Introduction
In this part of Chapter 7, Yechezkel continues to describe the end coming upon the land of Israel, and the sequential deterioration leading to destruction and exile. According to the Malbim, the prophet traces the events chronologically: first, the final days of the siege ('they blew the shofar'), then the hardship of the siege and the enemy already standing outside ('the sword is outside'), then the breaching of the city walls and the flight of Tzidkiyahu ('and their survivors shall escape'), and then the plundering of the silver and gold ('they shall cast their silver into the streets') - all of which took place in the fourth month. From here on, the prophet describes the next stage: the departure of the Shechinah, the desecration of the Holy of Holies, exile in chains, and the complete collapse of the leadership structure.
'And He Set the Beauty of His Ornament for Pride' - The Beis HaMikdash or Their Golden Calf
וּצְבִי עֶדְיוֹ לְגָאוֹן שָׂמָהוּ, וְצַלְמֵי תוֹעֲבֹתָם שִׁקּוּצֵיהֶם עָשׂוּ בוֹ, עַל כֵּן נְתַתִּיו לָהֶם לְנִדָּה. (כ) - And the beauty of His ornament He set for pride, and they made in it the images of their abominations and their detestable things; therefore I have made it an unclean thing unto them. (20)
'Tzevi' here denotes will and desire (or beauty), and 'edyo' means His ornament and adornment. Radak explains that this refers to the Beis HaMikdash: it was the splendor, beauty, and honor within which Hashem was sanctified, serving as the ornament and glory of Israel, who adorned themselves with it and took pride in it. The Divine glory appeared there in the cloud and heavenly fire. Yet that very 'beautiful ornament' which was set for glory - within it they placed the images of their abominations and their detestable things, as seen in the tour Hashem showed Yechezkel of the abominations practiced inside the Beis HaMikdash. Therefore: 'therefore I have made it an unclean thing [niddah] unto them' - niddah here sharing the root with wandering (nedidah): they will be banished from the Temple, wander from their place, and be exiled from their land.
The Malbim explains that this verse is a direct continuation of the preceding verse, 'they shall cast their silver into the streets.' The prophet continues to explain how they sinned with silver and gold in two ways. First: they made the 'splendid ornament' of gold their pride and glory. Their entire ambition and pride lay in the coveting of gold; they lusted to amass wealth, making silver and gold the object of their desire and the ornament in which they took pride. In short, they turned money into a god. This describes a reality familiar to this day: anyone who has spent time in America can truly grasp what 'the beauty of his ornament he set for pride' means - financial matters, profits, and wealth are the focus of all desire and interest; people talk about it all day, and a person is measured by it: how much money he has and how much he earns a year. There are even publications that print rankings of how wealthy each person is.
The second matter: 'and they made in it the images of their abominations and their detestable things.' I gave you silver and gold - and what did you use it for? To fashion calves and idols from it. Instead of utilizing it for good causes, or at least for ordinary mundane needs, you used it for evil. Therefore, measure for measure: 'therefore I have made it an unclean thing unto them' - this is why I decreed that silver and gold will be cast out from them (menudeh); they will not be able to use it, it will not be able to save them on the day of Hashem's wrath, and they will cast it away like a worthless vessel.
The Malbim adds another allegorical exposition of the words. Idol worshippers were steeped in superstitions, in what the Malbim calls 'the vain tales of mythology.' One of their foolish beliefs was that an idol possessed human-like lusts and desires, and that it fought against other idols and forces - all those endless mythic tales of wars between the gods: one god taking another's wife, the other growing enraged causing an earthquake, and so forth, tales of falsehood and vanity. Among these delusions was the belief that idols needed silver and gold to fulfill their desires and abominations. Consequently, people would vow silver and gold to the idols and bring them to the pagan temples - as if to say: here, I have given you this, now grant my request, and the deity will be pleased and remember the favor. This is 'and the images of their abominations and their detestable things they made with it' - they believed that the idols fulfilled their desires through the silver and gold.
It turns out, then, that they designated their wealth for something truly akin to a niddah, for Chazal state that idolatry imparts defilement like a niddah. When Rachel sat upon the teraphim, she said, 'for the manner of women is upon me,' from which the Gemara learns that idolatry defiles like a niddah. Thus, everything is measure for measure: since you took the money and dedicated it to idolatry, which is defiled like a niddah, thereby debasing it - 'therefore I have made it an unclean thing [niddah] unto them,' causing their wealth to be cast away and alienated from them.
'For Prey and for Plunder' - What the Strangers Will Take and What Will Remain for the Wicked of the Earth
וּנְתַתִּיו בְּיַד הַזָּרִים לָבַז וּלְרִשְׁעֵי הָאָרֶץ לְשָׁלָל, וְחִלְּלוּהוּ. (כא) - And I will give it into the hands of strangers for prey, and to the wicked of the earth for plunder, and they shall desecrate it. (21)
According to the Malbim, the verse continues on the same subject: 'And I will give it' - referring to the silver and gold, which strangers will come and plunder. And what is the difference between 'baz' (prey) and 'shalal' (plunder)? The Malbim explains: what enemies take by force of hand is called 'baz', while what is left behind after the owners have fallen in battle is called 'shalal'. The strangers will come and seize by force the wealth of the inhabitants of Jerusalem - the principal possessions and whatever is valuable and useful. And whatever remains - the excess that the foreigners no longer deem useful - will remain as plunder (shalal), to be taken by the wicked of the land. 'And they shall desecrate it' - through this they will desecrate that very pride and ornament, the silver and gold which they had made into 'the beauty of his ornament for pride,' by taking it for themselves.
According to the Radak, who explained "the beauty of His ornament" as referring to the Beis HaMikdash, the continuation of the verse also speaks of the Beis HaMikdash: "And I will give it" - the House - "into the hands of strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil." The written text (ketiv) is "וחללוה" (and they shall profane her) and the spoken reading (keri) is "וחיללוהו" (and they shall profane it): "וחיללוהו" refers to the House, that they will profane the House; while "וחללוה" refers to the Shechinah, because since the Shechinah rested in the Beis HaMikdash, when they entered to plunder the House, they as it were profaned the Holy Shechinah.
"And I Will Turn My Face from Them" - The Concealment of the Divine Countenance and the Profanation of the Holy of Holies
וַהֲסִבּוֹתִי פָנַי מֵהֶם וְחִלְּלוּ אֶת צְפוּנִי, וּבָאוּ בָהּ פָּרִיצִים וְחִלְּלוּהָ. (כב) - And I will turn My face from them, and they shall profane My secret place; and violent men shall enter into it, and profane it. (22)
"And I will turn My face from them," the Radak explains, is like "And I will hide My face from them." As long as Divine providence is present, there is protection; but when the Holy One, Blessed is He, turns His face away, there is no protection, and Heaven forbid, "it shall be devoured." "And they shall profane My secret place" - according to the Radak, this is the Beis HaMikdash: they will profane the most hidden and concealed place, which is the Dvir, the Holy of Holies, where the Ark is kept. "And violent men shall enter into it, and profane it [חיללוה - feminine]" - seemingly, it should have said "חיללוהו" (masculine), but the word refers to the Shechinah, as we saw in the ketiv of the previous verse. Another possibility brought by the Radak is that "חיללוה" refers to the city, meaning that they will profane Jerusalem.
The Malbim structures the verse according to the stages of deterioration: after all the phases of siege and plunder comes the stage in which "and I will turn My face from them" - the Shechinah departs from the Sanctuary; "and they shall profane My secret place" - they will profane the chamber of the Holy of Holies; and the violent men will come to take the Temple vessels and desecrate them to secular status. As Chazal expound in Masechet Avodah Zarah: once violent men entered it, they lost their sanctity. This is the meaning of "and violent men shall enter into it, and profane it" - the vessels became secular, and the designation of holiness no longer applied to them. And "My secret place" (צפוני), according to the Malbim, means something hidden from sight: the Ark, the Holy of Holies, and the Shechinah. This is why the feminine form "חיללוה" is used, for it refers to the Shechinah, which is also termed "צפוני" because it too is concealed from human sight, as no person can see the Holy Shechinah.
"Make the Chain" - The Chains of Exile
עֲשֵׂה הָרַתּוֹק, כִּי הָאָרֶץ מָלְאָה מִשְׁפַּט דָּמִים וְהָעִיר מָלְאָה חָמָס. (כג) - Make the chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. (23)
All the commentators explain that "ratok" refers to a chain, related to the expression "retukot" (chains), and "bound in fetters" (rutku ve-zikim). The Malbim makes a precise observation: an ordinary chain is single, whereas "ratok" is a double chain, a term denoting double thickness and strength. The Radak explains: "Make the chain" - prepare an iron chain, as a sign that the Chaldeans will lead the people of Jerusalem into exile in chains. This was the practice with captives so they could not flee: their legs were bound in chains, with the chain of the first prisoner linked to the second, and the second to the third, marching in convoys without anyone able to escape along the way.
"For the land is full of bloody crimes" - what does "mishpat damim" mean? That they shed innocent blood and committed sins incurring the death penalty, as in the phrase "this man is worthy of death" (mishpat mavet). They are liable to judgment for the blood they shed in it, in accordance with the words of Chazal that the First Temple was destroyed because of idolatry, sexual immorality, and bloodshed, and as was said of Menasheh, who filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to the other. "And the city is full of violence" - beyond murder, the city was filled with robbers and plunderers, robbing from one another.
If so, the land is not fit for human habitation when murder and robbery prevail within it. This standard is demanded even of the nations: Jonah was sent to Nineveh, and there everyone returned the robbery that was in their hands; regarding the generation of the Flood it was said, "for the earth is filled with violence"; and the people of Sodom were wicked with interpersonal violence and robbery. Why is even a gentile held accountable for this? Because the sin of robbery undermines the very fabric of society. There is no human society that sanctions robbery; there is no society in the world without clear rules and laws forbidding theft. For if a situation arose where a person works and anyone is permitted to come and rob him, society could not exist: everyone would rob and oppress, and who would work, who would make an effort, and who would build, if in the end he has nothing to show for it and the profit is not his?
From this we see that certain foundations of the Ten Commandments are universally accepted by all nations: "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal," as well as honoring parents. There are those that do not apply to them, such as Sabbath observance; and even their "do not steal" and "do not murder" are not by the standards and parameters of the Torah - yet nevertheless, these moral foundations are accepted by all. When these foundations are undermined, the place must be destroyed, for it no longer has a right to exist. Even gentiles were commanded in the Seven Noahide Laws to establish courts of justice - judges according to their own laws, but to establish them nonetheless. Even if there are nations where theft and robbery are prevalent - as in the story of the man who went with a lantern from country to country searching for justice, and when he reached Romania had to search for his lantern. That is to say, even if there are countries where theft is commonplace, they nevertheless do not enshrine it into law. Therefore, since the land was full of bloody crimes and the city was full of violence, society could no longer endure - "Make the chain," for the people would now be led into exile in chains.
The Malbim notes the distinction between "the land" and "the city": murder was prevalent throughout the land, in the other regions of the country, whereas in Jerusalem murder was not rampant, but rather it was filled with robbery and violence, until they incurred destruction for the combination of murder and violence together. And even though Menasheh filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to the other, that was the sin of an individual ruler, not murder that had spread throughout the general populace of the city.
"I Will Bring the Worst of the Nations" - "And Their Sanctifiers Shall Be Profaned"
וְהֵבֵאתִי רָעֵי גוֹיִם וְיָרְשׁוּ אֶת בָּתֵּיהֶם, וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי גְּאוֹן עַזִּים, וְנִחֲלוּ מְקַדְשֵׁיהֶם. (כד) - "I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses; and I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their holy places shall be profaned." (24)
Who are "the worst of the nations"? Radak explains: the Chaldeans, regarding whom it is said, "that bitter and impetuous nation" (Chavakuk 1:6). Rashi explains: the most wicked of the nations and the cruelest among them - the worst of all peoples. "And their holy places shall be profaned" (venichalu mikdasheihem) - Radak explains that nichalu comes from the concept of chillul (desecration or profanation), from the root ch-l-l, meaning unconsecrated or profaned (and not from nachalah, inheritance). And mikdasheihem means their sanctuaries, just in a different grammatical form, and he cites additional examples of this.
The Malbim continues here with the sequence of events: after they are exiled in chains, I will bring the lowliest and worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses and settle in the land. Afterward, "and I will put an end to the pride of the mighty" - the kings, princes, and priesthood, the people of pride and authority among the nation, their greatness and arrogance will cease.
Regarding "and their sanctifiers shall be profaned," the Malbim offers a wonderful explanation. It was the practice among idolaters that the priests were the ones who "sanctified" the people: the pagan priest would come with his water and sprinkle a few drops upon a person, ostensibly sanctifying him according to their system. Not only that, but they believed that anyone who touched them became holy, as we will see later in the book in chapter 44: "that they do not sanctify the people with their garments," "not to bring them out into the outer court to sanctify the people," and similarly, "Do not come near me, for I am holier than you" (Yeshayahu 65:5). Thus, they believed that by the mere touch of a priest - an idolatrous priest - one acquired sanctity.
It is told that once the Baal Shem Tov and his holy entourage were walking, and a priest passed by them with his young novitiates. The priest said to them: "Let us stay away, for these Jews are speaking, and as they speak, some saliva might spray from their mouths; and Jews are impure, so let them not defile us." The Baal Shem Tov said to his disciples: "Do you see what kindness Hashem has done for us? We do not need to distance ourselves from them; rather, they distance themselves from us. He thinks we are the impure ones - wonderful, I do not care what you think, as long as you stay away." Now, great and righteous men who happened to touch a gentile would go wash their hands, understanding that there is a degree of spiritual impurity here; whereas they, in their warped conception, believed that the priest, who is the epitome of abomination and impurity, sanctifies whoever touches him.
According to this, "and their sanctifiers shall be profaned" does not refer to the sanctuaries of Israel being defiled, as Radak explained, but to "their sanctifiers" (mekaddesheihem) - those who sanctify them: the priests who began acting in the manner of pagan priests, as if anyone who touched them became holy. They themselves will be profaned and degraded, measure for measure against that distorted perception they adopted from the nations.
"Destruction Comes" - The Chain of Decrees
קְפָדָה בָא, וּבִקְשׁוּ שָׁלוֹם וָאָיִן. (כה) - "Destruction comes; and they will seek peace, but there shall be none." (25)
Kefadah is a short word, which is why it is joined directly to the word ba. Its phrasing derives from cutting off and severing, as in "I have cut off [kippadti] like a weaver my life" (Yeshayahu 38:12), and like the Talmudic phrase kaped rosho ("cut off his head") - to slice and cut down. The Malbim explains the connection to the chain (ratok) mentioned earlier: the chain comes to teach that the decrees will arrive like a chain, link bound to link, where each event drags another in its wake, one calamity connected to the next. The kefadah is the joint and binding of the chain, ensuring that the links and segments remain tied together - this is the meaning of ratok, that each part is linked and fastened to its fellow.
"And they will seek peace, but there is none" - after all, the false prophets used to tell them, "'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace" (Yirmeyahu 6:14). And this is nothing new: the false prophets of our own day, the media commentators, are the ideological descendants of the false prophets from thousands of years ago. Back then, too, they said: "Peace, do not worry, everything will be fine"; and if the true prophets arrived - Yechezkel, Yirmeyahu, Yeshayahu - and spoke harsh truths, the false prophets claimed they were merely fearmongering. But here the prophet says: "And they will seek peace, but there is none." Where is that peace the false prophets spoke of? It does not exist.
"Disaster upon Disaster Shall Come" - Calamity upon Calamity
הֹוָה עַל הֹוָה תָּבוֹא, וּשְׁמֻעָה אֶל שְׁמוּעָה תִּהְיֶה, וּבִקְשׁוּ חָזוֹן מִנָּבִיא, וְתוֹרָה תֹּאבַד מִכֹּהֵן וְעֵצָה מִזְּקֵנִים. (כו) - Calamity upon calamity shall come, and rumor upon rumor shall be; they shall seek a vision from a prophet, but Torah shall perish from the priest and counsel from the elders. (26)
Radak offers two explanations for hovah: One is related to occurrence and being (havayah), matters that happen and unfold, meaning that incident upon incident will strike. Menachem explained, as did most commentators, that it denotes ruin and destruction, and so Targum Yonatan renders: 'Tevar al tevar yeitei' - ruin upon ruin shall come, as in the expression 'medaber havot' (speaking destruction). 'And rumor upon rumor shall be' - every report of disaster will drag another rumor in its wake. 'And Torah shall perish from the priest' - specifically from the kohanim, who were customary teachers of halachah, of whom it is said, 'For the lips of a priest shall preserve knowledge, and Torah shall they seek from his mouth, for he is an angel of the Lord of Hosts,' yet here, the Torah will be lost from them.
The Malbim offers a profound explanation here. We have seen that the troubles will come as a ratok, like a chain, where one misfortune pursues another. The Malbim explains: Here it will not unfold in a natural manner. In the natural order, one disaster brings about the next: the enemy attacks and slaughters, bodies are left unburied with no one to attend to them, and immediately afterward comes pestilence, disease, and plagues, Heaven spare us, followed by contamination, famine, and so forth. That is how natural disasters occur, because they are built on cause and effect: one factor causes another, from which a third unfolds, and so on.
In contrast, when dealing with a supernatural affliction, it does not come one after the other, but one on top of the other. One will not even have time to recover from the first before the second strikes, with no natural connection between them, but purely by Divine Providence. Therefore, it does not say 'calamity after calamity shall come,' but rather 'calamity upon calamity shall come' - while the first disaster is still ongoing, the second already falls upon it, unlike the normal course of the world. Likewise, 'and rumor upon rumor shall be': even while people are still hearing of one impending disaster, another rumor is already arriving, without pause.
'They shall seek a vision from a prophet' - until now, the words of the prophets did not interest them, and no one cared to listen to what the prophets had to say. But once the troubles begin, they suddenly remember: the prophets were warning of this all along, and now their words are coming true. So they will come and seek a vision from a prophet: tell us what is truly happening, what is destined to occur, and how we can escape this. The Malbim notes that the word uvikshu ('and they shall seek') governs the subsequent clauses as well: they will seek a vision from a prophet, they will seek Torah which will be lost from the priest, and they will seek counsel which will be lost from the elders. They will seek prophecy - but the prophet will have none; they will seek Torah - but Torah has perished from the priest; they will seek practical guidance on what to do - but counsel has vanished from the elders. The progression is precise: once they find no prophetic vision, they will search in the Torah - let us see what is written there, how the impending tribulations are described, and understand from that what the future holds. When even that cannot be found, they will seek counsel from elders, who possess life experience. Ultimately, both Torah and counsel will be lost, and there will be no one left to rely upon.
'The King Shall Mourn' - The End of Authority
הַמֶּלֶךְ יִתְאַבָּל וְנָשִׂיא יִלְבַּשׁ שְׁמָמָה, וִידֵי עַם הָאָרֶץ תִּבָּהַלְנָה, מִדַּרְכָּם אֶעֱשֶׂה אֹתָם וּבְמִשְׁפְּטֵיהֶם אֶשְׁפְּטֵם, וְיָדְעוּ כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה. (כז) - The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be paralyzed with fear; according to their way will I do to them, and by their judgments will I judge them, and they shall know that I am the Lord. (27)
'The king shall mourn' - over what will he mourn? Over the fact that his kingdom will be brought to an end, and he has lost the royal authority he once held. 'And the prince shall be clothed with desolation' - the prince refers to the ruler appointed over them by Nebuchadnezzar. The greater the prestige of the office and the more developed the land, the more dignified the garments of leadership; but if one is appointed governor over a barren patch in the Sahara Desert, what is there to rule over? One must first worry about finding air conditioning in fifty-degree heat. This is the meaning of: the prince shall be clothed with desolation, having nothing of which to boast, for his rule will be over a devastated wasteland. As a result, 'and the hands of the people of the land shall be paralyzed with fear' - they will not know what to do.
'According to their way will I do to them, and by their judgments will I judge them' - all of this will correspond to the measure of their evil ways, and according to the sentence fitting for them, measure for measure, in strict law and judgment, until they recognize and know that I am the Lord, that all of this originates from Me. As has been explained several times: when tribulations arrive through natural means, there is always room to claim that it was mere chance. As the Rambam writes, this is the meaning of the verse, 'And if you walk with Me with happenstance (keri)' - if you claim it was an accident, then Heaven forbid, 'I will walk with you with fury of happenstance.' But when calamity strikes in an unnatural way, it becomes evident to all that it is guided by Hashem. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: measure for measure I will do to them, until they recognize and know that I am the Lord, seeing from the afflictions themselves that everything befalling them is deliberate and purposeful, because they abandoned the way of Hashem.
There is also a textual nuance here: it would seem more fitting to say midarkam e'eseh itam ('according to their way will I do with them') - meaning, in accordance with the way they acted, so will I deal with them, exacting retribution measure for measure. Indeed, in his first interpretation, the Malbim notes that the word otam ('them') stands in place of itam ('with them'), a grammatical form found elsewhere. But he adds an allegorical insight: 'according to their way will I make them' - as though the Holy One, blessed be He, is fashioning them anew. Until now, they were created in perfection, for Hashem formed them with flawlessness; but now, after they corrupted themselves, He will, as it were, remake them in a degraded form, from turbid material. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: such debased material does not exist with Me; I have no such raw matter with which to create them in so base a state - so from where shall I take it? From themselves. This is the meaning of 'according to their way will I make them': from the very substance they brought upon themselves through their sins, corruption, and defilement - from the degraded matter they generated through their own corrupt deeds - from that very substance will I remake them.
In summary:
In this section of the chapter, we trace the stages of decline leading directly to the Destruction. 'The beauty of his ornament he set in majesty' - whether referring to the Beit HaMikdash, which was turned into a site for abominable idols, or to the silver and gold that were deified and vowed to idolatry - everything ends measure for measure: 'therefore have I made it to them as an unclean thing,' the silver is cast away by its owners, strangers plunder it, and the wicked loot it. Following that comes the concealment of the Divine Face, the departure of the Shechinah, and the profanation of the Holy of Holies and the sacred vessels, which are dragged into mundane use; then 'make the chain' - the shackles of exile, on account of the bloodshed that filled the land and the violence that filled the city, the very foundations without which no human society can endure. Then the worst of the nations arrive, the pride of rulers is shattered, and those 'sanctuaries' that adopted the mentality of pagan priests are profaned. The decrees are not natural but 'calamity upon calamity' - one disaster striking atop another without respite - and then they seek vision, Torah, and counsel, but find none. And all of this so that 'they shall know that I am the Lord' - that they recognize there is no chance occurrence here, but a measured and purposeful Providence, measure for measure, fashioned from their very own ways.