에스겔 10:2의 인용 해설

The Torah alludes to this in the words והרים את הדשן, "He will elevate the ashes." To the extent that the Gentile nations have reduced us to "ashes" by means of torture and persecution, G'd in turn will elevate these very ashes to unheard of heights. If you will examine the matter you will find that the persecution we have suffered during this exile is much worse than what we experienced during our slavery in Egypt. When the Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt, the Egyptians fed and clothed them. You only need to study the comment of the Mechilta on Numbers 11,5: "we remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nought, the cucumbers, the melons, etc." Hail to the people who never had to experience exile under the (Arabs) Muslims. Not only did they enslave us and torture us but they did not pay wages for labour performed but they demanded that we hand over what little we owned. People would be kidnapped to obtain their freedom by ransom. The Muslims would demand that people give them what they did not even possess and persecuted them to the point of death. The Torah alludes to this kind of persecution when it writes: והרים את הדשן אשר תאכל האש; G'd will elevate the ashes; when the nations of the universe experience troubles they are compared to fire by our prophets. The Torah predicts that G'd will consume these nations as if by fire. Compare Ezekiel 10,2 "fill your hands with fire from amongst the cherubs and throw them upon the city." The word את העולה refers to the nation called עולה.

have I placed Jerusalem. Its two ends were consumed by the fire, [i.e.,] the two exiles: When Jehoiakim was exiled, some of the royal seed and of the nobles were exile with him, as it is said in Daniel (1:3). After him were exiled his son Jeconiah and the craftsmen and the gate sentries. “And its inside was charred” [based on above, verse 4] Concerning Zedekiah, the one who remained therein, I have already decreed (10:2): “and fill your hands with fiery coals...and cast [them] onto the city.”