Commentaire de citation sur Ézéchiel 37:19

The fourth question is the phrase "She has fallen and will rise no more, virgin of Israel" (Amos 5:2). This makes it seem that the tribes won't return from their exile. Which is in direct contradiction to many other prophecies including Isiah who described the ingathering of the exiles of Israel and the scattered ones of Judah as it says (Isaiah 11:13) "and Efraim will not be jealous of Judah..." and this concept of the ingathering of Israel is repeated in detail and explained in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:19) "I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in the hand of Ephraim—and of the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place the stick of Judah upon it and make them into one stick; they shall be joined in My Hand" and then says "And I will make them into one nation in the land in the hills of Israel and they will have one king and will not longer be two nations or divided into two kingdoms again. And in the end of the book the prophet discusses the division of the land of Israel to each and every tribe. So how could these prophecies be accurate if the tribes of Israel were not be returned.

Yaakov continues with אסרי, this King Messiah, when he arrives, will tie together two vines, i.e. the Kingdom of Yehudah and the Kingdom of Ephrayim who had been bitter competitors until then, as predicted in clear language by Ezekiel 37,19 ועשיתם לעץ אחד”so that they will become a single stick.” The reason Yaakov chose the expression אסרי for this kind of unification can be well understood when we read in Hoseah 10,10 באסרם על שתי עוונותם, an expression used by the prophet when referring to these two kingdoms. The most effective union, one that is least likely to come undone, is the one described in Hebrew by the verb אסר and קשר respectively. עירה and בני אתונו, refer to the King Messiah of whom it has been said in Zecharyah 9,9 that he will appear riding on an ass, on a donkey foaled by a she-ass. Yaakov continues with כבס ביין לבושו, here the word לבושו is an alternate for בגדו a word also used in Psalms 45,9 an expression used in Kohelet as describing one’s words of wisdom and one’s good deeds. In other words, tangible phenomena that we are familiar with are used as substituting for meta-physical, abstract concepts by our sages and patriarchs. Yaakov refers to ביין with the vowel patach under the letter ב, meaning a specific wine as distinct from wine generally. The fragrance of good wine envelops the people who drink it. Compare Hoseah 14,8 זכרו כיין לבנון, “His scent is like the wine of Lebanon.” The wine Yaakov speaks of is well known for its fine bouquet. A similar reference to the fragrance of wine occurs in Song of Songs 7,10 וחכך כיין הטוב, “and the breath of your mouth is like the choicest wines.” We believe that the thrust of these allegorical interpretations is that if ever Yehudah were in difficulties in matters physical, then spiritual mental faculties should compensate for what he could not accomplish in the natural way. This is the definition of the Messiah in Isaiah 11,2 “the spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him; a spirit of wisdom and insight; a spirit of counsel and valor, a spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.” The prophet continues.והריחו ביראת ה' ולא למראה עיניו ישפוט ולא למשמע אזניו יוכיח ושפט בצדק דלים והוכיח במישור לענוי ארץ והכה ארץ בשבט פיו, וברוח שפתיו ימית רשע. “He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the Lord. He shall not judge what his eyes behold, nor decide by what his ears perceive; thus shall he judge the poor with equity and decide with justice for the lowly of the land. He shall strike down with the rod of his mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.” ובדם ענבים סותה, Yaakov mentions the appearance as something comparable to how it appears after it has been laundered, whereas he describes the wine as symbolic of a pleasant fragrance but here he uses it in connection with the external appearance of something. All these hyperboles are just that, a parable.