이사야 63:17의 주석

Why do You lead us astray Since You have the power to remove the evil inclination, as it is said (Jer. 18:6): “Like clay in the potter’s hand.” Scripture states elsewhere (Ezekiel 36:26): “And I will remove the heart of stone, etc.”

למה תתענו Why dost thou make us to err.²³A. V., Why hast Thou made us to err? It is considered a blasphemy to say of God, that He causes men to sin; the object of the various explanations mentioned by I. E. is, to free the expression from this charge. Because God is the highest, first cause of everything, therefore He is mentioned as the cause of this erring. Others take it in a sense similar to that of the Rabbinical phrase לעשות תשובה אין מספיקין בידו he is not permitted to repent (Mishnah Aboth, 5:18).^23aThis is said of him, who misleads others to sin; he is not permitted to repent, he cannot completely remedy the evil which he has produced. It is easy to mislead, but not so easy to make people, when once misled, understand their error, and return to the right way. The question, Why doest Thou make us to err? is to be explained in a similar way, namely, Why do we find it so difficult to repent, to undo our acts of wickedness? Why doest Thou not make the way of our return unto Thee smooth and easy? Some are of opinion that this is only the imagination of man;²⁴People that feel some strong inclination to sin, are easily misled to imagine that God Himself prevents them from improving, and that it is no more in their power to master themselves. According to this explanation, the question Why dost Thou cause us to err? is to be taken literally, and to be considered as the expression of a false opinion widely spread among the people. others, again, say that this refers to those duties only which we cannot perform during our exile.^24aAs e.g., the commandments introduced by a formula like When ye be come into the land; the commandments concerning the temple and the service therein.

You harden Heb. תַּקְשִׁיחַ, an expression of hardening the heart.

תקשיח Thou removest.²⁵A. V., Thou hast hardened. Comp. הקשיח He hath removed^25aA. V., She is hardened. The same translation is to be given according to I. E. on Job. (Job 39:16).

Thy servants, the patriarchs. The tribes of thine inheritance. The twelve tribes of Israel.²⁶The Hebrew text has השופטים the judges; but there is no reason why the tribes of thine inheritance should be referred to the judges. If the words thy servants refer, as I. E. explains, to the Patriarchs, the expression the tribes of thine inheritance, for whose sake God is implored to return, refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. השופטים is a corruption of השבטים the tribes, an expression often used in Rabbinical Literature, to signify the twelve sons of Jacob.