Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner, strengthen the watch, set up guards, prepare the ambushes, for Hashem has both planned and done what He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. "Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner" means raise the banner of war. This banner was a flag mounted on a long pole from which the flag was hung. That was the banner. So, "against the walls of Babylon raise a banner." Anyone who looks at illustrations depicting ancient battle scenes sees a man walking before the camp with a high and lofty flag. This is the man who actually indicates the direction. Consider: the army could be spread out over vast areas. They needed to know the direction of the fighting. So they would see the flag, and this was what was called the commander who would go in front and tell them which direction we are now attacking. So then, "against the walls of Babylon raise a banner" means to go and fight against the wall. "Strengthen the watch" means so that from the wall they will not succeed in subduing us, for whoever is above has the advantage. Therefore He tells them, hold the wall, meaning that the warriors who are there in the city should not fall upon the camp from the wall or hurl catapult stones from the wall. Afterward He says, "set up guards." What are these guards? They will be around the camp so that no one escapes from there. And afterward He tells them, "prepare the ambushes." Those who nonetheless managed to escape still require that farther off there be ambushes, and these ambushes will wait for them and capture the fleeing ones and those in hiding. "For Hashem has both planned and done what He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon." What He planned He has already done, and behold He has brought this matter to fruition.
They pray to idols, but the Malbim says that when they see the downfall of Babylon, it will be clear to all that there is one Ruler, and the Ruler is the Holy One blessed be He, and consequently even the rain that you thought idolatry brings, this too will become clear to you that it is only from Hashem.
The Metzudat David explains that what is written, "at the sound of His giving forth a multitude of waters in the heavens," means that because He gives forth a rumbling sound of waters in the atmosphere of the heavens, He raises the clouds up from the end of the earth, and then He raises them to the place where He wishes to make rain fall, for sometimes the clouds rise here and rain there. "At the sound of His giving forth a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He raises vapors from the end of the earth" - in this too one sees the Divine providence, since if the clouds rise here and drop rain here, then I would say, well, this is a certain cycle, but when the clouds rise here and suddenly give the rain there, this means there is someone who wanted to take vapors from here and drop water there, meaning here one sees the Divine providence.
The Gemara relates about great men like Rav Katina who would go out and make a tour of his properties, observing his fields, and he would see this garden bed needs rain, that one does not. He would say over this bed rain and over that one not. On command, the Gemara says, rain would fall on the bed where it was needed, and where it was not needed it would not fall. And the Gemara brings that this is a verse, "one field shall be rained upon and one field on which it does not rain," this is a verse, so that in effect it was rain on demand. Through the rain one can see without any doubt that everything is from Him blessed be He, since until now we have already seen explicit verses to Hashem, "are there among the vanities of the nations any that give rain?" Is there any vanity that the nations can perform, that they can do some actions, do they have the power to bring down rain? None. Only the people of Israel by the power of their prayer are able to bring down rain.
And even the nations outside the Land, the Ishmaelites knew this, that when rain did not fall they would cause troubles for the Jews so that the Jews would pray and bring down rain, and sometimes they would threaten them that if by such and such a time no rain fell they would expel them, and the Jews would pray and rain would fall. We see from this that the matter of rain to this day is a sign and wonder of Hashem's providence. Even if today they have invented all sorts of iodine and all sorts of methods and aluminum particles and all sorts of alloys and the like, which they place upon the clouds so that the clouds will give, this will only give more rain, to increase the precipitation, but they have no ability to perform an action to bring clouds here. If there are no clouds they have no ability to make clouds that are not supposed to bring down rain suddenly bring down rain. This power belongs only to the people of Israel by the power of their prayers.
So through this it will be clear to all that the providence is by the Holy One blessed be He, and it is He who gives a multitude of waters in the heavens and raises vapors from the end of the earth, He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth wind from His storehouses. Lightning, at the time the rain comes the lightning flashes and the rain does not extinguish it, yes this is another wondrous thing, and through this He brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
"Every man has become brutish without knowledge, every goldsmith is put to shame by the idol, for his molten image is a falsehood, and there is no breath in them." Consequently, when they see this, how everything comes by providence from Hashem, it will become clear that every man who makes an idol for his god has become brutish without knowledge, this man is brutish without knowledge, he is brutish and lacking understanding. "Every goldsmith is put to shame by the idol" - this man who is the goldsmith will receive shame from the idol, meaning from the idol itself he will have shame, for when the gentile stands and cries out to his idol and it does not answer him, he is put to shame, through this he has disgrace. So "every goldsmith is put to shame by the idol, for his molten image is a falsehood, and there is no breath in them," since the molten image, molten image means a cast image, a cast image is an idol, this idol has falsehood in it and there is no breath in them, there is no breath in them, there is no power in them to accomplish anything.
"They are vanity, a work of mockery, in the time of their reckoning they shall perish." "They are vanity, a work of mockery" - the work of those who err from the path of reason, or those who err from the path of reason means those errant ones are those who made them, this is vanity, this is a work of errant ones, a work of mockery. One can also say that mockeries mislead their worshipers. For example, they pray for rain now, they did not hear a forecast, they do not know that rain is going to fall anyway, and they know that now after the prayer the next day rain will fall, what do they understand? That the idol did this.
The Gemara already asks this question, why does the Holy One blessed be He create such a situation? And the Gemara says: shall Hashem destroy His world on account of fools? Because this fool prayed, so that he would not err Hashem will not bring down rain that we deserve? Then perhaps tomorrow too Hashem will not make the sun shine because the other fool is certain that the sun is his god and that it is the one that gives us the warmth and the abundance and everything. The Holy One blessed be He does not take fools into account, but in any case as a result of this there is a work of mockery, the idolatry deceives its worshipers and they are certain that the abundance comes down from it. He tells you regarding this, "in the time of their reckoning they shall perish," their reckoning means when Hashem takes them to account to exact payment from them, in that will be their perdition.
"Not like these is the portion of Yaakov, for He is the Fashioner of all, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance, Hashem of hosts is His name." "Not like these" - the God of Yaakov is not like these idols, meaning the God in whom we believe who is our portion, "for He is the Fashioner of all," not like the idols which were fashioned by man, not only did they never fashion anything, they themselves do not even have the innate power to fashion themselves, they themselves are the product of the work of man. He tells you that Hashem is not only not fashioned, but is a Fashioner, Hashem is the Fashioner of all. "And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance" - He chose and also fashioned the people of Israel, so that the people of Israel are the tribe of Hashem's inheritance, so Hashem chose us to be the tribe of His inheritance. "Hashem of hosts is His name" - Hashem rules over the hosts above and below, and therefore through this you will understand that all that we said before, that the Holy One blessed be He will exact payment from Babylon, and all that we said, that Hashem will bring forth salvation for the people of Israel, all this is something He has the power to do, and the Holy One blessed be He promises all this and will ultimately fulfill it.
"You are a hammer for Me, weapons of war, and with you I will shatter nations, and with you I will destroy kingdoms." "You are a hammer for Me" - what is a hammer? A hammer is a kind of large mallet with which they would shatter stones, and each man his shattering tool in his hand. And why is it called a hammer (mapetz)? The Radak explains that breaking with scattering is called shattering (nefitza). To this day we use this expression when we want to say of something that broke into small pieces that scattered around, we say he shattered it, he shattered the windowpane. I would not say he shattered the wall, he struck it a few blows and the wall fell here, he did not shatter it, but the windowpane he shattered since it broke into pieces and they scattered far. Always the expression, as in "I have gathered your scattered ones," refers to those who are scattered far, so the act of breaking is shattering, and such shattering in which it scatters far is called nefitza. Consequently He says, "You are a hammer for Me, weapons of war."
Of whom is this said? The Radak explains that this is said of the king of Babylon: for Me you are like this mallet, this hammer, with which I shatter the nations and the kingdoms, and now I will pay you back for what you did to the people of Israel far beyond what was decreed upon them, I was angry a little and they helped for evil, as it is written, and since this is so you will receive what is due to you. The Malbim, on the other hand, explains that "You are a hammer for Me" refers to the people of Israel: "You are a hammer for Me, weapons of war, and with you I will shatter nations, and with you I will destroy kingdoms," meaning through you, people of Israel, I will break and shatter weapons of war, meaning because of you if we want to be more precise, for it does not mean that the people of Israel themselves will go and destroy kingdoms, but rather Hashem says: for Me, people of Israel, you are the cause, so you are like the hammer through which and by whose power Hashem will shatter the nations and destroy the kingdoms.
"And with you I will shatter horse and its rider, and with you I will shatter chariot and its rider." "And with you I will shatter horse and its rider" - now He will explain and detail how great the downfall will be. "And with you I will shatter horse and its rider," its rider meaning the chariot upon which the man riding behind the horse rides, and this is the meaning of "chariot and its rider." By contrast, "horse and its rider" means the one riding on the horse, the men who go out to battle and ride on the horse. So He said: I will shatter with you, as it were with this hammer, with this force I will shatter the horse and the one riding upon it, and likewise the chariot, which is the carriage behind the horse, chariot and its rider.
"And with you I will shatter man and woman, and with you I will shatter old and young, and with you I will shatter youth and maiden, and with you I will shatter shepherd and his flock, and with you I will shatter farmer and his yoke, and with you I will shatter governors and rulers." This is the way of prophecy, like the way of the poet who repeats a certain expression again and again. He says, "I will shatter with you man and woman, old and young," meaning there will be no mercy even upon women, against whom in war one does not usually go to fight, nor upon youth or old man, here all will be shattered, youth and maiden. "And with you I will shatter shepherd and his flock" - what is shepherd and his flock? It means the wealth too will be struck, for the flocks too will be struck. "And with you I will shatter farmer and his yoke" - a farmer is a man who works the soil, a farmer plows, and his yoke, since they would go behind a yoke of oxen in order to plow, therefore it is called farmer and his yoke. Who went behind a yoke of oxen? It is written of Eliyahu the prophet that he passed by Elisha, where it is written that he cast his mantle upon him, there Elisha was plowing behind twelve yoke of oxen, there were yokes of oxen behind which he was plowing, and then he took and offered them as a burnt offering and went after Eliyahu and became his disciple. In any case we see here the matter that their way was to plow with a yoke, therefore the Torah too says, "you shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together," since the way was always to plow with yokes. So this is what is written here, shepherd and his flock, farmer and his yoke, the farmer who plows with a yoke of animals.
"And with you I will shatter governors and rulers" - governors and rulers are a type of officialdom, governor (pechot) is the source of the expression pecha, pecha from the language of authority, and rulers means important people, officials. "And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they did in Zion before your eyes, says Hashem." After through Babylon I will complete the vengeance upon the idol worshipers, after this I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they did in Zion. All the evil that they did in Zion means they destroyed the Temple and afflicted the people of Israel, after they are broken through you, then will come the shattering of Babylon. The Holy One blessed be He will, as it were, finish using Babylon in order to subdue the nations, and afterward Babylon itself will be shattered.
"Behold, I am against you, O mountain of destruction, says Hashem, that destroys all the earth, and I will stretch out My hand against you and roll you down from the rocks and make you a mountain of burning." "Behold, I am against you, O mountain of destruction" - everyone here asks: Babylon is a valley, how did Babylon suddenly become a mountain? There is one explanation that says that mountain means a fortified city, like the mountains of Gilead, "the mountains of Gilead he shall split," which means fortified cities there. There is one who explains that mountains (harot) is from the language of pregnancy (herayon), yes, that like a fortified city, just as the pregnancy of the fetus is like being within a fortress, and this is the metaphor for the high towers that were in Babylon. And so too says Targum Yonatan, "and I will topple you," which is from the language of toppling (miggur), "and I will topple you from your strength" meaning even from the strong places. So we are not speaking here of actual mountains, for Babylon is not a land of mountains, but rather it means we are speaking of strong places, for usually the way was to fortify oneself in mountains, or people who wanted to make fortresses for themselves would do so in mountains, here the fortress itself He calls by the name mountain. And you are called mountain of destruction because Babylon destroyed all the earth.
And concerning them He says that this mountain of destruction, "I will stretch out My hand against you and roll you down from the rocks," meaning from the high places, which are the towers of Babylon, from there I will roll you down, and Babylon will become a mountain of burning. Like Sodom upon which sulfur and fire were rained, so Babylon will become a mountain of burning. And it is very interesting that this was fulfilled also in the modern era when Babylon became a mountain of burning, the quantities of explosive materials that were dropped on Babylon were immense, beyond all those immense oil reservoirs which also became a mountain of burning, if not through the bombings then through opposing forces who went and burned those oil reserves, those oil wells, so that in effect one sees that there was truly fulfilled in them sulfur and fire, the burning of the entire land.
"And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner or a stone for foundations, for you shall be a desolation forever, says Hashem." "They shall not take from you a stone for a corner" - the cornerstone is always the strong stone. Whoever goes toward the Kotel can see on the right side before entering the plaza, before the gate, he can see on the right side there is the continuation of the wall with an angle, there is a cornerstone there, I believe it is one of the largest stones in the world, there is a cornerstone there that is at the bottom, very long on both sides, a stone that is at the base. And such was their way in order to create a tower that would be strong and well founded, so it is not like today where there is concrete, they would take for the cornerstone the strongest and largest stone, since it is meant to hold two walls at the corners they would place strong and large stones. So the cornerstone, or as in the expression "has become the chief cornerstone," "the stone the builders rejected," they said it is not even worth placing it in the wall, and suddenly that stone became the chief cornerstone, it suddenly will be the one that is at the head of the corner, meaning prominent there at the corner, that is, it serves as strong foundations for the building. So "they shall not take from you a stone for a corner or a stone for foundations," foundations means foundations, so even a stone even for a foundation, for the foundations, which is not for the purpose of the cornerstone that needs to be stronger. "For you shall be a desolation forever, says Hashem" - it is destined to be a desolation forever. The Malbim explains that the metaphor of a stone for a corner is that they will not establish from you kingdoms, and also not a stone for foundations, not even a small government, this too will not be, and as we see to this day there is neither kingdoms nor a small government there and there is not even any government whatsoever, what there is there is only the sword of each man against his fellow.
"Raise a banner in the land, sound a shofar among the nations, sanctify nations against her, summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz, appoint against her a marshal, bring up horses like the bristling locust." "Raise a banner in the land" - it is not written here to whom. The Radak says there is here a command in fact to whoever is able and whoever wishes, raise a banner in the land and reckon with Babylon, meaning come to exact payment from Babylon. "Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat" - summon (hashmiu) always refers to the matter of gathering, summon many against Babylon, as there is another verse "and Shaul summoned the people" which means he gathered the people, hashmaa means gathering. So "raise a banner among the nations in the land, sound a shofar among the nations, sanctify nations against her," sanctify is again another expression whose meaning is summoning and gathering. "Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz, appoint against her a marshal," a marshal means an officer, like the men who are appointed to go out with the army. "Bring up horses like the bristling locust," what is "like the bristling locust"? A locust (yelek) is a type of locust, and "bring up horses like the locust" means to say that horses will come in quantities like the locust, for one always wants to express that the army comes in immense forces with many soldiers, so they say that they cover the land like locusts. So this is what is written here, "bring up horses like the bristling locust," what is bristling (samar)? Bristling as in "my flesh bristles from dread of You," meaning that when a man is in fear his hairs bristle, and in the matter and following the locust, meaning the horses that will come like the bristling locust, we feared, our flesh bristled, meaning our hairs stood on end from fear.
"Sanctify nations against her, the kings of Media, its governors and all its rulers and all the land of his dominion." Again He repeats and now He specifies. Earlier we said "raise a banner in the land, sanctify nations against her" in a general way. The Metzudot says now He elaborates further and says of whom I am actually speaking, "sanctify nations against her, the kings of Media," the kings of Media are those who will come against Babylon, this is Darius and his son-in-law Cyrus who inherited the kingship after his death, "its governors," its governors is the governor, the governor is like a pecha, meaning the important and honored ones, "and all its rulers and all the land of his dominion," all the land over which he rules will come and sanctify war against Babylon.
"And the earth quaked and writhed, for the plans of Hashem stood against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant." "And the earth quaked and writhed," and writhed in the sense of the writhing of a woman in labor, from the language "trembling seized her." And why? "For the plans of Hashem stood (kama) against Babylon." Seemingly this is not understood, "stood" is singular, "plans" is plural, it should have said "for the plans of Hashem stood (kamu) against Babylon." The Radak says every single plan that Hashem planned against her will stand, therefore it says "for the plans of Hashem stood against Babylon," each and every plan will stand against her, against Babylon. By contrast the Malbim explains that "and the earth quaked" because the earth rose (kama) against Babylon to fight with her, "and the earth quaked and writhed for it rose against Babylon," comma, meaning it turns out that "kama" in the singular refers to the earth, the earth itself quakes and rises against Babylon in order to shake Babylon.
And do not think that perhaps they will not prevail against her, regarding this He tells you that this is the plans of Hashem to make the land of Babylon a desolation, these are the plans of the Holy One blessed be He that the land of Babylon will be desolate without inhabitant. And this time "it rose," "rose" means, the Malbim says, this time they will destroy her, this time they will prevail against her.
"The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they sit in the strongholds, their might has failed, they have become as women, they have set fire to her dwellings, her bars are broken." "The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they sit in the strongholds" - when people are afraid then they fortify themselves within the strongholds, within the castles, within the places in which they think there will be rescue for them. So He tells you the reality was that the warriors of Babylon ceased to fight and therefore sat in the strongholds, sat in the strong towers in order to be saved there from the enemy. "Their might has failed," failed means their might ceased, like "and the waters shall fail from the sea." By contrast Rashi brings that "nashta" is leaped, like the sinew that leaped (gid hanashe) that leaped from its place, meaning it leaped from its place. So according to Rashi it is in the sense of leaping, according to the Radak it is in the sense of ceasing. So "their might has failed, they have become as women," this is a play on words, nashta, nashim. What did He want to say? Warriors, the most contemptuous expression toward them is to say that one is like a woman, and since this is so every warrior would be ready even to die in battle so long as it not be said that he is like a woman or that it not be said a woman killed him, as we saw there with Avimelech that a woman threw upon him a piece of a millstone and crushed his skull, and then he told his lad to strike him so that it not be said a woman killed him, a woman is always an expression of weakness. And since this is so, when He wants to say how greatly their might has failed He tells you "they have become as women," meaning they were weak like the women, for women do not go out to the battlefield.
"They have set fire to her dwellings, her bars are broken" - they set fire to her dwellings, meaning the places in which the people of Babylon dwell, and the bars of the cities which are supposed to prevent the entry of the enemy, her bars are broken. "Runner runs to meet runner, and herald to meet herald, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end to end." And now He describes the calamity, and then He says there will be runner to meet runner, from the war runners would arrive in order to announce what is happening on the battlefield. In their time not everyone had communication and devices, so they needed by means of runners to go and announce. How do they do this? A runner comes from the battlefield with earth on his head and so on, as there are several descriptions in the Prophets of the defeats that occurred in battle, in order to announce to the king, or sometimes the reverse, sometimes to announce the victory. In any case he announces, runner runs to meet runner. The Radak asks, what is runner to meet runner? It should have said runner after runner runs, for you want to say that there will be a high frequency of runners who will run from the battlefield to inform the king of the downfall, so he does not run toward him, toward him is opposite him, you want to say that they run one after another, why do you say to meet? The Radak says the meaning is that the first went and already told the king and he returns, and then a runner comes to meet him in order that he too tell the king, so he meets him in the middle of the way, therefore it is called runner to meet runner, and he arrives and informs the king and returns, and when he returns the third runner is now running to meet him, therefore it is called runner runs to meet runner. And all will say that his city has been captured from end to end, they captured his city from the end, meaning from its beginning it was captured entirely. The Malbim explains that all that is written here in the previous verse, this the runner will run to meet runner in order to announce, for what did we see in the previous verse? "The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they sit in the strongholds, their might has failed, they have become as women, they have set fire to her dwellings, her bars are broken," this the first runner will run in order to inform the king. A runner will come to meet him to inform that their might has failed, they have set fire to her dwellings, this is the second part of the previous verse. After this a herald will come to meet herald in order to tell the king that his city has been captured from end to end, this the herald will say, and then a herald will come to meet him to tell "and the fords have been seized, and the marshes they have burned with fire, and the men of war are terrified," this the herald to meet herald will say. "The fords have been seized," the fords means the places that are the crossing places of the waters at the entrance to the city, where they had towers in order to prevent the enemy from entering the city, and usually in many places they would make a kind of river around the city in order to ensure that the army could not penetrate inside, and then they had a place where one could indeed cross and this place they would close, this is called fords, the place through which they would cross. The fords of the waters at the entrance to the city, there the towers were, they were seized, the enemy succeeded in seizing these places and through this now Babylon was delivered into his hand. "And the marshes they have burned with fire," what does it mean to burn a marsh with fire? One must know that in the language of the Sages, and so too we see in the language of Scripture, a marsh (agam) does not necessarily express a place of the water itself, as the Gemara brings "where does your cow graze? In the marsh." Does it mean in the marsh, within the water it grazes? No, but rather many times the shore of the marsh too, yes, the two banks of the marsh, they too were called marsh, and the reeds grew there in the marshes, meaning at the banks of the marsh, and they wanted that the reeds not prevent them from entering the city since it is tall in a place where there is much water so it grows tall, so they burned everything, by burning everything this actually leveled the terrain, this is what He says, "and the marshes they have burned with fire." Incidentally we see a similar expression that we are accustomed to define a stream (nachal) as a place of flowing water, whereas according to the Torah a nachal is a wadi, the place where the water flows but not necessarily the water itself that flows, whereas today when you say nachal you mean the flowing of the water itself. So here too when we speak of a marsh, the place where the reeds grow like "to bow his head like a bulrush" which refers to the reeds. Rabbeinu Yona, on the other hand, explains that the marshes are the fortresses, and he says, the Radak explains that this is from the Arabic language, for in Arabic they call fortresses agam.