For three transgressions of Moab. Abarbanel explains that he began his prophecy with Damascus, who fought against Gilead with fierce cruelty, and afterward with Gaza and Tyre, who aided Edom, and afterward with Edom itself, who harmed Israel. After this, he prophesied that He would punish the nations that had been the cause of all this. The children of Ammon were the cause of the evil committed by Damascus, for they were the first to wage war against Gilead and seize its territory, and thereby Damascus was emboldened to follow after them to destroy and annihilate. And the cause of the evil committed by the children of Edom, whom Philistia and Tyre followed, was that they burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. For Edom had been in a covenant with Israel, and in the days of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, Edom went with them to fight against Moab. At that time, the king of Moab captured the firstborn son of the king of Edom, who was destined to reign after him (and therefore he is called here the king of Edom), offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall, and burned him into lime. There it is written, "And there was great wrath against Israel," meaning that Edom then became enraged against Israel for not saving him from the hand of the king of Moab. From that time onward, Edom began to wage war against Israel, as it is written (II Kings 8:16) that in the days of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat (who became king in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab), Edom rebelled from under the rule of Judah. From then onward, Edom began to harm Israel and maintained an everlasting enmity against them. Moab was the cause of this and was therefore punished. Concerning this it says (Jeremiah 48:35), in the prophecy of Moab's downfall, "And I will put an end in Moab to him who offers upon the high place and burns incense to his god," this being measure for measure.

And I will send, and it shall consume the palaces of Kerioth, the fortified cities of Moab, and Moab shall die amid tumult, meaning that he will not fight at all, but merely upon hearing the sound of the tumult and the battle cry, he will die from overwhelming fear. He adds that he will die upon hearing the sound of the shofar, and will not muster the strength to fight at all, as it is written (Jeremiah 48:39), "How Moab has turned his back in shame! And Moab shall become a laughingstock and a terror to all those around him."

(4–5) Thus says Hashem. Although I have punished all the nations that harmed Israel, I will also punish Judah. For three transgressions of Judah, namely idolatry, sexual immorality, and bloodshed, which were among them, and for four, etc., because they rejected the Torah of Hashem, and as a result, they did not keep His statutes. Their failure to keep His statutes was not because of the evil inclination or desire, but rather because of their denial and their rejection of the Torah. The cause of this was that their falsehoods led them astray, namely the false beliefs that they held concerning matters of faith. Although these beliefs were falsehoods, they held fast to them because their fathers had followed after them, and they became established among them as an inherited possession passed down from fathers to sons. Therefore, they too will receive their punishment: And I will send a fire upon Jerusalem.

Thus says Hashem: For three transgressions of Israel, namely the Ten Tribes, who sinned through idolatry, sexual immorality, and bloodshed, and for four. The fourth sin was an addition to each of the three transgressions, for in each one they increased the sin in both its severity and its extent and combined other sins with it. Thus, regarding the sin of bloodshed, they added that they sold the righteous for silver, for because of money they had received, they sold the righteous man in his judgment to be put to death—whether the judges through bribery or false witnesses who testified that he had committed a capital offense because they had taken money. And not even for a large amount of money, for they also sold the poor to be put to death for a pair of shoes; for a pair of shoes they gave false testimony against him, and the judges sentenced him to death in return for the bribe of a pair of shoes.

Who pant. And who hired the false witnesses and gave the bribe? This was done by those who pant and lust after the dust of the earth, to take the dust of the poor man's land, meaning the small plot of land that he possesses. And this they take upon the heads of the poor, together with the heads of the poor themselves, for by cutting off his head and killing him, they will take the dust of his land. Therefore, they hire false witnesses and corrupt judges against him, and thereby they turn aside the way of the humble, perverting their way in order to sentence them to death and murder them, for bloodshed is a trivial matter in their eyes. And regarding sexual immorality, a man and his father go to the betrothed maiden, which demonstrates the extreme extent of the breach and their lack of shame before their parents in this, in order to profane My holy name.

And upon. And regarding idolatry, upon garments taken in pledge they recline beside every altar. They take the garments of the poor as pledges and dedicate them to the altar of Baal, spreading them beside the altar and reclining upon them while eating from the sacrifices offered to their idols. Likewise, the wine that they drink in the house of idolatry in honor of the idols (as it is written, "Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations") is the wine of those who have been fined, for they take money from righteous people whom they have punished with monetary fines and use it to drink wine for idolatry. Thus, the sin of idolatry is combined with the sins of robbery, plundering the poor, and the groaning of the destitute.

And I. Behold, in His goodness, Hashem made preparations so that they would not defile themselves with these abominations, namely idolatry and sexual immorality, and there were two such preparations. First, He destroyed the Amorite before them, so that Israel would not learn from them to commit such abominations, as it is written at the beginning of the section concerning forbidden sexual relations, "Like the practice of the land of Egypt, etc.," and "Like the practice of the land of Canaan you shall not do." And the Sifra explains (sec. 131) that the Egyptians, and especially the place where Israel had lived among them, as well as the Amorites, and especially the places that Israel conquered, were corrupt in all these abominations. Therefore, He brought them out of Egypt and destroyed the Amorites so that Israel would not learn from their deeds. And as it is written in the Torat Kohanim, He arranged that the guilty generation would be there when Israel came, so that Israel might exact punishment from them, as I explained there. If so, how can you now make yourselves abominable through those very abominations on account of which I destroyed the Amorite? And do not say that the Amorite was destroyed through natural means and through conquest because Israel was stronger than they were. This was not so, for his height was like the height of cedars in kingship and dominion, and he was strong as the oaks in strength and might. The height also signifies their heavenly prince, for their celestial order and fortune were exalted and prosperous at that time; and he himself was strong and mighty, possessing fortified strongholds and valiant warriors. The destruction itself was also beyond the course of nature, for I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath, so that both the fruit and the roots were wiped out, and every remembrance of them was lost.

And I. And for this purpose as well, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you through the wilderness for forty years, because there remained in their hearts corrupt thoughts that they had learned from the Egyptians, and He could not bring them immediately to inherit the land of the Amorite, for He feared that they might return to committing the abominations of Egypt, as it is written, "For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and you saw their abominations, etc." Therefore, He caused them to wander for forty years in the wilderness, until the previous generation died in the wilderness and the new generation witnessed the deeds of Hashem and His Providence and was refined and purified in the wilderness (as I explained in Artzot HaShalom, Discourse 2, on the verse "These are the journeys of the children of Israel"). If so, I surely made preparations so that you would not defile yourselves through idolatry, sexual immorality, and the abominations of Egypt and Canaan.

And I raised up. I made a second preparation for this purpose: in order to prevent you from being drawn after idolatry, I raised up prophets from among your sons, for the prophet was attached to the spirit of Hashem without any intermediary, and by seeing prophecy dwelling among them, they knew that Hashem watched over them without an intermediary. Thus, they had no need to consult the dead or the sun images in order to learn the future from them, as it is written, "There shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter pass through fire, one who practices divination, etc.; for these nations whom you are dispossessing listen to soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, Hashem your God has not permitted you to do so. A prophet from among you, from your brethren, etc." And in order to separate them from sexual immorality, I raised up Nazirites from among your young men, for the purpose of Nazirite abstinence is to separate oneself from sexual immorality, as it is said: Why is the passage concerning the suspected adulteress placed next to the passage concerning the Nazirite? Because whoever sees a suspected adulteress in her disgrace should abstain from wine. Is this not even so, O children of Israel? That is, not only did you fail to keep My commandments and sin through idolatry and sexual immorality, but will you even nullify the very preparations intended to protect you from these sins? To the point that even this is no longer among you—neither prophets nor Nazirites, through whom faith in Hashem and abstention from sexual immorality would spread throughout the nation—for:

And you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, so that there would be no one to teach the path of abstinence, and you commanded the prophets, saying, "Do not prophesy," so that the spirit of My holiness would not be found in Israel, nor anyone who sought the true faith and warned against idolatry. Therefore:

Behold, I will press you down in your place. Just as a wagon that is full of sheaves is fitted with a surrounding frame so that the sheaves will not fall out, and the sheaves are pressed together and confined within the wagon by that frame so that they cannot fall out, so I will surround you, and you will not be able to leave your place to escape the sword of the enemy.

And escape shall perish. You will be able neither to flee, for escape shall perish from the swift, nor to stand in battle against the enemy, for even one who is naturally strong shall not strengthen his power; his strength will not remain firm, for weakness of strength and faintness of heart will overcome him, and he will be unable to fight. And as for the mighty man, not only will he be unable to fight and defeat the enemy, but his might will not even avail him to save his life, at least, and rescue himself from death by escaping through his might.

And he who grasps the bow. Although at times the archers will stand against the enemy and hold him back for a short while, so that in the meantime the swift-footed man can flee, now he who grasps the bow shall not stand at all, but will immediately flee, and consequently the swift of foot shall not escape. That is, the one who grasps the bow will not, by standing against the enemy, enable the swift-footed man to escape by giving him time to flee, for he will not stand at all. And even the rider of the horse shall not save his life, although escape is easier for them.

And the stout-hearted among the mighty. Even if there should be found among the mighty one whose heart is more courageous than all the others, his courage will avail him only in that he shall flee naked on that day and save his life by fleeing, not by fighting, nor will he save his possessions or his clothing.