Commento su Ezechiele 29:24

the great crocodile Since all the greatness of Egypt and all its plenty comes though the Nile River, the prophet compares its king to a crocodile and its people to the fish of the river.

My river is my own I do not need the heavenly powers, for my river provides all my necessities

and I made myself With my might and with my wisdom, I enhanced my greatness and my dominion.

hooks [Heb. חַתִים,] type of iron rings, ens in Old French.

the fish of your rivers to fasten onto your scales [Heb. בְּקַשְּׂקְשּׂתֶיךָ,] en tes e(s)chardes in Old French, to your scales. That is to say, I shall inspire all your mighty men to go forth with you to war so that they will all fall.

And I will scatter you in the desert [Heb. וּנְטַשְּׁתִּיךָ,] e etandre toy in Old French, and I shall spread you out. This is the perishing of fish: once they are spread out on the surface of the dry land, they die.

a prop of reeds Many times they relied on them: in the days of Sennacherib and in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, but it did not avail them, just like this reed, which is soft and does not support the one who leans on it.

When they took hold of you with the hand [Heb. בְּכַפְּךָ, lit. with your hand,] to be read בַּכַּף, with the hand, like a man who walks and supports himself on his staff.

you splintered [Heb. תֵּרוֹף] [like] תֵּרָצֵף.

and pierced the whole of their shoulders [lit. the whole of a shoulder,] i.e., their shoulders, like a man who leans on a reed, which breaks, and the man falls on it, and the shreds enter his shoulders.

and you made their loins stand upright [Heb. וְהַעֲמַדְתָּ.] Since you will break, they will be required to strengthen their loins and stand on them. You are like a man upon whom his friend was leaning, but he is weak and he says to him, “Strengthen yourself on your loins, for you can no longer lean on me.” So did Jonathan render: “and you will no longer be a support for them.” Some transpose וְהַעֲמַדְתָּ to וְהַמְעַדְתָּ, and you make all loins totter, but I do not care for their words. Moreover, Menachem (p. 134) associated it with the standing of the feet, just as I do.

neither shall it be inhabited for forty years Forty-two years of famine were decreed in Pharaoh’s dream, corresponding to the three times the dream is written. He saw seven bad cows and seven bad ears of grain (Gen. 41) and he told it to Joseph; hence we have [it mentioned] twice, and Joseph said to him, “The seven thin and bad cows and the seven empty ears,” totaling forty-two for the famine. But they had only two, as it is stated (ibid. 45:6): “For it is two years now that the famine has been on earth,” and when Jacob came down to Egypt, the famine ceased, for behold in the third year they sowed, as it is stated (ibid. 47:19): “and then you give us seed that we may live etc.,” and the forty years were paid to them now: “neither shall it be inhabited for forty years.”

תֵּשֵּׁב means sera asijiee in Old French. will be settled, peopled.

their habitation [Heb. מְכוּרָתָם] [like] מְגוּרָתָם, their habitation. Another interpretation: like תוֹלדוֹתָם, their birth, and this is how Menachem (p. 110) associated it.

So that they shall not domineer over the nations [Heb. רְדוֹת,] an expression of ruling, like (Gen. 1:28): “and rule (וּרְדוּ) over the fish of the sea.”

And it will no longer be [i.e.,] Egypt [will no longer be] a source of confidence for the House of Israel, bringing iniquity into remembrance for them, since the Holy One, blessed be he, said to them (Exod. 14:13): “You shall no longer continue to see them.”

And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. That year Egypt was delivered into his hand. This is what we learned in Seder Olam (ch. 26). In this book, there are many prophecies written in a non chronological order.

made his army serve [a great work against Tyre] [Heb. צוּר אֵל, usually to here means] against Tyre, [in] a great work.

every head the men of his forces

became bald and every shoulder, etc. As is the custom with those who besiege a city many days and toil and weary themselves with carrying burdens of wood and stones. He captured Tyre in the twenty third [year] of his reign, as we find in Seder Olam (ad loc.). מֻקְרָח means calvo in Italian, bald.

sore [Heb. מְרוּטָה,] pelee in Old French, peeled.

yet he had no reward After they had plundered its booty, the sea rose and washed it away from them, because it was decreed on it and on its booty to be lost in the sea.

For his labor that he undertook against it [As] reward for the labor that he undertook against Tyre by My command, I shall give him the land of Egypt.

because of what they did to Me [Because of] the evil that Egypt [did to Me] with their prop, that they assured My people with their futile aid.

On that day will I cause the horn of the House of Israel to blossom out I have neither heard nor found the explanation of this verse. What is the blossoming of the horn of Israel in the downfall of Egypt? Was not Israel exiled eight years before the downfall of Egypt? [Therefore,] I say that “On that day” refers back to the above section, (verse 13): “At the end of forty years, I will gather the Egyptians.” That count ends in the year that Belshazzar assumed the throne, and we find in Daniel that in that year the kings of Persia began to gain strength, and downfall was decreed upon Babylon, as it is said (Dan. 7:1): “In the first year of Belshazzar,...Daniel saw a dream, etc.”; (verse 4) “The first one was like a lion” - that is Babylon. And it is written (ad loc.): “I saw until its wings were plucked off, etc. (verse 5) And behold another, second beast, resembling a bear” that is Persia. And it is written (ad loc.) “And thus it was said to it, ‘Devour much flesh.’” i.e., seize the kingdom. And the kingdom of Persia was the blossoming of the horn of Israel, as it is said regarding Cyrus (Isa. 45:13): “He shall build My city and free My exiles.” Now, how do we know that the forty years of Egypt ended at that time? [The proof is that] Egypt was given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar in the twenty-seventh [year] of Nebuchadnezzar, in the year that this prophecy was said to Ezekiel. Add forty years, and you have sixty-seven. Deduct from them forty-five for Nebuchadnezzar and twenty-three for Evil- Merodach, as we say in Megillah (11b), one of these years counting for both [kings], as we say there: “they were incomplete years.”

and I will give you free speech in their midst You, Ezekiel, will have free speech when they see your prophecy being fulfilled.