Comentários de Citação sobre Isaías 5:5

the most upright, [worse] than a thorn hedge—The most upright among them is worse than a thorn hedge. than a thorn hedge Heb. מִמְּסוּכָה. Cf. (Isa. 5: 5) “Remove its hedge (מְשׂוּכָּתוֹ).”

And what is written “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, etc.” He provided a proof for the error that he mentioned, and said: See how you are mistaken in saying that the Holy One, blessed be He, has any need or benefit from you performing His commandments. For undoubtedly, if He received any benefit from you, then why did He not give the Torah to all the nations and instead entrusted it to you, few in number, such that for every person from Israel there was a complete nation? For He established the boundaries of peoples according to the number of the children of Israel, as there were 70 nations corresponding to the 70 [men] of Israel [when they came down to Egypt]. Would it not have been better for Him if He had received that benefit from many nations?
And examine the other side: If you say that He only gave the Torah to refine the creatures [meaning to perfect humanity], it is not difficult [to understand] why He did not care to refine many nations, because the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. All the nations are like husks [or shells], therefore He only cared to fence His field, because He found it like an uncultivated field, like this desert, lacking all perfection. This is what it means: He found him in a desert land, and in a desolate, howling wilderness. Meaning, they were lacking everything, He broke down its wall, and it was trampled (Isaiah 5:5). Therefore He surrounded him, He instructed him, because through teaching them Torah, they became surrounded and protected like the pupil of an eye. And soon all these verses will be explained in another way.

behold I will close off Heb. שָׂךְ an expression of closing. Comp. (Isaiah 5:5) “remove its hedge (מְשׂוּכָּתוֹ)”; (Proverbs 15:19) “as though hedged (כִּמְשֻּׂכַת) by thorns.”

made a hedge around him You protected him like a wall, as in (Isa. 5:5) “I will remove its hedge (משוכתו),” its wall. Every expression of בעד stated in the Hebrew language is only an expression of “opposite and before him,” as in (Lev.16:6), “and he shall effect atonement for himself (וכפר בעדו),” he shall wipe away the sin from opposite you and before you (sic), so that the atonement shall be a shield about you. Similarly (Ps. 3:4), “[But You,] O Lord, are a shield about me (בעדי) .”

like a hedge of Heb. כמשכת. A fence, as in (Isa. 5:5): “I will remove its hedge (משוכתו).”