Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 63: "Who is this coming from Edom, with garments stained red from Botzrah, this one splendid in his clothing, striding in the fullness of his strength? It is I, who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Before we explain what is happening here, let us bring the words of Chazal that Rashi mentions. Here the prophet prophesies about Se'ir and about Botzrah. These are two places about which Chazal say that when the Holy One, blessed be He, comes on the Day of Judgment, the guardian angel of Se'ir is destined to make two errors. "Who is this coming from Edom, with garments stained red from Botzrah" means that the guardian angel of Se'ir will go to Botzrah. What does he have in that city of Botzrah? Chazal say that Betzer was a city of refuge, the Betzer in the wilderness, and he assumes that Botzrah is that Betzer, so he goes there in order to have a city of refuge, for he understands that evil has been decreed against him. He thinks that if he flees to a city of refuge he will be able to be saved from the Holy One, blessed be He, from the Day of Judgment. He also errs in another matter: since, as is known, a city of refuge takes in only those who killed unintentionally, whereas Edom killed and murdered and slaughtered and burned and tortured, all of it deliberately. Everything that Edom did to us over all these years, which is the kingdom of Rome as we will soon see, that is really all the nations who have the color red in their flag, they are connected to Edom. They are certain that the city of Botzrah will take them in, so they make two errors: Botzrah is not Betzer, and a city of refuge takes in only one who killed unintentionally, not one who killed deliberately.
Rashi brings another aggadic midrash: Botzrah supplied Se'ir with a king when its first king died. It is written, "And Yovav son of Zerach from Botzrah reigned in his place." And Botzrah is from Moav, as it is written, "concerning Keriyot and concerning Botzrah." So since she was a partner in their crimes, in that she was the one who supplied them with a king, therefore they too will come to judgment and reckoning.
Now let us explain the matter further. The Radak explains that this is really a prophecy about the future destruction of Edom. Here he compares, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, who destroys Edom, to a mighty warrior making war who returns from the battlefield with garments red from blood, from the wars and the great victories he achieved. Concerning this, as it were, He says: a person stands and asks and sees, who is this? "Who is this coming from Edom, with garments stained red from Botzrah?" The Holy One, blessed be He, says, "It is I, who speak in righteousness." I spoke in My righteousness to Yisrael, I promised them that I would redeem them, and now I have come to do what I promised.
"Mighty to save" - what is "mighty to save"? The Radak says that the Holy One, blessed be He, will destroy Edom for the sake of building up Yisrael, for as is known, Tzor was built only from the destruction of Yerushalayim, and Yerushalayim was built only from the destruction of Tzor. In the destruction of Edom there will be salvation for Yisrael. What is he really coming to explain by this? How can you say that You strike Edom and call it "mighty to save"? Call it "mighty to exact punishment," call it "mighty to take vengeance," why do you call it "mighty to save"? The Radak says these go together. The moment Edom is struck, there is salvation for Yisrael, for Yerushalayim was built only from the destruction of Tzor. The moment the nations are destroyed, through this Yisrael will be built up.
"Who is this coming from Edom, with garments stained red from Botzrah." "Stained red" means red-garmented, from Botzrah, which was a great city of Edom, and therefore he named Edom by the name Botzrah after its central city. "This one splendid in his clothing" - these are garments of vengeance. "Striding in the fullness of his strength" - "striding," the Radak explains, means He moves and shakes the nations from one end to the other.
The Metzudat David explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to take vengeance upon the nations, and according to his interpretation of what is written, "this one splendid in his clothing" is posed as a question of wonder. "Who is this coming from Edom, with garments stained red from Botzrah, this one splendid in his clothing?" After all, He is always splendid in His clothing, so how is it that now He has garments stained red? That is, it is posed as a question. He is splendid in His clothing, so how can His garments be stained red? "Striding in the fullness of his strength" - after all, in the fullness of His strength He moves and shakes whomever He wishes from place to place, so what is this that there is blood upon His clothing? That is, He should not have blood upon His clothing, because in the fullness of His strength He does not even reach the state of a struggle, but in a single moment He shakes them from place to place, so how did blood spatter onto His clothing? The Holy One, blessed be He, says, "It is I, who speak in righteousness." I am the one who promised to do righteousness for Yisrael, and I am mighty to save just as I promised.
According to this, "stained red garments" means His garments are dyed. Where do we find the expression "stained red"? Here the commentators indeed struggle: what is the "stained" mentioned here? Where do we find the expression "stained red" in the context of dyeing? So indeed the Metzudat Tziyon has difficulty with this, and he brings as a kind of proof that perhaps "stained" (chamutz) is the opposite of "crushed" (machutz). And as it is written, "you shall crush your foot in blood," that the foot dyed with blood appears as though wounded, so too here "garments stained red" is like garments crushed, there is blood on His garments from what crushed the enemies. And "Botzrah" he explains as a term of "fortress" (mivtzar).
The Malbim. The Malbim says, "Who is this coming from Edom" - the Ibn Ezra wrote that Edom is the kingdom of Rome and Constantinople, this is Edom. Botzrah, by contrast, is the head of their faith. What does "the head of their faith" mean? Just as if I wanted to say who is the center of Edom in the world today, I would say America or Russia, and if they would ask me what is the head of their faith, I would say the Vatican. The center of their faith is there, that is the head of their faith. So in their time the head of their faith was Botzrah. Botzrah was the center of their faith, and the center of their rule was called Edom.
The Holy One, blessed be He, will come to Edom in order to save the people of Yisrael, that is one thing. Second, to settle the account. For we already remember from long ago, from Yaakov Avinu, that when Esav comes and says to him, "Let us travel and I will go alongside you," Yaakov says to him, "There is yet a vision for the appointed time." He tells him, go ahead, "and I will make my way to my lord, to Se'ir." And what is "I will make my way to my lord, to Se'ir"? We have already explained more than once that the meaning is: we will yet meet on the great and awesome Day of Judgment, "and saviors will ascend Mount Tziyon to judge the mountain of Esav," and then he says to him, then we will settle the account for everything. The Holy One, blessed be He, will come to Edom in order to save the people of Yisrael and to exact punishment from them for what they did to us, and to Botzrah so that they will recognize the true faith, for as we said, Botzrah is the place of the center of their faith. And the Holy One, blessed be He, as we have explained several times, has an interest that not only Yisrael should recognize and know His divinity, but that all the nations should recognize and know it. As we say, "many peoples will walk by the light of Hashem," as we say, "the earth will be filled with knowledge as the waters cover the sea," as we say, "all the inhabitants of the world will recognize and know," as we say, "to perfect the world under the kingdom of Shakai." The interest of the Holy One, blessed be He, is that all the nations should know and recognize the name of Hashem. And even in the plagues of Egypt we saw, "so that you may know" - who? It is said concerning Pharaoh, it is said concerning Egypt, that they too should know that there is none like Me in all the earth, not only the people of Yisrael. We see that there is an interest that His kingship, blessed be He, be revealed throughout the entire world. The one who is supposed to lead this process is the people of Yisrael, and had we done the will of Hashem, then the kingship of the Holy One, blessed be He, would be revealed throughout the world by everyone seeing how a nation conducts itself according to the will of Hashem, blessed be He. And if not, then the very fact that we are persecuted, through this the glory of Hashem is revealed, as we elaborated on another occasion.
Here he describes to us that at first the Holy One, blessed be He, will come to Edom and to Botzrah in clean garments, with gentle words. As it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, tries to persuade them with kindness, and when that does not work, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will come to don vengeance and to make war with them. "Who is this coming from Edom, with garments stained red" - according to the Malbim, "garments stained red" does not mean garments soiled with blood as the other commentators explained, but rather exactly the opposite, in white and clean garments. "Who is this coming from Edom, with garments stained red from Botzrah, this one splendid in his clothing." Not as the Metzudat David explained, that now He has garments stained red, whereas He was always splendid in His clothing, so what has happened now? No, rather "who is this coming from Edom with garments stained red" means when His garments are clean.
On what does the Malbim rely? As we explained in the past, whenever we search for the interpretation of an expression, of a word in Tanach, the way is a concordance, to open other citations and try to see within the context how the word is interpreted there, and so too we will explain here. That is, whenever one needs to search out a word, the first thing is to find its companion in Scripture. And the great difficulty is when the commentator writes, "I found no companion for it." I search for another such word in all of Scripture, it is a unique word. And then one indeed must try to see which word resembles it, closest to it in a transposition of letters or resembling it in some inflection, and through this to try to match this word to it. And if even that is impossible, then one explains its meaning according to its context. The commentator writes, "its interpretation according to its context is such and such." How do I know? I do not know, but rather, if for example the verse writes "dal va'rash" (poor and destitute), and "rash" I do not know, but "dal" I do know, then its interpretation according to its context is that "rash" too has to do with poverty. This is called "its interpretation according to its context."
So too here, the Malbim explains that chamitz or chamutz means clean. "Garments stained red" - the Malbim says, on what do I rely? That perhaps what is written, "set right the oppressed" (chamotz), means "you shall set right," for there the prophet tells them to do justice and judgment, set right the one who is clean in his case. Chamutz means clean. "From grief and sourness" (chometz) means from grief, one who did wrong and who wishes to purify himself. "For my heart was embittered" (yitchametz) means it will be purified of its thoughts. So "garments stained red" means pure and clean garments. So who is this coming from Edom whose garments are pure and clean, who is this coming from Botzrah who is splendid in his clothing?
The Malbim says, what is "his garments" (begadav) and what is "his clothing" (levusho"), is it not the same thing? The Malbim says there is a difference between beged and levush. Beged refers to garments in general. Levush, by contrast, is a special garment. For example, a uniform I would call levush, for example sackcloth I would call levush, it is not a standard garment. A standard garment is what a person wears in an ordinary way. Levush is a special garment, a particular item, like royal garb, the special garment of a king. Sackcloth, the special garment of those who mourn. Levush always comes to express a special garment. The Holy One, blessed be He, wanted Edom not to do evil to us. The garments that the Holy One, blessed be He, will wear are the general garments, these are the attributes with which the Holy One, blessed be He, conducts Himself with people, merciful, gracious, slow to anger. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, really demand of them? Of Edom, who does us evil, that they should not distress us. So what does He ask of them? Mercy, compassion. Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, come with a garment, what is a garment? The attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. And the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, are merciful, gracious, slow to anger. With garments the Holy One, blessed be He, will come, as it were, to Edom: be merciful, gracious, slow to anger toward the people of Yisrael.
By contrast, we explained that Botzrah is the center of their faith. And what does the Holy One, blessed be He, want from the place that is the center of their faith? The Holy One, blessed be He, wants them to recognize His divinity, to recognize His unity. And this is a special garment, this is royal garb. And this is why He says, "who is this coming clothed with garments from Botzrah." What is this garment, as we said? To recognize the special faith, the true faith, this is royal garb. And why is He striding and storming and stirred in the fullness of strength? The Holy One, blessed be He, says, "It is I, who speak in righteousness." The Holy One, blessed be He, says, when you ask Me about Botzrah, "who is this coming stained red of garments from Botzrah" - excuse me, yes, stained red of garments from Botzrah - if you want to know about Botzrah, I tell you, "I speak in righteousness." The meaning is: from the aspect of between man and God. That they should recognize the true faith. "Stained red of garments," the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I arrive from Botzrah to speak with them about the faith in Hashem. And "mighty to save" - who is this coming from Edom? Mighty to save. For as we said, Edom are the oppressors, they are the tormentors. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, I come from there because I am mighty to save, to save My people Yisrael. And the way to save My people Yisrael, as we said, is by turning to Edom and saying to them, why do you afflict My people?
"Why is there red on your clothing, and your garments like one who treads in a winepress?" "Why is there red on your clothing?" The Radak explains, why are your garments red? "On your clothing" (le'levushcha) means "your clothing" (levushcha), the lamed being a superfluous lamed. And why are your garments red? The Malbim explains that as soon as the questioner sees that the white garments have become red - as we said, chamutz means clean, that is white according to the Malbim's interpretation, and He is splendid in His clothing - suddenly he sees "red on your clothing," from what did the white garments turn red? From what were they stained with blood? "Why is there red on your clothing," which is the special garment, "and your garments," which are the general garments, not the special ones, "like one who treads in a winepress," like a person who treads in a winepress and the juice of the grapes spatters upon him, so what happened to your garments that they turned red?
What is the analogue? The Radak says, after all, the main purpose of the coming of the Holy One, blessed be He, is because of the special garment. What does this mean? The teaching of faith to the nations, which is the main purpose of perfecting the world under the kingdom of Shakai, that the nations should believe in Hashem, that they should recognize His kingship. He asks, why does Hashem arrive with "red on your clothing"? Why is the clothing red, which really shows that not only did they fail to accept the faith, but there was still a need to exact punishment from them, and what did this punishment cause? That His garments became red. The red garments come to express blood that spattered upon them. And we said earlier that the Holy One, blessed be He, comes and speaks with the nations with gentle words, He went in clean garments; they tell you, correct, that is how it began, but the nations did not accept, and Edom does not agree not to afflict Yisrael, and Botzrah does not agree to accept upon itself the true faith, and consequently the Holy One, blessed be He, must exact punishment from them as they deserve. And therefore His garments are red, meaning His clothing is red, "and your garments like one who treads in a winepress," and the garments too are like one who treads in a winepress, the garments that come to symbolize, as we said, the demand from the nations that they not distress the people of Yisrael.
What is the answer of the Holy One, blessed be He, to this? "I trod the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was no one with Me, and I trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath, and their lifeblood spattered upon My garments, and I soiled all My clothing." The Holy One, blessed be He, answers the questioners and says, "I trod the winepress alone." The winepress is called purah. What is purah? From the word for crumbling (pirur), they crumble and crush the grapes within it. And the Holy One, blessed be He, compares the wicked to grapes that will be crumbled and squeezed and trampled by the Holy One, blessed be He, when the time of redemption arrives, He will exact punishment for all that they did.
"I trod the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was no one with Me" - the Radak says, what is "there was no one with Me"? The meaning is: if I thought that the merits of the people of Yisrael would join with Me in order to exact punishment from the nations, I see that there is no one with Me. There is no merit for Yisrael, and, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, must do everything by His will, His desire, without our merits joining Him as assistants to Hashem, in the sense of "give strength to God." The Holy One, blessed be He, says, I must do this alone, "and I trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath, and their lifeblood spattered upon My garments, and I soiled all My clothing." The meaning is: all My clothing became dirtied by the blood of the nations and by the grapes, as we explained them now, the meaning being from the wicked whom "I trod in My anger" - I tread them in My anger, meaning in My wrath. And why? Because "of the peoples there was no one with Me." If there had been someone with Me who would come to assist through their merits, then that would have been a reason for Me to exact punishment from them. But since there is no one with Me, then what is the reason that I exact punishment from the nations? Only because of My anger and My wrath at what they did to Yisrael. Meaning My great anger at how they distressed Yisrael, this was the engine to exact punishment from the nations. For by justice and by truth it would have been fitting that our merits be the ones that would serve as the engine to exact punishment from the nations. But what can be done, that there is no one with Me, as we saw, "and He was astonished and saw that there was no helper, and He was appalled that there was no intercessor," there is no one who helps and assists the Holy One, blessed be He, meaning that we of ourselves are not worthy of redemption on account of our good deeds, and then through this the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I am compelled to do it alone, meaning only out of His will, blessed be He, without the merits of the people of Yisrael.
"And their lifeblood spattered upon My garments" - "their lifeblood" (nitzcham) means their blood. And the garments become red, and the blood is called netzach. Why is the blood called netzach, the Radak says? Because it is the life of a person and his strength. The meaning is either from the aspect that through it a person has existence, or from the aspect that it is from the term "forever" (lanetzach), to endure, like triumphing over all that occurs, or so, it is an expression of strength, the life of a person, his triumph, his strength are on account of the blood. "And their lifeblood spattered upon My garments" - their blood spattered upon My garments, "and I soiled all My clothing." "I soiled" (eg'alti) means like I dirtied, like "defiled bread," meaning soiled.
The Malbim explains "I trod the winepress alone." The Malbim says, one who treads the winepress, his goal is to bring forth wine. So too, when I trod the nations, I had a positive goal, to bring them to repentance. I had a goal to set them right. But I saw that "of the peoples there was no one with Me." No one joins Me. What does this mean? Note, the Radak explains that the meaning is not about the people of Yisrael. The Malbim explains that the meaning is not about the people of Yisrael, it fits better with the language of the verse, "and of the peoples there was no one with Me." I thought that some of the nations, when I would come and try to draw them near, I thought that someone would repent. And behold, I see "of the peoples there was no one with Me." No one repents. I wanted to bring forth wine from them, meaning from grapes, which is an unrefined thing, to make wine, which is a refined thing; "I trod the winepress," and I find Myself alone. "And of the peoples there was no one with Me," no one joins, no one repents. And so what does this cause? "And I trod them in My anger." This causes "I trampled them in My wrath." Since I see that they do not repent, I have no choice but to activate against them anger and wrath.
The Malbim says, what is the difference between af (anger) and chemah (wrath)? We have seen several times that af is the external, it is only for appearance's sake. "A fire kindled in My af," the external anger is apparent in the nose (af), there is a heating of the nose, a reddening of the nose, smoke in the nose, all of this is something that expresses external anger. By contrast, chemah is the inner anger that is stored within a person's heart. And the Malbim has a very wonderful explanation of this in Megillat Esther, to explain what is "his wrath burned within him," what is his wrath that burned within him and why did his wrath burn within him and why could he not reveal his anger to others; there is a very wonderful line of reasoning there based on this principle. But this is systematic with the Malbim throughout all of Tanach: af is external anger, chemah is inner anger.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says, "and I trod them in My anger." Through anger I punished them, and I intended only to tread them like one who treads in a winepress. And the one who treads in a winepress removes the seeds, the skins, and brings forth the wine. I wanted to remove only the wicked, just as the treading in a winepress creates a separation and distinction of the good part from the bad part; that was My goal at first, in My anger, in wrath, in punishment, in external anger, I intended only to remove the wicked. But "I trampled them in My wrath." Through My wrath that burned in them, over the fact that they did not want to repent, I saw that "I trod the winepress alone," there is no one with Me, of the peoples no one repents, so consequently what I intended by "and I trod them in My anger" in order to create a separation between the skins and seeds and the wine, and really to exact punishment from the wicked in My anger while on the other hand drawing near the righteous - I saw that there are none. There is no one worthy to be called righteous who comes to join Me, and therefore "I trampled them in My wrath." My inner wrath that burns in them, that they do not wish to repent, I will trample them, and trampling, the Malbim says, is already a way of destruction; to trample means to nullify completely.
And through this, "their lifeblood spattered upon My garments," which are the general garments, and this is against what I requested, that they not distress the people of Yisrael. And then "all My clothing," which comes to express the faith in Hashem, comes to express the faith in one God, this is the royal garb with which He turned to Botzrah that they should accept His faith, "I soiled." They were dirtied with their blood; instead of you accepting this faith upon yourselves, now your trampling causes the soiling of the clothing, those very garments that you could have accepted upon yourselves for good.
"For a day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come." The Radak explains, for a day of vengeance was in My heart already from long ago, from ages and ages, until the year of My redeemed came. And then there will be a day of vengeance upon the peoples. The meaning is: this day of vengeance has been brewing in My heart for a long time. And behold, now the time of redemption has arrived. The Malbim explains that really here He gives an explanation for why He hastens to tread them, to trample them, why He does not extend His patience toward them. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, for the year of My redeemed has come. And the day of vengeance in My heart is a special day of vengeance against the nations. And on the other hand, the year of My redeemed, to redeem the people of Yisrael, has come. So there are two elements joined together here. One element is to exact punishment from the nations for what they did. The second element is to redeem the people of Yisrael so that they may leave the exile. And through the action that the Holy One, blessed be He, performs, He really accomplishes here something like two birds with one stone: on the one hand He exacts punishment from the nations, and on the other hand He redeems the people of Yisrael.
"And I looked, and there was no helper, and I was appalled that there was no supporter, and My own arm brought Me salvation, and My wrath, it supported Me." Rashi explains, "and I looked, and there was no helper" - there is no helper for them, for Yisrael. "And I was appalled" (ve'eshtomem) - eshtomem is an expression of silence. As it is written, "and He was astonished that there was no intercessor." "And there was no supporter" - I am silent and see that no one supports. And if so, what really will help Me to perform these actions? "My wrath, it supported Me." "My own arm brought Me salvation," the meaning is: the engine, the driving force to exact punishment from the nations is My wrath against them. For truly I would have needed help, as it were, from the people of Yisrael, as though Hashem needs help - rather the meaning is that the merits of the people of Yisrael always serve as an aid and assistance to Hashem, blessed be He, for the conduct of the Holy One, blessed be He, is always in a way of law. The meaning is: there are those who argue in favor, there are those who argue against, nothing is done under the table. Things are done according to law, this is not the government of Yisrael, everything must be according to the law, according to the statute, according to the rules, there are prosecutors, those who favor, those who oppose, and a ruling; the Holy One, blessed be He, cannot, as it were, do something against the prosecution of the attribute of justice. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, but here what brought about the way to overcome the nations, even though I have no assistance from the aspect of the merits of Yisrael that would call for doing justice against the nations? The Holy One, blessed be He, says, My wrath. The wrath that I have against the nations. And if you say, but after all, this was deserved by Yisrael; the sufferings with which the nations afflicted them were part of the process that the people of Yisrael were meant to undergo in exile in order to bring them to repentance - Rashi says, "I was angry only a little, and they helped toward evil." A verse that comes to express that the nations were greatly stringent in their decrees against the people of Yisrael. The Holy One, blessed be He, decreed a decree against the people of Yisrael, but the nations did everything to the measure of the Chazon Ish, they did everything far, far beyond and above. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, and concerning this "My wrath, it supported Me." This wrath, the anger against them, this strengthened My hand, stirred My heart to exact punishment from them, even though the people of Yisrael of themselves are not worthy of redemption. And as we have explained several times, that there is the conduct of judgment and there is the conduct of unity. And if according to the conduct of judgment, which means as I explained earlier those who favor and those who oppose, they have no merits for the people of Yisrael; but the conduct of unity, the conduct of unity is the conduct in which the Holy One, blessed be He, pays no attention to anything but only to His will, blessed be He, that His unity be revealed in the world. "There is none besides Him," no prosecutors, no ones who favor, no ones who oppose, only He alone. This is the conduct of unity. And then the Holy One, blessed be He, by His will, will come in the fullness of His anger and His wrath against the nations, and exact punishment from them as befits Him, as befits them.
The Malbim says, "and I looked, and there was no helper" - the generation is not meritorious. "And I was appalled that there was no supporter" - there is no righteous person praying for them. Corresponding to "and there was no helper," the generation is not meritorious, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "and My own arm brought Me salvation," I did it by My own power. And corresponding to "and there was no supporter," which is a righteous person praying for them, this too there is not, "My wrath, it supported Me." The wrath at their crooked sins, it supported Me, this is what supported Me to go and exact punishment from them.
And therefore, "and I trampled peoples in My anger and made them drunk in My wrath, and I brought their lifeblood down to the earth." "And I trampled" (va'avus) - avus is an expression of wallowing in blood. Like "wallowing in your blood," like "they trampled My portion," avus always means trample, an expression of trampling. "And I trampled peoples in My anger and made them drunk in My wrath." The Malbim explains that "I trampled peoples" will be through My anger, and "My wrath," which is the inner anger, through this "I made them drunk" completely, "I brought their lifeblood down to the earth." What is "I made them drunk in My wrath"? The Radak explains that the meaning is I will make them drink the cup of My wrath until they become drunk, as though they will be like drunkards from the great wrath of Hashem against them. Until "I brought their lifeblood down to the earth," meaning their strength and their might will come down to the earth.