, in any case, he tasted it and it seemed good to him, but someone will come and tell him, sir, no no, this is spoiled, this is not good, and he will rely on him. Or he will tell him this is indeed good, it only seems to you that it is not good, but I taste it, all is well, it is wonderful, you may eat. He relies on others to guide him. But these people, "woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight." These people, look, wise in their own eyes, they feel themselves to be wise even though before their own faces there stand clever ones. Clever and intelligent ones stand and explain to them, telling them this is darkness, this is light, this is bitter, this is sweet. But they, after all, are wise in their own eyes, he knows better. So consequently, with one who is sick with a bodily illness, he is still willing to listen. He is blind, but they tell him now it is day. But with one who is sick with an illness of the soul, he is not willing to listen, he is certain that he is following the correct path. He tells you this is evil, this is good, you try to convince him, you tell him no sir, this is good and this is evil. He is not willing to listen, he is wise in his own eyes, even though before their own faces there stand clever ones.
Since we mentioned putting darkness for light, I read about the Alter Rebbe. You know, Chabad recently celebrated the festival of the nineteenth of Kislev. So they publicized a great deal the matter of the redemption of the Alter Rebbe. So I happened to read about an incident that occurred then in the prison. They wanted to test him to know whether he could distinguish between day and night. So they put him inside a sealed dungeon, in a dungeon, and gave him only a candle, and there was not even a small ray of light coming inside. They served him food and told him eat, now already, it is already midday, eat. So he told them no, I will not eat now. He told them now it is midnight. He told them the time is twelve and five minutes. That was exactly the time on the clock. So they asked him how did he know? So he said that every day, in the hours of the day and the hours of the night, a different combination of the Name of Havayah shines there. And he says that based on this he knows at every moment what the time is. Because he knows, according to that light which shines corresponding to the hour appropriate to that time, he knows that now such and such a combination of Havayah shines, so the time is such, and such a combination of Havayah shines, so the time is different. I read, since we are speaking about knowledge, about Rabbi Aharon of Karlin, as I know, excuse me, of Komarno, the Heichal HaBerachah. It is told of him that once he sent his tefillin for repair, and the scribe repaired and did everything properly, only he erred in inserting the passages, he did not insert them in order. So after the Rav put them on, he immediately took them off, immediately took them off and gave them to him to arrange them properly. So he asked him what, what is not in order? He told him you did not insert the passages properly. So he tells him it cannot be. The Rav tells him, with certainty I tell you. He tells him how does the Rav know? He says because when I put them on I felt an illumination of Rabbeinu Tam. For with Rabbeinu Tam there is a dispute about the order of the passages, he had erred and inserted them like Rabbeinu Tam. He opened the tefillin, checked, and saw that indeed what the Rav said was correct. If only we would feel some illumination when putting on tefillin, but he has an illumination of Rashi, an illumination of Rabbeinu Tam. So there are people who in darkness see light, but there are people who even in the light walk in darkness.
"Woe to those who are mighty at drinking wine and men of valor at mixing strong drink. Who acquit the wicked for a bribe, and remove the righteousness of the righteous from him." He says thus: the glory of might, that is, in what does a person take pride in his might? When he executes justice, when he rescues the poor from the hand of his oppressor, then you say well done. This person has might, and he used his might to establish justice and righteousness, and he takes care that the weak are not abused. That is true might. But he says woe, woe meaning how much one must lament over mighty men and men of valor who acquit the wicked by means of a bribe. In place of this mighty one using the strength of his might to rescue the poor from the hand of his oppressor, on the contrary, he even strengthens the oppressor. Why? He has a bribe from this oppressor. The oppressor pays him so that he does nothing or so that he acquits him. Acquitting the wicked by means of a bribe. "And mighty at drinking wine, at mixing strong drink." Says the Malbim, this is like a parenthetical statement in which he mocks them. He says, in what are they mighty? They are mighty at drinking wine. Men of valor, in what are they men of valor? At mixing strong drink. Mixing strong drink means knowing how to blend the drink. Yes, you know, all the bartenders, those bartenders, who know how to blend, to put in such an amount of martini and such an amount of this, it is... a cocktail, exactly, he needs to know precisely how to make the adjustments, this is called mixing strong drink. He says, in what is your might? Men of valor at what? At the mixing of strong drink. Mighty at drinking wine. This is considered might. The Malbim explains, we explained this in the past, that there is a difference between a mighty man and a man of valor. A mighty man is a person who is mighty by nature. He is born with muscles. There are people you see from a young age, you see he is muscular, he is strong. On the other hand, a man of valor is a person trained in the stratagems of war. He, he studied in a faculty, there are all sorts of places where they study, what is it called, military academies, and he learned all sorts of strategies and stratagems of war. Particularly in their times, today one does not need many stratagems of war, today the strategy is more on the battlefield, how to conduct the war. But in their times the stratagems of war were face to face. It was knowing how to dodge the blow of the sword, knowing how to strike, knowing agility. These are the stratagems of war. So the mighty man is a person born strong by nature. The man of valor is one who learned the stratagems of war, how to fight face to face and to do it with might. So he says here, the mighty man, as it were, he drinks the wine, he has might, real might for drinking wine. The man of valor, the one skilled in how to conduct the war, he knows how to prepare the strong drink. How to mix it, what quantities to put in, what percentages so that it will be at the proper level. So he is like one who mocks them, what kind of mighty man are you, what kind of man of valor are you, in what, what is your distinctiveness, what is your knowledge, what is your might. Now he comes and says, how these mighty men are ones who acquit the wicked. Now note, this is a wicked man whose wickedness is open, everyone knows he is wicked. And nonetheless, he does not seek excuses. Why do you acquit the wicked? Because of a bribe. Sir, he pays. Whoever pays, I acquit him. He does not seek to hide behind justifications and all sorts of claims. He tells you plainly, there is a bribe here. And not only that, the righteousness of the righteous, even though the righteousness of the righteous is open, everyone sees that these righteous ones are honest and upright, they remove from him. He removes his righteousness from him as if he never saw it. He ignores it, because he says, from the wicked one I received a bribe.
"Therefore, as fire devours stubble, and as chaff subsides in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up like dust; because they have rejected the Torah of Hashem of Hosts, and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." This verse is a complex verse. In fact this is the first time I encounter a verse of this type, and I will explain to you how it is different. The Malbim's way, many times in his explanation of the verses, is to explain that the clauses of the verse are parallel. We explained this several times. If a verse or two verses contain, for example, four clauses, then one does not read them in the order one, two, three, four, but reads one, three, two, and four. That is, one verse, part one, clause one, its continuation is clause three. Verse two, part two, its continuation is clause four. This is called the clauses of the verse being parallel. What is unique here is that parallel clauses of the verse are always in four clauses. Here the Malbim explains that the clauses of the verse are parallel in six clauses. That is, there are here three parallelisms in the clauses of the verse. First, before we explain, I will read the clauses of the verse and how they are parallel, and afterward we will come to the explanation of the verse. It is as if it were written thus: "therefore as fire devours stubble, their root shall be as rottenness, because they have rejected the Torah of Hashem of Hosts." That is one parallelism. Now the second parallelism: "as chaff subsides in the flame, their blossom shall go up like dust, because they spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." That is the second parallelism, and essentially we have here three clauses corresponding to three clauses. And he explains. He says, look, in that they spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel, this is prophecy. The word of the Holy One of Israel means what Hashem said to the prophets. They have a sin that is great, doubly great, more than that they rejected what is written in Hashem's Torah. When you reject the word of the prophet, this is a sin many times greater than rejecting what is written in Hashem's Torah. First, note that what is written, rejecting the words of the prophet, the rejection is in the heart. Whereas the spurning is with the mouth. When we say he rejected, then I do not desire this, I reject this. Rejecting is in the heart. But one who spurns, he also degrades, he also curses, he also speaks in a manner that is disrespectful against that thing. So he says, they rejected the Torah of Hashem of Hosts, but the word of the Holy One of Israel, this they spurned. What, the word of the Holy One of Israel means what Hashem said through His servants the prophets, this they spurn. Another thing, in prophecy there are punishments and warnings that came specifically to you. I warn you, if you do not act thus, such and such will happen to you. There is here a warning specifically to that generation, specifically to those people. And there is particular providence of the Holy One, blessed be He, over them. Therefore the punishment upon those who spurn prophecy is more severe than the punishment for rejecting the Torah. Because there truly is a difference, it is like, let us give an example, that a commander, there are General Staff orders, general orders. And on the other hand, there is a particular order that the commander gave a soldier and told him, I tell you to do such and such. When would the soldier's defiance of the General Staff and the commander be more severe? In the General Staff orders or in the specific order of the commander? Surely, I ordered you, I told you this, and I spoke with you face to face and told you I warn you, and you did not do it, this is much more severe than violating general orders which are General Staff orders. So here too, prophecy is Hashem sending a messenger specifically to come to you, to speak with you face to face and tell you, sir, do not do this, and I warn you that if you continue you will receive such. And you continued. This is much more severe. And if so, the punishment for this will likewise be more severe.
Now let us look at the parable. Says the Malbim, stubble (kash) is the root of the stalk of grain. That is, I am not speaking now of a root that is beneath the ground, what we call a root, but rather there is the stalk of grain, which is the upper part where the seed is, and the stubble is like its root. It is the lower part that descends from the seed to the ground. This is called the root of the stalk. The fire consumes the root. Consumes means burns it and turns it into something shriveled and dry. And the ash remains there, it is not, it is not lost, but rather ash remains there. He comes and says, "therefore as fire devours stubble, their root shall be as rottenness." The stalk will be like rottenness, meaning it will be burned and dried up. What does this mean in terms of the analog? That the punishment will reach only the root. What is the root, as we explained? It is the stalk. But the seed that is up there, that is already the children. The punishment will be yours and not of whom, not of the children. Rather you yourselves will be punished, this is the stalk itself, and the stalk will be burned. Like something that rots and remains in its place. And this is "their root shall be as rottenness, because they have rejected the Torah of Hashem of Hosts." Because you rejected what Hashem wrote in His Torah. This is the relatively lighter part. Now we will move to the second part. "And as chaff subsides in the flame, their blossom shall go up like dust." Why? Because they spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. And this he will now explain. "And as chaff subsides in the flame." Chaff (chashash) is the term, it is the name for the blossom of the stalk of grain. The upper part of the stalk is called chashash. Chashash is the head of the blossom of the stalk. This chashash, it will go up like dust. That is, here there is already damage, if you noticed, not only to the root, but also to the seeds above. This is damage also to the children. So this is more severe than one who violated the Torah. Because one who violated the Torah, we said, only the stalk will be punished, which means only the root will be punished, which means only the parents, the fathers. But here, not only that, but also the seed above, meaning the punishment will continue and take hold also of the children. Not only that, but their blossom shall go up like dust. What does like dust mean? Dust, the wind carries it. There we saw something remained, ash remained. And this is what he said earlier, "as fire devours stubble, their root shall be as rottenness." The root will shrivel, become rotten, become ash. But here, when you violate the word of the prophet, their blossom shall go up like dust. Also the blossom, first, second, it too will be like dust, meaning it will scatter and nothing will remain of it, it will vanish from existence entirely. Why? Because they spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. Because here there was degradation of the word of prophecy, and the word of prophecy, the word of the Holy One of Israel, this is already spurning, to speak against prophecy, this is much more severe than against the Torah.
"Therefore the anger of Hashem was kindled against His people, and He stretched out His hand against them and struck them, and the mountains trembled, and their carcasses were like refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger did not turn away, and His hand is still outstretched." And therefore, says the prophet, the anger of Hashem was kindled against His people, and He stretched out His hand against them and struck them. Hashem stretched out His hand and strikes them, like a parable of a man who raises his hand against his fellow and strikes him. And the mountains trembled. The mountains trembled, meaning there will be a quake in the land. And this quake, that the ground, like an earthquake where the ground swallows its inhabitants. And from this, and their carcasses will be like refuse and cut down in the midst of the streets. Refuse (kesucha) means from the language of breaking. Like something cut, thorns cut down, meaning thorns severed. Nonetheless, with all these blows, His anger did not turn away. His anger did not turn away and His hand is still outstretched, meaning Hashem, what He did until now, He struck them. But it did not help. So what must be done? Hashem strikes them by means of enemies. What is more severe, a blow by the hand of Hashem or a blow by the hand of enemies? "Let us fall into the hand of Hashem, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man." Says the Holy One, blessed be He, at first came a blow from Me, and it did not help. Says Hashem, now the blow will be by the hand of the enemies. Therefore, "and He will raise a banner to the nations from afar, and will whistle to them from the end of the earth, and behold, swiftly, speedily it will come." Hashem will raise a banner to the nations from afar. What is a banner (nes)? A nes is the tall pole on which they used to hang the flag. This is called a nes. "Raise a banner toward Zion." Meaning toward Zion. A nes is the mast on which they hang the flag. Hashem will raise a banner to the nations, when they wanted to summon to war they would raise the flag on a tall mast, and thus they would gather them for war. Hashem will raise a banner to the nations from afar so that they will come. And he adds and says, and even the banner Hashem will not need. Why? "And will whistle to them from the end of the earth." It is enough that Hashem whistles from the end of the earth for the nations to come. A whistle of the lips will suffice for them to come. And he tells you, and even though the enemy will be from the end of the earth, with all this swiftly it will come. Swiftly, we explained, hurrying means setting out immediately. That is what swiftly means. And not only swiftly, but also he will hasten. Not only setting out immediately, and then you would say he walked at ease, no, he will also go swiftly, and this is "speedily it will come." This is the swiftness of the going. That is, he will go swiftly as though he hastens his steps. What would you say? Fine, but when the enemy goes, ostensibly it takes time, an army is a heavy thing, even an aircraft carrier is not immediate, they arm and go. All the more so in their times when one needed an army, so one needed a quartermaster's store, and one needed to provide them food, and one needed to provide for the armory and... He tells you no, "none is weary and none stumbles among them, none slumbers and none sleeps, and the belt of his loins is not loosened, and the strap of his sandals is not broken." The Holy One, blessed be He, will so hurry and hasten the enemy, his going will be with such ease and swiftness, he will have no delay whatsoever. None is weary and none stumbles among them. Not weary of himself, and not stumbling, stumbling is usually caused by an obstacle in the ground. Also not stumbling because of an external obstacle. None slumbers, from having wearied himself so that he needs to doze. And none sleeps, sleep is the natural sleep that a person sleeps when the body naturally requires sleep. So he will be able to walk by day and by night. And not only that, that from the standpoint of his body he will have no delay, will not trip, will not slumber, will not sleep. Slumber, yes, this always comes to symbolize light sleep. A person takes a midday nap. Sleep symbolizes deep sleep, he goes to sleep at night, the regular sleep. So neither this nor that will he need. He says, come see that also from external aspects to him, that is, his garments, they too will not delay. The belt of his loins is not loosened. The belt of his loins is the belt that fastens on the loins. When they wanted to run, they would tie the belt of the loins. For example? Eliyahu HaNavi, right? When he ran before Achav, he girded his loins. "And he girded his loins, and helped like a man his loins." Why did they do this? Because usually when a person runs, his limbs jostle. So they would tie well all the limbs and all the... his belly and the internal organs, so that his running would be stronger. So his belt of the loins is not loosened. He will run and the belt of his loins will not loosen so that he would have to stop in the middle and tie it. It is not like today where a person has special belts. For in their times what did they have? They tied. Like, like some towel that you tie. So they make another knot, like some gartel. So in the course of running it could very much be that it would loosen, and he would have to stop and tie and tighten it. He says no, the belt of his loins is not loosened. And the strap of his sandals is not broken. In the course of walking, many times the strap breaks, he steps on the end of the strap, the strap loosens in the course of walking. But the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring them with such swiftness, that even the delay of tying the sandal he will not have.
"Whose arrows are sharpened, and all his bows bent; his horses' hooves are reckoned like flint, and his wheels like a whirlwind." He comes and says, come see the swiftness of his going, that he will not even need to delay in order to polish the arrows. Today they polish them, sharpen them. Here he tells you, they were already sharpened. His arrows are sharpened, from long ago they were already prepared and sharpened and arrayed for war. Now what, does he need to bend the bow? He says by way of a parable, his bows are bent. You know, to bend the bow is to draw the arrow so that it can be released and shot. So he says already, what is called, the weapon is loaded. His bows are bent. His horses' hooves are reckoned like flint. They used to put on the horse, on its hooves, they would fix horseshoes, right? Iron horseshoes, and by this they would fix them with nails. He tells you, know moreover, he will not need to fix horseshoes on the horse's feet. Sometimes the horse too would delay because its horseshoe fell off. He tells you, he will not need this. Why? Because his horses' hooves are like flint, like flint rock they will be strong. They will not be damaged by the rocks, they will not need protection, he will be able to walk without any concern. And not only that, he tells you know, even the horses will be unnecessary as far as they are concerned. Because in his chariots, his wheels are like a whirlwind. The wheels will run as if by themselves, like a whirlwind, as if it carries the chariot in the air. As it were the swiftness and speed will hasten his deed in such a way that the trouble will come suddenly, all at once.
After he describes to us the swiftness with which the enemy will come, he will now describe to us the might of the enemy, the cruelty of the enemy. "He roars like a lioness." Excuse me, "he has a roar like a lioness, he will roar like young lions and growl, and seize prey and carry it off, with none to rescue." Says the Malbim, the roar of the lioness is stronger than the roar of the young lion. What is a young lion (kefir)? It is a cub of lions, right? So the lioness, her roar casts terror in a person's heart. But the young lion, it is still small, still needs to train, right? until it reaches the capabilities of the lioness. But on the other hand, the young lion, since it gets excited about itself, so it roars often. But the lion, until it actually roars, takes time. There needs to be something, look how many drowsy lions there are in the zoo, until you hear something from one of them. The lion, until it roars, takes time. So he comes and says, look, he will have a strong roar not like a young lion, but rather he has a roar like a lioness. For the lioness, as we said, is the stronger and her roar is more terrifying. But on the other hand, the young lion which roars often, he comes and says, know this, he will roar continually like young lions. So he will have a strong roar like a lioness, and continually like a young lion. In effect both things together will be here, this is what is called trouble upon trouble. And he will growl like a lion that growls. The lion growls when it has no prey. "A lion roars in the forest when it has prey." The lion growls only when it has no prey. But he says, here he will growl even though he seizes prey. And even though he attains and distributes spoil, he says know this, he will not be sated by this, but rather he carries it off with none to rescue. Carries off means, he will take the prey and put it into his holes, into his dens, where he will hide the prey, and none to rescue, there will be no one who can stand against him. The Malbim explains that the lion roars when it has prey, as it is written "a lion roars in the forest when it has prey." When it has prey then it roars. But it growls when it has no prey. When does it growl? This is out of distress. But he says, here he will growl and seize prey. That is, as it were he will growl out of distress, but he will have prey in his grasp. That is, even though he seizes prey, he still growls. What does this mean? That he will still continue to seek more and more. For when the lion has already reached prey, then it is over, then it has attained it. He tells you no, he will continue and growl like one seeking prey even though he already has some. This means that he will not know satiety, that he will want more and more. Why does he need it? He carries it off. He wants to go put it in his dens. Thus the enemy will come, will not know satiety, will not know satiety and will continue and seek more and more, with none to rescue.
"And he will growl over it on that day like the roaring of the sea, and one looks to the land, and behold, darkness and distress, and the light is darkened by its clouds." And he will growl over it on that day. After he describes to us the terror before the enemy who is like a preying and roaring lion, now he comes and gives us another figurative example, of a ship being wrecked in the sea. So if now he spoke about the enemy, he now says, let me describe to you how you will look then. You will look like a ship that will be wrecked in the great sea, and the waves carry it and the ship is about to break. And this is what he says, and he will growl over it on that day like the roaring of the sea. Like the sea which has a mighty roar when it wants to sink the ship. And one looks to the land. "One looks to the land" (nibbat la'aretz), the Malbim explains, is from the language of laboring. Like "a fool of lips shall labor." To labor means to weary oneself. Like "how much we labored on this road," meaning how much we wearied ourselves. So he comes and says, and one looks to the land, meaning the people of the ship will labor to row and return to dry land. But they will not be able to. Why will they not be able to? One looks to the land, and behold, darkness. He says, there is darkness, gloom, he does not see the place of the shore. And not only that, when you do not see, the ship approaches the shore, it does not see how it sails. What is very very dangerous? To run aground, right? For there are rocks within the sea. This is what he says, distress (tzar). And behold, darkness, distress. There will also be distress before it. What is tzar? Tzar is a rock, it is a large boulder, and the ship can break upon the boulders. And not only that, there will also be there "light" (or). Or here means a cloud. There will be a cloud, like fogs that descend, which is a great danger to ships. And a final thing, "the light is darkened by its clouds." "The light is darkened by its clouds" means, this light, this cloud, pours out its rain upon them, until from the standpoint of the rain there will be such a situation that they will not be able to see one centimeter before them. And this shows the greatness of the trouble that will be then. The enemy will be so terrible, and on that day, the speed with which he will arrive will be so astonishing, and the greatness of the trouble and the darkness will be so terrible, that as it were from such a situation nothing good can come out. Yes, may Hashem save us from all evil, amen and amen.