Kommentar zu Jeschijahu 44:25

Who stretched forth the heavens alone...Who frustrates the signs of imposters Since I stretched forth the heavens, I can, therefore, frustrate their signs.

בדים Liars. Comp. בדיך thy lies (Job 11:3). More probably בדים is connected with בדד alone, and signifies such, persons as pretend to be able to emancipate their souls from, the influence of the body, which some in reality can do.^40aThe more the soul emancipates itself from the body, the closer is its union, with the pure intellect, with the original and fundamental ideas, and the wider and surer its knowledge. This state of emancipation is called by I. E. preparatian for inspiration. Comp. תמונות צורות ומראות בדבר השם ובהיות הנפש מכוונת לכבוד או תתחדש לה when the soul is prepared for the Divine Glory, then it receives new ideas, images, and visions by the word of the Lord. (Abridged Commentary on Exod. 23:21.)

imposters Heb. בַּדִּים. They are stargazers, who predict the future through signs of the heavens, and since many times they lie, they are called בַּדִּים, imposters, for I change the heavenly princes, and these who ask of them err, and since the astrologers of Babylon were stargazers, as Scripture states (infra 47:13), “Let them stand now, and let the gazers into the heavens save you.” He, therefore, states that He will frustrate the signs of their imposters, for I am He Who frustrated the signs of the imposters of Egypt.

וקוסמים And astrologers.⁴¹A. V., Diviners. Lit., men that decide by reason, and say that and that will happen; while בדים foretell the future not by reasonable means.⁴²Comp. I. E. on c. 3:2, and Note 3.

Wise men. Persons, who divine from the liver or shoulder, and soothsayers.⁴³From the context it may be inferred that by wise men the prophet meant diviners; but since two kinds of diviners ברים and קוסמים have already been mentioned, I. E. refers this general expression to other kinds, which are not included in these two names.