Commentaire sur Zacharie 2:18

These are the horns These are the nations in the four corners of the heavens that gored Judah and Jerusalem with their horns until they scattered them.

four craftsmen Carpenters who know how to saw the horns. And our Rabbis explained in tractate Sukkah (52b) who they are.

And he said, saying, “These are the horns” that you first saw.

that scattered Judah and humbled them to the extent that no man lifted his head, and they did not allow anyone of My people to raise his head.

And these came These craftsmen came to cause those horns to quake and to cast them away.

to cast away לְיַדּוֹת

a measuring line A measuring line to measure Jerusalem, how much its length and its breadth shall be.

And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was coming forth He is the one with the measuring line in his hand.

Run, speak to this young man You shall no longer go forth to measure, for the Holy One, blessed be He, has taken counsel with His heavenly household [and decreed] that [Jerusalem] will not have a limit or a measure. And now, run and speak to Zechariah: It shall be inhabited like unwalled towns, without a wall, so that all who come there shall settle therein, and it shall grow from day to day.

But I will be for it as a shield, as though a wall of fire surrounds it. Also, My Shechinah shall dwell in its midst for your glory.

Ho, Ho! “Ho” is only an expression of proclamation and an announcement of assembly. And so did Jonathan render it: Announce to the scattered ones. אַכְלוּ means announce, as in (II Sam. 22: 14): “The Lord thundered from heaven,” which Jonathan renders: אַכְלוּ מִן שְׁמַיַּא

Flee from the land of the north The exiles of My people, [flee] from within Babylon and Assyria.

Ho, Zion! Flee This too is an expression of announcement: Assemble, O exile of Zion, and flee from the midst of Babylon.

After glory After your glory I am sent, to magnify your glory. And the Midrash Aggadah (Addendum to Tan. Buber, Devarim 4) states: After the honor - After I pay Esau for the honor that he bestowed upon his father.

Touches the pupil of his eye: This is one of eighteen [examples] of the scribal emendations (tikkun soferim). And some of them are brought in the Mekhilta in the section on "And in Your great pride"; and in the Sifrei, Parshat Beha'alotecha in the section on "And it was when the ark traveled." And they were all brought in the Midrash Yelamedeinu (Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 16:2), Parshat Beshalach, and in the Masoret at the beginning of the Order of Bemidbar and on Psalms 106. And these are them: The pupil of his eye; and you degraded it (Malachi 1:13); that his sons were cursing themselves (I Samuel 3:13); and I shall be a burden to myself (Job 7:20); my Holy One, we shall never die (Habakkuk 1:12); exchanged its glory for what can do no good (Jeremiah 2:11); They exchanged their glory for the image of a bull (Psalms 106:20); I will change their glory to dishonor (Hosea 4:7); and they condemned Job (Job 32:3); and Abraham was still standing before the Lord (Genesis 18:22); and let me not see my wretchedness (Numbers 11:15); who emerges from his mother’s womb with half his flesh eaten away (Numbers 12:12); Every man to his tents, O Israel (II Samuel 20:1) concerning Sheva ben Bikhri; to your tents, O Israel (I Kings 12:16); Every man to your tents, O Israel (II Chronicles 10:16) - and it appears that one needs to correct [the list] like this, and like I found it in a manuscript of the Masorah, as otherwise, there are two less than [eighteen] - and my soul is bowed down within me (Lamentations 3:20); Perhaps the Lord will look upon my poverty (II Samuel 16:12); and they thrust the branch to their nostrils (Ezekiel 8:17). To here [is the list]. And regarding the understanding of scribal emendations, there is someone that wrote that the men of the Great Assembly emended and changed the word from that which was written originally. And at first glance, it appears like this in Midrash Yelamedeinu. And so did Rabbi Natan, the author of the Arukh write in the entry, kaved, regarding scribal emendations - that in the original books, it was written, "the pupil of My eye." And likewise is it implied in Midrash Rabbah in the beginning of the Order of Bo el Paro. As it is found over there - Rabbi Yehoshua says, "It is a scribal emendation: It is written, 'in My eye.'" And likewise in Parshat Mishpatim (Shemot Rabbah 30:15), it explained the expression, beloved is Israel, like the pupil of the Highest eye, as it is stated, "for the one who touches you, touches the pupil of his eye" - these are the scribes and the sages who fixed (emended) this. And the author of Matanot Kehuna brought this understanding in Bereshit Rabbah 49 and also in Bemidbar Rabbah 20: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the evil Balaam, "I wrote about Israel, 'for the one who touches you, touches the pupil of My eye,' and you go to touch them and to curse them - let his eye come out!" For it is stated, "of the opened (shetum) eye" (Numbers 23:3). And the author of Matanot Kehuna explained [about] the pupil of his eye, that [the midrash] expounded the way it was written (keri), his eye, about one who touches (injures) himself - meaning to seal (yisatem) his eye (vision). But this understanding [of scribal emendations] is not correct in the eyes of the commentators. For God forbid that we should believe that the scribes added or subtracted or changed even one letter from that which is written in the Torah. And just the opposite, this would be called a fool's emendations; and God should spare the seed of Abraham from doing so. Moreover [Rabbi Yosef Albo] wrote (Sefer HaIkkarim, Maamar 3:22:5) that there is no man in the world who would forge a book and say, "I forged it," or "I emended such and such." So how could they say, "This is a scribal emendation?" But rather the main understanding is like that which the Rashba wrote - that the scribes and the sages were exacting and found that, according to the content of each and every one of these verses, the main intent was not like that which is written in Scripture, but rather that there is a slightly different intent. And it should not have been written like this, but rather like that; except that Scripture reworded it. And they only called them scribal emendations since they were exacting and explained that these are euphemisms, and Scripture itself substituted [them] like this. And so wrote the author of the Halikhot Olam, Rabbi [Eliyahu] Mizrachi, the author of Yafeh Toar [on] Parshat Vayera, and other authors besides them. And this is close to that which the author of the Ikkarim wrote in Maamar 3, Chapter 22. And this is truly the intention of Midrash Yelamedeinu, as it stated, "'Touches the pupil of his eye.' 'My eye' should have been stated; however, the text reworded it - as it were - [from] the Above. And the end of the statement (Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 16:3) also proves the beginning, when it says, "except that the men of the Great Assembly reworded these verses. Hence they are called scribes (soferim) - because they counted (soferim) all the letters in the Torah and expounded them." Behold it is clear that the sages and the scribes were exacting and interpreted that Scripture is speaking by way of euphemism. And they have the power to interpret like this - just like the Torah was given over to the sages to expound according to their wisdom and their tradition - but not to add or subtract even a single letter. And see further that which Mizrachi wrote on Parshat Beha'alotecha, about "and let me not see my wretchedness," in the name of an old book. And I also found this in the book, Klalei HaTorah that was written by Rabbi Yosef Karo and that is [published] adjacent to Halikhot Olam - these are his words: And that which we say, scribal amendments, etc., Rabbi Yehudah, may his memory be blessed, wrote that it means to say that they were written in the Torah in the way of the emendations of scribes who refine what they write, that it be honorable. For example, King David would command a quick scribe to write that David is commanding x to do this and that; behold, the scribe would refine the expression of the verse, such that it say, "King David is commanding x." To here are [his words]. And in the Masoret (which indicates the unadulterated text) on Parshat Mishpatim, it is found - a note: there are nine [appearances of] "his eye" and one of "and his eye"; and one of [the ones listed] is "the pupil of his eye." And what I have missed here in explaining the main intent of the verses, I will complete on each and every one in its place, according to the hand of the Lord, my God, upon me. However, I have gathered them altogether here in order that they all be found in one place for the one that wants to see them.

and they shall be prey, etc., to Israel, who are now slaves to them.

And many nations shall join shall join.

shall join – Then many idolaters will join to the Lord and will be His nation, believing in Him. Nevertheless, I will dwell among you and not among the many idolaters: and you shall know – Then, when He causes His Presence to dwell among you alone, you will know that the Lord sent me to you. That is to say, the primary purpose and cause is spoken in regard to you:

And the Lord shall inherit Judah as His inheritance and His share.

Silence all flesh All the rest of the nations.

for He is aroused An expression [denoting] arousal and awakening.