Komentarz do Izajasza 36:23

They¹The next four chapters (xxxvi.-xxxix.), and 2 Kings 18:13—xx. 19.—The words ואם יש מלות, although they are not separated from the preceding by any sign, are the beginning of the new chapter. are in meaning the same, although the one contains some additional words, which the other has not; the words may be compared with instruments, their meanings with the workmen.²I. E. means by this simile, that we need not care so much for the words if we only know their sense, which is the principal thing. But the comparison is not striking; it can hardly be said that the meaning uses the words or letters in the same way as the workman makes use of his instruments. כפועלם like the work done with them, is perhaps the correct reading, instead of כפועלים like the workmen. Another simile, frequently used by I. E. for this same idea, is: The words are like the body, their sense like the soul. I shall now explain six³שיש that there are, in the Hebrew text, gives no sense; it is a corruption of שש six. passages.

near the conduit fosed (fosse) in French, (a ditch, a trench, a moat.)

the pool A place where water is gathered, dug in the ground by man, in which to put fish. It is long and wide.

on the road A paved road. (chemin in French.)

the washer’s field Jonathan renders: A field where the washers stretch out, i.e., where the washers stretch out the garments.

the recorder The writer of the records in the annals. (Another explanation: He would record which judgment came before him first, that he adjudicate it first.)

I said (until now), “It is but words of the lips, that he speaks (lit., in his mouth), saying, ‘I will not serve the king of Assyria.’ And when he sees that I will march against him with an army, he will recant. Now I have marched. From now on, either he will serve me, or he will need to seek counsel and might for war.”

Now that the time has come, tell me now on whom you have depended to rebel against me.

upon which a man will lean On the splintered and broken reed, and the scaly envelopes enter his palm and puncture it, so is Pharaoh to those who trust him. Eventually, their aid will be to their detriment.

Whose high places...has removed He abolished all the pagan temples and the altars and the high places, and has coerced all Judah to prostrate themselves before one altar.

wager now on this matter, if you will be able to accomplish it. This is an expression of a wager, which is called gajjer in O.F.

And how can you repulse even a captain, who is one of my master’s smallest servants, for the smallest of the heads of his troops is in charge of two thousand men.

one of...servants (אַחַד) one of the servants of. Comp. (Gen. 21:15) “One of (אַחַד) the bushes.” Also (II Sam. 6:20) “One of (אַחַד) the idlers.”

is it [with] other than the Lord Without His permission?

The Lord said to me The prophets have already prophesied (supra 8:4): “The wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria shall be carried off before the king of Assyria.” But he erred, saying (supra 10:11), “Indeed, as I did to Samaria..., so will I do to Jerusalem...”

for we understand it (שֹׁמְעִים, lit. hear.) We understand that language, an expression of hearing (entendenc in O.F.).

do not speak with us in Judean for all the people understand the Judean language, and they are frightened by your words. (Since he said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah,” they thought that he did not come to frighten the people. Since Rabshakeh was an apostate Jew, they thought that even though his master’s orders were incumbent upon Rabshakeh to observe, his heart was attracted to his family and he would take pity upon them.)

Did...to your master (הַאֶל) This is the interrogative form. It is therefore vowelized with a ‘hataf pattah’ (not so in our editions). Did my master send me to you two alone? Indeed, he sent me to all of them, and for that reason I have come, so that all the people hear and see, and let not Hezekiah persuade them to rebel.

to eat their dung They too (sic) would eat in the hunger of the siege.

their dung The kethib reads חֹרָאֵיהֶם, the dung that is excreted through their orifice. Our Sages instituted to euphemize and read it צוֹאָתָם, i.e., their dung. Thus did our Rabbis teach: Verses written in uncomplimentary words are to be read in a complimentary manner, e.g., (Deut. 28:27) עֲפֹלִים (is read) טְחֹרִים. (Both mean hemorrhoids. The former means ‘that which is in the dark holes,’ being more explicit than the latter. (ibid. v. 30) יִשְׁגָּלֶנָּה (is to be read) יִשְׁכָּבֶנָּה. (Both denoting intimacy, the former related as well to a dog.) חֹרָאֵיהֶם (is to be read) צוֹאָתָם, שִׁינֵיהֶם (is to be read) מֵימֵי רַגְלֵיהֶם.

their urine The kethib is שִׁינֵיהֶם, loose excrement. The teeth of the large intestine. That is the intestine called tabahie in O.F. that stands on three teeth, (i.e. the glands of the rectum, which is held by three glands. They are called שִׁנַּיִּם because they are shaped like teeth).

deceive (יַשִּׁיא) mislead.

Make peace with me (בְרָכָה, lit., a blessing.) Come out to me for peace and greet me and bring me a gift of peace.

בְּרָכָה is saloud in O.F., salutation. Comp. (Gen. 47:10) “And Jacob greeted Pharaoh.”

and each man will eat of his vine And I will leave you, and dwell in peace until I find a land as good as your land, and I will exile you there, for so is my wont, to transfer nations from land to land, as it is said (supra 10:13): “And I remove the boundaries of the peoples.”

to a land like your land Said Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: Was this one (Sennacherib) a fool? This is an example of a king, etc. in Sifre, parshath Ekev (Deut. 7:12). He should have said, “to a land better than your land,” but he could not denigrate it.

Now did they save Samaria from my hand? and the inhabitants of Samaria worshipped the Gods of the Arameans, who were their neighbors, and Hamath is from Aram.

with torn garments Because they heard blasphemies of the Name of God, and that is tantamount to cursing the Name.