이사야 48:16의 주석

from the time it was, there was I [Jonathan paraphrases:] From the time the nations ceased fearing Me, there I brought Abraham your father near to My service.

Come ye near unto me, unto the prophet.

and now, the Lord God has sent me, and His spirit [Jonathan paraphrases:] Said the prophet, “And now, the Lord God has sent me, and His word.” This is an intermingling of words. The one who said this did not say that [i.e., the first part of the verse was said by God, and the second part by the prophet]. And the Aggadic Midrash of Rabbi Tanhuma (Yithro 21) explains: Hearken to this—This alludes to Moses’ Torah, referred to as “This is the Torah.” In the beginning, I did not speak in secretat Sinai. And the prophet says, “From the time that thing was that, He says, I was there.” And we learned from here that all the prophets stood at Sinai. And now He sent me to prophesy to them. Even in this version there is an intermingling of words. “In the beginning I did not speak in secret,” was said by the Shechinah. “From the time it was, there was I,” was said by the prophet. It is possible to interpret it so that there should not be intermingling of words [as follows:] Draw near to me, hearken to this what I prophesy to you regarding the downfall of Babylon and your redemption. In the beginning I did not speak that in secret. From the time it was, that the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed to bring it, there I was. This teaches that from the time of the decree, the Holy One, blessed be He, appoints the prophet who is destined to prophesy regarding the matter in the council of the heavenly household, although it has not yet been created.

I have not spoken in secret from the beginning of this plan and this divine decree.

From the time that it was, there was I. The Gaon finds here an indication that the soul exists before the body; but he is wrong, because it is said, They are decreed now, and not from the beginning²³According to the Gaon, the words From the time that it was, refer to a very remote time, indicated in the phrase from the beginning, which precedes, i.e., a time anterior to the birth of the prophet, and the pronoun I in the phrase, There am I, to the soul of the prophet. If this were the correct explanation, the prophet implied in these words his adherence to the theory of the pre-existence of the soul. But I. E. properly rejects this explanation, since ver. 7, quoted by him, proves that the words, from the beginning, do not refer to a very remote time, but to a period within the lifetime of the prophet. (ver. 7). The meaning of the sentence is the following: When this decree was made by God unto the angels,²⁴The Hebrew text has the words אלה המלאכים these angels, which cannot be properly connected with the words which precede, nor with those that follow. אלה is probably a corruption of אֶל unto. The angels receive from the Almighty the power to act, with regard to a certain event, and this authorisation is called by I. E. The decree of the Almighty. See his commentary on 9:7, and note 13. the representatives of the respective countries (comp. Dan. 10:20), I was also there.

ורוחו And His spirit, that is His angel.²⁵God had sent me to proclaim the future events; and He sent His angel to verify the words of the prophet. It is however possible, that I. E. connects ורוחו with שם אני ; There was I and His angel. The Gaon says, that ברוחו═ורוחו by His spirit; comp. דרשו יי ועזו seek the Lord in His strength ; but there is no necessity to assume that.