מלכים ב י״ט:כ׳-ל״א

מרום הרים. הר הבית:

The highest mountains. [This refers to] the Temple Mount.⁷The sacrifices that are offered in the Beis Hamikdosh atoned for the sins and “whitened” them. The verse in Yeshayohu 1:18 states, “If your sins will be like scarlet, they will become as white [=ילבינו] as snow.” See Maseches Gittin 56b and Rashi there.

ירכתי לבנון. בית המקדש, שמלבין עונות:

To the end of the Levanon. [This refers to] the Beis Hamikdosh which whitens [=מלבן] sins.⁸Alternatively “its tallest cedar [trees]” refers to the great leaders and nobles among the Bnei Yisroel.—Radak See Rashi in Bamidbar 13:20.

ואכרת קומת ארזיו. לא אשוב עד שאחריבנו:

And I will cut down its tallest cedar [trees]. I will not return until I have destroyed it.⁹”Its remotest lodge,” refers to the Beis Hamikdosh which is the lodging place of the Shechinah.—Radak

קצו. סופו:

Remotest. Its end.¹⁰I.e., his army is so vast that they drink up all the water available, he therefore had to dig and search for other water sources.—Radak

יער כרמלו. מליאת ארצו ויופי הדרו:

Its fruitful forest. The fullness of its land and the beauty of its splendor.

אני קרתי ושתיתי מים זרים. כלומר התחלתי בכל מעשה וגמרתי, כזה הכורה בור ומוצא מים זרים ושותה מים נובעים קורא זרים, לפי שעד הנה לא הכירו בהם:

I dug and drank strange water. I.e., I started all my deeds and completed [them], as one who digs a hole and finds flowing water and drinks it. Flowing water he calls “זרים [=strange],” because until now no one knew of them.

ואחריב בכף פעמי. אם צרתי על עיר הבוטחת בנהרותיה, הבאתי עליה גייסות רבות שהובישו יאוריה בשתייתם ושתית בהמתם ומרמס רגליהם:

And I dry up with the soles of my feet. If I besiege a city that depends upon its rivers, I bring many troops upon it who dry up its rivers with their drinking and the drinking of their cattle¹¹His soldiers were so numerous that as they crossed a river they carried away so much water on their feet that the river bed was left dry by the time they all crossed it. See Maseches Sanhedrin 95b. and by the treading of their feet.¹²Yeshayohu 10:5.

ואחריב. לשון הוה, כן דרכי תמיד:

And I dry up. This is in the present tense [because] this is always my way.

הלא שמעת למרחוק. למה תתפאר ותתגדל בזאת, לא שלך היא, כי שמעת למרחוק על ידי הנביאים שגזרתי על העמים להביאך עליהם, כענין שנאמר (שם י ה): הוי אשור שבט אפי:

Have you not heard from afar. Why do you glorify and aggrandize yourself with this? This is not yours, for you have heard from afar through the prophets, that I decreed upon the nations to bring you upon them, as the matter that is stated, ”Ho, Ashur, the staff of My wrath.”¹³Yeshayohu 30:33.

למימי קדם. משנברא העולם, עלתה במחשבה, שנאמר (שם ל לג): כי ערוך מאתמול תפתה גם הוא למלך הוכן, זה סנחריב שנשרף באש גיהנם, שנאמר (שם לא ט:) נאם ה' אשר אור לו בציון:

In days of yore. Since the world was created, it entered My thought, as it is stated, ”For [Gehinnom] is arranged from days of yore; that too was prepared for the king.”¹⁴Yeshayohu 31:9. This refers to Sancheiriv, who was burned in the fire of Gehinnom, as it is stated, ”The word of Adonoy, Who has fire in Tzion.”¹⁵קצרי יד is an expression meaning “lack of power,” as in Bamidbar 11:23, “Is the power of AD limited [= תקצר’ ה היד].”

עתה הבאתיה. וזה הכח שבידך:

Now I have brought it about. And this is the power that is in your hand.

ותהי. ביאתה של גזרתי, להשאות ערים בצורות, להיות לגלים נצים, לגלי אדמה שצומחין בהן ירקות, שאתה מחריבן בגזרתי:

And it shall be. The coming of My decree shall be to make desolate fortified cities into blossoming hills, into piles of earth upon which vegetables grow, for you destroy them because of My decree.

להשות. לשון שאייה גלמודה:

To make desolate. An expression of desolation, forsaken.

ויושביהן קצרי יד. הם, שאני התשתי את כחן לפניך, ואין הגבורה שלך, אין אתה גבור, אבל הם חלשים:

Their inhabitants were short of strength. Those whom I weakened before you,¹⁶I.e., it is a Divine gift for which Sancheiriv could claim no credit. and the might is not yours.¹⁷The nations that Sancheiriv conquered had already been condemned to punishment and destruction. You are not mighty, rather they are weak.¹⁸In Tehilim 129:6 the verse states” … like the grass on rooftops which even before it is plucked, withers.”

חציר גגות. הממהר ליבש:

Like grass of the rooftops. Which dries quickly.¹⁹Alternatively, grass is unable to move and defend itself from being cut.—Ralbag

ושדפה לפני קמה. כשבלים השדופות, בטרם יתקשו לבא לידי קמה:

And wind blast before [becoming] standing grain. Like blasted stalks of grain, before they hardened to become standing grain.

ושבתך וצאתך ובאך. תרגם יונתן: ומיתבך בעיצה ומיפקך לאגחא קרבא ומיתך לארעא דישראל גלי קדמי, מאתי נהיתה:

Your sitting and your going out and your coming in. [Targum] Yonoson rendered, ”And your sitting in counsel, and your going out to wage war, and your coming to the land of Yisroel, is revealed to Me;” it emanated from Me.

ואת התרגזך אלי. ואת אשר סופך להתגאות ולהתעורר אלי ברוגז ורעש, אשטרימי"ה בלע"ז:

And your raging against Me. And that ultimately you will become arrogant and aroused against Me with anger and tumult, estorimir, in O.F..

ושאננך. כמו ושאונך:

And your tumult. [Means] the same as ושאונך [=your tumult].²⁰Alternatively, “your tranquility,” i.e., their rage was on account of their tranquility.—Radak

חחי. כמין שיר הוא, שמושכין בו בהמה שעסקיה רעים, כמו ששנינו (שבת נא ב) כל בעלי השיר יוצאין בשיר:

My ring. A kind of ring by which they pull an animal whose behavior is bad,²¹Alternatively, חח is a fish hook which pierces the fish when it is pulled out of the water.—Radak as we learned, ”And all animals that are usually pulled with a ring may go out [on Shabbos] with a ring.”²²Maseches Shabbos 51b.

ומתגי. תרגם יונתן: זמם, והוא של ברזל, ותוחבין אותו בנחירי הנאקה ונמשכת בו, לפי שעסקיה רעים, והוא ששנינו (שם:) ונאקה בחוטם:

And my bit. [Targum] Yonoson rendered זמם, which is made of iron, and which is inserted into the nostrils of a female camel,²³Alternatively, מתג is the bit placed in the animal's mouth by which to lead it.—Radak and she is pulled with it, because her behavior is bad. This is what we learned, ”And the female camel [may go out on Shabbos] with a nose ring.”²⁴Maseches Shabbos 51b.

וזה לך האות. לחזקיהו אמר הנביא, וזה שאמרתי לך סנחריב יפול כאן, יהי לך לאות אף לימים הבאים שאתם יראים למות ברעב, לפי שסנחריב החריב את הארץ וגדע את האילנות:

And this shall be the sign for you. The prophet said to Chizkiyohu, ”And this prophecy which I said to you that Sancheiriv will fall here, will be a sign for you²⁵Alternatively, the sign for the fulfillment of the prophecy is that Sancheiriv will return to his land, mentioned in v. 7 above. The fulfillment of this prophecy serves as a sign that the remainder of the prophecy will likewise be fulfilled.—Radak also for the approaching days, for you are afraid of dying from hunger, because Sancheiriv destroyed the land and chopped down the trees.”

אכול השנה ספיח. בשנה הזאת יצמחו לכם צמחים ותתפרנסו מהם:

This year you will eat what grows by itself. This year plants will grow for you, and you will be sustained by them.

סחיש. גדועי אילנות שיצמחו, וכשתראה דברי קיים במפלת האוכלסין, יהיה לך לאות שאף הבטחה זו תתקיים:

What grows from the tree stumps. The chopped off trees that will sprout, and when you see My word fulfilled concerning the fall of the armies, it will be a sign for you that this promise, too, will be fulfilled.

קנאת ה' צבאות. שיקנא לכבודו ולשמו, ולא שיש זכות בידכם, כי הרבה הרשיע אחז אביך:

The zeal of Adonoy of Hosts. That He will be zealous for His honor and for His Name, not that you have any merit,²⁶For even the merit of the Patriarchs had been used up, according to Rashi in Yeshayohu 37:32. for Achaz your father committed many wicked deeds.