What does this mean? The Malbim explains that the essential reason a king's throne is founded at the outset is so that the king will carry out justice. Why do we need a king? "A king establishes a land through justice." Without this, people would swallow one another alive. That is the primary purpose in appointing a king, so that he will render judgment between one person and another. That is the preparation, from now on. This is what he means by "to establish it in justice." For what purpose is his throne set up? So that he will carry out justice. And justice, the Malbim always says, refers to matters between one person and another. "These are the ordinances which you shall set before them," matters of interpersonal relationships. "And to uphold it through righteousness." But this throne will not endure if it contains only justice. It must also contain matters between man and God, and that is what sustains the king's throne. What upholds the throne? "Upholds" means supports it so that the throne will not fall. "And to uphold it through righteousness." Through the king performing also righteousness between man and God, as it is written, "And he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah, and it shall be with him all the days of his life, in order that he may prolong his days over his kingdom." Then it will be forever. If you have this support of "through righteousness," that you also cling to God's commandments and do not turn away from them, then, in addition to your also going and carrying out justice between one person and another, your kingdom will be a kingdom forever. And even though we are not worthy of it, "the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this." The Holy One, blessed be He, is zealous over what Sancheriv did, over how much he reviled and blasphemed the ranks of the living God, and against this the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this," to exact retribution from the wicked one. And if one might ask, what does this mean... "in righteousness from now and forever," tell me, did Chizkiyahu have a kingdom from now and forever? Chizkiyahu did not have such a kingdom, so what does "from now and forever" mean? There are two explanations for this. One explanation: "forever" does not necessarily mean eternity. Where do we see that "forever" is not necessarily eternal? "And he shall serve him forever." What does "forever" mean there? Until the Jubilee. Or, for example, that he consecrated him "forever," where it is written regarding the Levites' "forever" in the case of Shmuel. This means that "forever" is not necessarily eternal. So too what is written "from now and forever" does not mean eternity. But I think another explanation is possible. It is written that the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to make Chizkiyahu the Mashiach. Had he been the Mashiach, his kingdom would have been forever. So that is what he means, "from now and forever." That was the potential. But in the end it did not come to fruition. Why? Because he did not sing song. Therefore it did not come to fruition. But the potential was "from now and forever."
The Holy One, blessed be He, sought to make Chizkiyahu the Mashiach. That is to say, had Chizkiyahu sung song, he would have merited to be the Mashiach, and then it truly would have been forever. But what happened? Chizkiyahu did not sing song, so he did not rise to the occasion, and therefore it did not become forever. But truly, had he risen to the occasion, then in accordance with the promise it would have been forever. "The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this."
The Radak says regarding "for the increase of the dominion (le-marbeh ha-misrah)," notice that the mem is a closed mem. We read it "le-marbeh," reading it with an open mem. The Radak says there is no other instance like this in the Tanach, but there is an opposite phenomenon in the Tanach. Does anyone know the opposite phenomenon in the Tanach? A mem within a word, sorry, a mem that is at the end of a word yet is an open mem. It is not your fault, we did not learn it here, but whoever heard the entire language does know it. It is found in the book of Ezra, "hem perutzim." "Hem perutzim" is written when the mem is an open mem, at a point where one could read it, as it were, "ha-meforatzim," so one can read it that way or "hem perutzim." The mem there is an open mem. Our Sages expound: when did this occur? Regarding the walls of Yerushalayim. The walls of Yerushalayim were breached, and therefore they went to strengthen them. The Midrash says: when the walls of Yerushalayim that are breached will be sealed, throughout the time of exile, at the time of the redemption if they are sealed, then there will be "le-marbeh ha-misrah." That is, that same mem, the closed mem, will be opened until the King Mashiach. There is here a closed mem waiting for that mem. When the walls of Yerushalayim that are breached are sealed, then this closed mem will open, and then there will be "le-marbeh ha-misrah." Now it is like a word cut in the middle, "le-m ... rabeh ha-misrah," but when the walls of Yerushalayim are sealed, this letter mem will open here. And by the way, the intent there is not to say that some technical action will open it, as it were, but rather that when we are worthy through our deeds for all the walls of Yerushalayim to be repaired, then through this we will merit that the King Mashiach will come speedily in our days, amen. One more small word: it is stated in our Sages, our Rabbis said, the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to make Chizkiyahu the Mashiach and Sancheriv Gog and Magog. The ministering angels said before the Holy One, blessed be He: shall the one who cut off the doors of the Sanctuary and sent them to the king of Ashur be made Mashiach? Immediately the verse was sealed. God wished to grant him "le-marbeh ha-misrah," increase, but immediately when the ministering angels argued, saying, Master of the Universe, he cut off the doors and sent them to the king of Ashur, the mem was sealed. Yaakov sought to reveal the End and it was sealed; here too, the Holy One, blessed be He, wished for it to be of the nature of "from now and forever," and it was sealed, "le-marbeh ha-misrah."
"The Lord sent a word into Yaakov, and it fell upon Yisrael." Now he turns his attention to the ten tribes and begins to prophesy about them in detail concerning the trouble destined to come upon them. As you recall, the ten tribes, together with Pekach ben Remalyahu, joined Retzin the king of Aram in order to distress and come against Yehudah. The Malbim prefaces and says that the ancient peoples believed in something called "arkal" or "araukal," I do not know exactly how to pronounce it, but the idea of it was that there was a certain saying or a certain belief accepted among the masses, that they thought a particular matter was indeed a decree from Heaven. This matter is like a decree from Heaven, just as among the Arabs, for example, there is a certain expression, "kulu min Allah," so too they had a certain belief that a particular matter is, as it were, a decree decreed from Heaven. And this belief, this saying, we will soon see about what they said it, but this saying was among the masses, and from there it reached the great people, and from there it spread to the entire nation. And that is what he says, "The Lord sent a word into Yaakov, and it fell upon Yisrael." A word, the prophet now speaks to the tribes, to the ten tribes, and says to them: you relate to this matter that the Lord sent, you say it is a word the Lord sent. "Into Yaakov," this saying spread among Yaakov. Yaakov always symbolizes the people of Yisrael at their lower level, which is the masses. And afterward "it fell upon Yisrael," afterward also the great and important ones, "Yisrael" being a term of authority, they too began to say this refrain. And afterward "and all the people shall know," from there it already became commonly said among the entire nation, it already became a saying that all the people would recite.
"And the inhabitant of Shomron, in pride and greatness of heart, saying." The entire nation, both the general populace, which is the country, and "the inhabitant of Shomron," for Shomron was the royal city, the place of Achav, who had already died by then, but in any case even in Shomron, the royal city, there too they would say the saying we will soon state, "in pride and greatness of heart, saying." They trusted in this saying, they would say it in pride and greatness of heart. What is "pride"? The Malbim says: sometimes a person who takes pride in a certain matter knows that it is false, knows that it is not really true, yet nevertheless he takes pride in it. But "greatness of heart" refers to a person who is certain that what he says is true, he is certain that he has something to rely upon. What was the saying that they would say, upon which they supposedly relied and were confident? "Bricks have fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." "Bricks have fallen," the ten tribes would say, what do we have to fear? What are you saying? Look and see, Retzin the king of Aram, upon whom you relied, has fallen into the hand of Ashur. So where is your support? You relied on Retzin the king of Aram to assist you against Yehudah, and now you see that "bricks have fallen." They said: do not worry, it is all from Heaven, all for the good, all from Heaven. "Bricks have fallen, but we will build with hewn stone." Bricks, a brick, they would produce it from clay, from material. In contrast, "hewn stone," from what term is it called "gazit"? "Gazit" is a stone that is cut. It is not a stone that I produce from clay, but rather one cuts it from the rock. Do you know how they would cut it? To this day, how do they cut the stones of hewn stone? They make holes in the rock, insert boards into them, pour water on them, the boards swell, and the stone detaches from the rock. To this day you can see stones that are cut, you can see they have those circles where they drilled and inserted the thing in order to cut the stone from the rock. This is called "gazit," it is a cut stone. Now, hewn stone was considered very valuable, like today, like marble. It is a stone in itself, it is not produced from earth. So they said "bricks have fallen," who fell? Retzin? Do not worry, "we will build with hewn stone." It is only for the good; until now we had a house of bricks, now we will have a house of hewn stone. This is so that now we will have a stronger, more successful house. And this is also the idea of the next statement, "sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." Sycamores are a type of fig tree that is not considered a fine tree; the figs are cheap, "like the sycamores in the lowland in abundance." "Sycamores have been cut down," true, correct, we had a field of sycamores and they were cut down, but do not worry, in their place "we will replace them with cedars," we will have good and strong trees for beams, cedar trees. Why do they double the statements? Why was the first parable not sufficient? The Malbim explains that indeed "bricks have fallen, but we will build with hewn stone" means I will have something better, but it is not simple, because I have the burden of the expenses, I have the burden of purchasing the hewn stone. I had a brick house, I had a house, now go and turn, go and bring hewn stone, go and buy, go and build, that is an expense, a great expense. They say to you: no, "sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." If, for example, a person had a field of sycamores, and the field of sycamores was not of much benefit to him, and he prefers a field of cedars. Now they come and tell him, you know, someone destroyed your entire field, uprooted all your sycamores. He even thanks him, gives him a blessing. I would have had to bring a company to uproot all the sycamores and do all the work; this came for free, he took and uprooted everything. What do I need to do? Only bring saplings to plant, put in some seeds. That is to say, they even did the work for me. In this, this parable is better than the first part, because in the first part "we will build with hewn stone," but "sycamores have been cut down" is good for me because they were cut down on their own. And if they were cut down on their own, then on the contrary, this shows that it is only for my good, I do not need to toil. And therefore, as it were, they say: we have another reason to rejoice at Retzin's downfall. Retzin was some weak support who could not be relied upon so much, and now you see Ashur came against him and toppled him. But this apparently indicates that something better is being planned for us from Heaven; we will have something of the nature of cedars, which is far more successful.
"And the Lord shall set on high the adversaries of Retzin against him, and shall stir up his enemies." The prophet says to them: it is true, as you said, so it will be fulfilled. The bricks will fall, the sycamores will be cut down. Why? Because the Lord will set the adversaries of Retzin on high against him. "Yisgev" means He will strengthen, "and He sets the needy on high from affliction," the Lord will strengthen the adversaries of Retzin against him. The adversaries, those who distress Retzin, He will strengthen them against him, and through this the weak support you had from Retzin will fall. "And He shall stir up his enemies," He will entangle him with his enemies. The Malbim explains: usually when they would wage war, the mighty warriors would stand in the middle in order to go against the enemy army. Those who were less mighty would stand around the sides, sheltering, covering like a wall, so that after the mighty warriors strike the enemy and the enemy begins to flee, they have a pincer movement, they catch him, pursue them, do not let them escape. But the mighty warriors are in the first line of fire, they are the ones directly facing the enemy. So too he comes to depict here, "the adversaries of Retzin," the adversaries of Retzin are those who actually distress him. The Malbim says there is a difference between an "adversary" (tzar) and an "enemy" (oyev). An adversary is one who actually distresses, an enemy is one who has hatred in his heart but does not actually cause trouble in practice. So "the adversaries of Retzin" are those who actually distress him, they will overcome him in war. And "his enemies," his enemies are the enemy, as we said, who is an enemy in his heart, he has hatred but does not actually distress, "He shall stir up." "Yesachsech," the Malbim explains, is from the language of covering/sheltering; the enemies are not the actual distressers, they are not the ones who come to kill, but they are in the second line, as we explained, they are around the sides, waiting for you to flee in order to strike you. And they are the weaker ones, that is the definition of "his enemies," he does not actually distress but only seeks his harm. He will be around the sides in the second line of fire, waiting for you to flee in order to strike you. That is the meaning of "and He shall stir up his enemies," the meaning is with the enemies, who are the ones covering, yes, meaning those who are around the sides, they, as it were, are the ones who will strike him, those who will try to flee.
Now Rashi explains "and He shall stir up his enemies" as referring to the Divine Presence. The Holy One, blessed be He, will entangle His enemies with one another. That is, the people of Yisrael have enemies, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will see to it, "and I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians." According to Rashi it is according to its plain meaning: "He shall stir up," there will be strife among the enemies. Yes, it is not always good for us, as there is strife now in Egypt, it is not necessarily good for us, but once there is strife among the enemies, it certainly creates some quiet for the people of Yisrael. In the immediate sense it creates quiet. Let me give you just one example. Recently there was, I am sure you did not hear about it, I did not hear about it either, there was a march. There was a very serious hearing in the High Court that the leftists had been preparing for over four months. They planned a stretcher march with many organizations, on this matter of the yeshivah students, why they do not enlist in the army. And they brought all the organizations and staged a stretcher march, as if the religious do not enlist in the army and we and we and we. And there was a hearing in the High Court, and in no newspaper was there even a single headline about this matter. No news broadcast a single sentence about it. And the one who contends, I do not know his name, may the Lord contend our contention against him, the one who organized this, he lamented about it, he said: precisely now these found themselves a revolution in Egypt to deal with, precisely now. The media did not even bother, and they are well networked in the media, they are connected to everyone, when there is something they want, all the focus goes to them, they are connected to everyone. And here no one even mentioned it, because there happened to be a hearing in the High Court, and yeshivah students, and conscription, and... The Chazon Ish says that when troubles are made at home, inside, for the observant, the Holy One, blessed be He, sees to trouble those very people, sees to trouble them with matters from outside, so that they will remove their yoke from upon us. So the Holy One, blessed be He, thank God, brought the troubles in Egypt and not here, but all the focus was directed there, what is happening with Mubarak. And then who is even interested in what is happening here with the yeshivah students? This teaches us that all their interest in the yeshivah students is only because in the media there is a slow season, there is nothing to broadcast, so come, let us strike the Charedim, come, it always sells. But when there is something a bit more interesting, then really, who is interested in these yeshivah students? Who is interested in this chewed-over, worn-out topic, how much more can you grind it? Who cares about it? But when there is nothing else, then, upon them! Even dry wood is fit to eat. So that is what he says here, the Holy One, blessed be He, "shall stir up His enemies." When there is strife there, they leave us alone here. That is "He shall stir up His enemies."
Now the Malbim explains: we saw that they have a saying commonly on their lips, "bricks have fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." The prophet says to them: it is true, everything you said at the beginning at least is correct. "Bricks have fallen," true, the bricks will fall. What you said, "sycamores have been cut down," true, the sycamores will be cut down. Half the statement is correct. But the continuation is a mistake on your part. "We will build with hewn stone"? "We will replace them with cedars"? He says to them: you are mistaken. Your fall will be a complete fall. The continuation is not correct, you will not succeed in rising from this fall, it will not come to pass. You will not have new helpers. On the contrary, "Aram from the east and the Pelishtim from behind, and they shall devour Yisrael with open mouth. For all this His anger has not turned away, and His hand is still outstretched." Aram, who until now had been helping you, will come upon you from the east. He will attack you from the east. And the Pelishtim will attack you from behind, from the west side. They will devour you with open mouth. And nevertheless, so that you do not think this is the end of it, know that this is only the first course. You have a long feast here still. The Holy One, blessed be He, has only just begun with this. With this His anger has still not turned away, His hand is still outstretched.
"But the people did not return to Him who smites them, nor did they seek the Lord of Hosts." Why has the Lord's anger not turned away? He is already striking them, the Pelishtim, Aram. Why has His anger not turned away? The prophet says because "the people did not return to Him who smites them." For instead of the people returning to whom? To the Holy One, blessed be He. What happens? They always return to seek help from the very one who smites them. From whom? From the one who comes to strike you, you go to him, to Aram, you request help from him. Egypt, with whom we had strife, you go to them in order to lean upon them. We see throughout the generations they went to request help from whom? From their enemies. And the verse says "the people did not return to Him who smites them." This expression, the Malbim says, is not precise. "The people did not return to Him who smites them." What is "to Him who smites them"? The Malbim says: if Ashur strikes us, who is really striking us? The Holy One, blessed be He. For we learned explicitly, "Woe to Ashur, the rod of My anger." So now if Aram strikes us, then who is really the one striking? The Holy One, blessed be He. That is what he means, "the people did not return to Him who smites them." You fools, instead of returning to the One who smites, who is really the Lord, blessed be He, you return to him who smites. You return to the one who smites you, the one who holds this rod called Aram and strikes you. Ah, "the people did not return to Him who smites them." And he explains, who is "Him who smites them"? "Nor did they seek the Lord of Hosts." If so, the Holy One, blessed be He, says His anger has not turned away and His hand is still outstretched. That is what is written in the previous verse. Therefore His anger has not turned away, therefore His hand is still outstretched. You have not drawn conclusions.
"So the Lord cut off from Yisrael head and tail, palm branch and rush, in one day." The Holy One, blessed be He, cuts off from Yisrael head and tail, palm branch and rush. "Head" refers to the leaders, "tail" refers to their tails. In the next verse he will explain this more fully, whom he means. And He will also cut off "palm branch and rush." What is "palm branch and rush"? "Kippah," the Malbim says, means a branch. As it is written, "his branch (kippato) shall not be fresh" in Iyov. "Kippah" is a branch. "Agmon" is a weak branch. It is a rush that grows in a marsh. It grows in water and it is an even weaker branch. The Lord will cut off from Yisrael, Yisrael as we said being the ten tribes, head and tail, both the leaders and the tails, both the strong branches, meaning the mighty ones, and the rush, the weak ones. All of them will be guilty in this matter, as we will see further on. And now he details. "The elder and the honorable, he is the head; and the prophet who teaches falsehood, he is the tail." Now he begins to explain what I said earlier, head and tail. The elder, who is elderly in wisdom and in years, and honorable, a respected person. These two qualities cause him to be the head. He is the truly important person. In contrast, the false prophet is the tail. The Malbim explains: when an animal walks forward, going ahead, this is called that it walks after the head. When is that? When it follows the wise, follows the elders, it is called walking after the head. But when they deviate from the way, when they follow the false prophets, they do not appoint over themselves a leader who is an elder and honorable, but rather a prophet who teaches falsehood, then they walk after the tail. They are like a dog walking in reverse. It walks after its tail. Instead of walking after the head, the important leaders, who are the elder and honorable, you walk after a prophet who teaches falsehood, meaning here the false prophets who teach you to turn away from the ways of the Lord. The Radak explains that the false prophets were among the lowly of the people. And why did these people prophesy falsely? For a person does nothing without an interest. What was their interest? They would go to find favor in the eyes of the kings, prophesying falsely good things for them. Or, how many people love to hear good things. Do not worry, the Lord will not destroy the Beit HaMikdash, the Lord will not exile the vessels, do not worry, the people of Yisrael will not be exiled, the Holy One, blessed be He, loves His people who offer sacrifices here in the Beit HaMikdash. They would always reassure the people falsely. And this always found a listening ear. And Yeshayahu, Yirmiyahu would come and say harsh prophecies, and it is always the religious who love to frighten. Enough, leave us alone with the extremists, leave it, all the time they tell you stories and there will be disasters and... leave it, all the time they love to frighten with Shabbat desecration and this and that and modesty, leave it, leave this. Here, listen, there are also other voices. Here you see, these are prophets but more likeable. You see such Reform ones, they are nice, not like these observant ones who always only love to say bad things. They were the false prophets. Now, they were among the lowly of the people. Why, what was their interest? The Radak says: since they would prophesy to the great ones, promising them good promises, then one hand washes the other, so the great ones, the officials, the kings, would give them bread and wine, would honor them. Because he attained a position, this is one who is on my side, he runs my campaign, he is against Yeshayahu, he is against Yirmiyahu, all those who always only have everything against, against with them. And this is as it is written, "I will prophesy to you of wine and strong drink, he shall be the preacher of this people." The meaning is that they would preach, as it were, and would say words of prophecy falsely for good in order to receive benefits from the king. This is called "the prophet who teaches falsehood, he is the tail." These are small people, who for bread and wine go to invent false prophecies that never were and never existed, for some benefit, and the people follow them. That is what he says, "the elder and the honorable, he is the head, and the prophet who teaches falsehood, he is the tail." And what happens now? "For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are swallowed up." Now he explains why He will cut off both the palm branch and the rush. The palm branch, we said, is the strong ones, the mighty ones, the strong branches, and the rush, we said, is the weak ones. He says: for it is indeed true, "the leaders of this people cause them to err." That is, those who supposedly approved the deeds of the people, as it is written, "we approve of the wicked." Those who would approve the deeds of the people, saying to them: fortunate are you, what you are doing is excellent, do not worry. The leaders of this people would cause them to err. Therefore the decree of being cut off was decreed both on the head and on the tail. But know, "and those who are led by them are swallowed up." That is, also those who are led, who are they? There are the leaders (me'asher), who are the great ones who instruct us to do evil, and there are the led (me'ushar), those who receive instructions from the leaders, who are essentially the people. They are called the led, those who receive approvals. They too, in their own right, were being swallowed up. "Swallowed up" means corrupted; the Malbim explains "mevula" means like swallowing something and destroying it in complete destruction. So too, in simple terms I would like to say, they did not simply come and mislead them, they misled those who wanted to be misled. The people themselves wanted to be misled. The people themselves sought all kinds of such reinforcements from false prophets, from those who would mislead them. Therefore he says accordingly, palm branch and rush, both the strong branches and the weak ones. He cannot claim, "they misled me." They did not simply mislead you, they misled you because you inclined a listening ear and wanted, of your own accord, to be misled; also those led by them were themselves being swallowed up in their own right.
And therefore, "Therefore the Lord will not rejoice in their young men, nor have compassion on their orphans and widows, for everyone is a flatterer and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks vileness. For all this His anger has not turned away, and His hand is still outstretched." And therefore the Lord says thus through the prophet: not only will the Lord cut off the leaders, who are the ones in charge, but also over their young men and their mighty men the Lord will not rejoice. "Bachurav" is always a term of the choicest, the mighty ones, the Lord will not rejoice. This is the referent of the palm branch. The palm branch, we said, is a strong branch. And not only that, also the weak ones, who are the rush, "nor have compassion on their orphans and widows." Also over the rush the Lord will not have pity. Why is it written regarding "their young men" "He will not rejoice," and regarding "their orphans and widows" "He will not have compassion"? The Malbim explains: the king is careful not to cut off his mighty men, because they gladden him with their might. And he is also careful not to cut off the weak ones in his kingdom, the orphans and widows, because he has compassion on them. But the Lord says, over their young men He will not rejoice; whereas usually the king rejoices in his mighty men, the Lord will not rejoice over their young men. And their orphans and widows He will not have compassion on; whereas usually the king has compassion on the orphans and widows, the Lord will not have compassion on them. Why? Because "everyone is a flatterer and an evildoer." "Everyone is a flatterer," that is, as we explained, both the people and the weak ones. Everyone is a flatterer. What is a "flatterer"? The Malbim explains: outwardly, as it were, they would counterfeit and make themselves out to be servants of the Lord, but their heart was not with them. This is the matter of flattery. Flattery means outwardly yes, peace, how are you, but within his heart he says may he die, and he curses him and... this is called flattery, a very negative trait; the sect of flatterers is one of the groups that do not receive the Divine Presence. He says everyone is a flatterer and an evildoer. Beyond being a flatterer, he is also an evildoer, he does evil in practice. And beyond that, "for every mouth speaks vileness." That is, sometimes a person does evil but, well, is ashamed to speak about it. But with them, not only did they do evil, they would even make programs and broadcasts about it, and each one recounts all the evils and all the terrible things he did. And therefore, "for all this His anger has not turned away, and His hand is still outstretched." That is, had the evil at least been in secret, it would still be tolerable, but not only is he a flatterer and also an evildoer, but moreover, every mouth speaks vileness. This, He tells you, is a reason that the Lord's anger has not turned away and His hand is still outstretched.
Our Sages expound on this: what is "and His hand is still outstretched"? Everyone knows why a bride enters the wedding canopy, yet whoever defiles his mouth, even if a decree of seventy years for good has been signed for him, they overturn it upon him for evil. Awesome and terrible; see what a punishment for foul speech is, it is truly alarming. How much a person must be careful and guard clean speech, how much to be careful not to utter with his lips anything that has in it some hint, God forbid, of some flaw of speech. He says: look, everyone knows why a bride enters the wedding canopy, everyone knows that a bride enters the canopy for intimacy. But if someone actually says it, he says this is awesome and terrible, that even if a decree of seventy years for good was decreed for him, they overturn it upon him for evil. To such an extent, a decree of seventy years with good things written about him, all of it will be turned to evil. Rashi says this is learned from what is written "ve'ad" (and still), as if all of a person's years, as though instead of "ve'od yado netuyah" (His hand is still outstretched) it reads "ve'ad yado netuyah," as if His hand will be outstretched forever, for all the days of a person's years, "in our days, seventy years in them." The Maharsha explains that the punishment is measure for measure, for usually who are those who defile their mouths with "why a bride enters the wedding canopy"? It is the young men, not the elders, it is the young men. And therefore the punishment is "Therefore the Lord will not rejoice in their young men." Now, at the time of a young man's joy, when he has married a woman, you defile your mouth, so against this, that very one who defiles his mouth, over their young men He will not rejoice, you will not merit, God forbid, to reach the joy of a wedding canopy because you defiled your mouth. And that is what he says, "and every mouth speaks vileness," and nevertheless His anger has not turned away; what is "His anger has not turned away"? Rather, His hand is still outstretched, so that a decree of seventy years, even if it were for good, will be overturned, God forbid, to evil.
"For wickedness burns like a fire; it devours briers and thorns, and kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke." "For wickedness burns like a fire." He compares the wickedness to a burning fire. He compares the nation to a forest that grows and is full of trees. It is known that when a forest begins to burn, the trunk does not begin to burn. From what does it begin? From the thorns, "if a fire breaks out and finds thorns." At the beginning passersby ignite the thorns that are at the sides of the road, and from them the burning begins, but what burns first? The thickets of the trees. What burns first is the upper branches, since they are thinner. The fire entangles in them and does not take hold of the body of the trees. The branches are the ones that become fuel for the fire. But the lower trunks usually only become black from the smoke. But if there is a great stormwind, then the wind draws and entangles the fire everywhere. And it essentially presses the fire also into the trunk. For the trunk takes a long time until the fire catches in it, usually it only gets scorched. But when there is a great wind, the trunks of the trees too become fuel for the fire. Now the prophet describes this reality to them, as it were, the forest is the nation, since he is speaking here, as we said, about the ten tribes. This nation will become fire, and it will devour "briers and thorns," that is, the thorns. The thorns here in the parable are the wicked of the nation. The wicked are compared to thorns; there is no benefit from them, they only harm, only prick. And they are the wicked of the nation. And afterward "it kindles in the thickets of the forest." The thickets of the forest are the branches. The branches, as we said, are the upper part of the tree, they are essentially the intermediate ones. Until "they roll upward in a column of smoke." Until they too are full of smoke and fire takes hold in them as well.
In the next stage, "Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts the land is darkened, and the people become like fuel for the fire; no man spares his brother." Afterward a great wrath comes; "wrath" symbolizes anger, there will be a great wind, and this wind will bring down; "ne'tam," the Malbim explains, is like blocking, from the language of sealing, it will seal the fire so that it does not continue onward but rather descends downward. It will descend and burn the lower part, which is essentially the trunk. The Malbim says: it is known that when there is a candle, for example, take a candle, extinguish it. What comes out of it? What rises from it? Smoke. Take a match, light it ten centimeters above the smoke, what happens? Immediately the fire descends and catches in the candle. Why? Because this smoke that rises contains within it gases. Gases that are flammable, and when you place a flame above it, you will see the fire immediately jumps into the candle. It descends downward into the candle. You can do experiments at home. This is the reality, yes it is reality, it is like this, it descends, it is reality, it is proven. It depends on how large the smoke is, but try it not too high, you will see how the fire jumps downward and catches in the candle. It literally jumps and catches in the candle. The Malbim says: so too the fire, as it were, is like a column of fire that descends from above downward with great force. That is what he says, "through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts," meaning through the anger of the Holy One, blessed be He, it will be like a great wind, "the land is darkened," as if it will be sealed and descend downward. And accordingly, "the people become like fuel for the fire." All at once the people become like fuel for the fire. What is "the people"? This is the general nation, the trunks. If until now we spoke about the wicked, who are the thorns, and afterward we spoke about the branches, who are the intermediate ones, now we are speaking about the general nation, which is the foundation of the nation, who are the trunks. And essentially the parable is that the fire will take hold in the entire people, that is, the exile and the punishment that will come upon the entire kingdom of Yisrael will be a harsh punishment that takes hold of them all, from the great wicked ones, through the intermediate ones, to the people who are the simple people, the common folk, neither wicked nor intermediate, but righteous ones and people of high stature were not among the portion of the people of Yisrael. Yes, but in any case he compares them to simple people. And this fire will pass and ignite from one to the next. The Malbim says: it is the way of fire to pass from trunk to trunk, from tree to tree. So too here the fire will spread from neighbor to neighbor and from brother to brother. And that is what is written, "no man spares his brother." That is, they will not have compassion one upon another, but like a tree that burns the tree next to it, it does not have compassion on it, the fire continues and from it continues to the tree after it. So too, no man spares his brother, but this fire will take hold in the entire people.
The Malbim says: regarding the terms of burning, we have already discussed that there are several expressions. Here it is written "burns," "devours," "kindles." The Malbim says: the verb "ba'ar" (burns) and the verb "vatitzat" (kindles) come upon the beginning of the ignition. When I want the fire to take hold in something, I ignite it or kindle it. We will soon see the difference between igniting and kindling. In contrast, "eating" (achilah), the fire eats, expresses what happens once there is already fire, what happens to the material that is burned? We say the fire eats it. That is what happens: for example, I ignited fire in a log of wood, what happens to the log? It is eaten. That is the language of "eating" written regarding fire. What is the difference between igniting (le-hav'ir), kindling (le-hatzit), and lighting (le-hadlik)? Lighting, the Malbim says, is the first taking hold of the fire. I lit the candle, the first taking hold in it, when it catches, is called lighting. Igniting refers to what follows from this, now the candle burns. The candle burns by virtue of what? That I lit it; the lighting is the initial action, and afterward the continuing action is the burning, the candle now burns. What then is kindling? The Malbim says: kindling comes to symbolize fire that suddenly bursts out, and usually a fire that is not for benefit. "And He kindled a fire in Tziyon." When I light a fire, for example, in a trunk in order to cook or to warm myself by it, I would not call that kindling. Rather, kindling is for a fire that burns in order to warm oneself by it. But kindling always comes to express kindling something, meaning igniting it in order to consume it, to destroy it, as it is written, "and I will kindle a fire in her forest," "and I will kindle a fire in her palaces." That is always the expression of kindling. And therefore the Malbim says it unites also with another expression that expresses desolation, as it is written, "it is kindled (nitzta) like a wilderness without inhabitant." And there the meaning is "nitzta" from the language of it became desolate, for as we said, to kindle means something that consumes. Not something for benefit; no, I do not light a candle so that I can read by its light. Rather I kindle in order to burn, in order to consume. Here he depicts for us the wickedness that burns, which is essentially the fire, it devours the thorns, and from there it kindles all at once by means of the branches, all at once it descends and kindles and burns all the trunks, which comes to express, as we said, the entirety of the whole nation.
"And one shall snatch on the right and be hungry, and he shall eat on the left and not be satisfied; each shall eat the flesh of his own arm." Now he will describe the great murderousness that will be among them; as is known, the First Temple was destroyed because there was in it idolatry, forbidden relations, and bloodshed. There was great murderousness among them, each one would consume his fellow. "And one shall snatch on the right," "vayigzor" is from the language of snatching; a person who snatches something from his fellow cuts it from his hand, severs it from its place. Like a person seized with a frenzy of desire, "and one shall snatch on the right," but do you think this helped him? "And be hungry," he still remains hungry; the frenzy of desire that controls him causes him not to be satisfied from what he snatched and grabbed on the right. "And he shall eat on the left and not be satisfied," he eats all that is on his left side but it still does not satisfy him. Until, from the great frenzy and sickness of desire and the sickness of hunger, "each shall eat the flesh of his own arm." A person will begin to eat the flesh of his own arm. That is, he eats, as it were, from that by which he himself, as it were, sustains himself. That is to say, something that gives him no benefit in what he eats. If I eat something external to me, then the body received energy. But if I eat something that is part of me, then I have essentially eaten my own energy. And this is what he comes to hint, as it were, the nation is like a body that eats parts of itself. As we said earlier, no man spares his brother, each one snatches from the other. If we take from another place, extend our hand against a troop, then the pit is filled. But from within itself, the pit is certainly not filled. And a situation will arise that, from the great desire among them and the great murderousness among them, they will kill themselves. One might ask, what is "each shall eat the flesh of his own arm," have we ever heard of such a thing? Have we ever seen a person who eats the flesh of his own arm? So it is explained that "each shall eat the flesh of his own arm" means that when a person has nothing to eat, what happens to him? He shrivels. Why does he shrivel? Say nothing else was added to him, but why does the process of shriveling actually occur to him? Shriveling means the body begins to eat itself. That is to say, everything in the body is essentially energy. These energies, the fatter and broader a person is, the more energy he has. Now these energies gradually diminish, this is the fuel of the body. The body slowly, slowly eats itself. Until a stage arrives when there is no more fat that the body can break down in order to keep itself alive, and then the person expires from hunger. This is the nature of "each shall eat the flesh of his own arm." What is "the flesh of his own arm"? He does not take a bite of the arm. Rather the meaning is that the body, when it has nothing to eat, begins to eat itself. The body gradually shrivels and is essentially eaten, it eats itself. The body is nourished from the reserves it has within itself. And this is "each shall eat the flesh of his own arm," for there will no longer be a situation where anyone has anything for anyone else, and one will begin to eat himself.
"Menasheh against Efrayim, and Efrayim against Menasheh, and together they are against Yehudah. For all this His anger has not turned away, and His hand is still outstretched." "Menasheh against (et) Efrayim" is like "et Yaakov," what is "et Yaakov"? "Each man and his household came with Yaakov." Menasheh will join with Efrayim, "Efrayim against Menasheh," Efrayim will join with Menasheh, and both together against Yehudah. As we said, our chapter deals with the alliance that the kingdom of Yisrael formed among themselves against the kingdom of Yehudah. And nevertheless His anger has not turned away and His hand is still outstretched. After all that they received, they still have negative plans, and since this is so, the Holy One, blessed be He, says His anger has not turned away. The wrath of the Creator of the world has not turned away, and His hand is still outstretched. "His hand is outstretched" symbolizes the hand raised on high in order to bring down a blow. "His hand is outstretched" means His hand is, as it were, raised on high in order to strike those who, despite all they received and despite all the wounds they were wounded with, still continue in their evil and corrupt deeds.