Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 62. "For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, and for the sake of Yerushalayim I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a burning torch." "For the sake of Zion I will act," says Rashi, "and I will not be silent" about what they did to her, I will not be silent about how they afflicted the people of Israel, and "I will not rest" means there will be no peace until her righteousness goes forth like brightness. The Radak explains that in truth these are the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, that the Holy One says: Zion, upon which My name is called. And Zion and Yerushalayim, says the Radak, are one and the same, and "I will not rest" and "I will not be silent" are one and the same, and the matter is doubled with different words. But we are already sufficiently accustomed to the words of the Malbim, that there is no such thing as doubling the matter with different words, and whenever there is a doubling there is a doubling of meaning. "I will not rest" has a meaning and "I will not be silent" has a meaning, "Zion" has a meaning and "Yerushalayim" has a meaning. Let us now see the Malbim's explanation.
The Malbim says, in relation to what we discussed in the previous chapter, and we have already explained that in truth the chapters are not divided according to a Jewish division but according to a Christian one, so do not be surprised if you see that there is a continuation of the previous chapter here. This is not a continuation of the previous chapter, it is one continuous unit. Rather, arbitrarily, the Christians who arranged the chapters decided to cut the chapter here. And many times they also had an interest in this, because in places where something derogatory to the people of Israel could be inferred, they cut there so that the derogatory sense would be implied and the salvation and consolation that follow would not be implied, and so on. So we spoke earlier that the Holy One, blessed be He, will reveal the righteousness of Israel. That this will be one thing, that it will become clear to all that we served the Holy One, blessed be He, who is the true God. And it will become clear that all the arrows and slanders we received from the nations for not clinging to their faith, the faith of vanity, will be shown to be false, an inheritance of lies bequeathed to their children, while we clung to the true God. And then, through this, our horn will be raised, for it will become clear that the only people who served the true God is the people of Israel. This is the first thing, this is the righteousness that will be revealed: the righteousness of Israel, the truth of their faith and their Torah.
Another thing will be salvation. Salvation, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will save us from being persecuted by the nations. And this is "like the brightness of her righteousness, and her salvation like a burning torch." The Malbim says: Zion describes the righteousness of the people of Israel. For in Zion was the seat of the Sanhedrin. Zion refers to the place of the Temple in Yerushalayim, it is called Zion, the seat of the Sanhedrin. So it follows that when he says the righteousness of Israel will be revealed in Zion, what is Zion? It will be revealed to all that justice is here, not in the high court, but in Zion, in the place of the seat of the Sanhedrin. It will become clear that the true judgments are here, in Zion. "For the sake of Zion I will not be silent," her righteousness will go forth like brightness, that justice is with them. There is the place of holiness and purity, the Temple, the seat of the Sanhedrin. Yerushalayim, by contrast, is the place where we settle. Greater Yerushalayim, Yerushalayim refers to the whole city. And so, when we speak of the people of Israel returning from exile, we speak of returning to Yerushalayim, to come back and settle Yerushalayim. As it is written, "Put on your strength, Zion, put on your garments of glory, Yerushalayim." What is the difference? The Malbim says: Zion expresses inner strength, spiritual successes, as we said, referring to the place of the Temple, the place of the Sanhedrin, which is a place of the service of God. So "put on your strength, Zion," the inner strength of spiritual success, of the service of God. And Yerushalayim, by contrast, "put on your garments of glory, Yerushalayim," this is physical success, livelihood, economic abundance, prosperity, bodily success.
In order to prove that the Torah of the people of Israel is true, that the people of Israel were right in clinging to the Holy One, blessed be He, for this one needs to argue. "Arguing" does not mean in the sense we understand today, where an argument means a quarrel. Rather it is argument as in "let us stand and reason together." What is "reason" (nokcha)? From what root is it? Proof (hokacha). An argument means when two people contend and each wants to prove his righteousness. So it does not have to be a quarrel; "argument" is a term of proof. About this he says "for the sake of Zion I will not be silent." "I will not be silent" means I will not refrain from arguing and proving her truth, for as we said, Zion expresses the seat of justice, that we cling to God who is the true God. And to bring the people of Israel out of exile, here it is not enough not to be silent; here action is required. Here a deed is needed. About this the Holy One, blessed be He, says "for the sake of Yerushalayim," which we explained is the physical, economic success, the prosperity, the exit from exile, that we return and settle in Yerushalayim, "for the sake of Yerushalayim I will not rest." I will not sit in tranquility doing nothing, but I will be swift to redeem them. And the Malbim says: "I will not be silent" and "I will not rest" are not synonymous verbs at all. The Malbim says: "be silent" (echesheh) is associated with verbs that express silence. "Be still" (hechshu). Who said to whom "be still"? Elisha, when the sons of the prophets came to him and told him that his master would be taken from him that day, he said to them, "I too knew it, be still." "Be still" means keep quiet. So "to be silent" teaches about silence. By contrast, "I will not rest" (eshkot), says the Malbim, is not connected to the verb of silence. "Rest" is connected to stillness. "The sea grew calm." Its waves no longer roared. So "to be still," "the land was quiet," "and the land had rest forty years." What does "had rest" mean? Was it silent? No. "Had rest" means it no longer raged. So "rest" is connected to tranquility, and "be silent" is connected to silence, to not speaking. And if so, it is understood by itself: "for the sake of Zion I will not be silent," to prove their righteousness as we explained, that the faith and religion of the people of Israel is truth, I will not be silent, I will not keep quiet, I will speak, for here an argument is needed, to prove that our religion is the true religion. Like the Kuzari, we see what the Chaver does in the Kuzari, as one can hear on the recording about the Kuzari. So in practice, here an argument is needed, here proofs are needed, here speech is needed. "For the sake of Zion," to prove the righteousness of Israel in their faith, that their religion is the true religion, "I will not be silent." And "for the sake of Yerushalayim," which means to redeem them physically, to return them to the cities of their dwelling in Yerushalayim, here "I will not rest." "I will not rest" means I will not sit idly on my lees, but I will take action and go and redeem them.
And the Malbim says: the two halves of the verse correspond. "For the sake of Zion I will not be silent," "until her righteousness goes forth like brightness." This is their righteousness that in truth proves that they are the ones who believe in the religion of righteousness, in the true religion, that it is the correct religion. So "until her righteousness goes forth like brightness," that the righteousness of their Torah and faith will be evident to all, I will not be silent, I will prove and clarify the matter. And "for the sake of Yerushalayim I will not rest," which as we explained speaks of the physical redemption, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will redeem us and settle us in the cities of Yerushalayim, "until her salvation like a burning torch." For as we said, here it speaks of salvation, salvation meaning the redemption of the body. And this salvation will be "like a burning torch." And the Malbim points out here another change. "Her righteousness goes forth like brightness," and "her salvation will be like a torch." What is the difference? Why is righteousness like brightness and salvation like a torch? The Malbim says, something we have already learned in the past, that "brightness" (nogah) is something that has no light of its own. Brightness is something that receives light from something else. For example, the moon has brightness. It has no light of its own. Its glowing light comes from something it received from the sun. By contrast, the torch, the torch has light of its own, "the torch burns," there is a burning fire here that gives light. And with this he wanted to hint to us that through the Holy One, blessed be He, kindling the torch, what does this mean? Through the salvation, as we explained, "her salvation like a burning torch." The nations will see the salvation of Israel, the nations will see how the Holy One, blessed be He, lights up the night like day. Through this they will recognize their righteousness. Through this all will recognize that justice is with us, all will recognize the greatness of the people of Israel. And as it were, says the Malbim, it is as if this torch of salvation shines upon the righteousness. What this means is: when you see a people succeeding, when you see a people who walk in a certain path and they have great salvation, it makes you believe in their religion. It makes you believe in their Torah. For look, how is it that they succeed so much? Something in their faith, in the God in whom they believe, is what saves them. So it follows: who will shine upon our righteousness? Who will prove our righteousness so that our righteousness will have brightness? The torch that burns. The torch that burns, which is the salvation, that everyone will see our salvation, will shine and cause righteousness to go forth like brightness. So consequently our justice and uprightness and our clinging to God will suddenly begin to shine because the torch, the salvation, shines upon it, and it will suddenly begin to shine and it will be evident to all that our Torah is the Torah of truth. By virtue of what? By virtue of the salvation. For the salvation is in the category of a torch that shines upon our righteousness, upon our clinging to God.
"And nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Hashem shall designate." "And nations shall see your righteousness," says the Malbim, this verse corresponds to the previous verse. We saw in the previous verse "until her righteousness goes forth like brightness," says the Malbim, now the verse says "and nations shall see your righteousness." And how? Through "her salvation like a burning torch," "kings shall see your glory." That is, the nations will see your righteousness, as we explained, meaning the truth of the Torah, and through "her salvation like a burning torch" kings will see your glory, meaning the redemption and salvation of the people of Israel. But the Malbim points out here a precise distinction: why regarding "your righteousness" did he say "nations," and regarding "your glory" he said "kings"? And he explains: we always learned that "nations" refers to the peoples at their low level. By contrast, when it is written "kings" it speaks of the important ones, of the ministers, of the great ones. So he says "and nations shall see your righteousness." This means that the righteousness and the truth in the Torah will be recognized even by nations. "Nations" meaning even the simple ones among them, even the foolish ones among them. Even they will recognize your righteousness, the justice and truth that is in the Torah of God. And the kings, all the more so, if they have intelligence, they are the wiser ones, then surely they will see our righteousness. And afterward he says the kings will see your glory. The kings will recognize your glory, "and all kings your glory," meaning after the salvation, the people of Israel will be in an exalted position, in honor. About this he says, who will recognize this? The kings will recognize your glory. And they will recognize that your glory is greater than their glory. And all the more so the nations, meaning the common people, will recognize this and see that He personally honors Israel more than he honors his own gentile king. "And you shall be called by a new name." What is "you shall be called by a new name"? These are the names we will see shortly, that you shall be called "My delight is in her," she shall be called "sought out." "Which the mouth of Hashem shall designate." This is a name that the mouth of Hashem shall designate. "Shall designate" means like "those who were designated by name." It means the Holy One, blessed be He, is the one who will set this name, He is the one who will designate this name, yes, "designate" meaning explain, and He is the one who will also reveal the reason for the name. For if I say "My delight is in her," it is because Hashem delighted in her. So that is "the mouth of Hashem shall designate," for the name here will express the essence, because the Holy One, blessed be He, is the one who assigns the name.
"And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of Hashem, and a royal diadem in the palm of your God." And through this you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of Hashem, and you shall be a royal diadem in the palm of your God. And here we will want to understand the difference between a crown of glory and a royal diadem. What is the difference between the hand of Hashem and the palm of your God? And what is the difference between "Hashem" and "your God"? And as is known, as the Malbim has always taught us, there is no doubling of the matter with different words, and every single thing has meaning. The Malbim says there is a difference between a crown of glory and a royal diadem. A crown of glory is what any person wears for honor. He wraps himself in a crown of glory, in some wrapping of an honorable garment. By contrast, a royal diadem, we already understand from the name that this is something belonging to a special scarf of kings. It is special only to royal figures, a royal diadem. The Malbim says there is also a difference between "hand" (yad) and "palm" (kaf). And we all recognize this even in everyday speech. The "hand," I call the entire hand by that. By contrast, the "palm," I call only the palm of the hand by that. That is, when I refer to the palm I refer in a more particular way. When I refer to the hand I refer in a general way to the entirety of the hand. The Malbim says there is a difference between "Hashem" and "your God." When I say "Hashem," it means the Holy One, blessed be He, from the aspect of His governance of the whole world. When I say "your God," it means our God in a particular way, the individual providence with which the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over us, over the people of Israel, personally. "Your God," yours, the Holy One, blessed be He, who watches over you individually without reference to the general governance of the rest of the nations. The Malbim says the Holy One, blessed be He, governs the world with two modes of governance. There is natural governance and there is miraculous governance, providential governance, governance that is above nature. The Malbim says these two modes of governance will be according to your needs and according to your deeds. Corresponding to the natural governance, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, governs according to nature, he tells us, "you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of Hashem." A crown, as we explained, everyone crowns themselves with a crown, this is not specifically for kings, a crown of glory. And this will be "in the hand," as we explained, the hand symbolizes the entire hand, indicating the general governance, as opposed to the palm which symbolizes particular, personal governance, holding us in His palm. Rather the hand is the general governance. So this is a crown of glory, a general garment that everyone wears, and it will be in the hand, which is the general hand, and as we said the hand also symbolizes the hand of the general governance that applies to all the nations, "in the hand of Hashem," for Hashem is the Blessed Name who governs the entire world, Hashem from the aspect of His governance of the whole world. By contrast, corresponding to the miraculous governance, where here it is "your God," this is in a particular way, this is over us alone specifically, about this he says it will be a royal diadem. Like a diadem that a king has, which is particular to the king, others do not have it. It is a royal diadem, this is individual providence, that the Holy One, blessed be He, rules and reigns over us, and we are "in the palm of your God." "In the palm" means in a particular way, He holds us in the palm of His hand, this is not the entire hand, general governance, but rather He holds us particularly in the palm of His hand, this is the particular governance of the category of "your God," of a royal diadem, of someone of the status of a king who has a royal diadem special exclusively to him. "Crown," says the Malbim, we see in other places that it is a garment of distinction, but of many people, not specifically for kings. "The crown of the old is grandchildren," "the crown of the wise is their wealth," "a woman of valor is the crown of her husband." We see this in many places, that "crown" expresses a general garment, honorable but general. As opposed to a royal diadem, which is a diadem that only the king wears, which is most special and not everyone has, and therefore it also symbolizes the governance, the particular personal providence of the people of Israel from the aspect that He is "your God," and this is "in the palm of your God."
"You shall no longer be called forsaken, and your land shall no longer be called desolate, but you shall be called 'My delight is in her,' and your land 'espoused,' for Hashem delights in you, and your land shall be espoused." You shall no longer be called forsaken, and your land shall no longer be called desolate, but you shall be called "My delight is in her," the land shall be called "espoused," and Hashem delights, He will delight in you, and your land shall be espoused. The Radak says all of this is certainly a metaphor, as we understand. The settled land is called "espoused land," because it is a land that has owners, a land in which people dwell, like a woman who has a husband. And when the land is not settled, it is called "widowed," like a woman who has no husband, a land that is not settled. As it is written, "the city that was full of people has become like a widow." This means there was no one to settle it. And "espoused" means settled, while "widowed" means not settled. The Malbim says, "you shall no longer be called forsaken." Now they call Yerushalayim forsaken, because there is no individual providence in it. The Holy One, blessed be He, no longer rests His Presence there as in ancient days. Indeed, the Divine Presence never departed from the Western Wall, but this is a mere trace of vitality, it is a little, it is the residue in the bones, it is not the Divine Presence that was here in the First Temple, it is not truly the resting of the Divine Presence as when the people of Israel were in their exaltation and greatness. So now they call us forsaken, as if God forsook the land. The entire Land of Israel is called desolate, because it is truly desolate of its inhabitants. Now he says, now you shall no longer be called forsaken, but you shall be called "My delight is in her." Hashem will delight in her, He will return to dwell within her. So corresponding to the Divine Presence that forsook us, on account of which we called Yerushalayim forsaken, he says: no, you shall be called "My delight is in her," I delight in her, I rest My Presence within you. And corresponding to the land being desolate, its inhabitants not upon it, he says "your land shall be espoused." This means the original owners of the land, who are the people of Israel, will return, and the land will return to its former state of having owners, and not the state of being desolate of its owners who left and abandoned it.
"For as a young man espouses a virgin, so shall your sons espouse you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." "For as a young man espouses a virgin," says the Radak, just as a young man and a virgin, meaning a youth and a maiden, a young man and a young woman, this is a fitting and acceptable thing. It is a standard match that is relatively easy to make. By contrast, an old man and a virgin, this usually does not work. This is not, this is not the standard match. And if it does work, then presumably there is a lot of money or a lot of pressure, or one of the sides is disabled or something of this sort, but naturally it is not a natural match. An old man and a virgin is not a natural match. The same with a young man and a widow, this is also not a natural match. Just, meaning an older woman and a young man, this is not a natural match. But a young man and a virgin, this is the natural match. As long as the people of Israel dwell in the Land of Israel, this is the category of "as a young man espouses a virgin." This is the natural match, the natural match between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. By contrast, when the nations dwell here, this is not the natural match. For then the land does not properly receive its inhabitants, and this is like a match, as we explained earlier, of an old man and a virgin, or of an old woman and a young man, which does not go well together, it does not connect. Therefore he says, "for as a young man espouses a virgin, so shall your sons espouse you." When the people of Israel return here, oh, this will be the natural match, this will be the connection that is a fitting and acceptable thing, grapes of the vine with grapes of the vine of the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. And then "as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride," the joy that exists during the time of the wedding, which is the rejoicing of the bridegroom over the bride, the seven days of the wedding, this is the great joy. Afterward one begins to enter into problems, the mortgage and all the rest of the mess, but at the beginning, the week of days, the rejoicing of bridegroom and bride, the joy between them is great. So he says when the people of Israel return to their land, it will be permanently like the rejoicing of the bridegroom over the bride.
The Malbim explains that here there is an explanation for what we said earlier. In the previous verse he says "and your land 'espoused,' for Hashem delights in you, and your land shall be espoused." So corresponding to "Hashem delights in you and your land shall be espoused," he now says this verse. Corresponding to what he said, "your land shall be espoused," he says "for as a young man espouses a virgin, so shall your sons espouse you." This means, when the people of Israel return to the land, they will not be likened to a people returning to a land that was once desolate and is now returning to bloom. He says: no. This is not, this is not a successful connection. Why? To what is the matter comparable? To a man who was with a woman, divorced her, and afterward saw that the market did not really await him and there was nothing much out there, so, well, he returns back to his first wife. There was once someone who divorced his wife, and at a certain stage the matchmaker offered him a match. He said, I am willing to hear it. Who? His former wife. He said, fine, I am willing to make inquiries, and so on. In short, after inquiries and everything, he decided to return. Well, they remarried. The matchmaker asks him: what did you think originally and what do you think now? Originally what did you think, you returned to her, so why, why did you originally divorce? So he said to him, listen, for a second match she is fine. For a second match one has to compromise. We are people of a second match, she is fine. Well, in any case, so we all understand that returning to the same one you were married to a second time is not a great joy. The Malbim says, when the people of Israel return to their land, they will not be considered like a husband, like a man who marries a woman to whom he was already married. Rather they will be likened to a man who returns to a land he was never in. For if we return to a place that was destroyed and we begin to rebuild it, then it is already a place we know. It is already a place we were in, a place we were in already does not so excite us. Now bring the person to a new place, ah, he has excitement. But now take yourself back 30 years to an apartment you already lived in, now they tell you no, but you will have another five rooms. No, there is not, there is no excitement, there is no joy, this is a place I was already in, I lived there 15 years, I left, I am already in another place and... yes, but it is now renovated... no, we still feel we were here once. He says no, this will not be your situation. When the people of Israel return to the land, it is not a land we were already in and left, but rather we will have joy in it, "for as a young man espouses a virgin, so shall your sons espouse you." Like a new coupling, like a new reality. The land will appear to us in its goodness as if it had never been desolate, not something that was desolate and returns and blooms anew. And corresponding to what he said, "for Hashem delights in you," he says here too, for we all know the reality: if we had an argument with someone, if we quarreled with someone after many years of friendship, afterward even when we return to being friends again, it is still not the same. We say, keep your distance, I was already hurt once, I do not want to be hurt again, and... we already, it is not the same. It is not the same. He says here too, when the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, had distance from us, there was exile, the Holy One, blessed be He, no longer rested His Presence as in ancient days. He says, know that when Hashem returns to us, "Hashem delights in you," it will not be like one who takes back his divorced wife, where the love is not complete love, but rather like the rejoicing of the bridegroom over the bride. Like one who never espoused before, like one who was never angry at her in his days. So shall your God rejoice over you. And this is what is written, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will make with them a new covenant, and the former troubles will not be remembered. Everything will be forgotten. This means there will be a new beginning here without the sediment of the past, without the unpleasant memories from previous experiences. No, rather everything will be anew, and "as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you."