Musar sobre Isaías 43:10

אתם ראיתם את אשר עשיתי למצרים. According to tradition the word אתם occurs four times at the beginning of a verse. The three other instances are 1) (Exodus 5,11): אתם לכו קחו לכם תבן מאשר תמצאו, "You, go and take yourselves straw from wherever you can find it;" 2) (Deut.29,9): אתם נצבים היום כולכם לפני ה' אלוקיכם; "You are all standing upright in front of the Lord your G–d this day." 3) (Isaiah 43,10): אתם עדי נאום ה' ועבדי אשר בחרתי למען תדעו ותאמינו לי ותבינו כי אני הוא, לפני לא נוצר אל ואחרי לא יהיה. "My witnesses are you, -declares the Lord- My servant whom I have chosen. In order that you may believe in Me, and understand that I am He; before Me no god was formed, and after me none shall exist."

When G–d spoke of the Israelites being His witnesses in Isaiah 43,10, this was an allusion to the good G–d will perform for the Jewish people in the days of the Messiah when He will renew the covenant with us -one that will never be severed- and one which will symbolise that Israel has been totally refined, both the patriarchs and their descendants. At that time the השגחה will be based on the Israelites being צדיקים בני צדיקים, righteous people descended from righteous people. Our sages have stated in Avot 4,19: "Nothing is in our hands: we can neither explain the prosperity of the lawless nor the sufferings of the righteous."