Kommentar zu Jeschijahu 2:31

THIS chapter commences a new prophecy, but not without connection with the preceding. Zion will now be saved from the hands of Sennacherib,¹This is the subject of the first chapter; the second begins with describing the salvation of Israel, which will be effected in the distant future. and she will besides be highly distinguished in the future.

At the end of the days after the rebels perish.

This will take place, as the prophet says, In the last of the days. That is, in the days of Messiah, which are the last of the days of the world.²By The last of the days of the world Ibn Ezra points to the furthermost period of time, the period of the highest degree of perfection and salvation, which will undergo no fresh change, nor suffer any relapse into former imperfections. Such a period, Ibn Ezra says, has not yet come, because war has not yet ceased. Those days have not yet come; for since the days of Isaiah there has never been a period free from war. We learn from Josephus, and the literature of the Persians and Medes,³Another reading for ומרי is רומי and Romans. that during the whole time of the second temple in Jerusalem war had never ceased. Moreover,⁴The meaning is, Even if the records here referred to were not trust-worthy, and if for a certain period war had really ceased, it has been resumed again; while the period of Messiah requires ‘ that war should not be learnt any more.’ the prophet distinctly declares, Neither shall they learn war any more.

firmly established fixed.

And shall be exalted. We know that the mount of the temple will not be physically raised; but what the phrase means is, that it will be established in such a way that people will hasten up to it from the four comers of the earth, as if it were higher than all hills.

at the top of the mountains On a mountain that is the head of all the mountains in the importance of the mountains.

ונהרו And they will flow. Root, נהר ‘to flow’; comp. נהר river, which is so called on account of its flowing motion.

and it shall be raised above the hills The miracle performed on it, will be greater than the miracles of Sinai, Carmel, and Tabor.

will stream will gather and stream to it like rivers.

to the house of the God of Jacob Since he [Jacob] called it [the Temple site] Beth El [the house of God], therefore, it will be called on his name, but Abraham called it a mount, “On God’s mount shall He appear” (Gen. 22:14); Isaac called it a field, “to meditate in the field” (ibid. 24:63).

For out of Zion – Because the true Torah is that which comes out of Zion. There is no other in the world.

Out of Zion – There the Sanhedrin sat, with the High Priest and the king of the House of David.

Shall the Torah come forth – To the whole world, as it is written “If a matter eludes you in judgment… then you shall rise and go up to the place the Lord, your God, chooses.” (Devarim 17:8) This occurs only in Zion.

And the word of the Lord – This refers to words of prophecy.

From Jerusalem – Because there the prophets gathered and drew the spirit of Gd from throughout the city, because the prophets did not sit in the Court of Hewn stones (with the Sanhedrin). All these are the words which the nations said to one another.

into plowshares koltres in O.F.

And he will judge – That is to say - just as they request, so it will be in truth because the judge at that time will be the messiah and he will judge, instruct and rebuke: between nations – because the need for the means of war is due to two things 1) between two peoples who do not have a shared religion the sword is necessary to judge and decide between them, 2) guarding the government and order within a particular country, that people not rebel and throw off the yoke of rule. In response to this it says that in that time these reasons will be nullified, because he will judge and rebuke in the matters that cause conflict between nations, and rebuke will be sufficient to stop many peoples from transgressing the law. Then, since they no longer need to wage war, perforce the will ‘beat their swords into plowshares’ and no more learn the ways of war:

And he shall judge. He, who is the judge, the Messiah, shall judge (comp. Numb. 26:59).⁵The passage referred to is אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה אׂחָהּ, ‘ whom she bare’: no noun precedes the phrase, whose substitute the pronoun she should be. In this and similar elliptical cases, Ibn Ezra usually supplies a participle or a verbal noun from the verb; as, for instance, היולדת ‘ the mother,’ implied in the verb יָלְדָה or הַשׁׂפֵט implied in the verb וְשָׁפַט; sometimes he completes the elliptical phrase from the context; comp. ver. 8.

pruning hooks sarpes in O.F. [serpes in modern French], with which they prune the vineyards.

לְאִתִּים Into plowshares. Comp. אֵתוֹ his plowshare (1 Sam. 13:20); the Dagesh of the ת compensates for the omitted silent letter י; the same purpose is served by the long vowel Zere under א in the word ⁶Long vowels are either really or virtually followed by one of the silent letters אהוי ; namely, Kamez by א or ה, Zere and Hirek by י, Holem and Shurek by ו..אֵתוֹ

למזמרות Pruning-hooks. Instruments for pruning the vineyards.

O house of Jacob... The nations will say this to them, and this verse refers back to the verse [commencing with], “And many peoples shall go...”

O house of Jacob, etc. With these words the prophet rebukes Israel, as if he said, Since Zion will now, as you are well aware, be redeemed for her justice, and a time, besides, will come for her great salvation, we all owe obedience to the words of the prophecies, which are true as the light. The prophet includes himself in this rebuke, by using the first person plural, pro formd, as Moses did when he prayed, forgive our iniquity; or because he grew up among the people and acquired something of their mode of speaking,⁷Comp. 6:5, I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and I. E. on Is. 1:18. as I shall explain (6:5)

come and let us go in the light of the Lord They will say this to them. Jonathan, however, renders: And those of the house of Jacob will say, [“Come and let us go in the teaching of the Law of the Lord”].

For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob The prophet addresses the Shechinah and says, “For until now You have forsaken Your People because of their iniquity.” [Other editions read:] “...that which You have forsaken Your people was because of their iniquity, for they are full of [witchcraft] from the East,” and the entire section, and all the chapters follow one another, until (ch. 5) “I will sing now...” Therefore, in the end of days, when the sinners perish, it will be good for them(Parshandatha). (Another explanation is: The prophet admonishes them and says this to them, “For you have forsaken your people, O house of Jacob...” You have forgotten [the deed of your people—Parshandatha] the good deed through which you became a people, you house of Jacob.)

Thou hast forsaken, etc. Some refer the second person to God, and say that the prophet confesses here before Him that He has justly forsaken them, for they are full of Eastern customs, etc. R. Moses Hakkohen refers it to Israel, and explains accordingly : Thou, O Israel, hast forgotten thy people and its religion.

for they are full...from the east Their hosts have become full of the deeds of the Arameans who dwell in the East, who were sorcerers and used the name of pagan deities. [Other editions read:]...and used the name of defilement [sorcery and demonism—Rashi ad loc.], as we say in Ch. Chelek (Sanh. 91a): “Abraham gave gifts” (Gen. 25:6)He gave them the name of defilement and sent them away to the land of the East [as quoted by Parshandatha].

מלאו According to some, they are enthusiastic; comp. מלא with enthusiasm⁸A. V., A multitude. (Jer. 12:6); I think that it means, they are full, namely, with the wisdom of the children of the East, the Aramæans ; comp. Aram in the east, and the Philistines in the west (9:11); the next is, therefore, And are soothsayers like the Philistines. בית יעקב in this verse must then be vocative, like the first (5:5).⁹In the Hebrew text this remark is wrongly placed at the end of the next sentence.

and with children of gentiles they please themselves They cohabit with the daughters of the heathens and mingle with them, and they would bear children to them, with whom they are always pleased, and they occupy themselves [with them] and long for them and bother with them. This is an expression similar to [that of] (Job 36:18) “lest he incite you because of abundance (בְּשֶׂפֶק)” [debatement in O.F].

ובילדי And with ideas of.¹⁰A. V., In the children of. And with what they bring forth by thought; for the resultant of any two forces is called נולד ‘ born, product.’¹¹The two components are the man and his mind; the resultant is the idea. ישפיקו They satisfy ¹²A. V., They please. themselves. Comp. יִשְׂפׂק ‘it shall suffice’ (1 Kings 20:10), although of a different conjugation; the latter being Kal, the former Hiphil. They are satisfied with secular knowledge, and do not seek for the prophecy, which is the best light.

end Heb. קָצֶה, an expression derived from קץ.

Full of silver and gold. Silver is mentioned before gold, because it is in quantity more abundant.

קצה End. ה is paragogic, like ה in לילה night; the accent is therefore on the penultima.¹³Nouns ending in –ָה or –ֶה have generally the accent on the last syllable; but there are exceptions to this rule, and one of them is, that if these terminations are paragogic, the last but one has the accent.

In the preceding verse Israel is described as wise, in this as rich and mighty; in the same order Jeremiah enumerates these qualities (Jer. 9:23)

they prostrate themselves Heb. ישתחוו. Although the form is future, it is to be rendered like מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים, they prostrate themselves.

אלילים Idols. Root אַל "not"; the idols are called by this name, because there is no reality in them.

They worship the work of his ¹⁴A. V., Their. hands, that which his fingers have made. They—all the people—worship the work of his—the smith’s—hands, that which his—the smith’s—fingers have made.¹⁵Ibn Ezra explains hereby the change of the number in ידיו "his hands", and ישתחוו "they worship" ; the Version evades the difficulty by translating ידיו "their hands".

And man has become bowed down [This refers to] inferior [men].

וישה And boweth down. Niphal of שחח; comp. וימס ‘And it was melted’ (Jos. 7:5) Niphal of מסס. Their acts degraded them.

and man has become humble [This refers to] great [men], heroes, and warriors.

ואל תשא להם According to some—the ת being the sign for the second person, and referring to God—and thou forgive them not. I am, however, of opinion that the passage has the following meaning: Not one of them dares to lift up his head or soul, because the context requires a phrase similar to And the man humbles himself ; or that the word ארץ ‘ the earth ’ is to be supplied: And the earth is not able to bear them¹⁶They are so vile that the earth cannot bear them any longer—that they do not deserve to live any longer upon the surface of the earth. (comp. Gen. 13:6). The Grammarian,¹⁷The Grammarian is the title by which Ibn Ezra calls R. Judah Hayug. who asserts that אַל is only found with a command, is mistaken; comp. אל־מות, where there is no death (Prov. 12:28)

and You shall not forgive them The prophet says to the Holy One, blessed be He: And I know that you shall not forgive them from punishing them.

Come into the rock To come into the rock to escape in the cracks of the rocks.

בא Infinitive: ‘ to enter ’ (comp. Hab. 2:3); or imperative : enter ; the advice which they will give each other.

and hide in the dust and to hide in the dust.

הטמן The same; infinitive or imperative. It is the Niphal of טמן

The haughty eyes of man [This means] the haughty spirit, and so every expression of haughty eyes in the Scriptures, as it is said: “Whoever is haughty of eye, lustful in heart...” (Ps. 101:5).

עיני The looks of. עין ‘eye,’ or ‘ look,’ though generally feminine, is sometimes masculine (as e.g. in this verse, since the masculine form שָׁפֵל is joined to עֵינֵי) ; and עֵינֵי ‘ the looks,’ is identical with כל אחד מעיני ‘ each of the looks’; comp. בנות ‘ each of the branches ’ (Gen. 49:22).¹⁸The peculiarity of a noun in the plural being joined as nominative to a verb in the singular (as, e.g., in עֵינֵי נבהות אדם שָׁפֵל The lofty looks of man shall be humbled) is explained by giving to the plural the meaning one of, or each of.

Haughtiness. The contrary, lowliness, is meant; comp. He will enlighten my darkness ¹⁹Haughtiness cannot be brought low; it must be removed altogether, and can then be replaced by humility. In the same way darkness is not enlightened, but light is substituted for it. (Ps. 18:29)

ושפל He shall be brought low. The ו changes the past into a future; ²⁰וְשָׁפֵל could be taken as co-ordinate with נִשָּׂא, that which is high and that which is low; Ibn Ezra rejects this explanation, and takes ושפל as the past turned into future by the ו conversive. comp. וטהר he shall be clean (Lev. 22:7)

the cedars of the Lebanon This is symbolic of the heroes [var. the kings].

The cedars, etc. All this may be taken either literally, or symbolically for the young, great, rich, mighty, and the kings.

the oaks of the Bashan The governors, just as the oaks are inferior to the cedars.

And over all the high mountains over their inhabitants.

ההרים The mountains. I derive הרים from הרה to conceive, as I shall explain in the Book of Psalms (148:9).²¹In his commentary on Ps. 148:9, Ibn Ezra says that the mountains are pregnant (הרה) with all kinds of metals; therefore they are called הָרִים.

The tower. The tower on the royal palace.²²This remark is made in opposition to the opinion of those who refer the tower to the ships. (See Rashi ad locum.)

And over all the ships Jonathan renders: And over all those who inhabit the islands of the sea, who go and come by ship.

Ships of Tarshish. If taken figuratively, they signify the merchants; literally, they are ships which belong to Israelites, and are going to Tarshish.

Tarshish The name of a sea called Tarshish.

שכיות Pictures. Comp. אבן משנית A stone with a picture ²³A.V., Any image of stone. (Lev. 26:1)

and over all coveted floors Heb. שְׂכִיוֹת, palaces paved with coverings of marble floors, similar to: (Lev. 26:1) and a covering stone (וְְאֶבֶן מַשְׂכִּית), since they cover the ground with it.

on that day That is the Day of Judgment.

And the loftiness, etc. This idea is repeated here, because all the objects previously enumerated, excite pride in those that possess them, and cause dejection to those that lose them.

shall completely pass away They will all pass away; they will all vanish.

יחלוף He shall abolish. Comp. בני חלוף the afflicted (Prov. 31:5), to whom death is imminent; this root has a similar meaning in חלף it is over (Song 2:11).

כליל. This word remains the same in the masculine and feminine, singular and plural; it means all (comp. Exod. 28:31; Lev. 6:16).

He shall abolish. The third person refers to God.

And they shall come [i.e.,] the inhabitants of the earth shall come into the caves of the rocks.

and into the hollows They are caves.

when He rises for Judgment Day.

to break the earth to break the wicked of the earth.

to prostrate himself to moles Heb. לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, idols in the likeness of moles, a species of rodents who dig in the earth, called talpes in O.F. [taupes in modern French].

עשו They made. The subject is not named; it is the indefinite one or they;²⁴Comp. Note 5. comp. ויאמר ליוסף and he (═ some one) said to Joseph (Gen. 48:1). עשוהו one has done it²⁵A.V., Hath been already done. (Eccles. 2:12).

and to bats kalbe soric [chauvesouris in modern French]. Alternatively, this may be interpreted to mean that man will cast his idols that he made for himself, before which to prostrate himself, into pits and ditches that he finds before him when he goes to escape and hide.

חפר פרות. I think the singular is חפרפרת, and signifies a bird that flies out in the night like the bat, and keeps itself hidden during the day ; others say that חפרפרת means a bird which eats up the fruits during the night; in this case it consists of two separate words.²⁶חפר digging, פרות fruits.

נקרת The clefts of. Literally a hollowed place of.

סעפי. Branchlike pieces projecting from the rocks, where people can hide themselves.²⁷Comp.סעיף branch. A.V., The tops of.

לערוץ To be mighty.²⁸A. V., To shake terribly. Root ערץ ; comp. עריץ mighty. According to others, it is a transitive verb, meaning to terrify; אל תערץ (Jos. 1:9) has, perhaps, the same meaning, the word לבך thine heart, being supplied—do not terrify or discourage thine heart—and עריץ (29:20), is then a transitive adjective, terrible, like אימים (Gen. 14:5), the terrifying ones.²⁹A.V., The Emims.

Withdraw yourselves from man not to heed those who cause you to stray from following Me and to prostrate yourselves to the work of his hands.

Cease ye, etc. Since God has issued His decrees against you, as indicated in the words ‘ Because of the fear of the Lord,’ etc. (ver. 10), no man has the power to undo them; cease, therefore, to rely on man, he will not help you, for he is vanity.

whose breath is in his nostrils Whose entire life and strength are dependent upon the breath of his nostrils, which is a fleeting spirit, in him today and leaving him tomorrow. Surely the image of the moles and the bats has no substance. Another explanation is: Withdraw yourselves from all the evil ways and learn from the man who has a soul in his nostrils. Have you seen to what he is esteemed? Surely the image of his handiwork is of no esteem.