Bibbia Ebraica
Bibbia Ebraica

Musar su Isaia 24:21

וְהָיָה֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא יִפְקֹ֧ד יְהוָ֛ה עַל־צְבָ֥א הַמָּר֖וֹם בַּמָּר֑וֹם וְעַל־מַלְכֵ֥י הָאֲדָמָ֖ה עַל־הָאֲדָמָֽה׃

E avverrà in quel giorno, che l'Eterno punirà l'ostia dell'alto cielo in alto e i re della terra sulla terra.

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

When Israel was freed from the dominance of the angel of death while it received the Torah at Mount Sinai, and lost this freedom due to the sin of the golden calf, the angel Mattatarmolin with the face of an ox took up position on Israel's left, and Satan and the nations of the world started counting the people. Once the sin had been redressed by means of, amongst other things, the ashes of the red heifer, Torah was restored to being perfect, i.e תורת ידוד תמימה, so that even the מלאך רע יענה אמן, the angel that normally negates, portends evil, had to approve of Israel's rehabilitation. When this condition does not exist our situation is reversed and all our adversaries are waiting in the wings to applaud our downfall. In the introduction of Midrash Rabbah on Eichah, we find the comment on Daniel 8,12, וצבא תנתן על התמיד בפשע, "and a set time (army) will be allotted to the daily sacrifice because of sin." צבא means Malchiyut, i.e. dominance by other nations. We know this from Isaiah 24,21, יפקוד ה' על צבא המרום במרום "In that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of earth on earth." The תמיד we referred to in Daniel, is a reference to Israel, since it is written והגית בו יומם ולילה, “occupy yourself with it by day and by night,” i.e. תמיד, constantly (Joshua 1,8). The word בפשע refers to the sin of neglecting Torah. Any time Israel throws Torah to the ground, other nations will prevail over us, since it says ותשלך אמת ארצה "when it throws truth to the ground." We know that אמת, truth, is a reference to Torah: אמת קנה ואל תמכור, "buy the truth, never sell it!" (Proverbs 23,23). If you throw words of Torah to the ground other nations will immediately prevail against you. Confirmation of this is found in Daniel 8,12, ועשתה והצליחה, "it will act and succeed." Since Gentiles do not have Torah, the verse must refer to the Gentiles prevailing over Israel.
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit

To return to the subject which we touched upon earlier of how the שר can don the "mantle" of the שכינה. Although this is a tremendous display of power for such a שר, it will boomerang and become the cause of his downfall as we mentioned earlier. This procedure is alluded to in the words of our פרשה in 10,2, where the Torah says: "how I have made a mockery of the Egyptians." Rashi explains that the word התעללתי במצרים, means "I have toyed with them." We need to understand the meaning of this שחוק, game, that G–d played. When we consider the august position of the שר של מצרים as we have described, we realise that when he was at the height of his power, this שר gave no thought to his eventual demise, and that the higher he would rise, the greater would be his eventual fall into a deep pit. The very "mantle" of the שכינה which he wore would become the cause of his downfall. At that time, G–d in Heaven, who is aware of the exact moment in time when events would cause the שר של מצרים to fall, would smile. The timing of these events is alluded to in Moses' words to Pharaoh in 10,3: "How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?" Humbling oneself means to turn from being evil to being good. We have a prime example of this when Samael, who had been Jacob's arch-enemy, changed direction and accorded Jacob his blessing, his recognition (Genesis 32,29).
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