Комментарий о цитате к Тегилим 80:9

The truth of the matter, according to me, is that the prophet was coming to tell us about the 4 kingdoms (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) and because they all affected Israel and ruled in Jerusalem, therefore this dirge was made to tell about the bad that will occur during these exiles. That Nevuchad Netzer first destroyed it. And even though Persia did not destroy the temple, they commanded to stop rebuilding the second temple and after it was destroyed they were bad to the Israelites that were in their exile like it says in Perek 141 in Yoma (10:1). And it says about the Greeks that they did much bad to Israel and breached breaches in the Holy Temple. And the Romans, we have personal experience with. And if the later prophets discuss this topic, they each do it with their own styles. The prophet Yoel use the styl of the locusts to discuss the 4 exiles because the locusts come upon the land that Yoel gives his great dirge. And in his great dirge there isn't a famine for food and there isn't a thirst for water. That's why there are 4 species of locust mentioned . And there is not a contradiction in waht the prophet says with what the Torah tells us about the plague of locusts in the days of the Egyptians. Because that instance was talking about the literal locusts and here it is talking about the rule of the nations and the destruction of Israel that there was never like among any other nations. This is the meaning of the grape vine and figs that are withered. It's a remez to the Israelites who are referred to as a grape vine in Tehillim (80:9) "I plucked a vine from Egypt. And they are called "the first figs on the fig tree" in Hosea (9:10). And because of the destruction in the hands of the nations it says twice that the Kohanim are mourning for them and it says that the mincha offering and the libations have ceased from the house of Gd. Therefore the Kohanim mourn. Similar to Yirmiyahu's dirge (Eicha 1:4) "your priests are moaning." And these destructions that are terrible begin with the destruction of the first Temple and the writings of Jossipson and in Daniel's prophecies.

But Moab, meaning the general masses, did not consider what had happened before. Because they did not know what it was, and they were only afraid of the present situation — what they saw with their eyes: a numerous and mighty people. Therefore it says, Moab feared the people because they were numerous. The common people of Moab were afraid of two groups, and one fear was not like the other. They feared the mixed multitude [erev rav] because of their great numbers, as it is stated in the Midrash that the mixed multitude was twice 600,000, and about them it says, Moab feared the people because they were numerous. The verse calls the mixed multitude by the name the people, because they were not from the children of Israel, because they were numerous — for they were truly many. But the children of Israel, who were not so numerous, they did not fear them due to their numbers. However, from another perspective, the fear of Israel was upon them, about which it says, Moab was disgusted because of the children of Israel.
As we explained in Parshat Shemot (Exodus 1:12) on the verse and they were disgusted because of the children of Israel, the meaning is not that Israel became like thorns in their eyes, for if that were the case, it should have said “they were disgusted with the children of Israel.” What is the meaning of because of? Rather, the opposite is logical — that the Egyptians compared themselves to thorns in relation to the children of Israel, who were compared to a vine, as it says: You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out nations and planted it. You cleared a place before it, and it took root and filled the land (Psalms 80:9-10).
For it is the way of the world that when a field owner wants to plant a vineyard in a field full of thorns, he uproots the thorns from their roots and throws them far away in order to plant the vine in their place. Likewise, the Egyptians feared that Israel would be planted in the land like a vine, and they [the Egyptians] would be driven from the land like a fleeing thorn (2 Samuel 23:6), as it says, And they will go up from the land (Exodus 1:10). It should have said “and we will go up,” etc. Therefore it says, they were disgusted because of the children of Israel, meaning they would be shaken out from the land because of the children of Israel who were compared to a vine.
Similarly, it says here, Moab was disgusted because of the children of Israel. They were afraid lest Moab become like a thorn cast out from the land because of the children of Israel, because of the vine which God moved from Egypt to drive out nations before them and plant them there. Therefore it says the children of Israel for Israel the elder is no more because he has already gone to his world, but his children would come there. But not the mixed multitude who are called the people for what advantage does one man have over another (Sanhedrin 65b)? And what advantage does the mixed multitude have over other nations that would cause God to drive out nations for them and plant them in their place, if not on account of the children of Israel?

A Midrashic approach based on Chulin 92. The word גפן, grapevine is a reference to the people of Israel, Psalms 80,9 mentions גפן ממצרים תסיע, “You (G’d) have picked up a vine from Egypt,” an obvious reference to the Jewish people. The שלשת שריגים are a reference to the three festivals a year during which the Jewish people make their pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. The words והיא כפורחת, refer to the time when it is the turn to the Jewish people to blossom and spread out in all directions as do the buds which break out in blossoms. We find references to such development by the Jewish people in Exodus 1,6: “and the children of Israel were fruitful and there were swarms of them.” This means that the nation budded, broke out in blossoms. Isaiah, speaking about the time of redemption, says (Isaiah 63,3) “their life-blood (נצחם=wine) bespattered My garments.” This is a prologue to G’d redeeming Israel. The words הבשילו אשכלותיה ענבים, “its clusters of grapes were ripe,” mean that the time is ripe for Israel’s redemption, i.e. for Egypt to drink the cup of retribution. The word כוס, cup, occurs four times in this brief passage and refers to the four exiles Israel would experience. The fact that our enemies will have to drink four cups of retribution is alluded to in four separate verses in the Books of the Prophets and in the Hagiography. Compare: Jeremiah 25,15; Jeremiah 51,7; Psalms 75,9; Psalms 11,6.

אסרי is the same as אוסר (i.e. the yod is redundant). Similar forms are: (Psalms 113:7) “who raiseth (מקימי instead of מקים) the poor out of the dust”, (Psalms 5:1) “that art enthroned” (היושבי instead of היושב) in the heavens”. In the same way is בני אתנו (instead of בן אתנו) to be explained. Onkelos translates v.11 as having reference to King Messiah: גפן “the vine” symbolizes “Israel” (cf. Psalms 80:9): “Thou didst pluck up a vine out of Egypt”); עירה (taken as עיר city with the ה suffix instead of ו, like סותה instead of סותו in thin verse) means Jerusalem; שורקה alludes to Israel as the prophet exclaims (Jeremiah 2:21) “Yet, I had planted thee a noble vine (שורק)".

for the desirable fields For the fields of their desire. The Midrash Aggadah (See twenty-fourth poem to Lamentations Rabbah) states: For the sages of the Sanhedrin, who are like breasts that nurture, they will lament, and for the city of their desire that will be plowed up like a field, and for the fruitful - vine that is Israel, called a vine, as it is said (Psalms 80:9): “You plucked a vine out of Egypt.”