Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 19. "The burden of Egypt. Behold, Hashem rides upon a swift cloud and comes to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall tremble before Him, and the heart of Egypt shall melt within it." "The burden of Egypt": a prophecy that Yeshayahu the prophet prophesies against Egypt. Rashi comments on "The burden of Egypt, behold Hashem rides upon a swift cloud and comes to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall tremble." Rashi asks: why specifically in Egypt do we see this threat against their idols? Rashi answers that the reason this expression was not used regarding the other nations is that they, Egypt, are accustomed to being struck in this very measure. This is the whip whose taste they already recognize, as it is written, "And I will pass through the land of Egypt, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments." And Rashi says it is the way of the world, meaning it is the way people behave, to frighten a person with a blow he has already suffered. How do you frighten a person? "Do you remember what happened to you before?" Or, "Be careful that it does not happen to you again." So too here, "and the idols of Egypt shall tremble": you Egyptians already saw that "against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments," so know that this is going to repeat itself.
"Behold Hashem rides upon a swift cloud." The Malbim explains that, as it were, the prophet says: I see Hashem riding upon a swift cloud, meaning like a cloud that comes easily and swiftly. So too Hashem, as it were, will come easily and swiftly. And then "He comes to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall tremble before Him." The idols will tremble, "before Him shall they tremble," the expression being one of dread, as in "and the people saw and trembled and stood at a distance," meaning out of fear, "and the idols of Egypt shall tremble before Him." Why does he connect this to the idols of Egypt? The Malbim explains that in ancient times the Egyptians worshipped the Nile. They believed the Nile was a god, and they attributed divinity to it among all their other deities. They had other deities as well, such as the lamb and the sheep, cattle, and several other deities. Among the rest, Pharaoh too was an idol of theirs, and among the rest they attributed divinity to the Nile. And why? Because they believed that the Nile was the source of life: from it they had drink, from it they had irrigation, from it they had everything. Consequently they attributed to it the power of a god, "a god" meaning a supreme force that pours forth and bestows. And they also believed, in their folly, that the idols prevent rain from coming to their land. For when it rains in Egypt, says the Malbim, even today, if rain falls in Egypt, it is harsh for the Egyptians. Why? Because their houses are made of earth and mud, and when rain falls they simply dissolve. And in Egypt there is essentially no rain. That is why they build their houses in that manner. But if once in so many years rain falls there, it means the idol fell asleep on guard duty. That is how they attribute it, for the idol is a guardian: "our idols guard us, they prevent the clouds so that rain will not fall." That is what they believed. And then he comes and says: know that Hashem comes upon a swift cloud. What is a swift cloud? It means a cloud will come and rain will fall, "and the idols of Egypt shall tremble before Him." This shows that your idols are stricken, for if your idol is strong according to your belief, it should have stopped the cloud. It should have stopped the rain. And if nevertheless Hashem comes with a swift cloud and rain falls, this shows that the idols of Egypt have trembled, that they have been weakened.
"And the heart of Egypt shall melt within it." Through this, from this the Egyptian will understand that his idols have been weakened, and then his heart will melt within him out of great fear, that the one he relied upon is no longer worthy of reliance.
"And I will stir up Egypt against Egypt, and they shall fight every man against his brother and every man against his fellow, city against city, kingdom against kingdom." What is happening now, thank God, we are already beginning to see this prophecy. "And I will stir up Egypt against Egypt." Here he describes a situation in which, as it were, he hears the voice of Hashem, who rides upon a swift cloud. I hear His voice, what the plans of Hashem are, how to take vengeance on Egypt. Hashem says: I will go and move about within Egypt and set them one against another. "I will stir up" (visachsachti): the Malbim explains this is from the root of leveling, or the matter of a siege, an expression of laying a siege around, like "You have hedged him about" (sachta). From what root? Like sechach, a screen, a barrier. So "I will stir up" means I will besiege Egypt. How? Who will besiege? An external force? He says: no, by no means. Rather the force that will besiege Egypt will be one against his fellow, sword of a man against his neighbor. And the Malbim says: let us follow and take note, there is a gradation here, man against his brother, man against his fellow, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. Now he explains why it is structured this way. The Malbim says that ordinarily, when there is a war of kingdom against kingdom, kingdoms being the large units, if kingdom A wishes to fight kingdom B, how can it ensure that it will be able to win? All the cities within the kingdom unite together, and then they can fight against the second kingdom. But if the cities within the kingdom itself are divided, the cities themselves divided, then the kingdom itself cannot gather army and strength to fight against the second kingdom. Likewise when they wish to wage city against city, the men, one against another within the city, must unite together in order to go and fight against the second city, for otherwise how could the city here fight? And likewise, if they wish to fight man against his fellow, the family, man against his brother, must unite, and then family can fight against family. But if within the family itself they are not united, how will they fight against another family? So in short, the rule is that whenever a large unit needs to fight against another large unit, all the individual parts within that unit must unite, and only then can it fight against another unit. This is what he tells us here: know that here, from the very outset, from the smallest units there will already be strife, so that there will be no possibility of large units fighting against large units. Why can kingdom not fight against kingdom? Because city against city will be in strife within it. Within the kingdom they will be in strife. And city against city they will not be able to fight against one another, why? Because within themselves they will be in strife, man against his brother. And even family against family they cannot be in strife, for within themselves they will be in strife, one against his fellow. Therefore he says: notice how it begins, "and they shall fight every man against his brother," even the families will have no unity among them, but one will be at war with his own brother. Afterward "man against his fellow," that is already in larger groups, afterward they will have conflicts, city against city, and afterward kingdom against kingdom. So do not think that there will be war between blocs within Egypt; rather it will be a war in which each man's enemy is his neighbor and his brother. That is, it will not be a war between large parts, but they will fight, and there will be hatred and division among the smallest units within the Egyptian family. This means there will be genuine dispute between one place and another, for at least if people unite, even if I fight against the previous city, but I have unity in my own city, that gives some cohesion. I wage war against another family, but at least within my family there is cohesion, that provides unity. But he says: no, even within the home he will have quarrels. This is "I will stir up Egypt against Egypt," that it will begin from man against his brother even.
"And the spirit of Egypt shall be emptied within it, and I will swallow up its counsel, and they shall seek out the idols and the charmers and the mediums and the wizards." Egypt always had, from time immemorial, a spirit of wisdom and a spirit of might. They were an exceedingly wise nation and an exceedingly mighty nation. That they were exceedingly wise we see even today; it is known that in ancient times Egyptian wisdom was above the standard. We see that they had magicians, they had sorcerers, they had wizards, they had many people who were great sages. Even today we do not exactly know how they built the pyramids, how they did it, how they embalmed the dead. Without any doubt there was great wisdom in Egypt. Even today we see that Egypt was among the ancient nations that had writing. We see in their pyramids how an orderly kingdom is depicted, with orderly descriptions of everything happening with the king. Egypt was known as a wise power. So he says: "the spirit of Egypt shall be emptied within it," the spirit of Egypt shall be emptied, meaning it will become empty, like "the land shall be utterly emptied," an expression of emptying. "And the spirit of Egypt shall be emptied within it": that spirit of wisdom, that spirit of might, that spirit will leave them, will be emptied out of them. "And I will swallow up its counsel": they also had counsel in matters of war, in matters of governing the state. "Counsel" means everything with them was planned, was in order, exemplary order. Hashem says: I will swallow up its counsel, all the plans and strategies, all of it I will confound and swallow from them, I will destroy from them. "And they shall seek out the idols and the charmers": when a person has no counsel, no wisdom, no understanding, then he says, from where will my help come? And they will indeed go to seek from the nothing. Who is the nothing? The idols, the naught, the void. "And they shall seek out the idols," for they themselves already have nothing. What will they seek? "And they shall seek out the idols and the charmers." The charmers are also a type of idol. "And the idols and the charmers and the mediums and the wizards": the mediums are those who raise spirits by necromancy; the wizards are those who use the bone of a creature called yadua, placing it under the armpit, and through it one knows all sorts of hidden things. And through this they will have no wisdom, counsel, or understanding, neither from themselves nor from a force external to them, of the idols, the charmers and the mediums.
"And I will shut up Egypt into the hand of a cruel master, and a fierce king shall rule over them, says the Lord, Hashem of hosts." Up to here is what Yeshayahu the prophet hears, as it were, from Hashem who rides upon a swift cloud and comes to Egypt: as it were, I hear from Him what He plans, and I hear Hashem saying, "and I will stir up Egypt," "and the spirit of Egypt shall be emptied," "and I will shut up Egypt." Up to here, "says the Lord, Hashem of hosts." What is "and I will shut up Egypt"? He says that with this will be their end, "and I will shut up Egypt into the hand of a cruel master," I will hand them over into the hand of cruel and merciless masters. Now let us note, why "masters" and not "master"? The Malbim says: if a single cruel master rules over them, he cannot be cruel in such a way as to be cruel to each single and individual person; rather he can be cruel in a general way, but he is limited. However great a king may be, Egypt is millions, he is limited in doing harm to each individual person; he can harm in a general way. But he says: with Egypt it will not be so, rather there will be a cruel master, they will be many, the rulers will be many, and these rulers will be cruel. Consequently, when there are many rulers, then over every city there is a ruler, and over every village there is a ruler, and when the ruler over the village is cruel, then he knows all the people and he drains the life from everyone. Therefore he says, "and I will shut up Egypt into the hand of a cruel master," which is far harsher than a single cruel master. "And a fierce king shall rule over them." What might you say? Fine, but if it is only a local master here, I will throw off his yoke from upon me. He says: do not err in thinking so, "and a fierce king shall rule over them," there will be a fierce and mighty king who will rule over these masters, and he will strengthen their hand to rule with great dominion. That is to say, there are here cruel masters from whom no one will escape, and moreover a great king, an authority above them, who rules over all these cruel masters and ensures that these cruel masters carry out their work properly. The Malbim asks: what is "and I will shut up Egypt" (visicharti)? "Shut up" is written with a kaf, from the root sachar, a dam, as we will see later in verse 10, sachar, a dam, and sometimes it appears with a sin, sometimes with a samech. Sachar means, as in "and the fountains of the great deep were shut up," the intent being to close something, to dam it so it will not continue. And it is connected to sachar and sagar (to close), says the Malbim, the kaf and the gimel interchanging, for it is really the same idea, to close something or to dam something. If one dams a river, it means one places a dam upon it, closing off its waters so they cannot go out. So "I will shut up Egypt into the hand of cruel masters": I will deliver them into the hand of cruel masters. Now the Malbim says: it is written here "into the hand of a cruel (kasheh) master, and a fierce (az) king shall rule over them." What is the difference between "cruel" and "fierce"? The Malbim says: "fierce" (oz) relates to might, strength, courage, valor, vigor, power, all of that is oz. "Cruel" (kasheh), by contrast, is connected to heaviness, hard labor, a hard and cruel heart. Therefore he says: the masters will be cruel, they will be merciless, they will give them hard labor, they will make the yoke heavy upon them. But the king will be fierce, he will be mighty, he will be full of strength, of courage, of valor, and he will maintain these cruel masters. And this shows very, very great cruelty in how they will conduct themselves toward their own people. And this too is what we see in recent times, how their government went and killed its own, going and fighting against the people within the government. And they are there only at the beginning of the story, for their story is far from over, meaning that the words of this prophecy are still before us.
"And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be laid waste and dried up." Now he will describe how, by losing their government, and by becoming a servile tribute under another government, they will also lose their livelihood, they will also lose their sustenance. And now he describes for us five things. First, what is the good of the land of Egypt? What is the source of its abundance, as we explained? It is the Nile. The Nile would rise and water their soil. And they had, as is known, very sophisticated systems of canals, how to divide the rising Nile waters in order to irrigate the fields to the depth of the fields, over great distances. They made canals and water channels to convey the waters of the Nile. So he says: now this Nile, "the river shall be laid waste and dried up." What does this mean, how does he connect it to "and the waters shall fail from the sea"? The Malbim explains: "shall fail" (nishtu) is from the root nashah, displacement, like the sinew of the thigh (gid hanasheh), the sinew that was displaced from its place, moved from its place. "And the waters shall fail from the sea," as it were, from the sea they will be displaced from their place. In ancient times they believed that the waters in the Nile and in all the rivers were essentially waters flowing from the waters of the sea. From the waters of the sea beneath the earth, from this all the rivers flow. This is a bit hard to understand, for the sea waters are seemingly salty, unless we say they seep through the earth; but without that it is somewhat hard to understand. In any case, that is what they believed, that all the rivers also receive from the waters of the sea. So the moment "the waters shall fail from the sea," meaning waters were lacking from the sea, waters were displaced from the sea, consequently "the river shall be laid waste and dried up." Then also the Nile river that waters their soil, it too will be laid waste and dried up, the Nile too, as it were, will be lacking in water. Now the Malbim says: there is a difference between a river (nahar), a stream (nachal), and a canal (ye'or). What is the difference between them in the Holy Tongue? The Malbim says: a nahar is generally a river that flows. It is smaller than the sea and it generally flows with force. That is the nahar. By contrast the nachal is not narrow but spreads more. It spreads more, it is not deep, and it is not raging like the nahar. A nahar is when it flows with many waters; a nachal is like "the waters of the stream that flow softly," in the language of the prophet. The waters of the nachal flow gently. A ye'or is generally a pool that is filled from rainwater. It is called a ye'or. Why is it called ye'or? Because rain is called "or," as in "He covers His hands with light (or)," where the intent is rain. Rains are called or, therefore it is called ye'or, meaning from the power of the light, from the power of the rain. What might you say, in Egypt is it not from the power of the rain? The answer: where does the Nile come from? From where does it come? From Africa, correct? It comes, they have streams that come from what? From melting snows. And consequently it does, in the end, come from the rain. Therefore it is fitting to call it a ye'or, the waters descending from the falling rains cause the filling of the canals, the canals as we said being pools, reservoirs of water that they would dig in order to store the waters of the Nile. And he says: you generally see that the term ye'or appears often in connection with the Nile. Why? Because there, as I said, they would make many canals in order to irrigate their fields that were adjacent to it.
Now it is written here "shall be laid waste and dried up." Seemingly this is a repetition of the same expression. What is "laid waste and dried up"? The Malbim says: "laid waste" (yecherav) always refers to something moist that dries up; that is the meaning of yecherav. "Dried up" (viyavesh) is already after it has ended, it has already reached complete dryness, now it is called yavesh. In the first stage it is laid waste, the moist one gradually loses its moisture, that is called yecherav, and afterward it will be completely dry, that is the second stage, "laid waste and dried up," complete dryness.
"And the rivers shall be spurned, the canals of Egypt shall be diminished and laid waste, reed and rush shall wither." And he continues to describe what will happen to them there in the Nile river and in their other rivers. "And the rivers shall be spurned." The river and the sea of which we said they were displaced, we said they dried up, he says: from now they will abandon the small rivers. For from the Nile, which is the great river, rivers and branches spread out through the whole country. Therefore they are called rivers, for they flow and go out from the Nile. "And the rivers shall be spurned." The Malbim asks: what is the meaning of "shall be spurned" (hizniach)? It is from the verb zanach, to spurn. There is a difference, says the Malbim, between azav (forsake), natash (abandon), and zanach (spurn). Azav and natash can be something I did not need, so I forsook it or abandoned it. But to spurn something shows utter estrangement and complete disgust. When one wants to say of someone that he was forsaken in a harsh manner, one says they spurned him. It is a far harsher expression than to abandon. To abandon: it was here, I left it. But to spurn shows, as it were, a deliberate distancing and disgust with it. Now he says: when it is written in the causative form, "and the rivers shall be spurned" (vihiznichu), not "they spurned" but "they were caused to be spurned," this shows that some mark was made in it so that it is no longer fit for its function. As it were, not merely to spurn, but to spurn deliberately in order to show it is no longer needed at all. That it will no longer be fit for anything. Like "the vessels that King Achaz spurned in his reign," what did he do? It is written that he defiled them, that he used them for idolatry. "Yerovam and his sons spurned them," and "if you forsake Him He will spurn you forever," the intent being that he made some mark in it that shows he distances it entirely, not merely spurns it and departs, but makes some mark in it: that is it, it is finished, it is no longer used at all. "And the rivers shall be spurned."
And not only that, "the canals of Egypt shall be diminished and laid waste." Also the canals which, as we said, are what people build, making some diggings in the ground in order to store rainwater, "the canals of Egypt (matzor)." From what root is "canals of matzor"? These canals were designed to help us in time of siege (matzor). For in time of siege one must have something to drink. So they would make canals in which they would store water, and then if there is a siege, if there is a war, they have from where to drink. And he says those very canals "shall be diminished and laid waste." The Malbim asks: what is "diminished" (dallelu)? Or dillelu, it indicates a reduction of something. If someone is poor, what is he called? Dal. What does that mean? He was reduced from his wealth. He was rich; who is called dal? One who was previously rich. He was rich and became impoverished, reduced in his wealth. If it is illness, then it means he was reduced from his health, as in "why are you so wasted (dal), son of the king?" Who said this to whom? Well, who said it to him? His friend. It is written that his friend said to Amnon, "why are you so wasted, son of the king?" and then he told him that he loves Tamar, and then he advised him the counsel with the cakes and so on. So there dal, what does it mean? He was strong and became wasted. Or in the matter of diminished honor, it is written "the honor of Yaakov shall be brought low (yidal)," "behold my family is the poorest (hadal) in Menasheh." Dal always means there was much and it was reduced. So too here, "the rivers shall be diminished," at first they were flowing rivers and they were diminished. In the second stage "laid waste," completely dried up, "the canals of matzor," which as we said are even the canals they made themselves.
"Reed and rush shall wither." Not only did the waters dry up, but the reed and the rush, which always grow at the edge of the canal, they withered; from the great dryness they withered, and nothing was left of them. And this always happens in the second stage, for at first the waters dry up, and in the second stage the trees beside them also dry up. So here he proceeds gradually in order to show you to what degree of dryness this will reach.
"The bare places by the canal, by the mouth of the canal, and everything sown by the canal, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more." Another matter: the Egyptians made their living from the grain that grew in their land. And they had abundant grain, for the Egyptians irrigated by means of the Nile, so they had no shortage of water. Thus the grain grew in great quantity, and people would come to Egypt to procure bread, to procure food, as in the time of Yosef, since in Egypt, as we said, there was abundant grain. So now he says: among the seeds that grow of themselves by the canal, and even those that grow at the edge of the canal, all of them in the end will wither. How is this written here? "The bare places by the canal." The Malbim asks: what is "bare places" (arot)? Arot is like what is written "and it spreads its roots (mitareh) like a fresh native tree." What is mitareh? When one wishes to say of something that it is mitareh, what does that mean? Attached, correct? Roots striking into the ground, "it spreads like a fresh native tree." So the spreading of the roots and their intertwining in the ground is called arot. "The bare places by the canal," these are the plants that are rooted by the canal, and not only by the canal, drawing from the canal, but "by the mouth of the canal," it is right adjacent to the water, so that it is considered one that received the best water, the best amount of irrigation. "And everything sown by the canal": "everything sown by the canal" means, do not think it is only the seeds that grow of themselves, but even what people sow, whose root is much stronger, whose root is much more enduring. He tells you "everything sown by the canal," that too withered, that too "be driven away," meaning like pushed from its place, as it were the wind will blow it away from there, "and be no more." The Malbim offers another explanation: "by the mouth of the canal" (al pi ye'or), the first explanation is as we said, like "by the mouth of the well," "by the mouth of the cave," what grows at the mouth of the canal. But the Malbim says there is another explanation: what is the meaning of "by the mouth of the canal"? Like "by the mouth of Aharon and his sons," "by the mouth of Pharaoh," the intent being by his command, correct? By the command of Aharon and his sons. And this is what he says: those that grew of themselves grew, as it were, by the mouth of the canal; you did not sow them. Rather the canal, as it were, instructed them to grow. They grew by the command of the canal, as though they grew of themselves. He says: they too, in the end, "be driven away and be no more," a wind will come and drive it away from there, "be driven away and be no more."
"And the fishermen shall mourn, and all who cast a hook into the canal shall lament, and those who spread nets upon the waters shall languish." A third matter: they made their living, as we said, first from the water, second from the grain, third from fish. The fish they would catch, which were exceedingly abundant in the canal, "and the fishermen shall mourn." What is "anu"? Anu is from the expression of aninut, like an onen (a mourner before burial). And as we see afterward, "and the fishermen shall mourn, and all who cast a hook into the canal shall lament." The Malbim asks: what is the difference between anu (mourn inwardly) and avelu (lament outwardly)? The onen is a person who mourns in his heart. Immediately when the deceased passes away, he has aninut in the heart, therefore he is called onen. Avelut (mourning), by contrast, is in public. Aninut is inward, avelut is already public. So the Midrash of Eichah says: aninut inside and avelut outside. After the deceased has been buried, then the aninut in the heart ceases and the avelut actually begins. Therefore he comes and says: the fishermen will mourn immediately when the canal dries up. "And the fishermen shall mourn," why? Our livelihood was diminished; we used to fish from the canal and now we cannot fish. Who are these fishermen? Those who make their living from catching fish. But afterward, "and all who cast a hook into the canal shall lament." Also the fishermen who catch the larger fish, which endure a longer time, that is called "those who cast a hook into the canal." This is what is called today a fishhook. They would cast a line with a rope, and the large fish would be caught by it and then they would draw them in with the rope or the hook. That is called "those who cast a hook into the canal." "Those who cast a hook into the canal," in the second stage they will lament, when it is already open. Why? Because the large fish endure longer than the small fish. In the first stage the small fish, which the fishermen catch, will be missing. In the second stage, when it is already visible to all, the mourning will be visible, then also "all who cast a hook into the canal" will also lament.
And afterward, "and those who spread nets upon the waters shall languish." "Those who spread nets," those fishermen who catch by means of a net, michmoret being a net. And there they usually gather many fish. He tells you: usually the fish spread out with a net, the fish caught then, that is even when there are not many fish; by means of a net one can still catch. By means of a net one can still catch. He says: a situation will come in which even those who spread nets upon the waters, those who can still always find fish when no one else can find any, they too will languish. "They too shall languish" means they too will be wretched, for essentially all will die, all the fish will die, and consequently there will be nothing left for them to catch.
"And they who work in flax shall be ashamed, the combers and the weavers of white cloth." A fourth matter: another gain and source of livelihood that Egypt had was through flax. Flax grew very abundantly in Egypt, as it is written, "fine linen with embroidered work, and the hewn cords of Egypt." The shesh is a flax garment, and it grew abundantly in Egypt. Egypt was a great power in the weaving of fine linen garments. He says: "and they who work in flax shall be ashamed." This too they will not have, those who do the work of flax, and likewise those who do the combing, meaning the combed flax, and the craftsmen who weave the garments, "and the weavers of white cloth." What is chorai? The white garments. From what root is it? From the root chiver (pale). What is chiver? White, correct? Chiver, how does the Aramaic translation render "white"? Chiver, correct? "Old white wine." So "the weavers of chorai," meaning those who weave the special white garments, they too will be ashamed. "Ashamed," as it were, they will not have it, they will search and not find. Why? Because they will not have flax either. And the reason will be: because there will be no rivers, and because there will be no crops, so flax too will not grow. And if that too does not grow, it means that those whose whole livelihood was through flax, that livelihood too will be missing from them.
"And its foundations shall be crushed, all who make wages, of grievous soul." "And its foundations shall be crushed." A fifth matter: there were many there who made their living through building. What did they do? They built dams in order to bring water out of the Nile into diggings designated for them. And I have already explained that they had in this a very, very great wisdom of leveling and knowing how to divert the waters of the Nile in order to use them for irrigating the fields. So those "foundations" (shatoteha), those who do this work, the workers in this activity of channeling the waters so that they flow properly, they too will be crushed in poverty. Why? Because if there is no water, then those who make their living from the dams also have no livelihood. And likewise those who do "all who make wages (sechar), of grievous soul." "Make sechar" means a dam literally, as we call it today a sechar (dam), so that the waters there will rest. "Agmei nefesh" is like "they will rest," from the expression "He rested and was refreshed (vayinafash)." What is vayinafash? Repose, rest, correct? So too here, "agmei nefesh" means that the pool (agam) there rests, is calm; they would make a dam so that the pool there would be at rest. That is, it would not continue and flow onward. These too will be without livelihood. All will be crushed and without livelihood, for the moment there is no Nile, then consequently there is no livelihood from it. There is a further explanation: the Malbim says, what is "agmei nefesh"? The Malbim says: another explanation given by some commentators as well: "agmei nefesh" is like "agmei nefesh" (grief of soul), meaning they will have grief of soul in this. "All who make wages, of grievous soul," all who make wages will have grief of soul. And this is "agmei nefesh," which according to this is not from the expression agam (pool), but from the expression agum (grieved), from the expression of grief, from the expression of sorrow. There is yet another explanation: what is "agmei nefesh"? A pool that contains fish. For the fish are called nefashot (souls), the fish are called souls. So "agmei nefesh" means a river that stores within it the souls of the fish.
"Surely the princes of Tzoan are fools, the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?" Now the prophet turns to the princes of Pharaoh, to his counselors. How did you not foresee, anticipate in advance the decree that was decreed upon him from Heaven? How do you make him empty promises, that he has nothing to worry about and nothing to fear and all will be well? "The princes of Tzoan are fools." "Fools" means what you did was folly. Now he turns to two groups, "the princes of Tzoan," "the wise counselors of Pharaoh." The Malbim says: the princes are the leaders of the kingdom, the members of the government. And there are "the wise counselors of Pharaoh," the sages who are the counselors. Such a one is not a prince, but in any case when the king needs counsel, he turns to him. Both in the divine wisdoms, as it were, the wisdoms in which they believed, the powers of the gods and the like, and among the magicians of Egypt who were versed in all the wisdoms then accepted, for in their time the magicians of Egypt had great wisdom. Now he turns to both of them. First he turns to the sages. How do you counsel Pharaoh, encourage Pharaoh to boast and say, "How can you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise"? I have wisdom handed down to me from my fathers, I am the son of the wise, it is not that someone just now began to study; we have accepted and established wisdom. Now he also turns to the princes. The princes, as we said, the members of his government. How do you encourage Pharaoh to come and be arrogant and say, "I am the son of ancient kings"? I have nothing to fear that my kingship might fall, for I am the son of ancient kings, I did not rise to reign yesterday, I have an old and long-established royal dynasty and I have nothing to fear. How do you give him such counsel?