Zitat Kommentar zu Jechezkiel 40:1

that is the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile Thus, we may deduce that the thirty years he counted, he counted from the beginning of the jubilee [cycle]: the last jubilee commenced at the beginning of the eighteenth year of Josiah[‘s reign]; that is, the year that Hilkiah found the scroll (II Kings 22). So we learn in Seder Olam (ch. 26), that the beginning of the jubilee was that [year]. Josiah reigned thirty one years. Subtracting from them the seventeen years that had already passed leaves fourteen years. Jehoiakim reigned eleven years; [together, that] totals twenty-five years. Jeconiah [Jehoiachin] his son, had reigned only three months when he was exiled, and the year that Ezekiel prophesied was the fifth [year] of his exile, hence the thirtieth year of the jubilee. And so we find that at the end of his prophecy, he gives a sign using the count of the jubilee [as a reference], for it says (40:1): “In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month.” Our Rabbis said (Arachin 12a): What “year” is it that begins on the tenth of the month? You must say that this is the jubilee year [See Leviticus 25:9f.].

AND IN ALL THE MIGHTY HAND. This alludes to the division of the Red Sea concerning which it is said, And Israel saw the great hand.³⁴⁷Exodus 14:31. AND IN ALL THE GREAT TERROR. This is a reference to the Revelation³⁴⁸Literally: “‘the stand’ (ma’amad) at Mount Sinai.” See Vol. II, p. 251, Note 17. concerning which it is stated and that His fear may be before you.³⁴⁹Exodus 20:17. He mentioned concerning these [two events] that they were done in the sight of all Israel, because he had already referred to all that was done to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land.³⁵⁰Verse 11. And in the Sifre it is stated:³⁵¹Sifre, end of Brachah. “And in all the mighty hand — this refers to the smiting of the firstborn, about which it is said, for by a mighty hand shall he send them away.³⁵²Exodus 6:1. And in all the great terror — this alludes to the division of the Red Sea. Another interpretation: And in all the great terror — this is the Giving of the Torah.”
And by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], the mighty hand is the attribute of justice, similar to the expressions: the hand of the Eternal was upon me;³⁵³Ezekiel 37:1. for the hand of the Eternal hath wrought this.³⁵⁴Job 12:9. Therefore it is said with reference to [His] judgment, for the hand of the Eternal is gone forth against me.³⁵⁵Ruth 1:13. And the great terror is the attribute of mercy, similar to what is written, Him shall ye sanctify, and let Him be your fear.³⁵⁶Isaiah 8:13. The Rabbis in the Sifre³⁵¹Sifre, end of Brachah. meant this when referring to the smiting of the firstborn [which was done by the mighty hand, alluding to the attribute of justice] and the division of the Red Sea [which is alluded to in the phrase and in all the great terror referring to the attribute of mercy], for concerning them it is written, to make Thyself a Glorious Name.³⁵⁷Ibid., 63:14. The rescue of Israel at the Red Sea displayed G-d’s mercy to His people just as the retributive punishment upon the Egyptian firstborn manifested His justice. Both were to make Him a glorious Name.

A Midrashic approach (Shemot Rabbah 30,7): when the Israelites heard this legislation they said: “G’d has given us many commandments to help us make up for many sins we have committed; we have stolen an ox and we have made it into a golden calf; we paid five times the value of the ox as our fathers died in the desert on account of that sin. The legislation that a thief pays four times the value of a lamb he has stolen and slaughtered is a reference to the sale of Joseph on account of which we spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt, and we have since been ruled over by four different alien empires.” Thus far the wording of this Midrash. I believe that the meaning of this Midrash needs further clarification. The words: “our father died in the desert” are a reference to the three thousand idol-worshipping Israelites whom the Levites executed in the aftermath of the golden calf episode (32.,28). These words also refer to the other Israelites who died by a plague at that time as there was no evidence against them that could be presented in a court. (compare Exodus 32,28 and 35). Seeing that the Midrash mentions the number “five,” I assume that there were five different punishments meted out in connection with that sin. This is the meaning of the words תחת השור, i.e. the letter ה in front of the word שור. The five penalties were: 1) killing offenders whose deed was witnessed by the sword. 2) The plague that struck those whom G’d knew to be guilty but man could not prosecute. 3) the embarrassment caused those whom Moses made drink the water with the dissolved parts of the golden calf (32,20), similar to what a woman suspected of marital infidelity (Sotah) has to do (32,20). 4) The destruction of the Holy Temple many years later (compare Ezekiel 40,1) based on the words וביום פקדי ופקדתי in 32,34, meaning that whenever G’d brings on a great disaster, part of it is in delayed expiation for the sin of the golden calf. 5) that although G’d generally does not punish anyone for a sin committed more than four generations earlier (34,7), this sin was an exception and it is never fully expiated. Successive generations suffer a small portion of the punishment for it at the time they qualify for punishments for their own sins. I shall explain this in greater detail on Exodus 34,7.