Maoz Tzur's Hidden Meaning

(1) O Fortress, Rock of my salvation, unto thee it is becoming to give praise:

(2) let my house of prayer be restored, and I will there offer thee thanksgivings

(3) when thou shalt have prepared a slaughter of the blaspheming foe,

(4) I will complete with song and psalm the dedication of the altar.

(6) Full sated was my soul with ills, my strength was spent with sorrow;

(7) they embittered my life by hardship during my subjection to the dominion of The kingdom of the heifer

(8) but God with his great power brought forth the chosen race,

(9) while the host of Pharaoh and all his seed sank like a stone into the deep.

(11) To his holy oracle he brought me, yet there also I found no peace,

(12) for the oppressor came and led me captive, because I had served strange gods:

(13) I had to quaff the wine of bewilderment; well nigh had I perished,

(14) when Babylon's end drew near; through Zerubbabel I was saved after seventy years.

(16) The Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, sought to cut down the lofty cypress tree

(17) but his design became a snare to himself, and his pride was brought to an end.

(18) The head of the Benjamite thou didst exalt, but the enemy's name thou Midst blot out:

(19) the many sons he had gotten thou didst hang upon the gallows.

(21) The Grecians were gathered against me in the days of the Hasmoneans;

(22) they broke down the walls of my towers, and defiled all the oils;

(23) but from one of the last remaining flasks a miracle was wrought for Your lily;

(24) and their men of understanding appointed these eight days for song and praises.

Some time afterward, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite; he advanced him and seated him higher than any of his fellow officials.

“Shall the cypress [berosh] come up”; this is Mordecai. Why is he called a cypress [berosh]? Because he was called the chief [rosh] of all the spices, as it is stated: “Take you also to yourself the chief spices, of pure myrrh [mar deror]” (Exodus 30:23), and we translate “pure myrrh,” into Aramaic as mari dakhei. Mordecai was like mari dakhi, the chief [rosh] of spices, and therefore he is called berosh.

The LORD will bare His holy arm In the sight of all the nations, And the very ends of earth shall see The victory of our God.

(4) And that shall afford safety. Should Assyria invade our land And tread upon our fortresses, We will set up over it seven shepherds, Eight princes of men,

It is stated: “And this shall be peace: When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes among men” (Micah 5:4). The Gemara asks: Who are these seven shepherds? The Gemara explains: David is in the middle; Adam, Seth, and Methuselah are to his right; Abraham, Jacob, and Moses are to his left. And who are the eight princes among men? They are Yishai, Saul, Samuel, Amos, Zephania, Zedekiah, Messiah, and Elijah.