Commentary for Isaiah 34:4

And all the host of heaven shall melt They shall be frightened when I cast down the princes of the heathens.([Mss. yield:] the princes of the nations.) ([Warsaw edition:] of Assyria and Babylon.)

And all the host of heaven, etc. When the fatal day approaches to man, the sun darkens to him, as it is said in the description of the approaching death (Koh. 12:2). I think, that by these words the support is to be understood which each nation receives from its representative above; comp. Dan. 10:20.⁴This is a part of the Kabbalistic theory, which is, in some respects, the development of the Neo-Platonic philosophy; it gives to the material world below its image, its abstract form, above, and attributes to these heavenly images real life and the power to govern the world below. Those images, or ideas, are called angels, or the princes above, or by similar names.

shall be rolled (וְנָגֹלּוּ) an expression of rolling. And the heavens shall be rolled like a scroll. Jonathan renders: And they shall be erased from beneath the heavens, as it is stated about them in the Book. But I explain it according to the context, for now, the kingdoms of the Ishmaelites (the nations [ms.]) (the wicked [Warsaw ed.]) have fortune and light. When they are erased and destroyed, it will be as though the world has darkened for them, as though the sun and the light are rolled up like the rolling of a scroll.

ונמקו And shall be dissolved. Niphal of מקק to dissolve. ונגלו And shall be rolled together. Niphal of גלל to roll; comp. מגלה roll (Jer. 36:28)

withers (יִבּוֹל) withers.

and as a withered [fig] from a fig tree The withered fruit of a tree is called נוֹבְלוֹת. This is what our Rabbis (Ber. 40b) explained: What are ‘noveloth’? Fruit ripened in the heater, that become ripe in the heater. After they are picked, he gathers them and they become heated and ripen.