Job · Chapter 12

Explanation of the words of this response — 'Then Job answered and said.'

Introduction to the Seventh Response: Job's Response Job pours great scorn (Ezekiel 23:32) on Zophar's approach, which held that our knowledge comes only through the senses — which grasp only the external side of things, as they act upon our senses, and cannot know the true reality of things as they are in themselves. On this basis it is conceivable that although a person appears righteous by what the senses perceive, he may in truth be wicked, deserving of ruin and punishment on account of his inner, spiritual essence. At this Job scoffs at length: Is there a greater absurdity than telling a person who appears righteous in all his deeds and free of the slightest blemish, that he does not know his own soul and his true inner state — so that, for all he knows, he might be wicked, a sinner, ‘ready for those whose foot slips’ (Job 12:5)? Could Hashem really have created man in so evil and bitter a way (Jeremiah 2:19), for mockery and scorn (Ezekiel 23:32), that his calm, confident thoughts (Amos 6:1) about his own righteousness become, within him, like a burning torch (Isaiah 62:1), heaping coals (Proverbs 25:22) and disgrace on his head — since, not knowing his own soul (Proverbs 14:9) and unable to trust his own life (Job 24:22), he may perhaps be a guilty offender without even knowing it! (Job 12:3-4) Likewise, regarding the core of Zophar's theory — that a person has no clear grasp or knowledge of the true nature of things, and that reality might be the very opposite of what he perceives in his own mind — Job builds up a siege-wall and rampart (Ezekiel 4:2) and proves that the knowledge a person gains through examination and experience by means of the senses is clear and true knowledge. For everything a person perceives through his senses and investigations has likewise been perceived by the whole multitude of mankind in every generation; and he hears with his own ears (Job 28:22), through the unbroken chain of tradition, that all of mankind's perceptions and knowledge match his own. From this it is clear that his knowledge is plain and true, and that the true nature of things is indeed as he has perceived it — for it is impossible that a deceptive illusion should mislead the entire human race (Job 12:11-12; 13:1-2). He also pours scorn on the very foundation of Zophar's theory — that it is conceivable for Hashem to have a fixed, determinate knowledge of the future particulars of free choice, and yet contingency still remains, with choice still resting in man's hand, because the word ‘knowledge’ as applied to Hashem and to us is used only equivocally — the same word for two essentially different things — and His knowledge is not of the same kind as ours. (For He grasps the essence of things through a simple knowledge that does not depend on the conditions of time, place, or any of the other conditions of sense-perception, while we cannot even conceive of such a knowledge, just as a blind man cannot conceive of the objects of sight — and the difference between His knowledge and ours is like the difference between human perception and the perception of a beast or a wild ass's colt) (Job 11:12). In this, Job's own view is like that of Ralbag in his Wars of the Lord (Discourse 3, Chapter 3), who at length answers the arguments of the Guide [Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed]. Ralbag holds that Hashem's knowledge and our knowledge share the same term by priority and posteriority — meaning that the term ‘knowledge’ applies to Hashem first, since His knowledge is His by virtue of His own essence, and to anyone else only afterward, since the knowledge of anyone else is caused by His. On this view there is no essential difference between His knowledge and ours, except that Hashem's knowledge is more perfect than ours — what is called ‘knowledge’ by Him would be called by us ‘thought,’ ‘error,’ or ‘confusion.’ On this basis, all the proofs Job had brought in Chapter 10 stand restored: that one cannot say Hashem knows all the particulars of free choice while contingency and free choice still remain in man's hand, since by our understanding these are contradictory. From here Job returns to the necessity he had argued for — that man is compelled in his actions and can do nothing but what Hashem already knew, by His eternal foreknowledge, that he would be bound to do according to his fate — so that he is like the rest of the animals, which have no free choice, but act only by instinct and compulsion (Job 12:7-13). Hashem governs and compels the discretionary acts of human beings just as He compels every natural phenomenon: just as water sometimes floods the land and sometimes lays it waste and dries it up, and all this happens by nature and necessity — so too are the actions of one man toward another (Job 12:14-16). He brings further proof that man is compelled in his actions from the way collectives — nations and peoples — are governed: their sages and leaders are at times led astray and act so foolishly in leading them that the people wander in confusion and perish. From this it appears that some other, higher power frustrates their counsel and confounds their thinking, as he explains at length (Job 12:17-25). On this basis Job cries out bitterly (Genesis 27:34): since he is compelled in his actions, he receives no reward for his righteousness, and he is handed over to the chance events and misfortunes decreed for him by his horoscope. Should not Hashem rather leave him free in his actions, so that he might receive his reward like a hired laborer who works faithfully, and not toil in vain and in dismay (Isaiah 65:23)? (Job 14:5) All the more so, since man's days are few and evil (Genesis 47:9), and by the very nature of his birth he is prone to impurity and corrupt deeds, and must wage the battle against his inclination, he ought, at the very least, to be free in his actions, until, like a hired laborer, he completes his day (Job 14:6). (Job 14:1-5) As for Zophar's assumption that true success and reward come only after death — when a person has the hope of living a spiritual life of everlasting bliss (Psalms 16:11) — Job mocks his words at length (in keeping with Job's own view, which denies the resurrection of the soul and spiritual reward) (Job 14:7-22). Yet alongside his refutation of Zophar's position, Job also voices his bitterness throughout all of Chapter 13 against his three companions who built their case against him — for none of them speak as they truly feel; they themselves know there is no substance to their words, and have come only with contentious arguments, speaking like flatterers, uttering perversity and deceit in God's defense (Job 13:7) — words that are themselves far removed from what is truly in their hearts. He asks them once again to tell him what he has sinned and how many his sins are — with all this rounding out the first cycle of their debate over the question of the righteous who suffer — Job now opens a second round of debate, on a question they have not yet discussed: why do the wicked prosper? As he says, ‘the tents of robbers are at peace’ (Job 12:6). The answer to this question cannot come from any of the theories proposed so far, for the wickedness of a wicked person is plain and evident to all, and one cannot claim that he is secretly righteous, when we see him plundering, provoking God (Job 12:6), and doing evil deeds out of sheer spite — and yet his household is at peace, undisturbed by fear, with no rod of God upon it (Job 21:9). From here they begin to debate anew the question of the wicked who prosper, each one answering according to his own view and approach:

wisdom shall perish When you die, all wisdom shall perish with you because all wisdom is in you, but I too have intelligence like you.

'No doubt but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you' — [wisdom will die] along with you, because of your foolishness, in the sense of the phrase 'their wisdom has gone rotten.'

"No doubt" — it is true that you are many, and compared to me you count as a whole people, for I am left alone with no one to support me. But is it because you are many, compared to me, that wisdom will die with you? Meaning: is all wisdom in you alone, so that if you die, it too will die and no longer remain in the world?

Indeed — in contrast to what he [Zophar] had said, 'Is a multitude of words unanswerable?' (Job 11:2) — he replies: 'No doubt but you are the people,' meaning: you are the many, [gathered] to answer words against the lone individual; 'and wisdom shall die with you' — you who are wise in your own eyes, as though when you die, wisdom itself will die, since it has no redeemer besides you. He also meant, by this, to jab at them with a double-edged turn of phrase: as if wisdom — which is [in truth] alive and richly active — dies once it is with them, since in their hands it is like a dead thing, with no life in it — for in Zophar's view, wisdom cannot grasp the truth of things, and has in it no spirit of knowledge or understanding at all.

and with whom are there none comparable to these? (Who is it who does not know like these) that the Holy One, blessed be He, has power to perform His will and to allow the tranquility of the wicked to last? You are only mocking me, and I am...

'Indeed, who knows not such things as these' — who does not know all these things?

"But I have understanding" — it is not so; for I too have an understanding heart just as you do, and I am not lower in rank, inferior or lesser than you. "Indeed, who knows not" — and with which of men is there not an understanding heart, such as these companions have? Is there truly such great wisdom in you as cannot be found in other people?

'not inferior' — not lesser or worse; so too, 'fallen among the uncircumcised' (Ezekiel 32:27).

'But' — despite all this, 'I too have understanding as well as you'; in insight and knowledge I am not beneath you — I have not fallen from my own standing because of you, the way a person falls in his own estimation when he sees others greater than him in wisdom and knowledge. 'Indeed' — he adds that not only am I as wise as you, but 'who knows not such things as these?' — is it not that even the greatest fool among fools could answer with such foolish words as these?

a laughingstock to his friend He calls to the Holy One, blessed be He, and He answers him concerning the pain of their provocation. Now what does He answer him? To give the righteous laughter. completely Heb. תָּמִים, perfectly. that the completely righteous will have laughter That is the answer that He will reply with, and I know that it is as you said (8:21), (“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,”) for...

'I am as one who is a laughing-stock to his neighbor' — I have become like a man who is a laughingstock to his friend; and the wonder of it is that this very man who has become a laughingstock is one who calls upon God — and He answers him.

'A laughing-stock' — meaning: mockery, derision.

"A laughing-stock to his neighbor" — because Zophar has heaped so much scorn on him, Job says: behold, I have become an object of laughter and mockery to his mind. For because of the greatness of Zophar's own success, by which he attains everything he desires — as though whenever he calls out to ask something of God, He answers him and grants his request to fulfill it — his heart has grown so haughty that he laughs at me, who am in truth a righteous and blameless man.

'to his neighbor' — from the term ra'ayon ('reflection, thought'), as in 'You know my thought from afar' (Psalms 139:2).

'A laughing-stock' — this is directed against what he [Zophar] had said, 'Would that God might speak… and tell you the hidden things of wisdom,' etc. (Job 11:5-6) — meaning, that if Job were to call out to Hashem and He were to answer him, He would inform him that the person as perceived by the senses is not the essential person: that even though he is righteous by what can be observed and revealed, one could say that he is wicked as regards the state of his soul and his inner essence — and that he does not know the sin of his own soul, for which he is liable to punishment. Job answers him: shall I then call out to God and have Him answer me with something that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor? You say that Hashem would answer my call with a thing that is a laughing-stock to reason itself — for if such a notion were to arise in a person's mind, would reason not laugh at and mock such a notion? That someone who knows with certainty that he is righteous should be told to imagine, in his own mind, that he is wicked, because he does not know his own inner essence — would reason not laugh at this? For everything you said — dividing existence into two categories, matters of the sensible and matters of the essential, and supposing that a person could sin as regards his inner, essential dimension while not knowing his sins because he knows only his sensible dimension; and likewise what you said, that foreknowledge and free choice can be conceived to coexist together (even though, to human reason, these are contradictory) because human knowledge is not true knowledge — all of this is a laughing-stock to reason. And so, too, is it a laughing-stock to the reasoning of the just, the innocent man. And—

A brand of contempt The fire of Gehinnom stands for one who is tranquil in his thoughts, saying, “I will have peace.” prepared The one who is tranquil in his thoughts is destined to be among those who stumble, whose foot slips.

'A contemptible brand' [lapid buz] — the lamed [prefix] is dropped; the word is from 'if in his calamity [pido] he cries out to them' (cf. Job 30:24); because of the calamity that befell him, he became an object of contempt, as in the phrase 'contempt for families, in the thought of one who is at ease.' 'In the thought of' [le'ashtot] — like the form 'perhaps he would take thought' [yit'ashet]; [and compare] 'his thoughts have perished' (Psalms 146:4). 'A thing ready for those whose foot slips' — this is something that causes a person's foot to slip, in the sense of 'as for me, my feet had almost stumbled' (Psalms 73:2).

'A contemptible brand' — the word 'brand' [lapid] is related to the plural 'torches'; and his phrase 'a brand of contempt' reads as if it were 'a brand, and contempt' [i.e., two separate nouns joined by 'and,' rather than a true construct pair]. 'In the thought of the one who is at ease' — meaning 'in the thoughts,' related to the word 'his thoughts' [ashtonotav]. It is possible that the lamed of 'lapid' ['brand'] is a prefix rather than a root letter, so that the sense would be: one who is ready for calamity and disaster is despised in the thought of the one who is at ease; and likewise, one who is ready for the times when his foot slips — the matter being doubled in different words.

"A contemptible brand, etc." — for such is the way of the thoughts of a man who is untroubled and at ease from abundance of everything: he regards as a contemptible brand the one whose feet are apt to stumble and fall. And this is why Zophar has made so much sport of me.

'A brand' — this is the stick that one waves about with fire on it, which itself gets burned as well, as in 'like a torch that flames' (Isaiah 62:1); and because it serves no purpose and is utterly despised, Scripture calls it 'a brand of contempt.' 'in the thought of' — for thoughts, as in 'his thoughts have perished' (Psalms 146:4). 'at ease' — tranquil and secure, as in 'Moab has been at ease' (Jeremiah 48:11). 'whose foot slips' — a term for slipping and losing one's footing so as to fall, as in 'and my feet did not slip' (Psalms 18:37).

'A contemptible brand in the thought of the one at ease' [the righteous] — meaning: this notion you proposed, that someone who knows of himself with certainty that he is wholly righteous may nevertheless in truth be wicked without knowing it, and be ready for 'times when the foot slips,' for being cut off, and for ruin — is, on one hand, a laughing-stock to the thoughts of the just, innocent man who knows he is righteous. And on the other hand, it is a burning brand of contempt and disgrace to his untroubled thoughts: the notion that occurs to his mind that he is ready for 'times when the foot slips,' that afflictions are fitting to come upon him, that his feet are due to stumble, and that he is prepared for punishment for his sins — a full measure of scorn and fury, so that the righteous man can never feel secure within himself, and the righteous would be, like the wicked, prepared for suffering.

prosper I know that at times tents will prosper, namely those of the Kedarites who dwell in tents in the deserts, and who are robbers, as it is stated (Gen. 16:12): “a free man among men; his hand shall be against every man.” are secure Those who provoke God have perfection, anyone to whom the Rock brought peace with His hand, whether he is good or bad.

'Prosper' — for he observes that it is the robbers who commit violence openly, [living] at ease. 'And are secure' — the word serves double duty, for itself and for what follows, like 'let Reuben live and not die' (Deuteronomy 33:6), whose sense is 'and let his men not be few in number' — 'his men' as in 'and I am few in number' (Genesis 34:30). 'Secure' — its meaning is 'secure dwellings,' from the root batach, 'to trust.' 'In whatsoever God brings into their hand' — this refers to idol-worshippers, whose 'god' is one that they themselves make with their own hands.

'Robbers' — meaning: those who do violence and plunder people. 'And those who provoke God are secure' — the word 'dwellings' is omitted [elided]; the sense is that dwellings will indeed be found for those who anger God, in which they feel secure while dwelling there and fear nothing. 'In whatsoever God brings into their hand' — meaning: for idol-worshippers, who carry their idols in their hands and bow down to them. Or perhaps the sense is that with his own hand he brought about and fashioned a god — that is, his hands made the idol, and afterward he prostrates himself and bows down to it, never opening his eyes to see that this idol is the work of his own hands — in the manner of the verse, 'they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made' (Isaiah 2:8).

"Prosper" — but it is not from abundance of wisdom and uprightness of heart that his success is so great. For have we not seen that the tents of robbers are at ease, and secure dwellings are found even for those who provoke God — for one who worships an idol that cannot move from its place, and who carries it about in his own hand, yet bows down to it and serves it? If so, then even from Zophar's success there is no proof of wisdom or uprightness of heart.

'prosper' — from the term shalvah ('tranquility'). 'are secure' — that is, secure dwellings; Scripture speaks tersely here, the noun being understood from context.

'The tents of robbers prosper' — now he asks: is not everything the friends have said meant to answer the question of the righteous man who suffers? But why then do 'the tents of robbers prosper' — are they not utterly wicked, seeing that they rob other people? And how can there be secure tents for 'those who provoke God,' who commit transgressions precisely to anger their Creator? Would you say that they are righteous as regards their souls and their inner essence? From this it must follow that 'the tents of robbers prosper, in that which God has brought into their hand' — that is, what they robbed, oppressed, and plundered, they did not do by their own choice; rather, God brought the plunder into their hand, for man is not free in his actions, and was compelled by his very nature to rob and to provoke God — since Hashem knew this from the beginning, and His foreknowledge compels the choice, so that no punishment is due him for his deeds. Here Job introduces a further question, one they have not yet debated up to this point: the question of the prosperity of the wicked. For the three approaches with which the friends answered the question of the suffering of the righteous provide no answer to this question — for the wickedness of the wicked man is public and manifest, so 'where is the God of justice?' (Malachi 2:17)

'And they shall teach you' — meaning: each one of them will teach you.

"But" — but what wisdom do you have? Even in making known that the ways of God are beyond searching out, I have no need of you; for in truth, ask the beasts, and each will teach you that the depths of God are beyond searching out. He means: from the perfection of the creation of living creatures, and from the wisdom found in them by which one differs from another, we can understand from all of this that the depths of God cannot be fathomed — as though they themselves were pointing this out and declaring it.

'and they shall teach you' — and they shall instruct you.

'But' — in contrast to what he [Zophar] had said, 'The hollow person will get understanding, when a wild ass is born a human' (Job 11:12), he answers him that even the beasts and animals will bear this out — that everything happens of necessity, by the decree and will of Hashem, and that no man has power over the spirit, to restrain the spirit and act as he chooses; for just as all animals are compelled in their actions, so too is man compelled in his actions. And he sets out an ascending order of levels, arguing in the manner of 'not only this, but this too': 'ask now the beasts that nurse their young, and they will teach you' — and even 'the fowls of the air,' which are lower than the nursing beasts, will tell you.

'Speak' — meaning: talk, converse.

"And it shall teach you" — meaning, from the natures of the four elements, and all the things found on earth that are composed of them, from these you can understand that the depths of God are beyond searching out.

'speak' — from the term for conversation and speech.

'Or speak to the earth' — that is, to the rest of the earth's creatures, which are lower even than the birds, such as creeping and swarming things, amphibians — 'and it shall teach you.' And 'the fishes of the sea' will tell you this too, for they are the lowest in the order of creation (as I explained in my commentary on the Account of Creation, and in my commentary on Psalms, chapter 9).

"Who knows not among all these" — who is the fool who cannot come to understand, by means of these very things, that the depths of God are hidden from search, apart even from your own words? "That the hand of Hashem, etc." — for has not the hand of Hashem made all this? And from these very things is proof to be drawn of the depth of His wisdom, which has no limit.

'Who knows not among all these' — even among all these beasts and animals, lowly as they are compared to man, is there one that does not know that the hand of Hashem has wrought this? They all know that they have no power to do anything at all, and that all their actions are attributed to Hashem, who set the bounds of their nature, their character, and their movements according to nature — so that they move only in accordance with the nature planted within them by Hashem, having no choice or freedom in their actions.

"In whose hand, etc." — this refers back to the preceding verse, meaning: He is the God in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, etc. "And the breath, etc." — he mentions the breath of man by itself, because it is superior to all of them.

'In whose hand' — and so, just as 'the soul of every living thing' is in His hand — for the souls of animals move to do nothing except according to the necessity of the nature that Hashem planted within them — so too 'the breath of all mankind' is in His hand: the spirit found within the flesh of man is likewise in the hand of Hashem, and man has no liberty or choice to do anything at all apart from Him, so that all his actions are as constrained as the deeds of the other animals.

Does not the ear discern words So why did the listeners not know this, as the palate tastes to eat?

"Does not the ear" — the ear that hears tests words to know from whom they were spoken, and the palate that tastes distinguishes for itself the taste of food, whether it is bitter or sweet, for this sense was given to it for that purpose. So too, a great many things can be understood by way of the senses.

'Does not the ear' — this responds to what Zophar had concluded, according to his own approach: that man's knowledge falls short of grasping the truth of things, since he grasps only the external aspect of things, not their essential nature; and likewise that man's knowledge falls short of grasping how Hashem knows future events while, even so, the nature of possibility and free choice remains attached to them. This is the view of the philosophers, who ruled flatly that man cannot know truths or attain a clear apprehension of them, and has no proof that the thing verified within the mind of the one grasping it corresponds to the truth as it exists in the object grasped. To this Job replies: we cannot afford to doubt our grasp of the primary, self-evident truths embedded in human reason, just as we cannot afford to doubt the testimony of the senses. This is his meaning: just as the palate tastes food and senses what is bitter and what is sweet, so too 'the ear tries words' to know what is true and what is false — for Hashem placed in the nature of man's reason the capacity to recognize truth, just as He placed in the nature of the senses the capacity to perceive their sensations.

In elders there is wisdom etc. to know that with Him is wisdom.

'And understanding in length of days' — its sense is 'and with length of days' [i.e., the preposition 'with' is implied]. The bet in 'bishishim' [with the aged] serves double duty, for itself and for what follows, like 'and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as El Shaddai' (Exodus 6:3) [where one preposition governs all three names].

"Is wisdom with aged men" — and for this reason, much wisdom is found in the hearts of the aged; for through the abundance of their days they have seen much by direct experience, and from this they gain a starting point for understanding one thing from another. "And [understanding] in length [of days]" — the letter bet of "bishishim" [with the aged] does double duty, as if it said "and in length of days is understanding" — the same idea repeated in different words. And because Zophar was younger than him in years, he says: how can you boast of wisdom over me, when I am aged and older than you?

'with aged men' — one who has grown very old is called yashish, from the term yesh ('being, existence'), because his very being has endured for many days.

'With aged men' — so too, the knowledge attained through examination and experience is true, for through many trials and varied tests one derives from them true, general conclusions in which there is no doubt at all. That is why 'wisdom is with aged men' — for over the long course of their days they received the laws of wisdom from the elders of old, who had it as an inheritance from their own fathers; and 'understanding in length of days' — for as the days multiply, study and examination increase, and they derive one thing from another by way of syllogisms and the products of reason. This shows that man has the capacity to attain true apprehensions, and can rely on his own knowledge.

"With Him" — and because of my many years, I know, then, even without you, that with Hashem is the ultimate of wisdom and might. "He has counsel" — He is the one who knows how to give counsel, and understanding is in His hand.

'With Him' — this is a third [proof], that knowledge was given to man by Hashem, and that man's knowledge is caused by Hashem's knowledge, which is His own — essential and primary — knowledge, for His knowledge belongs to Him from His very essence. This is the meaning of 'with Him is wisdom and might': that neither wisdom nor might and capability did He receive from another; rather, it is [found] with Him, for He is the source of wisdom, and from Him it devolved down to man — meaning that man's knowledge is true knowledge, not different in kind from Hashem's knowledge. For [the verse continues] 'He has counsel and understanding': every [instance of] counsel and every [instance of] understanding found among human beings is attributed to Hashem, since it derives from His counsel and His knowledge. With this Job overturns everything Zophar had assumed — that the term 'knowledge' is applied to Hashem and to human beings by sheer equivocation, so that our knowledge is not of the same kind as His knowledge; whereas Job's view is that human knowledge emanates from Hashem's knowledge. And with this, all the answers [Zophar] would give to the question of [divine] foreknowledge and [human] free choice, following the approach of the Rambam — that Hashem's knowledge is not of the same kind as man's knowledge — are overturned. For on Job's view, human knowledge is attributed to [i.e., of the same kind as] Hashem's knowledge, and so it is impossible to say that foreknowledge can be reconciled with free choice, since by our own understanding these are contradictory things. Likewise, the other questions he raised in chapter 10 concerning Hashem's knowledge of changeable, freely-chosen matters all stand in full force — as Ralbag writes in his Wars of the Lord, where he overturns the view of the Guide [Rambam's Guide for the Perplexed] and its answers, on this very argument.

'He shuts up a man' — meaning: He places a man in confinement, and he will never emerge from his imprisonment.

"Behold, He breaks down" — when He desires to intervene through providence, does He not override the celestial order? And when He tears something down, it cannot be rebuilt except by His will. "He shuts up" — when He closes the prison upon a man, it cannot be opened except by His desire.

'opening' — a term for release from confinement.

'Behold, He breaks down' — and therefore one is compelled to say that man is not free in his actions, for Hashem's foreknowledge, which precedes the act, compels his deeds to be either good or evil, and man has no ability to do anything at all — just as no natural thing has any ability to change its own nature. And so, when Hashem breaks down a man's house, it cannot be rebuilt, for man has no mastery over his own choice; and likewise, conversely, when He shuts a man in, so that his house is closed and locked, it cannot be opened — for man is unable to do anything.

He sends it away and it overturns the earth As His agents, as He did to the generation of Enosh, when He inundated a third of the world.

"Behold, He withholds" — He holds back the flow of water at its source, and the place becomes dry. "Also He sends them out" — and at another time He increases their waters and sends them out to flood the face of the earth, and they overturn the land, for they destroy a great deal.

'He withholds' — a term for restraint.

'Behold, He withholds' — the sense is: when He breaks down or shuts in, no man can alter His deed, just as natural things cannot alter their own workings — comparable to when He withholds the waters and they dry up, or, conversely, when He sends the waters out to flood the world, so that they overturn the earth; and all of this is from Hashem, and of necessity. So too, whatever He breaks down or shuts in cannot be rebuilt or opened, for man has no mastery over his own actions. (He took these two examples — a thing and its opposite — because the two opposites become, each in turn, a cause of the other: for when He withholds the waters and they dry up in one place, there the waters that rise into the air turn to vapor, and the clouds carry them off and pour them out in another place, and there they overturn the land. So too, in human affairs, [what looks like] destruction is sometimes the cause of confinement and safekeeping.)

His are the misled The man who is misled. and the misleader The Adversary, who misleads.

'His is the one who errs' — He knows a person's error; or, [this describes] one who leads others astray, while they themselves do not know it.

'The deceived and the deceiver' — two roots expressing the same idea.

"With Him is strength" — in His hand lies the power both to strengthen and to weaken: whom He will, He strengthens, and whom He will, He saps the might of his arm. "The deceived is His" — He knows a person's unwitting error, even though the person himself is unaware of it within himself. "And the deceiver" — He knows the matter in which a person misleads another, even though the other is unaware of it.

'With Him' — he goes on to explain this further: since 'with Him is strength' and also 'sound wisdom' — which is the bringing forth of all existing things from potential into actuality, for He is the source of existence, its cause, its life-force, and its root — it follows that 'the deceived,' too — every person who errs — is attributed to Him; for when a man strays from the way, this does not depend on his own choice, but comes upon him from Hashem, and was decreed for him at the time he was formed and created. And 'the deceiver' — meaning, it is Hashem who deceives him, causing him to stray from the way, and this does not happen through his own choice.

madness Heb. שולל. It is a noun, ‘madness.’ He leads them away with madness when He wishes to confuse and destroy their wisdom, as in (Isa. 59: 15), “and he who turns away from evil is considered mad (משתולל)”; (Ps. 76:6), “The stouthearted became mad אשתוללוּ.” The “tav” in משתולל and in אשתוללוּ [is inserted because] so is the structure of the Hebrew language: in a word that has a radical “shin” or “sammech,” and which is used in passive or reflexive conjugation, a “tav” is placed after the first radical, like (Ecc. 8:10), “and they will be forgotten (וישתכחו) in the city”; (Micah 6: 16), “For the statutes of Omri are kept (וישתמר)”; (Exod. 9:17), “You still exalt yourself very high (מסתולל) above My people”; (Ecc. 12:5), “and the grasshopper shall drag himself along (ויסתבל).” Me makes...fools Heb. יהולל, He makes mad, an expression of folly and foolishness.

'Stripped' — He leads each of them away stripped of understanding, in the sense of 'he who turns from evil makes himself a prey' (Isaiah 59:15).

'He leads counselors away stripped' — meaning: He leads off each of the counselors as spoil, just as He wishes; and even though they are skilled advisers, their good counsel does not avail them. 'Fools' — related to the words for folly and foolishness.

"He leads" — the wise of heart, men of counsel, He leads away stripped, and He makes foolish the judgment of the judges, even though they were exceedingly wise.

'stripped' — a term for senselessness, as in 'the stout-hearted were dazed' (Psalms 76:6). 'fools' — a term for folly; so too, 'and makes fools of diviners' (Isaiah 44:25).

'He leads' — he explains that we find that nations sometimes perform deeds which plainly show they were not done by their own choice and intellect, but that there is a higher power moving them and forcing them to act against counsel and reason; and he explains this from what is seen in the governance of states and of collectives. For behold, in the governance of states it is known that there are two kinds of governance: • A) That the people are governed by a single man whom they choose as king over them; • B) The free assembly, who govern themselves through leaders whom they appoint over themselves to lead them according to their will. Now, under monarchic governance, there were found in ancient times rulers who would kill the people and make their yoke heavy upon them; and to guard against their harm, the people would bind them with bonds — for at the time they chose him [as king], they established for him fixed laws limiting how far his power could extend, and they would appoint alongside him counselors and judges, so that he had no power to issue a law or statute without the agreement of the counselors, nor to render judgment without the knowledge of the judges. These laws, by which they limited his rule, were called 'the bond of kings' — for through them he was bound with bonds, so that he could not rule by his own devising nor go beyond his bounds. And sometimes you find that the two officials whom the people appointed to bind the tyrannical ruler, so that he could not go beyond his bounds, themselves become the cause that the tyrant grows strong and rules with unlimited power, overpowering the people with force and might to do with them as he pleases. This is the meaning of: sometimes you find that Hashem 'leads' the counselors 'away stripped' with foolish counsel, 'and the judges He makes fools' — confounding and scrambling their deeds. And through this:

He loosens the bond of kings He removed the bond of the yoke from Nebuchadnezzar and dethroned him. and He binds a girdle to their loins At his start, when He desired him, He girded his loins, and imbued him with strength for kingship.

'The bond of kings' — like 'bonds and bars' (Jeremiah 27:2).

'The bond of kings' — meaning: the imprisonment of kings. 'Looses' — meaning: unbinds, releases.

"He looses" — He unties the bond of officers, meaning He removes the knotted straps of the yoke that they had placed upon the people. "And binds" — and when He desires, He ties the girdle upon their loins, meaning He strengthens their power; for one whose loins are girded is vigorous and swift.

'the bond' — the cords/straps of the yoke, as in 'the bonds of your neck' (Isaiah 52:2). 'looses' — He unties. 'and binds' — He ties, as in 'the horses tethered' (II Kings 7:10). 'a girdle' — a belt, as in 'and a girdle of leather' (II Kings 1:8).

'He looses the bond of kings' — He opens and unlooses the bond and the fetters by which they had bound the kings, so that they could not hold sway with unlimited power; and they [the kings] cast off from themselves these bonds by which they had been bound. 'And binds their loins with a girdle' — that they place upon their loins a girdle, which signifies strength, and gird their loins forcefully to rule over the people as they wish. This signifies the nullification of the entire choice of the people and of their counselors — for this is a complete failing on the part of the counselors and judges, who did not foresee this from the outset; rather, there is a higher power compelling them toward this, so as to chastise, through this, peoples and nations with the rod of His wrath.

princes Heb. כהנים, like (Exod. 3:1), “the prince (כהן) of Midian”; (Gen. 41:45), “the prince (כהן) of On.”

'Priests' — meaning: princes, officials; similarly, 'and the sons of David were priests' (2 Samuel 8:18). 'The mighty' — meaning: the strong ones. 'Overthrows' — meaning: twists, perverts.

"He leads priests" — He leads the officers away stripped, and subverts the mighty, men of power, so that they cannot fight in the proper and fitting way.

'priests' — officers, as in 'and David's sons were chief officers' (II Samuel 8:18). 'and the mighty' — and the strong, as in 'enduring is your dwelling-place' (Numbers 24:21). 'overthrows' — He perverts, as in 'and perverts the words of the righteous' (Exodus 23:8).

'He leads' — now he explains that the same thing is seen in the second kind of governance, in the free assemblies that have no king and govern themselves. In order to restrain the people from breaking through the law — the masses and the poor falling with a strong hand upon the rich, who are fewer and weaker than they, to plunder their wealth — they have four kinds of leaders, as he will explain. And sometimes Hashem renders foolish all the counsel of the leaders, and the people break through and flood forth like a rushing torrent of water, becoming like fish of the sea, each swallowing his fellow alive. And he holds that this assembly restrains the people through: • A) Through the priests of religion, who set a rein before the masses by means of religion and the ruling faith among them — and 'Hashem leads the priests away stripped'; • B) Through the mighty, the powerful, the valiant, and the officers, who compel the people by their strength — 'these He overthrows'; • C) Through men of trust — that is, speakers and orators who preach to the people at the gate of the multitude, and win over souls by their persuasion and their words — and Hashem—

from trusty men Even from trusty men. (Even to those who believe in Him. Etz Chayim ms.) Sometimes his lips become confused, speaking improper words, e.g. Abraham (about whom it is written:] (Gen. 15:6), And he believed in the Lord.” And later, he stumbled [by saying,] “How will I know?”

'Men of trust' — these are people who are quick to speak eloquently; or perhaps the sense is people who are reliable in their words, on account of their sound judgment and wisdom. 'The elders' — meaning: the wise.

"[He removes the speech] of men of trust" — from eloquent speakers, masters of rhetoric, He takes away the words of their lips, so that they cannot put into words what is in their hearts; and from the elders, men of knowledge, He takes away the best substance of their statements.

'of men of trust' — this is from the term 'and they utter an oracle' (Jeremiah 23:31), which denotes speech; the final nun is added as an adjectival ending, like in rachaman ('compassionate'). Those who are eloquent of speech, skilled in the art of language, are called ne'emanim. 'and the sense' — a term for the substance of speech, as in 'when he changed his behavior' (Psalms 34:1).

'He removes the speech' — [He removes] the speech and discourse of these men of trust and speakers, so that at the gate they will not open their mouths. • D) The elders, whom the people honor on account of their old age and wisdom, and whose words they heed, since 'with the aged is wisdom' (cf. Job 12:12) — and 'Hashem takes away the sense of the elders,' until no leader or restrainer remains for the people. And through this—

and loosens the belt of the strong And He loosens the belt of the strong. He opens their belt to weaken them, like (Ps. 109:19), “and for the girdle (ולמזח) wherewith he is girded continually.” the strong Heb. אפיקים, like (below 40:18), “as strong as (אפיקי) copper; (ibid. 41:7), “He is proud of the strength of (אפיקי) His scales.”

'And looses the belt of the strong' — meaning: He weakens the strength of the mighty. Or perhaps the sense is that He unties the belt of the strong — related to the term mezach [belt], as in the phrase 'and with a mezach he girds himself continually.'

"He pours" — at times He brings abundant contempt upon nobles, like water poured out, and loosens the belt of the mighty, meaning He saps their strength; for a girded man is vigorous, and grows weak once the belt is loosened.

'and the belt' — a girdle; so too, 'and the belt he always wears' (Psalms 109:19). 'the strong' — the mighty, as in 'channels of bronze' (below, 40:18). 'looses' — from the term for slackening.

'He pours contempt upon princes' — the poor of the people and the masses rise up to plunder and despoil the wealth of the princes, as happens in states that have no king, where the masses rise like a flood of mighty waters to despoil the men of wealth and kill them. 'And looses the belt of the strong' — he likens the masses of the people to streams, which are river-waters that by nature flood and sweep away all that lies in their path; except that the leaders of the people are like the belt of the streams — the bank of the river and the levees of the water — which, like a girding, hold the water in so that it cannot go beyond its bounds. Now [Hashem] loosens that belt and girding, so that it does not bind tightly but only loosely, and the waters of the great masses pour forth and flood over the princes.

"He uncovers" — meaning, He teaches man understanding, to grasp deep matters that are difficult to comprehend. "[The] shadow of death" — meaning, He brings to light matters that are most deeply hidden; for He grants man understanding and enlightens his eyes to grasp one thing from another.

'the shadow of death' — the shadow of death, that is, the darkness of the grave.

'He uncovers' — in his poetic imagery, he depicts the shadow of death as though it dwelt in the depths of darkness, beneath the waters, together with those who dwell there. And through the flooding of these streams, He 'uncovers deep things' and brings them out 'from darkness' — and then the shadow of death that dwelt there comes out to the light. The intent is that the deep-laid schemes of the embittered lowly of the people — to rise up against the princes and destroy them and rob their possessions, schemes that had dwelt in the hidden places of their hearts — are now uncovered and come out to light, and with them, the shadow of death and murder.

He makes nations great and destroys them Heb. משׂגיא. Some say, as He did to the Egyptians when they overtook Israel before Baal-zephon (Exod. 14:9). They erred and said, “You should know that He agreed with us, to drown them in the sea as we decreed, ‘Every son that is born you shall cast into the river’ (ibid. 1:22), and [they also said] that their deity Baal-zephon is mighty, seeing that no acts of judgment were performed upon it, as [they were upon) all the [other] gods of Egypt, and the Omnipresent caused them to be misled in order to drown them. But this explanation is not the main one, for were it so, it should have been dotted on the right, מַשְׁגִיא like שׁוגֶה, the misled. This is the main explanation: It means making great, an expression of שׂגיא כֹח, having great strength. He makes the nations great and causes them to prosper, and their heart becomes haughty with their prosperity, so that [the fact] that they prosper is their destruction. He spreads out He multiplies them to spread them out over the earth and to cover them.

'He increases' — from '[for] God is great' (Job 36:26). 'And destroys them' — the opposite of 'increases.' 'He enlarges' [shoteach] — from 'and they spread them out for themselves' (Numbers 11:32); like 'spreading out'; the sense is 'scatters and disperses.' 'And leads them away' — the reverse of the matter [i.e., the opposite process: gathering back in, as against scattering].

'He increases' — meaning: enlarges, multiplies. 'He enlarges' — meaning: scatters, spreads out.

"He increases" — He makes people great, with extensive dominion, and then destroys them. "He enlarges" — He spreads them out over the earth, over a vast expanse, and then leads them away from their land into exile.

'He increases' — He makes great, as in 'it grows great like a cedar in Lebanon' (Psalms 92:13). 'He enlarges' — [literally] He spreads out, as in 'and they spread them out' (Numbers 11:32). 'and leads them away' — and guides them, as in 'lead the people' (Exodus 32:34).

'He increases' — we see this same thing, too, in the collectives themselves: that sometimes Hashem 'increases nations' and makes them great, and then destroys them — their pride and greatness becoming the cause of their own destruction; and sometimes He 'spreads out the nations,' scattering the nations and removing them from their place — and by this very act, 'guides them to their desired haven' (Psalms 107:30).

in a wasteland not a road In a wasteland that is not a road.

'And causes them to wander' — through worthless counsel.

"He takes away" — at times He takes away the wisdom of heart from the leaders, the heads of the people who guide them, and they lead the people astray, to follow counsel of folly rather than the straight path and sound counsel.

'He takes away' — and sometimes He takes away the heart of the chiefs of the people of the land, who are their leaders, as they go seeking a place to settle; and through this, He causes them to wander in a trackless waste, until they no longer know the way to a city to dwell in. And this happens in two ways: either—

"They grope" — they feel about with their hands in the place of darkness through which they walk, and do not walk in a place of light. Meaning, they go astray, following counsel of folly, and do not turn toward sound counsel. "And He makes them stagger" — Hashem causes them to be confused in their understanding, like a drunken man.

'They grope' — a term for feeling about with the hands, this way and that, to guard against stumbling, as in 'as the blind gropes' (Deuteronomy 28:29).

'They grope' — they grope in darkness, without light, and the light of counsel does not shine upon them to find the right way; or else He makes them stagger like a drunken man — for even though such a man walks in the light, he cannot keep his own feet steady; so too they will have no power to find themselves a place of rest, and they will perish at the time of their scattering and wandering — just as happened to many peoples in the course of their migrations, seeking a place of rest to settle. From all this it is seen that man is not free in his actions to always find the correct counsel — for if he were, good counsel would never fail among large collectives and assemblies, where, of necessity, there would be found among them the wise of heart and the discerning, and 'in the multitude of counselors there is victory' (Proverbs 24:6). Rather, there is a higher power that moves them, that annuls the counsel of nations and thwarts their designs, in accordance with His age-old plan — for 'the counsel of Hashem, it shall stand' (Proverbs 19:21).