Commentary for Isaiah 6:10
הַשְׁמֵן֙ לֵב־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה וְאָזְנָ֥יו הַכְבֵּ֖ד וְעֵינָ֣יו הָשַׁ֑ע פֶּן־יִרְאֶ֨ה בְעֵינָ֜יו וּבְאָזְנָ֣יו יִשְׁמָ֗ע וּלְבָב֥וֹ יָבִ֛ין וָשָׁ֖ב וְרָ֥פָא לֽוֹ׃
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, and understanding with their heart, return, and be healed.’
Rashi on Isaiah
This people’s heart is becoming fat [This structure] הַשְׁמֵן resembles (Exodus 8:11), “And making his heart heavy (הַכְבֵּד),” an expression of a continuous action. Their heart continuously becomes fatter, angrajjsant in O.F., and his ears are becoming heavier and heavier, [i.e., harder and harder] of hearing.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
השמן Make fat. According to some it is infinitive, like הקטר To burn incense (1 Sam. 3:16); and הׇשַׁע likewise, like הׇרַע To do evil (Lev. 5:4); but this cannot be so, because of the conjunction פן lest.16Since the part beginning with lest is the secondary sentence, the preceding must be the principal one; and השמן ,השע, the verbs of the principal sentence, cannot be Infinitives. They are all rather imperative forms. We know that the prophet cannot make the heart fat; he shall only declare their heart to be so; there are many instances like it.
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Rashi on Isaiah
and his eyes are becoming sealed Plastered, comp. (infra 44:18) “For their eyes are plastered from seeing.” הִטּוֹחַ (Leviticus 14:43) is translated into Aramaic as דְאִתְשַׁע. We, thereby, equate the two words הָשַׁע and טָח.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
הׇשַׁע Shut. Comp. תשעינה Will be shut (32:3). In Chaldee, this word שעה has the same meaning.17Comp. Lev. 14:42, 43, and the Chaldæan translation. The imperative Hiphil ought to be הֶשֶׁע like הֶרֶף, but the guttural letter ע causes the alteration; the form הָשַׁע can also be derived from a verb (שעע) ע״ע
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Rashi on Isaiah
lest he see with his eyes They intended not to hearken to the words of the prophets, for they fear lest His words please them, and they will understand with their heart, and return to Me, and this will be their cure.
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