And it shall be in the latter days. That is, now, because of you, “Zion shall be plowed like a field,” and this condition will continue until the end of days. Then, in the latter days, it will be rebuilt because we will walk in the name of Hashem our God and cast aside our evil deeds, as he concludes: “For all the peoples,” etc., “but we will walk in the name of Hashem.” Isaiah had already seen this prophecy (there, chapter 2), with slightly different wording, for no two prophets prophesy in precisely the same style. We have already explained it there in detail. He says that the mountain upon which the Temple will stand shall be firmly established at the head of the mountains and elevated still higher by the hills beneath it. Nevertheless, peoples will stream toward it like a river flowing toward a low place.

And they shall go. Many nations will go and say to one another: “You go, and we will ascend with you to the mountain of Hashem; and from the mountain we will proceed to the Temple. He will teach us of His great ways, and we will then walk on our own in His particular paths.” That is, after He shows us the fundamental principles and foundations of the true religion, we will endeavor to understand its branches and details as well. For out of Zion, where the Sanhedrin and the teachers of religion will sit, the Torah shall go forth to the entire world; and the word of Hashem, meaning the word of prophecy, shall go forth from Jerusalem, for prophets will be found throughout the city.

And he shall judge. The judge who will be there—the Messiah—will judge among many peoples. This means that the causes for which nation fights against nation and kingdom against kingdom will then cease. Sometimes war arises from differences in religion and belief; at that time, however, a universal Torah will go forth from Zion for them all. Sometimes war arises from disputes between one people and another, in which case the sword decides their quarrels; at that time, the Messiah will judge among many peoples. And sometimes rebellion arises within a country itself; concerning this he says that the Messiah will rebuke the nations and restore them to upright conduct through his reproof. Consequently, they shall beat their swords into plowshares, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and they shall no longer study the strategies of warfare at all.

And they shall dwell. Neither will strife and contention arise from a lack of food or from poverty, which causes people to turn to raiding and plunder, for every man shall sit beneath his own vine. And none shall make them afraid—shield, sword, and war will exist no more, forever.

For. He explains how Israel will merit all this glory in the latter days: Throughout the long period of exile, although all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god, nevertheless we will walk in the name of Hashem our God and will not forget the name of our God, although for His sake we are killed all day long. This will continue forever—that is, for a very long time—and therefore, in the latter days, the Torah will go forth from Zion to the entire world.

On that day, says Hashem, I will gather her who limps. I have already explained, regarding the verse “He shall gather the outcasts of Israel and assemble the dispersed of Judah” (Isaiah 11:12), that Israel—the ten tribes—was not widely scattered among the nations. Rather, they were driven from their place, cast into a distant land, and their location was lost. They therefore require gathering from the outside inward; concerning them He says, “I will gather her who limps.” The tribe of Judah, however, was scattered to the four corners of the heavens and therefore requires assembling; concerning it He says, “I will assemble her who was driven away.” The tribe of Judah suffers many evils and afflictions in the lands of its dispersion, unlike the ten tribes. Concerning Judah He says, And her whom I have afflicted—meaning the tribe of Judah, whom I afflicted, whether during the Second Temple period through the Greeks and afterward through the Romans, or throughout the duration of their exile.

And I will make her who limps into a remnant. The ten tribes, whom He calls “her who limps,” were lost from the community of Israel and appear no longer to exist at all, or not to have remained faithful to their religion but to have become like all the nations. I will make them a remnant of Israel, and they will be revealed.

And her who was cast far away. This refers to the tribe of Judah, which remained the remnant of Israel but was driven farther and farther away, from nation to nation and from place to place. They became exceedingly weak and diminished through killings and upheavals, but I will make them into a mighty nation. And Hashem shall reign over them: 1] They will be under Hashem’s kingship and Providence. 2] His reign will be on Mount Zion. 3] It will endure from now and forever—from the time of redemption for all eternity, for they will never again be exiled.

(Not an exact translation)

Now. After revealing what will occur in the latter days, he returns to the intervening period, concerning which he said, “Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field.” In his prophecy, he sees what would occur in the days of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, culminating in the exile to Babylonia. He says, Now—meaning before the latter days—why do you cry aloud? Why do you raise the sound of a cry of destruction? Is there no king within you? Has your counselor perished? Surely, you still have a king and counselors. Why, then, have pangs seized you like a woman in labor? When a woman is ready for her womb to open and the child within her to emerge, labor pains and contractions seize her. This symbolizes her readiness for the gates of her city to be opened, for its inhabitants to go into exile, and for much blood to be shed within it. That is, how can you be ready to be conquered and led into exile while you still have a king and counselors? Why do you not gird yourselves with strength?

Writhe. He answers: Indeed, you shall writhe; you shall also lie upon your belly and labor to bring forth the child, like a woman in childbirth. For now you shall go forth from the city—just as the child emerges from the womb, so shall you go forth from the city. And you shall dwell in the field, for many will settle in the open country, like those who went to live in Egypt and among the other nations surrounding the Land of Israel. And you shall come as far as Babylon—this refers to those who were exiled to Babylon. There you shall be delivered from the hand of your enemies, for those who dwelt in the field were afterward killed by the Chaldeans, as explained in Jeremiah; only the Babylonian exiles were spared. Likewise, there Hashem shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies, for the Babylonian exiles were redeemed and returned to the Land of Israel in the days of Cyrus.

And now. He again turns back and sees in his prophecy what will occur after their redemption in the days of Cyrus. After they returned during the Second Temple period, many nations assembled against you—referring to the many different nations that subsequently gathered against Israel in generation after generation, such as the Greeks, followed by the Romans, and afterward throughout the long duration of the exile, until the final gathering against them in the days of Gog and Magog. His words encompass all of this, for he sees many nations repeatedly assembling against Israel after their redemption in the days of Cyrus.

Who say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.” This means that these gatherings will take two forms. At times, they will want Zion to flatter them—that is, to be humbled and subjected to them, like a servant who flatters his master. This occurred in the days of the Greeks and Romans, who wanted Israel to be subject to them and pay tribute. At other times, they will say, “Let our eyes gaze upon Zion.” That is, they will believe that the visions the prophets saw concerning Zion were spoken about them—that they have taken Israel’s place, that Hashem will dwell among them, and that the seers’ visions concerned them. The Ishmaelites think this, and for this reason they will assemble an army against Jerusalem to conquer it, as is known, and others will do likewise. For the same reason, the armies of Gog and Magog will gather to conquer Jerusalem and behold there the visions seen by the seers, which, in their opinion, were prophesied about them.

But they do not know the thoughts of Hashem. Hashem’s counsel is the intended purpose of His action, whereas His thoughts are the means He employs to prepare for that counsel, which is the ultimate purpose. The prophet explains that every gathering of the nations against Zion forms part of Hashem’s thoughts—that is, these gatherings serve as means through which His counsel, His intended purpose, will be accomplished. All their gatherings will be preparations and means leading to the gathering in the latter days, which itself will be a preparation through which He will accomplish His counsel. There He will judge them for their deeds, and there they will recognize the true religion. Through the signs and wonders they witness at that time, the survivors will return to the true faith, while the wicked will perish like chaff swept from the threshing floor. Thus he says, They do not know the thoughts of Hashem, nor do they understand His counsel—that all these things are means through which His counsel will be accomplished, namely, that He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. Just as sheaves are gathered to the threshing floor to be threshed, so that the chaff and husk may be removed and the pure grain left behind, so will He thresh them in the war of Gog and Magog. He will remove the chaff—the wicked who acted evilly against the holy—and refine the grain, from among whom righteous converts and those who recognize the true religion will emerge.

Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion. He depicts the time of the war of Gog and Magog, when He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor in order to separate the chaff from the grain. He commands the daughter of Zion to arise and thresh like a threshing heifer, for I will make your horn iron, enabling you to fight with your horn and gore the multitude of Gog, and I will make your hooves bronze, for the work of threshing and separating the grain from the chaff. And you shall crush many peoples, removing the husk—that is, destroying the wicked—until only pure flour remains. And I will consecrate their ill-gotten gain to Hashem: the profit and plunder they took from Israel will become devoted property, sacred to Hashem, for Israel is holy to Hashem, and their property is therefore like consecrated property. And their wealth—even their own wealth, which was not gained by plundering Israel and is therefore not devoted property—will nevertheless belong to Hashem, because He is the Master of all the earth, and everything belongs to Him.

Now. He explains who the nations are that will assemble against Jerusalem at that time and whom Israel will thresh. He says that the host that will come against Jerusalem in the latter days will consist of the descendants of the nations that besieged and destroyed Jerusalem in ancient times, such as the descendants of Assyria, Babylonia, and Rome. Thus he says, Now gather yourself in troops: the troop that will assemble at the time of the war of Gog will be the daughter of the troop that laid siege against us in ancient times. Those descended from the host that besieged us in former days will now assemble in the army of Gog and Magog. Likewise, they will be the descendants of the host that struck the judge of Israel upon the cheek with a rod, whose ancestors struck Israel’s judges upon the cheek with a rod. (A blow upon the cheek is an act of humiliation, as is a blow with a rod; how much more so when one is struck upon the cheek with a rod. They did this to the judge of Israel, and certainly to the common people.) The descendants of that host will gather against Jerusalem and receive their retribution in the latter days.