פרשת יתרו תשי"ט - הפטרה

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.

High and lifted up. Attributes to throne (כסא), not, as many thought, to the Lord. The throne⁵The throne כסא הכבוד is, according to I. E., the sphere or force (גלגל) that encompasses and moves all the remaining spheres. The whole Universe is divided into three parts; a. עולם העליון the highest world, described as spiritual, indivisible, and unchangeable; b. עולם התיכון the middle world, or היכל the divine temple, described as being of a mixed nature, containing bodiless forms, and also bodies, but of a pure and unchangeable substance; c. עולם השפלות the lowest world, the earth and the fulness thereof, consisting of bodies of all description. The forms and bodies of the middle world are contained in ten spheres : sun, moon, and five planets in seven spheres, the large body of stars in the eighth, the Zodiac in the ninth, the tenth is the throne.—The angels inhabit the middle world. See I. E. on Ps. 8:4, and on Dan. 10:21. is above the Hajoth⁶חיות lit. living beings, signify a certain class of angels, frequently mentioned by Ezekiel (1:5, 13, etc.). as I shall explain on Ezekiel.⁷The commentary of Ibn Ezra on Ezekiel, promised by <underline>him</underline> repeatedly, is not known.

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.

And his train. The train of the throne; kings usually have their thrones covered with drapery.

And one called unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.

Ye shall therefore separate between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean; and ye shall not make your souls detestable by beast, or by fowl, or by any thing wherewith the ground teemeth, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.

ואבדל אתכם מן העמים להיות לי ‎ AND I HAVE SEPARATED YOU FROM THE PEOPLES THAT YOU SHOULD BE MINE — If you hold yourselves apart from them then you will be Mine, but if not, you belong to (become subject to) Nebuchadnezzar and others like him. Rabbi Eleazer ben Azariah said, “Whence do we know that one should not say, "My soul loathes swine’s flesh”, or, “I have no desire to wear clothes which are a mixture of wool and linen”, but one should say, "I would, indeed, like them, but what can I do since my Father in heaven has imposed these decrees upon me”? Because Scripture states: “I have separated you from the peoples to be for Me", whichyour separation from them (from their doings) should be for My sake — that one should keep aloof from sin and take upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 12 23).

Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy.

קדשים תהיו YE SHALL BE HOLY — This means, keep aloof from the forbidden sexual relations just mentioned and from sinful thoughts. [It is evident that this is the meaning of קדשים תהיו because] wherever you find in the Torah a command to fence yourself in against such relations you also find mention of “holiness". Examples are: (Leviticus 21:7) “[They shall not take] a wife that is a harlot, or a profane etc.", and in the next verse "for I, the Lord, who sanctifieth you, [am holy]"; (Leviticus 21:15) “Neither shall he profane his seed (by the forbidden unions mentioned in the preceding verses) for I the Lord do sanctify him"; (Leviticus 21:6) "They shall be holy… followed by (v. 7) "[they shall not take] a wife that is a harlot or a profane" (cf. Vayikra Rabbah 24:4-6).

I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in the midst of thee; And I will not come in fury.

In your midst is the Holy One, and I will not enter a city – Into any other city, because I have already promised to cause my Presence to dwell in your midst in Jerusalem and not to bring it to rest anymore in another city. There are those who translate b’ir as a language of hatred, as in “and has become your adversary (arecha)” (Samuel I 28:16)

There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside Thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

And one called unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.

The whole earth, etc. Although He is holy above, still His glory filleth the earth below. He who explains מלא כל הארץ that which filleth the whole earth, that is, its inhabitants, and compares it with וּמְלאׇׁהּ and the fulness thereof (Ps. xxiv.), is mistaken.⁹Ibn Ezra does not show why this explanation is wrong; nor does he give any opinion of his own as to what form מְלאׁ is; the quotation, Num. 14:21, only shows that a phrase like the glory of the Lord filleth the whole earth, is correct; but he fails to prove the identity of this quotation with הארץ כבודו מלא כל. In his commentary on Num. 22:18, however, he explains בֵּיתוֹ מָלֵא כסף ═ מְלאׁ ביתו כסף and quotes מלא כל הארץ as a parallel. Comp. ה׳ את כל הארץ וימלא כבוד And the whole earth will be full of the glory of the Lord. (Num. 14:21)

And He said: ‘Go, and tell this people: Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

And, it is possible that a man should commit either one grievous iniquity or a multitude of sins so that the Judge of Truth will decree against him that, whereas this sinner committed those sins of his own free will and consciously, repentance should be witheld from him altogether, and grant him no leave to repent, so that he might die and perish in the iniquity he committed. Even this is what the Holy One, blessed is He! said through Isaiah: "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their eyes heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, and understanding with their heart will return and be healed" (Is. 6.10). It is, moreover, said: "But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people till there was no remedy". (II Chro. 36.16)—as if saying: "They sinned of their own free will and they have multiplied iniquities, until their guilt carried the punishment to withold repentance from them, which is the remedy". It is, therefore, written in the Torah; "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart" (Ex. 14.4), because at the beginning he sinned of his own free will, and meted out evil to Israel who sojourned in his land, even as it is said: "Come, let us deal wisely with them" (Ibid. 1.10). Thereat justice demanded to withold repentance from him, so that due punishment might be visited upon him. Wherefor, the Holy One, blessed is He! hardened his heart. If it be so, then why did He delegate Moses to him, charging him to let Israel go forth and turn to repentance seeing that the Holy One, blessed is He! long since told him thou wilt not let them go forth, saying: "But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God" (Ibid. 9.30), and again saying: "But in very deed for this cause have I made thee to stand, to show thee My power, and that My name be declared throughout all the earth"(Ibid. –16)? To demonstrate to the future generations whenever the Holy One, blessed is He! witholds repentance from a sinner he can not repent, but must die in the original evil which he perpetrated of his own free will. Sihon, too, by the measure of his iniquity became guilty of an offence which carried the punishment to have repentance witheld from him, even as it is said: "For the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate" (Deut. 2.30). Likewise the Canaanites, according to their abominations, did He withold repentance from them so that they engaged Israel in battle, even as it is said: "For it was of the Lord, to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that they might be utterly destroyed" (Joshua, 11.20). Even so was with Israel in the days of Elijah, because of the multiplied iniquity repentance was witheld from the gross evildoers, for it is said: "For Thou didst turn their heart backward" (I. Kings, 18.37)—as if saying: "Thou didst withold repentance from them". Thus, as a consequence hereof, we must say: God's predestination prompted not Pharaoh to wrong Israel, nor Sihon to sin in his land, nor the Canaanites to be abominable, nor Israel to worship idolatry; for they all sinned of their own free will and accord, and, therefore, were they all guilty of an offence which carries along the punishment to withold repentance from them.