Commentary for Isaiah 45:2
אֲנִי֙ לְפָנֶ֣יךָ אֵלֵ֔ךְ וַהֲדוּרִ֖ים אושר [אֲיַשֵּׁ֑ר] דַּלְת֤וֹת נְחוּשָׁה֙ אֲשַׁבֵּ֔ר וּבְרִיחֵ֥י בַרְזֶ֖ל אֲגַדֵּֽעַ׃
I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron;
Rashi on Isaiah
and I will straighten out crooked paths Heb. וַהֲדוּרִים אֲיַשֵּׁר. Jonathan renders: I will level the walls. Comp. (Shab. 77b) “the surrounding area (הדר הדרנא),” since the wall surrounds the city. The word may also be explained as: I will straighten out crooked paths before him.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
I. The support of God or the heavenly prince of Persia is to be understood;1This remark of I. E. is intended to smooth the anthropological expression I (God) will go before thee. Two explanations are given; the first substitutes for I the expression my support; the second assigns these words to the angel, the messenger of God, who speaks of God sometimes in the first, sometimes in the third person. Comp. c. xvi. Note 7. comp. Dan. 10:20.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
והדורים The crooked places. It is the opposite of ישר straight. Some derive it from הדר glory;2According to this derivation the mountains are called הדורים the glorious, majestic part of the earth, because of their rising above the rest of the surface of the earth.—הרר of the Hebrew text is a corruption of הדר. it means mountains, and is as to its form either adjective or participle passive.3By this remark I. E. means to say, that strictly speaking, we have to supply here the noun, to which הדורים is an attribute.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
דלתות The doors4A, V., The gates. that are in the gates of the city.
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