[Isaiah 54:1–55:5]
“Sing, O one who did not bear children, burst into song, etc.” [54:1]. The prophet said: sing you woman who did not have children. The city of Jerusalem was also in exile, like a woman who was barren and had no children.1Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, Remez 476, and in Rashi, Isaiah, 54:1. She did not have morning sickness that comes from having a child. When she wants to have children, she cannot become pregnant. Now, the children will be many in the city that was devastated during the exile, many more children than the nations will have. She is like a woman who has a husband. Jerusalem was like an abandoned wife whose husband was still alive.
“Enlarge the site of your tent” [54:2]. The prophets said to the city of Jerusalem. Make your tent wide and long for your many children. The other cities, in addition to Jerusalem, should also extend the length and breadth of the curtains of your tent and the length of your rope, and strengthen the nails of your tent.2Radak, Isaiah, 54:2.
“For you will spread out to the right and the left” [54:3]. You will strengthen yourself to the south and the north and also to the other sides. Your children will inherit many nations. The cities that were devastated will again be inhabited by Israel.
“Do not fear, you will not be ashamed” [54:4]. Do not fear that you will find troubles in the departure from the exile. You will never be embarrassed forever. Furthermore, you will have so much good that you will forget the disgraces that you suffered in the exile. Also, the disgrace that you were like a widow in the exile will not be remembered.3Radak, Isaiah, 54:4.
“For your maker is your husband” [54:5]. The one who is your master is your Creator and He is your husband. However, in the exile the nations were your husband. Your master, God, Lord of Hosts, is your husband and your Redeemer. The Holy One of Israel is the God of the whole world.
“For like a wife forsaken, etc.” [54:6]. The prophet said: you are not like a wife whose husband has died, but you are like a wife whose husband was angry with her for a time and returned to her. The Holy One called you a forsaken woman. If you want to think that you will be eternally forsaken because he find you undesirable. It is common that when someone has an old wife, she is not so beloved. Therefore, God says, “like the wife of a man’s youth who is cast off” [54:6]. That is to say, one who despises his wife, who he married as a maiden, that is to say, a virgin. She is the same when she has gotten old and he remembers that she is the same one who came to him as a young woman. However, when one takes an old wife, then he may eventually come to despise her.
“For a brief moment I abandoned you” [54:7]. Since much good will be given to you in the days of the Messiah, you will think that the exile was but a blink of the eye. You will be redeemed with great mercy.4Radak, Isaiah, 54:7.
“In overflowing wrath for a moment, I hid my face from you” [54:8]. I was wrathful with you for the blink of an eye. I will always have compassion and mercy for you. So says God, your Redeemer.5Rashi, Isaiah, 54:8.
“This is like the days of Noah for Me” [54:9]. The Holy One said: Just like I swore after the Flood to never again bring it to the world. So too, the exile that has been, will not be forever. I have sworn that there should not be a Flood again. Similarly, I will not be angry and will not scold you.
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed” [54:10]. The mountains will be removed in time, but my oath will not depart and will remain forever. So says God, who has compassion for you. The Talmud writes in Sanhedrin, Rabbi Judah said to his son Rabbi Isaac: No person has a joyous heart, except with his first wife, but not with the other wife that he takes. Therefore it says, “for your Maker is your husband” [54:5]. Rabbi Samuel said in the name of Rav: a woman is not wholeheartedly happy, except with the man who married her when she was a virgin.6B. Sanhedrin, 22a-22b.
“O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted” [54:11]. The Holy One said about the city of Jerusalem. You poor one who has been buffeted by storms and troubles of exile. You have not been consoled until now for the redemption. I will set small pearls in the foundations of your walls and I will set precious stones, sapphires and other semi-precious stones on them.7Radak, Isaiah, 54:11.
“I will make your pinnacles of rubies, etc.” [54:12]. I will make your windows so that the sun will shine in and will illumine large pearls within, and your gate will shine brightly with precious stones, like a flame. All the stones that were found in your boundaries will now become precious stones and pearls.
“All of your children will be disciples of the Lord, etc.” [54:13]. Everyone, great and small, will be a scholar in the Messianic age.8Radak, Isaiah, 54:13.
“You will be established through righteousness, etc.” [54:14]. When you will give charity9The word “zedakah” can mean either righteousness or charity. The biblical context uses it in the first sense, but the author chose to translate it in the second sense. and act justly, then you will have honor and you will not be preyed upon. You will have no fear or anxiety. No anxiety will come to you.
“Surely no harm can be done without my consent, etc.” [54:15]. Many nations may gather, but I did not command it. This is Gog and Magog who will come against you. However, I did not order that he should do evil to Israel. Rather, he will do a favor for Israel. Israel will take goods and money from the nation of Gog and Magog. No nation will be able to win against you. They will be defeated.10Radak, Isaiah, 54:15.
“It is I who have created the smith, etc.” [54:16]. The Holy One said: how good. Though Gog and Magog will come against you with swords, bows and arrows, and all the weapons of war, do not fear. I have created the people who make the weapons of war. Everything is in my hands and I can protect you from them. I have created the smith who blows on the coals to make them hot to make the iron from which swords are made. Whatever he wants to make, I can disrupt the same person from his craft, even more so I can destroy the swords, so that they cannot do anything to you. Concerning this, God says in the verse, “it is I who created the ravager to destroy” [54:16]. I have created a ravager who destroys what I want. Therefore, do not fear the weapons.11Radak, Isaiah, 54:16.
“No weapon created against you shall succeed, etc.” [54:17]. All the swords that will come against you will have no luck to harm you. They will be broken. When they will go to court against you, they will be found at fault and you will be justified. This will be an inheritance to the divine servant, David. Their justice is from me, says God.
“Ho, all who are thirsty, come to the waters, etc.” [55:1]. You should study Torah and wisdom like a person is thirsty to drink water, and you should study Torah with desire. The world is impossible without Torah. If someone does not have money, he should not worry. He will have wisdom and Torah and silver without effort. The Torah is much better than wine and milk.12Radak, Isaiah, 55:1.
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, etc.” [55:2]. Why should you spend your money for a wisdom that is not Torah? This is not called bread. That is to say, the wisdom of the Torah is compared to bread. Just as one cannot live without bread, so one cannot live without the wisdom of the Torah. However, one can live very well without other wisdoms. One is not helped by them, not for the body and not for the soul. Therefore, we learn that the Torah is called good. It is good for the body and the soul and it makes your body fat and thick and the soul will live from this.13Radak, Isaiah, 55:2.
“Incline your ears and come to Me, listen and your soul will live, etc.” [55:3]. Incline your ears to Me and you will cause your body and soul to live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, not to abandon you and I will reward the lovingkindness of David.
“As I made him a leader of peoples, etc.” [55:4]. I have given over you a lord, to punish you and to show you the correct path, as a master shows his servants.14Rashi, Isaiah, 55:4.
“So you shall summon a nation you did not know, etc.” [55:5]. A nation that does not know you. That is to say, they will come from far from the land of Israel, when you call them to serve you. They will run to you because of the will of God, your God. They will hear about miracles that God will do for Israel and He is the one who gives you this beauty. The Yalkut writes about a story that happened. Rabbi Johanan preached in the house of study about when the Messiah will come. Then they will build the eastern gate of the Temple, with two chambers, out of one precious stone and in one piece. A student was sitting there who asked how was this possible? One does not even find a stone the size of a dove’s egg in the world of precious stones, which are called carbuncle. How can one build a gate in the Temple with two doors, out of one precious stone? The same student once traveled on the sea and his ship sank and he came to the depths of the sea. There he saw angels carving and straightening a very large precious stone. He asked, what is this? The angels said that this will be a gate with two chambers for the Temple, out of one piece. The angels said: if you had not seen this, you would not have believed that it was possible to make this gate with two chambers, out of one precious stone for the Temple. You did not believe what is said in the Torah about the Messiah. The same person immediately became a clod of earth and was destroyed, because he made fun of what had been preached.15Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, Remez 478; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, 18.5.
The Pesikta writes about the verse “all your wall of precious stones” [54:12]. Rabbi Benjamin son of Levi says that in the days of the Messiah, the Israelites will mark the boundaries of their fields with precious stones. Each person will take many precious stones and will place them around his field so that he should know how far his field extends. That is to say, he will make a wall out of precious stones, since there will be so many in Jerusalem. Rabbi Levi said that when a person owes his friend a thousand gulden, they both come to the judges. Sometimes the judges cannot do enough for both of them and one of them does not like the judgment. However, in the days of the Messiah if someone will grasp his friend and say to him, let us go to the Messiah in Jerusalem and let him judge us. When they approach Jerusalem, they will see many precious stones lying on the ground. One Jew will take two good stones and say to his friend. Do I owe you the value of these two precious stones? What do you want from me? Take these two precious stones. They soon make peace with each other and he will say, you don’t owe me so much. You owed me a thousand gulden and the precious stones you have given me are worth two thousand gulden. Concerning this the verse says, “He grants peace within your borders” [Psalms, 147:14]. Your borders will make peace. That is to say, the precious stones near Jerusalem make peace over Israel.16Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, Remez 478; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, 18.6.
The Yelamdenu writes: The Holy One says that Israel learns Torah from people; therefore they forget what they learned. Since Moses was a human being, who disappears, thus the Torah that derives from him also disappears and is soon forgotten. However, when the Messiah will come, Israel will learn Torah from the Holy One Himself, as the verse in the haftorah says, “and your children will be disciples of the Lord” [54:13]. That is to say, they will learn Torah from the Holy One Himself. Since the Holy One lives eternally, it will not be forgotten. 17Yalkut Shimoni, Isaiah, Remez 479.
We find in the Talmud. Rabbi Hanina said: Why is the Torah compared to water, as the verse says, “all who are thirsty, come to the waters” [55:1]. He shows us how a body of water behaves. It flows into a valley and not up a mountain. So too should the scholar be. He should be humble and not arrogant, just like the water runs away from the mountain, the Torah runs away from someone who is arrogant. Rabbi Oshaiah said: Why is the Torah compared to three drinks, to water, to wine, and to milk? He teaches us how these three drinks are similar. They can only be preserved in inexpensive earthen vessels. They cannot remain long in vessels of gold and silver. They spoil quickly in vessels of silver. The Torah is similar. It cannot remain where a person is arrogant and haughty. Like a body of water, from the first drop of rain until it becomes a great body of water or river, so too is the Torah. First one learns two halakhot and later others are added and the result is many halakhot, and just like water causes grain and fruit to grow, so too is Torah study. They raise a person to greatness, as the verse says, “through me kings reign” [Proverbs, 8:15].18B. Ta’anit, 7a.