Introduction
In this section of Chapter 5, we continue from where we left off: after the parable of the vineyard, in which the Holy One, Blessed be He, laments the vineyard in which He invested so much yet produced wild grapes, and after the series of "Woe" proclamations against those who join house to house and those who rise early in the morning chasing strong drink - the prophet arrives at the detailing of the punishment and the description of the rectification. We will follow the order of the pesukim in light of the Malbim's commentary.
A Measure-for-Measure Punishment
לָכֵן גָּלָה עַמִּי מִבְּלִי דָעַת וּכְבוֹדוֹ מְתֵי רָעָב וַהֲמוֹנוֹ צִחֵה צָמָא׃ - Therefore My people have gone into exile for lack of knowledge; their nobility are men of hunger, and their multitude parched with thirst.
"Therefore" - because the vineyard upon which I built so much and in which I invested so much yielded wild grapes, on account of this, "My people have gone into exile for lack of knowledge." "Their nobility" refers to the dignitaries among them, and they will become men of hunger - which is measure for measure, since they encroached upon boundaries, robbing the homes of the poor and stealing their land. "And their multitude parched with thirst" - the masses will thirst, and "tzicheh" is related to parched, dry and desolate. In place of the strong drink they imbibed until now, their punishment will be thirst.
Notice the Malbim's keen observation: "Metei ra'av" is not derived from death (mavet). It does not mean they will die of hunger, but rather "metei" means "men of", as in "ish metim", which means men of the city, and as in "metei me'at", which means few men. Here too, "metei ra'av" means men of hunger.
Sheol Without Limit
לָכֵן הִרְחִיבָה שְּׁאוֹל נַפְשָׁהּ וּפָעֲרָה פִיהָ לִבְלִי חֹק וְיָרַד הֲדָרָהּ וַהֲמוֹנָהּ וּשְׁאוֹנָהּ וְעָלֵז בָּהּ׃ - Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth without measure; and down goes her splendor, her multitude, her uproar, and whoever rejoiced within her.
Sheol will widen its mouth "without limit (chok)." What is a chok? It relates to engraving, a set boundary. Whoever places no limit or boundary upon their desires, whose desires know no bounds - measure for measure, the Holy One, Blessed be He, expands Sheol without limit. Just as there were no bounds to their lusts, so there will be no bounds to Sheol, God forbid, and Sheol will swallow their soul - "Sheol has enlarged its appetite," to swallow up their soul.
The Malbim notes precision in the order of the words: "and down goes her splendor (hadarah), her multitude (hamonah), and her uproar (she'onah)." "She'on" refers to the great clamor, the loud noise, revelry, and rejoicing. "Hamon" is the ordinary bustle, standard ambient noise, as in the phrase "the bustling city." "Hadar" represents the king and the ministers. According to the natural order, Scripture should have said first that the clamor descends, then the general bustle, and finally the splendor. For when an enemy approaches gradually - first the loud celebration falls quiet, then even the normal daily bustle diminishes, and finally, when the enemy enters inside, the leaders and nobility fall from their sovereignty.
Rather, here, the Malbim explains, the catastrophe will be sudden, occurring in a single moment, and in a sudden blow there are no stages and no orderly progression. Everything, whether quiet or loud, ceases all at once. Therefore, Scripture inverted the order. For "Sheol has enlarged its appetite" - just like Korach and his congregation, where the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them whole. Were there stages there? In a single instant, everything came to an end.
"And whoever rejoiced within her" - the Malbim explains that while still in their drunkenness and revelry, they will fall into Sheol without even realizing it. Furthermore, even inside Sheol, they are still reveling, still as it were in their merrymaking and dancing. This recalls what is told of the Titanic: the ship had already begun to sink, lifeboats were already lowered, yet the orchestra kept on playing. Only when the water reached their very feet, when three-quarters of the ship was already submerged, did they begin to flee. "The show must go on" - they keep playing as if nothing is happening. This is "whoever rejoiced within her": one is already inside, in Sheol, yet continues playing and celebrating, until suddenly realizing where he is.
The Malbim adds that the root alaz implies joy mixed with trembling, as in "and I will make them drunk so that they may exult." A person who trembles out of intense joy and drunkenness is described as alaz, distinct from ordinary rejoicing. Samei'ach denotes simple joy; alaz denotes joy that causes trembling from its sheer intensity.
The Subjugation Preceding Rectification
וַיִּשַּׁח אָדָם וַיִּשְׁפַּל אִישׁ וְעֵינֵי גְבֹהִים תִּשְׁפַּלְנָה׃ - And man is bowed down, and the mortal is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
According to the Malbim: "And man is bowed down" - man will subjugate himself both in heart and in deed. "And the mortal is brought low" - his eyes will be cast down before Hashem. "And the eyes of the haughty are humbled" - those who had until now been lofty and exalted, carrying themselves with arrogance and contempt, will come to surrender and repentance before the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Rashi explains "and man is bowed down, and the mortal is brought low" to mean that the strength of men will be weakened. According to the Midrash, "and man is bowed down" refers, as it were, to the Holy One, Blessed be He, whom their deeds caused to appear like a stunned warrior. And so Scripture says, "You neglected [teshi - weakened] the Rock Who begot you" - you weakened the Rock that brought you forth. How did you weaken Him? Through the deeds of Israel down below. A person either "gives strength to His King," empowering the Heavenly retinue, as the author of the Nefesh HaChaim explains at length in the first section of his work, or, Heaven forbid, empowers the Sitra Achra and weakens, as it were, the manifestation of holiness. Certainly, this does not refer to His very Essence, as we have mentioned several times, but rather that within the flow of holiness in creation, one brings about a diminishment - "teshi."
Similarly, "Through indolence the rafters sag." Who is "the Rafter" (HaMekareh)? "Who lays the beams of His chambers upon the waters" - this refers to the Holy One, Blessed be He. Through indolence, when Israel grow lax in fulfilling the mitzvos, "the Rafter sags," and as it were, the Holy One, Blessed be He, is brought low. Why? Because He established this principle in creation: when the people of Israel perform mitzvos, they give strength, as it were, to His King, and Hashem exacts retribution from the enemies; but when they do not fulfill mitzvos, the chariot of holiness is weakened, as it were, in the face of the chariot of impurity. People then ask: Where is the Creator of the universe? Why does He not punish them as they deserve? The truth is that had we acted properly, the Holy One, Blessed be He, would have been with us openly, and retribution against the enemies would have followed naturally. But when we fail to observe the mitzvos, there is, as it were, a weakening of divine power even in the Heavenly realm. This is the meaning of "and man is bowed down, and the mortal [ish] is brought low" - "ish" referring here also to the Holy One, Blessed be He, as in "Hashem is a man [ish] of war, Hashem is His Name." "And the eyes of the haughty are humbled" - the watchful eyes of the High Ones, the angels and the Holy One, Blessed be He, looking upon us, are lowered on account of our wrongdoing.
And Hashem of Hosts Is Exalted in Judgment
וַיִּגְבַּהּ יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת בַּמִּשְׁפָּט וְהָאֵל הַקָּדוֹשׁ נִקְדָּשׁ בִּצְדָקָה׃ - And Hashem of Hosts is exalted through justice, and the holy God is sanctified through righteousness.
After "man is bowed down, and the mortal is brought low," then "Hashem of Hosts is exalted through justice" - Israel will once again produce choice grapes instead of wild ones, returning to justice and righteousness. "Justice" relates to the realm between man and his fellow, while "righteousness" relates to the realm between man and God, and through both, the Name of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is sanctified in the world.
Here the Malbim explains a profound principle that we have addressed in the past. All the names and descriptions we attribute to Hashem, may He be blessed, are relative to our perception, and not in relation to His Essence at all. For any description expresses a finite nature, whereas the Holy One, Blessed be He, is boundless and beyond comprehension - "corporeal concepts cannot grasp Him" - and no thought can apprehend Him whatsoever. Even His Names exist only after the descent of the kav (the ray of divine light): after He contracted His light in the tzimtzum and the kav descended, upon which the worlds were clothed - Adam Kadmon, Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah, Arich, Atik Yomin, and all the Sefiros - only then is there a title or name, according to what we are capable of perceiving. But prior to the tzimtzum, He has no name at all. Even Ein Sof is not a description of His Essence; the kabbalistic texts refer to Him as the "Master of the Will," but attributing an actual name to Him is impossible. Therefore, all names are relative to our state and perspective, while within Him, may He be blessed, there is no change whatsoever.
An example illustrates this: We call the Holy One, Blessed be He, "Hashem of Hosts" (Tzeva'os), a Name indicating that He guides and sustains His hosts. Could He have been called by this Name before the Creation? Certainly not, for there were no hosts, and He was completely alone in His existence. Only after He created the upper and lower realms were there hosts. Thus we must ask: prior to Creation He was not "Hashem of Hosts," and now He is - what changed in Him? To claim that anything changed in Him is outright heresy. From this one must conclude that none of the divine Names describe His Essence; rather, they are relative to us, describing how we perceive the Creator's reality. If a name were truly a description of His Essence, how could His Name change without a change occurring within Him?
A parable illustrates this: Suppose a star is discovered, and astronomers decide to give it a particular name. Fifty years later, scientists decide the name is no longer fitting and give it a different name. Would anyone claim that something about the star changed, which is why its name was changed? That would be foolish. The star has no name inherent to itself; we designated a name arbitrarily, simply as a way for us to identify it. So too, all the Names of Hashem, may He be blessed, are not essential names. Even the Tetragrammaton, which is referred to as the Proper Name (Shem HaEtzem), relative to His very Essence prior to the unfolding of the worlds, was no name at all.
According to this, when we function as the army of the Holy One, blessed be He, it is fitting that He be called "Tzeva'ot" (Lord of Hosts). But if we do not function as His army, it is not fitting that He be called so. For why is He called Tzeva'ot? Because we are His hosts. And when there is a deficiency in His hosts, His Name is, as it were, diminished as well. Make no mistake: this is not a deficiency in His essence, for as we noted earlier, all Names are only relative to our human perception.
And what creates an orderly, well-regulated army? Justice. When there is no justice, there is no orderly army. If there are disputes, strife, and injustice among us and we are completely divided, can the Holy One, blessed be He, say that He has an army? It is merely a collection of individuals fighting with one another. And just as a flawed army reflects poorly on its commander, as it were - "What kind of army do you have?" - so too a flawed Jewish people diminishes the title "the Lord of Hosts," for this people is fragmented, dispersed, and divided. This is the meaning of "And the Lord of Hosts is exalted through justice": through the execution of justice, the Name of the Lord of Hosts is exalted. If there is justice here, there is a disciplined army walking in integrity, righteousness, and unity, and it is fitting for the Name of the Lord of Hosts to be proclaimed over us. But when there is no righteousness, integrity, or justice among us, the Name of the Lord of Hosts is not exalted, but is weakened and its light dimmed.
"And the Holy God Is Sanctified Through Righteousness"
The very same principle applies to the title "Kadosh" (Holy). Holiness denotes separation and distinction. "Behold, you are consecrated (mekudeshet) to me" means set apart and separated from the rest of the world, designated exclusively for me. That is also why there is the opposite term, kedeishah - a woman designated and set apart for harlotry. Consecrated means separated. When we describe a person as holy, it means he has abandoned worldly matters, separated from them, and engages in spirituality. But concerning the Holy One, blessed be He - from what did He separate Himself? What was there before and what became after? In Him there is no change! Rather, we return to the fundamental principle: the title "Holy," like the title "Hosts," is from our perspective and according to our perception. Since the Holy One, blessed be He, is distinct and separate from material reality, we call Him Holy, but this is not an attribute of His very Essence, may He be blessed.
If so, when the Jewish people are holy, the Holy One, blessed be He, reigns over a holy people. This is what we say: "You are holy, and Your Name is holy, and holy ones praise You every day, Selah" - that we are in the category of holy ones praising Hashem, separating from material pursuits and sanctifying ourselves; consequently, this title applies to Him, as it were, through us. But when Israel does not conduct itself with holiness, there is a deficiency, as it were, in the title "Holy" of Hashem, blessed be He. This is the meaning of "Sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy" - by sanctifying yourselves and becoming holy, it is evident that the source of holiness is Hashem, blessed be He. But when our holiness is lacking, the perception of the Holy One, blessed be He, as Holy is likewise diminished, as it were.
According to this, we understand "and the Holy God is sanctified through righteousness": righteousness here refers to mitzvot between man and God. And how is the Holy God sanctified? By our becoming righteous and holy in the fulfillment of mitzvot between man and God and sanctifying ourselves. Then He is "sanctified" - the titles "Holy" and "Hosts" are truly fitting for Him, and these titles become full of meaning rather than, Heaven forbid, empty words.
The Two Sheep: Who Will Survive the Famine
וְרָעוּ כְבָשִׂים כְּדָבְרָם וְחָרְבוֹת מֵחִים גָּרִים יֹאכֵלוּ׃ - "Then lambs shall graze according to their custom, and the ruins of the fat ones sojourners shall eat."
The Malbim presents a parable here of two sheep. One is accustomed to grazing in the meadow, in grassy pastures. The second is fat and fattened at the feeding trough, inside the pen; it never goes out to the field, and all its needs are brought right to it. When famine strikes, the trough empties, and the fodder is gone - the sheep accustomed to eating from the trough will starve, for there is nothing left to give it. But the lean sheep, which does not rely on hoarded food but grazes in the meadow on whatever it finds, still wanders and forages even in times of famine, and manages to find something to eat.
This is "Then lambs shall graze according to their custom" - the sheep whose habit is to graze in the field will continue to graze, for even during a famine they can roam the fields and find sustenance. In contrast, "and the ruins of the fat ones sojourners shall eat": charavot comes from the root for desiccation and dryness; meichim is the marrow of the bone; and garim is related to gerem, meaning bone, as in "Yissachar is a strong-boned donkey" (chamor garem), and as in "This is the bone (garma) of my tenth son" which Rabbi Yochanan used to carry, saying it was the bone of his tenth deceased son, may Hashem protect us. In other words: the drying out of the marrow inside the bone causes the bone itself to dry up and be consumed. And to whom does this refer? To the fattened sheep accustomed to the trough; when they no longer have a trough, their bones dry out and waste away.
The moral of the parable: once people return to doing justice and righteousness and cease their sins and mutual robbery, who will continue to earn a livelihood and survive? Those who grazed in the meadow - the simple folk, the amcha, who always supported themselves by the toil of their own hands. Whoever earned an honest living until now will continue to earn an honest living from now on. But the fat ones - those who always sustained themselves by robbing the poor, who acquired their wealth dishonestly from what they took from others - will be ruined: "the ruins of the fat ones sojourners shall eat." Why? Because their source of livelihood will be gone. From what will they sustain themselves? From the poor whom they robbed until now? The moment justice, integrity, and righteousness return, they no longer have anyone to prey upon, since robbery is no longer possible.
Chet and Avon: Who Enlists the Intellect
הוֹי מֹשְׁכֵי הֶעָוֺן בְּחַבְלֵי הַשָּׁוְא וְכַעֲבוֹת הָעֲגָלָה חַטָּאָה׃ - Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as with wagon ropes.
The Malbim explains that the verse is to be read as follows: Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and who with cords thick as wagon ropes draw sin. To understand this, an introduction is necessary.
A person is in a constant state of internal warfare. Delicious food is placed before him, and he is warned: Be careful, this is forbidden; do not eat it. Desire comes along and says: I am ravenous, I have not eaten in a long time, the food is a delight to the eyes, and its aroma fills my nostrils. Then the intellect steps in and says: It is forbidden; Hashem said not to eat it, this is a sin, and it dulls the spiritual senses. Here we have a battle between emotion and the heart on one side, and the intellect, integrity, and righteousness on the other, warning against violating Hashem's commandments.
There are two types of combatants here. The first type engages in direct battle. And who wins most of the time? The heart, of course. "I want it" is almost always stronger than the intellect that dictates what is right to do. Someone once observed that the conscience is of little use in preventing a person from sinning; it merely provides a way to feel remorse after the fact. Indeed, the conscience only kicks into gear after the deed: What a shame! Why did I do that? What came over me? Couldn't you control yourself? But where were you beforehand? The conscience is a weak fighter, arriving only after the fact. This is one path: the yetzer of desire overwhelmed him, and he was unable to withstand it.
There is, however, a second, far more sophisticated type. When the battle between desire and intellect begins, he says: I will not wage a head-on battle against the intellect. Instead, I will recruit the intellect to provide justifications for my desire. Then the intellect says: Really, why not? After all, this is worthwhile, tasty, and good. Instead of fighting the intellect, he enlists it in the service of the sin. Which of the two is worse? Clearly the second. The first at least kept his intellect upright; desire was simply stronger and knocked him out. But the second has already become wicked, for he turned his intellect from a judge into his defense attorney and advocate. This is corruption - taking the intellect and bending it out of shape.
This, says the Malbim, is the distinction between chet (sin) and avon (iniquity). A chet is the outcome of a battle in which a person fell defeated; desire conquered him. There was a target, he missed the mark, and ended up somewhere else. An avon belongs to one who did not fight at all, but rather enlisted his intellect to aid him and justify his cravings. Therefore, an avon is intentional, and it is called avon from the root of ivut (distortion), because he distorts his intellect to make it an attorney for his desires, to justify them, to claim that the world has no Creator, and thereby ensure that "the world appears to me like a flat, obstacle-free plain." And this is vastly more severe.
This is the meaning of "Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood": the arguments they use to pull iniquity - the intellectual claims offering proofs that this is not a sin, that this is the proper thing to do, and that this is the correct path - are cords of falsehood, like spider webs, ropes that snap with the slightest pull. But "and sin as with wagon ropes" - with ropes as thick as wagon cords they drag the sin along. In other words, the primary cause of the sin is physical desire. Examine their philosophical arguments and you will see that everything began with the sin: I had a desire and looked for a way to justify it; unable to find a legitimate justification, I recruited the intellect to validate the iniquity. What began as a battle between intellect and desire ended with the intellect being co-opted. How did you arrive at iniquity? Through cords of falsehood. And where did they come from? From the sin - from immersing yourself in it, searching for rationalizations, enlisting the intellect, and thereby granting yourself a pseudo-permission to commit those very iniquities. It is with these people that the prophet contends: with those who set out to distort the intellect and claim that this is how one ought to behave ideologically. About them he says: Where did you get all this from? From sin - because your desire overwhelmed you, and you then mobilized ideological justifications to support it.
"You Have Excuses, Not Questions"
The story is told of a young man who left yeshivah and came to speak with the Rosh Yeshivah. The Rosh Yeshivah asked him: What happened? Why did you leave? He answered: To tell the Rosh Yeshivah the truth, I had many questions in matters of emunah. The Rosh Yeshivah replied: You do not have questions; you have excuses. For questions, I know how to provide answers, but for excuses, I have no answer. In other words: You wanted to leave the yeshivah because of the temptations outside. What could you possibly say - "I wanted to leave simply because I felt like it"? That would not be respectable. So you say you had questions. But those are not questions; they are an excuse to leave. Even if I were to answer your questions, it would be of no use, because that is not what is truly bothering you.
Indeed, our Sages said: The Jewish people worshiped idols only in order to permit illicit relations in public. Everything begins with "I want," with a struggle in which they were defeated. One who is honest with himself admits: True, I have a weak character. But one who lacks sufficient honesty argues: Nonsense, who says it is forbidden? And with that, he enlists his intellect to prove ideologically that this is precisely how one ought to act.
In Summary:
In these verses, the prophet portrays the measured punishment corresponding to the deeds of the vineyard: exile without knowledge, nobles turned into famished paupers because they robbed the poor, and a parched multitude in place of their drunken revelry. Sheol opens its mouth "without measure" against those who set no limits to their desire. In one sudden blow - with no stages or warning - down descend their splendor, multitude, and uproar, and even inside Sheol they remain merry, like the musicians aboard the Titanic. From there the prophet turns to rectification: "And man shall be bowed down, and the mortal brought low" in submission and repentance, and then "Hashem of Hosts shall be exalted in justice, and the holy God sanctified in righteousness." For all of His names and attributes exist only relative to our perception and contemplation; therefore, when justice and integrity prevail among us, He is fit to be called "Hosts," and when we sanctify ourselves through commandments between man and God, He is fit to be called "Holy." In the parable of the lambs, we learned that whoever earned his livelihood honestly will survive, while one who lived off robbery will see his wealth wither away once the robbery ceases. Finally, the prophet teaches us the sharp distinction between chet and avon: the sinner simply fell in battle, but the perpetrator of iniquity distorts his mind and drafts it as a defense attorney for his desires - and herein lies the great gravity, for all the "questions" are nothing more than excuses.