“He will be a wild man: His hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him and he will dwell among all his brethren” (Genesis 16:12). “He will be a wild [pereh] man” – Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: This means that everyone else would inhabit settlements, but he would inhabit the wilderness.37The word peleh is used in connection with the wilderness in Jeremiah 2:24: “A wild ass [pereh] accustomed to the wilderness.”
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: “A wild man” – in its plain sense. Most people plunder wealth, but he plunders people. “His hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him [kol bo].” Read it as “his dog [kalbo]” – he and a dog are equal; just as the dog eats carcasses, so, too, he eats carcasses.
Rabbi Elazar said: When will it be that “his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him”? It will be with the advent of that man38Nebuchadnezzar. in whose regard it is written: “And everywhere the sons of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens dwell, He has given into your hand and set your rule over all of them” (Daniel 2:38). That is what is written: “Concerning Kedar,39Kedar was one of Ishmael’s sons (see Genesis 25:13). and concerning the kingdoms of Ḥatzor that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote” (Jeremiah 49:28) – Nebuchadrezzar is written,40With an added vav, so that the last four letters spell atzur, gathered in. as he gathered them together in the wilderness and killed them.
“He will dwell among all his brethren” – here it says: “He will dwell [yishkon] [among all his brethren],” but elsewhere it is written “He settled [nafal]41Literally, fell. [among all his brethren] (Genesis 25:18). The explanation is that as long as Abraham our patriarch was alive – yishkon. When Abraham died – nafal.42He fell in stature. Before he extended his hand against the Temple – yishkon.
Once he extended his hand against the Temple43See Psalms 83:7–13. – nafal. In this world – yishkon; but in the future – nafal.