פירוש על ישעיהו 57:22

The righteous man such as Josiah.

The righteous perisheth, etc. There is nothing but the deeds of these evil shepherds; the righteous are gone, And no man layeth it to heart to consider, why do the righteous perish, and those wicked people remain alive; but the prophet gives the answer to this question: The righteous is taken away from the evil to come, that he should not see the evil that is coming over Israel and the holy city.

but no one takes it to heart why he departed.

with no one understanding what the Holy One, blessed be He, saw to take him away.

that because of the evil destined to befall the generation, the righteous man perished.

He shall come in peace for so says the Holy One, blessed be He, Let this righteous man come to his forefathers in peace, and let him not see the evil.

יבא שלום He shall enter into peace, etc. The righteous shall come in peace to his grave; comp. Thou shalt die in peace (Jer. 34:5); And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace (Gen. 15:15).

they shall rest in their resting place when the evil occurs, he who was walking נְכֹחוֹ, in his uprightness. Comp. (Amos 3:10) “To act rightly (נְכֹחָה).”

ינוחו על משכבותם הלך נכחו They that walk before Him, shall rest in their beds.¹A. V., They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. Comp. אחרי יי אלהיכם תלכו ye shall walk after the Lord your God (Deut. 13:5). Some explain the verse thus: Peace and tranquillity shall come to them, and they that walk, etc.²According to the first explanation בשלום ═ שלום in peace, and the subject הצדיק the righteous must be supplied, which is the subject to יבא as well as to ינוחו; to the latter in a collective sense. According to the second explanation שלום is the subject to יבוא, and שלום together with השקט tranquillity (which must be supplied), the subject to the plural form ינוחו, they shall rest. But whence we have to get the supplementary השקט is not explained.

נִכְחוֹ ═ נְכֹחוֹ Before Him. The form of nouns varies.³I. E. supposes here the form נֹכַח ═ נֶכַח, although it is not found in Scripture. Comp. I. E. on 9:3, Note 4.

And you, draw near hither The survivors after the righteous have departed, and receive your sentences.

Draw near, Ye my people, house of Israel, for judgment. The Lord addresses Israel.

children of sorcery Heb. בְּנֵי עֹנְנָה, children of sorcery.

בני עוננה Ye sons of the sorceress. Comp. ועננים and sorcerers (2:6).

children who commit adultery That the male commits adultery.

זרע מנאף The seed of the adulterer, that is, of the adulterous father.

and played the whore the female.

ותזנה And the whore, the adulterous mother.^3aותזנה is either an elliptical phrase and of her that is a whore or a noun (זונה ═ תזנה) with the prefix וְהַ ═ וַ and the. The sense of the whole is: Men and women, both are bad.

On whom will you [rely to] enjoy yourselves Since you have turned away from following Me, on whom will you rely to enjoy yourselves with good. Had you merited, you would then enjoy yourselves with the Lord, but now, on whom will you rely to enjoy yourselves?

Against whom do you sport yourselves, to ask what good he has done unto us.

against whom do you open your mouth wide when you scorned and mocked His prophets.

You who inflame yourselves among the terebinths Who stimulate themselves with semen under the אֵלִים, they are the terebinth and the oak.

הנחמים באלים The best of the various explanations of this phrase is that it refers to idolatry;⁴The noun אלים signifies here trees under which idols were worshipped. See Rashi and Targum ad locum. הנחמים Who are conceived, similar in form to הנצבים that stood (Gen. 45:1), is the Niphal of יחם to conceive; comp. בכלּ יַחֵם whensoever (the stronger cattle) did conceive (Gen. 30:41). This expression is the description of children of transgression (ver. 4); comp., And in sin did my mother conceive me (Ps. 51:7).

who slaughter the children for a sacrifice to the idols.

שחטי הילדים Slaying the children in honour of the idols; comp. ואשחט and I pressed⁵I. E. read שֹחֲטֵי instead of שֹׁחֲטֵי. (Gen. 40:11). They act like a harlot that kills her children.

clefts Heb. סְעִפֵי, the clefts of the rocks. Comp. (Jud. 15:11) “to the cleft (סְעִיף) of the rock.”

בחלקי Among the smooth stones. Comp. חלוקי אבנים smooth stones (1 Sam. 17:40). Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion. They seek for smooth stones to shape them into idols.

Of the smooth [stones] of the valley [Lit. of the smooth ones of the valley, i.e.,] among the smooth stones that are in the valley.

אנחם Shall I regret,⁶A. V., Should I receive comfort in these? the evil with which I intend to afflict thee. Some consider אנחם to be Hithpael and explain it: Could I receive comfort? But it is not necessary to depart from the usual meaning of אֶנׇּחֵם.⁷Shall I alter my mind? Shall I regret? Comp. I. E. on Gen. 6:6.

your portion With them they will stone you.

they, they are your lot to be saddened with them. Why? For to them too you have poured out libations.

in the face of these shall I relent from doing harm to you?

you placed your couch The couch of your adultery to idolatry on the high mountains.

Upon a lofty and high mountain, etc. Like a harlot that commits adultery in an open place, that is, publicly.

And behind the door and the doorpost you have directed your thoughts Since he compares her to an adulterous woman, for whom her paramours look and wait before the door of her house, while she, lying beside her husband, directs her heart and her thoughts to the door and the doorpost, how she will open the door and come out to them.

Behind the doors also, etc., that is, also privately.

for while with Me, you uncovered [us] and went up You were lying beside Me, and you removed the cover with which we were covered together, and you went up from beside Me.

זכרונך Thy scent.⁸A. V., Thy remembrance. Comp. וזכרו the scent thereof (Hos. 14:8); אזכרתה a sweet savour (Lev. 2:2).

you widened your couch to accommodate many adulterers.

Thou hast discovered thyself, etc., that is, thou hast behaved like a harlot. גלית מאתי Thou hast discovered thyself of me,⁹A. V., Thou hast discovered thyself to another than me. who covered thee.^9aThat is, God told them not to go after vain things, but they abandoned His advice and worshipped idols.

and made for yourself a covenant with them.

Thou art gone up, to commit whoredom publicly.

you loved their couch when you chose for yourself יָד, a place, to demonstrate to them your love.

Thou hast enlarged thy bed, to fit it for more than one.

a place Heb. יָד, aise or ajjse in O.F., a side. Comp. (II Sam. 14: 30) “See Joab’s field is near mine (עַל יָדִי).”

ותכרת is here used instead of ותכרתי as ותוכל instead of ותוכלי thou couldest (Jer. 3:5). ותכרת לך מהם And made thee a covenant with them. Thou hast chosen for thy friends those,

אהבת משכבם whose bed thou lovedst,¹⁰A. V., Thou lovedst their bed. whom thou desiredst to lie with thee.

יד חזית In every place which thou sawest.¹¹A. V., Where thou sawest it. It has the same meaning as בכל מקום אשר תראה in every place, which thou seest (Deut. 12:13)

And you brought a gift to the king with oil Heb. וַתָּשֻׁרִי. Originally, I aggrandized you, and you would greet your king with all sorts of delights. וַתָּשֻׁרִי is an expression of an audience. Comp. (Num. 24:17) “I see him (אֲשׁוּרֶנוּ) but he is not near.” [Also] (I Sam. 9:7), “And there is no present (תְּשׁוּרָה) to bring,” [i.e.,] a gift for an audience.

ותשרי וגו׳ And thou gavest,¹²A. V., And thou wentest. etc. There is yet another evil, says the Lord, to Israel; thou hast not only worshipped idols, thou hast also sent presents to the kings of Assyria or Egypt, and hast relied on them.¹³Comp. c. xxx. and xxxi.; Hos. 14:4; 2 Kings 16:8, 17:4. As to the meaning of ותשרי and thou gavest a present, comp. ותשורה and a present (1 Sam. 9:7); R. Moses Hannagid¹⁴R. Moses Hannagid is probably identical with R. Moses Hakkohen. Hannagid means the prince, and is a title given to men of distinction. derives תשורה from שור to see, and explains it to signify the fees for the vision and prophecy; according to this explanation ותשרי may be compared with אשורנו I shall see him (Num. 24:17), and explained thou didst go to see him.

and you sent your ambassadors Your messenger afar to collect tribute from the heathen kings. ([Manuscripts and K’li Paz read:] the kings of the nations.)

With oil. Oil was exported from Palestine.

and you humbled the laws of the heathens (of the nations [Mss. and K’li Paz]) to the grave. Jonathan rendered it in this manner.

ציריך Thy messengers.

זתשפילי And didst debase thyself.

With the length of your way you became wearied You engaged in your necessities, in the filling of your lust, to increase your wealth.

In the greatness of thy ways, which thou didst frequent, and in which thou hast wearied thyself, without saying: נואש there is no hope, my heart is despairing;¹⁵I. E. supplies the masculine noun לבי, my heart, as the subject to נואש. (comp. שאול ונואש ממני and Saul shall despair of me (1 Sam. 27:2)); thou thoughtest that thy exertion might still be of some use.

you did not say, “Despair.” I will despair of these and I will no longer care to engage in them, but I will pay my attention to Torah and precepts.

חית The life, that is, the strength. Thou hast found the life of thine hand, when thou hadst wearied thyself; therefore thou wast not grieved.

The power of your hand you found Heb. חַיַּת, the necessity of your hand you have found; you have succeeded in your deeds.

therefore, you were not stricken ill Your heart was not stricken ill to worry about My service, to engage in the Torah. חַיַּת is an Arabic word, meaning necessity.

And whom did you dread Of whom were you afraid?

And of whom hast thou been afraid, etc. What hadst thou to fear from an enemy and to be afraid of him for, so as to lie, and not to think of me.

that you failed Heb. תְּכַזֵּבִי, that you ceased to worship Me and you betrayed Me. Comp. (infra 58:11) “Whose water shall not fail (יְכַזְּבוּ).” Comp. also (Psalms 116:11) “Every man is a traitor (כֹּזֵב).” Falajjnc in O.F., to fail. Likewise, every expression of כָּזָב means one upon whom people rely, and he fails and betrays them.

מחשה is a causative verb, and means silencing. אני מחשה ומעולם I silence, even of old,¹⁶A. V., Have not I held my peace even of old. those that lie; this I am doing now, and have always done. It is, however, possible to explain the words ואת מי דאגת ונו׳ when hast thou feared me, etc.;¹⁷One can hardly see how the meaning when can be found in the words מתי ;ואת מי is perhaps a corruption of את מי, and the meaning of I. E.’s remark would in that case be, for whom hast thou been afraid of me ? but I prefer the first explanation. Some compare אני מחשה with החשתי I have holden my peace (42:14), and explain it I held my peace, I forbore; it is in that case an anthropomorphism.

Indeed, I am silent I kept silent in the face of many transgressions that you transgressed against Me.

I tell your righteousness Constantly, I tell you things to do, so that you will be righteous.

צדקתך Thy righteousness in words.

and your deeds that you do against My will shall not avail you at the time of your distress.

And thy works they shall not profit thee, because they are bad; thou hast trusted to others beside me.

When you cry out, let your collections save you Let the collection of your idols and your graven images [and those who deny the Torah] that you collected, rise and save you when you cry out from your distress. Indeed, wind will carry all of them off, and they will not rise, neither will they be able to save.

קבוציך Thy companies, which thou hast brought together for thy assistance. קבוציך lit., those gathered by thee, is an adjective, in form like למודי taught of (54:13).¹⁸That is, the pupils of. Comp. c. iii. Note 5.

But the wind shall carry them all away, etc. This is a figurative expression for they will perish and not see the salvation which is coming from the Lord.

And he that putteth his trust, etc. We see here how this chapter is connected with the preceding; comp. whosoever keepeth the Sabbath etc. (56:6).¹⁹I. E. seems to consider the keeping of the Sabbath as a sign of our trust in the Lord, since he finds in the words and he that putteth a trust in me a reference to the words that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it.

And he shall say, “Pave, pave” So will the prophet say in My name to My people, “Pave, pave a paved highway, clear away the evil inclination from your ways.”

ואמר And it will be said. Lit., and shall say the subject, האומר he who will say, הקורא he who will call, or הכרוז the proclamation is to be supplied.²⁰Comp. I. E. on 2:4, Note 5.

remove the obstacle Remove the stones upon which your feet stumble; they are wicked thoughts.

סלו Remove the stones from the path. The repetition of סלו indicates, that this proclamation is to be made repeatedly.

My people, that is, those that worship the Lord; comp., there is no peace to the wicked (ver. 21).²¹The expression עמי my people must, therefore, be limited to the good of the people of God; only for them are all these happy events predicted.

“With the lofty and the holy ones” I dwell, and thence I am with the crushed and the humble in spirit, upon whom I lower My Presence.

רם ונשא The high and lofty. He whose name is high and lofty.²²Instead of attributing the properties high and lofty directly to God, I. E. connects them with the name of God, in order to attenuate the anthropomorphism.

humble...crushed Suffering from poverty and illnesses.

עולמי עד═עד Innumerable worlds; עד signifies that which cannot be counted; eternity.²³I. E. repeatedly gives this paraphrase of עד, but does not explain how it is drawn from the word עד. It would be equally strange to suppose that עד is the beginning of a sentence which is to be supplied, namely, עד שלא יוכלו לספור; a similar ellipsis is suggested by I. E., for the phrase עולם ועד עולם═עולם ועד Comp. I. E. on Ex. 15:18; Ps. 9:6. That resteth for ever. This is a distinctive attribute of God, since all creatures move, the stars also change their places, and even the soul.²⁴The Hebrew text has the words גם לכוכבים יש תנועה כנשמה also the stars move like the soul; but it can hardly be found what I. E. meant by these words. We have, perhaps, to read גם לנשמה instead of כנשמה, as has been emended for the translation, or בשמים in the heavens. In the latter case, the meaning of the phrase would be, that even the stars, which are, according to the opinion of I. E., more stationary and durable than the earth and the creatures below, move about in their exalted places.

I dwell in the high and holy place, with the angels above. ואת דכא ושפל רוח And with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit on earth, I dwell, to revive the spirit, etc.; or, I dwell in the high and holy place above with the angels in order to give life to those humble people on earth.²⁵According to the first explanation we have to repeat the verb אשכון after ואת דכא ושפל רוח; according to the second the verb להחיות must be supplied.

For I will not contend forever If I bring afflictions upon a person, My contention with him is not for a long time, neither is My anger forever.

I will not contend with Israel.

when a spirit from before Me humbles itself Heb. יַעֲטוֹף. When the spirit of man, which is from before Me, humbles itself, confesses and humbles itself because of its betrayal. Comp. (Lam. 2:19) “humbled (הָעֲטוּפִים) with hunger,” “when the small child and the suckling are humbled (בֵּעָטֵף).” And the souls which I made.

Neither will I be always wroth; for I have created the spirits, and the spirit that comes from me should be humble.²⁶This is the reason why God will not be always wroth; He expects that the souls, His own work, shall approach Him with humility and prayer, and He will no more be wroth.

when a spirit from before Me Heb. כִּי. This instance of the word כִּי is used as an expression of “when.” Comp. (infra 58:7) “When you see (כִּי תִרְאֶה)”; (Deut. 26:1) “When you come (כִּי תָבוֹא).” That is to say, when his spirit is humbled, and he is humbled, I terminate My quarrel and My anger from upon him.

The souls which I made. Repetition of the same idea.

יעטף Should be humble.²⁷A. V., For the spirit should fail before me. When he is over-whelmed. Comp. כי יעטף לעני of the afflicted, when he is humble (Ps. 102:1)

For the iniquity of his thievery Heb. בִּצְעוֹ, his thievery.

ואכהו And smote him, namely, my people (ver. 14), or him that is of a contrite and humble spirit (ver. 15). It is the imperfect, for which the Hebrew language has no special form.²⁸Comp. I. E. on 1:21, and Note 43.

I became wroth at the beginning and I smote him, always hiding My face from his distress and I was wroth for he went rebelliously in the way of his heart. Transpose the verse and explain it thus: For the iniquity of his thievery and the fact that he went rebelliously in the way of his heart, I became wroth and smote him.

I hid me. I hid my face when I smote him with my hand. It is a figurative expression for I smote him without pity. הסתר lit., to hide is infinitive.

וילך שובב He went on returning,²⁹A. V., He went on frowardly. with frowardness and obstinacy, in the way of his heart, that is, in his evil ways. שובב is used in a bad sense.^29aשובב is derived from שוב to return, to repeat, and means repeating perseveringly, but is always used in the Bible in a bad sense, while the verb שוב is chiefly used in a good sense: to cause to return to God or to the good way.

I saw his ways when he humbled himself before Me, when troubles befell him.

I have seen his ways, etc. This verse proves that my opinion concerning this book is right.³⁰The punishment of the Israelites, which consisted, according to I. E., in the Babylonian exile and their slow improvement, are described here in the past tense: Was I wroth, he went on frowardly in the way of his heart, I have seen his ways, but the promised deliverance in the future tense: and will heal them, etc.; I. E. infers from this that at the time when the prophet uttered this prophecy, the Babylonian exile was already expiring, and that the prophet consequently did not live in the time of King Hezekiah, but was a contemporary of the Persian King Cyrus, and of Zerubbabel. His ways, that is, his repentance, or his innate evil inclination; comp. for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21).³¹According to both explanations the expression דרכיו his ways is different from the preceding ררך לבו the way of his heart, which refers to his evil doings. By his ways the prophet means, according to I. E., either his proper ways, the ways which he should go, that is, the way of repentance, or his natural character, his natural weakness in resisting temptation.

and I will heal him, and I will lead him Heb. וְאַנְחֵהוּ. I will lead him in the way of healing. Alternatively, וְאַנְחֵהוּ is an expression of rest and tranquility.

And I will heal him, and I will lead him also. He is like an invalid, that has no strength to go by himself.

him and his mourners to those who are troubled over him.

And I will restore comforts unto him for the calamity that had befallen him.

And to his mourners, that is, to his friends; people usually begin to mourn when they see their sick friend dying.³²That is, before he is actually dead. Israel was in exile, and was considered by his friends as already entirely lost, without hope of recovery. I. E. explains by this comparison the expression ולאבליו and to his mourners, which is only used in case of death.

[I] create the speech of the lips I create for him a new manner of speech. In contrast to the trouble that befell him, and everyone was degrading him, they will call, “Peace, peace.”

בורא The Creator. It is generally explained to refer to God, and the verb אמר said is supplied. Were it allowed to depart from the common explanation, I should suggest to take בורא in the sense of decreeing; comp. ובורא חשך (45:7).³³Comp. I. E. on 45:7, 40:28, Note 61, and on Gen. 1:1.

to the far and to the near Both are equal; he who aged and was accustomed to My Torah and My worship from his youth, and he who drew near now, just recently to repent of his evil way. Said the Lord, “I will heal him of his malady and of his sins.”

ניב Fruit Comp. תנובות fruits (Deut. 32:13). By fruit of the lips the speech is meant. The meaning of the whole verse is: Proclaim, Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near; announce, that the Lord has already saved Israel, because ורפאתיו I have indeed healed him.³⁴ורפאתיו admits of two explanations; it can be past with ו conjunctive, and I have healed him, or past with ו conversive, I will heal him. I. E. seems to be in favour of the first explanation.

But the wicked who do not give a thought to repent.

But the wicked are, etc. God heals the righteous of Israel, but not the wicked, because the latter are troubled, like the sea that is continually troubled. נגרש Troubled. It has the same meaning as ויגרשו and they moved, and is probably of the same root as גורש driving out (Ex. 34:11);

like the turbulent sea This seaits waves raise themselves high and strive to go out of the boundary of sand that I made as a boundary for the sea, and when it reaches there, against its will it breaks. The next wave sees all this, yet does not turn back. Similarly, the wicked man sees his friend being punished for his wickedness; yet he does not turn back. Also, just as the sea has its mud and its offensive matter on its mouth, [i.e., on its surface,] so do the wicked have their offensive matter in their mouth; e.g., Pharaoh said, (Exodus 5:2) “Who is the Lord?” Sennacherib said (supra 36:20), “Who are they among all the Gods of the lands...?” Nebuchadnezzar said, (supra 14:14) “I will liken myself to the Most High.”

it is explained by the words which follow: when it cannot rest. Before נגרש the relative (אשר═) שהוא is to be supplied;³⁵Or the definite article בַּיָם הַנִּגְרָשׁ for נגרש is an adjective.^35aComp. I. E. on 13:15, and Note 18.

like the turbulent sea Like the sea, which is turbulent, that casts up all day mud and dirt.

ויגרשו And they moved.³⁶A. V., Whose waters cast up.

There is no peace In contrast to what he said to the righteous and the repentant, “Peace, peace to the far, etc.,” he returned and said, “There is no peace for the wicked.”

There is no peace, etc. No peace shall be to them, because they cannot rest.