Comentários de Citação sobre Isaías 54:12

A Midrashic approach (based on Tanchuma Terumah 8): The words “gold, silver, copper,” refer to three different host-countries in which the Jews have been exiles. “Gold” refers to the kingdom of Babylon. We know that Nevuchadnezzar said (Daniel 2,38) “You O G’d are the head of gold.” The word “silver” is an allusion to the exile under the Medes, for it is written of Haman that he was offering ten thousand talents of silver in order to obtain permission to kill all the Jews (Megillat Esther 3,9). Copper is an allusion to the exile under the Greeks which was the most abominable of the three kingdoms mentioned. The words אלים מאדמים “red-dyed ram skins,” are an allusion to the Roman Empire. Esau, the progenitor of the Romans, was described as red-skinned already at his birth (compare Genesis 28,25) ויצא הראשון אדמוני. The allusion to the exile under the descendants of Esau is followed immediately by the words ושמן למאור, “and anointing oil,” i.e. a reference to the מלך המשיח King Messiah of whom it is written in Psalms 132,17 שם אצמיח קרן לדוד ערכתי נר למשיחי, “There I will make a horn sprout for David, I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.” The words בשמים לשמן המשחה are an allusion to the fact that in the future the High Priest will once more be anointed with this oil; the words לקטורת הסמים are a promise that the Jewish people will once again enjoy being in G’d’s good graces. This has been promised by Ezekiel 20,41 בריח ניחוח ארצה אתכם, “by means of sweet smelling fragrances I will display My goodwill for you.” The words אבני שוהם refer to אבני כדכד of which Isaiah 54,12 said: ושמתי כדכד שמשותיך,”I will make your battlements of rubies.” The words ועשו לי מקדש refer to the Holy Temple which may soon be rebuilt in our days. The words ושכנתי בתוכם are an assurance that when that time comes G’d will dwell in our midst forever.

ואולך אתכם קוממיות, ”I made you walk erect.” [The author clearly understands this paragraph as promises for the future rather than as a record of the past. Ed.]. I (author speaking) have already mentioned previously that the promises made in this paragraph have never been fulfilled during the period when the two Temples were standing. They will, however, be fulfilled in the future. Our sages have used this verse to prove the height of average man will be 200 cubits, twice the height of Adam prior to his sin (Sanhedrin 100). We find a similar statement in Baba Batra 75, i.e. that the meaning of the word קוממיות in our verse is two heights of man according to the view of Rabbi Meir, or two hundred cubits as this is twice the height of the Temple of Herod (after restoration of the second Temple built in the days of Zerubabel).
The Talmud in Sanhedrin 100 elaborates on the subject of phenomenal developments in the future by stating that G’d would bring to Jerusalem gemstones of gigantic proportions embedding them in the gates of Jerusalem, etc. In their discussion, the sages quote from Isaiah 54,12 that the gates of Jerusalem will be made of precious stones, etc. [I am condensing this as the reader can read up that section and more in the (translated) Talmud. The important thing is that the sages of the Talmud did not engage in metaphors here seeing that a student who had first ridiculed some of these predictions until he had been quoted the relevant verses from Scripture was fixed by an angry stare of his teacher as a result of which he died and his limbs turned into a heap of ashes. The fact that he did not believe his teacher until given proof was considered heresy, and the terrible punishment would not have been applied to matters which are merely metaphors. Ed.]

The Pesikta writes about the verse “all your wall of precious stones” [54:12]. Rabbi Benjamin son of Levi says that in the days of the Messiah, the Israelites will mark the boundaries of their fields with precious stones. Each person will take many precious stones and will place them around his field so that he should know how far his field extends. That is to say, he will make a wall out of precious stones, since there will be so many in Jerusalem. Rabbi Levi said that when a person owes his friend a thousand gulden, they both come to the judges. Sometimes the judges cannot do enough for both of them and one of them does not like the judgment. However, in the days of the Messiah if someone will grasp his friend and say to him, let us go to the Messiah in Jerusalem and let him judge us. When they approach Jerusalem, they will see many precious stones lying on the ground. One Jew will take two good stones and say to his friend. Do I owe you the value of these two precious stones? What do you want from me? Take these two precious stones. They soon make peace with each other and he will say, you don’t owe me so much. You owed me a thousand gulden and the precious stones you have given me are worth two thousand gulden. Concerning this the verse says, “He grants peace within your borders” [Psalms, 147:14]. Your borders will make peace. That is to say, the precious stones near Jerusalem make peace over Israel. ¹⁰Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, Remez 478; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, 18.6.