<b>And in the greatness of Thine excellence (Exod. 15:7).</b> You have increased Your excellency against all who rose up against You. Who were those that rose up against You? They were the ones that turned against Your children. It is taught that all who rise up against Israel are considered as rising up against the Shekhinah. Thus it says: <i>Forget not the voice of thine adversaries</i> (Ps. 74:23), and <i>For, lo, Thine enemies are in an uproar; and they hate Thee have lifted up the head. They hold crafty converse against Thy people, and take counsel against Thy treasured ones</i> (ibid. 83:3–4). It is also written: <i>Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee, and do not I strive with those that rise up against Thee?</i> (ibid. 139:21). Why so? <i>I hate them with the utmost hatred, I count them mine enemies</i> (ibid.).
Similarly it is written: <i>For he who toucheth thee toucheth the apple of his eye</i> (Zech. 2:12). “My eye” should be written here, for it refers, as it were, to the Heavenly One. However, the text was modified by the scribes of the Great Synagogue.<sup class="footnote-marker">11</sup><i class="footnote">The men of the great Synagogue were the scribes, prophets, and Pharisees in the period after Ezra. See Lauterbach, <i>Rabbinic Essays</i>, p. 191, n. 36. The scribes made changes in the biblical text in order to eliminate anthropomorphisms and irreverent expressions. According to the Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim 37b, these changes are Sinaitic traditions.</i> The verse <i>Ye say also: “Behold, what a weariness is it! And ye have snuffed at it”</i> (Mal. 1:13) was likewise altered. The verse <i>I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity, in that he knew that his sons did bring a curse on themselves, and he rebuked them not</i> (I Sam. 3:13) was also modified. In the like manner, the verse <i>Why hast thou set me as a mark for thee, so that I may burden to myself</i> (Job 7:20) was changed. The verse <i>Art not Thou from everlasting, O Lord, My God, my Holy One? We shall not die</i> (Hab. 1:12) was modified also. Again the verse <i>Hath a nation changed its gods which are yet no gods? But My people hath changed its glory for that which doth not profit</i> (Jer. 2:11) was altered. Similarly, <i>Thus they exchange their glory for the likeness of an ox that eateth grass</i> (Ps. 106:2) was changed. The verse <i>I will change their glory to shame</i> (Hos. 4:7) was likewise modified. In the case of <i>Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job</i> (Job 32:3) they changed the text. Similarly, but <i>Abraham stood yet before the Lord</i> (Gen 18:22) is another illustration of this. Again, in the verse <i>And if Thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray Thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in Thy sight, and let me not look upon my wretchedness</i> (Num. 11:15) they changed the text. Similarly in the passage <i>Let her not, I pray, be as one head, of whom the flesh is half consumed when He cometh out of his mother’s womb</i> (ibid. 12:12) they altered the verse. And likewise, the verse <i>What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel; now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents</i> (I Kings. 12:16) was altered, for in the Second Book of Chronicles (10:16) it is written concerning this episode <i>to his tent</i> rather than unto <i>their tents</i>.
The verses <i>My soul hath them still in remembrance and is bowed down within me</i> (Lam. 3:20) and <i>It may be that the Lord will look on mine eyes</i> (II Sam. 16:12) were amended by the men of the Great Synagogue. They are called scribes because they counted every letter in the Torah and interpreted it.<sup class="footnote-marker">12</sup><i class="footnote"><i>Sofer</i> (“scribe”) is derived from <i>safar</i> (“to count”).</i> Thus they amended <i>And lo, they put the branch unto My nose</i> (Exod. 8:17) to read <i>their nose</i>. Likewise, they altered the verse we are discussing <i>Surely he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of My eye</i> (ibid.) to read <i>His eye</i>. This was to teach us that everyone who rises up against Israel is considered as rising up against the Shekhinah. Hence it says: <i>Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord</i> (Judg. 5:23).
Does He actually require the assistance of others that it says, He sent an angel against Sennacherib but he did not kill them, since <i>When He bloweth upon them they wither</i> (Isa. 40:24)? This teaches us that whosoever helps Israel is considered as though helping the Shekhinah. Therefore it is written: <i>For He is highly exalted</i>. You have exalted yourself greatly through those who rebelled against You. Who were they that rebelled against You? The ones who attacked Your children: <i>Chedorlaomer, king of Elam … and he divided himself against them by night</i> (Gen. 14:1, 15). <i>Who hath raised up one from the east, at whose steps victory attendeth … he pursueth them and passeth on</i> (I Sam. 41:2–3). Scripture also says: <i>The Lord said unto my lord: “Sit thou at My right hand, until I make Mine enemies thy footstool.” The rod of thy strength the Lord will send out of Zion: “Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy warfare, in adornments of holiness, from the womb of the dawn, thine is the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent; “Thou art a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek.” The Lord at thy right hand doth crush kings in the day of His wrath</i> (Ps. 110:1–5).
Sisera and all his chariots likewise arose against your sons, as it is said: <i>And Sisera gathered together all his chariots</i>, etc. (Judg. 4:13). But then it is written: <i>They fought from heaven</i>, etc. (ibid. 5:20).
Sennacherib and all his hosts did likewise, as it is said: <i>By thy servants hast thou taunted</i> (Isa. 37:24); <i>I have digged and drunk water</i> (ibid., v. 5). Therefore it states: <i>Then the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and the captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. When he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with his sword</i> (II Chron. 32:21–22). Nebuchadnezzar did likewise when he said: <i>I will ascend above the heights of the clouds</i> (Isa. 14:14); and therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, told him: Since you wish to separate yourself from mankind, mankind will ultimately separate itself from you. <i>At the end of twelve months he was walking upon the royal palace at Babylon… . While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven: “O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee. And thou shalt be driven from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.” … The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar; and he was driven from men</i>, etc. (Dan. 4:26–30). <i>And all this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar</i> (ibid., v. 25).
<i>King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine with them. While drinking the wine, Belshazzar commanded that the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had removed from the Temple in Jerusalem, be brought to him in order that the king and his lords, his consorts and his concubines, might drink from them. They brought him the golden vessels taken from the altar of the Lord, and the king and his lords, his consorts, and his concubines, drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods made of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the palm of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts affrighted him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against the other</i> (Dan. 5:1–6). Concerning him, it is said: <i>Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy venom thereto, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Thou art filled with shame instead of glory, drink thou also, and be uncovered; the cup of the Lord’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and filthiness shall be upon thy glory</i> (Hab. 2:15–16). <i>In that night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was slain</i> (Dan. 5:30).