Yeshayahu chapter 21: "The burden of the wilderness of the sea. Like storms that sweep through the Negev, it comes from the wilderness, from a fearful land." This prophecy is now a prophecy about Bavel. Rashi asks: haven't we already seen a prophecy about Bavel in the earlier chapters 13 and 14? There was a very harsh prophecy there against Bavel; if you recall, we saw that he prophesied about her that she would be destroyed and never rebuilt, and we also saw historically that this prophecy was fulfilled, "nor will an Arab pitch his tent there," he said that there would be a situation in which Bavel, that ancient Bavel, would be ruins to this very day, and very harsh things were said about her. This was already a prophecy stated in chapters 13 and 14. So why now, suddenly, do we have yet another prophecy against Bavel? Rashi says that sometimes prophecy comes to the prophet in one style, and later in another style. Do not be surprised, this is the way of prophecy: sometimes the prophet prophesies at one time in a certain manner, and at another time in a different manner, in a different style.
The Malbim says that Bavel is here called "the wilderness of the sea," since Madai and Paras were to the northeast of Bavel. It follows, then, that Bavel is to the southwest of Paras. So if we call her southwest: west is the sea, and wilderness is south. Whenever they want to say south they say "wilderness": "land of the south," "land of the wilderness" means the south. So southwest is called "sea and wilderness," and this is "the wilderness of the sea." "The wilderness of the sea" means southwest relative to what? Relative to Madai and Paras. Now, she is also called "wilderness" because between Bavel and Madai and Paras there was a desert, and through this desert the enemies came. He is now describing and telling us of the enemies' coming. We will preface with something that appears in the book of Daniel; whoever wishes can hear the discs on the book of Daniel and there see the whole story, we will only state it briefly. It is brought that when Madai and Paras waged war against Bavel, Belshatzar succeeded in driving the enemies away and overcoming them, and they returned to their land. That very night, Bavel held a great feast, brought out the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash, and was certain that they would no longer redeem Israel, and then a piece of a hand emerged and wrote on the wall of the palace "Mene Mene Tekel u-Pharsin." Hashem has numbered your kingdom and found it wanting, and therefore decided "to divide" it, meaning to split it apart. He then went and inquired about the meaning of this prophecy, and none of the wise men could interpret it, and Daniel explained to him what we have just explained, that in fact he would lose his kingdom. "On that night Belshatzar was killed." On that very night Belshatzar died. How? By a rebellion that his own people staged against him from within; they killed him, and ran to inform Madai and Paras, who were now on their way, having already been defeated here and returned to their land. They wanted to inform them: come, Belshatzar has now been killed. And so they returned and conquered Bavel. Madai and Paras returned to conquer Bavel. This was the story recorded in the book of Daniel. And now he will describe this reality, this downfall; he now describes in this prophecy, which is in fact a prophecy given in advance of what happened there and then.
And now he will portray and describe for us, as it were, some watchman who on that night stands upon the wall of Bavel, and when the camp of Paras returns to conquer Bavel, after they heard that Belshatzar's servants had killed him following that piece of a hand that emerged and wrote on the wall of the palace, his servants killed him, staged a coup, and in fact went to call and summon Paras, and Paras returns, then he describes that this camp looks like dust borne up by the desert wind, and only afterward does he learn of the rebellion, that the enemies are in fact now coming to destroy Bavel. And he describes how the watchman who sees this is seized with dread, fear, and horror. And afterward he gives an additional description: how there is another watchman, and he is now one of the children of Israel, who is already waiting: Master of the world, when will what You promised about Bavel's downfall be fulfilled? When will they finally fall? And he too sees what is then happening, but not like the first watchman, who is a Babylonian and is seized with fear and horror, but rather this watchman rejoices and exults that at last the Holy One is exacting punishment from Bavel, which so troubled and distressed Israel.
And now he begins to describe. "The burden of the wilderness of the sea. Like storms that sweep through the Negev, it comes from the wilderness, from a fearful land." The watchman, this is now the Babylonian watchman speaking. The watchman describes and says: it seems to me as if I see some storms sweeping through the desert of the Negev. The Negev is generally called a wilderness, a place that is dried up of water (menuggav), therefore it is called Negev. I see these storms raising up a great cloud of dust. And then he looks and observes more closely and says "from the wilderness": I see the storm, that storm and dust is coming from the direction of the wilderness. And then he observes more closely and says "from a fearful land." "A fearful land" is Paras, which the Babylonians so feared and dreaded, so for him it is called a fearful land. I see that these forces that are now coming are from a fearful land. And which forces are these? On that very night the forces of Paras returned to conquer Belshatzar back, after they had been defeated and heard that Belshatzar was now killed by the rebels, they return to conquer them back.
"A harsh vision has been told to me. The treacherous deals treacherously and the plunderer plunders. Go up, Eilam, lay siege, Madai; all its groaning I have brought to an end." "A harsh vision has been told to me." The observer, that same Babylonian watchman, looks and says: this is not a storm and dust, but rather "a harsh vision has been told to me." What is now becoming clear to me is that "the treacherous deals treacherously," a rebellion and betrayal has taken place among King Belshatzar's men, and because "the treacherous deals treacherously" and went to call all the enemy forces to come here, therefore "the plunderer plunders." Now, with force, the plunderer is coming, that is, the army of Paras, they are returning to plunder, to wage war again against Bavel. "Go up, Eilam, lay siege, Madai": the watchman now describes what he was told by the traitor; the traitor, as it were, says "Go up, Eilam" against Bavel, he comes and invites them: Eilam, Paras, Madai, come now, go up against Bavel, we have already solved your problem, we have eliminated the king, Belshatzar. "Go up, Eilam." And "lay siege, Madai" (tzuri Madai), he also calls "besiege, Madai," meaning: do not fear Belshatzar, do not worry about him, "all its groaning I have brought to an end." The dread and fear that existed because of the people of Bavel, there was dread, there was fear, there was worry, Hashem says: I have brought it to an end. I have brought it to an end, as it were: you have nothing to worry about, you will no longer see anything from them, from Bavel; Belshatzar has been killed, you need only come and take the kingship.
And then the watchman describes what he goes through. "Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am too bent to hear, I am too terrified to see." Rashi explains that this is the prophet, who is compassionate, and he sighs over the calamity of the nations. So Rashi explains. But we will follow the approach explained by the Malbim; incidentally, Rashi himself also brings that according to the plain meaning the prophet utters the lament and mourning as though Bavel is lamenting, and he serves as her mouthpiece, as it were. It is not that I the prophet grieve over her downfall, "so may all Your enemies perish, Hashem," but rather, as it were, he serves as a mouth for Bavel, which groans and laments and grieves. But the Malbim explains that all this is a continuation of the words of the guard and watchman who sees all these things, and then he is horrified by this sudden, harsh news that the enemies are now coming to conquer Bavel, "therefore my loins are filled with anguish." And not only this, but "pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor." "Pangs have seized me" means like a woman who has pangs, and these pangs are called tziyrim (from tzir, a hinge) because the Gemara says that a woman's womb has pangs like doors, that when one wishes to say a woman is giving birth, as it were the "door" opens in the birthing woman. So I had such pangs, such distress, such pain. This was in the second stage. And afterward, "I am too bent to hear, I am too terrified to see." "I am too bent to hear" (na'aveiti) means avah is a term of confusion, a term of madness. He says: I had such derangement of mind as a result of all that I saw, until I was unable to hear, all the powers of the body were distorted. And not only this: "I am too terrified to see," until I was no longer able to see. Thus the watchman describes the fear that seized him when he saw the enemies returning.
"My heart wandered, horror overwhelmed me; the twilight of my desire He has turned into terror for me." "My heart wandered," he now describes another decline in the watchman, another downfall, another panic, to the point that his whole body was utterly nullified: "my heart wandered," the life force that I had was nullified. Even more, he says "horror overwhelmed me." Pallatzut (horror) means something like bursting apart. All the sinews of the body, as it were, all the blood vessels, all burst apart. "Horror seized me," meaning as if the whole body came apart. Why? "The twilight of my desire He has turned into terror for me." "The twilight of my desire" (neshef chishki): the Malbim explains that "my desire" means my will, and that will He "shifted" (neshef). From what root is neshef? Neshef, there is an Aramaic expression shaf mi-dukhteih. Shaf mi-dukhteih means it jumped and moved from its place. And twilight (neshef) is called neshef, the twilight of night, because the day departed and the night entered, meaning it left its place and something else entered. This is the expression neshef, that a thing is shifted from its place. Indeed, the Gemara says there is neshef of day and neshef of night. There is also the expression neshef regarding the day. Why is it called neshef of day? Also, the same thing, since the night passed, shaf mi-dukhteih, it left its place and the day arrived. So here too "the twilight (neshef) of my desire" means: that very desire that I had before, the terrible fear that has now come upon me has shifted it away from me. And why? The Malbim says that when a person is struck by some matter of dread, it causes him great panic. But if a matter of dread comes to him while he is in great joy, then, he says, the panic and fear are sevenfold. There is a shift here. He says this doubles the madness and bewilderment through the shifting of the body and its senses from joy to great fear, until the person is in a kind of state of confusion: he does not know whether he is in joy or in terrible fear. This, he says, is the greatest panic of all. And therefore he says "the twilight of my desire," meaning that time when I had my desire; and the Radak explains what "the twilight of my desire" means. The Radak says: on that very night Belshatzar held a neshef (a feast). On that very night he made a celebration, held a banquet, everyone rejoicing, and suddenly, in one moment, that "twilight of my desire" turned into terrible dread. "The twilight of my desire," the most joyous time, suddenly became the most alarming, the most terrifying time. And then he says that in such a state a person begins to imagine and to see the shadow of the mountains as if they were the mountains themselves, and to see frightening and alarming things - because of what? Because his soul is shifted in a single moment from great joy to great panic, to enormous fear.
"Set the table, keep watch on the watchtower, eat, drink; arise, O princes, oil the shield." The Malbim says that now he describes the eloquent speaker, the person who is describing, and he is like a man seized by that madness we mentioned, who as it were leaps from dread to great joy and from great joy to dread, everyone is in panic, and these two imaginings together cause him great agitation. And then he calls out "Set the table," on the one hand prepare the table, a feast. On the other hand "keep watch on the watchtower," meaning prepare yourself, set an eye to watch, there is war. After that he again calls "eat, drink," eat, drink, there is a feast, there is joy. And on the other hand "arise, O princes, oil the shield." This shows you how the person is in a kind of oscillation that comes from the fear and horror that came in the midst of the joy and cause him a kind of state where the person cannot find himself, he is confused. On the one hand he wants to set the table, on one hand eat and drink, and a moment later "keep watch on the watchtower," set a watchman, there is war, "arise, O princes, oil the shield," there is battle. What is "oil the shield"? The commentators explain that it was their way, when they went out to war, to oil the shield with oil. The purpose of oiling the shield was so that the arrows and swords that struck it would slide off it, so it would slip. There it is written "the shield of the mighty was defiled" (nig'al), correct? There "the shield of the mighty was defiled." About whom was this said? About whom was it said? Yonatan. There it was said about Yonatan, that they were mighty and his shield was defiled. What is the meaning of nig'al? What is hag'alah in the holy tongue? "His ox breeds and does not cast off (yag'il)." Yag'il means it expels; hag'alah is expelling. So "the shield of the mighty was defiled" means: the oil that was absorbed in it and was meant to protect so that the shield would not receive the arrows was expelled, the oil was ejected. And once the oil was ejected and came out, then automatically the arrow could pierce the shield, the sword could cut through the shield. And so through this came the downfall. The expression "oiled with oil" expresses the strong shield that still has the oil on it. Rashi brings another explanation: "keep watch on the watchtower" means set up the lampstand. "Eat and drink," as it were, at that feast they set up the lampstands, raised them; the lampstands were a sign of importance, a sign of kings, as was their custom.
"For thus said Hashem to me: Go, station the lookout; let him tell what he sees." "For thus said Hashem to me," now he describes the second watchman. The second watchman is the one who stands by the word of Hashem, and he is the lookout (metzapeh), the one who waits and awaits: when will Bavel's downfall finally come, that prophecy we already read about earlier in chapters 13 and 14; when will these chapters, when will these descriptions finally come to fruition? Rashi explains who this lookout is. Rashi says he is a specific person. And who is he? Rashi says: He said to him, in the future one of your students will cry out against My attributes over the length of Bavel's tranquility. One of your students will come with a grievance: Master of the world, why is Bavel still at peace? There are such harsh prophecies against her, why do You not exact punishment from them? Who is this? Rashi says this is Chavakuk. "Upon my watch I will stand, and I will look out to see what He will say to me." So he, as it were, stood there, Chavakuk stood within, saying: I am here and will not budge until the Master of the world exacts punishment from Bavel. The Holy One said to Yeshayahu: Station that lookout and assure him from Me, that he will stand upon his watchtower and will tell what he sees of Bavel's downfall. As it were, here He turns to him: "Station the lookout; let him tell what he sees," behold, now I am exacting punishment from Bavel and I want him to describe these things, that just as I promised, so in the end I truly fulfilled. The Malbim, as we explained, does not enter into any actual watchman, he does not speak of a specific person, but rather describes what the Babylonian watchman, as it were, sees and the fear and horror that will seize him, and what the watchman who is in fact the watchman from Israel sees, the one who is already waiting for this prophecy to be fulfilled, that Bavel's downfall will finally come. The Malbim says: what is the difference between metzapeh (lookout) and tzofeh (watchman)? The Malbim says a tzofeh is a person who prepares himself to see what is destined to come. Now, what is destined to be, the object at which he is looking, is not yet before his eyes, he is waiting. And this is like what is written "I have made you a watchman (tzofeh) for the house of Israel," he is a watchman that this thing is destined to be. But when metzapeh is written, the meaning is a person who has hope to see a certain thing. "For Hashem I hope (atzapeh)," "in the morning I arrange for You and hope (atzapeh)," meaning I have hope for a certain thing; he is called metzapeh. In contrast, tzofeh is one who is about to see something, he is called tzofeh. "And he saw a rider, a pair of horsemen, a rider on a donkey, a rider on a camel, and he listened attentively, very attentively." Now he describes how it is with the metzapeh, whom, as we explained, has hope to see something, after he has stood a long time on guard and is already awaiting to see, well, when will Bavel already fall; when the time of the tidings arrives, what does he see? He thought he would see some heavy artillery, he thought he would see nations all around coming to wage war. Instead, what does he see? A rider of two horsemen. A rider on a donkey, a rider on a camel. Two riding horsemen, one on a donkey, one on a camel. Is this the downfall of Bavel? Is something going to fall from here? What, what, where is the downfall here? What he did not understand is that these two are the two officers who fled from Bavel that night and ran to the people of Paras, to the king of Paras, to tell him: come back, come back, we have opened the way for you. These two who ran to the army of Paras and Madai, this was the downfall of Bavel; those two horsemen you saw and did not understand, these are the two officers who killed Belshatzar. And the lookout thought: I will have to wait here a long time more; what do I see here, two horsemen, what, no salvation will sprout from this; he did not understand what he was seeing. He saw only a pair of riders. And why "a rider on a donkey, a rider on a camel"? Because this is the way of those who flee. A person who is preparing prepares a chariot and horsemen and everything, but one who flees in a single moment sees some donkey, jumps on it and flees. He sees some camel, mounts it and flees. He has no time to start looking for a proper vehicle, an off-road vehicle or whatever there is; they mount and flee. So he sees "a rider, a pair of horsemen, a rider on a donkey, a rider on a camel, and he listened attentively, very attentively." He hears and sees that the fugitives are sounding a voice of attention, meaning they say, as it were: from us will come forth the tidings of the end of Bavel's exile, of the end of Bavel, the end of the Babylonian kingdom, we are the bearers of these tidings.
"And he called like a lion: Upon the watchtower, O Hashem, I stand continually by day, and at my post I am stationed all the nights." And then he thinks to himself: well, my hope has been disappointed, I awaited Bavel's downfall, and instead I see someone on a donkey, someone on a camel. And then he stands and cries out like a lion: behold, Hashem, "I stand continually by day, and at my post I am stationed all the nights," where is the promise You promised? I have been standing here a long time already, and this is what I now see? That one on the donkey and that one on the camel? I have been waiting and awaiting for a long time. The Malbim says: there is the expression mishmar (post) and there is the expression mitzpeh (watchtower). Now let us note, the Malbim says, that when he writes about the mitzpeh he writes "I stand (omed) on the watchtower," and about the mishmar he writes "I am stationed (nitzav) at the post." What is the difference between nitzav and omed? We have already seen this several times in the Malbim's commentary, that a person who "stands" (omed) merely means he is not sitting. Who is omed? A person who is not sitting is called omed. In contrast, nitzav is a person who fortifies himself in his standing. A firm stance, standing (nitzav) opposite someone. Nitzav means standing with strength and force. So he says, so too here. On the watchtower (mitzpeh) he stands (omed), he is, as it were, hoping to see something, so he stands in order to see. But at the post (mishmar), I am here guarding so that enemies do not come; if I am guarding then I am stationed (nitzav), if an enemy comes now I am ready to fight against him. This is a person who stands firm (nitzav). Rashi explains, as is his way, that as it were Yeshayahu's prophecy came to comfort whom? Chavakuk, to whom the Holy One says: behold, what you so awaited, behold, it is now arriving. "And he called like a lion: Upon the watchtower, O Hashem, I stand." Who is this? This is Chavakuk, who stands and waits and, as we said, drew a circle and stood within it: "I stand continually by day" and night, "by day, and at my post I am stationed all the nights," I stand and am stationed and do not budge from here. He says here it speaks of Chavakuk as well, for "aryeh" (lion) in gematria equals "Chavakuk." And so he, as it were, turns to Chavakuk and comforts him in this matter. Verse 9: "And behold, here comes a rider, a man, a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said: Fallen, fallen is Bavel, and all the images of her gods He has shattered to the ground." This watchman stands and says: Master of the world, what do I now see? "Behold, here comes a rider, a man, a pair of horsemen." I, as I described, always stand by day at my post, stationed all the nights, for what? "Behold, here comes a rider, a man, a pair of horsemen," is this the downfall of Bavel that You promised, Master of the world? Will this destroy the mighty kingdom of Bavel? "And he answered and said: Fallen, fallen is Bavel." But while he is thus crying out to Hashem, he suddenly notices that he hears voices. And what are these voices crying out? "Fallen, fallen is Bavel." He hears that through those riders on the donkey and camel, they are coming to Paras, and what are they crying out to the king of Paras? "Fallen, fallen is Bavel," come conquer the city now, Belshatzar has been killed. What does he want to express by this? He wants to tell you: know, the downfall of Bavel will be in a single moment, in a single second. Do not think there will be some siege, that many nations will come, and there will be wars, and there will be... He says: no, sir, in one second; one moment he sees a rider and horsemen, he says, what is this, where is the downfall here? And a second later they announce: sir, it is finished, Bavel is wiped out, Bavel has fallen. Paras returns, enters, and takes Bavel, as they say nowadays, in a walk. Without need for wars, without need to wage battles. That is, a moment earlier such a thing had not entered their minds, a second later there is no more Bavel. The prophet, as it were, receives a prophecy from Hashem: the downfall of Bavel will be in a single moment.
"My threshing and the son of my threshing floor, what I have heard from Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have told you." The prophet tells them in this prophecy: I am here prophesying to you how the downfall of Bavel will begin, and how the conspiracy will be plotted against Belshatzar their master, and I am not describing to you here the slaughter and destruction that the army of Paras and Madai will inflict on Bavel, how they will exact punishment from them, how they will slay them; this I am not describing to you. This I already described to you in the chapters, as I said before, 13 and 14, where a truly detailed description came of how harsh Bavel's downfall would be. The prophet calls that prophecy "my threshing and the son of my threshing floor." The meaning is: the prophecy in which I prophesied about the threshing, that Hashem will thresh Bavel. To thresh is what they would do to grain, when they wanted to separate the chaff from the wheat, they would thresh. What is threshing? They take and place the sharp threshing sledge upon the wheat, they let an ox pull it; it was very heavy, a very heavy board, and it rubs the wheat on the ground and causes the chaff to separate from the kernels. Afterward they winnow it in the wind. So he says "my threshing," the prophecy in which I prophesied about the threshing, that the Holy One will thresh Bavel; this is a figurative prophecy, a figurative expression for the strongest of beatings. Threshing means complete crushing, like "you will thresh the mountains and crush them, and make the hills like chaff." So this means threshing, that Hashem will thresh Bavel, will destroy her completely; this I have already told you, already in the earlier prophecies 13 and 14, already long ago I prophesied to you about the reality in which the Holy One will destroy Bavel with complete destruction. What is "the son of my threshing floor"? The meaning is like the threshing floor, from which one gathers and threshes; so too the Holy One will gather and thresh them, as it is written there "with a new sharp threshing sledge having double edges," meaning that it has sharp points, that it threshes the grain completely.
"The burden of Dumah. To me one calls from Seir: Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" Now he will deliver a prophecy about the downfall of Edom. We have in fact already spoken in the past that the division into chapters is a Christian division. In Judaism there is no division into chapters. Rather, there are only open sections, closed sections, and also without numbers, without marking "this is chapter such-and-such," and so on. We also explained in the past why, from what that Christian division arose, and how it entered our Tanakh. In any case, here in fact, if one wanted to divide the chapters correctly, here a new chapter should begin. Because here the prophet now moves on to speak about another nation, whose downfall he expresses. "The burden of Dumah." What is "the burden of Dumah"? About whom does he now speak? About the downfall of Edom. The Malbim says that this burden, this prophecy, is founded on what Ovadyah said. And there in Ovadyah it is brought: "If thieves came to you, if robbers of the night... to the border all the men of your covenant have sent you." And there the Malbim explained that Edom went out of the border of their land to fight against enemies. How? By deceiving them. They deceived Edom and told them there is some war and it would be worthwhile for you to go out to fight against the enemies, and Edom went out beyond their country to fight. And there were advisors there who in fact deceived Edom into going out to this battle. When they went out beyond their land, the enemies entered the land and conquered it easily. In short, they set a trap for them. And therefore he compares them there to thieves and robbers of the night. Thieves and robbers of the night enter without the homeowner's knowledge, they enter by cunning. So too those Edomites entered them and conquered them in the manner of thieves and robbers of the night. Now he says they plundered and robbed them more than the thieves and robbers do. For a thief or robber has no time, he takes what he sees openly. He has no time to start conducting searches; what he sees openly he immediately takes and looks for how to flee, he has no time to start searching in hidden things and all sorts of concealed places, unless the homeowner has gone away for a week, and then the thieves have an empty house and also a free week. But in the ordinary way a thief sees something, takes it, and escapes. So now, on this basis, he comes and describes and says: know, there with them it will not merely be thieves, but this is more than ordinary thieves; they will take even what is in the hiding places, even what is in the concealed places. And he says they plundered both by day and by night. And about this it is said "how Esav was searched out, his hidden treasures sought out." "How he was searched out": they searched there and dug, and the most hidden things, even these they took from Esav; not like thieves who come, take what they see openly, and immediately flee, but rather they went and searched for even the most hidden things. On this foundation he now delivers his prophecy and says: "The burden of Dumah, to me one calls from Seir." Seir is Edom. "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" The watchman whom they set to guard the land for them, they ask him: tell us, what has happened there in Seir? And he says to them: why do you need to seek and search for the enemy outside the country? Come back to the country, you will find him, your enemy you will find him inside the country itself. And this is what he says, "to me," meaning the watchman says, the watchman said, "to me one calls from Seir," they ask me "Watchman, what of the night?" What has happened of the night? What has happened on that terrible night when they came against Seir? "The watchman said: Morning comes, and also night; if you would inquire, inquire; come back, come." The watchman tells them: do not think he came like a thief in the night and immediately fled with the light of morning, for usually the thief does not go about by day, he has fears, he has worries. He tells them: no, morning comes and also night. And the enemy is still there, plundering and looting. As we said, he describes what happened when the children of Edom went out beyond their land. "If you would inquire, inquire; come back, come." If you seek the enemy, come back, come; he tells Edom: return to your land, you will find him there. That is, Edom went out from their land through the deception, as we explained, and they are searching for where the enemy is. He tells them: ah, you are searching for the enemy? The enemy is already digging in your house, and he has already taken even the hidden things. If you seek, "if you would inquire, inquire," you want him, "come back, come," return and come back to your place, to your land, and then you will discover how, in the moment you left here, the enemy had already entered here and is plundering your spoil. Rashi explains this more by way of derash. "The watchman said," this is the Holy One. "Morning comes," the Holy One, as it were, turns to the people of Israel and says to them: it is in My power to bring you a morning now. What is morning? As it were, to bring the redemption. "And also night," the night that is prepared for Esav. Night expresses judgments, it expresses hardship. Night, I have prepared for Esav, I have set up for Esav to chastise you and afflict you. On what does this depend? "If you would inquire, inquire." If you will seek, be'ayu means seek; if you will pray about this to hasten the end, "if you would inquire, inquire," you want to hasten the end, "come back, come." What is the main thing? Not to cry out, Master of the world, send Mashiach. That is wonderful, that too is needed, but that is not the main thing. What is the main thing? Change your deeds. "Come back, come," return in teshuvah, and through this the end of the redemption will come.
"The burden upon Arav. In the forest, in Arav, you will lodge, O caravans of the Dedanites." This prophecy is a prophecy about the downfall of the sons of Kedar, about whom Yeshayahu now prophesies that they will fall at the hand of Sancheriv. "In the forest, in Arav, you will lodge." He tells them: you caravans and travelers of the sons of Dedan, "caravans of the Dedanites." The Dedanites are a nation. Caravans and travelers of the sons of Dedan, and they would travel through the land of Kedar. The sons of Kedar, the Arabs, were hospitable. And they would sleep there. From now, since Kedar is destroyed, then the caravans of the Dedanites, who were accustomed to sleep at the sons of Kedar who were hospitable, "in the forest, in Arav, you will lodge." You will be forced to sleep in the forests, since the sons of Kedar have already been destroyed by Sancheriv, and consequently you have no one to take you in and no one to lodge you; what is the place where you will be able to lodge, O caravans of the Dedanites? "In the forest, in Arav." In this place of the sons of Arav they will be forced to sleep in the forests. Another explanation the Malbim says: that you, sons of Arav, will lodge in the forest when you are in exile. And now he speaks to the sons of Kedar themselves, the sons of Arav themselves, not about the caravans of the Dedanites who come to them. Rather, you sons of Arav yourselves, when you are exiled by Sancheriv, you will lodge in the forests and you will go the ways of the Dedanites, on the roads on which the sons of Dedan, who wandered, would go; so too you will wander, you will be exiled by Sancheriv. And why does this come upon them? Why is there here an evil prophecy against the sons of Kedar, the sons of Arav? Rashi says: I saw what you did when Ashur exiled My people. And the people of Israel were pleading with their captors, with those leading them, telling them: take us by way of the sons of Yishmael. They are our cousins, they will help us, they will assist us, they will have mercy on us. But you would go out and lodge in the forest along the route of passing the caravans, and not only did you not care for them, not only did you not grant and help your brothers, the children of Israel who were exiled by Sancheriv, but you even gave them inflated skins, as we will see further on; they brought them salted fish and afterward inflated skins, and they would put these inflated skins into their mouths and that wind would enter them and kill them. And this was after they gave them salted fish, salted fish whose way is to cause thirst, to cause a person's throat to dry out. And then they came and took the inflated skins, and through this they exhaled their souls. And therefore there is a harsh prophecy against them, "the burden upon Arav"; so too with you, in the forest you will lodge in Arav, along the ways of the caravans of the Dedanites you will be exiled by Sancheriv, just as your brethren were exiled, just as the people of Israel were exiled. "To meet the thirsty, bring water; O inhabitants of the land of Teima, with their bread meet the fugitive." You inhabitants of the land of Teima, the fugitives of Kedar, those we just spoke of, the Arabs, passed by your way, through your land. And they met them with water. The Malbim explains that here it is explained by way of a figure. In Teima water was plentiful. Teima was a lowland place, a low place where water was plentiful. And if so, you could easily have brought water to those exiled from their land. And he says: the sons of Kedar were always hospitable; whoever came to them, they would give them bread, they would give them food; so if so, it would have been fitting that at least they should meet them with water. According to Rashi, as we explained earlier, here the prophecy is against them, against the sons of Kedar, that He tells them: why did you not meet the children of Israel with water? The children of Israel who were exiled and passed by your way, instead you brought them inflated skins, and one would put the skin in his mouth and through this exhale his soul. "To meet the thirsty, bring water," you should have brought water to the thirsty people, and instead you were even a stumbling block to them. Another thing He says to them: "To meet the thirsty, bring water," Hashem, may He be blessed, says to them: when Yishmael was thirsty, when he had a fever, when he was sent away by Avraham, he and Hagar, what did the Holy One do? He revealed to Hagar where there was what? A well of water. Hashem says "to meet the thirsty, bring water," did I not do so for your father Yishmael, when he was thirsty I revealed to him a well of water? And you, when the people of Israel, your cousins, pass by your way, you do not even give them water to drink, and not only that but you even make them thirsty and cause their death? "For they fled from swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heaviness of war." And especially since they did not now go on an outing. They did not now pass by merely for matters of trade, but for what reason did the people of Israel go out? Because the sword pursued them. "They fled from swords," from the enemy's sword. And this sword could not be withstood, it was a "drawn (abandoned) sword," meaning the sword was over the whole land, one could not remain there in place, and they had no choice but to leave their land and wander. "And from the bent bow and from the heaviness of war." They were skilled with the bow and it did not help them, for the enemy came with a drawn bow. A drawn bow means that the bow is already ready to shoot. And with all this they fought, so that you should not think they immediately left and fled, but rather they fled because of the heaviness of war, the war was heavy. And if so, when a person flees because of the heaviness of war, having tried to fight and been forced to flee, there is more room to have compassion and mercy on him. This is not a person who went out for trade, this is not a person who went out for an outing, that you tell him: take care of your own food. On the contrary, you should have helped them, you should have cared for them, and instead you even went and made them thirsty and starved them.
"For thus said Hashem to me: In another year, like the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end." And therefore their punishment, so it was delivered to me in a prophecy from Hashem: "In another year, like the years of a hired worker." What is "in another year, like the years of a hired worker"? "In another year" - there is a year, a year and a quarter; it could be a year and two months, and a month and two days. But when I say "a year like the years of a hired worker," that means: just as a hired worker is hired to work for a homeowner, he works with him until the very last second that was set, and that is it; when it is finished he sets down his tools, goes home, asks for his money. The years of a hired worker are precise, they are exact; one does not say, ah, it doesn't matter, he worked a year, a year and a month, there is no such thing. It is exact. "In another year, like the years of a hired worker," precisely in another year, "and all the glory of Kedar will come to an end." All their glory will end, as we said, Sancheriv will come and exile them. "And the remnant of the number of bows, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few, for Hashem, the God of Israel, has spoken." And also the number of mighty men whom the enemy will deliberately leave over so that they will be his men of war, meaning they will join him, they will be part of his army, he says these too will be few. Why? Because Hashem decreed against them, for they distressed and did evil to Israel, "for Hashem, the God of Israel, has spoken." And what is written here "remnant" (she'ar), the Malbim explains, means that the enemy will leave over deliberately. Because according to the holy tongue, as we explained in the past, there is a difference between she'ar and notar. Notar is what is left over of itself. I took what I wanted; what is left over is surplus refuse. That is called notar. In contrast, she'ar is what I left over and retained deliberately. This I leave over and the rest I take. So notar is what remains of itself, while she'ar is what I deliberately left over. And this is what he says, "and the remnant of the number of bows, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few." Also what Sancheriv leaves over deliberately, so that they will join him, so that they will be part of his army, and therefore he will leave over the mighty bowmen, these too will be few, so that you should not think that they will endure. Why? Because Hashem, the God of Israel, has spoken. So Hashem decreed as punishment for what they distressed Israel.