The flood of commentaries and multitude of explanations, streaming, surging, and passing from age to age through the rivers of the Prophets and the brooks of the Writings—the abundance of explanations and translations issuing, emerging, and springing up daily in our generation upon the mountains of Scripture, its lofty fields, like waves over the furrows of the land—bear witness that souls yearning to understand Scripture and uncover its mysteries have found no satisfaction in the waters of the well that princes dug, that the nobles of old excavated with their scepters and their staffs. Therefore, they search for and dig other wells, seeking water. This is the sign and proof that this generation—a generation wise in its own eyes, examining the root of every matter and probing the utmost limit of everything—has not found enough to satisfy it, nor can its spirit rest content with the commentaries produced by the generation of its fathers. Thus, the search has greatly increased and inquiry has grown exceedingly intense, seeking to uncover the mysteries of the Holy Scriptures and solve their riddles; and therefore, commentators spring up in city after city like the grass of the earth.

Indeed, the hearts of the early sages were open as wide as the entrance to the Temple’s great hall. They knew the wisdom of the language, comprehended its ways, understood its paths, and attained knowledge of holy things and understanding.

Yet because they were the pioneers in this work, and the land before them was a wilderness, a land unsown, they applied themselves with immense diligence and labored greatly: digging in the valleys, hoeing the mountains, and breaking up the soil of Scripture, explaining difficult words and unraveling the meaning of its statements, opening their locks with the key of the plain, literal sense, so that they would no longer remain sealed riddles, like a fierce people whose obscure speech cannot be understood. Thus, from the time Rashi, of blessed memory, sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold, and Hashem blessed him and it yielded a harvest, until Kimḥi came and ground fine flour in the mill and baked unleavened cakes, the commentators’ entire occupation and the fruit of their toil consisted solely in establishing the rudiments of understanding—the meanings of words and their grammar. In these endeavors, they did not turn to bringing forth the offspring of sublime ideas, which soar with mighty strength above the heights of Divine expression, towering above their counterparts born upon the knees of the human spirit and human understanding as the heavens tower above the earth.

Therefore, every reader and student who applies heart and mind to understanding Scripture will recognize that not only do many expressions, entire passages, and even whole prophecies still remain veiled, their intended meaning shrouded, while even the explanation of their statements and the meaning of their words remain tightly sealed and covered in darkness; even those prophecies that appear at first glance to have been explained and interpreted have not truly been clarified or made plain. We realize this when we consider that these masters of expression, these princes of holiness, spoke with understanding through the spirit of Hashem; when we remember that it was no human spirit, but a Divine spirit, a mighty and holy spirit, that spoke through them, with His word upon their tongues—a sublime spirit, exceedingly majestic, far above the human spirit. Even the human spirit rises aloft in the soaring flight of feeling to the heights of eloquence, and, in the soul’s exaltation, flies upon the wings of poetry through the potent force of imagination and the stirring of human emotion. If even then the soul gathers strength and rises in its power to speak sublime things, how much more when it is filled with power, with the spirit of Hashem, with justice and might, when Hashem bestows His spirit upon it, and through the power of the God of gods it speaks wonders and utters words from the Most High! “How, then,” every thoughtful reader will ask, “can the dishes the commentators have prepared for us please our palate, when they season the delicacies of the seers and the eloquence of men of the spirit with the insipid juice of purslane? How can we behold the daughters of man—their songs—perfect in beauty, their expressions dripping with grace and pleasant words, a golden necklace about their throats, while the daughters of the Most High walk in gloom, their garments torn, their expressions feeble, their speech obscure, their language halting and devoid of understanding? How can our souls accept the instruction of their interpretations if, according to them, the expressions of Scripture appear so impoverished and exceedingly ill-favored—withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind—and even the good, full ears of grain are swallowed by the thin and poor ones?” Such are the questions thoughtful readers ask, and such is their bewilderment.

Yet this is not what I would discuss with you now. I have not called you here to seek your favor and ask you to incline your ear to hear my remarks on the commentaries upon those books of Holy Scripture composed in poetry and elevated language—to acquaint you with the shortcomings of those commentaries, or to tell you how I have prepared the highway, cleared it of stones, and established a new path, which shall be called the Way of Holiness. This is neither the time nor the place to discuss these matters. Bear with me a little, for the vision awaits its appointed time, and there are yet words to be spoken on God’s behalf in the introductions to those books, each in its proper place and season. For now, I have come only to awaken your ear to listen as a learner, and to explain what moved me to sow and plant in this plot, the first to bear ripe fruit: the Former Prophets, whose contents take the form of narrative and account, expressed in plain statements. Perhaps you might imagine that nothing can be added here to the words of the commentators, since the matters are simple and readily understood by any student with discernment—what new word could possibly be heard concerning them? Therefore, I shall place in your hand a plumb line, a balance, and just scales, so that you may weigh matters in the scales of your understanding and see that these passages, too, follow winding paths: you will not know their hidden and sealed intent until you find in my words a lamp for your feet, and in my commentary a light for your path.

Even if you compare these historical narratives with secular histories written in every generation by learned men versed in the events of their times, recording the fortunes of nation after nation from ancient days, the reader will already find that, according to the commentators’ interpretations, these sacred books appear inferior to the works of skilled writers who wield the pen of a ready scribe in such matters, standing far below them in every particular. For anyone writing a historical record must fulfill the following conditions for the work’s excellence and beauty: 1] The writer must keep a definite purpose before his eyes, a goal according to which he arranges his narrative. He may connect the events and occurrences he records through the relationship of causes and effects, taking care to place before each effect the causes that brought it about. Or he may portray the course of events as they advance or recede, linking time, place, and circumstances within the chain of history, together with the many peoples and nations, regions and countries, and the transformations they underwent amid the turn of events. Or he may aim to portray the moral or political condition of nations through the events arising from that condition, whether bringing kindness or chastisement. The writer must observe an inviolable rule: every detail included in his narrative must accord with the purpose toward which he directs his attention. 2] He must preserve the proper order, neither placing what is later in time or causation before what is earlier, nor postponing what should come first; all the more must he avoid confusion and disorder. 3] He must weigh his words in just scales, neither giving the reader too little explanation nor multiplying words without purpose. 4] He must choose discerning language, clear and pure, and words pleasing and agreeable to the listening ear. Yet when we examine these sacred books, as interpreted by the commentators, by this standard, we find: 1] The purpose toward which their authors directed their narratives is clear and evident: to show how Hashem’s constant Providence accompanied the people close to Him throughout these generations; how they rose or fell, prospered or declined, according to their good or evil deeds; and how all their affairs were governed in a wondrous, miraculous, Divine manner—besides the lessons in morality and conduct, Torah and faith, woven into the narratives. Nevertheless, throughout these accounts we find many matters that miss this purpose, intermingled with numerous stories whose inclusion serves no apparent end, whether for morality or conduct, Torah or faith. 2] Much of the material appears jumbled and unordered, placing later events first and earlier events afterward. At times the narrative leaps from one subject to another, introducing in the middle matters wholly unrelated to the subject at hand, or taking up an event preceding the one under discussion, continually turning back and forth. 3] It repeats words and matters unnecessarily, offering many words and little substance. 4] It employs strange expressions and poorly chosen language; sometimes it takes up a subject and abandons it, beginning without completing it. You will find many such perplexities in every section if you read the questions I have set out concerning each subject. Through the window of these questions you will look upon the scene, and your heart will understand that deep waters—hidden counsel—lie in the depths of these narratives, and a man of understanding can draw them out. You will draw living water, pure, cool, and flowing, from the wellspring of explanation I have dug; you will give their fill to all the trees of Hashem, the cedars of God in Eden, the garden of God. You will water the wilderness, the parched land, and the desert plain, and it will blossom like the lily. You will refresh your weary soul, and it will be like a watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail, and you will be filled with Hashem’s blessing. Your soul will bless me too, for after bringing every hidden matter under scrutiny, my commentary stands fully ordered and secure. In it I have made the crooked straight and the rugged places a plain: there is no repetition, no omission, no confusion, and no disorder. For all these passages are filled with wisdom and abundant understanding, and the words themselves testify that they are the words of the living God, spoken through the spirit of God by men of the spirit; and the tablets are the work of God.

I have arranged my commentary with utmost brevity and in simple language, so that every reader may move readily through it and grasp its meaning correctly, provided he reads attentively and does not rush. I also turned to the commentators who interpreted Scripture after Kimḥi—those mighty men of old, men of renown—but found none who strove to breathe life into the verses through their plain meaning except the distinguished Rabbi Isaac Abravanel and the circle of his contemporaries. I drew pearls from the depths of their words wherever their explanations commended themselves to me, and gathered them into my work under their names. The other commentators turned to homiletical interpretation, with which we are not presently concerned, while the commentators of the latest generation offer nothing new; some have been carried away by the east wind and feed upon wind.

As I bring my words to a close, I spread my hands to Hashem: Send Your help from on high, and sustain me from Your sanctuary. Guide me in Your truth, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Let Your face shine upon Your servant, and graciously grant me Your Torah. Even unto old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim Your might to this generation and Your holy words to all who are to come. And I shall praise Your name for Your kindness and Your truth.

Signed on the 26th of Tammuz, 5626, in Luntschitz, Meir Leibush Malbim.