"So says Hashem, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker: The signs, ask of Me concerning My children, and concerning the work of My hands you would command Me?" Rashi explains that "the signs" is not a question. The letter hei here is not asking in wonder, but is stating a fact. That is, if you come to ask Me, meaning the prophets wish to ask Me, then ask Me about heavenly signs and the wonders that you see occurring on earth. About these you may ask Me what they are. But about My children and the work of My hands, for whose sake I created everything, do you have complaints against Me? "Signs" here is from the language of signs, meaning signs and wonders. If you want to ask questions about the Creator of the world, come and focus on the wonders of Hashem, the wonders of creation that Hashem made. But you come and ask about My children? As if to say, why did You create the nation of Israel, and Israel angers You and rebels? And about them, "concerning the work of My hands you would command Me?" Do you give commands regarding My children? For the salvation, says Rashi, was already a thought that arose before Me. For we already saw at the beginning of the chapter that the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will rouse Koresh so that he will redeem Israel and bring them out of exile. So do you have questions about how I run My children's affairs? According to Rashi, this verse essentially returns to the beginning of the chapter, where Hashem says: I roused Koresh in righteousness to come and redeem Israel. And as we saw, he did not do his task properly; he only gave them the keys and remained in place, instead of coming and redeeming them as would truly have been fitting. The Radak explains that here He is addressing, as it were, the idolaters. You will ask Me the future events that are destined to come upon Israel, and I will tell them to you. "The signs, ask of Me concerning My children, and concerning the work of My hands you would command Me?" Is your god capable of saying anything? This is, as it were, a challenge, a claim against the nations. The nations supposedly have gods and supernatural powers. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: Behold, examine it, does your god know anything about the future? Does your god know anything that has not yet happened? By contrast, here: "So says Hashem, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker: The signs, ask of Me concerning My children, and concerning the work of My hands you would command Me." Ask Me what is destined to happen with Me and with the work of My hands, meaning with My children, and with the work of My hands. Ask what I am destined to do with them. For we have explicit prophecies about everything: what is destined to happen to Israel, how they will be redeemed, what troubles will come upon them, how many years the exile will last, on account of what the exile came, as we saw, on account of the shemittah years and so forth. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I announce it all in advance. Does your godhood have such power?
The Malbim explains that here too this verse essentially returns to the beginning of the chapter. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: I wish to redeem Israel through the power of Koresh. And there we saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, incidentally gave a lesson to the people of Persia, to Koresh and the people of Persia, who believe there are two powers in creation, good and evil. He gave them a lesson, saying to them: No, know this, everything is from Hashem, there are not two powers in creation. Now He returns and says: I return to the first matter, that I send Koresh so that Koresh will have the role of redeeming Israel. In response to this He says to them, "The signs, ask of Me." Israel ask Me about the things destined to come upon them. They ask about the exile, about the suffering they endured in Babylon. They ask Me: Why these troubles? Why do we deserve this? The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: "concerning My children, and concerning the work of My hands you would command Me?" You surely know that the one who shows the greatest mercy toward a child is the father. There is no mercy greater than a father's mercy for his son. So do you come now to a father and tell him: Why do you not have mercy on your child? To what may the matter be compared? To a person who arrives at the hospital and sees a child there with a father and mother holding him tightly, and someone threatens him with a syringe or a surgical knife. And then he says: Have you no mercy on him? Shame on you! Do you come to explain to a father and mother how to have mercy on their children? There is no one who has more mercy than a father and mother for their children. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: "The signs, ask of Me concerning My children, and concerning the work of My hands you would command Me?" Do you come to command Me regarding My children? Do you want to be more merciful than I am? As if you have a complaint about how I run My world? Could such a thing even enter the mind? The Malbim explains that "the signs" always come to express something that is approaching, something near. And the Malbim also explains elsewhere that there is a difference between a sign and a wonder. A wonder is by way of a miracle. A sign is not by way of a miracle; a sign is through nature. So concerning the things destined to happen soon, "So says Hashem, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker: The signs" refers to the things destined to happen soon with My children, all that they will go through in the exile with all the troubles and suffering. Do you come and ask Me, and do you have some grievances about why I do what I do? Could it be that a father would not have proper mercy on his son?
"I made the earth and created man upon it; I, My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their host I commanded." "I made the earth," Rashi explains, means I gave it to whomever was upright in My eyes. The Radak explains: He says, I created the earth and all their host I commanded, as King David said, "For He commanded and they were created." What do you see? That everything was by command, by speech. And the Radak says you should not think of literal speech, for the Holy One, blessed be He, has no lips. Rather, when we speak of speech, the intent is will. The world was created with ten utterances, but it need not have literally issued from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He. Rather, the very fact that Hashem willed it is already an utterance, already considered an act, as it were. So "I made the earth and created man upon it; I, My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their host," the heavens and all their host, the stars and the galaxies and all that you see, all this I commanded, meaning I made it by My will. The Malbim explains that this verse is meant to reassure those who say: perhaps Hashem will not redeem us. Perhaps the Holy One, blessed be He, will not bring us out of that exile of which He spoke earlier, when He said: I call Koresh so that Koresh will bring you out of exile. Perhaps Hashem will indeed not do so. The Malbim says: one who does not help another may do so for one of two reasons. One reason: he does not want to help him. Why should I help him? He does not help himself, so why should I help him? He has no desire to help him. There is a second reason: I want to help him but I cannot. I see his financial situation, I want to help him but I have no money. That is, there are two situations. There is a situation where I can, I simply do not want to. And there is a situation where I want to, but I simply cannot. In response to this, the Holy One, blessed be He, comes and says that you should have no doubts or uncertainties regarding Hashem's salvation. For with the Holy One, blessed be He, neither of these two problems and shortcomings exists. Regarding this the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Was it not I who made the earth?" First I completed the earth, I set it in order, I built it, I made it from foundation to rooftop. Inanimate matter, plants, animals. After I made the earth, "and created man upon it, I."
When did I create man? Only after everything was complete. The Malbim says: imagine if man had been created on the third day. Created into darkness, without luminaries. Imagine that he was without animals. What would he have eaten? Now, there is a question whether Adam ate meat or not. But in any case, everything created here in the world was in fact created for the sake of man. This shows, then, that the Holy One, blessed be He, first of all wants. Hashem wants man here in the world. One who does not want him does not create him in the best possible way. And if Hashem created in the best possible way, that means: I want man here. And "in the beginning," why was it created for the beginning? For Israel, who are called "the beginning." That is, everything created here is for the sake of Israel. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: First know that I desire the nation of Israel. This proves the will. What will you say? Well, perhaps Hashem once had power, He was still young, as it is written about the nations that they said their king is already old. Once He had power, He was still young, but what can be done, He has already grown old. Today He very much wants to, but He can no longer do it. Regarding this the Holy One, blessed be He, says: If you come and speak about the ability, behold, "My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their host I commanded." My hands stretched out the heavens, all of them My hands stretched out, and all their host I commanded, I now rule over the entire host on high. At this very moment, for in a single moment the Holy One, blessed be He, moves and changes reality. In one moment great hailstones fall from the heavens, sun stand still in Givon...
and moon in the valley of Ayalon. This is not history, it is happening today, it is happening now. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: from here you see that there is truly no situation of a lack of will here, for I desire the nation of Israel, the proof being that I created for them such a successful world, and there is no situation of a lack of ability here, for behold you see Me continuing to run creation even thousands of years after I established the world. If so, to come and be uncertain, perhaps Hashem will not redeem us due to a lack of will or ability, such a thing cannot enter the mind.
The Malbim explains that there are two expressions here: "I made the earth" and "created man upon it." We have already seen earlier that the Malbim taught that "making" refers to the completion of a thing. "And she shall do her nails," making refers to the completion of a thing. By contrast, "to create" is always something from nothing. The thing did not exist, and He created it, formed it from nothing, from chaos, something from nothing. So regarding the bringing forth of man He says "created man upon it," something from nothing. And by contrast, regarding the earth, "I made the earth," the intent is: I set in order the earth that had already been created earlier, in its most perfect state. For according to the Malbim's explanation, the proof lies in this, that I made a perfect earth and only then brought man, which shows that I desire him. I wish to provide for him in the best possible way. Therefore his precise reading of what is written, "I made the earth," when did I create man upon it? Only after I finished and made everything set in order in the best possible way, on the sixth day everything was created, that is it, creation was complete, and now I created man. So "I made" comes in fact to indicate the completion of creation, and only after I finished, "and created man upon it, I." And if so, from this you should conclude that My will is for the good of man, My will is to bestow upon man only good abundance, and if so, do not wonder and do not question whether the Holy One, blessed be He, has the will or the ability to redeem us.
"I roused him in righteousness, and all his ways I will make straight; he will build My city and send off My exiles, not for a price and not for a bribe, said Hashem of Hosts."
"I roused him in righteousness." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: and now too, as I speak with you, what is on the agenda now? Koresh. Koresh whom I now rouse to come and redeem the nation of Israel. I roused him so that he would do righteousness with the nation of Israel. And with what power? By the power of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose power, as we said, is without end and without limit. "And all his ways I will make straight." What does "all his ways I will make straight" mean? It is an expression meaning: I want the vehicle to travel from this point to that point, so I straighten the road before it. I want Koresh to succeed in carrying out the mission I designated for him, so I straighten the roads before him. When the expression here "to straighten the roads" is used, the intent is more of a poetic expression: I arrange matters so that he can accomplish the goal and reach it without problems. I clear away for him all the bureaucratic problems, all the opponents that might exist, and all the causes that might arise; this is the meaning of "all his ways I will make straight." I direct him toward the goal I desire. And another thing: I told him that he would build My city and send off My exiles. He will build Jerusalem and bring the nation of Israel out of exile toward the complete redemption. But he will do this not for a price. The Malbim explains that the phrases of the verse are parallel.
As we have explained several times, the verse contains four clauses, where the continuation of clause number one is clause three, and the continuation of clause number two is clause four. Now he explains it thus: he will build My city not for a price, and send off My exiles not for a bribe. What is the meaning? When one wants to build a building, what is the first thing needed? To pay the contractor. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: he will build My city not for a price. He will build Jerusalem and will not demand money for it. Now when one wants to redeem captives, what is needed? To pay a bribe. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: and send off My exiles not for a bribe. He will not come and demand money in exchange for releasing them. For as is known, regarding the Jews too, before the establishment of the State or in the 1950s, when they were brought from all sorts of Arab countries, a great deal of bribery had to be paid so that they would be willing to release the Jews. It was either a personal bribe to the king or the imam or whoever ruled at the time, or the bribe itself was that they emptied all their bank accounts and took everything for themselves, and through this they were willing to release the Jews, for the Jews understood that the ground was burning beneath their feet, so they simply fled and left everything behind. So there was a bribe in order to be willing to release them. And whoever knows, toward the end of the Second World War, may his name and memory be blotted out, Hitler, he was already willing, since he saw that economically the war had failed to reach a decisive victory and he saw that they needed to increase their production and needed cash, so they were willing to give up all sorts of transports of Jews in exchange for money. The Kastner affair, for those who have heard, and more. This means that in fact, in order to bring people out and redeem them, money is what accomplishes the task, as with captives, to redeem the captives. Regarding this the Holy One, blessed be He, says: and behold, My exiles he will send off, not for a bribe. He will be willing to send off the exiles of Israel not for a bribe. Why? Why does he do this? Because Hashem of Hosts said. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: because I commanded it. And since I commanded it, then consequently all the roads will be straight before him without any hindrance whatsoever.
"So says Hashem: The labor of Egypt and the trade of Kush and the Sevaim, men of stature, will pass over to you and will be yours; they will go after you, in chains they will pass over, and to you they will bow down. To you they will pray: Only in you is God, and there is none else, no other gods."
According to Rashi this verse is a continuation of what we learned earlier, that the Holy One, blessed be He, informs the people of Babylon that He will save them through Koresh. We saw that Hashem says He roused Koresh in righteousness so that Koresh would redeem the exile of Israel, those who were in Babylon. Furthermore He now informs them about the salvation that will occur in the days of Chizkiyahu, that He will save Chizkiyahu from the hand of Sancheriv. When Chizkiyahu comes to fight, when Sancheriv comes to fight here, they will inform him that his own land is under siege. So he will go to save his land from the hand of Tirhaka king of Kush, and after he defeats him and conquers Egypt, only then will he come here. Now, we explained: what is the purpose of this whole matter? So that he would come laden with silver and gold, from all that he conquered from all the lands. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not want him to come empty-handed, not honorably; a person comes to visit and arrives empty-handed. So the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged for him to have wars where he would plunder great spoil, and then come here with full hands, with all the spoil he brought with him from those places. And then he would fall at Jerusalem, and Chizkiyahu and his people would plunder all that was there. Regarding this He said: "So says Hashem: The labor of Egypt," what Egypt labored for, "and the trade of Kush and the Sevaim, men of stature," people who were men of stature, tall in build, all their trade "will pass over to you," to you, Jerusalem, everything will pass over to you. For when they come to fight Jerusalem, they will bring all this spoil with them. And not only that, but "they will go after you, in chains they will pass over." For those who are captives, how are they actually taken? In what manner? Bound in chains. "In chains they will pass over. And to you they will bow down." And since they will be in Chizkiyahu's hand, now Chizkiyahu is the ruler, so to him they will bow down. Chazal say: Chizkiyahu arose and released all the captives, and they converted and acknowledged the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you hear? Chizkiyahu released all the captives, he said: what should I do with all these gentile captives? Through this they acknowledged the Kingdom of Heaven. Through this they grew stronger in believing in Hashem, for they saw that Chizkiyahu's was a kingdom of kindness. Regarding this it says: "To you they will pray: Only in you is God, and there is none else, no other gods." As a result of this deed they became great believers, believers in the Holy One, blessed be He, and they said: "Only in you is God." The Holy One, blessed be He, is only with you, the nation of Israel. There is no god besides Him, "there is none else, no other gods." There is no god apart from Hashem, blessed be He.
The Malbim, by contrast, explains that when the redemption comes, here in fact we are already speaking of the stage after the redemption, when the redemption comes we will reach the conclusion of how much good we have, how much profit we have from the exile that we underwent. How much profit we have from the troubles, from the evils that we underwent. For now "the labor of Egypt," their wealth, "and the trade of Kush," their merchandise, and the Sevaim, the men of Seva. Seva is a nation, and they are men of stature. The Malbim says: here take note, the phrases are parallel. The phrases of the verse are parallel, as we have said several times. "The labor of Egypt and the trade of Kush will pass over to you and will be yours." They will pass over to you for trade and will be yours. That is, there will be a situation in which we will be the center of the nations, and everyone will come to trade here. And the Sevaim, meaning men of stature, "they will go after you, in chains they will pass over." The Sevaim themselves, the Sevaim as we said are a nation, yes? Seva. Seva and Savtecha and Ra'ma, all of these are nations. The Sevaim themselves will go after you to serve you. And if they pass from place to place in your land, you have nothing to fear that they might try to conquer you. For they will pass over in chains. Bound like slaves, not someone who can come and do harm to anyone. And all of these "to you they will bow down." They will see in you a master to whom they will wish to bow down. More than that, "for to you they will pray."
The Malbim asks: "to you they will pray"? Since when does a person pray to another person? We do not find such a thing, that a person prays to a person. So what is "to you they will pray"? The Malbim says: there is a place where we see prayer not to the Holy One, blessed be He. As it is written, "and they shall pray toward this place." About what is this said? The Temple. Thus Shlomo requests in his prayer. Correct? "And they shall pray toward this place." Do they pray to the place? Rather, what is the intent there? Through the place. Through the place the prayer will ascend to Hashem. The Malbim says: so too is the meaning of the verse here. "To you they will pray," they will regard you as an intermediary between them and God, until they direct their prayer to you like a person praying to God, so that through you, who are beloved to God, and consequently when I pray to you my prayer will ascend to God.
Just as there are those who, in error and confusion, attach themselves to some tzaddik and pray to him. And this is forbidden; it is literally idolatry. It is permitted for one to connect his soul to the tzaddik so that his prayer will ascend to Hashem, blessed be He. But God forbid one should think: I am praying to a certain tzaddik. Also, when a person goes to a cemetery there is a warning not to set his focus toward the dead. Even though he is not praying to the dead, and the dead person, one might say, is merely an intermediary, I pray to the dead so that through him Hashem will answer me. No. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not permit at all to pray through helpers and through all sorts of situations in which there are intermediaries between him and Hashem. Rather, the prayer must be to Hashem alone. But these gentiles did not know all this, and therefore "to you they will pray." They will pray to the nation of Israel, as we explained, as an intermediary between them and Hashem, blessed be He. And why would they do so? Because they will say: "Only in you is God." We have come to see that only in you is there God. Only with you, the nation of Israel, only you have God. "Only in you is God," Hashem rests His Shechinah only among you. And not only this, but "there is no other god besides Him. And there is none else, no other gods." For all the gods of the nations are idols, vanity, chaos, false and misleading. And then they will reach the conclusion that only the God of Israel is God, therefore they will pray through us, to us as intermediaries between them and Hashem, blessed be He. When one prays at the graves of tzaddikim one must take care; it is written in halachah that the prayer must proceed in one of two ways. One possibility is to ask the tzaddik to be an advocate for us before the Master of the Universe. That is one possibility. There is a second possibility, to ask the Holy One, blessed be He, to act in the merit of the one dwelling in the dust who is here. So in both these examples I have not addressed him directly. I addressed him that he be an advocate before the Holy One, blessed be He. I am not praying to him, but asking him to be my attorney. An advocate before Hashem, blessed be He. And we turned, or the second possibility, we turned to the Holy One, blessed be He, that He act in the merit of the tzaddik who is here. In both these examples I do not set my focus toward him, I am not praying to him God forbid, but always praying only to Hashem. And the tzaddik, as I said, is only either an advocate or, in his merit, that Hashem do kindness with us.
"Truly You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior." "Truly You are a God who hides Himself." The Malbim says: now, after the Holy One, blessed be He, redeems us, we will come to see that You are a God who hides Himself. A person who hides from his fellow sees him, but the fellow does not see the one who is hiding. Reuven hides from Shimon. Reuven, who is hiding, sees Shimon. Shimon, by contrast, does not see Reuven. This is what it says here. Truly, now we will reach the conclusion that You are a God who hides Himself.
One might mistakenly think that since Reuven hides from Shimon, then he too does not see him. But this is an error, a confusion, since Reuven can be hidden and peer out from the cracks to see Shimon. Shimon does not see, because Reuven is hidden. So the Holy One, blessed be He, is in the category of a God who hides Himself. "A God who hides Himself" means one who watches over with full providence even though we do not see Him. Even though we do not see His action in a physical, earthly manner, but it is clear to us that the Holy One, blessed be He, truly watches over. "You are the God of Israel, Savior." For behold we see Hashem's salvation upon us. How can this be, if the Holy One, blessed be He, is full of concern, seeing our trouble? If we see salvation, it means that the Holy One, blessed be He, saw the trouble. What does this prove? That the Holy One, blessed be He, is only in the category of hidden, but truly sees all that happens with us.
"And consequently they were ashamed and also disgraced, all of them; together they went in disgrace, the fashioners of idols."
And consequently all the idol worshippers were ashamed and also disgraced, all of them. All of them will have shame and disgrace. Together they went in disgrace, the fashioners of tzirim. Before we explain the difference between shame (bushah) and disgrace (kelimah), let us first see what Rashi says. Rashi says "the fashioners of tzirim" means the craftsmen of drawings. Who is ashamed? The idol worshippers. How does he refer to them? "The fashioners of tzirim." A "charash" is a craftsman. And this craftsman, the artisan, makes drawings. He would make idolatry in all sorts of drawings. Star and constellation worship, they would draw on the walls all sorts of forms of all kinds of idolatry. That is "the fashioners of tzirim." "Tzirim" from the language of drawings (tziyurim). The Radak, by contrast, explains: he too agrees that "the fashioners of tzirim" refers to the craftsmen of idols. But he explains that "tzirim" is not from the language of drawings, but rather from the language of "pangs (tzirim) and pains will seize them." What is the connection? How is idolatry called? "Atzabim." Why? Because it raises up a person's nerves (atzabim). Correct? He worships and worships and worships, it does not hear, it does not speak, it does not help, it is nothing, it does not help. Correct? That is why it is called "atzabim." "They sadden (me'atzvin) their worshippers." So the Gemara says. "They sadden their worshippers." It causes him grief. So consequently it is also called "tzirim," since the person undergoes pangs and pains, he suffers when he worships this idolatry. For he gets no response. This idolatry is always unavailable. It never, the line is always busy, the god you have called is not available now, please try again later. So consequently this thing causes him pangs and pains, causes him grief, causes him to be in sorrow. So they will see that the idols they brought with them did not save them, but rather who really saved them? Only the Holy One, blessed be He. This thing will bring them to shame.
The Malbim says: what is the difference between shame and disgrace? Well, everyone agrees that disgrace is more than shame. And therefore always take note that it always says "they were ashamed and also disgraced." The item appearing second is always more severe. For if not, it could not be that you would say: he paid a million dollars and also three shekels. You would always say it the other way: he paid three shekels and another hundred thousand shekels and another million and another... you always add, the matter always continues to increase. So here too, if it is written "they were ashamed and also disgraced," it is clear that disgrace is harsher than shame. The Malbim says: not only is it harsher, as the Radak says, the Malbim says there is also a substantive difference between shame and disgrace. Shame, says the Malbim, is what I am ashamed of within myself. Disgrace is what others disgrace me with. That is the difference between shame and disgrace. Now take note, says the Malbim, the Malbim gives an example. The Malbim says: if, for example, a person turns to some lowly person and humbles himself before him and asks him for salvation. He asks him to help him, to assist him. And in the end that person truly saved him. So what happened here? On one hand there is disgrace from others here. "Oh, to such a person you turned? To this lowly one you turned?" But is he ashamed of himself? No, because in the end I received salvation through him. I was saved. So although I turned to a person lowly in everyone's eyes, I had shame, that is called disgrace, I was disgraced by others. But of myself I was not ashamed, because I know it was worthwhile for me, in the end I received what I wanted. Now what happens if a person humbles himself before a distinguished person? Before an important, wealthy man. He humbles himself, lowers himself in order to ask him for something, to ask him for some salvation and the like. And in the end he does not receive it. Now take note of what happens. I am not disgraced by others, because I turned to a distinguished person. It is honorable to turn to him, it is not... the most distinguished people turn to him. So there is no shame or disgrace in the fact that I turned to him. So we said disgrace is from others, and by others I was not disgraced. But I personally, they closed the door in my face, right? I personally, they did not fulfill my request. So consequently I am ashamed of myself. In such a case there is shame here, but I have no disgrace from others. By contrast, when I turned to a base person and did receive, then on one hand I am not ashamed of myself, after all, they fulfilled my request. And by contrast, from others it is shame. From others, "how could you turn to such a base and lowly person?" Now the Malbim says: what happens if you both turned to a lowly person and also in the end he did not fulfill your request? Woe and alas, that is shame and disgrace.
For I am disgraced by others, how did I turn to such a one? And what will you say? Well, at least I got something out of it. But in the end he did not fulfill my request either. So consequently I am ashamed of myself as well. The Malbim says this is called shame and disgrace. And this is what is written here: "they were ashamed and also disgraced together." They will be ashamed of themselves because they did not attain what they requested. And they will also be disgraced by others: how did you go to pray, to bow down, to worship such a base image, which as we saw earlier, how it degrades the image, how the image is some thing of which a person used half to bake his bread and from the other half he carved a god. The lowest of the low, to it you turned? Now, at least if you were to say "I received, I gained, I benefited from it," then you would be less ashamed of yourself. But since you know that you received nothing from it, then there is both shame from others that you turned to a block of wood, and you are also ashamed of yourself, how did I go and do such a thing, to go bow down to a block of wood from which I received nothing. Now he says: know this, it is not a momentary shame, but rather...
they went in disgrace, together they went in disgrace, the fashioners of tzirim. It is not merely for a moment, but rather they go in this disgrace perpetually. Who? The fashioners of tzirim. "The fashioners of tzirim" are the craftsmen who make the idols. As we explained, everyone agrees on this. A third interpretation: what is "the fashioners of tzirim"? Take note. According to Rashi we said craftsmen of drawings. According to the Radak, pangs and pains, from the fact that people turn to them and they do not respond. According to the Malbim, "tzirim" is from the language of the hinge (tzir) of a door. The door turns on its hinge. Why are they called "the fashioners of tzirim"? I will read you his wording. That they would make their idols with the craft of wheels and cylinders and rungs so that they would move by themselves. Do you know how Shlomo's throne was made? The Midrash says that Shlomo's throne, whoever knows how it was built, in what form, what expression does the Midrash use? Mechanisms. Is the expression familiar to you? There was a mechanism there. You would step on the throne, on one step, it was a throne with several levels and rungs, you would step on one step and the lion would roar. How is that? A miracle? No. Mechanisms. There were very sophisticated gears there, so that the moment you stepped, through this the lion would begin to make sounds and would move. They had this wisdom, they knew it. And by the way, whoever knows, at the time we explained about David when he came to conquer Jerusalem, and then they told him he would not be able to until he subdued the blind and the lame. Do you remember the... "Whoever strikes the Yevusi, let him reach the water shaft." Whoever wishes can hear this on the recording. There too the Malbim explains along the same line, that they had, they operated, they had idolatries that they operated with hydraulic power. With the power of water they operated those idolatries. Through the water flowing, it would create an action and movement of wheels, and then the idol would move. People would see this, they would... "Oh, look, the spirit has entered it." Yes, they do not know that it is a spirit of folly. The water entered it, they do not know that it is... they think, look, this god has movement, it makes sounds. For it is written about Pharaoh Nechoh that he did not know the secret code of the throne; he stepped in the wrong place and the lion struck him. It made him lame (nacheh). Yes, and as a result he was called Pharaoh Nechoh. And as a result Achashverosh wanted to build himself a different throne. What is called "Shlomo's throne for the poor." Not the same... it was something Chinese-like. So he went and made this and made himself a throne, only afterward he could not move it and therefore had to relocate the royal city. Whoever wishes can hear on the recording about Megillat Esther, where we describe the whole matter of the throne. In any case, the Malbim says, this is what is called "the fashioners of tzirim." They were experts in building the hinges and wheels, how to make the idol turn on its hinge. With all sorts of internal hinges and wheels, mechanisms, through which the work, the idol, would appear to speak, to act, to move. And therefore he called them "the fashioners of tzirim." They will be ashamed of all this technique that you made, he will be both ashamed and disgraced. By contrast...
"Israel is saved by Hashem with an everlasting salvation; you shall not be ashamed and shall not be disgraced forever and ever." Here too the Malbim says the phrases of the verse are parallel. "Israel is saved," and consequently "you shall not be ashamed." For what did we explain, from where does shame stem? Behold, I am ashamed of myself because I did not receive. In the end I got nothing out of it. I prayed and turned to an idol and it did not fulfill my request. We said this is shame in and of itself. The nation of Israel will not be ashamed, for Israel is saved. Another thing: it is by Hashem. And since it is by Hashem, to whom did we turn? To the most important figure that exists. That is the Holy One, blessed be He. He has no form, yes, but the intent is the most important reality that exists in the world, which is the Holy One, blessed be He. So not merely saved, but by the most honored one, by Hashem. We prayed to the most distinguished one. So even if I had not been saved, I would have had no disgrace. For to whom did I turn? I turned to the most distinguished one. So "Israel is saved," therefore they will not be ashamed. "By Hashem," and consequently also "you shall not be disgraced." And not only that, but "you shall not be disgraced forever and ever." "Forever and ever," in contrast to what we saw in the previous verse, "together they went in disgrace," their disgrace will be perpetual. With us the "you shall not be disgraced" and "you shall not be ashamed" will be forever and ever. The meaning is: perpetually the Holy One, blessed be He, answers the nation of Israel in their trouble, saves them, there will be no shame and disgrace forever and ever.