YE SHALL MAKE YOU NO IDOLS. “Scripture is speaking with reference to this person [mentioned above] who sold himself to an idolater, that he should not say, ‘Since my master worships idols, I will also worship them; Since my master is immoral, I too will be dissolute; since my master does not observe the Sabbath, I will also profane the Sabbath.’ Scripture therefore states, Ye shall make you no idols … Ye shall keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My Sanctuary.²²⁵ Thus Scripture warned concerning [the observance of] the commandments.” This is the language of the Torath Kohanim,²²⁶. and the interpretation [thereof is as follows]: Scripture warned the servant who sold himself to an idolater to be heedful of the commandments concerning idolatry and the Sabbath, — as well as the reverence due to the Sanctuary, which he should come to on the festivals and treat with awe,²²⁷ and the same warning applies with regard to all the commandments. However, He mentioned only these commandments as they are the main ones, and they indicate [that the same principle applies] to all of them. Now some texts of the Torath Kohanim have this reading: “Scripture ‘mentioned here’ [the commandments,” instead of “Thus Scripture warned,” as stated above]. If this is the correct text, then the Rabbis [of the Torath Kohanim] alluded to [the concept] that all the commandments are included in the Sabbath and the Sanctuary. The person learned [in the mysteries of the Cabala] will understand.²²⁸ 19:30. Bechukothai

footnotes: ²²⁵ Verses 1-2. ²²⁶ Torath Kohanim, end of Behar ²²⁷ See “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 29-31. ²²⁸ See Ramban above in Seder Kedoshim

THEN WILL I GIVE YOUR RAINS IN THEIR SEASON. He mentioned the matter of rains first [of all the blessings] because if they come in their proper season, the air is pure and good and the springs and rivers are good [clear], and thus it [the rain] is a [prime] cause of physical health, and all produce will increase and be blessed by it, just as He said, and the Land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.¹ Thus because of this [pure state of the environment] people do not become sick, and none shall miscarry, nor be barren,² even among their cattle,³ and they will live out [the full extent of] their days.⁴ For when the material frame [of human beings] is large and healthy, they can continue [in health] as in the days of Adam.⁵, on Verse 4, (Vol. I pp. 98-99). Thus this [blessing — the rains in their seasons] is the greatest of all blessings [and therefore it is given first place]. Now He said that the heavens will respond to the earth⁶ with rains in their seasons, and the earth shall respond⁷, Verse 24. with its “produce”, which includes vegetation and all moving creatures — cattle, beasts, creeping things and fowl, as well as fish — for the term ha’aretz [“the earth” or “the land,” in and ‘the land’ shall yield her produce] includes the whole of the lower sphere [i.e., everything under the sphere of the moon], just as [in the verses]: In the beginning G-d created the heaven and ‘ha’aretz’ (the earth);⁸, Verse 3 (Vol. I, p. 25) where he discusses this topic fully, and mentions also the verses cited in the following text. And the heaven and ‘ha’aretz’ (the earth) *were finished;*⁹, 2:1. and similarly, Praise the Eternal from ‘ha’aretz’ (the earth), ye sea-monsters and all deeps,¹⁰ and so also in most verses in Scripture [where this word occurs]. Thus all things created in the lower spheres are “the produce of the earth.”

footnotes: ¹ In Verse 4 before us. ² Exodus 23:26. ³ See Deuteronomy 7:14. ⁴ See II Samuel 7:12. ⁵ Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years (Genesis 5:5). See Ramban ibid. ⁶ See Hosea 2:23. ⁷ See ibid. ⁸ Genesis 1:1. See Ramban ibid. ⁹ Ibid. ¹⁰ Psalms 148:7.

AND I WILL GIVE PEACE IN THE LAND — So that there will be peace among you, and no man shall fight against his brother,¹¹ or “peace” may mean that He will cause evil beasts to cease out of the Land.¹² is a completely independent thought, and what follows in the verse is another series of blessings, or it is possible that the second half of the verse explains the first half. Neither shall the sword go through your Land at all, but you will pursue your enemies,¹³ going forth against them in battle, and they will flee. And [the meaning of the verse] by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], is that He will give peace which will cleave to the [higher]¹⁴ “earth,” which is the all-inclusive peace which is equal to everything.

footnotes: ¹¹ Isaiah 19:2. ¹² Mentioned in Verse 6 before us. In other words, it may be that the expression, And I will give peace in the Land ¹³ See Verse 7. ¹⁴ Ricanti.

AND I WILL CAUSE EVIL BEASTS TO CEASE OUT OF THE LAND. According to Rabbi Yehudah who said¹⁵ 2:1. that He will remove them from the world [entirely, the verse] is [to be understood] in its plain sense — that evil beasts will not come into their Land. For since there will be plentitude and an abundance of blessings, and the cities will be full of people, [wild] beasts will not come into inhabited places. And according to Rabbi Shimon who says that He will cause them to cease from causing harm, the verse is stating: “and I will cause the evil of the beasts to cease out of the Land.” This is the correct interpretation for when [Israel] observes the commandments, the Land of Israel will be like the world was at its beginning, before the sin of the first man, when no wild beast or creeping thing would kill a man, just as the Rabbis have said:¹⁶ “It is not the wild ass that kills, but it is sin that kills.” It is [because of] this that Scripture says, and the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp,¹⁷ and similarly, and the cow and the bear shall feed … and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.¹⁸, Verse 7. For dangerous beasts only prey [on human beings] on account of the sin of man, because of which it was decreed upon him that he be a prey to their teeth,¹⁹ and preying was made a part of their nature so that they also prey on each other, as is well-known for having once preyed on man, they add [to this tendency that of preying on animals] so that they become more harmful. And so Scripture states, And he learned to catch the prey, he devoured men.²⁰ Now at the time of the creation of the world, it is said of the beasts that He gave them the herb for food, as it is written, And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food,²¹ and Scripture states, and it was so,²¹ meaning that such was the nature with which they were endowed forever. It was [only] afterwards that they learned how to prey, on account of [human] sin which causes death, as I have explained. Now when slaughtering animals [for food] became permitted for the sons of Noah after the flood,²², Vol. I, p. 57 for the reason for this permission. He warned with reference to humans [that shedding their blood was forbidden saying], And surely your blood of your lives will I require … the life of man,²³, 9:5. but not the blood of one beast from the hand of another, for they were left to prey [on each other and on man] as was their wont. But the beasts of the Land of Israel, when [man will be] in a state of perfection, will cease from their harmful way, and revert to their original nature with which they were endowed at the time of their creation. I have already referred to a part of this in Seder Eileh Toldoth Noach.²³, 9:5. Therefore Scripture stated concerning the time of the redeemer who is descended of the stock of Jesse, that peace will return to the world and preying and all dangerous beasts will cease, as was their nature at first. The [original] intention [when referring to the redeemer was in connection with] Hezekiah [king of Judah], whom the Holy One, blessed be He, had wished to make the Messiah,²⁴ but their merits [i.e., those of the people of his generation] were not sufficient for such [achievement], so that the fulfillment [of that prophecy] will be with reference to the Messiah who is destined to come.

footnotes: ¹⁵ Torath Kohanim, Bechukothai ¹⁶ Berachoth 33 a. ¹⁷ Isaiah 11:8. ¹⁸ Ibid. ¹⁹ Psalms 124:6. See in Genesis 9:5 (Vol. I, pp. 134-135) where Ramban also discusses this theme. ²⁰ Ezekiel 19:3. ²¹ Genesis 1:30. ²¹ Genesis 1:30. ²² See ibid. ²³ Ibid. ²³ Ibid. ²⁴ Sanhedrin 94 a.

AND YOUR ENEMIES SHALL FALL BEFORE YOU BY THE SWORD. He assured them at first that they would chase their enemies and that they would fall by their sword,²⁵ and then He stated again by way of repetition [in the verse before us], and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword, in order to give them fortitude of heart and strength so that five [of them would not be afraid] to pursue a hundred. He [furthermore promised that He] would put faintness into the heart of their enemies, so that a hundred would [in fact] flee before five, and would all fall by the sword of the five, for it would be possible that they [a hundred people] would flee because of the sword and because of their fear, but that they would not be able to kill them by the sword because of their few numbers [therefore He mentioned specifically that they would be able to put them to the sword too]. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra has said that this repetition [in our verse] means that they [the enemies] will fall continually, time after time, without regaining [their strength].

footnotes: ²⁵ See Verse 7.

AND I WILL MAKE YOU FRUITFUL. This means that they will all have children, fruit of the womb, and there will be no barren man or woman among them.²⁶ And then He stated again, and I will multiply you, meaning that they will have many children, and will not be bereaved of them, because they will live out their days,⁴ and therefore they will be a large people.

footnotes: ²⁶ See Deuteronomy 7:14. ⁴ See II Samuel 7:12.

AND I WILL SET MY TABERNACLE AMONG YOU. “This means the Sanctuary [at Jerusalem].” AND MY SOUL SHALL NOT ‘THIG’AL’ (ABHOR) YOU. “This means that My spirit shall not reject you. Every [form of the term] ge’ilah is an expression of spewing out something that has been absorbed in another substance, such as: for there ‘nig’al’ the shield of the mighty,²⁷ meaning that the shield was not receptive to the oil with which it was anointed; for they used to anoint a leather shield with boiled [fat], in order to make the blows of arrows or spears glance off it, so that it should not pierce the leather.” This is Rashi’s language. But I do not know what would be the meaning of this, that the Holy One, blessed be He, should say that if we keep all the commandments and do His will, He will not reject us and His soul will not abhor us! Similarly when [speaking of] our transgressing His covenant [with us], and committing great provocations,²⁸ He said, *I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them!*²⁹ And the prophet [Jeremiah] said at the time of cursing [i.e., the prediction of the destruction of the First Sanctuary], *Hast Thou utterly rejected Judah? Hast Thy soul loathed Zion?*³⁰ But this subject is one of the secrets of the mysteries of the Torah.³¹ Scripture is thus stating that He will set His Tabernacle among us, and that “the soul”³² from which the Tabernacle³³ comes, will not spew us forth as a pot which we scour in hot water [in order to cleanse it of substances it has absorbed], but instead our garments will always be white³⁴ and new. For the term ge’ilah denotes, as Rashi said, “casting out,” related to the expression, his bull gendereth and doth not ‘yag’il’ (allow the cow to reject as loathsome), his cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.³⁵ He states here My soul [and ‘My soul’ shall not abhor you] similar to the expression, the Eternal G-d hath sworn by His soul.³⁶ And the prophet [Jeremiah] thus is saying by way of amazement: “Hast Thou loathed Zion, itself³⁰ which is a city and a mother in Israel,³⁷ and hast Thou cast her from before thee, so that all her sons are clothed with filthy garments,³⁸ polluted [with sin]?” Now according to their simple sense, these blessings, which are many and [stated in] general terms [affecting the people as a whole], — such as rain, plenitude, peace and the fruitfulness of people — are unlike the blessings with which He has already blessed [the people] in brief, saying, And He will bless thy bread, and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.³⁹ For there He assured them that their food and drink would be [a source of] blessing, so that no sickness will occur to our bodies, and therefore the organs of procreation will be complete and healthy and we will give birth properly, and live full lives, as He said, None shall miscarry, nor be barren in thy Land, the number of thy days will I fulfill,⁴⁰, Verse 26. and similarly He said at the beginning, for I am the Eternal that healeth thee.⁴¹, 15:26. The reason for this [division of the blessings into two sections] is that [all] the blessings [mentioned in the Torah], although they are miraculous, are hidden miracles of which the whole Torah is full, as I have explained.⁴² in the Book of Exodus (Vol. II, pp. 174-175). They apply even to an individual who serves [Him], for when there is a pious man who keeps all the commandments of his G-d, the Eternal G-d will guard him from sickness, barrenness and bereavement, and he will live out his days in goodness. But these blessings which are stated in this section are general ones applying to the people [as a whole], and they [take effect] when the whole of our people shall all be righteous.⁴³ Therefore He mentions here always *the Land: and the Land shall yield;*⁴⁴ *in your Land safely;*⁴⁵ *peace in the Land;*⁴⁶ *out of the Land;*⁴⁶ it shall not go through your Land.⁴⁶ Now we have already explained⁴² in the Book of Exodus (Vol. II, pp. 174-175). that all these blessings are miracles, for it is not natural that the rains should come [in their due season], and that we should have peace from our enemies, and that they should have faintness of heart so that a hundred of them flee before five, as a result of us observing the statutes and commandments of G-d, nor that everything should be the opposite [i.e., that none of these things should happen] because of us planting in the Seventh year [which we are forbidden to do]. But although they are hidden miracles, for they are [brought about] by means of the natural events of the world occurring according to their habit, yet [the Torah mentions them separately because] they come to be known [as miracles] because of their constant and continuous occurrence in the whole Land. For if one righteous man lives and G-d takes away sickness from him, and he lives out his days, this also happens to some wicked people [and is thus not acknowledged as miraculous]. But when an entire land and a whole people always have rains coming in their season, and plenitude, security, peace, health, strength and defeat of their enemies, in a manner unparalleled in the whole world, it becomes known to all that this is the Eternal’s doing.⁴⁷ Therefore He said [in connection with these blessings], And all the peoples shall see that the Name of the Eternal is called upon thee, and they shall be afraid of thee.⁴⁸ And the opposite of this will occur because of the curses, when punishments will come upon the [whole] Land, just as He said, and I will make your heaven as iron,⁴⁹ and punishments of sickness, as He said, and sore sickness, and of long continuance,⁵⁰ meaning that the food will be spoiled and bring about sickness, and thus the miracle will be made known to all because of its continued existence amongst the whole people. Therefore it is written, And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say when they see the plagues of that Land, and its sicknesses.⁵¹, 29:21. For they will not wonder at that [single] man upon whom all the curse that is written in this book shall lie⁵², Verse 19. for it happens many times in the natural order of the world, among all nations, that bad happenings come upon a certain individual. It is only with reference to that Land⁵¹, 29:21. that they will wonder, and that all the nations will ask, Wherefore hath the Eternal done thus unto this Land?,⁵³, Verse 23. for all will see and understand that the hand of the Eternal hath done this.⁵⁴ And [by way of reply] they will say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Eternal, the G-d of their fathers.⁵⁵ In general then, when Israel is in perfect [accord with G-d], constituting a large number, their affairs are not conducted at all by the natural order of things, neither in connection with themselves, nor with reference to their Land, neither collectively nor individually, for G-d blesses their bread and their water, and removes sickness from their midst, so that they do not need a physician and do not have to observe any of the rules of medicine, just as He said, for I am the Eternal that healeth thee.⁵⁶ And so did the righteous ones act at the time when prophecy [existed], so that even if a mishap of iniquity overtook them, causing them sickness, they did not turn to the physicians, but only to the prophets, as was the case with Hezekiah when he was sick.⁵⁷ And Scripture states [of Asa, king of Judah, by way of rebuke], Yet in his disease he sought not to the Eternal, but to the physicians.⁵⁸ Now had the practice of [consulting] physicians been customary among them, why should the verse mention [as a sinful act Asa’s consulting] the physicians, since his guilt was only because he did not [also] seek G-d? But the verse can be compared to someone saying: “That person did not eat unleavened bread on the Festival of Passover, but instead [ate] leavened bread.”⁵⁹ during Passover, which is forbidden by a negative commandment (ibid., Vol. II, pp. 194-195). In the same way Scripture states that Asa committed two sins: he failed to seek G-d, and he consulted the physicians. This shows that consulting the physicians was not customary. For he who seeks the Eternal through a prophet, will not consult the physicians. And what part do the physicians have in the house of those who do the will of G-d, after He has assured us, and He will bless thy bread, and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee,³⁹ whereas the physicians are concerned [mostly] with food and drink, warning [the patient] against [eating] certain foods and commanding him [to eat] others.⁶⁰ 4:15). Thus also the Rabbis said:⁶¹ “During all the twenty-two years that Rabbah reigned [as head of the Academy at Pumbeditha], Rav Yoseph did not call even a blood letter to his house” [as he, being a righteous person, was protected directly by G-d and needed no physicians], and they also say by way of proverb:⁶² “A gate which is not open for the commandments [i.e., a house wherein the commandments are not observed] is open for the physician.” This is also the meaning of their saying:⁶³ “People should not have to take medicaments, but they have become accustomed to do so.” [That is to say]: had they not accustomed themselves to [taking] medicines, people would become sick according to the degree of punishment corresponding to their sin, and would be healed by the will of G-d, but since they accustomed themselves to medicaments, G-d has left them to natural happenings. This is also the intent of the Rabbis’ interpretation:⁶⁴ “And he shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.⁶⁵ From here [you deduce the principle] that permission has been given to the physician to heal.” They did not say that “permission was given to the sick to be healed” [by the physician], but instead they stated [by implication] that since the person who became sick comes [to the physician] to be healed, because he has accustomed himself to seeking medical help and he was not of the congregation of the Eternal whose portion is in this life,⁶⁶ the physician should not refrain from healing him; whether because of fear that he might die under his hand, since he is qualified in this profession, or because he says that it is G-d alone Who is the Healer of all flesh, since [after all] people have already accustomed themselves [to seeking such help]. Therefore when men contend and one smites the other with a stone or his fist⁶⁷ the one who smote must pay for the healing,⁶⁵ for the Torah does not base its laws upon miracles, just as it said, for the poor shall never cease out of the Land,⁶⁸ knowing [beforehand] that such will be the case. But when a man’s ways please the Eternal,⁶⁹ he need have no concern with physicians.

footnotes: ²⁷ II Samuel 1:21. The reference is to King Saul and Jonathan who fell in battle with the Philistines, and David in his eulogy mentions that their shields were of no avail to them, as Ramban explains. ²⁸ Nehemiah 9:18. ²⁹ Further, Verse 44. ³⁰ Jeremiah 14:19. ³¹ The allusion is to the transmigration of the soul (Bei’ur Ha’lvush to Ricanti, and so also clearly in Rabbeinu Bachya’s commentary to the Torah (Vol. II, p. 575 in my edition). ³² Here referring to a term which in the Cabalistic sense signifies the very source in one of the Divine Emanations from which the human soul originates (Abusaula). ³³ I.e., the Divine soul within us. ³⁴ Ecclesiastes 9:8. — Ramban is thus intimating that human life will be so perfect when we observe the commandments, that man will achieve his goal in one lifetime, and his soul will not be rejected on its return to its original heavenly abode. ³⁵ Job 21:10. ³⁶ Amos 6:8. ³⁰ Jeremiah 14:19. ³⁷ II Samuel 20:19. ³⁸ Zechariah 3:3. ³⁹ Exodus 23:25. ⁴⁰ Ibid. ⁴¹ Ibid. ⁴² See in Genesis 17:1 (Vol. I, pp. 215-216), and 46:15 (pp. 556-558). See also at the end of Seder Bo ⁴³ Isaiah 60:21. ⁴⁴ Above, Verse 4. ⁴⁵ Verse 5. ⁴⁶ Verse 6. ⁴⁶ Verse 6. ⁴⁶ Verse 6. ⁴² See in Genesis 17:1 (Vol. I, pp. 215-216), and 46:15 (pp. 556-558). See also at the end of Seder Bo ⁴⁷ Psalms 118:23. ⁴⁸ Deuteronomy 28:10. ⁴⁹ Further, Verse 19. ⁵⁰ Deuteronomy 28:59. ⁵¹ Ibid. ⁵² Ibid. ⁵¹ Ibid. ⁵³ Ibid. ⁵⁴ Isaiah 41:20. ⁵⁵ Deuteronomy 29:24. ⁵⁶ Exodus 15:26. ⁵⁷ See Isaiah Chapter 38. ⁵⁸ II Chronicles 16:12. ⁵⁹ The intent of this statement is that the transgressor has committed two sins: not only has he failed to fulfill the positive commandment of eating unleavened bread (see “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 168-169), but he has also eaten chametz ³⁹ Exodus 23:25. ⁶⁰ Rambam writes in a similar vein: “Most maladies that afflict people are the result of bad food, or of overeating even wholesome food” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Dei’oth ⁶¹ Horayoth 14 a. To understand the full significance of this Talmudic statement about Rav Yoseph, and especially about Rabbah’s connection with it [“During all the twenty-two years that Rabbah reigned …”] it is necessary to know the background of a certain event that transpired in their lives. When the post of chief of the Academy of Pumbeditha became vacant the Rabbis of Babylon were in doubt as to whom they should appoint — Rabbah or Rav Yoseph. Rabbah’s distinction was that he was the outstanding dialectician of his generation, while that of Rav Yoseph was that he was the greatest erudite scholar. When an inquiry was made of the Rabbis in the Land of Israel the answer came back: “An erudite scholar is preferable.” It was thus Rav Yoseph’s turn to become the head of the Academy. Yet in his humility Rav Yoseph refused to accept the post and insisted that Rabbah should reign. And thus for twenty-two years Rabbah continued to rule over the Academy of Pumbeditha. In recompense for his humility, the Talmudic story continues, Heaven rewarded Rav Yoseph that “During all the twenty-two years that Rabbah reigned Rav Yoseph did not call even a bloodletter to his house,” as was customary in those days, for his health was in such perfect condition. — See in Ein Ya’akov at end of Horayoth, in the commentary Hakotheiv, at end, for source of this beautiful interpretation. It expresses no doubt the intent of Ramban’s words here before us. ⁶² Shir Hashirim Rabbah 6:17. ⁶³ Berachoth 60 a. ⁶⁴ Baba Kamma 85 a. ⁶⁵ Exodus 21:19. ⁶⁶ See Numbers 27:3; Psalms 17:14. ⁶⁷ Exodus 21:18. ⁶⁵ Exodus 21:19. ⁶⁸ Deuteronomy 15:11. ⁶⁹ Proverbs 16:7.

AND I WILL WALK AMONG YOU. This means that My conduct with you will be well-known, as when a monarch walks in the midst of his army, supplying them with all their needs. This then is the way of the simple sense of the words of the covenant, and it is true, for so indeed will He do with them. Now Scripture did not mention here the reward of the existence of the souls in the World of Souls,⁷⁰. and in the World to Come after the resurrection, for their existence [following the death of the body] is a matter of necessity in the way of creation, as I have explained in [the section on] excisions,⁷¹ this form of punishment being the “cutting off” of the guilty ones [from life eternal], and all the other [souls] will continue to exist on account of their fundamental nature inherent in their creation. But by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], these blessings [in this section] are also heavenly blessings in matters above, as I have explained.⁷² Thus, *And I will give peace in the Land;*⁷³ and My soul shall not abhor you,⁷² and similarly, and I will walk among you,⁷⁴ allude to the [Divine] attribute which our Rabbis have called Shechinah (the Divine Presence), of [the root found in the expression], And I will set ‘mishkani’ (My dwelling) among you,⁷² and as the Rabbis say:⁷⁵ “The Shechinah (Divine Presence) dwells with Israel.” And in Bereshith Rabbah they have said:⁷⁶ “The Divine Presence was mainly in the lower world.”⁷⁷ Thus the Garden of Eden [i.e., the World of Souls] and the World to Come [after the resurrection] are mentioned here⁷⁸ (Verse 11); and I will give peace in the Land (Verse 6), as hinted to above (Ma’or V’shamesh). to those who know [the way of Truth]. Now these blessings in their perfection will only occur when all Israel do the will of their Father [in heaven], and when [as a result of this] the structure of heaven and earth will be perfect, in accordance with its [original] plan. There are no other blessings in the Torah as perfect as these, which constitute the words of the covenant and the conditions between the Holy One, blessed be He, and us. Know, [however], that Israel never attained these blessings in their perfection, neither many of them [i.e., as a people] nor as individuals, since their merits were never sufficient for them, just as the Rabbis have said with reference to David’s [captains]:⁷⁹ “And he [Adino the Eznite] lifted up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.⁸⁰ But he [David] was troubled about the [remaining] two hundred.⁸¹ (Deuteronomy 32:30) (Moed Katan 16b). Thereupon a Divine Voice came forth and said to him, Save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”⁸² Therefore you will find our Rabbis of blessed memory speaking of [the fulfillment of] these verses [containing the blessings] in the future [which is yet] to come. [Thus they have said].⁸³ 2:2. “This teaches that a child of Israel will in the future stretch forth [his hand into the pupil of an adder’s eye, and remove his gall through his mouth.” Similarly they have said]:⁸⁴, 3:3. “The Holy One, blessed be He, will in the future walk about with the righteous in the World to Come.” This is because [these blessings] have not yet been fulfilled, but they will be fulfilled for us at the time of [our] perfection.

footnotes: ⁷⁰ This is the world to which the soul of a person goes immediately following the death of the body. At the resurrection, body and soul will be reunited in the World to Come, which is the Olam Haba ⁷¹ Above, 18:29. ⁷² Above, Verse 11. ⁷³ Verse 6. ⁷² Above, Verse 11. ⁷⁴ Verse 12 before us. ⁷² Above, Verse 11. ⁷⁵ See Rashi to Deuteronomy 30:3. ⁷⁶ Bereshith Rabbah 19:13. ⁷⁷ That is, even after Adam committed the first sin, the Divine Presence was still mainly in the lower world. With each progressive sin on the part of mankind, this Presence withdrew to the remote heavens, until the patriarchs appeared and gradually brought His Presence back into the lower world. When the Tabernacle was completed and His Glory came to dwell therein, the process of return was completed. ⁷⁸ In the expressions: And I will set My dwelling ⁷⁹ Moed Katan 16 b. ⁸⁰ II Samuel 23:8. ⁸¹ As the verse states, How should one chase a thousand ⁸² I Kings 15:5. In other words, because of the affair of Uriah (see II Samuel, Chapter 11) King David did not completely achieve that particular blessing mentioned in the Torah. ⁸³ Torath Kohanim, Bechukothai ⁸⁴ Ibid.

AND IF YE SHALL REJECT MY STATUTES. Because “statutes” are commandments the reasons for which have not been revealed to the majority of the people,⁸⁵ therefore fools reject them, saying: “Why does G-d desire that I should not wear this garment which is woven with threads of linen and of blue wool?⁸⁶ And how do we benefit by burning the [Red] Heifer, and sprinkling upon us the ashes thereof?”⁸⁷ The “ordinances,” however, everyone desires and everyone needs, for there can be no civilized life for any people or country without ordinances. No one will reject the ordinances of: *he that smiteth a man so that he dieth;*⁸⁸ *and if men strive together;*⁸⁹, Verse 22. and the laws of the ox and the pit⁹⁰, Verses 28-37. and the [four] guardians,⁹¹, 22:6-14. and so on. However, the judgment that we execute upon those who transgress the commandments, such as one who has forbidden sexual intercourse, or profanes the Sabbath, or does [the sorcery of] the ov or yid’oni⁹² they will despise, because of [the necessity of keeping these] commandments, which constitute a heavy yoke upon the wicked. Therefore He said, and if your soul abhor Mine ordinances so that ye will not do all My commandments,⁹³ for their abhorrence of the “ordinances” is in order that they should not keep the commandments.⁹⁴

footnotes: ⁸⁵ To the “majority of the people” the reasons for “the statutes” have not been revealed, but actually there are reasons for each and every precept of the Torah. See Ramban on Deuteronomy 22:6, where he develops this theme at great length. ⁸⁶ See above, 19:19. ⁸⁷ See Numbers Chapter 19. ⁸⁸ Exodus 21:12. ⁸⁹ Ibid. ⁹⁰ Ibid. ⁹¹ Ibid. ⁹² Above, 19:31. See “The Commandments,” Vol. II, pp. 9-11. ⁹³ Verse 15 before us. ⁹⁴ In other words, they reject even the rational parts of the Torah in order to “free” themselves entirely of the commandments which they find a burden to keep.

THAT YE MAKE VOID MY COVENANT. [This means that they desire] that the covenant be completely voided so that they will thus be without Torah, in order to permit themselves openly forbidden sexual intercourse, and every desire which is sweet to their soul.⁹⁵ By way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], the verse means that this covenant will be made void and annulled, [this being] the opposite of [the Divine assurance], and I will give peace in the Land.⁷³ It is with reference to this that He said, forasmuch as they voided My covenant, although I ruled over them,⁹⁶ [meaning that] “because they annulled My covenant of peace,⁹⁷ I Myself ruled over them.”⁹⁸

footnotes: ⁹⁵ See Proverbs 13:19. ⁷³ Verse 6. ⁹⁶ Jeremiah 31:31. ⁹⁷ Numbers 25:12. ⁹⁸ I.e., the punishment was not done through a messenger.

APH ANI E’ESEH ZOTH LACHEM’ (ALSO I WILL DO THIS UNTO YOU). By way of the Truth, the meaning [of this verse is] as if it were inverted: ‘aph ani zoth e’eseh lachem’ [meaning: “also ani — the term for the Divine attribute called zoth, which signifies judgment — will do unto you”]. This is why He always mentions in this section the word ani (I): then will ‘ani’ (I) *also walk;*⁹⁹ And ‘ani’ (I) *also will smite you;*⁹⁹ and ‘ani’ (I) *also will chastise you;*¹⁰⁰ and ‘ani (I) *will bring the Land into desolation;*¹⁰¹ ‘ani’ (I) also will walk contrary unto them.¹⁰² And in the Midrash of Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakanah [we find it interpreted]:¹⁰³ “It will not suffice for Me [merely] to pronounce judgment [and have it executed by a messenger], but even I also will chastise [you], etc.” The principle [of this section] is that it is the Holy One, blessed be He, Who makes this covenant, and this is the meaning of the expressions: *seven for your sins;*¹⁰⁴ seven according to your sins.¹⁰⁵ And the oaths are [thus] the oaths of the covenant, for the expressions are from the mouth of the Almighty, [speaking] in the language of the first person: *‘I’ will do;*¹⁰⁶ *and ‘I’ will chastise;*¹⁰⁰ and ‘I’ will smite.⁹⁹ Therefore Scripture states [concerning this covenant], which the Eternal made between Him and the children of Israel,¹⁰⁷ for He by His Great Name made this covenant. But in the Book of Deuteronomy [Scripture] states, If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Eternal thy G-d, to observe to do all His commandments,¹⁰⁸ and it continually mentions there an expression of cursing, thus it starts them [the words of the covenant] with: cursed shalt thou be,¹⁰⁹, Verse 16. since the blessing is absent from them, and it further states, the Eternal will make.¹¹⁰, Verse 24. It is this which is the [intention of the] saying of our Rabbis:¹¹¹ “The imprecations of the Book of Leviticus were [prounounced] in plural terms [if ‘ye’ will not hearken … if ‘ye’ shall reject …], and Moses, in saying them, said them from the mouth of the Almighty [stating: “Thus did the Holy One blessed be He, say unto me, ‘If ye will not hearken unto Me’ “], but those [imprecations mentioned] in the Book of Deuteronomy were [pronounced] in the singular [if ‘thou’ wilt not hearken … which I command ‘thee'…] and Moses in saying them said them [as though they came] from his own mouth, for the Almighty made Moses a messenger between Him and between all Israel.” Know and understand that these oaths [stated in this section] allude to the first exile [i.e., the Babylonian exile following the destruction of the First Temple], for it is with reference to the First Temple that all the words of this covenant, concerning the exile and the redemption therefrom, apply. For thus you will see in the exhortations [here] that He stated, And if ye shall reject My statutes, and if your soul abhor Mine ordinances,¹¹² and He further stated, that ye void My covenant,¹¹² mentioning among them [the rejected statutes]: the high places [on which they offered forbidden sacrifices], sun-images, and idols,¹¹³ and it was [in the times of the First Temple] that they worshipped idols and did all evil things. It is in connection with this that He said, And I will bring your Sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors,¹¹⁴ thus warning them that He will remove from them His Sanctuary and the acceptance of the offerings which were favorable to Him in that Sanctuary, and the punishments which were to follow upon them were: the sword,¹¹⁵ wild beasts,¹¹⁶ pestilence,¹¹⁵ famine,¹¹⁷ and finally exile.¹¹⁸ And all these things occurred then [at the destruction of the First Temple], as is clearly stated in the Book of Jeremiah. Of that [first] exile He stated, *Then shall the Land be paid her Sabbaths;*¹¹⁹ As long as it lieth desolate it shall have a rest; even the rest which it had not [in your Sabbath],¹²⁰ because the years of the [Babylonian] exile were [as many] as the years in which they failed to observe [the laws of] the Sabbatical years.¹²¹ So also does Scripture state concerning that exile, [that it was] To fulfill the word of the Eternal by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the Land had been paid her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years.¹²² Thus He warned them and thus it happened to them. If so, it is clear that Scripture speaks here of that [first] exile. If you examine further the subject of the redemption from it [the Babylonian exile, you see], that He only assures [Israel] that He will remember the covenant of the fathers,¹²³ and of the remembrance of the Land,¹²³ but not that He will forgive their iniquity and their sin and that He will once again love them as of old, nor that He will gather together those of them who are dispersed. For such indeed happened when they came up from Babylon, for only [the tribes of] Judah and Benjamin returned together with a small group of Levites who were with them, and some¹²⁴ of the other tribes …” — “some” but not all, and therefore the words of G-d as spoken by His prophets will still be fulfilled in the future when the ge’ulah shleimah (the perfect redemption) will take place, as the return from Babylon did not represent that final and complete redemption. It is obvious that this constitutes a major principle in our faith of Israel’s future and destiny. Ramban will touch upon this theme of the perfect redemption further on in the text. See also further, Note 154. of the [other] tribes that had been exiled to Babylon, and they returned in poverty, and in servitude to the kings of Persia.¹²⁵ Nor does He state that they will return to Him in complete repentance, but only that they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers,¹²⁶ and we find that the people of the Second Temple did so, as Daniel confessed: We have sinned, we have dealt iniquitously, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, and have turned aside from Thy commandments etc.¹²⁷ O Eternal, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers.¹²⁸, Verse 8. Thus they confessed also the sins of their fathers. The same applies to the following verses. And it is further written, because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people are a reproach.¹²⁹, Verse 16. And so did Nehemiah confess.¹³⁰ And Ezra said, Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept Thy law.¹³¹, 9:34. It should be noted that Scripture there ascribes the actual confession to the Levites, and Ezra’s name is not directly mentioned. However, the implication in Chapter 8 Verse 13 is clearly that it was at Ezra’s instigation that they kept the Festival of Tabernacles and the subsequent confession following it (see ibid., 9:1). Besides, Ezra being a priest (ibid., 8:2) he was automatically of the tribe of Levi and was thus included among the Levites who recited the confession. Thus they all deduced from the Torah that they should confess their iniquity and [also] the iniquity of their fathers. All these [matters] are clear indications that this covenant does indeed allude to the first exile and the redemption therefrom. However the covenant in the Book of Deuteronomy¹³² alludes to this our [present] exile, and to the redemption by which we will be redeemed from it. Thus we observe first that there [in the second covenant] neither the end nor the duration [of the exile] are alluded to, and that He did not assure us of redemption [i.e., promising that it would take place at a certain future time as was the case with the Babylonian captivity, whose end was foretold as a definite event in our section here in Leviticus as explained above], but He made it dependent upon [our] repentance. Neither did He mention among the sins [for which they would be exiled that] they would make any Asherim and sun-images, or that they would worship any idols whatsoever. Rather, He said, But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Eternal thy G-d, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes,¹⁰⁸ thus stating that because they will transgress some of His commandments, and will not keep and observe all of them,¹³³ they would be punished. Such indeed was the case during the Second Temple, just as the Rabbis have said:¹³⁴ “Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because of idolatry, immorality and bloodshed. But the Second Temple, of which we know that they [the people of that period], were engaged in the study of Torah and the practice of loving kindness, why was it destroyed? It was because of the causeless enmity which was among them.” Neither does He mention there [in the covenant in the Book of Deuteronomy] the Sanctuary, or “the pleasing odor” [of the offerings], as He mentioned here,¹³⁵ because the [Heavenly] fire did not come down and consume the offerings [that were brought] in the Second Temple, as the Rabbis testified there in Tractate Yoma.¹³⁶ And He further states there among the imprecations, The Eternal will bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the vulture swoops down,¹³⁷ alluding to the coming upon them of the Romans, who were very far from them. Thus He states there, *a nation that thou hast not known;*¹³⁸, Verse 36. a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand,¹³⁷ because of their great distance from our Land. Such is not the case concerning the words of this covenant [before us], for [it speaks of the time when] they were exiled to Babylon and Assyria, which are near to [our] Land, and they always warred with them;¹³⁹] could not apply to the period of the First Temple, as their warring enemies were nearby. The case was far different during the Second Temple when the Romans came from far-off Italy. and the stock of Israel comes from there, and they [the Jews] knew their language, as it is said, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Aramean language, for we understand it.¹⁴⁰ Similarly, the verse stating [there in the Book of Deuteronomy], And the Eternal shall scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of the earth unto the other¹⁴¹ is [a reference to] our exile today, in which we are scattered from one end of the world to the other. Again He stated [there], And the Eternal shall bring thee back into Egypt in ships,¹⁴², Verse 68. and this happened in our [present] exile, when Titus filled the ships with them [captives], as it is written in the books of the Romans.¹⁴³ Similarly, that which Scripture says there, *Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people and thy eyes shall see;*¹⁴⁴ Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and they shall not be thine, for they shall go into captivity¹⁴⁵, Verse 41. Ramban’s illuminating comment on these verses (see following text) brings to light the ruthless cruelty of the Romans at the destruction of the Second Temple, when they deported all the young and only “the fathers [i.e. the old] remained in the Land.” — these are not references to the [Babylonian] exile, when both fathers and sons were exiled, but [refer] to that captivity of the sons alone [following the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans], when the fathers remained in the Land. Such is not stated in the first covenant, because the exile [which it speaks of] was a complete one [for both fathers and sons], but it is mentioned in the second covenant, because the Romans ruled in our Land and took the sons and daughters at their will. Similarly, [the verse stating], Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemy whom the Eternal shall send against thee in hunger, and in thirst¹⁴⁶, Verse 48. is a reference to our servitude when we were subject to the Romans in our Land, and their officers ruled over us, pressing upon us a heavy yoke and taking away our people and our wealth, as is known in the [history] books. Another proof [that the covenant in the Book of Deuteronomy refers to the exile after the destruction of the Second Temple] is that He said, The Eternal will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers,¹⁴⁷, Verse 36. for King Agrippa¹⁴⁸ went to Rome at the end of the [period of the] Second Temple, and on account of his going there the Temple was destroyed.¹⁴⁹ Now Scripture does not state: “the king who will rule over thee,” but it says, thy king whom ‘thou shalt set’. Thus He, blessed be He, is hinting to us that he [that ruler] was not fit to be king, since he was forbidden to be king over Israel according to the law of the Torah [as he was a descendant of King Herod, the son of Antipater the Idumean, and Scripture states, thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother],¹⁵⁰ but they “set up” him and his fathers as kings over them against the law, as is mentioned in Tractate Sotah.¹⁵¹ Now all the hints such as these clearly indicate that the meaning of this matter is this our [present] exile, and the redemption [mentioned] in this second covenant, which will be a complete redemption, superior to all [preceding ones]. Thus He said, And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse etc.;¹⁵² and He promised, And He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers,¹⁵³, Verse 5. this being a promise to all the tribes of Israel, not [merely] to one-sixth¹⁵⁴ tribes of Israel. Hence the coming redemption will be more complete than all preceding ones. of the people; and there He promised [also] that He would cut down and destroy those who caused our exile, as it is said, And the Eternal thy G-d will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, that persecuted thee,¹⁵⁵, Verse 7. the expressions, thine enemies and those that hate thee alluding to the two nations¹⁵⁶ that continually persecute us. Now these words [And He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers¹⁵³, Verse 5.] assure us of the coming redemption with a more perfect assurance than all the visions of Daniel. Similarly, that which He stated here, and your enemies that shall dwell therein shall be desolate in it¹⁵⁷ constitutes a good tiding, proclaiming that during all our exiles, our Land will not accept our enemies. This also is a great proof and assurance to us, for in the whole inhabited part of the world one cannot find such a good and large Land¹⁵⁸ which was always lived in and yet is as ruined as it is [today],¹⁵⁹ for since the time that we left it, it has not accepted any nation or people, and they all try to settle it, but to no avail.¹⁶⁰ Now the first covenant mentioned in this section the Holy One, blessed be He, made, for His Great Name was indeed with us in the First Temple, and the second covenant in the section of V’hayah Ki Thavo¹⁶¹, 28:1-68. expressed by the mouth of Moses, alludes to the removal of his Divine Presence entirely, since in the Second Temple only the Glory of His Name was present, as it is said, and I will take pleasure in it [i.e., the Second Temple] ‘v’ikavdah’ (and I will be glorified).¹⁶² The additional letter hei¹⁶³ is in this instance actually written without the hei at the end. Ramban however is referring to the fact that according to the Masorah it is to be read as if it had the letter at the end. Hence his language: “the ‘additional’ hei” … alludes to the second hei in the Great Name [i.e., the Tetragrammaton — which refers to the Glory of His Name].¹⁶⁴ The Rabbis have also already interpreted this verse by means of another exposition,¹³⁶ [that the missing hei in the word v’ikavdah, whose numerical value is five], alludes to the five things which the Second Temple lacked etc.¹⁶⁵). For Urim and Thummim see Ramban on Exodus 28:30 (Vol. II, pp. 480-4).

footnotes: ⁹⁹ Verse 24. ⁹⁹ Verse 24. ¹⁰⁰ Verse 28. ¹⁰¹ Verse 32. ¹⁰² Verse 41. ¹⁰³ Sefer Habahir, 66. See Vol. I, p. 24, Note 42. ¹⁰⁴ Verses: 18, 24, 28. See my Hebrew commentary p. 187. ¹⁰⁵ Verse 21. ¹⁰⁶ In Verse 16 before us. ¹⁰⁰ Verse 28. ⁹⁹ Verse 24. ¹⁰⁷ Further, Verse 46. ¹⁰⁸ Deuteronomy 28:15. ¹⁰⁹ Ibid. ¹¹⁰ Ibid. ¹¹¹ Megillah 31 b. ¹¹² Verse 15. ¹¹² Verse 15. ¹¹³ Verse 30. ¹¹⁴ Verse 31. ¹¹⁵ Verse 25. ¹¹⁶ Verse 22. ¹¹⁵ Verse 25. ¹¹⁷ Verse 26. ¹¹⁸ Verse 33. ¹¹⁹ Verse 34. ¹²⁰ Verse 35. ¹²¹ See Rashi in Verse 35, who explains how the seventy years of the Babylonian exile correspond exactly to the seventy Sabbatical and Jubilee years that Israel failed to observe in the Land. ¹²² II Chronicles 36:21. ¹²³ Verse 42. ¹²³ Verse 42. ¹²⁴ See Ramban’s Sefer Hage’ulah (Kithvei Haramban, Vol. I, pp. 272-4) for a full discussion of this important matter — that in the return from Babylon there were small groups from the other tribes besides Judah and Benjamin, but the main bulk of them remained in their places, and hence the words of the prophets announcing their complete return, not having been fulfilled during the Second Temple, will yet assuredly come to transpire in the future. This is the deeper significance of Ramban’s expression here: “and some ¹²⁵ See Ezra 9:9. ¹²⁶ Verse 40. ¹²⁷ Daniel 9:5. ¹²⁸ Ibid. ¹²⁹ Ibid. ¹³⁰ Nehemiah 1:6-7. ¹³¹ Ibid. ¹³² Deuteronomy 28:1-69. ¹⁰⁸ Deuteronomy 28:15. ¹³³ I.e., they will “transgress” some of the negative commandments and “not keep and observe” the positive commandments. ¹³⁴ Yoma 9 b. ¹³⁵ Verse 31. ¹³⁶ Yoma 21 b. Thus, as it were, there never was a “pleasing odor” in the days of the Second Temple which could be removed at its destruction. ¹³⁷ Deuteronomy 28:49. ¹³⁸ Ibid. ¹³⁷ Deuteronomy 28:49. ¹³⁹ Therefore, the verse in Deuteronomy 28:49 [The Eternal will bring a nation … from the end of the earth … ¹⁴⁰ II Kings 18:26. ¹⁴¹ Deuteronomy 28:64. ¹⁴² Ibid. ¹⁴³ Reference is to the book of Josippon, Chapter 95. See Vol. I, p. 604, Note 249. ¹⁴⁴ Deuteronomy 28:32. ¹⁴⁵ Ibid. ¹⁴⁶ Ibid. ¹⁴⁷ Ibid. ¹⁴⁸ This was Agrippa II, a loyal servant of Rome. He was the last king of Judea. During the siege of Jerusalem he was with Titus, and following the fall of the city he took part in arranging the Roman triumphal celebrations in Caesarea! He was the opposite of his father King Agrippa I, who in his genuine attachment to the Jewish people and religion won the love of all classes of the people. ¹⁴⁹ Ramban here is referring to Josippon Chapter 65, where it is narrated that “King Agrippa went to Nero, emperor of Rome, and told him all these things [concerning the Jewish uprising against Rome], whereupon Nero sent against the Jews the Roman general etc.” This was the beginning of the war which culminated in the fall of Jerusalem. ¹⁵⁰ Deuteronomy 17:15. ¹⁵¹ Sotah 41 b. ¹⁵² Deuteronomy 30:1. ¹⁵³ Ibid. ¹⁵⁴ I.e., the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which constitute one-sixth of the twelve tribes. Ramban is thus stating that the redemption from the Babylonian exile was not a complete redemption, since the return consisted mainly of two tribes [with small groups of the other tribes, see above Note 124]. But the Divine promise stated in Deuteronomy 30:5 [as mentioned here in the text] refers to all ¹⁵⁵ Ibid. ¹⁵⁶ A reference to the two dominant religions in Ramban’s times — that of Edom and Ishmael — which persecuted the Jews [and still continue to do so] in countless ways. See my Hebrew commentary p. 190. ¹⁵³ Ibid. ¹⁵⁷ Further, Verse 32. ¹⁵⁸ Exodus 3:8. ¹⁵⁹ When these words were written — sometime after the middle of the thirteenth century — the Land of Israel had just experienced the Mongolian invasion (of 1259-60), which following upon the constant wars of the Crusaders, left the country in total ruin. ¹⁶⁰ A clear reference to the many nations that have tried — and failed — to cultivate the Land of Israel since the Jews were driven from it by the Romans. This indubitable historical fact is, as Ramban correctly points out, “a great proof” that the Land belongs to Israel. Witness also the miraculous response of the Land since the recent return of the Jews to its borders. ¹⁶¹ Deuteronomy 26:1. — The covenant referred to is ibid. ¹⁶² Haggai 1:8. ¹⁶³ The word v’ikavdah ¹⁶⁴ Abusaula. — Thus the verse establishes that in the Second Temple there was the Glory of His Name. Haggai was one of the prophets who lived at the time of the building of the Second Temple. ¹³⁶ Yoma 21 b. Thus, as it were, there never was a “pleasing odor” in the days of the Second Temple which could be removed at its destruction. ¹⁶⁵ “They are: the ark with the cover and the cherubim, the Divine fire on the altar, the Divine Presence, the Holy Spirit, and the Urim and Thummim” (ibid.

O’ (OR) THEN PERCHANCE THEIR UNCIRCUMCISED HEART BE HUMBLED. “[The word o here has the same meaning] as in ‘o’ (or) it is known that the ox was wont to gore.¹⁶⁶ Another interpretation is [that the word o means] ‘perhaps’ — perhaps then their uncircumcised heart will be humbled; and they then be paid the punishment of their iniquity, meaning that they will achieve atonement for their iniquities through their sufferings.” This is Rashi’s language. The correct interpretation appears to me to be that He is stating: “And I will bring them into the land of their enemies, o (either) until such time when their uncircumcised heart will be humbled, o (or) until the time when they will have been paid the punishment of their iniquity by the length of the exile.” Now it is after [the verse], and they shall confess their iniquity¹⁶⁷ that He should have said, Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob etc.,¹⁶⁸ for what reason is there [to state here, between these two verses] and I will bring them into the lands of their enemies, since this is not a time when He would exile them and bring them into the lands of their enemies [since they have just confessed their sins]! Therefore Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra interpreted [the verse to mean]: “This also I did with them, that I punished them by bringing them into the land of their enemies in order to humble their uncircumcised heart.” And He mentioned this here [in order to indicate] that they confessed their sin “because it was I Who brought this about, for even at the time that they became corrupted, My intent was that they should repent and confess.” In my opinion He hints here [by placing the verses in this order] that [even] after the confession [of their sins], He will walk contrary to them and will still bring them into the land of their enemies until their uncircumcised heart is humbled, this being an allusion that He will bring them back into the Land but it will not be subdued before them; rather, they will have adversaries and enemies there, as it is said, *And our adversaries said;*¹⁶⁹ And it came to pass when our enemies heard.¹⁷⁰, Verse 9. The Land [at that time, when they returned from Babylon], was in the hands of foreign peoples, just as Ezra said in his prayer: Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the Land that Thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold we are servants in it. And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom Thou hast set over us because of our sins; also they have power over us, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.¹⁷¹, 9:36-37.

footnotes: ¹⁶⁶ Exodus 21:36. ¹⁶⁷ Verse 40. ¹⁶⁸ Verse 42. ¹⁶⁹ Nehemiah 4:5. ¹⁷⁰ Ibid. ¹⁷¹ Ibid.

THEN WILL I REMEMBER MY COVENANT WITH JACOB. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that this [is a case where a word] draws along with itself another [similar] word, thus meaning: “Then will I remember My covenant, the covenant with Jacob.¹⁷² (My covenant) is grammatically equivalent to saying habrith sheli (the covenant of Mine). Now since a noun that is preceded by the definite article cannot be in the construct state, it follows that there is a word implied here, which makes it: eth brithi ‘brith’ Ya’akov (My covenant, the covenant of Jacob). A similar explanation applies to the following two verses which Ramban mentions. Similarly: *the prophecy of Oded the prophet;*¹⁷³ (and the prophecy — a prophecy of Oded the prophet). your heads of your tribes.¹⁷⁴ (your heads — heads of your tribes). And the Land I will remember. The meaning thereof is that I will remember the Land, and that it was paid its Sabbaths and lay forsaken without them, and I will remember that they have atoned for their iniquity.” It is possible according to the way of Truth, [the mystic doctrines of the Cabala], that He is saying: “And I will remember Jacob and Isaac and Abraham, who are the men of the covenant,” for all attributes are so called when they are in the covenant; “v’ha’aretz (and the earth),¹⁷⁵. which is composed of them all, I will remember among them.” Our Rabbis have so alluded. Thus they said:¹⁷⁶ “And why does He mention the merit of ha’aretz with them? Said Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: This is like the case of a master who had three daughters, and one maidservant who raised them. Whenever the master asked about the welfare of his daughters, he would say: ‘Ask on my behalf about the welfare of she who raises them.’”

footnotes: ¹⁷² The reason for this explanation is that the word brithi ¹⁷³ II Chronicles 15:8. Here too the meaning is: v’hanevuah ‘nevuath’ Oded hanavi’ ¹⁷⁴ Deuteronomy 29:9. The meaning here too is: rasheichem ‘rashei’ shivteichem ¹⁷⁵ See Ramban above, 25:2 (towards the end) about the meaning of the word ha’aretz ¹⁷⁶ Vayikra Rabbah 36:7.

And the Land shall lie forsaken without them.¹⁷⁷ This means that even after the remembring [of the covenant and the Land] it shall lie forsaken without them, hinting that even after the decree of Cyrus¹⁷⁸ [granting the Jews in Babylon permission to return and rebuild the Temple], the Land will still lie forsaken without them and her Sabbatical years, until nineteen years¹⁷⁹ after the Temple was rebuilt; and then they sanctified the city [of Jerusalem] with two thanks-offerings,¹⁸⁰ and the sanctity of the Land was restored,¹⁸¹. and they made the covenant,¹⁸² and declared [among other conditions] and that we would forego the Seventh year and the exaction of every debt.¹⁸³, Verse 32. I.e., they undertook to keep the Sabbatical laws with respect to cessation of agricultural work and cancellation of debts. All events that happened to them [at the beginning of their return to the Land after the Babylonian exile] are alluded to in this section.

footnotes: ¹⁷⁷ Verse 43. ¹⁷⁸ II Chronicles 36:22-23. ¹⁷⁹ See Rashi to Ezra 1:1. ¹⁸⁰ Nehemiah 12:40. See also Shevuoth 14 a. ¹⁸¹ See Note 131 in Seder Behar ¹⁸² Nehemiah 10:1. ¹⁸³ Ibid.

AND I WILL FOR THEIR SAKES REMEMBER THE COVENANT OF THEIR ANCESTORS. This means that I will remember it for their sakes whether in the Land or outside the Land, both in the [first] exile alluded to here and likewise throughout all generations. This is the sense of the expression in the sight of the nations [And I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors … in the sight of the nations], for He will do [good] to them because of His Great Name, so that it be not profaned among the nations, but not for their sake, since they have not repented, and [thus] their iniquities have not been forgiven. And so did our Rabbis say:¹⁸⁴ 8:10. “I will not reject them¹⁸⁵ in the days of Vespasian.¹⁸⁶ Neither will I abhor them¹⁸⁵ in the days of Greece.¹⁸⁷ [Neither will I abhor them] to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them¹⁸⁵ in the days of Haman. For I am the Eternal their G-d¹⁸⁵ in the days of Gog and Magog.”¹⁸⁸

footnotes: ¹⁸⁴ Torath Kohanim, Bechukothai ¹⁸⁵ Verse 44. ¹⁸⁶ The Roman emperor in whose days the Second Temple was destroyed. The destruction of the Temple is thus in no sense a rejection of Israel. The survival of Israel long after the downfall of the Romans who destroyed the Temple, as well as the growth of Torah throughout the generations, and Israel’s present return to the Land after an enforced absence of nearly 1900 years — these are sufficient proofs that He did not reject us in the days of Vespasian. ¹⁸⁵ Verse 44. ¹⁸⁷ A reference to the wars that took place during the Hellenistic period, when the Syrian Greeks who attempted to suppress the practice of Judaism were defeated by the Jews under the leadership of the Hasmoneans, and the Jews also regained their political independence. ¹⁸⁵ Verse 44. ¹⁸⁵ Verse 44. ¹⁸⁸ See Ezekiel Chapters 38-39. In the war of Gog and Magog G-d will finally overthrow the enemies of Israel who had assembled from all parts of the world against the Land of Israel. This victory will precede the reign of the Messiah.