פירוש על יחזקאל 22:1

will you judge the city of bloodshed Jerusalem.

and let her know The “heh” in והודעתה is pointed, so that the meaning is, “and let her know.”

O city that sheds blood in her midst, her time is approaching This is a transposed verse, and this is its meaning: A city that sheds blood in her midst the Lord God said that its time is coming.

O city that sheds blood – The primary sealing of judgment came through the blood that was spilled in the midst of the city, through which ‘her time is approaching’ and the time of her extinction. Aside from this bloodshed, she worshiped idols and did other abominations to make herself unclean, as will be explained:

and makes idols Like “and which makes idols, etc.”

up to your years The decree of (Deut. 4:25): “and you will have grown old,” with its numerical value, which Moses said.

and [a subject of] gossip Heb. וְקַלָסָה, gossip, that everyone will speak about you, parlediz in Old French, [subject of] gossip.

will gossip about you And what is the gossip?...whose name is so befouled This is she who befouled her name, for they were called a holy people, sons of their Creator, and they caused themselves to be called (Isa. 6:5) “a people of unclean lips.”

each one by his own arm Whoever was stronger overpowered [the other].

Father and mother are held light in you All the abominations in the section of (Lev. 19, 20) “You shall be holy,” about which they were warned, are enumerated here.

My holy things have you despised And not as I said (Lev. 22:29): “you shall slaughter it as an expression of your good will.”

and in you they have eaten upon the mountains and on the mountains they have worshipped in you to pagan deities.

1 The intention of this slander was that the person about whom it was said would be killed

they have held wicked plans Heb. זִמָה, plans of wickedness.

and enriched your neighbors with dishonest gain You made your friends rich with the dishonest gain that you gained dishonestly from the poor. Another explanation: וַתְּבַצְעִי is a form of a word for robbery, like (Ps. 10:3): “and the robber (וּבֹצֵעַ) blesses himself for having blasphemed the Lord.” Accordingly, its interpretation is: and you robbed your friends with affliction.

I clapped My hands together I cried out, “Woe!” and lamentation.

over your dishonest gain Here we learn that robbery is more severe than all of them, for their verdict was sealed because of it.

that I will deal with you That I will deal with you according to your deeds.

and I will make...completely disappear And I will end.

And you shall be profaned within yourself Heb. וְנִחַלְתָּ בָּךְ, you shall be profaned within yourself for what you have done.

dross A mixture of dross mixed in silver and gold, and it is necessary to smelt it in fire to refine it.

a furnace in which gold is refined.

Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I gather you together¬ – He gathered them together in order to send them into exile, because through this the good among them will be sorted out and be a remnant and a remainder in their exile, as it says “The Lord showed me two pots of figs…” (Jeremiah 24:1) It explains there that the exile of Yochanya was like good figs, because He sent them to Babylon for the good as a saved remnant, separating them from the bad figs which remained behind and were a curse.

As they gather silver As the silversmith gathers all the dross into the furnace.

to blow Heb. לָפַחַת, to blow (לְנַפֵּחַ).

to melt Heb. לְהַנְתִּיךְ. (Exod. 25:12) “and cast (וְיָצַקְתָּ)” is translated into Aramaic as וְתַתִּיךְ.

it was not rained upon on the day of fury The rain fit to cleanse it on the day of fury was not given it, and the explanation of the matter is as the Targum paraphrases: Good deeds were not performed in her which would protect her on the day of curse.

There is a conspiracy of her prophets Heb. קֶשֶׁר [lit. a knot]. They are joined together in an evil counsel.

they devoured souls For they would take bribes and strengthen the hands of evildoers to kill and plunder and rob, and then they would prophesy peace for them.

riches Heb. חֹסֶן, money.

robbed My Torah It was incumbent upon them to reprove, to instruct, and to make known statutes and ordinances, but they did not do so. This is robbery, for they robbed it from those who needed to learn.

and I was profaned in their midst Heb. וָאֵחַל, and I was profaned.

for the sake of dishonest gain To seize money.

plastered for them with daub They are like those who plaster a building with plaster that is not completely processed, which has no straw; it dissolves by itself when rain falls on it. The expression תָּפֵל means anything that is lacking preparation.