Commentary for Isaiah 4:9

And they shall take hold of.

Seven. That is, many; seven is used in this sense because it is the number of the days of the week.¹Because the days are only counted to seven, this number is the highest of a series of numbers, and it has often been used to express the idea of a great quantity. All this (that is mentioned in this verse) will happen in consequence of the death of the male persons in battle.

Now seven women shall take hold of one man because of the many widows.

take away Heb. אסף [lit., gather in,] hide our reproach, similar to (Deut. 22:2): “And you shall gather it (ואספתו) into your house.” For the woman, when she is married, will not be dealt with licentiously. According to Midrash Aggadah, (Lamentations Rabbah 5:11) Nebuchadnezzar commanded (or decreed upon) [his armies] not to have relations with married women, lest they be punished. They, therefore, begged to be nominally married.

On that day After the beauty of the ornaments of the adulteresses and the wanton women is curtailed, the glory of My people and the beauty of their honor will no longer depend upon these things.

The branch of the Lord. Some refer this to Hezekiah; I think that it signifies the righteous portions of the inhabitants of Jerusalem that will be saved.

the sprout of the Lord shall be to you for beauty.

צבי Beauty (comp. Ez. 20:6); according to some, desire; comp. the Chaldæan יצבא he desires (Dan. 4:14). R. Moses Hakkohen takes it literally:²According to R. Moses Hakkohen, the branch of the Lord ═ the branch, which grows by the will of the Lord. God will send his blessing upon the plants and fruits.

for beauty and for honor They are the righteous who remain among them, and the sages, the students of the Torah; upon them will they depend the beauty of their honor.

and the fruit of the land They are the children of the righteous, the fruit of the Tree of Life. They shall be for greatness and glory, for the survivors of Israel will boast and praise themselves with them. צְבִי means ‘beauty,’ an object of desire, for there is desire in it.

And it shall come to pass, that every survivor among them will settle in Zion.

That is written, etc. I shall explain this in the minor prophets (Mal. 3:16).³The words referred to are כתוב בשמים מכתב לא ימחק, What is written by God is a writing which can never be erased. It is a figurative expression for: it is quite sure, it is immutable.

and whoever is left anywhere, shall dwell in Jerusalem.

“holy” shall be said of him All of them will be righteous. Now lest you say that the righteous who died prior to this day have lost their honor, the Scripture states: “anyone inscribed for life,” in the Hereafter, will be in Jerusalem.In this manner, Jonathan translates it.

When the Lord shall have washed away Heb. אִם [usually “if.”] When the Lord shall have washed away. There are instances of אִם being used in this manner in the usage of כִּי ; and so (Job 8:18): “But when (אִם) men destroy him from his place,” is [equivalent to] כִּי יְבַלְּעֶנּוּ. Also (Gen. 24:9): “Until when (אִם) they will have finished drinking.”

אם For or when.—The remainder will be called holy, when the Lord will have washed away all these from Zion.

filth Defilement, as its Aramaic translation; i.e. to say, when He will remove their iniquity through chastening and purging from the world.

ידיח Shall have purged; comp. ידיחו they shall wash (Ez. 1. 38).

He shall rinse Heb. יָדִיחַ, an expression of ‘washing’ in the language of the Mishnah, and in Scripture (Ezek. 40:38): “There they will rinse (יָדִיחוּ) the burnt offering.”

בער Removing;⁴A.V., Burning. comp. ובערת And thou shalt put away (Deut. 21:21)

with a spirit of judgment through chastening. ‘spirit’ [is equivalent] to talant in O.F. When He so desires to judge them.

and with a spirit of purging to purge them from the world, בָּעֵר is like לְבָעֵר, to purge, descombrement in O.F., an expression of doing, going.

וְעַל מִקְרָאֶהָ and over those summoned therein.

a cloud by day and smoke to protect them from the nations.

for, in addition to every honor stated to them, shall be a shelter, for I will cause My Shechinah to cover them. Seven chupoth [shelters or canopies] are [mentioned here]: cloud, smoke, splendor, fire, flame, shelter, Shechinah.

And a tabernacle shall be for shade...from heat to protect from the burning of the future sun, as it is said in regard to the wicked (Malachi 3:19): “And the coming sun shall set them ablaze,” for the Holy One, blessed be He, will take the sun out of its case, and cause it to burn them.

and for a shelter Heb. וּלְמַחְסֶה. [This is] an expression of covering.

and for a covert in which to hide.

from stream of fire gushing forth from the river of fire on the wicked in Gehinnom, as it is said (Jeremiah 23:19): “On the heads of the wicked it shall rest.” [This is found] in Tractate Chagigah 13b.

and from rain the rain that falls on the wicked, as in the manner stated in Psalms 11:6: “He rains on the wicked burning coals.”