{"id":66175,"date":"2019-11-25T20:39:06","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T18:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66175"},"modified":"2023-06-19T12:40:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T09:40:48","slug":"no-more-partying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/no-more-partying\/","title":{"rendered":"No More Partying"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[361,743,506],"acf":{"old_id":"66175","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"358","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Desolation and the death of joy","content":"

Malbim\u2019s* ability to parse the prophet\u2019s words in ways unanticipated by earlier exegetes yielded insightful results. For example, in v. 11, Isaiah described the pall of lamentation that would settle upon the people as follows: \u201cEven over wine, a cry (<\/span>tzevacha<\/span><\/em>) goes up in the streets: The sun has set on all joy (<\/span>simcha<\/span><\/em>), the gladness (<\/span>mesos<\/span><\/em>) of the earth is banished.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we get to Malbim\u2019s commentary, I would like to draw our attention to the singular language Isaiah used in this chapter. It is replete with sound-plays (<\/span>bokek-bolek<\/span><\/em>, v. 1; <\/span>avlah-navlah<\/span><\/em>, v. 4) and repetitions (<\/span>ka-am, ka-kohen, ka-eved<\/span><\/em>\u2026, v. 2; <\/span>hibok-tibok, hiboz-tiboz<\/span><\/em>, v. 4) designed to make the contents of his message all the more memorable. However, the price of being memorable is often incomprehensibility; Isaiah\u2019s prose is frequently obtuse, how much more so his lyrical poetry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is Malbim:<\/span><\/p>\n

The deportees stand about in the streets, holding cups of wine, and shout bitterly. Just as they used to rejoice over wine, now, in mourning, they shout over wine. And this is what they shout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe sun has set on all joy.\u201d Joy (<\/span>simcha<\/span><\/em>) is inner happiness, which is comparable to a light that illumines the soul. By means of the light of joy, they achieve gladness (<\/span>masos<\/span><\/em>), which is the expression of joy in eating, drinking, and dancing, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, the light of joy has set and its illumination has darkened the horizon of the hearts thereby banishing rejoicing from the earth. No longer will the cheerful sounds of partying be heard across the land because all [its inhabitants] will be exiled. \u201cAnd what will be left in the city?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In chapter 15, we observed Malbim\u2019s \u201cmodern\u201d inclination towards providing a summary at the outset of the chapter. Here, we can add another \u201cmodern\u201d feature: his orientation towards contextual interpretation. Unlike his medieval predecessors, who commented on verses in isolation from one another, Malbim frequently combined adjacent verses in his commentary or, as he did here, inserted a piece of connective tissue at the end of one verse\u2019s commentary emphasizing its linkage to its successor: \u201cAnd what will be left in the city?\u201d The answer is in v. 12: \u201cDesolation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

*For the significance of Malbim\u2019s commentary to the Book of Isaiah,<\/span> see our introduction to chapter 1.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"No More Partying","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Now, the light of joy has set and its illumination has darkened the horizon of the hearts, thereby banishing rejoicing from the earth. No longer will the cheerful sounds of partying be heard across the land because its inhabitants will be exiled. And what will be left in the city?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66175"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116032,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66175\/revisions\/116032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}