레위기 26:43의 주석

יען וביען BECAUSE AND BECAUSE [THEY REJECTED MY ORDINANCES] — i. e. it is a retribution — and a retribution, too, that they have rejected My ordinances.

And the Land shall lie forsaken without them.¹⁷⁷Verse 43. This means that even after the remembring [of the covenant and the Land] it shall lie forsaken without them, hinting that even after the decree of Cyrus¹⁷⁸II Chronicles 36:22-23. [granting the Jews in Babylon permission to return and rebuild the Temple], the Land will still lie forsaken without them and her Sabbatical years, until nineteen years¹⁷⁹See Rashi to Ezra 1:1. after the Temple was rebuilt; and then they sanctified the city [of Jerusalem] with two thanks-offerings,¹⁸⁰Nehemiah 12:40. See also Shevuoth 14 a. and the sanctity of the Land was restored,¹⁸¹See Note 131 in Seder Behar. and they made the covenant,¹⁸²Nehemiah 10:1. and declared [among other conditions] and that we would forego the Seventh year and the exaction of every debt.¹⁸³Ibid., Verse 32. I.e., they undertook to keep the Sabbatical laws with respect to cessation of agricultural work and cancellation of debts. All events that happened to them [at the beginning of their return to the Land after the Babylonian exile] are alluded to in this section.

והארץ תעזב מהם, on account of the destruction that took place.

והארץ תעזב מהם…יען וביען, "And the land shall be forsaken without them..…because, even because, etc." The words יען וביען may be understood as expressing a sentiment similar to that of Jeremiah 9,12. The Talmudists (Baba Metzia 85) had grappled with the question why the land should have to be punished for the sins of the Israelites. Finally, G'd Himself explained the reason through the words of Jeremiah we have quoted. Once the people had failed to observe the Torah, the land itself was no longer interested in being occupied by the Jewish people. This reason becomes more plausible in view of the Torah's statement that during the years of Israel's exile the land had a chance to experience the many שמטה years Israel had ignored. We therefore have two good reasons why the punishment of exile was appropriate.

והארץ תעזב מהם, according to the number of years the sh’mittah legislation has been ignored so that their sin can be expiated. After that, the promise of verse 45 that G’d will remember the covenant with the patriarchs can be fulfilled.

והארץ תעזב מהם, “and the land will be bereft of them.” Nachmanides explains that even after Cyrus’s permission to return to the land of their fathers it took 19 years before the land was sufficiently firmly in the hands of the returning Israelites until the shmittah regulations could be observed again after the Temple had been completed etc. etc. Chapter 10 in Nechemyah describes some of the formalities in restoring sanctity to the land of Israel. In short, our verses are a preview of what happened to the Jewish people during the period of Ezra and Nechemyah, after the return to their homeland.

[As] retribution and in retribution. Because יען always means retribution. Rashi also adds the word אשר (that) since without it, the words “As retribution and in retribution” would not be connected with “They despised My laws.” It is as if the verse said, “As retribution that they despised My laws and in retribution that their soul loathed My statutes.”

ותרץ הארץ את שבתותיה, והם ירצו את עונם, “and the land will be paid her Sabbaths, and they shall be paid for their sins.” This is the retribution for 49 years of ignoring the yovel legislation during which also seven sh’mittah years were ignored. There will be reconciliation between the people and their G-d. They will be penitent, admitting that what they had been made to suffer was only because of their disloyalty to their G-d, and their totally negative attitude to His Torah. An alternate interpretation of this verse: “they will complete thee punishment for their sins”. A similar construction to this would be found in Samuel I 28,10: אם יקרך עון בדבר הזה, “if you would be punished for a sin on account of this matter.“ [King Shaul to the witch of Endor. Ed.]

יען וביען במשפטי מאסו ואת חקותי געלה נפשם, the first word יען refers to the mishpatim, the second to the chukkim.

יען וביען.”because and because;” according to Ibn Ezra the One “because” refers to the people having despised G’d’s social legislation, משפטי מאסו, whereas the second “because” refers to their having been revolted by G’d’s statutes, וחוקותי געלה נפשם.

The words יען וביען reflect these two reasons. The Torah repeats once more: 1) במשפטי מאסו, i.e. neglect of the Shemittah legislation; 2) ואת חקתי געלה נפשם, "and their soul abhorred My statutes;" they hated Torah study. It is clear from the end that if the Israelites had been guilty of only one of these categories of sins their punishment would have taken a different form altogether. If the people had only neglected to study the Torah but had observed the shemittah legislation at least they would not have experienced exile.