Commentaire de citation sur Isaïe 41:21

and an army of broken people fall by his signals Heb. חלכאם, an army of broken people. I saw in the great masorah that חלכאים is one of fifteen words that are written as one word and read as two words, as is בגד in the verse (Gen. 30:11) commencing “And Leah said.” Also (in Deut. 33:2), “a fiery Law (אשדת) is to them”; (Isa. 3: 15), “What do you mean (מלכם) that you crush My people?” Also this word means חל כאים, an army of broken people. כאים is an expression of (below 109:16) “and a broken-hearted one (ונכאה לבב) to kill.” If you say that the “nun” is the radical, (Ezek. 13:22) “Because you have broken (הכאות) the heart of the righteous” will prove that [it is not]. We learn that the “nun” of נראה is like the “nun” of (I Sam. 15:9) נמבזה and the “nun” of (Jer. 6:14) נקלה, and so is its interpretation: and...fall by the signals of this wicked man, with his hints and his winks, an expression of (Isa. 41:21) “present your signals (עצמותיכם).” and (ibid. 33:15) “and closes (ועצם) his eyes,” an army of poor people. Another explanation: בעצומיו, by his mighty men. Said Rabbi Simon: This wicked man puts into his “callirus,” meaning army, only mighty men like himself, as it is said (in Dan. 3:20): “And he commanded the mighty warriors who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- nego” (Mid. Ps. 10:5). However, Menachem, (p. 89) interprets חלכאים as “poor and weak (וחלך),” the “chaf” being a radical.

(If) I declare all my strong reasons (of complaint) They look and gaze upon me: – Then if I come to declare my troubles before their great ones, arising from the way their underlings oppress me, they, the great ones, look at me and they gaze upon me with the eye of scorn and hatred. They look (upon me) is here used like “Look not upon me because I am swarthy” (Song of Songs 1:6); “that they may look at thee” (Ezek. 28:17), where the expression (ראוה) has the sense of looking at with contempt and mockery. עצמתי (my strong reasons) is used here as in “Produce your cause, saith the Lord, bring forth your strong reasons (עצמותיכם)” (Is. 41:21). There are, however, those who interpret עצמותי (here) quite literally as from עצם (bone), and explain אספר from the sense of מספר (number); and then its interpretation will be: Because of my great weakness I can count all my bones and they look and gaze upon me, meaning upon my flesh and woeful appearance, and they mock me.

and it separates contentious people Heb. עצומים, these are the litigants, as in (Isa. 41: 21): “‘present your strong points (עצמותיכם).’” As their pleas are strong, they are called עצומים, either an expression of strength or an expression of closing, as in (ibid. 33:15) “and closes (עצם) his eyes.”