Комментарий о цитате к Даниэль 1:2

[Daniel 1:1] Bi-shnat (בִּשְׁנַת - In the... year): We find it written that Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years [II Kings 23:36; II Chronicles 36:5]. If so, what is the meaning of “in the third year of his reign”?! Now, concerning ["these are the sons of Josiah," I Chronicles 3:15] it is written that he left four sons: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. And we find that when Josiah died, his son reigned. Some of our Sages, of blessed memory, said that this Jehoahaz [who reigned first, II Kings 23:31] is Johanan. But behold, he reigned only three months [II Kings 23:31]. Then his brother Jehoiakim reigned after him, and he [Jehoiakim] was twenty-five years old [II Kings 23:36]. Now, he [Jehoahaz, who was 23, II Kings 23:31] was younger than Jehoiakim. So how could Scripture call [Johanan, identified by the Sages with Jehoahaz] the firstborn?! Therefore, they said [it means] "firstborn for kingship" [i.e., the first to be chosen to reign]. And [based on this line of reasoning] they were forced to say that Shallum is Zedekiah, because Jeremiah's prophecy concerning Shallum [Jeremiah 22:11-12] is adjacent to his prophecy concerning Zedekiah [Jeremiah 23:5-6]. Furthermore, [they argued this] because no one reigned over Israel after Zedekiah, and for Scripture to list a fourth [son, Shallum] merely as a name without substance [i.e., without significance] would be a strange way [of writing]. Now, understand that [contrary to those Sages] Jehoahaz is Shallum. And Johanan did not reign. And do not be astonished that Shallum is called by two names, for behold, Solomon is Qohelet [Ecclesiastes 1:1], and the sons of Samuel [were listed as] Vashni and Abijah [I Chronicles 6:13], yet elsewhere it is written that [the firstborn] was Joel [I Samuel 8:2]; and ʿAmminadav is Izhar [cf. I Chronicles 6:7, I Chronicles 6:23, based on certain lineage interpretations]; and Uriel is Zephaniah [cf. I Chronicles 6:9, I Chronicles 15:5, I Chronicles 15:11]; and many others like these. And in the Torah, Zerah is Zohar [Genesis 46:10 vs. Numbers 26:13 / Exodus 6:15 - different spellings for Simeon's son]. And the proof that Shallum is Jehoahaz is that when the father [Josiah] died, Jehoiakim was 25 years old [II Kings 23:36], Zedekiah, who was the third [son listed in I Chronicles 3:15], was 24 (sic) years old, and Shallum was 23 years old [II Kings 23:31, giving Jehoahaz's age]. And [consistent with the people choosing the younger son first], it is written: “And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father Josiah” [II Kings 23:30]. And a second proof that Shallum is Jehoahaz is that it is written that Pharaoh Neco took him [Jehoahaz] after he had reigned three months, brought him to Egypt, and he died there [II Kings 23:31-34]. And it is written in Jeremiah concerning Shallum: “he who went forth from this place shall never return, but shall die in the place where they carried him captive” [Jeremiah 22:11-12]. And do not be puzzled regarding what is written earlier [in Jeremiah 22, where prophecies about earlier kings seemingly placed after mentions of Zedekiah, e.g., Jeremiah 21:1]. For the beginning of the section is: “For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah...” [Jeremiah 22:6]. [Jeremiah] recounts what the Lord had told him before Zedekiah reigned. And behold, he recounts what he prophesied concerning Jehoahaz (who is Shallum) after they had taken him to Egypt, and [also recounts prophecies] starting from “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness...” [Jeremiah 22:13] concerning Jehoiakim. And there it is written [Jeremiah 22:24] that afterwards he prophesied concerning Jehoiachin (Coniah), for so it is written there [“As I live... though Coniah...”]. And all three of these reigned before Zedekiah. And in the book of Ezekiel, where he said: “Take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel” [Ezekiel 19:1], who died [i.e., whose dynasty ended] and none of their sons remained as king. He begins with Jehoahaz, who is Shallum, saying: “And they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt” [Ezekiel 19:4]. And the [second] young lion [Ezekiel 19:5] is Jehoiakim, whom the king of Egypt made king. [Concerning him, Ezekiel says,] “They put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Babylon” [Ezekiel 19:9]. And similarly, it is written in Chronicles: “[Nebuchadnezzar] bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon” [II Chronicles 36:6]. And afterwards, he [Ezekiel] laments concerning Jehoiachin [symbolized by the vine]: “...her strong stem was consumed by fire” [Ezekiel 19:12]. And after that, he laments concerning Zedekiah: “Fire went out from the branch of its shoots, devoured its fruit, so that there remained in it no strong stem, no scepter to rule” [Ezekiel 19:14]. And behold, it has been clarified that they took Jehoiakim to Babylon. And let it not be difficult in your eyes because it says “to carry him to Babylon” [II Chronicles 36:6] and does not say “and they carried him,” for behold, it is written concerning Zedekiah in Jeremiah: “and bound him in fetters to bring him to Babylon” [Jeremiah 39:7], and elsewhere it is written: “bound him in fetters and brought him to Babylon” [II Kings 25:7]. [Thus, Ibn Ezra argues, "to bring/carry" implies the action was completed]. And behold, it is written in Daniel: “In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar... came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it” [Daniel 1:1]. “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them (va-yvi'em - וַיְבִיאֵם) to the land of Shinar...” [Daniel 1:2]. Now the meaning is: He brought Jehoiakim and the vessels to his [Nebuchadnezzar's] god's house... And afterwards it says: “and the vessels he brought into the treasure house of his god” [Daniel 1:2]. Linguistically, it is not plausible to interpret “and he brought them” (va-yvi'em) [in the first instance] as referring only to the vessels, because [if it meant only vessels, the specific mention later would be redundant; the repetition implies] the first "them" included Jehoiakim, since it [also] specifically states “and the vessels he brought...”. And it is written in Chronicles: “He bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon; and Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon” [II Chronicles 36:6-7]. And Jeremiah prophesies concerning Jehoiakim: “He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem” [Jeremiah 22:19]. Therefore, the one who says that the “third year of Jehoiakim's reign” (whom Pharaoh had made king) refers to the third year of his rebellion [against Nebuchadnezzar, which happened later] is mistaken. And therefore, I needed to explain [as follows]: That “in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim” (whom Pharaoh had made king), Nebuchadnezzar came against him and besieged Jerusalem, and captured it at the beginning of the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar [cf. Jeremiah 25:1], for so it is written. And behold, he [Nebuchadnezzar] took him [Jehoiakim] toward Babylon, and he [Jehoiakim] remained in fetters for about a year. Then Nebuchadnezzar commanded, and Jehoiakim returned to his kingship. “And Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him” [II Kings 24:1]. And Nebuchadnezzar or his troops came to Jerusalem, killed Jehoiakim, and dragged him outside the gates of Jerusalem. And his corpse was cast out and not buried, just as Jeremiah had prophesied [Jeremiah 22:19, Jeremiah 36:30]. And do not be puzzled by [the phrase]: “So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers” [II Kings 24:6], for behold, it is [also] written [regarding Moses]: “Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers” [Deuteronomy 31:16], yet they [his fathers] died [in Canaan or Egypt], and he [Moses] died [in Moab, outside the land]. [The phrase simply means 'died', according to Ibn Ezra]. And behold, his son Jehoiachin reigned three months [II Kings 24:8]. And Nebuchadnezzar captured him in the eighth year of his [Nebuchadnezzar's] reign [II Kings 24:12]. This was the eleventh year [since the start] of Jehoiakim['s reign]. And Zedekiah reigned eleven years [II Kings 24:18]. And [the end of his reign/destruction] was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar [II Kings 25:8]. And behold, [around the time of the end of Jehoiakim's reign and] the three months [of Jehoiachin], Jehoiakim was killed and his son Jehoiachin went into exile. And do not be puzzled because you find it written [regarding an exile in] “in the seventh year” of Nebuchadnezzar [Jeremiah 52:28, contrasting with the 8th year in Kings for Jehoiachin's exile], and similarly concerning Zedekiah, [an exile is mentioned in] the eighteenth year [Jeremiah 52:29], whereas [the final destruction was in] the nineteenth year [II Kings 25:8]. For in the counting of [regnal years of] kings, both methods [accession year vs. non-accession year counting] exist. Do we not know that Jeroboam and Rehoboam began reigning in the same month? And behold, it is written that Rehoboam reigned 17 years [I Kings 14:21]. And Abijah his son reigned after him in the 18th year of Jeroboam [I Kings 15:1]. [This works, Ibn Ezra implies, if counting methods differed, e.g., if Rehoboam's partial first year was counted as year 1 (non-accession), and Jeroboam's wasn't (accession), leading to an apparent one-year shift]. And behold, I will explain this to you: One calculation [system] reckons from the Exodus from Egypt starting from Nisan [as the new year for kings], or for the creation of the world from Tishrei [as the general new year]. And [sometimes] a single day in a year is counted as a [full] year. [One method, non-accession] counts from the day the king began to reign until the completion of his [first calendar] year [which counts as year 1, even if short], [while another method, accession] starts counting year 1 from the next New Year. Therefore, the 18th year can [effectively correspond to] the 19th, depending on the counting method. And an analogy: [Consider a child] born on Friday before sunset in this city, which is Rûdôm (?), during the Tammuz season [summer solstice] when the day is fully 16 hours long. Behold, the son is circumcised on the morning of the following Friday, which is the eighth day according to the Torah's calculation [Leviticus 12:3], even though it is [only just over] seven full 24-hour periods later and lacks [about] 16 hours [from being a full eight times 24 hours]. [This illustrates how part of a day/year counts as a whole unit for the calculation]. And do not be puzzled because you find in Ezekiel [Ezekiel 19:9, concerning Jehoiakim, the second lion]: “They put him in a cage... that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel,” for Nebuchadnezzar's servants intended this [permanent removal], even though [according to Ibn Ezra's reconstruction] he returned briefly. And the meaning of “Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar?” [Jeremiah 22:15] that Jeremiah asked Jehoiakim, is that the prophecy concerning him means: Do you think your kingship will endure because you compete in [building luxurious palaces with] cedar? And now the difficult question remains: I have already mentioned that Zedekiah was 24 years old when his father died. Therefore, at the time of Jehoiakim's death and Jehoiachin's exile [approx. 11 years later], he would have been 35 years old (24 + 11 = 35). Yet it is written: “Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign” [II Kings 24:18; II Chronicles 36:11]! And this calculation [can be resolved if we understand] that he was called 'king' [or recognized as such by some] when he was 21 years old, [an event that happened earlier than his final accession]. The proof is what is written in Jeremiah: “In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah,” the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah to make bonds and yokes and send them “to the king of Edom, the king of Moab... by the hand of the messengers who had come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah” [Jeremiah 27:1-3]. For these [foreign] kings heard that Josiah had been killed, and they thought that Zedekiah, who was made king (or: who became designated as king) when he was 21 years old, would reign after him [Josiah, perhaps seen as the legitimate Davidic heir, despite Jehoiakim being installed by Egypt]. And there is no counter-argument from the [brief] reign of Jehoahaz, because the 'people of the land' made him king, and [the foreign kings] did not heed him (or perhaps: his brief reign was not widely known or considered stable), for he reigned only three months. [So, Ibn Ezra concludes, the reference to Zedekiah being 21 when he began to reign refers to this earlier point when he gained some recognition, likely around the 3rd/4th year of Jehoiakim, reconciling Jeremiah 27 with Kings/Chronicles]. There remains something [else] in the passage [of Jeremiah 27-28] to explain: namely, “And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke...” [Jeremiah 27:12]. Now, Jeremiah relates this matter of the yokes to Zedekiah at the time of his [main] reign after Jehoiachin's exile, and told him: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon...” [Jeremiah 27:12]. And there it is written [in the next chapter]: “And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year...” [Jeremiah 28:1]. [This presents a sequence issue: yokes made under Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 27:1), message delivered to Zedekiah later (Jeremiah 27:12), yoke broken in Zedekiah's 4th year (Jeremiah 28:1)]. And the meaning of “in the fourth year” [in Jeremiah 28:1, Ibn Ezra suggests] relates to when Jehoiakim rebelled against the king of Babylon [which was after 3 years of service, hence in his 4th year of vassalage, connecting Jeremiah 28 to the timing of Jeremiah 27]. And there is one [possible] harmonization: that Jeremiah prepared the yokes in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, but [delivered the message and] sent them [symbolically] in the first year of Zedekiah's reign. However, there is no [strong textual] basis for this harmonization. And there was a great commentator in Spain, who explained books with grammatical precision, and he explained [Jeremiah 27:1, reading 'Zedekiah' where the text has 'Jehoiakim'] and said: that 'Zedekiah' [should be read] instead of 'Jehoiakim'. And similarly he said [interpreting allegorically or emending text]: 'And after Absalom, he did not turn aside' [I Kings 2:28] means 'for he is Solomon'; and 'And it was on the seventh day' means 'which is the fourth [day]'; and 'Set bounds around the mountain' [Exodus 19:12] means 'which is the people'. And similarly [he interpreted] many words, about two hundred of them. And the wind carries them all away! For how is it possible in language that a person says one word and intends another?! One who says such things is considered among the insane! And I have already refuted all of them [these types of interpretations, perhaps elsewhere]. And it is better for him [such a commentator] to say 'I do not know,' than to overturn the words of the living God.

A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Behaalotcha 9-10: [In order to understand this one must remember that the word חצוצרות is related to חצץ which also means crushing stones into pebbles. Ed.] According to this Midrash there is a connection with Psalms 24,7 where Solomon prayed for the gates of the Temple to raise themselves, seeing they were too low to admit the Holy Ark. When the gates demanded to know who was going to enter that they had to change their posture, Solomon said that “the king of glory wants to come in.” This did not satisfy the gates and they demanded again who this king of glory was. Solomon replied that it was ה' עזוז וגבור ה' גבור מלחמה, “the Lord, mighty and valiant, the Lord valiant in battle.” This still did not prove enough to persuade the gates to raise their heads until Solomon added that the king of glory he spoke about was ה' צבאות הוא מלך הכבוד סלה, that it was “the Lord G’d of hosts, He is the king of glory, Selah.” Up until that moment the gates had threatened to crush Solomon. When they heard the latter description of G’d, they opened up immediately. Seeing these gates had shown this honor to G‘d, G’d in turn promised to reward them saying that if and when He allowed His Temple to be destroyed these gates would not fall into the hands of the enemy or into the hands of any other creature.
You should know that when the Babylonians took King Yehoyakim into captivity together with most of the furnishings of the Temple (Daniel 1,2), the gates were hidden. This is the meaning of Lamentations 2,9: “its gates sunk into earth.”
The reason G’d is referred to as the king of כבוד, “glory,” is because He shares some of His glory with His creatures. How do we observe this in practice? We know that G’d is called אלו-הים. We find that G’d accorded the title Elohim to Moses when He told him: “here I have made you Elohim for Pharaoh” (Exodus 7,1). We know that it is G’d’s prerogative to kill and bring to life. Yet we find in Kings I 17,23 when Elijah told the mother: “here your son is alive (again)” that G’d had transferred this power to revive the dead to the prophet Elijah. G’d is known as “king” as we know from Psalms 47,6-8 עלה אלו-הים בתרועה....כי מלך כל הארץ אלו-הים, “G’d ascends as part of the teruah; ....for the king is king over the whole earth.” Moses has also been accorded the title “king,” as we know from Deut. 33,5 ויהי בישורון מלך, “he was king in Yeshurun (the Jewish people). Just as people herald the impending arrival of a king by blowing trumpets so G’d told Moses to make for himself two silver trumpets that were to be blown at the time the Israelites would be assembled (compare verse 3).
The words עשה לך, “make for yourself,” mean that they will be yours exclusively; you will make them and no one else is to use them. Even Moses’ successor and foremost disciple, Joshua, never used the trumpets to blow in but only ram’s horns, such as when he was about to capture the city of Jericho (Compare Joshua 6,3). In fact we have reason to believe that Moses hid these trumpets already during his lifetime as we read in Deut. 31,28: that Moses commanded the Levites to assemble the people to him so he could address them. If the trumpets had ben available at the time, why did he not sound the trumpets to assemble the people? Obviously, they had already been hidden in order to fulfill the statement in Kohelet 8,8 that there is no authority exercised by a ruler on the day he dies. [Deut. 31,28 quotes happenings on the last day of Moses’ life. Ed.]
We find a verse in Chronicles II 29,26 discussing matters which took place in the Temple during the time of King Chiskiyahu. ”The Levites stood equipped with the musical instruments of King David and the Priests were (blowing) the trumpets.” In verse 28 of the same chapter we read והשיר משורר והחצוצרות מחצצרים, “and the song was sung and the trumpets were blown, etc.” This was in contrast to David personally who favoured playing the harp as we know from Psalms 57,9 “awake, O my soul (my glory), awake, O harp and lyre, I will wake the dawn.” We are told that he had a harp hanging over his bed and that as soon as midnight arrived and the North wind began to blow the harp would start playing on its own. As soon as this occurred David would rise from his bed and together with all the other students they would study Torah and chase the sleep from their eyes until dawn.
According to the Tanchuma the reason the verse in Psalms speaks about “waking dawn” in connection with his soul awakening was to demonstrate that David’s personal כבוד was nothing compared to G’d’s כבוד, glory. David “woke” dawn not just for himself but he wanted to shake up people from their slumber.
A more kabbalistic approach: the two trumpets symbolized the tekiah and teruah, i.e. the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice. When G’d said to Moses “these shall be for you an instrument to call the congregation to journey,” this is equivalent to His saying to Moses: “they shall be for you as either tekiah or teruah.” If so, this is clear proof that the journeys and campings of the Israelites were subject to the two attributes mentioned, i.e. that the words על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו את משמרת ה' שמרו which are written adjoining the paragraph instructing Moses to make the trumpets are conceptually closely connected, and that the words על פי ה' refer to both attributes, as the case may be.
If we consider that Moses was entrusted with these two trumpets and what they symbolised you can appreciate his elevated status, i.e. that he could call upon either the attribute of Justice or the attribute of Mercy at will, so to speak. This proves his status as king.
The reason the trumpets had to be made only of silver, and that no other metal was acceptable as a substitute (as opposed to the Menorah), is discussed in Menachot 28. The Talmud says that the silver used for their construction was a silver bar. Whereas smaller pieces of silver scrap were acceptable as the raw material, other metals were not. The reason there had to be two such trumpets was in order for Moses to be able to address and be addressed by the attribute of Mercy on a “face to face” basis,” as sort of a vision within a vision, there had to be two. The construction is described in the Torah as מקשה, “hammered, beaten work,” This is the mystical dimension of what is written in verse 3 ונועדו אליך כל העדה, “the tekiah element when blowing both trumpets” is the signal to assemble the entire congregation to be exposed to the communication from the attribute of Mercy which addressed the Israelites out of the fire. This is what Moses had in mind when he told the people in Deut. 4,15: “on the day the Lord spoke to you at Chorev out of the fire.” When the tekiah was blown out of only one of the trumpets this was the signal for the princes who were unique people to be assembled around Moses. Moses who was unique, would hear the voice of G’d who was unique. He was the only one who could understand the voice of the attribute of Mercy speaking to him. The teruah sound would be blown to signal that the people were to get ready to journey, part of their campaign to conquer the Holy Land. The fact that the attribute of Justice (symbolized by the teruah sound) was called upon is a compliment to the stature of the Jewish people. Seeing that no other prophet had attained the stature of Moses to be addressed both by the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice on a “face to face” basis by means of the trumpets, these trumpets had to be “hidden,“ so that no one else would use them. The very words והיו לך, “they shall be yours,” which G’d said to Moses concerning these trumpets mean that only Moses would have access to these two attributes of Hashem in such a manner. Seeing these trumpets were so sacred they had to be hidden prior to Moses’ death.
Do not wonder why they were made of silver (and not of gold). The manner in which they were hammered out of one piece made it impossible to construct them of any metal other than silver. The cherubs on the kapporet of the Holy Ark were also constructed in a similar manner, (out of gold). In the case of the cherubs the attribute of Justice was subordinate to the attribute of Mercy contained within it. Hence a soft metal, gold, was used. By the same token seeing that in the case of the trumpets the situation was the reverse, i.e. that the attribute of Mercy was subordinate to the attribute of Justice which was part of it, a hard metal, silver, had to be used to symbolize that concept. Joshua was not allowed to use the trumpets and he used the shofar instead to symbolize the attribute of Justice which was poised against his enemies, the inhabitants of Jericho. David also was not allowed to use the trumpets and used the harp instead which corresponded to his principal attribute, virtue. The author draws a comparison between the word כנור and the lake called ים כנרת, (sea of Galilee). The blue applied to the tzitzit is drawn from a fish in that lake, this is why his attribute is known as כנור דוד. (Rabbi Chavell found a source in the Zohar Beshalach 48 for this.) There are kabbalistic writings explaining why תכלת represents these attributes of Justice. [Remak (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero) quotes a saying that any color one sees in one’s dream is acceptable except techelet, as this represents the attribute of Justice in its full power. Pardess Rimonim discusses the colours and their mystical significance in a chapter called שער הגוונים. Ed.]. What we learn from the above is that every great historical personality was given the tools appropriate to his spiritual level to use in communicating with G’d or on behalf of G’d.

According To Bereshit Rabbah 65,13 the words שא נא כליך are a reference to the Kingdom of Babylon as we read in Daniel 1,2 ואת הכלים הביא בבלה, “and the vessels (Temple utensils) he (Nebuchadnezzar) brought to Babylon.” The word תליך, “your quiver,” refers to the Medes as we read in Esther 7,10 ויתלו את המן, “they hung Haman.” The word וקשתך, “and your bow,” is a reference to the Greek Empire as we read in Zechariah 9,13: כי דרכתי לי יהודה קשת, “for I have drawn Yehudah taut as a bow, etc.;” finally, the words וצא השדה are a reference to the Roman Empire as we read in Genesis 32,2: ארצה שעיר שדה אדום, “to the land of Seir, which will become the field of Edom, Rome.”

shall be made Aram. יִתְּשָּׂמוּן an expression of וְיָשֵּׂם, and he will make. They shall be made into dungheaps.