Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Isaias 46:11

Scripture refers to them as a three-year old [ram] for they were the kings of the east, who conquered the other three directions of the world. As we find in Isaiah [46:11]: “I summoned that swooping bird from the east” and “Who has roused a victor from the east?” [Isa. 41:2]¹⁴¹The verses refer to Cyrus. He conquered the three remaining directions of the world, as it states: “I saw a ram butting westward, northward, and southward” [Dan. 8:4]. And it says: “So says Cyrus, the king of Persia: ‘The Lord, God of heaven, has granted me all of the kingdoms of the world’” [II Chron. 36:23]. The turtledove represents the wicked one, the fourth awful and mighty beast viewed by Daniel. He desired to comprehend its true meaning, as it is written: “I approached one of the attendants and asked him the true meaning of all of this” [Daniel 7:16]. It is said concerning this beast: “it will devour the whole earth, tread it down and crush it.” R. Yohanan said: “It is requisite that Rome’s nature spread throughout the entire world.”¹⁴²b. Avodah Zarah 2b. “Rome” and “Edom” for the medieval Jews refer to Christendom, which they view as a continuation of the Roman empire.

אכפרה פניו, I want to remove his anger. Every time the word כפרה appears it means the removal of something. For instance, in Isaiah 28,18 וכפר בריתכם את מות, “your covenant with death will be removed, cancelled.” The expression כפרת עון means “the removal of sin.” Compare also Isaiah 46,11.

their molten images Heb. נִסְכֵּיהֶם. Comp. (supra 40:19) “The graven image the craftsman melted (נָסַךְ).” Jonathan renders this section differently: [27] The first one to Zion etc. The words of consolation that the prophets prophesied concerning Zion, from before, behold they have come. And according to the Targum, the entire section speaks of the King Messiah and of the last redemption, but I see that the prophecy that Isaiah prophesied concerning Cyrus is all in the same language as this section. Comp. (infra 45:13) “I aroused him with righteousness”; (Infra 46:11) “Calling from the east a bird of prey”; (infra 45:11) “The signs ask Me;” (infra 46:10) “Who tells from the beginning the end.” All of this resembles the topic of this section.