Sefer Yeshayahu, chapter 41. "Be silent to Me, O islands, and let the nations renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us come near together for judgment."
The Malbim explains that after we have seen him speaking words of comfort to Tzion, he now turns to the nations. He tells them: behold, you will see, the Redeemer has already arrived. And do not be surprised at this, says the Malbim, for the prophet sees in his prophetic vision things as though they are already happening. As if it is here, as if it is now. On this basis he now describes, as it were, how the Redeemer debates with them in order to bring them back to faith in one God, to the true religion, so that all will recognize that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Creator of the world and He alone is worthy of worship.
"Be silent to Me, O islands." The Malbim explains that here there is, as it were, a debate between the Redeemer, or the prophet, and the nations. The Malbim says that in a debate there can be four reasons why the one debating is defeated. Four reasons why claims might be made against him that he cannot answer.
First, this is possible from one angle: sometimes the one debating is small, while the one debating with him is great. So he says, "Be silent to Me, O islands." The islands, which are small, he tells them: you will not debate. With whom do I want to debate? "And let the nations renew their strength." I want the nations to come and debate with Me. For when you defeat someone small, well, that is no great feat, that is no display of strength against him. Let us see you against a heavyweight wrestler. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I do not want to debate with the islands. You would say to Me: they are weak, it is no great feat that You defeated them. So "Be silent to Me, O islands." You be quiet. With whom shall I debate? "And let the nations renew their strength." Against the nations I want to debate.
Another matter: sometimes it happens that you come to debate with someone and his arguments are stopped up. Why? He simply was not prepared. But if you had shown him the questions the day before, he would have sat with them, exerted himself, toiled, found organized answers to every response, would have given you a knockout, would have defeated you in the debate. Regarding this he says, "let them renew their strength." The meaning is: do not say that I surprised you, that I ambushed you, that I suddenly asked you some question and you have no answer. No, renew your strength. The meaning: study, contemplate, investigate, so that you cannot say that this fell upon you all at once in a single moment.
A third matter: sometimes it happens that one debates with someone distinguished. Someone whom, just from seeing him, I am afraid to open my mouth against. I have dread of him, I have terror of him. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, "let them approach, then let them speak." Not from afar, in terror, in fear, but let them approach. Approaching means coming close. Not someone who is afraid to speak because he is in a distant place, but "let them approach, then let them speak." Let them come close to Me. The Malbim explains that in every place the one who approaches is lesser in rank than the place to which he approaches. "And Yehuda approached him." "And Yehuda approached him" means: he is the king, Yosef, and I approach him. The one who approaches is always lesser in rank than the one he approaches. In contrast, if I say to come close to him, says the Malbim, then they are of equal rank. They are equal. And then I express it in language of closeness.
Especially since the word "together" is written. "Together" means in complete equality, both of us as one. As in "let us come near together for judgment." What is "let us come near together for judgment"? I do not want you to have dread of Me. Rather, if you have arguments, if you have something to say, then on the contrary, let them approach. Come close. And then let them speak. And afterward you will speak. Say all that you have, without fear, not from afar and in fear.
But sometimes it happens that there is no one to judge between us. That is to say, I have a debate with you, but who will decide in the end who was right at the conclusion of the debate? You think you were right, I think I was right. And then ultimately such a debate is a fruitless debate, for it is impossible to reach a resolution in it. As Iyov said, "For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, that we should come together in judgment. Would that there were an arbiter between us." Iyov made this very argument. I have many arguments against the Creator of the world, but what third party will judge us? What third party will judge who is right, I or the Holy One, blessed be He? "Would that there were an arbiter between us": if only there were someone between us who could prove who is right, I or the Creator of the world. So this means that even if there is room to debate and I can come close and make my arguments, there still needs to be someone from the outside who can render the judgment.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says, "let us come near together for judgment." "Let us come near for judgment" means there will be a trial and there will be someone who will decide and determine who is right in the arguments. In simple terms, the Holy One, blessed be He, says to the gentiles and to the nations: behold, come, I am ready now to come and hold a trial with you, to present My arguments and you will present your arguments, and we will see who is right.
"Who aroused one from the east, whom righteousness called to his foot? He gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings; his sword makes them like dust, his bow like driven straw." Chazal expound this verse as referring to Avraham. I will explain according to the exposition of Chazal, and afterward we will see, as is our way, what the Malbim explains here in the text.
"Who aroused one from the east, whom righteousness called to his foot?" The Radak explains that this refers to Avraham Avinu. "From the east": Avraham came from the far east, from the ancient land. "The land of the people of the east." Who aroused him from the east and took him out of a house of idol worshippers? "Whom righteousness called to his foot." Every place he would go, this is the meaning of "to his foot," every place he would reach, wherever his foot trod there, Avraham would call out righteousness. He would proclaim truth to the people, that they should stop pursuing lusts, idolatry, falsehood. He pursued truth. Every place he went, "righteousness called to his foot." Wherever his foot trod, he would call the people to awaken to righteousness, as it is written, "And Avram called there in the name of Hashem."
He says: is there such a wonder? One man among all the inhabitants of the land, all of them idol worshippers, and he fears no one, and here he fights against all of them and they cast him into the fiery furnace. Who aroused him? Who aroused him to come and do all this? Surely the Holy One, blessed be He. "He gives nations before him." Who is it that would give nations before him and make him rule over kings? Indeed, Avraham Avinu defeated the four kings. Kedorlaomer and the kings that were with him. He pursued them with 318 men, rescued the captives from their hands, took Lot from their hands. Where did this come from? Where did this strength come from? For this strength, says the Holy One, blessed be He, all of it is from Me. "And makes him rule over kings," the meaning is: he ruled over them. From the expression "you shall not rule over him with rigor," "and those who hate you shall rule over you." He ruled; the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him dominion and set him in authority over the kings.
The Radak says: notice that it is all written in the future tense. "He gives nations before him," "makes him rule over kings," "his bow like dust." Seemingly the more fitting language would be the past tense, for you are speaking of someone who existed. It should have said "He gave nations before him," "his sword made them like dust." Why does he speak in the future tense? The Radak says: because he does not come merely to tell us what happened. He comes and says: do you see what happens when a person seeks Hashem? When a person is a tzaddik like Avraham, see how the Holy One, blessed be He, acted? So too you should know, every tzaddik who walks in his path, then "He gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings, his sword makes them like dust." This is not merely something historical. It is something that will also be in the future. If you walk in the path of Avraham, so too the Holy One, blessed be He, will continue to lead you.
"His sword makes them like dust." The Holy One, blessed be He, made them like dust to be trampled, which people tread upon, before Avraham's sword. He made them like driven straw before Avraham's bow. Some commentators explain that the meaning is that He made the sword of each of the kings and the bow of each of the kings become, as it were, like dust. As if the bow became straw. That is to say, the bow and arrows should be strong. So some explain that it refers back to Avraham, that Avraham, as it were, made them like dust, as if he trampled them like dust. He made them like driven straw before Avraham's bow. Some explain that their bow became straw and their sword became like dust.
And indeed there is a Gemara in Masechet Shabbat that says: from where do we know that there is no mazal... excuse me, let us first read the Midrash Rabbah, and afterward we will return to the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat. Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit, parashah 43, piska 3. Rabbi Yehuda said: Avraham would throw dust at them and it became swords, straw and it became arrows. Do you hear how the Midrash expounds it? We just explained that it is figurative language, that they submitted like straw before him. But the Midrash says: no, know it literally. "His sword makes them like dust." He would take dust and throw it, and swords would fly at the enemies. Straw, he would throw at them, and it became arrows. And Rabbi Nechemia said: it does not say "dust" but "like dust." They would throw swords at Avraham and they became dust. They throw swords at him, and suddenly they see flying sand. They throw arrows at him and they become straw. Suddenly they see this straw striking him, doing nothing. And this is what is written: "He pursues them and passes on safely." Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Yosi ben Zimra says: the strides of Avraham Avinu were three mil.
Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi Simon said: a mil. As it is said, "a path his feet had not come upon." This is our verse. Rabbi Nechemia says, in the name of Rabbi Abahu: their feet did not gather dust, but rather like one who goes from his house to the synagogue. That is, "a path for his feet," like a person who walks a path on foot from here to the synagogue. How far is it? His shoes barely get dirty. So too it was with Avraham Avinu.
There is here another exposition that Chazal give on what "Who aroused one from the east, whom righteousness called to his foot, he gives nations before him" means. Chazal say: from where do we know that there is no mazal for Yisrael? Gemara in Shabbat 156. As it is said, "Thus said Hashem: do not learn the way of the gentiles, and do not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the gentiles are dismayed by them." They are dismayed, but not Yisrael. The gentiles need to fear the constellations, what this star indicates, what that star indicates. And even Rav held that there is no mazal for Yisrael. As Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: from where do we know that there is no mazal for Yisrael? As it is said regarding Avraham, "And He took him outside." Avraham said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the world, will a member of my household inherit me? What, my servant? He said to him: no, but rather one who shall come from your own body. He said before Him: Master of the world, I have looked into my astrology, meaning I gazed at the stars, and I am not fit to father a son. He said to him: leave your astrology, for there is no mazal for Yisrael. What does "no mazal" mean? It means there is no mazal, meaning they are not subject to mazal, they are above the mazal. What is your thinking? Why? The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him, I will translate: what did you see? The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: that Tzedek (Jupiter) is in the west? I will move it and set it up in the east. I move it when I want and set it up in the east. And this is what is written in our text, "Who aroused one from the east, whom righteousness called to his foot." The Holy One, blessed be He, called to Tzedek, to the star Jupiter, to bring it to the east to his foot. To whose? To Avraham's foot. As it were, Hashem had mercy for the sake of his foot. The meaning is: for his sake, for his situation.
The Holy One, blessed be He, changed the position of the star Tzedek from one place to another. "Who aroused one from the east, whom righteousness called" to the foot of Avraham Avinu, in order to change his fate so that he could father children. The Malbim explains: "Who aroused one from the east." The Malbim says: the Mashiach King, who will come from a land in the east. Who aroused him? For according to the Malbim we are speaking here of a debate that will take place in the future between the Redeemer, the Mashiach King, and the gentiles.
To prove to them the truth of the Torah, the absolute dominion of the Creator of the world. He says: "Who aroused one from the east?" Who stirred, what was the cause that stirred the Mashiach King to come and conquer lands and nations and to come and rule with absolute rule? For when someone is stirred to come and perform some action, some conquest, it stems from some cause. And if we investigate, it may very well be out of love of power and honor, so that all will know: do you see what strength I have? Do you see what an army I maintain? Do you see what might I have? It may be jealousy, revenge. That one once conquered me, that one once did such and such to me, now I go and fight against him and conquer him. I go and fight against him, strike him. It may be greed and possessions. That one has oil fields, I go to conquer him so that this oil will be mine. He says: but have you ever heard of a conqueror who arose to conquer kingdoms for what reason? Out of love of righteousness? Because he wants to establish righteousness in the world? "Who aroused one from the east, whom righteousness called to his foot?" Who aroused this conqueror whom righteousness called to his foot? The meaning is: this is what he is interested in, this is his entire purpose, this is his aspiration. He wants to awaken righteousness in the world.
Another matter, he says: behold, you will see that in terms of quantity, what is happening here is not natural. Contemplate. First of all, it is not natural that someone goes to wage wars in order to bring righteousness to the world. Secondly, he says: behold, you will see that the victory is not by way of nature. For behold, righteousness gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings. What is the language here? "He gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings." The Malbim explains: it is the way of the world that kings are conquered in war and the nations are ruled over. He says: here, see, this is the opposite of nature. Here he does not rule over the nations, but rules over the kings. He rules over them with rigor. Usually the king is not the one who is conquered. Usually they would conquer the people. Rarely would they succeed in capturing the king, placing him beneath his table to gather bones, but this is not the usual thing. The king usually managed to escape and they would rule over the people. So he says: behold, here you will see, the situation will be reversed. Does this not lead you to think that there is some supernal power here that did all this? For "He gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings."
A third matter, he says: come and see that this is not by way of nature. Righteousness gives nations before him like dust before his sword. They are like dust before his sword, dust that is trampled underfoot. And the kings like driven straw before his bow. That is, he will defeat them with tremendous ease. When one goes to war, much blood is spilled, there is a struggle, it takes a long time. He says: but here you see how suddenly the Mashiach King comes and conquers with such ease. All of them become before him like straw and like dust. Does this not stir you to understand that there is some spiritual power with him? Does this not stir you to understand and ask, "Who aroused one from the east, righteousness?" Who is it that stirred him to this redemption? Does this not let you understand that there is a supernal spiritual power here that brought about this entire process? So awaken, gentiles, and understand that the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Ruler of all, and He is the one who has now stirred the Mashiach to come and redeem the people of Yisrael. And if so, come, you too, to be under the government and rule of the Mashiach King.
"He pursues them and passes on safely, a path his feet had not come upon." "He pursues them": according to the Radak, that this speaks of Avraham Avinu, Avraham Avinu pursued them, "he passes on safely." And he passed on in peace. The meaning is: he came out in peace, none of his men died. "A path his feet had not come upon." He says: for normally, when a person walks a long path, his feet ache. He says here that he did not tire. Rather, no pain came upon his feet from the walking. "A path his feet had not come upon": nothing bad happened to him as a result of this journey, but rather all his men returned healthy and whole.
He brings here a third explanation, beyond how the Malbim learns it and how the Radak learns it. For according to the Radak, this chapter refers back to Avraham Avinu and his wars. According to the Malbim, it refers to the days of the Mashiach, what the Mashiach will do in the future. He brings that there is an additional interpretation, that some interpret the entire matter as referring to Koresh (Cyrus). That Hashem will stir him from the east to come upon Bavel in order to capture it, and the gentiles and kings will not stand before him. But he does not accept this; he says the correct interpretation is as we explained. Therefore we will not continue with the approach that it refers to Koresh, but rather with the two approaches that the Malbim and the Radak built for us.
The Malbim explains that the Mashiach King, even though he pursues them, will in fact have war against the nations, for the Mashiach King will need to impose upon the nations the religion of God. And in the first stage not everyone will want to accept this. Therefore the king will indeed pursue them, but "he passes on safely." That is to say, when a king goes to pursue, it seems he is doing so in order to conquer, in order to make a name for himself, as we saw last time, in order to amass wealth. He says: but here it will be a pursuit of a different kind. "He pursues them and passes on safely." Like one who goes in order to make peace. And even though he will pass through "a path his feet had not come upon," he will pass through paths that a person cannot pass through on foot. The meaning is: dangerous places, places where normally a person cannot walk. He says: it will be clear that this journey will be a miraculous journey. A journey by which, as it were, heaven leads him. For if you look at it physically, "a path his feet had not come upon." It is a path that normally a person cannot walk on foot. And nevertheless he will walk it. So you are compelled to reach the conclusion that it is from Him, may He be blessed.
"Who has wrought and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Hashem, am the first, and with the last ones I am He." "Who has wrought and done this." The Malbim continues and explains: contemplate, you nations. Who did this thing? And contemplate, the "who," says the Malbim, takes another meaning with it. "Who has wrought and done this?" Who is "calling the generations from the beginning"? That is, contemplate and see who it is that announced from the beginning, from days of old, announced what would be when the Mashiach would come. Hashem says: am I not Hashem, the first? I, the Holy One, blessed be He, already announced this. He who tells the end from the beginning. From the beginning I already announced this. "And with the last ones I am He." That is, even when the thing is fulfilled, I am He. Who is it that brought the thing to fruition? Hashem says: it is I. That is to say, first, Hashem foresaw the thing from the beginning, and secondly, He was also there at the end to implement it, to bring out what He foresaw, to bring it to fruition.
The Malbim explains that when the prophet speaks of the future, if the thing is not, let us say, far-fetched by way of nature, something that could happen naturally, he says, we can always say: well, it happened by chance. What did he say, there will be a war? Well, fine, that is natural, there are always wars. Anything that is seemingly not exceptional in terms of nature, even when the thing occurs, I will not see in it anything wondrous, since the thing is naturally something that could happen. Therefore, the Malbim says, notice that the wonders of the prophets are in matters that are not natural. For example, Shmuel brings down rain in the middle of summer. That is not a natural thing. If in the middle of winter he says now there will be rain and rain fell, you would say: listen, it may be that by chance Shmuel knew the weather map and understood that rain was due to fall. But if you say this in the middle of summer, what would you say? Suddenly clouds gather, suddenly rain falls. The Malbim says: always, when the prophets perform signs and wonders, they do so with things that are not by way of nature.
Therefore he comes and says: behold, come and see, when I announce to you what will be with the Mashiach, when the Mashiach comes, come and see that it is something unnatural. So that you will not say afterward: yes, well, it is logical that it would be this way. No, I announce to you in advance, you will see that there will be unnatural things here. First, he says: a natural thing comes on its own. A natural thing does not need something to stir it, because that is how it is by nature. The earth operates according to nature. In contrast, here he says: "Who aroused one from the east?" Aroused from the east, that is to say, there is something here that someone stirred. Someone stirred it, which means it did not come naturally. Someone needed to stir it from the east so that this thing would come.
Another matter: something incidental is temporary. It does not occur regularly. The regular thing, as the Chazon Ish says: what is the difference between a miracle and nature? For both are the will of Hashem. As the Ramban says, that we have no share in the Torah of Moshe until we believe and know that all our deeds and all that befalls us are miracles, and there is no nature or fixed order of the world in them at all. So the Chazon Ish says: what then is the difference between a miracle and nature? The Chazon Ish says: nature is the more constant will of the Holy One, blessed be He. A miracle is a one-time will. Nature is a constant will. This is the difference between a miracle and nature. So he says: here too, if you see that something happened by chance, something unnatural, he says, it is for a short time. A tsunami occurred. Is a tsunami natural? No. How long? Five minutes, it is over. When something unnatural occurs, it is for a short time. When something natural occurs, it is for a long time. Winter is natural, so it is for a long time, it is several months of rainfall. But unnatural things come for a short time.
But he says: behold, you will see that what will be here, both in terms of quantity and in terms of quality, will not be by chance. As it is written, "He gives nations before him, his sword makes them like dust." All these things will be things that are constant and things that will not be few, but rather will be many. For even if an unnatural thing occurs, it occurs in small measure. If a tsunami occurred, it occurred in some place, at some point in the world. An unusual storm occurred, so here too, it occurred at some point in the world. The whole world was not caught in a storm. Anything unnatural occurs in small measure and only in certain places. He says: here you will see that it will not be so. Rather, Hashem will give the nations before him, his sword makes them like dust. He will have a constant victory over all the nations. Not in small measure and not merely local, but much and always.
And so he says: you will be compelled to reach the conclusion, "Who has wrought and done this? And who is calling the generations from the beginning?" Who is it that did all this and announced it from the beginning? For the prophecy was from the beginning, that behold, now I announce to you that so it will be in the future. And the action, that is what ultimately happens. All this will prove that the hand of Hashem was here. And this is what he says, "Who has wrought and done this." The Malbim says: what is "wrought and done"? "Wrought" means to announce the things from the beginning, while "done" means to bring the thing to fruition. The very fact that I announce it from the beginning, and the very fact that you see that this thing will endure, this shows you that it is from the hand of Hashem.
Especially since you already recognize that the Holy One, blessed be He, performs miracles. You already recognize that Hashem overturns nature. Hashem says: I, I, Hashem, am the first. So you know that with the last ones I am He. I, Hashem, am the first, I took you out of Egypt. Was that a natural thing? Not natural. And nevertheless, who did it? Hashem, may He be blessed. Hashem says: so do not be surprised when you see that with the last ones I am He. "And with the last ones I am He." Likewise what will be in the future, unnatural miracles, Hashem says: it is I. He who performed those miracles will perform them now as well. So first of all, you will be convinced to see that there is a guiding hand here, it is Hashem, may He be blessed. Secondly, the very fact that I announce the things from the beginning, and "I, Hashem, am the first," meaning I already performed such miracles in the past, will prove to you that with the last ones I am He, and I will perform such miracles in the future as well.
The Radak explains, since all this refers back to Avraham according to the Radak's approach, so he says: He who is "calling the generations from the beginning" is the one who raised Avraham. "Who has wrought and done this?" Who is it that established a man like Avraham? "Calling the generations from the beginning." It is He who knew that from him there would come a fitting seed before Him, chosen from all the nations. Hashem calls the generations from the beginning, and therefore from the beginning the Holy One, blessed be He, strengthened Avraham. "I, Hashem, am the first, and with the last ones I am He." The meaning is: He knows everything from the beginning through His prophets. Therefore, Hashem says, I saw what was destined to come from Avraham, and therefore I initiated all My help and assistance to Avraham Avinu. That surely it began from him, so as not to err and think that the Holy One, blessed be He, created him from the beginning in order that he be a tzaddik, for if so he has no reward, since he withstood many trials. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I saw what was destined to come from him, and therefore I was his help.
"The islands saw and feared, the ends of the earth trembled; they drew near and came." When, the Radak explains, the inhabitants of the islands saw the great and mighty thing that was done, they were afraid. Also from the ends of the earth they trembled. "They drew near and came." They drew near and came before Avraham, as we saw with the king of Sedom who came toward him. And even so, he tells you: see that the gentiles did not, as it were, lay down their weapons and go. "Each helped his fellow, and to his brother he said: be strong." They planned to come and fight. They thought nonetheless: Avraham, he has help from heaven, the Holy One, blessed be He, is with him, but we can prevail against him. We can overcome him. So although "the islands saw and feared, the ends of the earth trembled," and there were those who "drew near and came," like the king of Sedom who went out toward him, most of them were not like this. Rather most of them, the next verse, "each helped his fellow, and to his brother he said: be strong," to come and fight against Avraham Avinu.
Now he says: if you contemplate, you will see that in fact these nations did not open their eyes. For had they opened their eyes, they would have understood: how is it possible that a man with 318 men defeated four mighty kings, who had previously defeated five mighty and powerful kings? Know that in the history books of the nations this war appears, the four against the five, it appears as a world war. In the books of the historians it appears as a world war. This means it was not some local phalanxes where a few guerilla fighters went out and Avraham with a few men went and subdued them. There was a world war here. And Avraham Avinu won it. And if so, how is it that they do not awaken? How is it that they do not understand? He says: if you say perhaps they were weak? He says: it cannot be. For it is a case of four against five mighty kings. Rather what? Avraham's faith was distinct from the faith of all the gentiles, and Hashem, in His great power, assisted, and he alone defeated all of them. This is the compelling conclusion. But they did not reach this conclusion. They did not want to contemplate and see: understand how Avraham wins, it is by the power of the Creator. So let us accept His divinity, may He be blessed. No, this they did not take upon themselves. And not only that, but they cling all the more to their idols and say: come, let each one worship his idol and strengthen himself in it, and through this these idols will assist us.
The Malbim explains that this verse, "the islands saw and feared, the ends of the earth trembled, they drew near and came," describes the wars of the Mashiach. And it describes how all the gentiles will stand to fight against the Mashiach King. They will not accept it immediately. They will not immediately agree to accept his kingship. And also the distant islands, those at the edge of settlement, at the edge of the world, they too will see and fear. And because of this, "the ends of the earth trembled." What will they tremble about? Why? To come and accept the kingship of the Mashiach King? No. They will tremble, "each helped his fellow, and to his brother he said: be strong." They will gather and say: listen, there is a serious war here. There is a serious conqueror here, we must unite. Come, let us unite, the powers of Europe, with America, with Islam, all will unite in order to come and fight. "Each helped his fellow, and to his brother he said: be strong."
The Malbim explains: "each helped his fellow," one thing. Secondly, "and to his brother he said: be strong." The Malbim says: naturally, in the way of the world, a person does not help his fellow with complete help. He helps his fellow a little. His brother he helps a great deal. But his fellow he helps a little. He says: but here you will see that it was the opposite. "Each helped his fellow." One helped his fellow with complete help. "And to his brother he said: be strong." Usually one truly helps his brother. He says: here, not so, but rather he said: be strong. The meaning is: you too, strengthen yourself to go out to war. The meaning is that it will be in an unnatural way, that they will encourage their brother and help
their fellow, for they will understand that there is a serious battle here that is about to take place against the Mashiach King. And if so, he says, you too, people of Yisrael, prepare for this battle, and do not rely on the help, but be a valiant person. Just as they say to one another, each strengthens his fellow and says: be a valiant person, so too the people of Yisrael. But we will not need to, since we will have the Mashiach King, for the Mashiach King, as we said, will fight our wars for us, against nature, not according to nature.
Rashi explains: "each helped his fellow," for as we explained that according to Rashi and the Radak this refers back to Avraham, he says: this one helps that one with blessings, as it is written, "Blessed be Avram to God Most High." And this one helps that one with gifts, as it is written, "And he gave him a tenth of everything." So according to Rashi this in fact refers back to Avraham and Avimelech, who helped one another to go and fight against the nations. "Each helped his fellow, and to his brother he said: be strong": this one helped him with blessings, Avraham blesses him, this one gives him gifts. And if so, such was the mutual help between them in their war against the kings. [From the audience: Malki Tzedek]. Yes, correct, I said Avimelech, I meant Malki Tzedek.
"So the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer encouraged him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering: it is good; and he fastened it with nails that it should not totter." Rashi continues along the line that here we are in fact speaking of Avraham Avinu. And then he says: "the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith." Who is the craftsman? An interesting thing Rashi says: the craftsman is Shem son of Noach. And why did they call him the craftsman? Because he was a smith, making the nails for the ark. "The craftsman encouraged the goldsmith." Who is the goldsmith? The goldsmith is Avraham Avinu. And why is he called the goldsmith? Because he would refine people to draw them close to the Shechina. So Shem helped and assisted Avraham Avinu.
"The craftsman encouraged the goldsmith." For even Noach was alive in the time of Avraham, yes? For it is written that Avraham Avinu, Noach died when Avraham was fifty-eight years old. Fifty-eight (nun-chet). Remember this as a mnemonic. That is to say, even Noach was still alive in the time of Avraham Avinu. All the more so Shem, who, as we saw, went to seek Hashem, went to the beit midrash of Shem and Ever. Yaakov Avinu went to learn Torah in the beit midrash of Shem and Ever. There are those who say that by then it was primarily Ever and not Shem. But be that as it may, they were in the same generation. "The craftsman encouraged the goldsmith."
So Shem the craftsman strengthened Avraham Avinu, who was in the aspect of a goldsmith, refining people to draw them close to the Torah. "He who smooths with the hammer encouraged him who strikes the anvil." "He who smooths with the hammer" is Shem, who, as we said, was the craftsman. He would strengthen "him who strikes the anvil," Avraham Avinu, who struck all the kings, as though he stunned them or struck them like striking with a hammer. He struck all the kings at once. This is the meaning of "him who strikes the anvil." The one who struck the kings at once. "Saying of the soldering: it is good; and he fastened it with nails." "Saying of the soldering: it is good," the meaning is that it is good to cling to the God of this one, that is, Avraham Avinu. "And he fastened it," Shem strengthens Avraham to cling to the Holy One, blessed be He, "that it should not totter." "And he fastened it with nails." Why Shem? Because it is written "nails," and nails, as we explained, refers to Shem. Shem is the craftsman. "And he fastened it with nails that it should not totter," meaning Shem, who was already at a tremendous level, even before Avraham's birth, for he was in the ark, and he merited to see his father Noach speaking with the Holy One, blessed be He. So Shem strengthens Avraham "with nails that it should not totter," that is, he tells him: remain strong in your faith and do not be frightened by the wars against the kings and the war against Nimrod.
The Malbim explains, as we said, that this chapter refers back to the days of the Mashiach. Therefore he says: "the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith." The kings will come in order to fight against the people of Yisrael. And the alarm at the Mashiach King will be so great that the kings, when they need to come and prepare weapons in order to fight against the people of Yisrael, will act contrary to the proper order. And why? The Malbim explains: the craftsman is the artisan who makes the weapons, the instruments of war. The goldsmith is the one who extracts the metal from the iron. He takes the iron, refines it, turns it into metal. For as is known, when iron comes out of the ground, it is very dirty, or with much dross. It must be placed in a furnace in order to refine it, to turn it into iron fit for work. Now, naturally, the craftsman waits for the work of the goldsmith. Until the goldsmith prepares iron fit for work, then the craftsman enters the picture and from this iron makes a sword.
But in contrast, here the alarm will be so great that the craftsman will encourage the goldsmith and say to him: well, have you finished already? Is there iron ready yet? I want to prepare swords. It is already late, it is dangerous, the Mashiach King is already here, he is coming to fight. The craftsman will urge the goldsmith to finish his work so that the craftsman can go out and do his work, which is to build from the iron the goldsmith brings him, to build from them the swords. Likewise also, "he who smooths with the hammer encouraged him who strikes the anvil."
He who smooths the vessel with the hammer, this is the completion of the work. He will assist him who strikes the anvil, the one who strikes the vessel for the first time. That is to say, there are stages. There is the one who does the initial work, dealing with the raw material, and there is afterward the one who does the finishing, who is he who smooths with the hammer, the one who strikes with the hammer until he makes the finish. Here too, the one who does the finishing will urge the one who does the initial work and the one who strikes the first blow: well, have you finished already? Pass it on to me so that I can continue and build the weapons.
Another matter, he will also "say of the soldering: it is good; and he fastened it with nails that it should not totter." Because they will have such a shortage of weapons to come and fight against the Mashiach, he will be willing to take two pieces of broken swords and glue them together with temporary glue and fasten them with nails so that it should not totter, even though it is only temporary. Why? He will "say of the soldering: it is good." Because we have no time to delay. We must go to fight against the Mashiach King. So he will be willing to come and take broken pieces of weapons in order to come and join and glue them together in order to go out and fight against the Mashiach King.
And if so, says the Malbim, in this he shows us: first, how all the nations will gather at once. Secondly, you see that they will help one another. That they gathered at once, we saw in verse 5, "the islands saw and feared, the ends of the earth trembled, they drew near and came." All of them will draw near and come to fight against the people of Yisrael and the Mashiach King. Secondly, they will help one another. "Each helped his fellow, and to his brother he said: be strong." Thirdly, they will hurry and hasten in their war against the people of Yisrael, that one will encourage the other in his work to hasten to prepare the weapons in order to go out and fight against the people of Yisrael.
The Malbim notes here a distinction between "gluing" (devek) and "joining" (chibbur). When does he say that something is joined and when does he say that something is glued? The Malbim says: "gluing" (devek) refers to something that is stuck together through a deliberate act. Ah, excuse me, that is called "joining." What is done through a deliberate act is called "joining." "Gluing" (devek) is said of something that stuck together on its own. Something that incidentally stuck together on its own, the term "gluing" is used for it. Something that we went and joined deliberately is called "joining." So he says: here, even about something that stuck together incidentally on its own, he will say "it is good." That is to say, even if some weapon was formed for him even on its own, he will say: this too is good, bring this as well. This too we can use. And he fastened it with a nail and made do with this. That is, he will not initially go to create something and join it, but rather "he says of the soldering: it is good," even if he sees that something stuck together here even on its own, even this will suffice for him to go out and fight against the Mashiach King.
I want to dwell here on a point, a point that I saw as clear and simple and did not even see a need to speak about, but since it is being mentioned, I want to dwell on it. It is a very fundamental point for the entire study of Nach. When a person reads about the war of Gog and Magog and about all sorts of future wars, he says to you: what are these descriptions of arrows, horses, swords, spears? Who even fights such wars? So what is the prophet talking about at all? What is he talking about? Seemingly this is not something he is even talking about that will happen in the future. So there may be some who might even see in this something that weakens their faith. Behold, you see that the prophet spoke, he did not see what would be in the future.
One must know that the prophet speaks the things as they are understood by the people in his time. If the prophet says "atom," the people will say this prophet is truly crazy. What is he talking about? What is an atom? What is he saying, they will fight and there will be an atom? He is not speaking to us at all. This is not at all, he did not connect with the people. When the prophet speaks, he speaks of weapons known in his time. When you come and read the things, you translate this into weapons known in your time. But it is inconceivable that the prophet would say something that did not yet exist and describe it to the people as something futuristic: there will be a war, and in the war there will be A, B, C, when regarding A, B, C the people have no idea what he is talking about. He must speak in their language.
Therefore the prophet says: there will be weapons, and you translate this into the weapons of your time. So he speaks of arrows, we will speak of missiles. But do not understand that if he spoke of a particular thing, then there will be horses. In that war there will be horses. Because it is written "horse." No, our "horse" is the chariot, it is the tank. And so on, this is the way. Everything the prophet speaks, he speaks in fact allegorically, he speaks a parable. And this parable one must understand that we, for our generation, have its interpretation. Whoever wants things more explicit, let him see that it was already written some 250 years ago, let him see that it was already written that the future war will last two minutes. There are commentators in whom "twelve minutes" appears. Whoever wishes can see descriptions of a person who stands and his flesh rots upon his skin and he melts away. And there is no other description for this except an atom. And still other such things. One can see in this hints that they knew what they were talking about.
Or one will see that the prophet speaks of a "discerning arrow." As the commentators there bring, that the meaning is an arrow that flies with intelligence on its own. So what will he say to them? A missile? They do not know what a missile is. So he speaks to them of an arrow. An arrow, you know? Yes. An arrow that has the intelligence to fly on its own. Can you grasp such a thing? Yes. So today we know that there is a missile that is guided and flies independently. But in their time they called it an arrow, a discerning arrow. And so on in this manner, all sorts of things that they spoke and expressed in their language, and we need to decode and understand how it speaks to our times. But to think that since he spoke of horses then we will have a war here with horses, surely such things are inconceivable. So here too, when he describes to us the stages of preparing weapons, one must know: he comes to describe that there will be tremendous pressure to prepare weapons for war. And if he wants to tell you they will use even airplanes from the time of World War II because they had no weapons at all to use, this is the meaning of what he said, that they will take all sorts of broken swords and glue them together. They will take some engine from some such airplane and some wing from here and join and make something, the main thing being that there be something to fight with. So in his time, when the prophet wanted to express this, he expresses it as a sword joined together with nails. You will take these things and translate them to our times, but surely do not think that we will really return to fight with swords, and do not understand the words of the prophet literally.