스가랴 14:2의 인용 해설

All nations surrounded me This speaks about the war of Gog and Magog, when all the nations will be there, as it is said (Zech. 14:2): “And I shall gather all the nations to Jerusalem to wage war.”

TO LIE ‘ETZLA’ (BY HER). The meaning of this expression is as Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra interpreted it: “even to lie near her, each in their garment, or to be with her for general conversation.” This interpretation is correct since we do not find the word etzla (near her) in Scripture in connection with sexual intercourse, only the word ima (with her) or othah (with her), as for example: Lie ‘imi’ (with me);²²⁸Verse 12 here. And if any man lie ‘othah’ (with her);²²⁹Leviticus 15:24. And the women ravished (‘tishachavnah’).²³⁰Zechariah 14:2. In tishachavnah, the plural form of othah is implicit.

Suffering is understood in this passage as a strategy for inspiring repentance and prayer.Rather than punishment, sometimes God causes the people of Israel to suffer so that they will be motivated to cry out to God – It is out of love that God causes such pain, even though it is painful to God to witness this suffering. Rabbi Horowitz offers an extended interpretation of Psalm 116 (part of Hallel which appears in the second half of the Haggadah) which illustrates this interpretation. What was true of the generation of the Exodus is true for future generations as well – and for the future redemption.
A long time passed and the king of Egypt died; the Israelites moaned because of their enslavement: The Torah goes on to say: “….their plea ascended to God because of their enslavement.”⁸⁸Exodus 2:24 Why does the Torah make the statement this way instead of saying, “Their pleas because of their enslavement ascended to God? This verse teaches us that God caused the Israelites to suffer for their benefit. By causing their physical subjugation to be extra severe, the Israelites were roused to repentance and cried out to God within the 400 year period that their subjugation was decreed, thus causing their exile to be shortened.
We have already seen that Israel’s exile had more to do with the subjugation of their souls through idolatry than their physical enslavement and oppression. As we see elsewhere, by causing the Israelites to suffer, God could expedite their redemption sooner. The physical enslavement, then, was actually a compassionate act by God to free Israel from Egypt sooner. Israel’s cry ascended to God through the severity of its enslavement.
This is what King David meant when he said: “I love Adonai because he hears my pleas; for He turns His ear to me whenever I call. The bonds of death encompassed me; the torments of Sheol overtook me. I came upon trouble and sorrow and I invoked the name of Adonai, “Adonai, save my life!” Adonai is gracious and beneficent; our God (Elohainu) is compassionate.”⁸⁹Psalms 116:1-4
“I love Adonai because he hears my pleas; for He turns His ear to me whenever I call.” God compassionately aroused the prayers of Israel (through suffering) so that they would be inspired to pray to alleviate the exile of their souls. He caused the subjugation of their bodies to be more severe so that they would not have to wait the 400 years to be taken out of Egypt. They would cry out to God sooner and thereby give God a reason to take them out sooner.
“The bonds of death encompassed me; the torments of Sheol overtook me.” God allowed the Egyptians to make the lives of the Israelites bitter through enslavement. God saw that the Israelites were about to descend into the fiftieth gate of impurity. By oppressing them physically, they would cry out to God thus preventing them from reaching the lowest levels of Sheol.⁹⁰In Kabbalistic thought there are fifty gates of impurity. Had Israel descended into this lowest level or gate of impurity they would no longer be able to be redeemed from slavery. According to Rabbi Horowitz, there is nun verse in the Ashrai, in the alphabetical Psalm 145, because nun is associated with the fiftieth level of impurity. In the Talmud, we learn that this verse was left out of the Ashrai because of the verse, “Fallen (naflah) never to rise again, is maiden Israel…” (Amos 5:2)
“I came upon trouble and sorrow and I invoked the name of Adonai.” This suffering roused Israel to invoke and cry out in the name of God. It is through the suffering of our bodies that our souls are redeemed.
“Our God (Elohainu) is compassionate.” Even though Elohainu is usually associated with God’s attribute of judgment, here Elohainu is said to be compassionate. By causing Israel’s suffering God compassionately brings about their redemption sooner! Similarly the sages said that God always introduces the cure before the affliction. The cure was Israel’s oppression and the affliction was the spiritual subjugation of Israel.
Similarly, Isaiah said: “In their troubles He was troubled (lo tzar), and the angel of His presence delivered them. In His love and pity He redeemed them, raised them and exalted them, for all time.”⁹¹Isaiah 63:9
The ketiv and the k‘ri⁹²Ketiv, the written version of the text and K’ri, the pronounced version of the text refers to a phenomenon in the Bible where the way a word is written is different from the way the word is read. spell the word the word lo two ways, one with an aleph and the other with a vav. When the word is written with a vav, the verse means, “In all of their troubles, so is He troubled.” And when the word is written with an aleph, the verse is translated, “In all of their troubles God does not mean to trouble them.” Both of these explanations are correct: God feels Israel’s pain in exile but it is not God’s intention to cause Israel pain either.
The verse concludes “for all time (olam).” The word olam⁹³See Leviticus 25:46 “You shall keep them for possession for your children after you, for them to inherit for property for all time (l’olam). “ The inheritance understand “for all time” to mean for fifty years of the Jubilee. The same interpretation is now applied to Isaiah 63:9 is used elsewhere as a reference to the Jubilee year which is fifty years. This is an allusion to the fifty days between the Exodus and the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Just as Israel sunk close to the fiftieth gate of impurity, so they now had to ascend to the fiftieth gate of purity which would make them worthy of receiving the Torah.
We have many examples in Jewish history in which the suffering of the Jewish people becomes the impetus for their prayers and repentance and, as a result, leads to their redemption. Haman’s decree was ultimately for the welfare of the Jewish people since it inspired sincere repentance. This was true in the time of the Maccabees as well. The Jewish people had become sinful; they were afflicted by the Hellenists (through God’s will) so that they would pray to God and God would save them from their enemies through their repentance.
In Psalms, we say “God is close to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”⁹⁴Psalm 145 Why do we repeat the same thing twice in this verse? God is close to the Jewish people even before He causes them to call upon Him truth. As we saw in Psalm 116, God arouses our feelings so that we sincerely call upon Him – in that way he can incline Himself toward us in His great love.
We find another allusion to the idea that God allows us to suffer out of compassion in the following verses: “I have taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt…They will listen to you…”⁹⁵Exodus 3:16-18 Commenting on these verses, Rashi says: “Since you will speak to them with this expression (pakod yifkod, “I have taken note”) they will listen to you for this sign is already given to them through Jacob and Joseph for by this expression they would be redeemed.”⁹⁶See Rashi ad locum. In Genesis 50:24 - 25 the expression, pakod yifkod “I will take note,” appears twice. One is attributed to Jacob and one to Joseph. It appears again in the words which Moses was to speak to the people of Israel. The letters which follow pay-kuf-dalet, to visit, are tzade-reish-hay, suffering. The word pakad, then, hints that God will only visit Israel when Israel suffers oppression. This is a hint that the cure (pakad) precedes the affliction (tzarah)!
The Torah hints at the fact that Israel would be redeemed by Moses. The Ribuah⁹⁷I am not sure of the meaning of the word ribuah. I assume it means the square of each of the four letters in the Tetragrammaton which comes to 186 – not exact but close! of the Tetragrammaton is 184 (like the word, pakad) and the gematriah of the name eheyeh, is 161⁹⁸This assumes we add up the value of the full names of each of the four letters aleph, hay, yud, hay.. When we add the sum of these two numbers, they add up to 345, or the gematriah of the name Moshe.
“The angel of His presence delivered them,”⁹⁹Isaiah 63:9 is an allusion to Moses who is referred to as an angel, “God sent an angel who brought them out of Egypt.”¹⁰⁰Deuteronomy 6:21 Rashi explains that “the angel” here is Moses.
“You have delivered me from death, my ears from tears, my feet from stumbling. I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I trust in the Lord; out of great suffering I spoke and said rashly, “All men are false.”” ¹⁰¹Psalm 116: 8-10 Each of the expressions in this verse refers to one of the exiles of the Jewish people: “You have delivered me from death” – refers to Egypt, since we were bitterly oppressed “unto death;” “my ears from tears – refers to Babylonia, since our ancestors sat by the river of Babylon and cried; “my feet from stumbling” – refers to Greece, since they weren’t exiled from their home.”¹⁰²Even though the Jewish people did not leave their land they lived in exile and oppression at the hands of the Hellenists. Each exile lasted for limited time but the final exile is the longest; it is referred to in the verse: “I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I trust in the Lord; out of great suffering I spoke and said rashly, “All men are false.”” Regarding this exile the prophet said: “I the Lord will speed it in due time.”¹⁰³Isaiah 60:22 This means, if Israel merits redemption the Lord will speed up the end; if not, it will come in due time.
This is similar to what happened in Egypt. The severity of Israel’s slavery and their oppression brought about a quicker end to the exile. Similarly, by allowing a ruler like Haman, the time of suffering ended quicker.
There are two ways in which to bring an end to Israel’s exile more quickly: either through more severe suffering or through sincere repentance. When Israel turns to God in repentance, they are more worthy of redemption sooner and are redeemed with compassion, and they are saved from the birth pangs of the coming of the messiah.

Are you he In those days, the Holy One, blessed be He, will say, “Are you the one about whom I spoke in ancient days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, e.g. Ezekiel and Zechariah?” For he [Zechariah] too prophesied about the wars of Gog and Magog (Zech. 14:2): “And I will gather all the nations, etc.” Our Sages said (Sanh. 17a): Eldad and Medad they [also] prophesied about it. That is the שָּׁנִים stated here. Do not read שָּׁנִים, years, but שְּׁנַיִם, two. Two prophets prophesied one prophecy at one time (though not in the same style of expression).

And I - their deeds and their thoughts have come etc. And I What am I to do? Their deeds and their thoughts have come to Me. And that forces Me to gather all the heathens (nations [Mss. and K’li Paz]), and to let them know that their deeds are vanity and the thoughts they are thinking, “For the sake of my name, the Lord shall be glorified,” let them understand that it is false. And where is the gathering? It is the gathering that Zechariah prophesied (14:2): “And I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem.”