Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 34: "Draw near, nations, to hear, and peoples, listen. Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the inhabited world and all its offspring." "Draw near, nations." The nations, says the Malbim, are the peoples who have no religion. And who are the peoples? The peoples are more significant. The peoples are those who do have a religion. They have some single faith shared by the whole people. In contrast, the nations, as we say, are like a scattered mass. They are not united by any single faith that binds them all together. Therefore the peoples are more significant than the nations. In any case, He speaks to the nations, and the peoples will hear of their own accord. That is, He does not address the peoples directly, but rather addresses the nations, the lower level, so that the peoples, who are the higher level among the peoples, will listen and hear of their own accord. "Let the earth hear," and so He says this: first, "Draw near, nations, to hear, and peoples, listen." The Malbim always has a principle: whenever hearing is spoken of, one turns to the more significant party and says to him, "Hear," while the less significant one merely listens. Listening is like standing off to the side and giving ear. So to whom is the speech directed? To the nations, to the lesser ones. "Draw near, nations, to hear," for the speech is directed to you. Consequently, "and peoples, listen": through this, the peoples will listen of themselves. "Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the inhabited world and all its offspring." What is the difference between "the earth" (ha'aretz) and "the inhabited world" (tevel)? The Malbim says that "the earth" is the uninhabited part, while "tevel" is the inhabited part of the world. Now, ordinarily if there is a decree, the decree comes upon the inhabited part and from there spreads to the uninhabited part. Here He says that first "let the earth hear," which, as we said, is the uninhabited part, and afterward "tevel." Just as at first He said the nations should hear, since they are the lower level, and afterward the peoples, who are on the higher level. Why? Because He is saying to them: know that here the decree that will come will spread over the entire globe and its inhabitants all at once. So here He is saying: do not think it will proceed in order, first the inhabited place, first to the peoples, and afterward it will spread to the less inhabited place and to the nations. No, here it will come upon everyone all at once. That is to say, the Malbim explains that He wanted to tell them here that He is not singling out the significant ones specifically, because here everyone is guilty. And everyone in the end will be led to slaughter. That is, since they have all done wickedly, everyone in the end will pay the price.
What is He actually speaking about? "For Hashem is angry with all the nations and furious with all their host. He has doomed them, He has given them over to slaughter." The Holy One, blessed be He, is angry with the idolaters who destroyed Yerushalayim. And the Malbim says it is known that "fury" (chemah) is greater than "anger" (ketzef), for chemah is inner heat, in which enmity and hatred remain, whereas ketzef is external. So the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry with all the nations, that is ketzef, these being the idolaters who destroyed Yerushalayim. And not only that, He also has fury "with all their host." Who are the nations? The nations are the gentiles who sent to destroy Yerushalayim; against them there is only ketzef. In contrast, over "all their host" He also has fury. "Their host" refers to the legions, those who actually destroyed her. Concerning them He says there is an aspect of chemah, which, as we said, is inner and greater. Therefore the decree is: "He has doomed them, He has given them over to slaughter." The decree is "He has doomed them": Hashem will place them under the ban, they will be cherem, not to be redeemed. And not only that, but "He has given them over to slaughter": the Holy One, blessed be He, will also hand them over to slaughter.
"And their slain will be cast out, and their corpses' stench will rise, and the mountains will melt from their blood." "And their slain will be cast out" without being buried. And not only the slain, those who fall in the field by the sword in battle, but He also says "and their corpses' stench will rise." The corpses are the dead who perished in the city; their stench too will rise, and there will be no one to bury them. No person will be found there to come and bury them. This is an expression that will recur many times later in the chapter: that the place will be utterly desolate, with no person found there, and against this He will offer several metaphors and parables. He says: and not only will the dead be few, that you might think perhaps there will not be many dead, but rather "the mountains will melt from their blood." For when I want to say there will be much, I say the valleys will be filled. When I want to say there will be a great deal, I say it will even reach the mountains. As it were, the mountains will melt from their blood. "Will melt" means they will dissolve from the great moisture and wetness of the blood. All of this is certainly rhetorical exaggeration, yes? But the way of the prophet, when he speaks, is to speak in figurative language and in such phrasing that speaks with hyperbole. We once explained that it is like a caricature: when one wants to express something, one expresses it in an exaggerated way in order to illustrate the matter. Someone has a long nose, so they draw him a nose two meters long. Is that really the reality? No. But what then? They want to illustrate the matter, and so they do it this way. So too here He says the reality will be that the blood will dissolve the mountaintops.
"And all the host of the heavens will rot, and the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their host will wither as a leaf withers from the vine, and like a shriveled fig from the fig tree." He is describing, in accordance with reality, that which we know: that every people, every nation, has a heavenly minister, and from the power of that minister it draws its vitality, and from the power of that minister it draws its strength. We have already spoken several times in the past that every war fought here on earth is already a second stage, because the war was originally already fought in heaven against the heavenly minister, and according to the outcome of the war above there are decisions here below. How is the war fought there above? Not with the atom, and not with conventional or unconventional weapons. The war there is fought by the power of the merits of the Jewish people, by the power of the study of Torah, by the power of the fulfillment of mitzvot. Through this the ministers wage war there above; through this the Jewish people have power there against the nations. And after a decision is reached there, then the results are here in the lower war here on earth. So He now describes the reality of these nations, of Edom and of Botzrah. What will their reality be? Their reality will be that already in heaven all the host of the heavens have rotted. The heavenly ministers from whom they draw their strength have already rotted. Meaning: even if you see a tree that has been cut down, if its root still has vitality in it, if you replant it, it will grow again. But here, He says, that will not be the reality; rather even the host of the heavens, their root there, will be like rotted flesh, like flesh from which vitality has already departed, like decay. "And the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll." What is this rotting and rolling up like a scroll of the heavens? For the ancient peoples the heavens were like a book. Just as you have a book that you read, so one who was an astrologer would gaze at the stars, the clouds, the heavenly bodies, and read in them. He would tell you: this nation will fare thus, and that nation will fare thus. Astrology. And in many matters they had knowledge, admittedly very general knowledge, as we have discussed several times in the past, but they had access to the future. He says: but know that, according to this reality of which we speak, the book, as it were, will be closed with respect to them. This book will contain nothing to read. "The heavens will be rolled up like a scroll": they will roll it up. Rolling it up means it will be shut, and it will not be possible to open it and read in it. Because they will no longer have these powers that influence things below. As long as there is a nation below, there are powers in heaven, ministers who influence what is below. But once that power no longer exists, rotted as we explained, then what happens to this book? It is closed. There are no more influences below; nothing can be read in it. As it were, the book is closed. There is no longer any existence for that nation, so consequently it will rot and the book will be shut, because nothing can be read in it about that nation.
And the continuation is: "and all their host will wither as a leaf withers from the vine, and like a shriveled fig from the fig tree." "And all their host": who is "their host"? This is the host below, who, as we said, draw their vitality from the host of the heavens above. So the moment there is rot above, what happens below? The withering begins immediately. Immediately they wither "as a leaf withers from the vine." Notice that here He gives a double example: "as a leaf withers (kinvol) from the vine, and like a shriveled fig (kenovelet) from the fig tree." First of all, "kinvol" is masculine and "novelet" is feminine, and this is understandable, for when He speaks of "a leaf from the vine," a leaf (aleh) is masculine, while a fig tree (te'enah) is feminine, and therefore concerning it He uses the feminine expression "novelet." The Malbim explains why the doubling of the matter. The leaf on the vine withers first, for the thinner something is, the faster it dries out. The leaf is the first to wither, and afterward the grapes begin to shrivel a bit, and so on. But what is the first thing to sense the lack of moisture? It is the leaf. "As a leaf withers from the vine": the withering will begin in them immediately. And not only that, He tells you: do not think perhaps it will be like a leaf withering from the vine that still has some use, since an animal will even eat withered vine leaves. So He says, no, know that it will be like a fig that becomes repulsive: "and like a shriveled fig from the fig tree." When a fig shrivels, what can you do with it? There is nothing to do; it is repulsive, people are disgusted by it, even animals will not eat it. So He comes here to express a twofold matter. First, the speed of the withering will be like a leaf withering from the vine; a vine leaf withers quickly. Second, the character of the withering will be like a fig, which, when it falls, becomes repulsive and no one wants or is able to eat it anymore.
"For My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it will descend upon Edom, and upon the people of My ban, for judgment." "For My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens." He now describes figuratively the sword of Hashem as though it were some predatory body that devours blood and fat and slain. "For My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: do not think that everything I do I will do without judgment. First of all, "My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens"; there, judgment does not apply, for that is heavenly justice, that is how Hashem exacts payment from the ministers of the nation in heaven. But He says: know that afterward "behold, it will descend upon Edom." After judgment is carried out in heaven, where it will be by way of vengeance, "it will descend upon Edom" for judgment. Since here the Holy One, blessed be He, in the world of earth, "a king establishes a land by justice," then here it will necessarily be by way of judgment. So "it will descend upon Edom, and upon the people of My ban, for judgment." What is "the people of My ban"? The Malbim will now state a principle, and we will see it in the verses that follow. We will see that here there is a dealing with Edom and with Botzrah. Botzrah was the city of the center of their faith. Let us say something like their Vatican. It was the center of idolatry, in Botzrah. And their high priest also sat there. It was the center of idolatry, Botzrah. In contrast, Edom is the kingdom of wickedness. These are the ones who destroyed the Beit HaMikdash, these are the ones who caused the Jewish people troubles throughout the generations. What is more characteristically Europe, yes? Those who have the color red on their flag. Chief among them Russia and the rest of the European peoples. So He tells you: afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, will come down for judgment, as it is written, "And I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence and with blood, and with sword and with hailstones." The Holy One, blessed be He, will judge the nations. And it will be in two stages. "It will descend upon Edom, and upon the people of My ban, for judgment." Edom, as we know, the peoples of Edom. "And upon the people of My ban" is Botzrah. Them He calls "the people of My ban": I have a quarrel with them over faith, with that people. And the Holy One, blessed be He, says: with all of them I will come to judgment, both with Edom and with the people of My ban.
"The sword of Hashem is filled with blood, made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Hashem has a sacrifice in Botzrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom." Notice that the clauses of the verse parallel each other. "The sword of Hashem is filled with blood" parallels "with the blood of lambs and goats." "Made fat with fatness" parallels "with the fat of the kidneys of rams." That is to say, the first part of the verse corresponds to the third, and the second part of the verse corresponds to the fourth. The Malbim explains: the Holy One, blessed be He, will come upon Edom in vengeance, for Edom destroyed the Beit HaMikdash. But upon Botzrah the Holy One, blessed be He, will come in order to teach the world faith. Botzrah, as we said, is the place that is the center of heresy, and therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, will come and exact payment from them too, so that all will believe that there is no power in that idolatry. For when the god of the gentiles is stricken, His honor, blessed be He, is magnified. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, first and foremost in the plagues of Egypt, whom did He strike? The Nile. Why the Nile? Because the Nile was the god of Egypt. But He left one god. Which one god did He leave? Baal Tzefon. Pi HaChirot, that is the god He left. And why did He leave it? In order to mislead them. "See, how great is our faith, how great is our idolatry; behold, it remains, it stood in the breach, it managed to hold out." And this is what led them to pursue the Israelites, for they found them encamped where? At Pi HaChirot. You see? That is it, it stopped them. Our god has now done a passport check on them. That is it, it does not let them pass. And then Pharaoh understood that their god was still in force, and then he went out and pursued them. All of this was in the category of "how I made a mockery of Egypt." We elaborated on this many times in the past when we spoke of the weekly parashah, about the mockery Hashem made of Egypt: this is the deception by which the Holy One, blessed be He, misleads them time after time into thinking, "Behold, we still have strength, behold, we can still fight." And why mislead them? Because without it he will not take a blow. He needs to think there is another round and then come and take another blow. But if he thinks it is over, done, I raise my hands, defeated, then where is the next round? It would just be boring. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, must mislead them so that they will come to the next round to take another blow. And this is indeed the purpose: since Egypt made a mockery of the Jewish people, and against this "I made a mockery of Egypt," and everything in the plagues of Egypt was measure for measure. So let us return to the matter. "The sword of Hashem is filled with blood." "The sword of Hashem," as we said, is vengeance upon Edom. And this is so that they will pay for what they did. In contrast, upon Botzrah, as we said, it is so that they will recognize faith in Hashem, blessed be He. As it is written, "Who is this coming from Edom, with crimsoned garments from Botzrah, this One majestic in His attire." Accordingly He comes and says here, "Hashem has a sacrifice in Botzrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom." Now see what a wonderful distinction the Malbim makes here. Notice that two expressions are written here. A sacrifice (zevach) to Hashem in whom? In Botzrah. And slaughter (tevach) to Hashem, a great slaughter, will be in the land of Edom. What is the difference between zevach and tevach? The Malbim says the term zevach is always connected with joy, with preparation for invited guests, for guests, like peace offerings, thanksgiving offerings; it is always connected to joy. Tevach denotes only the slaughtering of the animal. For example, by Yosef what is written? "Slaughter an animal and prepare it" (utvoach tevach): slaughter and prepare. Had it been written there "and sacrifice a sacrifice (uzvoach zevach) and prepare it," it would have implied as though he were going to rejoice with them. How could he rejoice with them? They did not know that this was Yosef. And zevach is always associated with an expression of joy. Therefore he did not mention it here; he does not mention zevach there but rather tevach. Tevach means the slaughtering of the animal. In contrast, zevach is always associated with joy. And this is what He comes to say here: see the difference. When we speak of tevach, that will be in Edom. Why? Because in Edom it will be for vengeance. In the land of Edom there will need to be vengeance for what they did to the Jewish people. When we speak of Botzrah, there it will be zevach. Zevach, as we said, is something in which there is enjoyment, invited guests, benefit. In Botzrah it is not to take vengeance but for the benefit and enjoyment. What is the benefit and enjoyment? That through it they will arrive at wholehearted faith. Through it they will recognize that there is no power in that idolatry. For in Botzrah, as we said, was the center of idolatry. Therefore, corresponding to the tevach, He says "the sword of Hashem is filled with blood, with the blood of bulls and goats." These are the mighty ones, the ministers of Edom, who are the first from whom payment must be exacted for what they did to the Jewish people. And corresponding to the zevach that will be in Botzrah, He said "made fat with fatness, with the fat of the kidneys of rams." This is not merely for the sake of vengeance; not for vengeance but in order to be made fat with delights. As we explained, the matter of zevach expresses delights. And why does He use "with the fat of the kidneys of rams"? The Malbim says the kidneys, as is known, are the seat of counsel. And in this case the kidneys are in the category of counselors toward evil, toward heresy. And there the Holy One, blessed be He, will make fat with fatness, meaning: by changing the situation so that there will be vengeance there in Botzrah, through this those kidneys of rams, those kidneys that counsel toward evil, will turn to good. For through this everyone will understand that there is no power in that reality. So this is zevach, for zevach, as we said, is for benefit, something in which there is fatness, something from which profit comes. In contrast, in Edom it will be only in the category of vengeance.
"And wild oxen will come down with them, and young bulls with the mighty ones, and their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil will be made fat with fatness." "And wild oxen will come down with them." All the other nations, the kings, their mighty ones, those who always joined at every opportunity when they went out against the Jewish people, they were always together, they always came to be with them; they too must fall at that gathering, yes? Payment and retribution must be exacted from them too. "And wild oxen will come down with them." The mighty ones. "Wild oxen" (re'emim) always expresses the wild ox, which is a large and fearsome animal. The mighty ones, their rulers, will join with Edom in order to be part of the war, and they too will fall. "And young bulls with the mighty ones": those who are young bulls will join with the mighty ones (abirim), all of these being expressions denoting might. And through this, "their land will be soaked with blood." The Malbim says: notice, here we have "their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil will be made fat with fatness." So first of all we have "their land" (artzam) and we have "their soil" (afaram). Second, we have blood and we have fat. The Malbim explains: a land whose fatness comes from fat will not absorb blood. Fat, after all, is oily. Oil repels all water. So if the land is already saturated with oil, the blood cannot be absorbed in it. Therefore the first thing is "their land will be soaked with blood." And only in the second stage "their soil will be made fat with fatness." For fat can come upon blood, but blood cannot come upon fat; it is not absorbed into the land. And now notice too the difference between "their land" (artzam) and "their soil" (afaram). "Land," the Malbim always explains, speaks of the inner part of the ground, as opposed to "soil" (afar), which speaks of the outer part, the more upper part of the ground. As it is written, "Though its root grows old in the earth (aretz) and its stump dies in the soil (afar)." Where is its root? In the earth. In contrast, the stump, which is already higher up: "its stump dies in the soil." It is the higher part. So "their land will be soaked with blood," for the blood is truly thin, it is absorbed into the land. In contrast, "their soil will be made fat with fatness": the soil, which is the upper part, there will be the fat. For the fat, as we said, is more oily; it is not absorbed deep into the land, but only the soil, the upper part, is made fat with fatness. It will be fattened from the abundance of fat that will be spilled upon it from the vengeance that Hashem will take upon Edom.
"For it is a day of vengeance for Hashem, a year of recompense for the cause of Tziyon." The Holy One, blessed be He, will carry out this vengeance for two reasons. First, "it is a day of vengeance for Hashem." "For Hashem" refers to the honor of Hashem. For whenever the Jewish people are struck, when the Jewish people are shamed, when Hashem is denied, all of this is in essence, as it were, an offense against Hashem, blessed be He. So He tells you: in this there will be a day of vengeance for Hashem. This will be in Botzrah. Through this the honor of Hashem will be magnified, for when the name of Hashem is exalted through the downfall of the enemies, in this everyone sees, "Behold, there is no power to idolatry, there is no power to heresy; only Hashem alone reigns over all the earth." Second, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: there are here those who oppressed the Jewish people, there are here those who afflicted the Jewish people; does not recompense befit this? "A year of recompense for the cause of Tziyon." The time has come to recompense and to plead the cause of Tziyon. What you did in Tziyon, Tziyon being Yerushalayim, what you did to the Jewish people, now the time of recompense has come. This Hashem will do; He will repay them measure for measure and destroy them, "raze it, raze it to its very foundation."
"And its streams will be turned into pitch, and its soil into brimstone, and its land will become burning pitch." He will now describe their destruction. Their streams will turn into pitch and the soil will become brimstone. Soil, we said, is the upper part of the ground; it will become brimstone. The Malbim explains that there are two kinds of pitch. There is pitch that is congealed, meaning the harder kind. This is the pitch extracted from the mountains, black, solid; simply put, He is speaking of the pitch we know from roofs. And of this He says their land will become burning pitch. Like that pitch, so will all their land be. Second, He says "and its soil into brimstone." Its soil will become brimstone. There is pitch that oozes and flows and floats on the surface of the water. This pitch is apparently speaking more of petroleum, yes? What floats on the surface of the water, with which they grease the axles of wagons and boards. Of this He says the streams will turn into pitch. Brimstone, the Malbim says, is something that can be easily ignited. "Schwefel," does anyone know what that is? It is German, meaning brimstone. In German translation it is brimstone. The meaning is there is brimstone there like the brimstone in matchheads; there is brimstone there. It is something that ignites easily; a little fire and everything begins to burn. So He describes that the soil above will be of brimstone, which merely smells fire and immediately burns. And afterward the land itself will become the hard pitch, which, as we said, also burns with fire. And their rivers will become the liquid pitch, that which is in the sea, which too will burn with that fire. In short, all their land will become fuel for fire. How long will this fire burn?
"Night and day it will not be quenched; its smoke will rise forever; from generation to generation it will lie waste; forever and ever none will pass through it." Corresponding to what He said, that there will be brimstone and burning pitch, He says: know that it will not merely burn, but rather "its smoke will rise forever." As the Radak says, to this day smoke perpetually rises from the land of Sedom and Amorah. He is speaking of a few hundred years ago, seven or eight hundred years; the Radak says that from Sedom and Amorah there was smoke rising from there perpetually. Rashi explains what "from generation to generation it will lie waste" means. Rashi says it corresponds to what is written, "a war for Hashem against Amalek from generation to generation." From the generation of Moshe to the generation of Shaul; from the generation of Shaul to the generation of Mordechai; and from the generation of Mordechai to the generation of Melech HaMashiach. This is a war that we experience from generation to generation, from generation to generation. In every generation that same root of evil called Amalek arises, and there is a need to fight it, with its final eradication being, please Hashem, in the days of Melech HaMashiach, speedily in our days, amen. The Malbim explains "night and day it will not be quenched." The Malbim says there is a fire (mokeid) that one makes in order to cook. A mokeid is a fire. In order to cook. That one extinguishes at night; there is no need for it to remain burning even in the small hours of the night. They have finished cooking; they put out the fire. And there is a fire made to give light. That one extinguishes by day. At night one needs it to burn on the torch to give light, but by day it is no longer needed. He says: but this fire will not be quenched, neither night nor day. For the aim and purpose of the fire will be so that "its smoke will rise forever." If so, it must burn both by day and by night. And do not think that some generation will arise that will rebuild the land of Edom. He says "from generation to generation it will lie waste." And not only that, but also no person will be found passing through it. "Passing through it" means even temporarily; no person will be found passing through it even occasionally. And not only that, but no one will even conceive of building it. Therefore it will be desolate forever and ever. No one will arise and build it. And the reason is that no one goes to build a place through which no one passes. What would make you go and build a cut-off place? The Malbim explains that there is a difference between "from generation to generation" and "forever and ever." For continuous time the Malbim says one uses "forever" (le'olam). Day after day, day after day, that is called "le'olam," perpetually. For time that is divided into segments one says "from generation to generation." What does "time divided into segments" mean? When we consider each unit of time separately. So the Malbim says: to build the land there would need to arise some generation that decides to build it. So He says "from generation to generation": every generation that arises will not build it. This is called divided time. He does not mean to say "over the course of time," but rather says: every new generation that arises, perhaps it will build it? From generation to generation it will remain desolate. And perhaps you will say some person will pass through there? Now, some person passing is not dependent on the generation; it could be that someone passes through by chance. He says "forever and ever none will pass through it." The meaning is that never will a person pass through there. So both in terms of generation to generation no generation will arise that builds it, and in a perpetual and constant manner no people will pass through there, and this will be forever and ever.
In such a desolate place, what happens? Verse 11: "And the pelican and the hedgehog will possess it, and the owl and the raven will dwell in it, and He will stretch over it a line of chaos and stones of emptiness." The Malbim explains: "and the pelican (ka'at) and the hedgehog (kipod) will possess it." The ka'at and kipod are birds. This is not the hedgehog we know with the quills, but rather they are desert birds; this place will be an inheritance for them. The owl and the raven are found also in inhabited places; they are not found only in ruined places like the ka'at and the kipod. Therefore notice that He does not write "and the owl and the raven will possess it," but only "will dwell in it." It is known that the matter of "possessing" means to inherit the place permanently. But "to dwell in it" is temporary. So the owl and raven, this is not their permanent place, and therefore they "will dwell in it." But the ka'at and kipod, whose place is in the desert, they truly "will possess it"; they will feel at home there. "And He will stretch over it a line of chaos and stones of emptiness." Who are those who will, as it were, be the founders of the place? Who will be the managers of the place? It is the ka'at and the kipod and the owl and the raven. All these will now be the homeowners there. And they will stretch over it "a line of chaos (tohu) and stones of emptiness (vohu)." What is the meaning? The Malbim explains there is a difference between tohu and vohu. And thus the Malbim also explains in Sefer Bereishit, "and the earth was tohu vavohu." What is the difference between tohu and vohu? Both denote a lack of beauty and order, except that tohu describes the lack of external beauty and order, and vohu describes the lack of internal beauty and order. A sign to remember this is simple, for "vohu," "vo" (in it), meaning in its inner core there will be a state of lack of form and order. And tohu means around it, its external part being without beauty and order. Now, when I want to describe a building: if I built the building from shaky and flimsy components, from blocks that are weak, from concrete that cannot hold up, then I say this building is a building of vohu. And if afterward, in terms of its external envelope and its form and its outer adornment, it too looks dreadful, then I say there is a deficiency of tohu in this building. Now, what is the difference between "line" (kav) and "stones" (avnei)? A line describes the external measurement by which you measure the thing. That is a line. One measures with a line, with a measuring line. In contrast, the stones describe the body of the building. So now see how wonderful. This building will be of "stones of emptiness" (avnei vohu). So what kind of building will it be? A shaky building. "Stones of emptiness" describes the inner part of the thing, the stones, the foundations of the building. And its external part too will be a "line of chaos" (kav tohu), which, as we explained, will look dreadful, lacking beauty and order. This is what He describes: as it were, the ka'at and the kipod, the owl and the raven, will be the builders of this building of Edom, and in this manner they will build the building. As it were, He means to say it will be a ruined and desolate place, entirely unfit for habitation.
"Its nobles - there will be no kingship to proclaim there, and all its princes will be nothing." "Its nobles" (choreha): the nobles (chorim), the Malbim explains, are those who descend from royal lineage. From among them they would usually choose the king, those of blue blood. As it is written, "Fortunate are you, O land, whose king is a son of nobles (bnei chorim)." What is "a son of nobles"? A son of dignitaries, of royal lineage. "Whose king is a son of nobles." And why are they called "chorim"? Because of the meaning we understand from "bnei chorin" (free people). Because of the fact that they are free. The yoke of kingship is not upon them, but rather they are of royal lineage, of the root of kingship. So "its nobles - there will be no kingship to proclaim there." The nobles will stand there, but among the people who will now be there, who are the people, as we described, the ka'at and the kipod, the owl and the raven, there will not be found anyone to proclaim them to be king over them. So therefore "its nobles - there will be no kingship to proclaim there." The meaning is that among the ka'at and the kipod no one there proclaims a king, no one requests that someone come and reign over them. "And all its princes will be nothing." Notice that the nobles will not be nothing but the princes will be nothing. What is the difference? The Malbim says the nobles have inherent greatness. Their very freedom, their inherent greatness: here there will be no one to honor them, but still they are not in the category of nothing, for they have inherent greatness. In contrast, a prince, all his power is from the side that he dominates others, that he rules over the people. And if there is no people, there are also no princes. So consequently what happens to a prince? He becomes utterly nothing. But the noble is of royal lineage; he is an important person in his own right, he is a man of merit, therefore he is still worthy to be called a noble, but there is no kingship. But a king you are no longer. "There will be no kingship to proclaim": there is no one to proclaim him to come and reign over him. And the princes in this situation will consequently be nothing.
"And thorns will grow up in its palaces, nettles and briars in its fortresses, and it will become a habitation of jackals, a pasture for ostriches." When the time and period is a period of peace, one lives in the palace. And when the time is a time of war, one goes to live in the fortress, since the fortress is the place where you fortify yourself against enemies. But here there will be such a situation that all will be destroyed, so consequently "thorns will grow up in its palaces." "Thorns" (sirim) means thorns. "And nettles and briars in its fortresses." What do you think? Fine, since everyone fled the palaces, surely they went to the fortress, since the enemy is here. He tells you: no, know that the fortresses too are empty. "And nettles and briars," which are kinds of thorns, will be in its fortresses. And this place became "a habitation of jackals, a pasture for ostriches." A habitation (naveh) is a place where the flock lies down. The grass that grows there is food for the flock. But here, since no grass fit for food will grow there but rather, as we said, thorns, nettles, and briars, then consequently who will live there? Only jackals. And who will eat this pasture? The ostriches (bnot ya'anah). And why will the ostriches eat it? Because the Gemara says the ostriches eat even glass, they even eat coals. So it can also eat thorns and thistles; that is even considered a delicacy for it compared to glass and coals. So then they are the only ones who can survive in such places; they are the ones who will remain in its palaces and its fortresses.
"And wildcats will meet with hyenas, and the satyr will call to its fellow; only there the lilit will settle and find for herself a resting place." "And wildcats will meet with hyenas." Let us first explain what Rashi explains based on the Targum. "And weasels will meet there with cats." "Temavan" means weasels. "Chatulin" means cats. So there weasels will meet cats. In short, these are the animals that will swarm there. "Satyr" (sa'ir) means demons. And there "the lilit will settle," lilit being the name of a demon. As is known, the mother of demons, that is what He is referring to here. The Malbim explains a bit differently. "And wildcats (tziyim) will meet with hyenas (iyim)." What is a "tziyah"? A desert, a wasteland. "Tziyim" are animals that come from afar from the deserts. Whom will they meet? The "iyim," the animals that come from afar from the islands of the sea. That is to say, this place will be like a central city where everyone meets. Here too it will be a meeting place for all the strangest animals. Everyone will arrive there, at Edom. To tell you how desolate that place will be. For animals usually go to desolate places, a place where they are not pursued. So all the animals of the deserts and of the distant islands will find their home there; there they will feel good. "And wildcats will meet there with hyenas." "And the satyr will call to its fellow." The demons, who are dwellers of the desert, will call there to their fellows. The meaning is they will call to their fellows to come there, that it will be a place, as it were, where they will feel at ease. "Only there the lilit will settle." Lilit is a bird that weeps and laments at night. All night it weeps and laments; therefore it is called lilit, after the night (lailah). It is quite possible that lilit is also after the word "yelalah" (wailing), that it constantly wails and laments. This bird, in an inhabited place the Malbim says, has no rest, and therefore all night it cries out. But "there the lilit will settle and find for herself a resting place." There she will feel at ease; there she will settle. What is the difference between "settle" (hirgi'ah) and "resting place" (manoach)? Well, the Malbim already explained this to us in the past, that "settling" is rest of the soul and "resting place" is rest of the body. So He says that there lilit will already cease to lament and wail, since it is a quiet place, it is not the city, which is an unnatural place for her, but rather it is a desolate place; there she will find for herself a resting place and settle and not wail and lament.
"There the arrow-snake will nest and lay and hatch and gather in her shade; only there the kites will be gathered, each with her fellow." "There the arrow-snake (kipoz) will nest." The kipoz is the bird called "Paradiesvogel." Does anyone know? It is the bird of paradise. In German translation it is the bird of paradise. "Paradise" is the Garden of Eden, everyone knows that. And "Vogel" is bird in German. So there the kipoz will nest. This bird called the bird of paradise has a special beauty in the color of its feathers. And the Malbim brings that, since this bird was almost never found, being very rare, and it would nest in the highest treetops, in the wake of this all sorts of folk legends arose about this bird. In the Malbim's words, "they used to tell fanciful tales about it of old." "Fanciful tales" means they told many nonsensical stories about it. For example, they used to tell about it that it has no legs, that it does not nest in a particular place, that it lays eggs and hatches its chicks in the air, with the male brooding over them so that they will not be seen by people, and similar much nonsense. All these stories they used to tell about this kipoz, which is the bird of paradise. Now He comes and says: behold, see this bird, of which, as we said, there are so many fanciful tales, because it is not seen, because it is always in places where there are no people and it keeps very far from people; there this bird, this bird too, found a home. There it will feel at ease. This comes to express how desolate that place will be, that this bird of paradise will find it very, very comfortable to live there. This bird that keeps far from people, that dwells in the air, there nested on the ground. Why? It does not fear people who are far away; people are not present here in the area. And not only that, but "and lay," from the language of laying, it lays the eggs. "And hatch," she hatches the eggs herself; she does not need the male. "And gather" (dagerah), here it does not speak of the eggs but the meaning is she sits, the mother broods over the chicks that will sit in her shade. Not as they said back then, that they must be between heaven and earth, and all sorts of other fantasies of this kind, but rather they will be in her shade, the chicks, and she will not fear anyone. This is the bird that keeps furthest from all human society. And if there she will find a resting place, that means there will be no person there, and as He said, even a passerby will not pass through the place. And this comes to show us how great the desolation there will be. And the kite (dayah), the kite is a bird of several kinds, there are large and small, and this bird nests in the hot lands, the Malbim says, on the crags of the high rocks. She too nests in a place where there is no human foot. He tells you: but here the kites will be gathered not on the crags of the rocks, that you might say she needs to keep far from human society, no, but rather in the valley. There the kites will be gathered, in the place itself and not in the mountains. And from there too they will gather, "each with her fellow." The meaning is that every bird, each with her fellow, will invite her fellow, as He said before, "and the satyr will call to its fellow." As it were, each one will call to its fellow and say to it, "Come, this is a place where one can rest, this is a place where people will not disturb you." To such an extent will the place be desolate.
"Seek out from the book of Hashem and read: not one of these will be missing, none will lack her fellow; for it is My mouth that has commanded, and His spirit has gathered them." "Seek out from the book of Hashem and read." What is "seek out from the book of Hashem"? What in fact is the book of Hashem? On this there are several explanations here. "Seek out from the book of Hashem and read: not one of these will be missing, none will lack her fellow; for it is My mouth that has commanded, and His spirit has gathered them." On this verse there are several explanations. Rashi explains what "seek out from the book of Hashem" is. What in fact is the book of Hashem? Rashi says: from the book of Bereishit. When the Holy One, blessed be He, brought the flood, He decreed that all the animals be enclosed in the ark. And there, male and female, "not one of these will be missing." Is there any animal that did not enter the ark? Except for the fish, all entered. Whatever did not enter, in fact, does not exist today. So He says: so too, when the Holy One, blessed be He, will call the animals to come and eat and drink the fat and flesh and blood of the peoples of Edom for what they did to oppress the Jewish people, "seek out from the book of Hashem," search in the book of the Torah, "not one of these will be missing." All those that were in the book of Bereishit, there in the portion of Noach, everyone who entered the ark will be there at the great feast, please Hashem, of the peoples of Edom, when they come to eliminate all those gentiles who oppressed the Jewish people. The Radak explains "seek out from the book of Hashem," saying the meaning is this book. Sefer Yeshayahu. For here animals are mentioned: "the pelican and the hedgehog and the owl and the raven will dwell in it." And He continues and says there will be "a habitation of jackals, a pasture for ostriches." And He continues and says "wildcats will meet with hyenas, the satyr, the lilit." All these animals that He mentions here, kipoz, kites, He says "seek out from the book of Hashem," this book, all the animals mentioned in this passage, all of them will be there at the time of the destruction. "Not one of these" - of which "these"? Of those mentioned here - "will be missing." He brings an additional explanation in the name of his father, that "seek out from the book of Hashem" means the book of the Torah. And which book? Not Bereishit as we explained, but rather the portion of Shemini. In the portion of Shemini all the animals, the pure and the impure, are mentioned. "Seek out from the book of Hashem": go and seek out from there all the animals that will be there; all those found there will come on the concluding day, yes, of the peoples of Edom, and they will come and eat there the flesh, the fat, and the blood. An additional explanation he brings in the name of the Ibn Ezra, who explains that this is by way of a parable. As it were, the decrees are written in heaven. So the decree written in heaven is as though written in the book of Hashem. Which book? It speaks neither of Bereishit nor of this book nor of the portion of Shemini; which book is it speaking of? The book that is before Him, blessed be He. That is the meaning; it is like "written by the finger of God," as they say "three books are opened." What do they mean, an actual book is opened? Rather the meaning is a concept, just as you can conceive of a book, so there is, as it were, in the upper spiritual reality. So this too is "seek out from the book of Hashem," the meaning being that before the Holy One, blessed be He, there is recorded all the animals that will come and be here. Only what I am now thinking is that this is a bit difficult in the language of the verse, for if you say "seek out from the book of Hashem and read," that is to say that it is a book that can be sought out and read. And the book of Hashem, according to the Ibn Ezra, I cannot seek out or read. For the book of Hashem is by way of a parable, a hint to the heavenly decrees written by the finger of God. How can I seek out such a book and how can I read it? And therefore this is the reason, it seems, that because of it the other commentators inclined away from the Ibn Ezra's explanation and explained that the book of Hashem is a book that can be read, for you say "seek out and read." Search and read there in this book and you will see that not one of the animals is missing. The Malbim explains, this is an additional explanation, what "seek out from the book of Hashem" is. The Malbim says it is known that when going out to battle, what does the commander do? He has lists. Which soldiers must arrive, who is missing, when they must come. There are precise lists, a book of the names of the men of the army. And then they know: is so-and-so present? Yes. Is such-and-such present? Yes. They call the roll, they check that everyone is present. He says: so too the commander of this army, as it were, of all these animals and birds, Hashem says to him "seek out, please, from the book of Hashem and read." As it were, you, the army commander who brings out all these animals to exact payment from Edom, go over them one by one, verify that no one is missing, that no one has deserted, that no one is telling stories that he could not make it today, that not one of these is missing. Thus Hashem, as it were, says to the army commander who is responsible over all those animals to bring them to that day on which He is destined to exact payment from Edom. And He says: and know that you should not think that they invited one another to come. Concerning this He says "none will lack her fellow." What is the meaning? Do not think that one said to another, "Are you coming? There is a slaughter today for Hashem in Botzrah, are you coming, there will be food." He says: no, it will be organized. There will be a roll call that summons everyone; it is not by word of mouth. Rumors, one told that one and that one told this one. This is what He adds, "none will lack her fellow." It is not that one called the other and he came. Rather it is the army commander, as it were, who mustered everyone. And who is it that mustered them? "For it is My mouth that has commanded," and His spirit. That is, there was no need for a special command; rather the spirit that goes forth from the mouth of the Speaker was enough so that through it everyone already arrived. Who is His spirit? The spirit of Hashem, blessed be He. So there was no need for a special utterance, but rather immediately, by the very spirit going forth from His mouth, all those animals were already gathered to come and exact payment from Edom.
"And He has cast for them the lot, and His hand has apportioned it to them by the line; forever they will possess it, from generation to generation they will dwell in it." And Hashem has cast for them the lot; what is the meaning? Each of these animals that are destined to settle, as we said, in the land of Edom, destined to turn the land of Edom into a place of desolation, each one will receive a portion there. As we said, that whoever arrives there will see the place, that there will be "the pelican and the hedgehog and the owl and the raven will dwell in it." He says: know that Hashem will apportion them a lot; each one will have some parcel of inheritance. And not only that, but also "His hand has apportioned it to them by the line." To apportion by the line means they will bring a surveyor, they will say this one from here to here and that one from there to there. That is to say, He means that each one will receive a very defined portion. Like one who divides the land permanently, making a division that is absolute forever, actually with lines and boundaries. Now, so that you should not say that it will be temporary: "forever they will possess it." This place will be theirs forever. Fine, but it could be that I have land in Alaska but I did not go to live there. He says: no, no, no, not only that, but "from generation to generation they will dwell in it." Not only that they will possess it, that it will belong to them, but also they will dwell in it. That is, those animals will come and dwell in that very place; they will reside there in that very place, and it will be theirs perpetually. What this in fact means is that this decree is not a temporary decree, it is not an incidental decree, but rather it is a decree by Hashem in order to exact payment from Edom for all the wrongs they did to the Jewish people throughout all the generations.