Introduction
In this section of chapter 42, Yeshayahu moves from reproving idolatry to an internal, far harsher rebuke directed at the people of Israel themselves. The prophet calls his people "deaf" and "blind", explaining why these descriptions apply specifically to them and not to the nations of the world. From there, he addresses the claim of the generation: if Hashem desires to magnify the Torah and bring merit to Israel, why do they end up plundered and despoiled? Hashem's answer teaches the correct way of thinking: not from premise to consequence, but from consequence to premise. Let us proceed through the verses according to the commentary of the Malbim.
Two Factions Among the Idolaters
נָסֹגוּ אָחוֹר יֵבֹשׁוּ בֹשֶׁת הַבֹּטְחִים בַּפָּסֶל הָאֹמְרִים לְמַסֵּכָה אַתֶּם אֱלֹהֵינוּ׃ - They shall turn back, they shall be utterly ashamed, who trust in carved idols, who say to molten images: You are our gods.
The Malbim explains that the clauses of the verse are parallel. That is, the verse is divided into four clauses, where clause 1 connects to clause 3, and clause 2 connects to clause 4. Thus it should be read: "They shall turn back - who trust in carved idols"; "They shall be utterly ashamed - who say to molten images: You are our gods."
Why did the verse separate them? Because among the idolaters there were two factions, two worldviews, as seen in many expressions throughout the Scriptures and the words of Chazal. One faction believed that Hashem is the God of gods, like Nevuchadnetzar, who consistently speaks of the "God of gods." However, they claimed that we have no access to the supreme Master; the Infinite is not in direct contact with us. Therefore, one must forge a connection with lower deities, and the idol serves as an intermediary, a medium connecting us to the Infinite. The second faction denied God completely, attributing all power to the statue, the image, and the molten metal. They believed that the idol itself was God and there was none else, that it literally created us and the world, and that it is everything.
The prophet confronts both of these distorted perspectives. "They shall turn back, who trust in carved idols" - those who believed that the idol was only an intermediary, but that there is a God above everything, will turn back. They will no longer trust in the idol, because they will recognize that there is none beside Him, and all those powers assumed to emanate from Him, blessed be He, are pure delusion and emptiness; He alone is everything. In contrast, "They shall be utterly ashamed, who say to molten images: You are our gods" - these are sunk far deeper in the mud, believing that the molten image itself is God, not a mere official but the deity itself, and that it must be worshipped because it literally created the world. The term masechah (molten image) also connotes rulership, as in "princes (nesichei) of Midian"; they tell the molten image that it holds power and dominion: You are our gods.
When the true God reveals Himself, and it becomes clear that one took an empty delusion and made it into a god - from a block of wood, from stone, from clay - what humiliation and shame those people will suffer! The first group will not be as deeply ashamed, for one of them could say: "I believed there is an infinite God; I merely sought an intermediary." Once it becomes clear there are no intermediaries, he turns back and retracts. But for the second group, who say to a molten image "You are our gods," the disgrace will be dreadful: What did you exchange for what? You exchanged the Infinite, blessed be He, for an idol, thinking that the statue is God, that it harms and benefits and there is none beside it? Therefore, they will be "utterly ashamed," whereas those who merely trusted in the carved idol "shall turn back."
Who Is Truly Called Deaf and Blind
הַחֵרְשִׁים שְׁמָעוּ וְהַעִוְרִים הַבִּיטוּ לִרְאוֹת׃ - You deaf, hear; and you blind, look, that you may see.
The Malbim explains: one can only describe someone as "deaf" or "blind" if he was naturally equipped to hear and see, yet fails to see and hear. But someone who is inherently incapable of it cannot be described this way. One does not say of a wall that it is blind, for a wall is neither meant to see nor capable of seeing; nor does one call it deaf. In contrast, when one says of a person that he is "deaf", it implies that he possesses hearing organs and sight organs - he was capable of seeing, yet he does not see.
Hence, the nations of the world are not included in this: they did not witness the wonders of Hashem, nor did they hear prophecy. After all, Moshe Rabbeinu asked, "that we be distinguished, I and Your people," and Bil'am was the last prophet the nations ever had; since then, the word of Hashem does not reach them. Therefore, such spiritual sight and hearing do not naturally apply to them. To whom, then, do these titles apply? Only to the people of Israel, who naturally possess this capacity to see and hear. This is the indictment against them: you have the internal faculties to see and hear the voice of the Divine word, yet you do not see and you do not hear - you are the truly deaf, you are the truly blind.
The Malbim explains that perception occurs in two ways. The first is through the inner eye, which is the intellectual eye, to perceive the deeds of Hashem and His signs, and this is something all of Israel can attain. Therefore, when a person does not want to contemplate the wonders - the Holy One, blessed be He, performs a miracle and the person says, "What is this? It is just nature, that is all" - it is placed right before him and he refuses to look, it is fitting to call him blind. Corresponding to this, it is said: "And you blind, look, that you may see": contemplate the wonders of Hashem, and through this you will see His greatness and return to Him.
The second way is hearing through the inner ear, which is the level of the prophets. The Holy One, blessed be He, speaks to the prophet, and the prophet conveys His word to the people. Unfortunately, however, the prophets at that time were also like deaf men, unwilling to hear and prophesy to the people. Therefore, the prophet calls out: "Hear, you deaf" - you prophets, receive prophecy from Hashem in order to transmit it to the people; "and you blind" - this is the people, who will understand when they see the hand of Hashem and contemplate His deeds. Thus, we are speaking here of spiritual seeing and hearing, not physical.
"Who Is Blind but My Servant" - Two Preparations
מִי עִוֵּר כִּי אִם עַבְדִּי וְחֵרֵשׁ כְּמַלְאָכִי אֶשְׁלָח מִי עִוֵּר כִּמְשֻׁלָּם וְעִוֵּר כְּעֶבֶד יְהֹוָה׃ - Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfected, and blind as the servant of Hashem?
Here the prophet explains what we have stated. Whom is it appropriate to call blind? Only someone who by nature ought to see, yet does not see - "but My servant," only the Jewish people, who possess the readiness to see yet do not see. And who is the deaf one? After all, the nations have no prophecy at all, so it would not be fitting to call them deaf. Rather, "as My messenger whom I send" - the mal'ach, meaning an emissary, the one whom I send, who possesses the readiness to hear the word of Hashem, and nevertheless does not hear.
And why are only the Jewish people and the prophets called deaf and blind? Because only they possess the readiness to perceive intellectual visions. And this preparation, says the Malbim, is twofold. The first is natural preparation: that one be complete in his intellect, his character traits, and his soul-faculties from birth. And from where do we know that one must be prepared for prophecy from birth? "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you... I appointed you a prophet to the nations" - from the very outset there must be a natural preparation, and it exists within the Jewish people. The second is practical preparation: it is not enough that Hashem created the potential within you - what did you do with it? Did you elevate yourself, immerse yourself in Torah, sanctify yourself? This is practical preparation: preparing oneself for comprehension through the service of Hashem and good deeds.
In the Jewish people, both virtues exist. The first is natural perfection: being complete in intellect, in character traits, and in soul-faculties. This is the meaning of "Who is blind as he who is perfected (meshullam)," an expression of completeness (sheleimut): I prepared you with a complete capacity to see properly, yet you do not see. Is not one who was born whole and refuses to use his eyes truly deserving of the label blind?
Israel - A Category unto Itself
This aligns with the words of the Sefer HaKuzari, that creation consists of inanimate, vegetative, animal, and speaking (human), and the fifth level is Israel. Why? Because it is a category unto itself: the Jewish people possess a readiness and capacity for prophecy that no other nation has, and this makes them a distinct category unto themselves, not merely another nation among the nations.
We have explained in the past that precisely because they are a category unto themselves, on the other hand, their fall is magnified manifold. As it is written, "Fortunate are you, Israel," for when they ascend, they ascend to the heavens, and when they descend, they descend to the depths, to the point that they would gather barley to eat from the dung of the Arabs' beasts. Seemingly, where is the "fortunate are you" in the fact that when they descend, they descend to the depths? Several commentators explain that the underlying question was: Is Israel a distinct rank in their own right, or is Israel an upgraded gentile? Is this a distinct level entirely, or the same thing at a higher caliber?
What is the practical difference? Consider an example. Take a bicycle and add an engine - you have a bicycle plus an engine, and it rides much better. But what if the engine breaks down? You are still left with a bicycle. This shows that the engine is merely an upgrade to the bicycle. By contrast, take a motorcycle: Is it just an upgraded bicycle? No. What is the proof? Disable the engine, and you are left with a dead lump of metal to which you become a slave, trying to figure out how to haul it. When something is a fundamentally different category, once you remove its defining virtue, you are left with zero, far lower than a bicycle. But when it was merely an upgrade, remove the engine and you still have a bicycle. This is the difference between two distinct categories and an upgraded version of the same category.
And this is always the case. Is an animal simply upgraded plant life? A plant has the power of growth, and an animal also has the power of growth plus the power of animal life; perhaps one might suggest that an animal is simply an advanced plant. But what happens when the animal dies? It becomes a putrid carcass that no one can approach. And which is better, that or a plant? Certainly the plant. Thus, when its virtue was lost, it became absolute zero, worse than a lower level - and this proves that an animal is a distinct category from a plant.
And now to the people of Israel. If we saw that a Jew who abandons the Torah ends up in a state of being "like all the nations, the House of Israel," we would say that this is like a bicycle with a motor, and without the motor it remains a bicycle. But we see that when Israel deteriorates, they plummet to the abyss, to the point where they were picking barley grains from the dung of the beasts of Arabs, than which there is no lower state. This is a sign that the level of Israel is a category unto itself, a completely different essence, and not an upgraded gentile; and when you remove that elevated status, you get absolute zero, not merely a lower degree.
"And blind as the servant of Hashem" - Practical Perfection
This, then, is the meaning of natural perfection: that already from their root they are complete, and by nature they possess the level of readiness for prophecy, a fifth category in creation, an elevated standing that no gentile possesses. And the second aspect is practical perfection: that the people of Israel, through their deeds, advance themselves in the service of Hashem. They did not merely receive capacities; they bring them into actualization. And this is the continuation, "and blind as the servant of Hashem" - a servant is by choice. The fact that a person was born whole, with the capacity to reach prophecy, is not the product of his own deeds but Hashem's kindness toward him, having brought him into being as part of the people of Israel who are born with perfection. But that a person should attain the status of a servant of Hashem - that is his own doing, his own virtue and stature; he toiled and labored for it.
It turns out that it is fitting to call only the people of Israel "blind": you have the ability to attain the status of a servant of Hashem and to elevate yourself, yet nevertheless you do not want to see and you do not want to hear - therefore you are blind, you are deaf, for you possess the capabilities. But the gentile was, as it were, created without ears and without eyes; calling him blind is like calling a cinder block blind. He lacks the preparation, neither the natural nor the practical, such that even if he works very hard on himself, he will reach a very modest level and not a high one. Therefore: "Who is blind but My servant, and deaf as My messenger whom I send?" Why do I call you blind? "As Meshulam" - on account of the natural perfection into which you were born; "and blind as the servant of Hashem" - on account of the practical perfection, that it is within your power to act and to become a servant of Hashem. And if you did not see and did not hear, it can only be called deafness and blindness.
The Difference Between "Shalem" and "Tamim"
From the expression "Meshulam," related to shalem (complete), the Malbim clarifies the difference between shalem and tamim (unblemished or wholehearted), both of which seemingly express perfection. Tamim is the opposite of a blemish or defect: something that has no defect or flaw is called tamim. Shalem is that which is perfected in the best possible manner. In tamim, there does not need to be great perfection - it is enough that there is no defect; but if it has been completed with every possible virtue, that is called shalem.
A person who has no bodily blemish possesses natural temimut; by nature he was born without defect. And if he is also not a hypocrite, not a flatterer, and not a liar, he has spiritual temimut, an absence of flaw in his soul. Yet we have not even spoken of virtues. By contrast, one who has achieved wealth, health, and success is called shalem in natural perfection; he is not merely lacking a deficiency, but has attained positive excellence. The same applies to the soul: one who is not a flatterer and not a liar has spiritual temimut, without flaw; but one who has attained the lofty spiritual virtues of the prophets and the holy ones is shalem in spiritual perfection, having perfected himself.
Therefore, regarding animals, the Torah does not use the terminology of sheleimut (perfection), but rather temimut: "an unblemished lamb" (seh tamim). Why? Because the maximum a lamb can be is free of defect. One cannot say that the lamb has achieved perfection - could it be a wealthy sheep? Certainly not spiritually, nor can one say that it rectified itself. Its entire virtue is that it lacks a defect. By contrast, regarding inanimate objects that lack limbs, the Torah specifically uses the terminology of sheleimut: "whole stones" (avanim shelemot), "a full measure" (eifah sheleimah). Why? Because a physical object without limbs cannot be said to have a blemish. Is there a specific size a stone ought to be, such that less than that is considered a blemish? Is there an inherent size for an eifah such that less is considered a bodily defect? Therefore, in such cases it says "whole" (sheleimah), meaning it has fulfilled its full capacity, that it is at the maximum. But in something that has a defined form and number of limbs that it is meant to have, like a lamb, we do not say that it failed to achieve perfection, but rather that it is not tamim. And the term sheleimut always comes to express an additional attainment beyond - additional, unique virtues. And this is what is meant by "Who is blind as Meshulam": you have the opportunity to attain lofty perfection, not merely the absence of deficiency. You are not a lamb; you are Israel, and as part of Israel you can reach a vastly higher plane, being not only free of defect, but possessing greatness and sublime perfection.
Seeing and Hearing That Are Not Retained
רָאוֹת רַבּוֹת וְלֹא תִשְׁמֹר פָּקוֹחַ אׇזְנַיִם וְלֹא יִשְׁמָע׃ - Seeing many things, but you do not observe; opening the ears, but he does not hear.
You can see many things from which, if you were to contemplate them, you would recognize the greatness of Hashem - and yet "you do not observe," you do not reflect and do not open your eyes. Contemplate, see Hashem's kindness toward you, see how many miracles the Holy One, blessed be He, performs; and regarding this, the passage opened, "Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see." And now the prophet turns to speak of the prophet himself: your prophet is also the deaf one of whom I speak, for "opening the ears" - Hashem wishes to open his ears and make His word heard, "yet he does not hear" - the prophet is not interested in hearing, nor is he interested in going to rebuke the people.
The Claim of the Generation: From Premise to Consequence
יְהֹוָה חָפֵץ לְמַעַן צִדְקוֹ יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאְדִּיר׃ - Hashem desired, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify the Torah and make it glorious.
The Malbim prefaces with a fundamental point: there are two ways to deduce an argument. One approach is from premise to outcome - beginning with known facts and inferring what the ultimate result will be; this is the analytical approach, examining what has changed over time to project future outcomes. The second approach is from outcome to premise - observing the present reality, and deducing from it what happened in the past and how the situation originated and developed.
That generation directed its questions toward the Holy One, blessed be He, through the first method, from premise to outcome, looking "forward" - arguing from what was at the beginning to what ought to have been at the end. They posited an assumption: Hashem desires "for the sake of His righteousness." Why did Hashem multiply Torah for us? Ostensibly, the Seven Noahide Laws would have sufficed, so why give us 613 mitzvos? Because Hashem wants to grant us merit, so that we may have abundant merits, eternal reward, and divine delight in the World of Truth. If so, multiplying mitzvos expands our opportunity for merit - "Hashem desired, for the sake of His righteousness," and for this reason He "magnified the Torah and made it glorious," giving Israel 613 mitzvos rather than settling for seven.
Yet in reality: "A plundered and despoiled people"
וְהוּא עַם בָּזוּז וְשָׁסוּי הָפֵחַ בַּחוּרִים כֻּלָּם וּבְבָתֵּי כְלָאִים הׇחְבָּאוּ הָיוּ לָבַז וְאֵין מַצִּיל מְשִׁסָּה וְאֵין אֹמֵר הָשַׁב׃ - But this is a people plundered and despoiled; they are all trapped in holes and hidden away in prisons. They have become plunder with none to rescue, a spoil with none to say, 'Restore!'
And now, they argue: if that was the premise, let us look at the outcome. We see that the very means Hashem prepared to vindicate Israel, to magnify Torah for them, and to make them glorious did not yield the hoped-for result. Instead of great reward and elevation above the nations, "this is a people plundered and despoiled" - humiliated and robbed, their possessions looted and pillaged; and to pillage (*shasui*) means to lay waste.
"Trapped in holes, all of them" (*Hapei'ach bachurim kulam*) - the Malbim explains that *bachurim* here does not mean young men, but derives from *chor* (a hole or pit): inside the holes where they hide, they groan and cry out with their mouths. *Hapei'ach* relates to speech, as in "a lying witness breathes out (*yafia'ch*) falsehood," where the false witness utters deceit. Hence, there are two distinct situations: those hiding in holes, and those locked in prisons. What is the difference? A place where a person hides on his own initiative is called a hole - he sought a crevice to conceal himself; a prison is a place into which he is thrown against his will. These two expressions reflect two conditions: fleeing persecution, they seek a hole to hide in, while those seized by the enemy are locked away in prison.
And why does the verse say of plunder (*baz*), "with none to rescue," while of spoil (*meshisa*), it says "with none to say, 'Restore!'"? First, we must understand the difference between *baz* and *meshisa*. *Baz* refers to what the enemy loots for his own use: having conquered a land, they seize its resources, property, and weapons for themselves. *Meshisa* is not what they take to keep, but wanton destruction: setting fire to whatever remains and leaving nothing behind, not out of a desire to possess it, but to trample, shatter, and destroy.
When an army sets about plundering, the commanding general does not restrain them, since the loot is considered the soldiers' due; they fought and conquered, and part of their compensation is the plunder. However, when it comes to wanton destruction and pillage, the general might occasionally restrain them if it serves his interests. Thus, against plunder, one needs an ally to hold back the enemy force and rescue from their hands; but against senseless destruction, it would often suffice for the enemy's own general simply to say, "Restore!" Hence the precision of the language: "They have become plunder with none to rescue" - there is no ally to come to our aid and deliver us from the enemy's looting; "a spoil with none to say, 'Restore!'" - here an external rescuer is not even required; it would have been enough for their own commander to order "Restore!", yet even that does not happen. In this way, the prophet depicts the full severity of our plight. And the complaint, as noted, proceeded from beginning to end: the premise was that Hashem desired to magnify Torah for our righteousness, and the outcome should have been Israel's well-being; instead, the proliferation of Torah and mitzvos seemingly brought not blessing, but disaster, leaving us the lowliest of all nations.
Hashem's Response: Reason from Outcome to Premise
מִי בָכֶם יַאֲזִין זֹאת יַקְשִׁב וְיִשְׁמַע לְאָחוֹר׃ - Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen looking backward?
To this, Hashem's response arrives: you began by questioning "forward," from premise to outcome, and that was the wrong approach. You must proceed in reverse, from outcome back to premise. "Who among you will give ear to this" - who is the person who will not follow the path you took, but will reason from effect back to cause, inferring from the conclusion and the reality what must have happened at the start? This is the meaning of "and hear looking backward" - tracing backward, contrary to your method. That is to say: what is the current reality? Israel is subjected to plunder. That is an indisputable fact. Now, starting from this fact, let us look back to the premise and investigate what caused it. Do not proceed as you did, starting from the premise: "Hashem wished to grant us merit and gave us abundant Torah, so why are we plundered?" Rather, do the opposite: we are plundered, that is the reality; from that reality let us trace what brought it about, and then you will understand that everything is directed by Divine Providence.
מִי נָתַן לִמְשִׁסָּה יַעֲקֹב וְיִשְׂרָאֵל לְבֹזְזִים הֲלוֹא יְהֹוָה זוּ חָטָאנוּ לוֹ וְלֹא אָבוּ בִדְרָכָיו הָלוֹךְ וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ בְּתוֹרָתוֹ׃ - Who gave Yaakov over to plunder, and Yisrael to looters? Is it not Hashem, against Whom we have sinned, in Whose ways they refused to walk, and Whose Torah they would not obey?
In this verse, the prophet follows the proper order: first the results. "Who gave Yaakov over to plunder, and Yisrael to looters?" - and from there you arrive at the premise: "Is it not Hashem?" Do you imagine, as it were, that this is mere coincidence - that Hashem gave us many mitzvos and in the end we are plundered? Absolutely not. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave you the Torah and mitzvos because He truly desired it for the sake of His righteousness, wishing to magnify Torah and endow Israel with abundant merits. If you see that the final outcome is that Yaakov was given over to plunder and Yisrael to looters, it is necessarily through Divine Providence and did not occur on its own. Therefore, let us trace our steps backward and search at the root for what brought this about.
And the answer: "[It was] against this [very One] that we sinned, and they refused to walk in His ways and did not listen to His Torah." The cause is you. Because you refused to walk in Hashem's Torah, you brought upon yourselves all these troubles and disasters. And what does "zu" ("this") mean? The very same reason through which I desired to magnify Torah and mitzvos for you and bestow upon you great reward - that very thing you despised, and with that very thing we sinned against Him. Therefore, Yaakov was given over to plunder and Yisrael to looters.
The Malbim adds a fundamental principle regarding the attribute of justice: If someone to whom I have not done good turns around and acts corruptly toward Me, I will be exacting with him, but not overly exacting. But if someone to whom I have done good takes that very beneficence and turns around to act corruptly and sin against Me, the anger is far greater and the punishment is far heavier. This resolves the difficulty in the phrasing, "Is it not Hashem, against Whom [zu] we have sinned?" Seemingly, it would have been enough to say "against Whom we have sinned" - what is the meaning of "zu"? Rather, it comes to teach what doubled and magnified your sin: with this very thing in which the Holy One, blessed be He, did good for us - magnifying Torah and mitzvos for us so that we might become righteous and earn abundant reward - with that very thing we transgressed against Him. Not only did we fail to utilize it, but we used it against Him, transgressing His mitzvos and rebelling against Him.
If so, how could you imagine that this would pass in silence? "And they refused to walk in His ways" - even when the prophets came and rebuked them, their hearts refused to walk in His ways. Nor did they stop at that, but "and they did not listen to His Torah", transgressing it with utter contempt. The very means I gave you to elevate your standing, you ultimately used to diminish and degrade yourself. Therefore, do not wonder at the punishment: the mitzvos were given for your benefit, and once you refused and would not listen, you were punished through them. If so, who is to blame? Man himself, and he has no claim against the King.
Yaakov to Plunder and Yisrael to Looters
The Malbim, following his consistent approach, explains that "Yaakov" symbolizes the state of Israel on the lower plane, the masses - related to eikev (heel), the people of lesser stature situated at the heel. "Yisrael," on the other hand, expresses the great figures, the ministers and the nobility. Thus, the text is precise: Yaakov, the lower tier, was given over to plunder - the enemy came and killed and destroyed them. By contrast, the prominent members of the nation, such as Daniel and his companions, were not destroyed by the enemy; rather, he took them to the royal palace to serve as ministers and advisors. Thus, they were given over to "looters," who seized them for themselves to serve before them, like someone plundering valuable property.
As for the word zu itself, the Malbim notes that it points to something hidden and is used for both masculine and feminine: "This nation [am zu] I formed for Myself," "Let them be caught in the schemes that [zu] they devised," "From the wicked who [zu] have despoiled me," and "I will instruct him in the way that [zu] he should choose."
There is another difficulty in the phrasing: the verse opens in the first person and concludes in the third person - "against Whom we have sinned" [chatanu lo], followed by "and they refused to walk in His ways" [velo avu]. It should have said "and we refused" [velo avinu], or alternatively opened in the third person, "they sinned against Him... and they refused." Rashi addresses this and explains that the verse speaks of two distinct groups, ourselves and our ancestors: "Is it not Hashem, against Whom we have sinned" refers to us, yet it did not begin with us; rather, "they refused" refers to our ancestors who would not walk in His ways, for the matter had already begun with them. Therefore, two groups are being addressed, which accounts for both the first-person and third-person forms. Radak also notes this difficulty, remarking that one should not be surprised, as this is standard biblical style; a single verse may use shifting pronouns, as in "Be their arm every morning, our salvation as well," where "their arm" [zero'am] is third person and "our salvation" [yeshuatenu] is first person.
Wrath, Anger, and War
וַיִּשְׁפֹּךְ עָלָיו חֵמָה אַפּוֹ וֶעֱזוּז מִלְחָמָה וַתְּלַהֲטֵהוּ מִסָּבִיב וְלֹא יָדָע וַתִּבְעַר בּוֹ וְלֹא יָשִׂים עַל לֵב׃ - So He poured out upon him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle; it blazed around him, yet he did not know, and it burned within him, yet he did not take it to heart.
Once Israel strayed from the path and exploited the Torah - which I had magnified for their benefit - to disobey Hashem, "He poured out upon him the fury of His anger"; the Holy One, blessed be He, poured out His wrath upon them. And what brought about the "strength of battle" and "it blazed around him"? "Yet he did not know" and "he did not take it to heart." For had they repented, the Holy One, blessed be He, would have forgiven them, but they did not repent. Even after He poured out the fury of His anger, and after it blazed around him, "he did not know" - as if he does not know why this happened to him or where it came from, failing to realize that this is an awakening from Hashem and that he must return in teshuvah.
And there are stages here. First, "it blazed round about him, yet he did not know" - the fire began burning around him, yet he still does not realize that it is about to reach him. Afterwards, "and it burned within him" - it has already caught onto him himself, "yet he did not lay it to heart" - and nevertheless he does not take it to heart to repent; he does not extinguish the blaze and does not remove the wrath and fury of the Holy One, blessed be He, through repentance. The deeper meaning: at first, the enemy did not come and strike us immediately; rather, he conquered the surrounding regions along the borders of Eretz Yisrael - and this is "it blazed round about him," while he, as it were, fails to realize that before long the enemy will reach him. Afterwards, the enemy arrives right upon us, "and it burned within him," and it is already clear that he is coming against us and not against the other nations, and even then, "yet he did not lay it to heart."
Finally, the Malbim notes the precision of the terms cheimah (wrath) and af (anger). Cheimah always refers to internal anger, whereas af is what bursts outward. Therefore it is said, "For a fire has flared in My nostril (be'api)" - when a person's nose reddens and steam begins to rise, the anger has already emerged from within to the outside. Cheimah, on the other hand, burns inside, as is said of Achashverosh, "and his wrath burned within him"; and as explained there according to the Malbim regarding why at first it only "burned within him" and he could not allow himself to display his anger outwardly, an explanation found in the shiurim on Megillat Esther. Here, too: at first it is in the aspect of cheimah, internal; afterwards "His anger," where the fire emerged outward; and in the third stage, "and the fury of battle," coming to war with might against Israel, because they did not pay attention to the hints and did not notice how the Holy One, blessed be He, was speaking to them - at which point the war is already out in the open.
In summary:
The prophet distinguishes between two groups of idolaters - those who viewed the idol as an intermediary, who will merely "turn back," and those who regarded it as a deity, who will be thoroughly shamed. From there, he turns to Israel and teaches that the designations "blind" and "deaf" apply only to one created with the faculties of sight and hearing, and therefore apply only to Israel and their prophets: they were granted both natural perfection ("as the devoted one") and the potential for practical perfection ("as the servant of Hashem"). They are a distinct category within creation, which is why their fall is also so profound. To the claim of the generation - that if Hashem desires for the sake of His righteousness and magnifies Torah, why are they a plundered and despoiled people - the prophet answers that one must reverse the direction of thought: from the effect to the cause. Once we understand that everything is guided by Divine providence, we reach the root: "against Whom we have sinned" - we rebelled against the very goodness bestowed upon us, and therefore the judgment is doubled. And if, despite all the blazing round about and the burning within, he still "did not know" and "did not lay it to heart," wrath leads to anger, and anger leads to the fury of open warfare.