Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Isaias 43:26

nor do they sleep during the day, while watchmen may at least sleep during the day; comp. They that cause to watch for lying vanities, forsake their idol (Jon. 2:9).⁴A. V., They that observe lying vanities.—I. E. proves by this quotation that the expression to watch signifies sometimes to wait for help, to pray; because משמרים means they that cause to pray, and refers to the people in the ship that stirred each other up to prayer; so here also the word שמרים watchmen refers to those that feel themselves continually stirred up to pray to the Almighty for the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple. The prophet himself explains the expression watchmen by the words המזכירים את יי that remind the Lord. מזכירים is a causative verb; lit., that cause the Lord to remember; comp. הזכירני put me in remembrance (43:26)

G'd informed Abraham of the sequence in which he employs kindness and mercy with His creatures. Fairness would require that punishment takes into consideration the relative stature of the person who has been sinned against and that of the sinner. When a human being transgresses any commandment of his Creator, the Supreme Being, he and all his entourage deserves to be destroyed because of the stature of the One whom he sinned against. If G'd proceeds simply on the basis of the enormity of the crime because of the stature of the מתביש, the one who has been slighted, the outcome of such proceedings is a foregone conclusion. If, on the other hand, G'd considers the relative insignificance of the מביש, the human being who committed the crime, and He bases the judgment on arguments presented by both litigants, things might appear in a different light. In such a case even the people of the generation of the deluge might not have been found guilty of extinction. This is why G'd explains here to Abraham ארדה נא, "I will descend, i.e. I will not judge on the basis of My superior stature." I will keep in mind the inadequacies of the sinners themselves. We find something of this nature in Isaiah 43,26 where G'd offers: נשפטה יחד, "let Us judge on an equal basis," keeping in mind the inadequacies of the creatures. G'd says: "If, after making full allowance for the inadequacies of any creature and ignoring My superior stature, the defendant still emerges as guilty, כלה, there is no escape for him. If not, I will know if they deserve to be judged by this or any other yardstick. G'd does not literally descend to earth to gain knowledge He did not have, but G'd lowers His profile in order to give the defendant an additional chance to downgrade his sin.