Commentary for Isaiah 26:11

O Lord, Your hand has been taken away I have seen many Aggadic Midrashim on the verses of the above section and the following, but they are not appropriate, either because of the grammatical forms of the language or because of the context of the verses. I had to explain it according to its order. There is an Aggadic Midrash that states that the prophet begs that the nations not see the bounty of the Holy One, blessed be He, when He lavishes good upon Israel. The Holy One, blessed be He, replied, “It is better that they see and be ashamed,” (Eliyahu Zuta ch. 21). (The Midrash explains the verse as follows: O Lord, take away Your hand, so that they see not. I.e., the prophet begs that God conceal His might from the nations that they see it not. Thereupon, God replies, “Let them see and be ashamed...”) This does not fit with the language, however, since it does not say, “Raise Your hand.” Moreover, this word differs from all similar words. Every יָד רָמָה is accented on the final syllable, whereas this one is accented on the first syllable. Comp. (Gen. 37:7) “Behold, my sheaf rose (קָמָה).” Comp. also (Ruth 1:9) “Behold your sister in law has returned (שָׁבָה).” All of these are in the past tense. This too is to be explained: The hand of Your might has been taken away from upon Your enemies so that they see not Your might for they have seen that their way has prospered. I beg of You, let them see and be ashamed.

רמה ידך בל יחזיון When Thy hand is lifted up¹¹רמה Is lifted up, that is, does not touch them or does not punish them. they will not see. יחזו ויבשו קנאת עם But they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; let them show their envy of Thy people, and be ashamed, אף אש צריך תאכלם And let the fire devour Thine enemies. Some explain the former phrase thus: Let them see Thy punishment inflicted upon all of them. According to this explanation, the phrase has the same meaning as the words אף אש צריך תאכלם yea, even the fire, which shall devour thine enemies.¹²A. V., They shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them.—The Hebrew text has קנאתך בבלם יחזו, which is perhaps to be altered into יחזו קנאתך בכל עם, since the difference between the two explanations is, that according to the first, עם refers to Israel, according to the second, to all other nations, so that קנאת עם is either the envy of the heathen people at Israel, or the punishment inflicted upon all people, that are enemies to Israel or to God.

the envy of a people Let them see the bounty that You shall lavish upon Your people, Even they themselves shall see the judgment of Your vengeance, that the fire (of envy) shall consume them.