מלכים ב י״ח

בשנת שלש. למרדו של הושע:

In the third year. Of Hoshei'a's rebellion.¹See above, 17:1, and Rashi there. ²I.e., in the third year of Hoshei'a's rebellion against Ashur and declaring his independence, Chizkiyoh became king.—Metzudas Dovid

ויקרא לו נחשתן. לשון בזיון, כלומר מה צורך בזה, אינו אלא נחש נחושת:

And he called it Nechushton. A derogatory expression,³The additional “nun” to the word נחשת serves to belittle and mock the subject. See II Shmuel 13:20. as though to say, “Why is this necessary?⁴The copper serpent was not destroyed before now because it was incorrectly believed that one may not destroy any object that was made as a result of a Divine command. The serpent was originally made to encourage the Bnei Yisroel to pray to God after they were bitten by poisonous snakes. See Bamidbar 21:4-10 and Tosfos in Maseches Chulin 7a. It is also possible that they kept the copper serpent as a remembrance of the great miracle that occurred, just as they kept the jar of manna, in Shemos 16:33-35. It is nothing but a copper serpent.”⁵Alternatively, the Bnei Yisroel who were worshiping it called it the Nechushton.—Targum

ישכיל. יצליח:

He succeeded. He succeeded.⁶ישכיל stems from שכל [=intelligence]. Adonoy successful person is conceived by others as one who acts with intelligence.—Metzudas Dovid ⁷As in, “Dovid was successful [=משכיל] in all his ways,” in I Shmuel 18:14.

קצץ. את הדלתות שהיה של זהב:

Removed. The doors, which were gold [plated].

ואת האומנות. תרגם יונתן: וית סקופיא, איסקופות:

And the thresholds. [Targum] Yonoson rendered the סקופיא, [i.e.,] the thresholds.⁸Alternately, אמנות are pillars, or it is a term used to include both the threshold and the lintel.—Ralbag

את תרתן ואת רב סריס. למדנו בסדר עולם, שלא באו שלשתם יחד, אלא רבשקה לבדו, כמו שכתב בספר ישעיהו (לו ב), ותרתן ורב סריס באו בשליחות שנייה, כשבאה לו שמועה על תרהקה מלך כוש, וישמע וישלח מלאכים אל חזקיהו וגו' (שם לז ט):

Tarton [and] Rav Soris. We learned in Seder Olam that the three of them did not come together,⁹The king of Ashur dealt falsely with Chizkiyoh because he sent his officers to attack Yerusholayim even though Chizkiyoh paid the tribute that was imposed upon him.—Metzudas Dovid Or, Sancheiriv took the tribute and left. However, in the ensuing years Chizkiyohu failed to meet his demands and he therefore attacked again.—Radak rather but Ravshokei [came] alone, as it is written in the Book of Yeshayohu,¹⁰36:2. and Tarton and Rav Soris came on a second mission, when he received word concerning Tirhokoh king of Cush, ”and he heard and sent emissaries to Chizkiyohu … ”¹¹Yeshayohu 37:9.

בתעלת. פוסקיר"ה בלע"ז, בריכה שעושין לביברי דגים:

Near the channel. Fosed, in O.F., [i.e.,] a moat made for schools of fish.

שדה כובס. שדה שהכובסין שוטחין בו בגדים, וכן תרגם יונתן: חקל משטח קצריא:

The washer's field. A field in which the launderers spread out garments, And so did [Targum] Yonoson render, ”a field where the launderers spread out.”¹²I.e., where the launderers spread out the clothing.

המזכיר. איזה משפט בא לפני המלך ראשון, שיפסקנו ראשון:

The recorder. [Who determines] which judgment came first before the king, that it be adjudicated first.¹³Rashi in Yeshayohu 36:3 defines מזכיר, as “the writer of the records in the annals.”

אמרת אך דבר שפתים וגו'. אמרת עד הנה אעבוד למלך אשור, אך דבר שפתים היה, כל זמן שלא יצא ממקומו לבוא עליך, לא הוצרכת לעצה וגבורה, אבל עכשיו שיצא ובא, עצה וגבורה אתה צריך למלחמה הזאת, עתה אמור על מי בטחת:

You have said but words of the lips, etc. Until now you have said, ”I will (not) pay tribute to the king of Ashur.” It was but words of the lips, as long as he did not leave his place to march upon you, you did not require counsel and might. But now, that he has left [his place] and marched [upon you], you require counsel and might for this war. Now, tell [me] upon whom you have depended?

ובא בכפו. כשאדם נסמך על משענת קנה רצוץ שנשבר בידו, באין ראשי הקרומיות ונוקבין את כפו:

It will go into his palm. When a person supports himself on a support of a splintered reed, which has broken in his hand, the splintered edges come and puncture his palm.¹⁴Similarly, his reliance on Paroh for support will turn out to be bad for him.

הלא הוא אשר הסיר חזקיהו וגו'. יש ללמוד מכאן, דרבשקה ישראל מומר היה (ראה סנהדרין סא), שהיה מודה שהקב"ה אלוה, אלא שרצונו לעבוד עבודה זרה:

Is He not the one Whose high places and altars Chizkiyohu has removed, etc. It can be deduced from here that Ravshokei was an apostate Jew, for he admitted that the Holy One, Blessed Is He, is God, but his desire is to worship idols.¹⁵See Maseches Sanhedrin 60a.

התערב נא. התפאר עליו, בוא בערבון, על מנת אם תוכל ליתן לך רוכבים על אלפים סוסים:

Provide a security. Glorify yourself over him; enter a wager on the condition that if you are able to supply riders for two thousand horses.¹⁶Ravshokei implied that Chizkiyohu did not even have enough riders for the two thousand horses, so surely he is unable to mount a rebellion.—Ralbag

התערב. גיי"ר בלע"ז:

Wager. Gajer, in O.F.

ואיך תשיב את פני פחת אחד עבדי אדוני. שהרי כל הקטן שבהם, שר על אלפים איש, ואתה אינך משיג לאלפים איש, למדנו מכאן על ראשי גייסות מאה ושמונים וחמשה אלף שנפלו עם סנחריב, הקטן שבהם, שר על אלפים איש שעמו:

How can you turn away one captain of my master's servants. For the smallest of them is captain over two thousand men, and you cannot obtain two thousand men. We deduce from here concerning the heads of the armies, who totaled one hundred and eighty-five thousand and fell with Sancheiriv, that the smallest of them was captain over two thousand men who were with him.

המבלעדי ה'. וכי שלא ברשות באתי, כבר נתנבא ישעיה (ז יז) בימי אחז אביך יביא ה' עליך ועל עמך וגו' את מלך אשור:

Is it with other than Adonoy. Did I come without permission? Yeshayohu already prophesied in the days of Achaz your father, ”Adonoy shall bring upon you and upon your people, etc., the king of Ashur.”¹⁷Yeshayohu 7:17. Radak cites another verse from Yeshayohu's prophecy, “and therefore the LRD is bringing upon them the mighty and abundant waters of the river, the king of Ashur, etc.,” in Yeshayohu 8:7. Sancheiriv therefore believed that he was acting with Divine approval.

והשחיתה. את זו הוסיף משלו:

And to destroy it. This he added of his own accord.

כי שומעים אנחנו. אנו בני פלטין, ומכירין בלשון ארמית ובשאר לשונות, ואל תדבר אלינו יהודית, שכל העם מכירין בו, ואין אנו רוצים שישמעו:

For we understand it. We are residents of the palace, and understand Aramaic and other languages. But do not speak Hebrew to us, which all the people understand,¹⁸They were concerned about the morale of the people and therefore wanted to keep the conversation private. and we do not want them to hear.¹⁹It is not proper to reveal matters of war to the general public.—Metzudas Dovid

לאכול את צואתם. ברעב המצור:

To eat their own excrement. In the hunger [caused] by the siege.²⁰If they continue guarding the wall to prevent Ashur's army from entering, they will lay a prolonged siege to the city that will be so severe that the people will starve during the siege, causing them to “eat their own, etc.”—Ralbag

חוריהם. רעי היוצא דרך חור פי הטבעת ורבותינו פירשו (מגילה כה ב): לכנותם לשון נאה צואתם:

Their dung. Dung that is excreted through the orifice of the anus. Our Rabbis explained to euphemize and read, “צואתם” [instead of חריהם].²¹See Maseches Megillah 25b.

מימי שניהם. צואה לחה, שיני דכרכשא דקיימא אתלת שיני או לשון גלל, שבא על ידי לעיסת השינים:

Their own urine. Loose excrement, the glands of the rectum, which is held by three glands. Alternatively, an expression of excrement which comes about through the chewing of the teeth [=שניהם].

עשו אתי ברכה. שאילת שלום, כמו (בראשית מז ז): ויברך יעקב את פרעה:

”Make peace with me.” A greeting, as in, “And Yaakov greeted [=ויברך] Paroh.”²²Bereishis 47:7. ²³See Rashi in Bereishis 33:10 and above, in II Melochim 5:15.

אל ארץ כארצכם. כן דרכי, להעביר את האומות ממדינה למדינה, היה לו לומר אל ארץ טובה משלכם, שהרי לפתותם בא, אלא שידע שיכירו שדבריו שקר:

To a land like you land. This is my custom to move the nations from province to province. He should have said, “to a land better than yours,” because he came to persuade them, but he knew that they would recognize that his statement was false.²⁴This custom was practiced in order to prevent any future attempts to regain independence. He realized that as long as a conquered nation remained in its own land, the people would ultimately rise up and rebel against their conquerors. ²⁵See Rashi, in Yeshayohu 36:17. The Gemara in Maseches Sanhedrin 94a, states that Sancheiriv did not say “to a land better than yours,” because he did not want to denigrate Eretz Yisroel. As a result he was rewarded with the title “the great and noble Osenapar [=Sancheiriv],” in Ezra 4:10.

ארץ דגן ותירוש. זו אפריקי (ירושלמי שביעית ו א):

A land of grain and wine. This is Africa.

הנע ועוה. אותם מלך אשור, החריבם והגלם:

He exiled them and twisted them. The King of Ashur, destroyed them and exiled them.²⁶Alternatively, “Heina and Iva” were provinces or deities.—Radak

כי הצילו את שומרון. והשומרונים היו עובדים את אלהי ארם שהיו שכיניהם:

Did they save Shomron. And the inhabitants of Shomron worshiped the gods of the Aromeans, who were their neighbors.

קרועי בגדים. על ששמעו גידופי השם:

With torn garments. Because they heard blasphemies of the Name [of God].²⁷See Maseches Sanhedrin 60a. One who hears another Jew blaspheme God must rend his clothing. Ravshokei's blasphemy was in comparing God to the pagan deities.—Radak Alternatively, they rend their clothing on account of the terrible news and threats that they just heard, an event similar to II Shmuel 13:31 and II Melochim 5:7.