Comentário sobre Isaías 11:21

And a shoot shall spring forth from the stem of Jesse And if you say, ‘Here are consolations for Hezekiah and his people, that they shall not fall into his hands. Now what will be with the exile that was exiled to Halah and Habor, is their hope lost?’ It is not lost! Eventually, the King Messiah shall come and redeem them.

1. Dont be surprised by the great Nissim Hashem is doing becuase a time will come that Hashem will do greater nissim. talking about the time of moshiach

The majority of commentators apply this chapter to the Messiah, as if the prophet said, The Assyrian army, which is now attacking Jerusalem, will perish; but besides this partial deliverance, a time of complete redemption will come for Jerusalem. R. Moses Hakkohen refers the chapter to Hezekiah, on account of its being the continuation of the prophecy recorded in the preceding chapter.¹Ibn Ezra does not directly decide in favour of either opinion, but tries throughout the chapter to show that both views can be fairly upheld. The connection with the preceding chapter, however, which is to recommend the view of R. Moses Hakkohen, is a very feeble support, since the transition from momentary relief to the lasting Messianic redemption, even in one and the same chapter, would be quite natural.

a shoot [This is symbolic of] the royal scepter.

חטר Rod. Comp. חוטרא, the Chaldæan translation of .מטה

and a twig an expression of a sapling.

גזע Seed.²A. V., The stem. Ibn Ezra does not give the derivation of the word; in the three passages of the Bible where it occurs, it can be translated either stem, or seed.

and a twig shall sprout from its roots and the entire section, and at the end (v. 11), “And it shall come to pass, that on that day, the Lord shall apply His hand again...[from Assyria]...Hence, [it is obvious] that this prophecy was said to console those exiled to Assyria.

נצר Branch. Comp. 14:19.

And there shall come forth, etc. Hezekiah was very young at the time of this prophecy.³Comp. ix., note 9.

ונחֽה And shall rest. Comp. ושבֽה (Lev. 23:13), And she shall return. It is a verb ⁴The rule is that the third person feminine past Kal of verbs ע״ו has the accent on the first syllable, but with Vav conversive on the second.—I.E. means perhaps to say that ונחה is derived from נוח, not from ינח..(נוח) ע״ו

The spirit of the Lord, that is, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, such as, e.g., was assigned to Joshua (Deut. 34:9).

And might. Hezekiah was mighty, as stated (2 Kings 20:20)

And he shall be animated by the fear of the Lord He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord. [ed enos mera il luy in O.F., and He shall be enlivened.]

והריחו And his enquiry.⁵A.V. And shall make him of quick understanding.—I. E. derives והריחו from הריח, to smell, and explains why this verb has been chosen to signify to enquire, or to investigate properly. The ear is sometimes deceived in hearing sounds, which are only imaginary; the eye, too, sees things in motion, which in reality are at rest; the sense of smell alone is not deceived. He will properly investigate the question before him by his piety; he will not judge according to what he seems to see or to hear, because the testimony of the witnesses⁶The witnesses, is either to be taken literally and referred to to hear alone, or figuratively signifying the eye, and the ear, and referred to both to see, and to hear. might be false.

and neither with the sight of his eyes shall he judge For, with the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is within him, will he know and understand who is innocent and who is guilty.

The rebuking and judging mentioned in this verse are privileges of royalty.

with equity This is an expression of mildness and tenderness.

And he will judge the poor with justice. According to the rule, Neither shalt thou countenance the poor in his cause (Exod. 33:3).

and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth As the Targum states: And he shall smite the sinful of the earth.

ביושר ═ במישור With equity. לענוי ארץ The meek of the earth. The good.

and with the breath of his lips Jonathan [renders:] And with the speech of his lips.

With the rod of his mouth. With his mouth, which is, as it were, a rod for the wicked.

And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins Jonathan [renders:] And the righteous shall surround him; i.e., they will cleave to him like a girdle.

And righteousness shall be, etc. And uprightness will never depart from him in all his doings.

and a fatling a fattened ox [following Jonathan].

The wolf shall dwell, etc. The peace that will be in his days is now figuratively described.

ומריא I have already explained (1:11); it is a species of cattle, the fat of which is forbidden.⁷See 100:1, note 27.

פרה The large cattle; the younger of the breed is called עגל (ver. 6). Some assert that the female of cattle is stronger than the male.⁸This remark of I. E. is perhaps to explain, why the feminine form פרה is used with the masculine רב for the whole species.

Shall eat straw. As if his nature had changed, and he would no more, in seeking prey, inflict suffering upon others.

shall play Heb. וְשִׁעֲשַׁע, shall play.

ושעשע And shall play. In this sense the word has always the reduplication.

over the hole of an old snake over a hole in the ground in which the snake makes its nest [krot in O.F.], a cave. an old snake פֶּתֶן. A snake, when it ages, becomes deaf and is called פֶּתֶן. From then on, it cannot be charmed; as it is said (Psalms 58:6): “Who will not hearken to the voice of charmers.”

חור The aperture of the nose or mouth.

and over the eyeball of a venomous snake Jonathan renders: the eyeballs of venomous snakes [מְאוּרַת from אוֹר, light]. Menahem (Machbereth Menachem p. 32) interpreted it as an expression of a hole, namely holes in the ground. Comp. (Gen. 11:28) “The valley of the Chaldees (אוּר)”; (infra 24:15) “In the valleys (בָּאוּרִים) honor the Lord.”

מאורת The eye, which receives the light.⁹חור and מאורת are usually explained as the holes from which the animals mentioned in this verse come forth. A. V., Hole, Den.

a weaned child a child weaned from his mother’s breasts.

הדה He stretches forth; ה perhaps for י. Comp. יְרוּ stretch forth (Jer. 1. 14); or it is hapax legomenon.¹⁰According to the first explanation הדה is not hap. leg., although no other instance of the word is found in the Bible, because several examples are found of ידה, which is considered to be same as הדה.

shall stretch forth his hand Heb. הָדָה. Jonathan renders: shall stretch forth his hands (sic). Comp. (Ezekiel 7:7) “The joyful call (הֵד) of the mountains, also (infra 16: 9) “The cry (הֵידָד),” which is an expression of raising the voice. This, too, is an expression of raising, and the final [letter] ‘heh’ appears in it as a radical which sometimes falls out, like עָשָׂה (made), בָּנָה (built), קָנָה (acquired).

knowledge of the Lord [lit.] to know the Lord.

They shall not hurt, etc. The asp and cockatrice will do no harm, as if all Palestine were full of the knowledge of the Lord; for it is an acknowledged fact, that he who knows the Lord will never destroy, but always build and improve.

כמים אשר לים מכסים ═ כמים לים מכסים Knowledge will increase, like the water which covers the sea. The water is never stopped, so knowledge will continually make progress.

as a banner for peoples that peoples should raise a banner to gather to him.

To him shall nations seek. To him, that is, to Messiah, shall nations seek, that is, shall all nations be subjected. But according to the above-mentioned view of R. Moses Hakkohen,¹¹That this chapter refers to King Hezekiah, not to Messiah. this verse may predict the circumstances which would accompany the miracle of the sun; comp. the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder (2 Chron. 32:31).

בכבוד ═ כבוד With honour; comp. בבית ═ בית in the house (2 Kings 18:15)

a second time Just as he acquired them from Egypt, when their redemption was absolute, without subjugation, but the redemption preceding the building of the Second Temple is not counted, since they were subjugated to Cyrus.

The second time, with regard to the deliverance from Egypt. This verse may be taken as a proof¹²According to the view of the majority of commentators mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. The general redemption of Israel, as predicted in this verse, did not take place in the days of Hezekiah; for the ten tribes remained in exile. that the prophet in the whole passage refers to the Messianic period; for the restoration during the second temple was not. complete,¹³The deliverance of Judah from the Assyrian invasion in the days of Hezekiah did not correspond to the promise given in this and the following verses. since not all the tribes, and not even all the men of Judah, returned to Palestine. He who refers the chapter to Hezekiah finds in this verse the description of the return of the people¹⁴In consequence of the Assyrian invasion, a great many of the Israelites seem to have left Palestine, in order to avoid the miseries and dangers of war and foreign occupation. to Palestine, when they found that Jerusalem had escaped uninjured, and that Sennacherib had died after the loss of the greater part of his army.¹⁵This is not quite in accordance with 37:36; there it is said that all his men died, but I. E. in his commentaries frequently remarks that כל all, is not to be taken literally. Compare I. E. on Ex. 16:6.

and from the islands of the sea the islands of the Kittim, the Romans, the descendants of Esau.

And he shall raise a banner Perka, perche in O.F. [i.e., the verse is literally referring to the pole upon which the banner is attached.] And it shall be for a sign to gather to him and to bring the exiles of Israel to Him as a present.

And He shall set up an ensign. God will, as it were, lift up a banner among all nations, in order that the Israelites should see it and return to their land.

Israel. The ten tribes,¹⁶I. E. fails to show how he can explain the return of the ten tribes, according to the opinion of R. Moses Hakkohen, who says that the whole chapter refers to Hezekiah. for Judah is mentioned separately.

Ephraim shall not envy Judah The Messiah, the son of David, and the Messiah, the son of Joseph, shall not envy each other.

The envy also of Ephraim, etc. Ephraim will not be jealous, that Messiah will be of the tribe of Judah; or, if Hezekiah be the person here indicated, that his kingdom will be strengthened.

And the adversaries of Judah. The enemies of Israel generally;¹⁷של ישראל must be supplied in the text; the phrase שונאיהם של ישראל is a phrase often met with in the Talmud and the Midrash. It is perhaps omitted by the carelessness of the copyist. Without this interpolation the remark of I. E. remains without sense. if the prophecy refers to Hezekiah, Aram¹⁸Aram is named as the ally of Israel against Judah. is to be understood. Shall not vex Ephraim, by taking revenge for their hostilities in the days of Pekah.

And they shall fly of one accord against the Philistines in the west Heb. בְכָתֵף. Israel will fly and run of one accord against the Philistines who are in the west of Eretz Israel and conquer their land. [כָּתֵף, lit. a shoulder, is used in this case to denote unity. The word שֶׁכֶם, also lit. a shoulder, is used in a similar sense.] Comp. (Hoshea 6:9) “They murder on the way in unison (שֶׁכְמָה)”; (Zeph. 3:9) “One accord (שְׁכֶם אֶחָד).” And so did Jonathan render it: And they shall join in one accord to smite the Philistines who are in the west.

ועפו According to some, And they will spread;¹⁹A. V. They shall fly, flying.¹⁹A. V. They shall fly, flying. comp. מגלה עׁפה A roll that was spread (Zach. 5:1). According to R. Moses Hakkohen it is hapax legomenon, and means they will rest. פלשתים Supply מקום or ארץ The place, or the land of the Philistines.

and the children of Ammon shall obey them As the Targum states: Will hearken to them. They will accept their commandments over them.

Toward the west. The Philistines dwelt in the west of Palestine.

Them of the east. The Syrians.

They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, in order to spoil them.

משמעתם. Supply יסורו אל or יסורו תחת Will come under their supremacy.

And...shall dry up [lit. shall cut off] to dry it, so that the exiles of Israel will pass through it from Egypt.

והחרים And shall utterly destroy. Comp. חרם doomed to destruction (Lev. 27:29). The Israelites shall then cross upon dry land, and the sea shall not hinder them by rapidly returning to its bed.

over the river The Euphrates River, for the exiles from Assyria to cross.

בעים Hapax legomenon. ם is part of the root. The meaning of the word is, with strength. Those that compare it with תבעיון בעיו (21:12) have no knowledge in grammar.²⁰The root of בעיו is בעה, while in בעים the ב is a preposition, and עים strength is the root.

with the strength of His wind Heb. בַּעְיָם. This is hapax legomenon in Scripture, and according to the context it can be interpreted as “with the strength of His wind.”

הנהר The Nile.²¹הנהר The river is frequently used as a proper noun for פְרׇת Euphrates; so also in this verse, according to Rashi. But the tongue of the Egyptian sea being mentioned before, it is not impossible that the river refers to the Nile.

into seven streams into seven segments, for the aforementioned seven exiles: from Assyria and from Egypt, etc. Those from the islands of the sea are not from that side.

והדריך And make go over. It is a verb with two accusatives.²²Men and river.

and He shall lead the exiles within it.

with shoes on dry land.

And there shall be a highway in the midst of the water for the remnant of His people.

And there shall be an highway, etc. This verse explains the purpose of the utter destruction and smiting (ver. 15).

As it was to Israel, etc. This refers to the dividing of the Red Sea at the Exodus from Egypt.