‏ Isaiah 43:28

Isa 43:28

Consequently the all-holy One was obliged to do what had taken place. “Then I profaned holy princes, and gave up Jacob to the curse, and Israel to blasphemies.” ואחלל might be an imperfect, like ואכל, “I ate,” in Isa 44:19, and ואבּיט, “I looked,” in Isa 63:5; but ואתּנה by the side of it shows that the pointing sprang out of the future interpretation contained in the Targum; so that as the latter is to be rejected, we must substitute ואחלל, ואתּנה (Ges. §49, 2). The “holy princes” (sârē qōdesh) are the hierarchs, as in 1Ch 24:5, the supreme spiritual rulers as distinguished from the temporal rulers. The profanation referred to was the fact that they were ruthlessly hurried off into a strange land, where their official labours were necessarily suspended. This was the fate of the leaders of the worship; and the whole nation, which bore the honourable names of Jacob and Israel, was give up to the ban (chērem) and the blasphemies (giddūphı̄m) of the nations of the world.

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