Haftorah Matot-Massei Commentary

4Hearken to the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob,
and all the families of the house of Israel.

5So says the Lord: What wrong did your forefathers find in Me,
that they distanced themselves from Me, and they went after futility and themselves became futile?

6And they did not say, "Where is the Lord, Who brought us up from the land of Egypt, Who led us in the desert, in a land of plains and pits, in a land of waste and darkness, in a land where no man
had passed and where no man had dwelt.

And they did not say, Where is the Lord:
that we should follow other gods?

plains: Heb. ערבה (planure in O.F.), related to pianoro
in Old Italian, meaning ‘a plateau.’

and pits: Heb. ושוחה (enfosses in O.F.), pitted.

waste: Heb. ציה (degat in French).

and darkness: Heb. וצלמות. An expression of darkness.

7And I brought you to a forest land to eat of its produce and
its goodness, and you came and contaminated My land,
and made My heritage an abomination.

to a forest land: To the land of Israel which is planted like כרמל, meaning: planted like a forest.

8The priests did not say, "Where is the Lord?"
And those who hold onto the Torah did not know Me and the rulers rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed what does not avail.

and those who hold onto the Torah: The Sanhedrin.

and the rulers: the kings.

prophesied by Baal: In the name of Baal.

9Therefore, I will still contend with you, says the Lord,
and with your children's children will I contend.

Therefore, I will still contend: Before I bring misfortune upon you, I will still contend with you through My prophets, although I have already contended with you many days.

10For pass over [to] the isles of the Kittites and see,
and send to Kedar and consider diligently,
and see whether there was any such thing,

the isles of the Kittites: To the isles of the Kittites.
איי is (isles in French).

the isles : איי is (isles in French).

and send to Kedar: And send to Kedar to see their custom.

and consider diligently: And put your heart to it to consider the matter diligently.

whether: Heb. הן, like אם, if. Whether either of those nations exchanged its god although they are no gods, yet My nation exchanged their glory, with which they were honored. The Kittites and the Kedarites were tent dwellers and cattle herders, who would travel, go, and wander from pasture to pasture and from desert to desert, and they carry their gods with them to the place where they encamp. But I carried you until I established you, yet you forsook Me. This is how Jonathan paraphrased it. Our Sages said however: The Kittites worshipped water and the Kedarites worshipped fire. And although they know that water quenches fire,
they did not forsake their god.

11Whether a nation exchanged a god although they are not gods. Yet My nation exchanged their glory for what does not avail.

I am always amazed that the very Word of HaShem declares us to be glorious!

for what does not avail: For an idol that does not avail.

12Oh heavens, be astonished about this, and storm,
become very desolate, says the Lord.

O heavens, be astonished: Heb. שמו, an expression of astonishment, like השתוממוּ. It is the imperative form, with the same vowel points as (I Sam. 14:9): “If they say thus to us,” Wait (דּמּוּ)."

and storm: Heb. ושערו, an expression of סער, a storm.

become very desolate: As though you are becoming desolate because of the Temple that is destined to be destroyed.

13For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the spring of living waters, to dig for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water.

two evils: Had they exchanged their Deity [lit. their fear] for one His equal, it would be one evil, and now that they have forsaken Me, that I am a spring of living waters, to follow idols, which are like cisterns of stored up water, and they are broken and cracked, and their water is absorbed in their cracks, these are two evils.

to dig: Heb. לחצב, lit. to hew.

that do not hold: (Tendront in O.F.) their water, for the water will make their edge and their walls muddy, and they cave in.

14Is Israel a slave? Is he a home-born slave?
Why has he become a prey?

Is he a home born slave?: The son of a maidservant.

15Young lions roar over him: they have raised their voice,
and they have made his land a desolation;
his cities were burnt without an inhabitant.

roar: roar, a present tense.

young lions: Symbolic of kings.

were burnt: were burnt with fire.

16Also the children of Noph and Tahpanhes will break your crown.

Also the children of Noph and Tahpanhes:
They are the Egyptians upon whom you trust for aid.

will break your crown: They will break your skull.
ירעוּך is an expression of breaking (רציצה), as we translate ורצוץ,
“and crushed” (Deut. 28:33), וּרעיע.

17Is not this caused to you by your forsaking the Lord your God
at the time He leads you by the way?

Is not this caused to you: Is not this misfortune and this retribution caused to you by the guilt and the iniquity that you have forsaken the Lord your God?

at the time He leads you by the way: For He would teach you the good and the straight way.

18And now, what have you to do in the way of Egypt to drink the water of the Shihor and what have you to do in the way of Assyria
to drink the water of the river?

what have you to do in the way of Egypt: Why do you leave Me and trust in Egypt?

to drink the water of the Shihor: For they drowned your male children in the Nile. Shihor is the Nile, as it is said: “From the Shihor which is before Egypt,” in the Book of Joshua (13:3).

and what have you to do: to rebel against Me so that you
should be exiled to the way of Assyria, to the other side
of the Euphrates River?

19Your evil will chastise you, and your backslidings will reprove you, and you shall know and see that your forsaking the Lord your God is evil and bitter, and fear of Me was not upon you,
says the Lord God of Hosts.

Your evil will chastise you: Eventually, your evil will bring suffering upon you.

and your backslidings: , Heb. ומשבותיך, an expression related to “backsliding children (שובבים)” (infra 3:22).

will reprove you: Heb. תוכחך, an expression of reproof.

and the fear of Me was not: My fear was not in your heart that you should fear Me.

20For of old I broke your yoke, I tore open your yoke-bands, and you said, "I will not transgress," but on every lofty hill and under every leafy tree, you recline as a harlot.

I broke your yoke: To the wooden yoke an expression of breaking applies, and to the yoke-bands which are of leather an expression of tearing open applies.

yoke-bands: [מוסרותיך are the] ropes used
to shackle the yoke [to the animal].

and you said, “I will not transgress.”: your words.

but on every lofty hill: Put you did not keep your promise, for on every lofty hill you recline (צעה). This is an expression of a bed and a sheet (מצע). [The word] כי serves as an expression of ‘but.’

21Yet I planted you a noble vine stock, throughout of right seed; now how have you turned yourself into
a degenerate wild vine to Me?

I planted you a noble vine stock: Heb. שורק is the branches of a good vine, that is to say the children of pious and righteous fathers. Its midrashic interpretation is: I planted you שורק. I added for you to the seven commandments of the children of Noah, six hundred and six, as is the numerical value of שורק.

degenerate: Heb. סוּרי (Destoultours in O.F).

wild vine: that grows in the forests.

22For if you wash with natron and use much soap,
your iniquity is stained before Me, says the Lord God.

with natron: A type of earth with which garments are cleansed and rubbed.

soap: Heb. בֹּרִית, cleanliness. Comp. “And pure (וּבַר) of heart” (Ps. 24:4). Some explain בֹּרִית as savon in French, soap.

your iniquity is stained: Jon. renders: Like the mark of a stain that is unclean, so have your sins increased before Me.

is stained : כתם is tka in O.F.

your iniquity: This is said concerning the iniquity of the ‘Golden Calf,’ which remains in existence forever, as it is stated: “And on the day of My visitation, I will visit upon them their sin” (Exodus 32:34). All visitations that come upon Israel have part of the iniquity of the Golden Calf in them.

23How do you say, "I have not been defiled; I have not gone after the Baalim"? See your way in the valley, know what you have done, [like] a swift young she-camel, clinging to her ways.

See your way in the valley: See what you have done opposite Beth-Peor, and until now you adhere to that way like a swift she camel clinging to her ways.

young she-camel: Heb. בכרה, a young female camel, that loves to wander.“The young camels (בכרי) of Midian” (Isa. 60:6) is translated “and they are young camels,” as we find in Sanhedrin 52a: There are many old camels laden with the skins of young camels (הוגני).

clinging: Adhering to the ways of her youth, an expression similar to: “it would have clung (מסריך סריך)” (Chullin 51a). This may be associated with “a shoe thong נעל) (שרוך ” (Gen. 14:23). She binds the ways of her youth in her heart.

24A wild donkey accustomed to the desert, that snuffs up the wind in her desire, her tendency like the sea creatures,
who can hinder her? All who seek her will not weary;
in her month they will find her.

A wild donkey: (salvatico in O.F.) wild, and some interpret
it as poulain in O.F., a foal.

accustomed to the desert: Accustomed to be in the deserts,
so she loves to wander.

that snuffs up the wind: She opens her mouth and snuffs up the wind, and he always returns to his place.

her tendency like the sea creatures, who can hinder her?: That trait of the sea creatures that she has, for also the sea creature snuffs up the wind, as it is said: “They snuff up the wind like sea creatures” (infra 14:6). Who can hinder her from that trait? So it is with you who can return you from your evil way?

her tendency like a sea creature: Son dagronemant in O.F., dragon nature. Jonathan rendered it in this manner, כערודה. Another explanation: It is an expression of wailing, comp.“moaning and wailing” (תּאניה ואניה) (Lam. 2:5). Another explanation: (sa contree in French,) her country, comp. Taanath Shiloh (Josh. 16:6).

all who seek her will not weary: For they will weary needlessly, for they will be unable to overtake her. What will her end be? In her month, they will find her. There is one month in the year that she sleeps for the whole month, and then she is captured. You, too, - one month (viz. Ab) was already prepared for you from the days of the spies, when your forefathers established it as a time of vain weeping, therein, you will be captured.

25Withhold your foot from going barefoot and your throat from thirst; but you said, "I despair. No, for I love strangers,
and I will follow them."

Withhold your foot from going barefoot: This your habit, like the wild donkey that loves to wander. My prophets say to you, “Withhold your foot from idolatry lest you go barefoot into exile and withhold your throat from dying of thirst.”

but you said: concerning the words of the prophets.

I despair: It is of no concern. I despair of your words. נואש is (nonkalajjr in O.F.) nonchalair in modern French.

26As the shame of a thief when he is found out, so have the house of Israel been ashamed; they, their kings, their princes,
their priests, and their prophets.

when he is found out: At the beginning, when he is found to be a thief, and he was presumed to be faithful. In this manner, Jonathan rendered it.

27They say to the wood, "You are my father," and to the stone, "You bore us," for they turned to Me their nape and not their face, and at the time of their misfortune they say, "Arise and save us. "

and at the time of their misfortune they say: i.e., they say to Me, “Arise and save us.” Jonathan, too, translates in this manner: And at the time that misfortune befalls them, they deny their idols and confess before Me, and say. “Have mercy upon us and save us.”

28Now where are your gods that you have made for yourself; let them get up if they will save you at the time of your misfortune, for as many as your cities were your gods, O Judea.

as many as your cities were your gods: In every city was another god.

1If you return, O Israel, says the Lord, to Me, you shall return,
and if you remove your detestable things from My Presence,
you shall not wander.

If you return, O Israel: with this repentance, to Me, you will return to your original glory and greatness.

and if you remove your detestable things from My Presence: Then you shall not wander to go out in exile.

2And you will swear, "As the Lord lives," in truth and in justice
and in righteousness, nations will bless themselves
with him and boast about him.

And you will swear, “As the Lord lives,” in truth: When you swear by My name, you will swear in truth, not as now, that it is written concerning you, “And if they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely” (5:2).

nations will bless themselves with him: If you do so, then nations will bless themselves with Israel. Every non-Jew will say to his son, “You shall be like So-and-so the Jew.”

boast: Heb. יתהללו, they will recite your praise. Another explanation of is יתהללו : Whoever is able to cleave to Israel will boast about the matter (porvanter in French).