Yeshayahu chapter 16: "Send a lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela toward the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Tzion." The Malbim explains that after the prophet described Moav's downfall, he now comes to give them advice on how they can be saved. He tells them: look, you have no possibility of rescue except for one single option, which is to send a messenger to the people of Yerushalayim and ask them to grant you permission and the possibility to dwell and hide in the land of Yehudah. And now he comes, so to speak, to describe and, as it were, to place in the mouth of the messenger the words that he should say to the people of Yehudah so that they will be willing to receive you. This messenger is called "kar," a lamb, and shortly we will see why. And the prophet promises them: know that if you send a messenger to the people of Yehudah to beg them for mercy, that they should be willing to hide you and protect you, I promise you that they will have compassion on you. Even though you were not decent toward them, they will fulfill your request. But then the prophet perceives that Moav, in its great arrogance, does not want to humble itself and ask for rescue from the people of Yehudah. Therefore the prophet says to them: if so, it turns out that you are solely to blame for your downfall. You are solely to blame for the terrible situation that will come upon you. This is essentially the main point that will be expressed in the prophecy of the next chapter.
"Send a lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela toward the wilderness." "Send a kar," says the Malbim, a kar is a messenger. Why is a messenger called a kar? What do we call a carriage? A karkarah. Why is a carriage called karkarah? Because those who sit in it are jolted around, all the time they bounce and rattle. And I always told you once, an expression that doubles itself means it repeats the matter again, yes? Like "potzetz," which comes from "patz," to break, "pitzetz" means to break after breaking. "Ratz," "he will shatter his head," the meaning is to break, "rotzetz" is breaking after breaking, until he really turns it into gravel. And so it always is in Lashon Hakodesh, every doubling expresses a doubling of the matter. So karkarah expresses rattling all the time, rattling again and again. Therefore the runner is called a kar. "Send lambs" means to send runners, because they used to send them in carriages, and the carriages would rattle; apparently their springs were not so great, so they would rattle, therefore he calls the runner a kar. "Send a kar," this is the runner who will run swiftly. And who will it be? "The ruler of the land." The ruler of Moav himself will be your messenger, "from Sela toward the wilderness." Sela toward the wilderness, Moav's kingdom is in Sela. Does anyone know where Moav is? The Red Rock, familiar to you? Petra. Moav's kingdom is in Sela. There will be a messenger from Sela toward the wilderness, which is the capital of the kingdom of Moav, to where? "To the mountain of the daughter of Tzion." To the capital of the kingdom of Yehudah. In order to ask for help from Yehudah, so that they will receive you in their land, therefore send an important man, a kar, a messenger, who will be the ruler of the land, which land? From Sela toward the wilderness, the land of Moav, to the mountain of the daughter of Tzion, to the kingdom of Yehudah.
The Radak here explains the kar in a different way. The Radak explains: it is written about Meisha king of Moav that he was a "noked." Does anyone know what a noked is? A shepherd. A noked is a shepherd. Meisha king of Moav had many flocks. Therefore Meisha king of Moav was a noked. And when Moav was subject to our rule, he would return to the king of Yisrael a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams of wool. This means a tax, he paid a tax every year. But upon the death of Achav, when Achav died, what happened was that the king of Moav saw an opportunity to throw off this yoke. "And the king of Moav rebelled against the king of Yisrael." Therefore the prophet comes and says to them: send a lamb. The meaning is those very lambs and rams that you used to send to the king of Yisrael as tax and then rebelled against him, now send a lamb, send it now as tribute to whom? To the king of Yehudah. So although there is no king of Yisrael here to whom you were subordinate, there is still the kingdom of Yehudah, so send it to Chizkiyahu who is the king of Yehudah, who was a righteous king strong in his reign; submit before him and pay him tribute.
"And it shall be like a wandering bird, a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moav be at the fords of the Arnon." And the people of Moav will not wait until the messenger, who is their ruler, returns. Only when the messenger goes to Tzion, then the daughters of Moav will cross through the fords of the Arnon, which is close to the land of Yisrael. They will not wait until the messenger returns to give the okay, but out of the great distress that will befall them, they will run, they will flee, they will not wait for him, but will run to flee through the fords of the Arnon to come to the land of Yisrael. And also, he says, they have nothing to fear that perhaps the people of Yehudah will not receive them, for surely the people of Yehudah will receive them, as we said, the prophet promises them that the people of Yehudah will receive them. And how will they flee? "Like a wandering bird, a scattered nest." Says the Malbim, the bird whose nest is taken away, and it now returns with its fledgling, comes, searches, does not find the nest; because of this it has no choice, it must become a wanderer. To wander, to search for another nest. So we are talking about a situation where the nest is the first thing sent away from the bird, and the bird afterward wanders. Why does it wander? Because it has no nest, its nest was taken from it. He tells you, so too in the parable: if the enemy first conquered the country, through this the people would be forced to become wanderers and vagabonds. But here he commands them that they should flee on their own. It is worthwhile for you to leave the nest even before it is taken from you. For very soon they are going to take the nest from you. And then you are going to become a wandering bird. Therefore he says, I advise you, before they do this to you, you leave the nest of your own will. And then the bird wanders first, and afterward the nest is scattered. Afterward your country will in any case be abandoned. But do not wait until they come to send you away by taking your nest, for then in fact they will strike you a hard blow, a mortal blow. Therefore I advise you that first the bird should wander, leave your land before you take the blow, before the nest is scattered.
"Bring counsel, execute judgment, make your shadow like night in the midst of noon, hide the outcasts, do not reveal the wanderer." Now the prophet, so to speak, places in the mouth of the kar, that is, the messenger, he places in his mouth things that he should now come and say to the mountain of the daughter of Tzion. As if he says: I advise you, come to them and say to them the following things. Tell them: bring counsel, execute judgment. Counsel: a nation pressed by its oppressors, by those who want to conquer it, seeks help in order to take shelter in the shadow of another nation, that someone else should protect it. Says the Malbim, this is one of three possibilities. If the persecuted nation still has some strength and might, if its army has not been completely defeated, if it has strength to fight in order to defeat its enemies, only what does it lack? Tactics. Counsel. How, in what manner to fight, war strategy. So it asks that they give it counsel, how to overcome the enemy, for I have tanks, I only need the tactics. Therefore it says: bring counsel, how we shall overcome him. But if the persecuted nation's strength is already exhausted, it cannot stand against him, it has no weapons of war to fight against the other nation, then it asks that troops be sent to it. That troops be sent to it to fight, for I myself no longer have an army. And through these troops and this army they will make war against the enemies. Therefore this is the continuation of the verse. First bring counsel. Afterward execute judgment. That is, you will render righteous judgment to plead our cause. "And he shall give in judges" (plilim), what is the meaning of plilim? Judges, arbiters. So "execute judgment" means, if we cannot fight, you come and render our justice, you come and fight our battle, you bring an army to fight for us. And if the enemy is so strong that even the nation you want to come and fight for you is also not strong enough to defeat the enemy, they too will not be able to stand against him, then we have no choice but to ask for what? To take shelter in the shadow of this nation. At least, if you will not go to fight against the enemy, give us refuge. Give us a place where our refugees can be saved, hide from the enemy. At least "make your shadow like night and hide the outcasts." "Make your shadow like night" means make us a shade. A shade like what? Like the night that casts shade, so too give us shade, and then through this, "hide the outcasts." Hide at least the refugees, the outcasts, those who flee to us, so that at least they will have protection with you. Thus, as it were, the prophet tells the messenger what to say to the people of Yisrael. When you come to the daughter of Tzion, and you are the king of Moav and you see your difficult situation, ask of them, if they have counsel, if you have enough army. If you do not have enough army, ask them that they, their army, should come to fight. If they cannot come to fight because their army is too weak, ask them that at least, "make your shadow like night," they should cast a shade over you like night and hide the outcasts, protect you from the enemy. Says the Malbim, here he, as it were, places the request of this messenger in three levels. First, that they do kindness with them, to give them in their land a place of concealment so that the enemies will not notice them. And this resembles the shade of night, in the midst of noon. As if a country was quiet, peaceful, noon, pastoral, and suddenly a situation arrives where there is darkness, an enemy arrives. Here give us shade, cast a shade over us, a place where we, the refugees from the enemy, can be saved there. Now not only should they give them a special place to hide there, whether in the forest or in caves, but also "do not reveal the wanderer." "Do not reveal the wanderer" means, even one who is a wanderer within the country, who does not hide, do not hand him over to the enemy. There is one who hides in the forest, there is one who conceals himself in a cave. But even if someone comes to you and does not conceal himself but wanders about freely, being a wanderer within the country, do not hand him over to the enemy. And why does he fear that they might hand him over? Lest the enemy's anger flare against us, that we hide his enemies among us. So Ashur will be angry with us that we have become a refugee state for Moav, at the very time that Moav is at war with Ashur. So I ask of you, thus says the kar, the messenger of Moav, or really the king of Moav, thus he asks of Yisrael: even one who wanders about in the streets, do not reveal him and hand him over out of fear of the king, out of fear of Ashur. He also tells them another thing: not only should you conceal him completely, but you should give them permission to dwell in your land wherever they wish. And that is the next verse.
"Let My outcasts dwell with you, Moav, be a shelter to them from the destroyer, for the oppressor has come to an end, the plunder has ceased, the tramplers have vanished from the land." "Let the outcasts of Moav dwell with you," "my outcasts." The meaning is, the kar, as we said, is the ruler. The ruler now sends messengers, as we explained, to whom? To the daughter of Tzion, to Yehudah, right? That they should protect them. So at first he asked that they let them hide in the forests. Afterward he asks that even one who wanders in the streets not be handed over. Now he asks that they also give them permission, in short that they should be ordinary citizens. That the outcasts of Moav should dwell with you. Now he calls them "my outcasts," for who is speaking here? The kar. The messenger of Moav, who is really the king of Moav. Give the possibility to my outcasts, to those who flee, that they can dwell with you. Wherever they wish. And not only should you not hand them over to the enemy, but "be a shelter to them from the destroyer." Hide them from those who wish to plunder them, from the destroyer. That is, fight for them, thus he asks of the daughter of Tzion, fight for them if someone wants to harm them in order to plunder them.
"For the oppressor has come to an end, the plunder has ceased, the tramplers have vanished from the land." The Malbim explains that here he portrays Moav and the enemy as an animal that comes to suckle the milk and the wealth of Moav. Moav is like an animal that has milk in its udders, and now another beast arrives, who is it? It is the king of Ashur, who comes to suckle and enjoy that milk. And this is the meaning: that he comes essentially to take all their wealth, all the fat of the land. And then the messenger, who is really the king of Moav, says: know that you do not need to fear Ashur. Why? "For the oppressor has come to an end." "The oppressor has come to an end" means, the sucker, the enemy, has already refrained from coming to us. Do you know why? Because "the plunder has ceased." "The plunder (shod) has ceased" means, shod is from the word for breasts (shadayim). That is, he has nothing more to suckle from us. All the wealth has been consumed. Yes? Shod, like "you shall suckle (tinki) the breast (shod) of kings," where too the meaning is from suckling, from the word for breasts. Since there is no more wealth. And not only that, but also "the tramplers have vanished from the land." The trampling animals, they too have vanished from the land. That is to say, we said, there is an animal that has milk. They come to suckle from the milk. So there is a first stage where the milk runs out. A second stage where the animal itself runs out. So he says, we have already reached not only that the plunder has ceased, not only that the milk has run out, but also the animal itself has already run out. "The tramplers have vanished from the land." The meaning is, the trampling animals, they too have vanished from the land. They are the ones who carry the milk. That is, what he wants to tell them by this: not only has the wealth and property run out, but also the people of the country, they too have vanished. If there are the people of the country, then they can continue to bring milk. Perhaps they will produce more milk tomorrow. The enemy has reason to come and take them, to take taxes from them. But if the people of the country too have vanished, if the land is ruined and there is no inhabitant, then in this situation there is no more chance that the enemy will come to us, for he has nothing to take from us. He cannot take anything from us. So therefore we have reached such a situation that we no longer have a place, so I ask, says this messenger of Moav, who as we said is the king of Moav himself, "be a shelter to them." Give us the possibility to hide in your region, that we may dwell with you, give us the possibility to dwell wherever we desire.
It remains for us to explain: there is here a doubling and tripling of words whose difference we will want to understand. It is written: "the oppressor has come to an end (afes), the plunder has ceased (kalah), the tramplers have vanished (tamu) from the land." Afes, kalah, tam. Says the Malbim, what is the difference between these three expressions that seemingly all come to express one expression familiar to us in Lashon Hakodesh: finished. Why does he say the oppressor afes, the plunder kalah, the tramplers tamu from the land? Says the Malbim, afes speaks about the thing that is absent, that is not in existence. Afes is not here. That is the meaning of afes. "Ayin va'efes," nothing and naught, not existing in reality. That is the meaning of afes. "From naught and void." Now, the verb kalah speaks about the thing that is gradually diminishing, gradually diminishing, gradually diminishing, until it is consumed (kalah). Therefore we always see the expression, it is not written "until nought," but it is written "until consumption." Why? Because in essence "consumption" (kilayon) speaks of the slow diminishing until it reaches a state where it is not present at all. But kilayon expresses a state of descent from being to nothingness. And when I say kalah, its meaning is completely finished. And kalah is from the word "kol," from the word "kalil," he finished it entirely, he completed all of it. And this too comes to express the completion of a thing, like "and he finished (vayechal) the house," "and he finished his work." The meaning: he did the work, did, did, did, did, did, until he completed it. He built the house, built, built, built, built, until it was complete, until he finished. Always the expression of kalil or kalah means gradually until the completion of the thing. So this can be in building and this can also be in destruction. In contrast, the verb tamam, which is from the word "tamim," as we said "tamu," this comes to express the very thing being absent, that is, being complete, or being absent without deficiency. Tam is complete. So I say, at first it was tam, complete, it was here. Now it is completely absent. Again, this is also complete, but in its completeness nothing remains of it. The thing has tam completely. There is no more, meaning completely, the thing finished in its entirety, it is entirely gone. Therefore says the Malbim, see it is written "until all the people finished (tamu) crossing." Tamu completely. "Until their year is finished they call," completely. "Until your carcasses are finished," until the whole thing is finished. The meaning is that the thing was complete. In contrast, notice, "my days are consumed (kalu) in smoke." It is not written "my days tamu in smoke," for my days did not finish, but kalu, they gradually diminished. "My eyes are consumed (kalu) with tears," it is not written tamu, for my eyes truly did not finish, but gradually diminished. Or "anger is spent (kalah), my fury." We do not say the anger was complete. Rather kalah means kalil, all my anger, all my fury. Another example, "the prayers of David son of Yishai are ended (kalu)." In contrast, "the words of Iyov are ended (tamu)." What is the difference? The words of Iyov were complete. He finished, he said in fullness all that he had to say. But when I speak of the prayers and praises of David, what, did he not praise and laud Hashem more? Did he say, that is it, I finished the book, I finished writing? Surely it cannot be entertained. Therefore he says, notice, by David it is written kalu, meaning from the word kalil, but the meaning is not complete. Rather it is possible there is more. It is possible there is more. But tamu, tam means complete. Tamu means finished entirely. And also by David it is not fitting to say tamu, for who will complete the praises of Hashem? "The praises are finished (tamu)" - that is it, there are no more praises for Hashem may He be blessed? Have I finished praising your Master? There is no more, it is not fitting to say the prayers of David or the praises of David are tamu, for the praises of Hashem will never be complete. But "the words of Iyov are tamu" is fitting to say, since Iyov's words truly finished, he completed all that he had to say.
Now let us see what is written here. The enemy, the one who suckles and, as we said, takes and suckles the milk, it says afes. Afes, as we explained, means he is not present here in reality. He has not come to an end (kalah), he has not vanished (tam), he simply comes no more. He has ceased to appear. Why? Because there is no longer anything to take. Upon this the expression afes, he is not in existence, as we explained. Upon the udders that we explained, the breasts, that as it were express the abundance that the enemy comes to suckle from them, that is the prosperity, upon this he says the plunder has ceased (kalah). Kalah means gradually, gradually, gradually it diminished and ceased. In contrast, upon the tramplers, who are the people of Moav, he says tamu. The meaning is that upon them destruction is decreed. Tamu means completely, that they vanished entirely and nothing remained of them. Therefore "the tramplers vanished," these are the people of Moav, that since nothing at all remained, they left the land and vanished entirely.
"And a throne shall be established in kindness, and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and swift in righteousness." The prophet says to them: if you do this, if you send a kar, a messenger, to ask for help from Yehudah, I promise you, you have nothing to fear that perhaps Yehudah will reject you, that perhaps Yehudah will not receive you. I promise you, "a throne shall be established in kindness." A throne will be prepared for the king, so that the king will sit and inquire and investigate the case, to see whether it is fitting to plead your cause or not. And do not think that he will judge according to strict law, for it may very well be that according to strict law it truly is not fitting for him, the king of Yisrael, to protect you. But in any case it will be in kindness. This throne, only out of his kindness to do good, he will want to do good to you. "And one shall sit upon it in truth in the tent of David." He will judge you in the tent of David, meaning David used to judge Yisrael, as the king he also served as arbiter and judge of Yisrael. He will sit upon the throne in the tent of David in truth. The meaning is, do not think that this will be for hope of reward. Hope of reward means in order to gain something, in order to receive some profit. No, rather it will be for the love of truth. He will judge the case truthfully. And more than this, "judging and seeking justice." He will be a judge who seeks justice, meaning not only when two men come before him for judgment, then they seek justice and he judges them. No, rather he seeks justice. He inquires after it, he wants to search out who is right in his case. Not that they turn to me and I merely react after the fact. Rather he himself investigates and seeks and demands justice and truth. And then he is "swift in righteousness." After he reaches a conclusion, he brings out the righteous verdict swiftly, and confirms or strengthens the one in the right, and testifies against, angers, weakens the one in error. And this king, who is really Chizkiyahu, who is of the kingdom of the House of David, is swift in righteousness, he will do justice for you swiftly, he will not delay the judgment, and therefore you have no need to worry, but only what should you do? Send a messenger to the kingdom of Yehudah, to Yisrael, and they will judge you righteously and protect you.
"We have heard of the pride of Moav, exceedingly proud, his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, his boastings are not so." Says the prophet: I advise them good counsel, but it does not seem that they take this counsel seriously. For we have heard of the pride of Moav, exceedingly proud. The pride and greatness of Moav, as it were, Moav's pride has great arrogance. We have heard of Moav that he boasts that he will not humble himself: shall I approach Yehudah to ask them for help? I helped their enemies, shall I now come as a poor wretch in chains and ask them for help? And we have heard that Moav has three faults. First, his haughtiness (ga'avato). His haughtiness means, he has arrogance, a spirit of pride. It is beneath his dignity. The second thing is his pride (ge'ono). Says the Malbim, what is the difference between ga'on and ga'avah? Ga'on is what a person is truly proud of. As they say, he has receipts for it. Ga'avah, in contrast, is false. He is proud of something he does not have. So his haughtiness, he has a spirit of pride in what he does not have, for truly according to his situation he now has nothing to be proud of. On the other hand, we also heard of his ge'ono, which is what he has to truly be proud of, that they are a great nation, a strong nation, though they were impoverished, they are a great and strong nation. And the third thing, his haughtiness, his pride, the third thing is his wrath (evrato). And we also heard yet another thing that prevents them from groveling before the people of Yisrael, which is his wrath. He has hatred, a hatred kept in his heart from ancient days. "His wrath he kept forever." He has an ancient hatred toward Yisrael. And consequently, "his boastings are not so." "His thoughts are not so" means, what I plan for him, what I destine for him and propose to him, go ask the people of Yisrael to protect you, "his boastings are not so." His thoughts are not in this direction. He has no plans to do as I advise him. "Badav" (his boastings), the meaning is, thought is regarded like the branches (badei) of the tree, it branches out. A person thinks of a certain thing, and from it he moves to another thing, and from it he compares matter to matter and moves to a third thing. So too are the thoughts of man. Therefore how are thoughts called besides "badav"? "Se'ifav" (his branches). Also from the same idea, yes? The branches of the tree are also called se'ifim. The meaning is they branch out from the trunk of the tree. So too the "badim" of a person are his "se'ifim," meaning they branch out from his thoughts, that the thoughts go on branching and passing from thing to thing. So he says, I am certain, his boastings are not so. His thoughts are not to do what I advise him. He will not go to take shelter with the kings of Yehudah. First, he trusts in his pride and his might, we are still a great nation. Second, shall I humble myself? I am so important, he has such arrogance, he thinks so highly of himself, shall I humble myself? And the third thing is the hatred he has toward us, which prevents him from turning to those he considers beneath him, out of his great hatred of them: shall I ask them for help and support?
Therefore the prophet says: "Therefore Moav shall wail for Moav, all of it shall wail, for the foundations of Kir-Chareset shall you moan, utterly stricken." Since you had counsel how to be saved, and you did not act according to the counsel I gave you, upon this we say: his blood is on his own head. You brought the trouble upon yourself, you had the possibility to be saved from it and you were not saved. So who will weep for you? No one will weep for you. You harmed yourself, only you will weep for yourself. No one will weep for you. When someone has something happen to him through no fault of his own, then many grieve over him, many weep over him. But when someone is warned, be careful, this will happen to you, they warned him again and again and he did not listen and went and it happened to him, here they do not grieve over him, they say fool, they warned you, why did you act against what they told you? Weep yourself over yourself, no one will weep for you. This is what he says to them, "therefore Moav shall wail for Moav." Who will weep over Moav? Only Moav will wail over Moav. And do not think that only some of them will wail over some of them, but "all of it shall wail." That is, the destruction will be total, encompassing the whole country, and consequently everyone will weep. "For the foundations of Kir-Chareset." The meaning is, "ashishei" is from the word for fortified walls, fortresses, like "her foundations (ashuyoteha) have fallen." What are ashuyot? Foundations. Foundations are the ashuyot. The strong fortresses, these are the great foundations. "The foundations of Kir-Chareset," for there, in those places, the way was to bring out the mighty men, so that they would stand upon the wall, they would stand upon the walls to fight against the enemy. That was the way. But "for the foundations of Kir-Chareset," the meaning is these walls upon which the mighty men used to stand, "you shall moan, utterly stricken." Do you know whom they will bring out there? Only the stricken. "Nechaim" means those wounded in battle. There you will bring them to be healed. But truly you will have no mighty men to go out and fight. "Nechaim," says the Malbim, is from the word "nacheh," stricken in battle. And "tehgu" means to remove. Like "remove (hago) the dross from the silver," or "removed (hoggeh) from the road," the meaning is to remove. So there, those who will be removed from the battle due to their disability, meaning their wounds, these you will bring to Kir-Chareset. You will not bring mighty men there so that they can fight, for you will have none such.
"For the fields of Cheshbon languish, the vine of Sivmah, the lords of nations have crushed its choice branches, they reached to Yazer, they wandered into the wilderness, its shoots were spread out, they crossed the sea." "The fields of Cheshbon languish." The meaning is, the place where the vineyards and trees are, that is called "shadmot," fields. Yes? Where else does shadmot appear? "From the fields (shadmot) of Amorah." "For from the vine of Sedom is their vine, and from the fields of Amorah." Shadmot means the place of the vineyards and trees. And also "the vine of Sivmah," this is a vine that is very, very excellent. So he says, "the fields of Cheshbon languish." Cheshbon means, this is the kingdom of Moav, right? The name of the city is Cheshbon. "For the fields of Cheshbon languish." "Languish" (umlal) means those places that were important, splendid, became wretched. And also "the vine of Sivmah," which is a most excellent vine, they are the choicest, became wretched. "The lords of nations have crushed its choice branches." "Lords of nations," explains the Malbim, "ba'alei" is like the "beli" (pestle). The mortar with which one pounds the groats. It is written "if you pound the fool in a mortar among the groats with a pestle, his folly will not depart from him." Once we explained why "pound the fool in a mortar among the groats," is it not enough to pound him in a mortar? The pestle is the striker. The mortar is the lower part. Why is the groats also needed? "Among the groats with a pestle"? "His folly will not depart," he thinks they do not mean him, they mean the groats. So he tells you, when you put the groats, the groats being the grain, in order to pound them with the pestle, and you put the fool there, then the fool draws no conclusions, he does not learn. Why? For he tells you, they do not mean me, they mean the groats. I only accidentally ended up there. Therefore his folly will not depart from him, he thinks they do not mean him, they mean the groats. So he tells you here, they, Moav, will reach a situation where "the lords of nations," "ba'alei" meaning with the pestle, "have crushed its choice branches." They will strike the vine, for the vine has "srigim" or "srikim," the meaning is entwining branches. And these entwining branches connect to one another. They become bound one to another, becoming like a kind of mosaic bound one to another. But they, the lords of nations, "have crushed its choice branches." "Halmu" means, they will strike them with force. Says the Malbim, what is the difference between "halam" and "hikah"? "Hikah" means to strike a thing. But "laharom" (to crush) it means to bring it to blows so hard that it disintegrates. Until it crumbles from the many blows. And that is what happened here. Through the pestle of the nations, they crushed its choice branches. Those tendrils of the vine, those branches will already separate. What was previously connected and entwined one in another, will already separate. And to such an extent that they will separate, and be drawn out to Yazer. To a place called Yazer. This is a parable. What is the meaning? He wants to say: they, the mighty men that you supposedly have, you say we have mighty men who will come to fight, and they are like the vine, like the tendrils of the vine, they are bound one to another, meaning they are strong, bound one to another to go to fight. He says, do not think that they will prevail against the nations who will be against them. But rather, on the contrary, the nations will crush them, such a crushing, such a blow, "they crushed its choice branches," until they separate. They will not succeed in being united together. "They reached to Yazer," they will flee. They will not succeed in standing in the bonds of war, but will be forced to flee and will scatter to Yazer. That is the name of a place. And from there "they wandered into the wilderness." To the wilderness they will wander. And this already says that each one flees on his own, they will flee to the wildernesses, these mighty men of yours whom you thought could unite against the enemy. "Its shoots were spread out, they crossed the sea." "Its shoots," these are the branches, those that are not entwined. Explains the Malbim, there is a difference between "sheluchoteha" (its shoots) and "nitshu, netushoteha" (spread out). What is the difference, says the Malbim? The shoots spread out lengthwise. There is a shoot, a shoot lengthwise. The vine sends forth branches that lengthen. In contrast, "spread out (netushim) over the field," the meaning is widthwise. Spreading widthwise. So "its shoots" means those that spread out lengthwise, these are the branches that are not entwined but are sent forth, and they will be spread out over the ground, they were spread out and scattered widthwise. Those that should have been shoots, those that go far, instead scattered widthwise. They will not succeed in going and fighting against the enemy. And what is the meaning? Regarding the rest of the people, who did not unite together to go to war like the choice branches that we explained are grasped and organized together to go to war, united. Rather they, the people, will scatter and go immediately to wander to lands, to other lands. "Its shoots were spread out, they crossed the sea." They will cross the sea out of great fear in order to flee from the enemy.
"Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Yazer for the vine of Sivmah, I will drench you with my tears, Cheshbon and Elaleh, for upon your summer fruit and upon your harvest the shout has fallen." "Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Yazer." The meaning, when I weep the weeping of Yazer over the downfall of Yazer, then I will also weep for the vine of Sivmah. I will also weep for the mighty men of Sivmah, as we explained that Sivmah is a choice vine, meaning the mighty men, for when Yazer falls, I already know that Sivmah will fall. So at the time I weep the weeping of Yazer, I will also weep for the vine of Sivmah, for it too is destined to fall. "I will drench you with my tears, Cheshbon and Elaleh." Also Cheshbon and Elaleh, they too, upon them too there will be weeping. That is to say, they too will fall. "For upon your summer fruit and upon your harvest the shout has fallen." "Your summer fruit" is the summer fruit, yes? Like dried figs. "And upon your harvest," that is, upon what is harvested, "the shout has fallen." The shout, we will see this in the next verse, that when they used to go and harvest or gather grapes, they would encourage one another, and they did it with joy, they would cry out "heidad." And on the contrary, he wants to say, instead of them crying out in Cheshbon "heidad" over the wine they gather, over the grain they harvest, instead there will be the "heidad" of war. This is what he says, upon your summer fruit and upon your harvest, what kind of shout? Not the shout of the grape harvest, not the shout of the reaping, but "the shout has fallen." A shout that expresses downfall, a shout that expresses the sound of the enemies crying "heidad" in order to come against you.
"And gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards there is no singing, no shouting, no wine is trodden in the presses by the treader, I have stopped the shout." "And gladness and joy are taken away." "Simchah" (gladness), says the Malbim, there is a difference between "simchah" and "gil." Simchah always indicates constant gladness. In contrast, "gil" (joy) is momentary gladness. Momentary, at a certain moment. They informed a person that he won the lottery, so we would express this with "gil." We would not express it with "simchah." They informed him that they eliminated bin Laden, so that is gil, that is not simchah. Simchah is something constant. A person who is constantly glad, that is called "and you shall be only glad." Simchah is the opposite of sadness. Gil is something that renews itself in a moment, he found a lost object, good news, that is called gil. "And gladness and joy are taken away." So the gladness, which is the constant gladness, this is being glad all year, when he has food at home to eat, he has grain in his house, he has food to satiety. And the joy is what they rejoice over temporarily at the time of the harvest, that now he gathers all the grain, this gives him momentary gladness, now at the great wealth that he now brings into his house. So he says, not only will they not gather the grain home, but they will not harvest it at all. The grain will not grow at all. Why? Because they will destroy the land, as the prophet told them earlier, the enemy will come and destroy your land. "And in the vineyards there is no singing, no shouting for wine." "And in the vineyards there is no singing." In the vineyards there will be no situation where they perform the work, and then their way was to sing, to sing, to make music, dances in the vineyards, yes? They used to make rejoicing in the vineyards, as it was with David the king, when he went to Naval the Carmelite, "for we have come on a festive day." Why? Because at the time they were gathering this, they would make rejoicing. So too by whom else did we see? Amnon and Tamar, how was the incident there with the killing of Amnon? After the deed he did to Tamar, Avshalom asked him, that since they are now making rejoicing in the field, over the harvest and over all that there was, he asked that the king should come. David the king said, I cannot, so he said, at least send your firstborn son, send Amnon. And Amnon came with them to this rejoicing, and there he seized the opportunity and assassinated him. We see that their way was that when they gathered the grain, this was a festive day for them, a day of gladness for them. So he says, in the vineyards there is no singing. In the vineyards there will be no situation where they perform the work, and then their way was to sing, to sing, to make music. And not only will there be no singing, there will also be no shouting. "Yeru'a" (shouting) means also a shout to call the workers to come, this too there will not be. Workers will not come at all, since there is no yield in the vines. Now he adds and says, not only will they not gather the vineyards, but also "the wine in the presses," he has in the presses already wine, the grapes are already ready there, they already put the grapes in the press, but nevertheless "no treader shall tread." The one who used to tread the wine will not tread. Why? "I have stopped the shout." I have stopped from them the shout. The shout was their way of calling the workers to come and tread the grapes. So I have stopped the shout. They will not call "heidad" to gather, for they will not find people there at all. "Heidad," from what root is the word heidad derived? It is a call. A call is called heidad. It is from the word for the echo of the mountains. An echo that resounds in the mountains. You shout and it answers you eh, eh, eh, eh, that is the echo. Heidad. And this is the treaders of wine, the treaders of grapes, when they are in the winepress, they would shout. And their way was also for people going out to battle, they too would shout battle cries, yes? They too shout heidad. So in the previous verse he says "the shout has fallen." In the place where there should be the heidad of people treading the wine, that I have stopped. And what will be in its place? "The shout has fallen," that the army of the enemy will come and they will shout heidad in order to fight against you, Moav.
"Therefore my innards moan for Moav like a harp, and my inward parts for Kir-Cheres." Now he compares it to the harp on which they pluck the strings, and the sound, how does the sound come out? In the box. For the harp has a sound box, right? It has the belly of the harp, into which the sounds enter, a guitar, a violin, an oud, yes? All these musical instruments, they have a kind of belly into which the sounds enter and then they come out, from this the melody emerges. So too he describes his innards as the strings. The innards, as it were, are the strings that they pluck, and the body cavity, which is the cavity of the harp from which the sound is heard. And he comes and attributes the strings to Moav, and the cavity of the harp is Kir-Cheres. According to what we explained above, "to the foundations of Kir-Chareset," yes? That there they brought the disabled, there they brought the wounded, those who were wounded in battle. He says, there the sound of wailing and crying will be heard, that they plucked and struck upon the strings of Moav. As if the wall is the sound box, and Moav is the strings that are plucked, and through the sound box the sound comes out. So when they strike Moav, from where will the sound come out? From Kir-Chareset. The meaning is, there will be all the wretched and downtrodden and wounded from the battlefield, they will be there in that wall, in that same wall, in that same tower from which the way was to fight, there they used to bring the mighty men, he says instead of bringing the mighty men there, all the downtrodden, all the stricken they will bring there. And then Moav will cry out like a harp, like strings that are plucked, and the sound comes out of the sound box, so the sound will come out from Kir-Chareset.
"And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moav has wearied himself on the high place, and he comes to his sanctuary to pray, but he will not prevail." After Moav is disgraced, after he is soiled in his blood and wounded, "Moav has wearied himself." What is "nilah"? He will no longer have strength to stand. Until now he fought, but he became exhausted, he has no strength to fight against them. Then, "and he comes to his sanctuary." He comes to his temples, meaning to the place designated for him there for idolatry, in order to pray. Usually when does a person who is far from faith pray? When all hope is lost. A person whose faith is strong, before he goes to perform a physical action he prays. Why? Everything depends on it. Everything depends on prayer. A physical action I need to make an effort. But essentially everything depends on prayer. In contrast, by a person who is far from faith, it is exactly the opposite. First of all I will act. If I do not succeed, then there is One above, it is possible that in certain situations He can help me. Yes? That is how he views it. So he says, "when it is seen that Moav has wearied himself." "And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moav has wearied himself." What is "seen"? The Malbim explains "nir'ah" is from the word for disgrace. Like "for display in it," or "filthy and defiled," its crop, yes? The meaning is the despised part of the bird, its crop. "And it shall come to pass, when it is seen," after he sees that he has been disgraced and soiled, "that Moav has wearied himself," through this he becomes weary, he is exhausted, he has no strength. What does a gentile do when he has no strength? Then he comes to his sanctuary to pray. He goes, he says let us go pray in the sanctuary, perhaps my idol will help me. But he will not prevail. It will not help him that he can through this fight against the enemies. His prayer too will not strengthen him.
"This is the word that Hashem spoke concerning Moav long ago." What we said now, this is the prophecy that Hashem announces to Moav from long ago. And then he also explains to us why he will not prevail. Why in the end will the prayer not help him? Because there is a prophecy about this. "This is the word that Hashem spoke concerning Moav long ago." This thing was decreed long ago through the ancient prophets. And since this is so, not one thing of His word shall return backward empty. Since this has already been decreed, prayer too will not avail Moav.
"And now Hashem has spoken, saying: In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moav shall be brought low, with all the great multitude, and the remnant shall be very small and feeble." And now Hashem speaks in order to bring near their calamity. "In three years, like the years of a hired worker." Rashi explains, on account of those three years that they helped and assisted Sancheriv, when Sancheriv besieged Shomron, they came and helped him. Say, did they help him so that it would pay off for them, so that they would gain something from it? He says no, it was voluntary. They helped him without any benefit, without profit. As if they were his hired workers. Ah, is that so? You go to help the enemies of Yisrael, and not for some profit, but just, as they say, for the sake of Heaven, you go to help the enemies of Yisrael? Therefore "the glory of Moav shall be brought low." You, glory of Moav, your glory will be disgrace and shame, that Sancheriv will come and take you captive and go off. And this is what he says, "the glory of Moav shall be brought low, with all the great multitude." All the great multitude that will be with Sancheriv, they will all bring Moav to a state of disgrace and captivity. "And the remnant shall be very small and feeble." What is "the remnant shall be very small and feeble"? The meaning is, what will remain, only very few will remain. That is, out of the few, a few more will remain. This is what is called few of the few. There will be few, and from this few only a few more will remain, so this is few of the few, that is the meaning of "very small." Those who were already scant, already scanty, from them only a few will remain. A minority after a minority. They will be very few and not feeble. "Kabir" comes to say many. Kabir means a lot. What a lot? It can be a lot, referring to much grain. Or it can refer to strength. Usually it comes to mean strength, yes? Here he comes and says, this few will be in quantity, and first of all, second of all also not feeble, meaning it will not be in quality either, but they will be few, both in their quantity and in their quality. Rashi brings another explanation, what is "three years, like the years of a hired worker"? Says Rashi, and the Malbim also explains thus, three years were decreed upon you over a long time. That is, not immediately. But they will be curtailed, and the calamity will not be delayed further, but Hashem decided to bring this decree immediately. Why? "Like the years of a hired worker." Just as the hired worker curtails and is precise about the years of his hire. He will not stay two more days for a tip. The days of hire have ended, at that moment he leaves, right? A worker too, he does not stay two more hours at work. I am a hired worker, the work has ended, he takes it, punches his card and goes home. He says, Hashem will bring you this like the years of a hired worker. Just as the hired worker's time is very, very curtailed, so Hashem will not carry out the decree over a long time, but will curtail it and bring all of it at once, three years corresponding to those three years that you oppressed Yisrael; so Hashem will take retribution from the enemies and the nations, amen and amen.