[silence]
Yeshayahu chapter 31, pasuk 1: "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very mighty, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Hashem." Rashi explains that this pasuk refers back to the ten tribes who went to Egypt to ask for help. From there they sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, as it is written in Melachim II chapter 17, and they went to bring horses from there. Why horses? Because horses, as we have already explained, are swift runners. They "rely on horses." They did not rely on the Holy One of Israel, they do not trust in Hashem, they did not look to the Holy One of Israel, as Chizkiyahu did, of whom it is written that he trusted in Hashem the God of Israel and rebelled against the king of Ashur. They did not rely on Hashem, but rather said: we have our own private import, horses from Egypt, they will save us, and "they did not seek Hashem."
The Malbim explains: "Woe to those who go down." The Malbim says there is here what is called a parallel structure of the verse. We explained once that a parallel structure means the pasuk is divided into four, and part one is connected to part three, part two to part four. "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help" - what is its continuation? "But do not look to the Holy One of Israel." Instead of looking to the Holy One of Israel, you went to ask Egypt for help. "And trust in chariots because they are many" - they trust in the fact that they will have horses and chariots from Egypt, "nor seek Hashem" - they do not trust in the power of Hashem, in the heavenly assistance that the Holy One Blessed be He would provide them.
The Malbim explains that sometimes it happens that even though a person trusts in Hashem, he says: listen, a person is not permitted to rely on a miracle, I still must go and do some physical, natural solutions, so that the miracle will come in a natural way. As it is written also about David HaMelech, that when he went out, he would go out to battle. It is not written about David HaMelech that he lay in his house and went to sleep, but rather he would also do physical solutions, he had an army, and he would go out to fight, and he would pray, "I will pursue my enemies and overtake them and not return until they are consumed." The war and the salvation belong to Hashem, but he would still make a physical effort. Whoever does so, one cannot say there is any sin or transgression in him, because that is indeed how the Holy One Blessed be He conducts His world according to nature. But what is needed is that in the end one must know that "the horse is a false hope for salvation," and that all salvation belongs to Hashem, and that the Holy One Blessed be He is the One who wages the wars, not "I did it." This is what a person needs to believe. But with all this, there is nothing preventing him from going and preparing an army and going out to fight. Effort.
But here is the point: a person who knows that the physical means come from Hashem, and this person understands that effort is also needed, for him this is a natural thing and he will not be held accountable for it. But one who knows that the entire war belongs only to Hashem, and he is already accustomed to miracles, and Hashem has shown him: you do not need anything, sit at home and I will save you. Why did you suddenly decide at a certain point to get up and fight? After all, you already know that until today the Holy One Blessed be He saved you even without doing anything. And if Hashem saved you until today without any effort, then today, when you begin to make an effort, for you this is a decline in trust.
And this is how we once explained what is written regarding Yosef. "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, cursed is the man who makes flesh his arm." It is written "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, and does not turn to the arrogant and those who stray after falsehood." Chazal say that "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem" refers to Yosef. "And does not turn to the arrogant and those who stray after falsehood" - this is Yosef who turned to the arrogant, who said to the chief cupbearer, "remember me and mention me." So everyone asks: this is a contradiction within the pasuk itself. First you say "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem" is Yosef, and afterwards you say that he turned to the arrogant, turned to the haughty ones, "ah, I will help you, I will mention you" - he turns to them. So decide, is this Yosef or not Yosef? Did Yosef turn to the arrogant or does Yosef trust in Hashem? Rather, this itself is the answer. If Yosef had been an ordinary person, the fact that he turned to the chief cupbearer we would not have defined as "turning to the arrogant and those who stray after falsehood," we would say this is the effort that every person must make, to act in a natural way. But since you are Yosef, "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem," and you have a very high level of trust, the fact that you turn to the chief cupbearer is not natural effort, but rather "turning to the arrogant and those who stray after falsehood." Because at your level, you saw how until now the Holy One Blessed be He saved you from everything, you saw how until now the Holy One Blessed be He was with you, why did you turn to the chief cupbearer? So for you it is already considered a matter of accountability.
This is what the Malbim explains here. The Malbim says that here it was considered a sin for them, and therefore he says, "Woe to those who go down to Egypt," going to ask Egypt for help, and then "they rely on horses" - they rely on the horses, that these horses are the natural means through which to win the battle. For this they are held accountable: why did they not look to the Holy One of Israel? Why do you not trust in the Holy One Blessed be He, in the Holy One of Israel? The Malbim says the expression "the Holy One of Israel" always comes to express the aspect of the individual providence by which the Holy One Blessed be He watches over His people. The providence that Hashem provides for the needs of His people Israel - rely on the individual providence of the Holy One Blessed be He. But there is another side, where a person relies on natural means, and even though he relies on them, he does not completely remove his trust from Hashem, but still trusts in the Holy One Blessed be He, and the physical means, as we said, are only from the standpoint that he needs to act also according to nature. This is what he says here, and also "they did not seek Hashem." He is telling you: if it were only an addition, if it were both "I trust in Hashem" and also making an effort, that would be fine. But he says, in your case you completely removed your trust from Hashem, "and they did not seek Hashem." This itself is a great sin, because if you are already going and doing physical actions, saying "I act according to nature, and according to nature the Holy One Blessed be He wants me to perform physical actions" - why did you not seek Hashem? Why do you not also mention the Holy One Blessed be He? You act according to nature, meaning I rely only on nature. Because if you also believed in Hashem, you would pray to Hashem and act according to nature, and then it would be legitimate. Unless you are on a very high level as we said. But for you, the moment "they did not seek Hashem," for that you are held accountable.
And this is what he adds and says, that they "trust in chariots because they are many." They trust with complete trust in the chariots. Why do you trust? Because Hashem is with me? No, because I have many chariots. That is it, I have no other reasons that make me feel at ease. And why do you trust in horsemen? "Because they are very mighty." Oh, they have, I have horsemen with very great strength. "Mighty" already speaks of quality, not quantity. The chariots are many and the horsemen are powerful. One who comes and glorifies the strength of the army, what does he really mean to say? By strength I win. That is it, this is "my strength and the might of my hand." And so, therefore, you trust only in this, in the power, in the strength. And also Hashem, which is the general governance of the Holy One Blessed be He, also "they did not seek Hashem." He says: and not only that, but they did not look to the Holy One of Israel, which is the individual providence. Not only, so to speak, saying there is no individual providence, but there is also no general providence. They also did not seek Hashem, because they completely felt secure without Hashem, and "they did not seek" means they trust completely and only in the power of the chariots, in the power of the horsemen, and in the power of the horses.
"But He too is wise, and brings evil, and does not retract His words, and rises against the house of evildoers and against the helpers of workers of iniquity." You think to devise schemes against Hashem's decree upon you. He tells them: He too is wise; the Holy One Blessed be He is surely wiser than you to bring His decree to fruition. Do you think to outsmart Hashem? And not only that, but "He brings evil." He tells you: He will rise against the house of evildoers, His words He does not retract, and He will rise against the help of the workers of iniquity. The meaning is that the decrees that the Holy One Blessed be He decreed, He will bring to fruition. He rises against the house of evildoers, these are the tribe of Ephraim, the ten tribes as we saw, that the tribe of Ephraim who were wicked and sinners were exiled. And what you think, that we will succeed in overcoming the troubles, how? The king of Egypt will help us, we will bring horses, we will bring chariots. He says: know, "and He rises against the help of the workers of iniquity." Who are the "helpers, the workers of iniquity"? The Egyptians from whom you think you will receive help, and they are really workers of iniquity, workers of falsehood, as we saw that he said in the past, we saw in earlier pesukim that he mentioned that Egypt never helped anyone who relied on them. Therefore they are a broken reed of a staff. All those who relied on Egypt in the past ultimately suffered defeat.
And to our sorrow, here too, here too they did not understand this and relied on Egypt, and the Americans relied on Egypt, and we relied on Egypt, and we thought we have an agreement and we have this and we have that, and suddenly it turns out we have no brothers, we have Muslim brothers. It turns out they thought we had, yes, here, no, it is the most orderly country in the Middle East, what are you talking about, there is an iron rule there, no one... How many, three days before that one collapsed, there were assessments by the head of military intelligence that Mubarak was not about to fall. Woe to us with these assessments of those who receive enormous salaries up there. So all who relied on them, look at what their assessments are. So he can assess that that one still has no bomb, and he can assess that Hezbollah is afraid, Hezbollah is afraid to attack us, and he can... what do they have to do with reality? He receives money for these assessments, very fat salaries, but what do they have to do with reality? "He who sits in heaven laughs, Hashem mocks them." What, where are all your understanding ones? Where are all your assessors? Did anyone two years ago foresee all this Arab revolution? Did anyone think of it? Until a few months ago they were still sure the Middle East was heading toward democracy. Look at how much foolishness and how much folly, how much they do not understand the Arab mind. They were sure, here, oh, how wonderful, how lovely, now there will be elections, now the Middle East, we will get a new Middle East. New, that is it, a window of opportunities. They do not understand, the Holy One Blessed be He is bringing everything here toward an upheaval. What is an upheaval? After all, it is written that Yishmael will come to fight, and there will be a war of Edom and Yishmael in Yerushalayim. So it is written, there will be a war of Edom and Yishmael in Yerushalayim, and Edom will strike Yishmael. That is to say, we are heading toward this. So what do you think, that they are becoming poodles? They are becoming rottweilers, because this war stands at the door. And the ones who are asleep are us, we need to wake up, to do teshuvah. We see all these revolutions, we see all that is happening there, this says something in relation to us, it says the matter is heating up. And already the great ones of Israel speak of this explicitly, that we are in the footsteps of Mashiach, and all these developments around, and all the division happening now from within, all the incitement and all... it is clear this is heading toward an explosion, may Hashem save us. This should awaken us to teshuvah, to understand that time is short, we cannot continue what we have done until today.
And this is what he comes and rebukes them. He says: He too is wise, do you think you will outsmart Hashem? We have helpers, we have supporters. Against whom? "Against the help of the workers of iniquity." Those who are workers of iniquity, who until today did only evil. The Holy One Blessed be He says: just as He decreed to remove the counsel of Ephraim, so too He will decree to remove the counsel of Egypt. Those you rely on, in the end you will come to see that they are a broken reed of a staff, that one cannot lean or rely on them.
"And Egypt is man and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit, and Hashem will stretch out His hand, and the helper will stumble and the helped will fall, and together they will all perish." He tells them: since you are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against the Holy One Blessed be He Himself, and the Holy One Blessed be He Himself is a supreme spiritual power unlike any other. The weapons in His hand are angels of spirit who do His bidding. If you want to fight against the decree of Hashem, to remove His words, you need what in children's language is called "forces." Now this is not forces. What, you fight against the Holy One Blessed be He with whom? With Egypt who are flesh and blood? He says: you would need the power of a god to come and fight against the Holy One Blessed be He. So what, are you going to rely on Egypt? "And Egypt is man and not God." After all, Egypt is man and not God; you are fighting against the Holy One Blessed be He, at least you should have brought some god. But there is none besides Him. So whom can you bring against Hashem? And who is the army of the Holy One Blessed be He? Angels of spirit who do His bidding. And in contrast, Egypt, "their horses are flesh and not spirit." So what are you coming to set up against Hashem? Horses of flesh against angels of spirit?
"And Hashem will stretch out His hand, and the helper will stumble and the helped will fall." Rashi explains: "Hashem will stretch out His hand" - when the Holy One Blessed be He, so to speak, supports something on His hand, then if Hashem tilts His hand, everything falls. When something rests on the hand, Hashem need only tilt His hand slightly, and everything slides and falls. So he says, "Hashem will stretch out His hand." When He merely tilts His hand, through this automatically "the helper stumbles and the helped falls." "The helper stumbles" is Egypt, "the helped falls" is the people of Israel, and automatically "together they all perish." In one moment they are all consumed. So how were you so foolish, from the word folly, to go and trust in Egypt to help you against whom? Against the Holy One Blessed be He.
But come and let me show you, says the navi, how great is the power of one who trusts in Hashem. "For thus said Hashem to me: As a lion or young lion growls over its prey, though a multitude of shepherds is called out against it, it is not dismayed by their voice nor cowed by their tumult, so will Hashem of Hosts descend to wage war upon Mount Zion and upon its hill." Now he comes to describe the salvation of the people of Yerushalayim, and he describes that they will have salvation from Hashem; those who trust in Hashem will have salvation from Hashem, both in the physical sense and in the spiritual sense. Both protection from the standpoint of their being here in the land, and protection in the spiritual sense up above. And at the start he speaks of the protection here in the land. For when Chizkiyahu prepared for the coming of Sancheriv - it is hard to call it "prepared," because he in fact did nothing, he went up to his bed and went to sleep. That is, he was calm and serene without any fear. So he says: in the land you made no preparation whatsoever for war. Sancheriv besieged Yerushalayim, spoke words of arrogance, "within a few steps we will destroy them all," and he was not alarmed. He trusted in Hashem and did nothing. So the Holy One Blessed be He dwells in Yerushalayim; He is like a lion and young lion that dwells, sitting over its prey. When a lion has torn some doe and now crouches over it, who can prevail over it? Who will come to take it from it? Does it have any fears, any worries, looking around to see who is coming? It fears no one. "As a lion or young lion growls," after it has torn and sits thus over it, the lion and young lion, "though a multitude of shepherds is called out against it," even if a multitude of shepherds, a gathering of shepherds, is summoned and assembled against it, it will not move from its place, it does nothing. "It is not dismayed by their voice," from all the noise they make to frighten it, it does not startle it from its place, it is not broken by all their shouting. "Nor cowed by their tumult," and also to submit because of their multitude, that they come as a multitude, because they come in a great gathering, it is not cowed, this does not, so to speak, speak to it.
What is "growls" (yehgeh)? The Malbim in his explanation of the words explains that "yehgeh" usually speaks either of emitting a sound from the mouth, to utter, or of a thought, or a voice, for example "he meditated in his thought," "he conceived an idea." He says: usually we find such an expression in relation to a dove, but not in relation to a lion. We do not find in all of Tanach "yehgeh" in relation to a lion. Therefore he explains here that what is written "yehgeh" means that the lion, so to speak, thinks all this in its mind. When it sits over its prey, it thinks in its mind: even if shepherds come here, and even if they frighten me, and even if they shout and come in great quantity, who will approach? Thus it, so to speak, meditates in its mind. This is what he says, "Thus said Hashem to me: As a lion or young lion growls," what does it meditate in its mind? "Though a multitude of shepherds is called out against it," even if a multitude of shepherds comes, "it is not dismayed by their voice nor cowed by their tumult." He tells them: know, "so will Hashem of Hosts descend to wage war upon Mount Zion and upon its hill." So too the Holy One Blessed be He descends below to the land in order to protect Mount Zion, Yerushalayim. Like one who sits securely, like a lion that does not fear and does not move from its place, does not prepare an army and does not prepare anyone to protect it from Sancheriv, they sit securely, because the Holy One Blessed be He, so to speak, is here. The Holy One Blessed be He descends to wage war upon Mount Zion, to be here like an army, upon the mount and upon its hill. "Its hill" is an expression of "her hill," which speaks of Har HaBayit. This corresponds to the earthly protection.
And he comes and says: know that the one who trusts in Hashem also has spiritual protection from above. "Like birds flying, so will Hashem of Hosts shield Yerushalayim, shielding and delivering, passing over and rescuing." "Like birds flying." First of all, the Radak brings in the name of his father that the "birds flying" here is the parable for the angel of Hashem that came and struck the camp of Ashur. The angel is, after all, like a flying bird. So "like birds flying, so will Hashem shield Yerushalayim," He will send angels that are like the birds, that fly swiftly to protect and to form a barrier before the army of Sancheriv. The Malbim explains: "like birds flying," when someone wants to rob the bird's nest, then swiftly it flies to guard the nest, to save the nest. So too Hashem will shield Yerushalayim. The Holy One Blessed be He will, so to speak, fly upon the heights of the clouds to save His nest, the people of Israel. "Even the bird has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself." The people of Israel - the Holy One Blessed be He is like a bird that in one moment flies to save its nest; the Holy One Blessed be He, so to speak, in one moment will come to save the people of Israel. And the rescue will be in two aspects. One, "shielding and delivering," which means to shield, "shielding" from the language of protection. "Shielding and delivering," from the language of guarding. The Holy One Blessed be He will shield and deliver so that the enemy does not approach the nest. A further thing, "passing over and rescuing." "Passing over and rescuing," says the Malbim, He passed over and leapt upon the enemy camp, and "rescued from its hand," from the language of rescuing, He rescued the spoils from its hand. For we all remember what we learned in Sefer Melachim, that he arrived here after fighting against Tirhaka, king of Kush. And we explained why the Holy One Blessed be He sent him there first. He came, laid siege, they told him there was a war in his land, Tirhaka king of Kush had reached him. So he left everything here, went to fight there, and told us: do not think, I have not left, I am still returning. He went, fought against him, took much spoil, and returned here. Why, why did the Holy One Blessed be He do all this? So that they would not come empty-handed. Yes, "they shall not appear before Me empty-handed." What, you come empty-handed? If you are coming anyway, then leave something. So he brought all the spoils from Kush, fought here against, the angel of Hashem came and struck them all, left here all the spoils. So it turns out this is not only "shielding and delivering," that Hashem not only rescued us from his hand, but also "passing over and rescuing." He passed over the enemy camp, meaning He leapt upon it, so to speak, and rescued from its hand all the spoils that were in its hand.
So he comes and says: know that even though in the land you made no natural preparation, as we said, Chizkiyahu went to sleep, he did not sharpen swords, he did not prepare his army, he did nothing. Know, the Holy One Blessed be He protected you also from the earthly standpoint, "as a lion or young lion growls over its prey," and on the other hand, from the heavens, "the stars fought with Sisra." The Holy One Blessed be He says: from the heavens I also help and shield you so that a situation would not arise where he could harm you. And how? Through Hashem sending His angels who do His bidding, "like birds flying." Above nature. And if so, says the navi, after you see that all the rescue is from Him, why should you rely on Egypt? Egypt is a physical help and support with nothing to it. As he explained before, "man and not God, their horses are flesh and not spirit." In one moment the Holy One Blessed be He will stretch out His hand, the helper stumbles, the helped falls, together they all perish. Is it not better for you to rely on the Holy One Blessed be He, who protects both with supreme spiritual protection and with earthly protection? And since you see that Hashem is the protector, the helper, the savior, then "return to Him from whom the children of Israel have deeply strayed." What then naturally follows? That you, the people of Israel, who have deeply strayed - "sarah" with a samech means you deeply strayed away from Him. You strayed from the way of Hashem and went deep along this path. Why does he call it "you deeply strayed"? Because the Holy One Blessed be He, is He high or low? High. So one who strays from Him, where does he go? Low. Therefore it is called "you deeply strayed." If I distance myself even more, then I go even deeper. Because the Holy One Blessed be He is high, and whoever leaves, whoever distances himself, raises himself up, elevates himself. How do we say about a person who distances himself from Torah and mitzvot? We say he is going down, he is descending. He descended spiritually. Why? Because to reach Hashem one must ascend. So one who deeply distanced himself, "deepened" means descended deep, deep. They deeply strayed away from Hashem. He says: return to Him, and then through this the salvation will be yours. "Return to Him from whom you have deeply strayed," through this Hashem will save you, like the lion and the young lion that guards, and like the birds that fly to protect Yerushalayim, so Hashem will protect you.
I think there is also a hint here: when was the salvation of Chizkiyahu and the people of Yerushalayim? When was it? On Pesach. So this is hinted here in the pasuk, "shielding and delivering, passing over and rescuing." He says "pasoach," from the language of Pesach. He says then, the rescuing, the salvation, when will Hashem rescue us from his hand? "Pasoach." When they offer the Pesach offerings, then "and rescuing," then there will be the salvation from the hand of Sancheriv.
"For on that day each man will reject his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands made for you as a sin." "On that day," on the day that Hashem strikes the camp of Ashur, says the Radak, and they see that the camp of Ashur does not fall by the sword but by Hashem, they see that the hand of Hashem does this, as we will soon see, automatically each man will reject his idols of silver. So he sees the idols I bought with silver, or idols whose coating is silver, they are vanity, there is no benefit in them, there is none besides Him. "Each man will reject his idols of silver and his idols of gold," and the supposedly finer idols, those into which they invested gold or which they made of gold, "which your hands made." And then you will understand, what is this idol? What foolishness and vanity, "your hands made for you," you with your own hand made this idol and you think it will save you? And if so, everyone who holds such an idol - it is a sin, there is a deficiency in his hand. So you will understand that the salvation is from Hashem; behold, when Chizkiyahu and his company trusted in Hashem, the Holy One Blessed be He shielded and delivered and saved them.
And then, "And Ashur will fall by a sword not of man, and a sword not of a person will devour him, and he will flee from before the sword, and his young men will become forced labor." The Radak explains: the angel is not a man and not a person. So how did Ashur fall? "By a sword not of man and by a sword not of a person will devour him." But as is known, and as is our custom, we know that the Malbim always explains that there are no redundancies. And if it is written "Ashur will fall by a sword not of man," that is one meaning, and "a sword not of a person will devour him," "not of a person" is a second meaning. "Not of man" and "not of a person" are not the same thing. And if it were the same thing, he would not repeat it. And at first he wrote "Ashur will fall by a sword not of man," and afterwards regarding "a sword not of a person" he does not write "fall," he writes "and a sword not of a person will devour him." That is, here we already speak of devouring. So what is the repetition and what did the words really come to say? The Malbim says: first of all, that we should know, when it is written "not of man" (lo ish), this means no being in the world. "Ish" is from the language of "being" (yesh). An angel too is called "ish," as it says, well? "And the man Gavriel." An explicit pasuk in Daniel, we learned, "and the man Gavriel." "And a man found him, and behold he was wandering in the field." Who is that man? Gavriel. That is, an angel is called "ish." So when it is written "by a sword not of man," this means not only not of a person, but also not of an angel. And in contrast, if it is written "a sword not of a person" (lo adam), then an angel too is called "not of a person." When I say "a sword not of a person," this means not of a person, but of an angel yes. But if I say "not of man" (lo ish), then this is neither of a person nor of an angel, because an angel too is called "ish."
So now let us explain. The Malbim says: "And Ashur will fall by a sword not of man" - so if it is neither of a person nor of an angel, then who is it? Only Hashem. Only Hashem. That is "Ashur will fall." What then is "and a sword not of a person will devour him"? The Malbim says: sometimes it can be that the Holy One Blessed be He fells the enemy, fells the enemy, meaning there is a defeat, but there is the situation where they go around to strip the fallen. That is, after the enemy has fallen, now the army begins to pursue and strike. A defeat first of all is that they begin to flee, they no longer attack, they are already in a state of flight. Now we enter the picture, we go and strike them. So it turns out then, which sword devours him? A sword of a person. But by whose hand will his fall be? By the hand of Hashem. He says: sometimes the defeat is by Hashem's hand, but we do the finishing. As we see, there were many such examples in the wars of Israel, where the Holy One Blessed be He felled the enemies before them, and they afterwards pursued and destroyed them with the sword. Here he comes and says: the army of Ashur was killed by the angel of Hashem and not by the sword of a person. So at first, by whose hand does he fall? "By a sword not of man." Not even an angel struck him. At first who was it? The fall was by Hashem. Fine, but perhaps the conclusion was by us? He says no, no, the conclusion too was not by you, the striking too, and therefore it is written "and a sword not of a person will devour him." The devouring too, which means the complete killing, not the defeat but the complete killing, this too is "a sword not of a person," but by whose sword was it? By the sword of the angel. And this is what he says: the army of Ashur was killed by the angel of Hashem and not by the sword of a person. "And he will fall by a sword not of man," because his fall was only by Hashem. But in the end, even what was devoured, you did not even come to carry out the final pursuit, the conclusion too you did not do. Rather this too was by a sword not of a person, but the sword of the angel. "And he will flee from before the sword, and his young men will become forced labor." Afterwards, following this danger, he was forced to flee and escape. And then he was compelled not only to flee, but also his young men became forced labor, he was compelled afterwards to pay tribute to the people of Israel.
"And his rock will pass away from terror, and his officers will be dismayed at the standard, says Hashem, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Yerushalayim." "And his rock will pass away from terror." Let us explain what Rashi says. Rashi explains: "his rock will pass away from terror," "his rock" is his strength. "From terror" (magor) is fear, correct? "From the house of my dwelling all around," or "do not fear," "do not be in dread of any man." "Lagur" means to fear. And what is this expression "lagur"? Not connected to that. When a person is afraid, what happens to him naturally? He contracts, he gathers himself in. "Do not be in dread of any man," means do not gather in your words before any man. Someone comes, I want to say something, I want to state the ruling, that litigant comes, begins to shout, the judge immediately gathers in his words, he closes up, he does not say what he has because he is afraid of the reaction. So "magor" is also from the language of "gathering." When a person is afraid then he shuts himself in, closes the house; it may be that this is also connected perhaps to the matter of "lagur," to dwell, which means to go inside, yes, it may be connected to this matter. But here it is from the language of fear. "And his rock will pass away from terror." His strength was strong like a rock, the enemy, but "it will pass away from terror," from the fear it will weaken. "And his officers will be dismayed at the standard." On account of the miracles that the Holy One Blessed be He will do for the people of Israel, his officers and dignitaries will be dismayed. "Dismayed" means they will be broken. "Says Hashem, whose fire is in Zion," the Holy One Blessed be He prepared for Himself in Zion a fire, a place where He will burn them, "and whose furnace is in Yerushalayim."
The Malbim explains: "and his rock," his rock, meaning the fortress, "became forced labor." "Melted" (le-mas), meaning it melted from the fear. Just as he was greatly confident, "melted" from the language of fear and dread. "That will pass over" (asher yaavor), "and his officers will be dismayed at the standard." "That will pass over" - what is "that will pass over in him"? The Malbim explains: as if the saw, the blade, passed through him. The blade is the saw with which one cuts. So it is as if the saw passed through him, as if it cut him and crumbled him. "And his officers will be dismayed at the standard." Until now they raised the standard of the rebellion, of the war, as we discussed once that the "nes" (standard) refers to the flag that they raise up. Now when they see the standard, they already begin to fear. What, which standard? It means the standard of the flag, the tall pole. So this was always a sign of war. You will always see paintings that depict the armies going to battle; you see a large flag going before them. This was the sign of war. So when they prepared for war, for them this was battle cries, coming to fight. But now, the moment he sees it, he is dismayed, immediately he is broken. He merely sees that the enemy raised the standard of war, immediately he is broken. "And his officers will be dismayed at the standard." "Says Hashem, whose fire is in Zion." He says: the people of Israel had a light, so to speak, and this light that shone for Chizkiyahu became a kind of consuming fire that would burn Sancheriv. That it would be for him a kind of furnace to ignite. That very fire in which you wanted to burn the people of Israel will become a furnace in which he himself will be burned. His camp was burned, the camp of Sancheriv that encamped there in their vicinity. So may Hashem perform miracles for us as He did for Chizkiyahu and his company, amen ve'amen.
[silence]