“Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Hashem, awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Are you not the one that cut down Rahav, that pierced the serpent?” The Malbim explains that here he describes, so to speak, a debate between Knesset Yisrael and the Holy One, blessed be He, between the people of Israel and Hashem. Israel says to the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, why do You delay our salvation? Why do You not send us the redemption, the deliverance? Look at the days of old, when our fathers were in Egypt, You performed miracles and wonders for them, even though they were not worthy. So too now, perform miracles and wonders for us even though we are not worthy. Who made this very argument? Gideon. Gideon argued exactly this. It is written that the angel saw him beating out wheat to hide it from the Philistines, and then the angel appeared to him. Gideon said to the angel: Where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? Last night my father read me the Hallel for Pesach and taught me how the Holy One, blessed be He, saved our fathers, and if you say we have no merit, then they too had no merit. So Gideon said to the angel. Similar to this is the argument of the people of Israel: Master of the Universe, if You wait for our merit, who knows when we will be worthy. Is merit required? Behold, Israel was redeemed from Egypt without merit too. So redeem us as well even when we have no merit.
By the way, what is the simple answer to this question? When a small child begins to walk, you give him a hand so he will not fall. But if a twenty year old still needs someone to give him a hand, that is very, very worrying, right? He already needs a doctor to see what is going on with him, an orthopedist, to see what the story is, why he needs a hand. Israel at the Exodus was in swaddling clothes. It was in its infancy. So it needed a hand. Forty years in the wilderness, the manna, the clouds of glory, everything that accompanied us all along the way, because we were still forming, we needed a hand. When we entered the Land of Israel, then suddenly a person rises and begins to walk, and he must already walk on his own. If so, the whole argument of “do for us as You did for our fathers” is not relevant to us. Your fathers were at the beginning of the road, they required massive divine influence in order to succeed in standing on their feet. But afterward you already need your own merits.
In any case, that is the people's argument toward the Holy One, blessed be He. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: you are different from the earlier generations, and therefore you are not like them, and therefore you have not merited salvation. Now let us see how these matters are expressed in the verses. Israel says, “Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Hashem.” Who is it that will act? The arm of Hashem. We want You to awaken, awake, awake. Do not wait for our awakening, but let the arm of Hashem awaken to redeem us. The Malbim says: note, it does not say “let the hand of Hashem awaken,” it says “let the arm of Hashem awaken.” What is the difference between a hand and an arm? The Malbim explains that the arm is the upper joint of the limb, and it is what moves the whole hand. That is the arm, the arm is the upper part and it moves the hand. Therefore the Malbim says, whenever we speak of an arm, we are speaking of the first cause that does not depend on the recipients. It does not depend on the people below, but on the will of Hashem. It sets everything in motion. So when we make our request, we are asking for the power that acts without the merit of those below, without the merit of Israel. The arm of Hashem. Not the hand, for the hand acts and needs, the hand is a lower action that already requires the deeds of people here below, whether they have merits or not. No, awaken the arm of Hashem, for the arm of Hashem is the higher part that acts independently without regard to whether we have merit or not. And even though we are not worthy, “awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago.” Just as in the days of old, the generations of long ago, the arm of Hashem awakened without our being worthy, even when He said to them, “Draw out and take for yourselves lambs” to bring the Pesach, our Sages say what does “draw out” mean? Draw your hands away from idolatry. That is, they were on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt and still had to be told to draw their hands away from idolatry. So did we have merits? Certainly not. Yet the Holy One, blessed be He, redeemed us by His will. So too now, by the will of the Emanator, He will redeem Israel even though we are not worthy. “Awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago” - “the generations of long ago” means as Israel was in the Land of Israel by virtue of the awakening from Hashem, when we entered the Land through the power of the wars that Yehoshua waged, which were miraculous wars. And if you say, why would Hashem lead in such a way? Israel answers, “Are you not the one that cut down Rahav?” Who is Rahav? Egypt. “You are the one that cut down Rahav” - You, Master of the Universe, hewed Israel out of Egypt, which is called Rahav, even though they had no merits. “That pierced the serpent” - who is the serpent? Pharaoh. The serpent is always a description of Pharaoh, “the great serpent that lies within his rivers.” So You, Master of the Universe, pierced the serpent, You struck this serpent and brought Israel out of Egypt, and then we had no merits. So if so, why not “awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Hashem” against the enemies we have now, and redeem us with an everlasting redemption?
“Are you not the one that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to pass through?” Are you not the one that dried up the sea, the waters of the deep - Master of the Universe, You also split the sea for us, and then too we had no merits. And not only did we have no merits, but what passed with us through the Sea of Reeds? Michah's idol. It passed through the sea of distress. That is, we were so bad that Michah's idol passed with us through the Sea of Reeds, and yet You, Master of the Universe, redeemed us. In any case You did not settle accounts with us, You did kindness with us through the power of the arm, as we explained. “That made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to pass through.” What is “that made the depths of the sea”? You already said “that dried up the sea, the waters of the deep,” you already spoke about Hashem drying up the sea. That is the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. Why the repetition of the matter in different words? We explained that for the Malbim there is no such thing. The Malbim says: if you look at my commentaries on Scripture, I explained that there were two miracles in the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. There was one miracle in which the Holy One, blessed be He, split the sea and the children of Israel passed through on dry land. But whoever considers it will see, try for a moment to think, if now they were to dry the sea for us, a path, would it be easy to walk there? Certainly not. A dried path, would it be easy? Certainly it would not be easy to walk, because the sea is not smooth terrain, it is not asphalt. There are ascents, there are descents, there are rocks, there are... walking there would be very difficult. What had to be done so that Israel could also walk within the sea? The place had to be made flat and fit for passage. The Malbim says: that is what is written here. “Are you not the one that dried up the sea” - the arm of the Holy One, blessed be He, is the one that dried and parched the sea, “that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep.” “And that made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to pass through.” This place that was dried also had to be made into a road, paved, so that the redeemed could pass through, so that they would not fall, not stumble, not be tripped up.
“And the ransomed of Hashem shall return and come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, gladness and joy shall overtake them, and sorrow and sighing shall flee.” What is this verse? Rashi explains that it is a prayer. As if here he stands and prays and says, Master of the Universe, that the ransomed of Hashem shall return. The Malbim, by contrast, says that it is a continuation of the previous request. We turn to Hashem and say, “Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Hashem,” and we continue and say, even though we are not worthy, even though our redemption will not come through our deeds, nevertheless “the ransomed of Hashem shall return and come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads,” by the kindness of Hashem. That the Holy One, blessed be He, will redeem us in His kindness, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring us out of the exile by the power of His arm even though we are not worthy.
“I, I am He who comforts you.” Who comforts you. “Who are you that you should fear a mortal man who dies, and a son of man who is made like grass?” “I, I am He who comforts you.” First of all, the Radak here notes a difficulty. It is written “I, I am He who comforts you,” in the plural. Afterward it says “who are you that you should fear,” in the feminine. In the next verse, “and you have forgotten Hashem your Maker,” suddenly he addresses in the masculine. What is this, how are all these shifts here? Plural, feminine, masculine? The Radak says: yes, it is the manner of Scripture. When it speaks in the plural, it addresses the individuals. I am speaking about each and every one here, so I speak in the plural. When it speaks in the singular, it addresses the collective. That is, I say Israel went out of Egypt, I am speaking about the collective of Israel. So I will speak in the singular, because I am addressing the collective of Israel as one. And when it speaks in the feminine, it addresses the assembly, their gathering, what is called Knesset Yisrael. Not Givat Ram; Knesset Yisrael speaks of the collective of Israel, and therefore it is called Knesset Yisrael, from the language of the gathering of Israel, and then it speaks in the feminine.
The Holy One, blessed be He, answers them, says the Malbim: Israel came and made an argument. And Israel's argument was, Master of the Universe, why will You not perform miracles for us as You did for our fathers in Egypt? The Malbim says the Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: you say “awake, arm of Hashem,” as if a change has occurred in Me. Once I redeemed even without merits, and today I demand only merits. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: it is not so. I have not changed at all. “I, I am He.” Who I was then, I am now as well. The One who said “I am Hashem your God,” that same “I” is here now. In Me no change has occurred. “I, I am He who comforts you,” now too as of old. So where is the problem? The problem is that you have changed. A change has occurred in you. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I ask, who are you? Ah, the people that went out of Egypt? I do not recognize you. You do not look the same at all. You know the story about the one who... there was someone whose financial situation was very hard, he prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed, until in heaven they were tired of hearing his prayers. The angels said, Master of the Universe, come on now, give this man some lottery win already. He constantly prays to win the lottery, to win the lottery. Yes. Yaakov Cohen is his name. Fine. This man was granted a lottery win, became a multi-billionaire. The man bought a car, bought an apartment, bought... in short, everything. But he looks at himself in the mirror and says, listen, you do not look like a millionaire at all, you look like the pauper from before... he decided he must also have facial surgery. He went to a plastic surgeon, had facial surgery, came out a model. He leaves the hospital, somehow crosses the road, a car comes, runs him over, and he arrives in heaven. Master of the Universe, You gave me so much, now I am just beginning to enjoy it, and suddenly You took me? The angels look at him, wait, who is this? Yaakov Cohen? We did not recognize you. Sorry. It was a mistake. We did not recognize you, yes. A case of mistaken identity.
So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: who are you? Who are you? Ah, it is you speaking, Knesset Yisrael? I did not recognize you. Who are you? Who are you? You are not the people that existed in the days of old. You are not the people that went out of Egypt. They, they did not fear an arm of flesh, they did not fear the nations, they trusted in My salvation. “Who are you that you should fear a mortal man who dies?” Who are you that you should fear some flesh and blood mortal who is destined for worms, who is destined to die? The Malbim says, as we explained earlier, “enosh” (mortal) always expresses smallness. “Ish,” “enosh” comes to express a small person. Small, we explained, not in physical size, but meaning that he is despised, weak in strength, small. The Malbim says there is a difference between “adam” (man) and the phrase “ben adam” (son of man). Yes? There is a difference between saying “adam” and saying “ben adam.” What is the difference? “Ben adam,” says the Malbim, with the word “ben” added before it, comes to indicate that he was born of man. He is a son of a man. What does this come to say? When we want to say about someone that he has a flaw, and what is the flaw? The very fact that he is born of woman. Born of woman, we see this appear many times as an expression of a flaw. An angel is not born of woman. It does not have this flaw. One born of woman has a flaw, you were born from something physical, from something material, born of woman. And we always see this expression “ben adam” when one wishes, for example, to characterize the superiority of the angels over man, a creature of matter. Or, for example, when one addresses Yechezkel, how is he called? Ben adam. What do they wish to say by this? You were born, formed from man, an inferiority. Here he says, of whom are you afraid? Of “a mortal man who dies.” “Enosh” as we explained is a man expressing smallness, for he is destined to die. This is from the side that he is “enosh,” this is from the side that he is a man. But from the side that he is also “ben adam,” born of flesh and blood, that is, here there is also the outcome, what will happen to him in the end? He will die. And here there is also the beginning, where does he come from? Out of what does he come? He comes from man. Whoever comes from man is prone to illness, to pain, to suffering, to torments, this is even before he dies. That is, we see that in the very fact that man is in a body and is a product of man, he has two minuses. One minus, he is bound to a life of suffering, bound to a life in which he can suffer illnesses and troubles and torments. And also in the end he is still destined to die. In the end he is destined to come to an end. And so he says, of this you are afraid? Who are you? Is it you, Knesset Yisrael? Is it you, the people of Israel that I brought out of Egypt? That you should fear a mortal who is nothing but small, who is destined to die? “And a son of man” - one who comes from the root of the formation of man, who is destined to be “made like grass” - “made like grass,” says the Malbim, means “grass” is always an expression of something extremely weak. “The crackling of fire, grass burning.” So he becomes grass, meaning easily; you see a person break down, he ate something bad, he lies down for three days. See how prone to illness a person is; a bit of bad weather comes out, he sneezes, suddenly he is all runny, feverish, lying in bed, strep throat. “Man is made like grass,” he is like grass. Since he is a product of man, then his illness and pains and weakness of constitution are part of his existence. So of this you are afraid?
“And you have forgotten Hashem your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, and you dread continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, as though he were ready to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor?” The Malbim says: come and see that you have changed. “And you have forgotten Hashem your Maker.” If you had not forgotten Hashem your Maker, how is it that you reached a state where you fear a mortal man who dies and a son of man who is made like grass? Why do you fear? Because you have forgotten your Maker. Hashem who is your Maker, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundations of the earth. The One who planted the heavens and founded the earth surely has the power to save. And here you have forgotten Him, and therefore you worry and fear someone who is flesh and blood. And not only that, but the Holy One, blessed be He, says, you also have a constant fear. “And you dread continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, as though he were ready to destroy.” What is “the fury of the oppressor”? The Malbim says there is a difference between “af” (anger), “ketzef” (wrath), “evrah” (rage), and “chemah” (fury). We will not explain them all now, but “chemah” is essentially different from them. In what is the difference? That “chemah” is the anger of the heart. By contrast, “af,” “ketzef,” “evrah,” these are already external angers that have received outward expression. For example “af” (nose), “his nose reddened,” “smoke rose in his nose,” this is always an expression of external wrath. And likewise “ketzef,” “evrah,” one has froth on his lips when a person is angry. So these are always expressions of more external anger. So he says, if you were afraid of something that has already come into actuality, that is “ketzef,” it is “evrah,” it is “af,” like when you see the enemy here, and his threats have already taken on a real dimension, well, I can still understand. But with you it was not so. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, “and you dread continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor.” And “chemah” as we explained is internal. That is, of what are you already afraid? Even though the oppressor has not yet revealed his fury, it is inside, you are afraid as if what? As if “he were ready to destroy.” The “kaf” here is a “kaf” of comparison. “Ka'asher,” as if he were ready to destroy. It is as if he already came to destroy, you are afraid of him as if he is already here. This shows a lack of fear of Hashem, this shows a lack of trust in Hashem. Even though the oppressor has not yet begun to harm you, you already live with a feeling “as though he were ready to destroy,” as if he had already destroyed completely. And you should have thought, “and where is the fury of the oppressor?” Where is the fury of the oppressor? What do I see of the fury of the oppressor? No, it is still deep within him. So why are you so worried and afraid? The matter is still far from coming into actuality. And if it is far from coming into actuality, why are you afraid today? This is how we explained in the past what is written, that the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Moshe, “Speak to the children of Israel, why do you cry out to Me, speak to the children of Israel that they journey on.” What, what is the Holy One, blessed be He, actually saying? Why do you cry out to Me? When a person is in trouble, in distress, he cries out to Hashem. What is “why do you cry out to Me”? There are many explanations offered on this. But one of the explanations given is this: why do you cry out to Me? The enemy has not yet reached you. The enemy is still far away. And if so, why do you cry out to Me? There is still room for salvation. That is, a person must know, when the trouble has not yet come and you are worried, you are anxious, that is a lack of trust in Hashem. When the trouble comes, well, then I understand. But when the trouble has not yet come, that shows a lack of trust. That is what He says, why do you cry out to Me? The enemy is not yet here. So speak to the children of Israel that they journey on, there is still much time for salvation. So too here, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, “and where is the fury of the oppressor?” What should you have thought? Wait, where is the fury of the oppressor? I am afraid because they told me he is planning. Over the fact that they told me he is planning, over the fury within his heart, you are already afraid from now?
Something I can point to. And this is what he says, the cause of dread is essentially the perceiver, and the cause of fear is essentially the perceived object. Fear (yirah) is essentially the perceived object, here you see this thing, the very object that I am afraid of. By contrast, dread (pachad) is essentially the perceiver, it is the person himself, the perceiver himself, he himself has an internal dread. He says here, note that it is written here, “and you have forgotten Hashem your Maker who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, and you dread continually all the day.” At first he said “who are you that you should fear a mortal man who dies.” “Fear” (tir'i) as we said is something that instills fear, and by the way, it could be, now that I think about it, it could be connected, fear (yirah) is connected to something that you see (ro'eh).
For according to what we explained, fear is connected to the object that frightens. There is a roaring lion here, that instills fear, that is not dread. Dread is what happens inside me without connection to anything happening outside here. What happens outside here is called fear. Why fear (yirah)? Because it is from the language of something that you see (ro'eh), I see the thing and it causes me fear. By contrast dread, that is something inside me, I see nothing; there are people who go about with dreads, they need a psychologist, sometimes in harder cases they need a psychiatrist. He has some dreads, feelings of persecution, I do not know, he has... sometimes it is terrible and dreadful, it is very hard to free these people because you cannot show him, here you see there is nothing here, you do not need to be afraid of it. He has a dread, something internal that is not connected to any particular thing that one can point to.
If it is something one can point to, that is fear. But if it is something one cannot point to, something internal, then it is “and you dread.” So, note, at first he said “that you should fear a mortal man who dies and a son of man who is made like grass.” There was some room for fear. But here he speaks to me, “and you dread continually” of what? The fury of the oppressor. The anger of the oppressor that is still inside. So is there a cause to fear? There is not. So how can I define this? It is only dread. It is only dread because there is no external thing here that threatens, it is something that is within his heart. So of what, of what then are you worried? You do not fear, rather you dread. If he had come here and stood here with a drawn sword, I would say I fear him. But that is not the case, for we are speaking of the fury of the oppressor, and he is only “as though ready to destroy,” he only has plans to destroy but he is not yet here. And if so, this fear cannot be defined as anything but dread.
And dread as we said is what happens inside him, and since this is so, this dread is entirely unfitting, and in this you have abandoned the way of your fathers. So who are you? This is not the people of Israel, that ancient people; rather you have changed, and if so you are not worthy of protection. “The cowering captive shall speedily be freed, and he shall not die in the pit, nor shall his bread be lacking.” The cowering captive shall speedily be freed. Do not worry, do not worry about the fury of the oppressor. Now, the cowering captive shall speedily be freed. Israel who are in exile shall be freed from their house of exile. “Tzoeh” (cowering/wandering), the Radak explains, means someone who moves from place to place. There is a person who moves in the wandering of captivity, in the wandering of exile, exiled from his place, yes, that is “tzoeh.”
The cowering wanderer, one who is exiled and wanders from place to place, shall be freed. “And he shall not die in the pit, nor shall his bread be lacking.” The meaning is that those who come from exile shall not die. “Nor shall his bread be lacking” - even while he is still in exile, even though he is a captive, the Holy One, blessed be He, provides for him among the enemies, gives him his bread as fitting. And also on the way that He brings them out, there too they shall not hunger or thirst. Rashi explains, “the cowering captive shall speedily be freed,” this refers back to the gentiles. Even if he is severely constipated and needs to be relieved through the movement of the bowels. If a person suffers from constipation, it is written in halachah that he should walk. By walking he causes the acceleration of the bowel function, and through this “the cowering shall speedily be freed.” His bowels can be opened. By the way, this is the same advice given to a woman in labor. A woman in labor whose labor has not yet progressed is advised to walk. She is told to walk, and through walking the muscles relax and through this the labor progresses further.
So “the cowering shall speedily be freed.” What is “tzoeh”? Rashi explains “tzoeh” is something that is emptied from place to place. That is “tzoeh.” As it is written, “And I will send to him decanters who will decant him,” yes, “and they shall empty his vessels.” So the enemy, do not worry, even his bowels are hard for him. He needs to be relieved by the movement of the bowels so that he will not die in the pit. And since he hurries to be relieved, he needs much food, for if his food is lacking he will die. And this is the continuation, “nor shall his bread be lacking.” So of whom are you afraid? Of such a man? A man whom a little constipation can cause a problem, and afterward he needs a little food, for if he does not have this little food he will die of hunger. “Who are you that you should fear a mortal man who dies and a son of man who is made like grass?” Is that a person? Of this you are afraid? See how sensitive a man is to everything that passes over him. How temporary a man is, and one need not worry about him, need not dread him.
Another explanation Rashi gives is that the “tzoeh” is the oppressing enemy, now you see him girded with strength, you see him girded at the waist with all his weapons. He tells you he will very quickly become weak. “The cowering shall speedily be freed.” The meaning is that the belt he put on himself in order to go out to fight will be loosened. “Tzoeh” is like “girded,” as it is written “girded in the abundance of his strength.” And “be freed” (yiptach) is as we say, “Let not one who girds boast like one who loosens.” “Loosens” means when they finished the battle he opens his belt, loosens the belt on which he hangs his weapons. So the fact that he is “tzoeh,” now girding his weapons, shall speedily be freed. Very quickly they will remove this from upon him. So who are you that you should fear a mortal man who dies? Why do you worry about these gentiles who threaten you?
The Malbim explains, “the cowering shall speedily be freed,” there is, so to speak, a pent-up fury in the belly of the enemy, a raging fury within him to come, so to speak, to take revenge on Israel, to take vengeance on Israel. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, even before he dies, even before the enemy dies in the pit, or even before his bread is lacking, already then “the cowering shall speedily be freed.” He hastens to release the fury within him. But the Holy One, blessed be He, says of them, about this, even if he hastens, you still have nothing to worry about. For “I am Hashem your God, who stirs up the sea so its waves roar; Hashem of Hosts is His name.” Even if he hastens to take vengeance on you, even before the enemy is struck, even before he dies in the pit, even before his bread is lacking, he very quickly has plans for how to solve the Jewish problem. Of what do you have to be afraid? Of what do you have to worry? For “I am Hashem your God,” I am the one who stirs the sea, even when its waves roar. Even when there are enormous and mighty waves, who calms the sea? Who calms the sea? The Holy One, blessed be He.
And if you worry about them, if the One who can make the raging sea, which anyone who sees is gripped by dread and trembling, if I can bring it to stillness, then shall I not still the tumult of frail mortals and their wrath? Do you worry that I cannot silence man? For as we explained, what is there in man? What power does he have? The Holy One, blessed be He, says, do not worry about the enemy, since I can calm and settle that raging sea that comes, so to speak, to take vengeance on you; I can give you rest from it.
The Radak explains, “who stirs up the sea,” the Radak explains according to Targum Yonatan that the meaning is “roga” like “go'er” (rebukes). According to what we now explained in the Malbim, the meaning is “calms.” Hashem calms the raging sea. According to the Radak, Hashem rebukes the raging sea. “Roga” like “go'er,” like the interchanging verbs, “keves” and “kesev” (lamb), “simlah” and “salmah” (garment), and so on in this manner, “kahal” and “lahak” (assembly), yes. So here too, I, Hashem, rebuke the sea. The sea whose waves roar I rebuke in order to quiet it. Another explanation of “roga hayam,” the Radak offers an additional explanation, and so too Rashi explains, like “boke'a hayam” (splits the sea). “My skin splits (raga) and dissolves.” Iyov laments that his skin was so damaged by the boils that it split, and dissolves from the pus that comes out of it. So this is what is written here, “roga hayam” means “boke'a hayam,” splits the sea so its waves roar. When Israel needed to pass through the sea, Hashem split the sea and through this the people passed through it. So “roga” is either from the language of calming, or the language of rebuke, or the language of splitting. I was able to split the sea before Israel; shall I not be able to do so to the enemies who rise against you?
“And I have put My words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of My hand, to plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and to say to Zion, you are My people.” “And I have put My words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of My hand.” Why? “To plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth.” Rashi first brings Targum Yonatan: “to establish the people of whom it was said that they will multiply like the stars of heaven.” “To plant the heavens” - to establish Israel of whom it was said that they will grow like the stars of heaven. “And lay the foundations of the earth” - “and to perfect the assembly of whom it was said that they will multiply like the dust of the earth.” And to perfect Knesset Yisrael of whom it was said that they will multiply, grow like the dust of the earth. So “to plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth” refers back to Israel, that they will increase and grow mighty.
The Malbim says, “and I have put My words in your mouth,” the Holy One, blessed be He, says, why do you worry? I have placed My promise in your mouth. What I promised to save you, I promised to bring you out of exile; the Holy One, blessed be He, says you have nothing to worry about, for the salvation will come. And also in the meantime you need not worry, because “in the shadow of My hand I have covered you.” The “I have covered you” is a temporary covering, until I redeem you. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, I save you so that you will not be destroyed, in order that I can fulfill the promise, for the promise is ultimately to redeem you. What are the words that I placed in your mouth? “To plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth and to say to Zion.” Even if it were imagined that this exile would be a hard exile, like the creation of heaven and earth, which as it were is a hard and immense labor, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, I have placed My words in your mouth, there is here a promise of Mine that I promised you, this too I will do. I will plant new heavens and a new earth and say to Zion, you are My people. As it were, will the statutes of heaven and earth, the ways of nature, will they, so to speak, prevent Me from doing this? The Holy One, blessed be He, says, I will change nature and change the statutes of heaven and do what I promised. This is, as it were, what is said here, “I have put My words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of My hand,” even if I need to plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth for this purpose. I will plant heavens and found earth, as long as I fulfill what I promised you. What is the promise? “To say to Zion, you are My people.” That I promised you that you, Israel, will return to Zion and you will be My people.
“Rouse yourself, rouse yourself, arise, Jerusalem, you who drank from the hand of Hashem the cup of His fury, the goblet of the cup of staggering you drank and drained.” Rouse yourself, rouse yourself. We saw that Israel came and said to the Holy One, blessed be He, Master of the Universe, rouse Yourself to redeem us. And if You say we have no merits, in the past too there were no merits and You redeemed us from the exile of Egypt, You redeemed us from the exile of Babylon. So rouse Yourself, this is what we requested. “Awake, awake, put on strength,” that Hashem should put on the strength of His arm. The Holy One, blessed be He, answers us in the same coin. You say to Me “awake, awake,” I say to you “rouse yourself, rouse yourself, arise, Jerusalem.” The matter depends on you. “You who drank from the hand of Hashem the cup of His fury, the goblet of the cup of staggering.”
The Malbim says, Israel drank from the hand of Hashem two cups. Two very bitter cups. One cup, the cup of fury. Hashem was angry with us, Hashem hid His face from us out of being in fury with us. Note, this cup we did not drink to the end. Hashem did not pour out all His fury. He did not bring the fury to completion. Rather the Holy One, blessed be He, even at the time we are in exile, Hashem watches from the windows and peers through the lattices. That is, the fury, whose meaning is that Hashem would ignore us, hide His face from us, this we did not drink to the end. The Holy One, blessed be He, still watches over us. The Holy One, blessed be He, still ensures that Israel is not destroyed. But another cup, besides the cup of His fury, there is “the goblet of the cup of staggering.” The goblet of the cup of staggering is the punishment that the Holy One, blessed be He, actually brought upon us. Murders, holocausts, forced conversions, inquisitions. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, “you who drank from the hand of Hashem the cup of His fury,” the first cup we mentioned, that the Holy One, blessed be He, hides His face from us, this you drank from the hand of Hashem, this is from the hand of Hashem Himself. But note, it is not written that we finished the cup. It is not written that we completed this cup. Because the Holy One, blessed be He, still watches over us. But note, by contrast, the second cup, which is “the goblet of the cup of staggering,” this you drank; it is not written “from the hand of Hashem,” because this is from the enemies, what they strike us with, this you drank, you drank all of it. And not just “drank,” but “you drank and drained.” To drain to the last drop, to drain also what remained.
What is “the goblet of the cup of staggering”? The Malbim explains, “kova'at” (goblet/dregs) means the dregs that are at the bottom of the cup. That is called “kova'at,” and so too Rashi explains. That these are the dregs at the bottom of the cup. One explanation he gives is that “kova'at” means a kind of vessel. By contrast, the explanation he inclines toward more is that it is the dregs. Those at the bottom, for here it is written “the goblet of the cup of staggering you drank and drained.” And regarding the dregs it is said in Tehillim 75, “its dregs they will drain.” That is, to drain something, to drain is to squeeze it to the end, to suck it out, as it were, to the end; this refers more to the dregs, that the dregs are the sediments at the bottom of the wine which one must, as it were, squeeze out. What is “tar'elah” (staggering)? “Tar'elah,” Rashi says, is a drink that dulls and drains a person's strength, as though bound and tied and wrapped. “Tar'elah” is from the language of binding. Like “the cypresses were bound (hor'alu).” The women go out, the provinces go out veiled (re'ulot). “Re'ulot” is a veil (re'alah) that is placed on the face, this is a language of wrapping. And “tar'elah,” according to what the Metzudat Tziyon explains, is a wonderful fit, for “tar'elah” is like “ta'arlah.” “Tar'elah” is from the language of “arel” (uncircumcised/blocked), from the interchanging verbs, “keves” and “kesev” as we said. And then it turns out that this is exactly the definition of “arel.” What is the meaning of “arel”? What is “their heart is arel”? Their heart is blocked, their heart is covered. Why is the foreskin (orlah) called orlah? Because it blocks the head of the organ. It is called orlah from the language of blocking. So “the goblet of the cup of staggering” means the wrapped cup, the cup by which, as it were, you drank the drink that dulls, meaning it blocks and drains a person's strength, as though wrapped, as though bound, “you drank and drained.” This you already drank to the very last drop.
The Radak explains that “tar'elah” is from the language of trembling. “The goblet of the cup of staggering” means that whoever drinks that poisonous cup thereby comes to trembling. What we see in any case is that the expression of “raal” as a drink, as a killing poison, does not appear here at all. This is not an expression in the Holy Tongue. The expression “ra'alim” (poisons), which we know from modern renewed Hebrew, no one explains that “raal” is from a language that has such an expression “raal” in our sources. “Raal” as a poisonous thing, a deadly poison. That is always called “sam hamavet” (the drug of death) in the language of our Sages, it is not called “raal.” Where did they get the word “raal” from? From “the cup of tar'elah.” But as we explained, “the cup of tar'elah” is a language of blocking. And it is either a language of trembling, but not a language of deadly poison.
“There is none to guide her among all the sons she bore, and none to take hold of her hand among all the sons she raised.” After he describes Israel as drunk, from having drunk not only one cup but two cups, the cup of His fury and the cup of staggering, which we explained: the cup of His fury is that Hashem abandoned us, hid His face from us; the cup of staggering is the punishment and torments that the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed upon us in His fury. Following this, “there is none to guide her.” A drunk who drinks two such fine cups, as he said, “you drank and drained,” after much drinking, what happens? What does he need? Someone to guide him home. If you drink you do not drive, right? You need someone, some driver, to take you home. You need someone to escort you, you need an escort. But here, after you drank and drained, “there is none to guide her among all the sons she bore.” There is no son to come and escort her home. There is no one to guide her after she fell in her drunkenness. So the older son is supposed to hold him up so he will not fall, the younger son is supposed to guide him to his home. But by contrast she is in her drunkenness, there is none to guide her, none to guide her to her home among all the sons she bore, who are the younger sons. “And none to take hold of her hand” to raise her from her fall “among all the sons she raised,” who are the older sons, who are supposed to hold up the drunk so he will not stumble, so he will not fall. And why? Because “two things have befallen you; who will grieve for you? The desolation and the destruction and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you?”
“Two things have befallen you.” The events that overtook you were doubled, and this caused there to be no one to grieve for you. What is the meaning of this? At first what came upon them? The desolation and the destruction. The desolation and the destruction, the Malbim says, there is a doubling here. This comes to say that the desolation comes from outside, the robber comes to plunder our wealth, that is from outside, and after this comes the destruction inward. And then it turns out that the trouble is from within and from without. After this, the famine and the sword. Here too there is a doubling. And both come from within and from without. As it is written in Yirmeyahu 14, “If I go out to the field, behold those slain by the sword, and if I enter the city, behold the sicknesses of famine.” That is, from within and from without I have nowhere to flee. In the field they pursue me and in the house they pursue me. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says, with whom shall I comfort you? What is “with whom shall I comfort you”? To whom else did a breaking of this kind happen that I could say to you, be comforted, others too experienced it. Be comforted, others too went through such a thing. And this is an interesting matter, that all the commentators here explain that comfort always means giving an example of another person to whom it also happened. Do you hear the definition of comfort? What is comfort? By what does a person find comfort? It is a bit astonishing, for seemingly a person finds comfort in the fact that another has trouble. But that is human nature. If something terrible happens to a person, they tell him, no, no, it is not so terrible, do not worry, there are many others; in your story there are many people. A person collapsed financially, they tell him, do not worry, you know there are another two hundred thousand who now collapsed in your same collapse? Ah, this comforts him, that is it, he calms down. We see from here that this is the expression of comfort. What is comfort? Always to tell a person, your trouble is not the trouble of an individual, there are others who had it this way. By the way, we see that the great ones of Israel did this. When they went to comfort people, Rabbi Yochanan would say, “this is the bone of my tenth son.” He comes to comfort, seemingly one son died, and yet he says to him that he did not lose ten. Ah, you know what, then what happened to me is nothing compared to what happened to him. The reality is that it is human nature to find comfort in the troubles of others.
So this is what he says, how shall I comfort you? Rashi says, whom shall I bring to you as your comforter and say that a certain nation was stricken like you? What do you complain about? Behold, others too were stricken like you. I have no one with whom to comfort you. The Malbim explains, note that it is written here “two things have befallen you,” as we explained that we drank the two cups, and we explained that there is here desolation and destruction, famine and sword, and every trouble is doubled. And he says, “who will grieve for you, how shall I comfort you.” What is the difference between “to grieve” (nud) and “to comfort” (nacham)? We saw with Iyov's companions, why did they come? To grieve for him. What is the difference between “to grieve” and “to comfort”? The Malbim says, grieving comes from the close ones. “To grieve” (nud) is simply from the language of the nodding of the head, oy vavoy, that a person says oy vavoy and nods his head. So that is the grieving. “Who will grieve for you?” Grieving is always the close ones. The comforters, by contrast, are those who come from afar in order to comfort, even if they are not close. As it is written, “I hoped for one to grieve, and there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.” The grievers are not present. Why? Because the grievers are the close ones, and you have no close ones. For following all the troubles you passed through you no longer have close ones. And if you do, then they too are in the same trouble. And the comforters are indeed present, for these, even the distant ones we said can comfort, but what can be done, not all of them can comfort, not every person can comfort. And who will comfort you? That is, your close ones died, so there is no one to grieve. And to comfort, he says, who can comfort you? With whom shall I comfort you? To whom else did such a thing happen that they would come and comfort and say, behold, this too happened to so-and-so? There is no one else to whom this happened. So one can neither grieve nor comfort.
“Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net, filled with the fury of Hashem, the rebuke of your God.” Your sons have fainted. We saw that she expects the sons to hold her up. “There is none to guide her among all the sons she bore, none to take hold of her hand among all the sons she raised.” The older ones to hold her up, the younger ones to guide her. And we saw that she expects and there is none. About this he says, why did they truly not come to help and guide you? Because your sons have fainted. Instead of your older and younger sons raising you from the drunkenness, guiding you, they themselves drank these two cups and they themselves became drunk like you. So your sons have fainted. “They lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net.” Although they lie outside, they are similar to an antelope lying in a net. What is “teo”? “Teo” means an ox. “Teo,” the Radak and Rashi explain, means like “the te'o and the zemer.” And it is only a transposition of letters, instead of “te'o,” “teo.” Like “keves” and “kesev,” yes? And it is a wild ox. “Michmar” is from the language of “michmoret.” What is “michmoret”? A net. “He falls into his net.” So although they lie in the streets, and streets are not a place of imprisonment, it is an open place, yet they lie like an ox caught in a net. “They lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net.” “Filled with the fury of Hashem, the rebuke of your God.” From what did they become drunk? He says, they too are filled with the fury of Hashem. We saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, said “rouse yourself, arise, Jerusalem, you who drank the cup of His fury.” They drank what you drank. They too are filled with the fury of Hashem. And following this they too had “the rebuke of your God.” The rebuke of your God, we explained, is the cup of staggering, which is in the nature of punishment, which they drained to the very end. So from these two cups they too became drunk, and if so there is no one to guide Israel, no one to help and assist them. So no one will help, no one will raise her, no one will grieve for her, no one will comfort her. Therefore, “listen now to this, you afflicted one, drunk but not with wine.” Since there is no one from among your sons to save you, listen to this, afflicted one, afflicted one who became afflicted through the cup of fury, that Hashem hid His face from them. And drunk, drunk but not from troubles, no, sorry, drunk not from wine but from troubles. “Drunk but not with wine” refers here to the cup of staggering. You became drunk from the poverty and the troubles. A drunk is a person who has no control over what happens to him. Israel is in the category of drunkards. Drunkards, that is, they do not know what is happening to them, but not from the side that they drank, but from the troubles, from the torments, from all that passed over them. “Thus says your Lord Hashem, and your God who defends His people, behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the goblet of the cup of My fury you shall not drink again.” “Thus says your Lord Hashem,” I will save you from the side that I am your Lord Hashem. “And your God who defends His people,” from the side that I am your God I will fight the fight of My people and take revenge from the enemies. For there are here two planes. There is one plane, to bring you out of the trouble, and there is another plane, to give the gentile his due for all that he afflicted and tormented her sons. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, “your Lord Hashem,” first of all in order to bring you out of the trouble, to save you. And besides that, “your God” in order to fight for His people and take vengeance from the gentiles. From the side that I am your Lord, “behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering.” The cup of punishment about which we said above that “the goblet of the cup of staggering you drank and drained,” this we drank together with the dregs, nothing remained, only you still hold the cup, the empty cup which is the vessel that holds the punishment; that is the exile. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, this I will take from you. The torments of the exile you have already drained to the end. But the exile itself, which is essentially what the vessel symbolizes, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, this too I will take from you in order to bring you out of the exile. But of what are you still afraid? We said there is still one cup that we did not drain. And that is the cup of His fury. The cup of His fury, in which the bitter drink still remains. His fury, we said, He did not spend on us. Are you worried that perhaps from this He will still give you to drink? The Holy One, blessed be He, says, about this I promise you, “the goblet of the cup of My fury you shall not drink again.” Here there is still something to drink. Did you note? Concerning the cup of staggering it is written “I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering.” Not what is inside it, for that we already said we drank and drained. Only the cup, which is the exile, this Hashem takes. By contrast the cup of His fury still has drink in it. As we explained above. Therefore about it the Holy One, blessed be He, says, “you shall not drink again.” I promise you that this you shall not drink. And to whom will Hashem give what remains there in the cup? “And I will put it in the hand of those who afflicted you, who said to your soul, bow down that we may pass over, and you made your body like the ground and like the street for those who pass.” The cup of your fury, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, what still remains to you, this “I will put in the hand of those who afflicted you.” “Mogayich” means those who wronged you. From what language is “mogayich”? The Malbim says, those who grieved and pained and afflicted you. Rashi says “mogayich” is your movers, your dislodgers. As it is written, “and behold a multitude melting away (namog).” “Namog” means dislodged. The Radak explains “mogayich” from the language of “yagah” (grief), for Hashem grieves. From what language is “hogeh”? Rashi and the Ibn Ezra there explain that it means a language of sorrow and pain. So “mogayich” means those who cause you grief, from the language of sorrow. The Minchat Shai, perhaps before that, the Metzudat Tziyon says “mogayich,” a language of “all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away (namogu),” where there he does not explain it as a language of dislodging, that they will be dislodged and driven off, but a language of “melted,” fear, they melted. “And I will put it in the hand of those who afflicted you,” those who will be, those who melted Israel, meaning pained and dissolved them, the cup I will place in their hand, they will now drink the cup of fury. By contrast the Minchat Shai says an interesting thing, that Targum Yonatan says “in the hand of mogayich” - “in the hand of those who oppressed you.” What is “oppressed you”? They pained you. “Monayich,” yes? According to this the Minchat Shai says, apparently his reading was “monayich” and not “mogayich.” Yes? From the language of “you shall not wrong one another,” where the meaning is fraud, from the language of causing pain. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, and by what will you merit that I take the goblet of the cup of fury and give it into their hand? Since they said to your soul, “bow down that we may pass over,” “and you made your body like the ground.” The wicked wished to grant Israel bodily freedom but spiritual servitude. Serve our gods, and we will grant you emancipation, equal rights. As long as they subjugate their spirit to the gentiles. As it was in the time of the Hellenizers. As it was in other periods, that if we had been willing to accept upon ourselves the religion of love, then they had no problem with us remaining among them. The only problem was that we insisted on fulfilling the commandments of our religion. If we had been willing to accept upon ourselves the core curriculum, then they had no problem with us. The only problem is that we insist only on learning Torah. And this is what he says, they said to your soul and your spirit, “bow down that we may pass over.” “Bow down that we may pass over” means bend down so that we may pass over you. This is a language of speaking to humiliate us, to reach such a state that we abandon our faith and religion and accept their faith. But Israel says, we are willing for you to trample us, to tread upon us, to afflict us, to torment us in the body. But the freedom of the soul will remain in our hands. We will be free to believe in whom we believe, to serve whom we wish to serve. And this is what is written, “and you made your body like the ground.” The physicality, the back, we made like the ground, “that we may pass over,” pass over my back, not over my spirit, not over my soul, that you will not break. And this is what he says, “and you made your body like the ground and like the street for those who pass.” “Like the street” means not inside the house but outside the house, on the road, for those who pass. Anyone who wishes to pass and trample Israel, Israel says to him, you can overcome us physically, materially; spiritually we will in no way bow before you. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, because of this merit that you have, that you were willing to surrender your physical body in exchange for your soul over which they wished “bow down that we may pass over” and you did not agree to bow in your soul, in exchange for this “I will put it in the hand of those who afflicted you,” the cup of fury I will bring upon the haters, the cup of fury I will bring upon the enemies, those who wished to bend you and you stood like flint rock; they will drink the cup of fury and you will go out from the exile to an everlasting redemption. Amen, selah.