meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Commentary/Malbim/Prophets/Malbim on Zechariah/English/Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology.txt"}
text: Malbim on Zechariah
  מלבי"ם על זכריה
  Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology
  
  
  Malbim on Zechariah
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  ‘So said the Lord: I will return to Zion,’ My intention is to return to Zion in order that My Presence be established there as it was before. Also ‘and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem’ among the people, that My Presence be within them and that prophecy, holiness and all the desirable things which they had in days of old return to them. However, this is on condition – if Jerusalem will be called the city of truth because of the true justice they will administer there between people and the truth and faithfulness with which they speak, and if the mountain of the Lord of Hosts is called the holy mountain because its priests are sanctified to their Gd. I already mentioned above in Zechariah 7:3 in the name of R’ Yitzchak Abravanel that Israel was afraid then that they would be once again sent into exile because of seven things and this prophecy comes to remove them one by one, as the Rav explained. On the first source of concern, which was the fear they felt once they saw that the Divine Presence did not return to the Second Temple, the prophet said that it is possible He will return His Presence to Zion if they improve their actions, to do what is true and to walk in holiness.
  
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  shall come – This will intensify so much to the point that many peoples and mighty nations will come, not just individual cities. The primary purpose of their coming will be to seek the Lord, that is to seek out in Jerusalem aspects of true faith and also to pray there before the Lord. All this will be before the time of redemption, when Israel will still be disgraced in their eyes, only Jerusalem will be very lofty to them. Just as this goal is fulfilled now in all its details, in that all the peoples travel to Jerusalem in massive numbers to seek the Lord and to pray there:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden – The nations of the kingdom of Ishmael, in whose hands Jerusalem rests, will stand up against the nations who come to lay siege to Jerusalem and will want to lift Jerusalem up on their shoulders. That is to say that it will remain in their domain but this load will be a stone of burden for them, which will gash their flesh. This is like a load which is too heavy to bear, a sharp stone that cuts the flesh. The explanation of why they will be gashed by it is because all of the nations of the world will gather around Jerusalem, the armies of Gog and Magog will all gather to conquer it from the Ishmaelites who are burdened with it. The prophet called the Ishmaelites by the name of ‘peoples’ and those that gather against them by the name of ‘nations’ because it is clear to me that a people is superior to a nation, because those that gather against them will at first be from the lowly masses and the kings of the Ishmaelites will fight against them:
  
  
  
  
  
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  On that day a spring shall be opened – According to the plain meaning , in that at this time there will be no springs found in Jerusalem and then a source of living water will be opened up, which will be reserved for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for purifying waters to purify with and for the waters of the ashes of the red heifer. Ezekiel already saw this in a prophetic vision when he saw a great stream issuing from the Holy of Holies, spreading out to the eastern and western seas. So too prophesied Zechariah “And on that day,living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western…” (Zechariah 14:8) This will be after the final war of Gog and Magog when the stream will overflow with so much abundance, but after first war of Gog and Magog, which is being discussed here, the water will not spread outwards and will be only for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I have already explained in my commentary on Ezekiel that this is a metaphoric representation of the spreading forth of the waters of knowledge and the stream of Torah and faith, which are compared to water. After the first war, the waters of knowledge will begin to spread out from  the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and remove the sin of external consciousness and to purify the impurity of foolishness, stupidity and false belief and every trace of idolatry as is explained shortly. “It will come to pass on that day that I will cut off all the names of the idols from the land…” (Zechariah 13:2) This is an explanation of the nature of this source and its faithful waters that flow from the upwelling of wisdom and holy consciousness. After the final war of Gog and Magog the waters will spread outwards and “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9) On this it says “And on that day living waters will go out from Jerusalem…and the Lord shall be king over all the earth…” (Zechariah 14:8-9) This is the meaning of the ‘water,’ that everyone will recognize the unity of the Creator and the truth of divinity. This itself is the water which Ezekiel saw, as I explained there.
  
  
  
  
  
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  And the Lord shall become King over all the earth – this is the meaning of the metaphor of the water, that the whole world will recognize the Lord’s sovereignty and unity. Until now there were nations which did not believe in His unity, and said that there were two or more points of origin. Then ‘the Lord will be one,’ and the nations who acknowledged the unity of the Lord but combined another agent with His guiding of the world, or with His name, memory or nobility, etc…Then His name will also be one, because everyone will believe in the true unity, His special providence and guidance and his sovereignty. So too in the future the four-lettered name will be read as it is written, because the use of appellations is due to the divisions between lovingkindness, mercy and the like in His guidance of the world. In the future there will be one simple mode of guidance: