Comentario sobre Isaías 28:30

the drunkards of Ephraim who would become intoxicated with the wine of the state of Prugitha, as (the Rabbis) stated (Shabbath 147b): The water of Damascus and the wine of Prugitha robbed away the ten tribes.

The drunkards of Ephraim. The princes¹According to I. E. שכרי אפרים the drunkards of Ephraim, is in apposition to עטרת נאות the crown of pride, which he explains to signify the royal crown, and by metonymy, the kings or princes. indulged in wine.

and the young fruit of an inferior fig is the position of his glory And the position of the planting of his glory - the young fruit of his blossom shall be inferior figs (נֹבֵל) They are the spoiled figs, as we learned in Berachoth (40b): For noveloth. And our Sages explained: Burned by the heat. young fruit (צִיץ) synonymous with נֵץ, as the Targum renders: (Num. 27:13) וַיָּצֵץצִיץ, “and it produced young fruit,” as וְאָנֵץ נֵץ.

צבי Beauty. Comp. 4:2.

which is planted at the head of a valley of fatness That is Kinnereth, whose fruits are sweet, and there they crush themselves with wine.

Crown. The royal crown, the king.

crushed with wine הֲלוּמֵי יַיִן. This may also be interpreted as follows: צבי תפארתו אשר על ראש וכו', (his glorious beauty, which is, etc.): His glorious beauty, which is on the head of the ten tribes, anointed with pride with the best oils, as it is said (Amos 6:6): “With the best oils they anoint themselves.” גֵּיא is an expression of pride, as (supra 16:6): “Moab, they have become very proud.” (And that blossom will be like a wilting blossom) crushed by wine. So he calls them because of their drunkenness, and it is said concerning them (Amos 6:6): “Those who drink with basins of wine.”

ראש The best.²A. V., The head of the fat valleys.²A. V., The head of the fat valleys. Comp. ראשי בשמים the chief spices (Song 4:14). ניא שמנים Valley of oil. There was so much of it, that it was like a valley full of oil. Comp. בגיא in the valley (Deut. 3:29). Others compare נֵּיא with נֵּא proud (16:6), and say that the radical ה is omitted.³Root גאה.—The difference in spelling, גֵּיא (with י) and נֵּא (without י) is entirely overlooked.

הלומי Overcome. Comp. הלמוני they have smitten me (Prov. 23:35)

Behold The Lord has a strong and powerful wind, which is like a downpour of hail and a storm of קֶטֶב מְרִירִי, bitter destruction.

חזק Mighty. Attribute to יום day, or חיל host, which is to be supplied.

He lays it on the land with [His] hand He shall place it on their land with His strong hand and cast down the inferior figs from fig trees.

שער קטב. The כ in כזרם refers also to שער: As a destroying wind.

קטב Destruction. Comp. קטבך thy destruction (Hos. 13:14).

הניח לארץ He cast down to the earth. God sent those storms and caused them to visit the earth. ביד With the hand. With His mighty hand.

עטרת Crown. Singular form but plural sense; there are many instances of this usage.

as a fig that ripens before the summer like the ripening of the young fruits of an inferior fig.

ציצת נובל The blooming of the blossom which will fade away,⁴A. V., A fading flower.—I. E. supplies ציץ blossom, or עלה leaf, plant, because of the incongruity of the feminine ציצת and the masculine נובל. There is besides, according to his opinion, a contradiction between a fading flower, and the glorious beauty, which he believes to be in apposition to the former; he explains therefore נובל to have the meaning of a participle future that will fade away, and for a similar reason, השדודה (Ps. 137:8): that will be destroyed. The latter expression is explained by him differently in his commentary on the Psalms (ad locum).—comp. בת בבל השדודה O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed (Psa. 137:8)—or the blossom of the fading plant, and this is better.

before the summer the time of the ripening of other figs, which, because of its early ripening, he pounces on it and swallows it while it is still in his hand. So (Dan. 9:14), “He hastened the evil and brought it upon us.”

כבכורה As the hasty fruit. As the fig that ripens before any of the summer fruit comes.

On that day When the transgressors are destroyed.

In that day, etc. This will be just the reverse of the fate of the crown of Ephraim; for the kingdom of the Lord will appear in Zion.

for a crown of beauty for the remaining righteous men among them.

And for a spirit of justice will the Holy One, blessed be He, be, i.e., to teach justice, to him who sits in judgment.

To him that sitteth in judgment. To the judges. God will strengthen them. אל השער ═ שערה.

and for might will He be for those who bring back the war, the war of Torah.

To the gate. שערה משיבי מלחמה. Some explain: who turn the battle away from the gates. R. Moses Hakkohen renders the passage thus: (God will give strength to those) who have escaped,⁵According to the first explanation השערה (lit. to the gate) is very strangely the same as מן השער (lit., from the gate). The literal translation of the phrase according to the other opinion is: those who turn the battle to the gate, that is, those who come back in their flight to the gate to defend the town against the besieging army. and this is the right explanation.

These too who sit in judgment and return the war in this generation, i.e., the best and most esteemed among them, erred because of wine, for now there is no good in them.

They also, etc. There are also some of the men of Judah that have erred through wine, etc.

they erred against the seer They mocked the words of the prophets. Jonathan renders: with eating delicacies, which they saw as a pleasure to them.

The priest, whose duty it is to teach; the prophets, whose duty it is to exhort the people.

they caused justice to stumble (פָּקוּ פְּלִילֶיהָ), they caused justice to stumble.

בראה In the words of the prophet,⁶A. V., In vision. who rebukes the people; בדברי הראה ═ בראה.

פָּקוּ is an expression similar to (Nahum 2:11), “The stumbling (פִּיק) of knees”; (I Sam. 25:31) “A stumbling block (פּוּקָה).”

פקו פליליה, they pervert judgment; by the subject they the judges are meant, and the verb פקו has a transitive meaning; or the words of the judgment are unstable,⁷A. V., They stumble in judgment. דברי the words of being supplied. I prefer this latter explanation; for פקו is intr.; comp. ופיק ברכים, and the tottering of the knees. (Nahum 2:11.

For all tables I.e., all their tables are of sacrifices for the dead, i.e., the pagan deities, which are like vomit and ordure.

For all tables are full of vomit, etc. This is usually the case with drunken people.

without a place (I.e.) the mind cannot tolerate them.

בלי מקום So that there is no place, which is not full, etc.; comp. עד אפס מקום until there be no place, (5:8). קיא צואה Asyndeta. They are covered with filthiness from the top to the bottom.

Whom shall he teach knowledge Perhaps to babes who know not to understand, since the adults have turned to an evil way?

Whom shall he teach knowledge, etc. When the prophet is about to reprove them, no one understands him; for because of the wine they have not their reason; they are like little children.

those weaned from milk separated from milk.

שמועה Doctrine. A noun.

removed from breasts (עַתִּיקֵי) an expression similar to (Gen. 12:8), “And he removed (וַיַּעְתֵּק) from there.” Alternatively, separated from the Torah, which is called milk, and removed from breasts, removed from before Torah scholars.

גמולי Those that are weaned. This form can be both the absolute state of the noun as well as the construct; comp. השכוני באהלים they that dwell in tents (Judg. viii., 11).⁸I. E. means to say that the plural in the absolute state has sometimes the ending ־ֵי; but he is not of opinion that the two forms of the noun for the absolute and construct state are used promiscuously. Comp. I. E. on 15:1, and ibid. Note 2.

עתיקי Drawn. An adjective of the same root as ויעתק and he removed (Gen. xii., 8)

For a precept for a precept, a precept for a precept The prophet commands them from the Holy One, blessed be He, but they - they have a precept of the idols, equal to this precept, and the prophet repeatedly admonishes them, and they always say, “We have a precept for the precept.” Ours is superior to yours.

For there is a commandment for a commandment: Because of the pleasure and due to the abundance of material possessions they are so far from the commandments of God that it has become necessary to add commandments to the commandments of God. This is to say, to make more and more 'fences' and 'walls' for the commandments of God. And then more 'fences' and 'walls' must be made for the first 'fences' and 'walls' and another commandment.

For precept must be upon precept, etc. One must speak to them in the same way as the father speaks to his little child, that does not yet know much.⁹Some editions have שלא ירע עוד that he should not continue to do evil, but according to I. E. the prophet describes here the mode of imparting knowledge to infants. The Br. Mus. MS. has שלא ידע עוד, and this reading has been adopted for the translation.

a line for a line They have a plumb-line of wicked judgments equal to the plumb- line of justice.

צו לצו Precept after¹⁰A. V., Upon.¹⁰A. V., Upon. precept, or precept joined to precept.

a little there, a little there The prophet says to them, “In a short time evil will come upon you,” and they say, “A little there, let Him hurry, let Him hasten His deeds in a short time.”

Line for a line. Based on the plumb lines that are used to keep a building straight; that is why a 'fence' (literally, a watch guard) is called a plumb line. This is to say that it is now required to make another watch guard for the previous watch guard.

קו לקו Line after line. This is just the way how writing is taught.

Here a little and there a little. Little by little, gradually.

With distorted speech (בְּלַעֲגֵי שָׂפָה) Similarly, לְעָגִים and (infra 32:4), עִלְּגִים, are both expressions of distorted speech, which is not readily grasped.

בלעני שפה With laughing¹²A. V., Stammering. lips. Comp. לענ derision (Ps. lxxix., 4). The teacher speaks to the child in a laughing and mocking way.

he speaks to this people Everyone who speaks to them words of prophecy or admonition is to them like a distorted language, which they cannot understand.

And with another tongue. The teacher usually tries to substitute letters which are easy to pronounce for the more difficult ones; in the same manner the prophet must speak, when he rebukes this people.

For he said The prophet said to them, “This is the rest,” that you should have rest, “give rest to the weary,” that you shall not rob him, “and this” shall be “tranquility” for them (var. for you).

He said. The prophet said.

This is the rest, etc. Jerusalem is the place of your rest; there procure rest for the weary; he shall not take refuge in Assyria or Egypt.

המרנעה The refreshing. Comp. מרגוע rest (Job 6:16); both words are substantives. According to the grammarian of Jerusalem¹³This author is mentioned by I. E. several times, but always without his name. Comp. Moznaim, Introduction: וחכם ירושלמי לא ידענו שמו And a learned man from Jerusalem, whose name I do not know. מרגעה is a participle.¹⁴Participle Hiphil of רגע; lit.: that which gives rest.

אבו ═ אבוא They would. Comp. ההלכו ═ ההלכוא who went (Jos. 10:24)

And the word of the Lord shall be, etc. According to their measure, He shall mete out to them; He shall decree upon them with His word upon them, a precept of the nations that enslave them, upon a precept, a command upon a command, labor upon labor; a line of retribution commensurate with the line of sins that they committed (lit., in their hand); קַו לָקָו, derived from קוה, a hope instead of a hope; they will hope for light, and behold, there will be darkness.

But the word of the Lord was unto them, etc. They indeed thought that the word of God itself was of no importance; it was only a school-exercise to them.¹⁵The word of God is compared with the lessons in reading and writing given to children. The meaning of the words are in that case immaterial. In the same way the people thought that the divine prophecies were only exercises of style and composition, either for the prophets in delivering, or for the public in hearing, them. That they might go¹⁶לא in למען לא ילכו of the Hebrew text is superfluous; the following quotation: Woe unto, etc., proves that the words to Egypt, contain the explanation of I. E., not the comment of the people on the words of the prophet. to Egypt. Comp. Woe to those that go down to Egypt, etc. (31:1), a portion of this same prophecy.¹⁷From c. xxiv. to c. xxxv. is, according to R. Moses Hakkohen, whom I. E. seems to follow, one continuous prophecy concerning the Assyrian invasion and the destruction of the army of Sennacherib.

a little there, a little there In a short time, it shall come upon them, and they shall become few there in the land of their enemies.

the allegorists of this people who express their scorn as an allegory, such as:

Ye scornful men, that say mockingly, that the words of the Lord are like precept upon precept, etc.

מושלי According to some, they that rule; comp. ממשלה dominion; but better, the poets; comp. המשלים they that speak in proverbs (Num. 21:27)

We made a treaty with death that it come not upon us.

We have made a covenant with death. We shall not die now.

we have made a limit a boundary that it should not cross. Comp. (Ps. 117:30) “the boundary (מְחוֹז) of their desire,” similarly (I Kings 7:4), “An edge opposite an edge (מֶחֱזָה אֶל מֶחֱזָה). They are all an expression of a boundary and an extremity of a thing, asomajjl in O.F.

חזה An agreement. R. Moses Hakkohen says that חזות (ver. 18) signifies a kind of prophecy; but how can he apply this explanation to the phrase ¹⁸I. E. says that, although חזות in the phrase וחזותכם את שאול לא תקום (ver. 18) might be explained to signify prophecy, and the whole sentence to mean: And what you prophesied concerning the grave will not be fulfilled, it is impossible to find that sense in the phrase ועם שאול עשינו חוזה, which has evidently the same meaning; חזות and חוזה are therefore explained by the assumption of an ellipsis, to be the same as ברית חזות and ברית חוזה, a covenant of a prophecy and a covenant of a prophet; that is, a covenant like that made by divine inspiration.?עשינו חזה I think that חזה means prophet, and explain עשינו חזה to be the same as עשינו ברית חזה We have made a prophet’s covenant, a covenant like that made by divine inspiration.

an overflowing scourge a scourge that travels throughout the land.

שוט שוטף An overflowing scourge, that is, famine; or better, the scourge of an overflowing stream; שוט נחל שוטף ═שוט שוטף.

it shall not come upon us (יְבוֹאֵנוּ), the usual form for a transitive verb with a direct object. It shall not come upon us.

כי Although. Comp. Ps. 41:5

we have made lies We have made idolatry.

our shelter (מַחְסֵנוּ) our shelter.

and in falsehood have we hidden ourselves We have hoped in idols to conceal us.

Behold, I have laid a foundation This is the past tense. Comp. (Esther 1:8) “For so had the king established (יִסַּד).” And so must it be interpreted: Behold, I am He Who has already laid [a stone in Zion. Already] a decree has been decreed before Me, and I have set up the King Messiah, who shall be in Zion as an אֶבֶן בּוֹחֵן, a fortress stone, an expression of a fortress and strength. Comp. (infra 32:14) “A tower and a fortress (וּבֹחֵן).” Comp. also (supra 23:13) “They erected its towers (בַּחוּנָיו).”

הנני יִסַּד I will lay the foundation. יסד is an adjective,¹⁹יסד and שבח, according to I. E., may also be considered as participles of the Piël, the preformative מְ of the Piël and Pual being sometimes dropped. derived from a Piel like אִבַּד he hath destroyed (Lam. 2:9).²⁰The Piël past has two forms, פִּעְל and פִּעַל; it is with the latter that יִסַּד is compared, and therefore אִבַּד is quoted. Comp. Zahoth, On the Piël. Comp. ושבח אני and I praise (Koh. 4:2); which is likewise transitive.

a foundation well founded (מוּסַד מוּסָּד). The first one is voweled with a pattah because it is in the construct state, a foundation of a foundation, which is a solid foundation.

בחן Tower.²¹A. V., Tried. Comp. ובוחן and towers (32:14). Zion will be protected against the King of Assyria.

the believer shall not hasten Whoever believes this word shall not hasten it. He shall not say, “If it is true, let it come quickly.”

מוסד מוסד A sure foundation. The first מוסד is a noun, meaning foundation; it is a genitive, governed by the preceding noun יקרת the value of; the second is a participle Hophal, like מוסב; the ס has therefore a Dagesh, as a substitute for the omitted silent letter (ו).²²The Hebrew text has לבלוע הכפל to compensate for the omission of the duplicate; this does not refer to the ד, since the root is not סדד, but to the omission of ו, which is also noticed by the Masora; there should be two ו, one the mater lectionis, the other the first letter of the root. Comp. Zahoth, On the Hiphil.

Shall not make haste. For this prophecy refers to a very remote future.

And I will make justice the line Before the advent of that king, I will bring decrees upon you to end the transgressors among you, and I will make the judgment of chastening to the line; i.e., I will make the line the standard of chastening (var. the line of My standard, chastening), to bring upon you, and righteousness I will make that it should be the plummet that straightens the building of walls, i.e. that righteousness shall go before them and straighten their ways, that the transgressors shall be destroyed and the righteous shall remain.

To the line, to the plummet. The figure, taken from the line and plummet of the builders, is used because of the words I will lay the foundation. Some are of opinion that Hezekiah is meant by the tried stone.

and hail shall sweep away the shelter of lies That covering that you said, “For we have made lies our shelter,” I will bring hail and it shall sweep it away. (וְיָעָה) is an expression of sweeping. Comp. (I Kings 7:40) “the shovels (הַיָּעִים)” with which they scoop up the ashes from the stoves.

ויעה ברד And the hail shall sweep away. Comp. היעים the shovels. ברד the hail is the subject to יעה, which is a transitive verb;²³What I. E. means by this additional remark, that יעה is transitive is not clear; it can hardly be otherwise. by hail the King of Assyria is here meant.

the hiding place concerning which you said, “And in falsehood have we hidden ourselves,” the water shall flood it, i.e. I will bring a multitude of nations that will break your monuments and your graven images. The expression of מִשְׁפָּט mentioned here is jostise (justice) in O.F.

וסתר מים ישטפו. Repeat כזב falsehood after וסתר; And the waters shall overflow the hiding-place of falsehood; or supply אלה these: And the waters will overflow the unstable hiding-place.²⁴In the Hebrew text the words וכן הוא וסתר מחסה מים ישטפו are without sense; there is no occasion whatever for the addition of מחסה, since מחסה וסתר is nearly the same as וסתר. But comparing this verse with ver. 15, we find that the word next to מחסה, namely כזב, is probably to be repeated. In the second explanation סתר מים, the hiding-place of water, סתר כזב ═, the hiding-place of falsehood, ═ the false or unstable hiding-place; and the literal translation of the whole phrase is: and the hiding-place of waters, these (the waters) will overflow. This latter interpretation is supported by the accents which join מים with סתר.

And your treaty with death shall be nullified The treaty about which you said, “We have made a treaty with death,” shall be nullified. Every expression of כַּפָּרָה, atonement, is really an expression of wiping or removing something. Compare (Gen. 32:21): “I shall appease (אֲכַפְּרָה) his anger,” (lit., I will wipe away his anger.)

וכפר And shall be disannulled. Comp. יכפרנה he will pacify it, that is, will annul or remove it. וברית חזותכם═וחזותכם And your prophetical agreement.²⁵A. V., And your agreement.

and your limit which you said, “With the grave we set a limit.”

והייתם Then you shall be.

an overflowing scourge which you said, “will not come upon us,” you shall be trampled by it.

The ו has the same force as فَ in Arabic;²⁶To introduce the apodosis when the protasis precedes; the phrase השלשי ביום is treated as the full sentence ויהי ביום השלשי When the third day came. comp. וישא ביום השלישי on the third day, then Abraham lifted up (Gen. 22:4)

every morning I.e., I will always bring decrees upon you.

That it goeth forth. That the overflowing river²⁷The overflowing scourge of the preceding verse. goeth forth.

and it shall be sheer terror to understand the message Terror for all those who hear, to understand the messages of the harsh retributions that I will bring upon you. All who hear shall quake.

זועה Vexation. It is not the same as זעוה (Deut. 28:25), with transposition of letters, as many²⁸Among them I. E. himself in his commentary on Deut. 28:25. think; but it is derived from זוע to tremble, to move; comp. ולא זע and he moved not (Est. 5:9); the ו in the middle is analogous to the ו of מָוֶח death. The meaning of the whole phrase is: Whoever hears of you, of what has befallen you, will be afraid.

For the bed is too short for one to stretch When I bring the enemy upon you, he shall press you so that you will not be able to supply his work. When he spreads out his bed upon you, it will be too short for the one who lies on it to stretch.

המצע The mattress,²⁹A. V., The bed. which is underneath in the bed.

to stretch (מֵהִשְׂתָּרֵעַ) to lengthen one’s limbs, estandejlejjr in O.F.

מהשתרע than that a man can stretch himself on it. Comp. שרוע superfluous too long (Lev. 22:23).

and the ruler it shall be narrow (וְהַמַּסֵּכָה) The prince who will rule over you - your place will be cramped for him when he enters it. Our Rabbis, however, expounded it as referring to the idol that Manasseh brought into the heichal, (the Temple proper) (II Chron. 33:7). This bed is too short מֵהִשְׂתָּרֵעַ, for two friends to rule over it. I explained it according to its simple meaning, and in this manner Jonathan rendered it. The Midrashic interpretation of our Rabbis, however, can be reconciled with the context. I.e., why do I bring this retribution upon you? Because the bed is too narrow for Me alone to stretch out on it, as it is said (I Kings 8:27): “Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You.” Surely, when you bring in a molten image with Me, so to speak, the place is too narrow for us.

המכסה═המסכה The covering.

בהתכנס It is Infinitive of כנס to assemble; comp. כנוס gather together (Est. 4:16); and means When many gather together under it.³⁰A. V., Than that he can wrap himself in it. The figure refers to the people and its rulers.³¹Both the people and its rulers fail to give each other comfort and protection.

For like the mountain of breaches Jonathan paraphrases: For, just as the mountains quaked when the glory of the Lord was revealed on the day of King Uzziah, (supra. 6:4,) and as the miracles He performed for Joshua in the valley of Gibeon (Jos. 10:12f) (to punish the wicked who transgressed His word,) so shall He be revealed to punish those who perform (strange deeds, strange are their deeds, and those who worship pagan deities, strange is their worship).

As in mount Perazim, known by the wars of David (2 Sam. 5:20); the place was called בעל פרצים place of breaches, because the Philistines were suddenly defeated there in a miraculous way.

strange is His deed He will seem to you as a stranger, for He will bring upon them ([all other editions:] upon you) harsh retribution.

As in the valley of Gibeon (Jos. 10:12), where sun and moon stood still. That He may do His work, His strange work. In the same way God will make a strange war against Israel, such as was never heard of before.

and to perform His work (וְלַעֲבֹד עֲבֹדָתוֹ) like work of the soil, ‘laborer’ in O.F.

And bring to pass His act, His strange act. A mere repetition of the preceding idea, not an exceptional instance.

And now, do not scorn saying, “We have made a treaty with death.”

מוסרותיכם ═ מוסריכם Bands.

your pains (מוֹסְרֵיכֶם) your pains.

ונחרצה Even determined. Comp. חרצת thou hast decided (1 Kings 20:40)

Hear my voice, hear my speech. Parallelism.

all day This is the interrogative. Therefore, it is voweled with a hataf pattah.

Doth the plowman, etc. The plowman tills the ground once and twice, and sows, then the earth by its natural power brings forth the increase.

shall...plow One who plows to sow - does the one who plows to sow plow forever? If so, what does he accomplish? Similarly, the prophets admonish you to bring you back to do good deeds. Shall they admonish forever and not accomplish?

יפתח He opens, וישדד and he breaks the clods, that is, he prepares the field; comp. Hos. 10:11. יפתח and וישדד are a repetition of the same idea in different words.

Shall he open and harrow his soil? Shall he never sow but always open the soil with plowshares and plowing implements? יְשַׂדֵּד is an expression of work of the field. Shall he open and harrow? First he makes wide furrows and later he makes small furrows. This we learned in the Midrash of Rabbi Tanhuma.

Is it not so that the plowman, as soon as he plows, smooths the surface of the soil and afterwards sows.

שוה He hath made plain. Derived from שוה equal; comp. נשתוה alike (Prov. 27:15).

he scatters the black cumin If he comes to sow black cumin, he sows it by scattering it, and if he comes to sow cumin, he sows it by casting it. קצח is a kind of food.

קצח A kind of cummin, but smaller and black.

and he places the prominent wheat, and the barley for a sign, and the spelt on its borders And if he comes to sow grain, this is his custom. He sows the wheat in the middle of the furrow, and the barley he sows around it for a sign, and the spelt he sows on the borders of the field [and its boundaries]. שׂוֹרָה is an expression of ruling (שְׂרָרָה). He sows it in the center, and it appears ([printed editions] is found) to rule over the barley and the spelt.

שורה According to some, good; according to others, with measure; comp. במשורה with the measure (Lev. 19:35), and this is right.

ושערה And barley. It is well known.³²This remark seems to be quite superfluous, especially since חטה did not enlist any such observation from the commentator. The words השעורה ידוע in the Hebrew text, present two other difficulties; firstly, the fem. ידועה is required; secondly, the repetition of שעורה is not the usual style of I. E. The two words contain most probably the explanation of נסמן, and are a corruption of בשעור ידוֹע, in a well-known measure.

נסמן Marked. Comp. סימן sign.

נבלתו In its place. Comp. מגבלות measured³³This explanation is given in the abridged commentary on Exodus, but in the large one he declares it too hard to find the exact meaning of the expression. A. V., At the ends. (Ex. 28:14)

And He shall chasten him justly Likewise, he whose God directs him, He shall not send prophets forever to admonish him. Since he does not heed admonition, He shall chasten him with judgments of chastening in order that the toil of His admonition will help, like the one who smoothes the surface of the earth to sow, in order that the toil of his plowing that he plowed shall succeed.

ויסרו For the Lord instructed him.³⁴A. V., For his God doth instruct him. The Lord has already instructed him, who sows and scatters the seed, and taught him how to do it.

למשפט According to the custom,³⁵A. V., To discretion. I. E. seems to lay stress on the definite article in לַמּשפט according to the usual well-known custom. to do as it is usually done; comp. כמשפט after the manner (Num. 29:32). His God doth teach him. The same.³⁶The same as ויסרו למשפט. I. E. does not explain the change of the tense in the two verbs; the first (וְיִסְּרוֹ) being past, the second (יוֹרֶנּוּ) future; ויסרו could also be explained to be future by the conversive ו, but I. E. paraphrases it כבר יסר, hath already instructed him.

with a grooved [implement] That is a wooden implement, made with grooves, and its name is מוֹרַג, a threshing-board, and one cuts the straw with it to be straw fodder.

בחרוץ With a threshing instrument. Comp. 41:15.

For not with a grooved [implement] do they thresh the black cumin, for its seed is easily extracted from within its straw, and, likewise, on cumin they do not turn the wheel of a wagon to thresh it, because the black cumin is easily beaten with a staff and the cumin with a rod.

יסב Neither is turned about. Repeat לא, the negation of the first part of the verse, before יוסב

Bread grain is crushed And whom (sic) do they crush with harsh implements? The bread of grain (sic), because it is not easily beaten.

Bread corn is bruised. It is customary for bread corn to be bruised.

but it is not threshed forever This כִּי is used in the sense of ‘but.’ But they do not crush it forever, [because they will not crush the seed kernels forever for them to be threshed to be crushed through the threshing-board and the wagon wheel].

אדוש To thresh. The א is prosthetic, as in אזרועך thine arm (Jer. 32:21).

and the wheel of his wagon shall break and its separators And when they turn the wagon wheels over to crush it and thresh it, even the wheel breaks, and the remaining implements of the wagon with it, that separate the grain from its straw, he will not crush it, and the wheat is not crushed to be ground. be threshed (אָדוֹשׁ יְדוּשֶׁנּוּ. The repetition is peculiar.) Comp. (Ezekiel 31:11) “He will deal (עָשׂה יַעֲשֶׂה),” also (supra 22:18): “He shall wind you around (צָנוֹף יִצְנָפְךָ).” And this ‘alef’ comes instead of a ‘heh’. Comp. (II Chron. 20:35) “And afterwards Jehoshaphat joined (אִתְחַבֵּר),” like הִתְחַבֵּר. Here too, אָדוֹשׁ[is like] הִדּוֹשׁ, and Menahem classified it in this manner (Machbereth p. 68).

והמם And he turneth, etc.³⁷A. V., Nor break it with a wheel of his cart. I. E. does not refer to this phrase the negation in the beginning of the verse. And when he turns the wheel of his cart to till the field, his horsemen will then not break it (the corn), for God has appointed every thing for its proper season; therefore the prophet continues This also cometh from the Lord, namely, that he shall not bruise it always.

This too, etc. This too, like the custom of threshers of grain and those who flail black cumin and cumin, comes forth from the Holy One, blessed be He.

הפליא עצה Who is wonderful in counsel.

He gave marvelous counsel to show you hints in the manner of riddles and with an allegory, marvelous and obscure, for, just as with the cumin and the black cumin, with which they do not deal harshly by overthreshing them because they are easily flailed, so, if you would hasten to accept reproof, He would not bear heavily upon you with decrees, but since you are hard to accept reproof, like the grain that is hard to thresh, therefore, He will mete out heavy punishment upon you ([printed editions] - He will make it very heavy for you), but He will not strive and smite forever, ([certain editions]He will not strive and crush forever to destroy) just as one does not thresh forever, and His arrows and His blows shall terminate but you shall not terminate, in the manner that the wagon wheel breaks, but the wheat is not crushed. [If, however, you were easily destroyed, he would not test you with harsh afflictions, like the flax merchant, when he knows that his flax is of high quality, he beats it.]

תושיה הגדיל Who is great in wisdom.³⁸A. V., Excellent in working. R. Moses Hakkohen derives הושיה from יש substance.³⁹Comp. Commentary (assigned to I. E.) on Prov. 2:7: The wisdom is called תושיה, substance, because it is true substance, it is everlasting.—The nature of the earth and the seeds is better than the character of man, who hears the words of the prophet without any profit The reverse⁴⁰To listen to the words of the prophet with advantage. is expressed by a similar figure: Let my doctrine drop like rain, as I explained (Deut. 32:2)