Commentaire de citation sur Ézéchiel 31:3

The Midrash (Tanchuma Vayera 15) uses this verse to remind us of Ezekiel 17,24: “Then shall all the trees of the field know that it is I the Lord who have abased the lofty tree and exalted the lowly tree, who have dried up the green tree and made the withered tree bud. I the Lord have spoken, and I will act.” According to this Midrash the prophet referred to Sancheriv when he spoke about G’d “abasing the lofty tree,” seeing that in Ezekiel 31,3 Ashur (Sancheriv’s country) is described as “a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches of lofty stature.” On the other hand, the words: “I have exalted the lowly tree,” are a reference to the Jewish people who debased themselves as we know from Maleachi 2,9: “I too have made you despicable and vile in the eyes of all the people...said the Lord of Hosts.” The words: “I have dried out the green tree,” are a reference to Avimelech of whom the Torah said that G’d had closed up all his orifices, whereas the words “and I have made the withered tree bud,” refer to Sarah. The words: “I the Lord have spoken and I have acted,” refer to our verse in which G’d is reported as having remembered Sarah.
As to the choice of the word והשם, “and the Lord,” Rabbi Yitzchak said: we find that the Torah writes in connection with the Sotah, the wife suspected of infidelity who had secreted herself with another man (Numbers 5,28), “but if the woman had not defiled herself and remained pure, etc.” Such a description fits Sarah who had been alone with Pharaoh in Egypt and Avimelech in the land of the Philistines and had retained her purity on both occasions. Such a woman had certainly established a claim that G’d should remember her. This is why the paragraph starts with the prefix ו, i.e. “and” in front of the word השם, “The Lord.”

Wenn man einen Wald. חורש = Dickicht, Wald, Jes. 17, 9. Ez. 31, 3.

החרש The tree.¹³A. V., Bough. Comp. Ezek. 31:3.

He would dandle them He would dandle them with partial consolations. And so did our Sages (Pesikta d’Rav Kahana p. 1 27a) explain it: The Holy One, blessed be He, does not smite a nation and leave it desolate, but He brings misfortune to one and dandles it with its fellow that suffered already, and it is consoled thereby. He brought misfortune upon Assyria and dandled it with Egypt, as it is said (Nahum 3:8): “Are you better than the great No- Amon?” He brought misfortune upon Egypt and dandled them with Assyria, as it is said (Ezek. 31: 3): “Behold Assyria was [a cedar] in the Lebanon.” The words להן שוע may also be interpreted as: Prayer and supplication avail them.