The Lord Will Fight for You, and You will Keep Silent

70) “If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing what you wish on My holy day.” Happy are Israel, for the Creator desires them, to cling unto them more than all the other nations in the world. And out of the love for them, He brought them close to Him and gave them the Torah, and He gave them the Sabbath, which is holier than all the other days, and in which there is rest from everything and joy to all. The Sabbath is tantamount to the whole of Torah, and one who keeps the Sabbath, it is as though he kept the whole Torah.

71) “And call the Sabbath ‘a delight,’ the holy day of the Lord ‘honorable.’” It is the delight of everything: the delight of the soul and the body, the delight of the upper ones and of the lower ones. “And call” means that He will invite him, as one invites a guest to one’s home: with a set table and with a house more in order than on the rest of the days. “And call the Sabbath,” ahead of time, to add from regular to holy. “The holy day of the Lord” is Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement], since Yom Kippur and the Sabbath are one.

72) “From seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word,” so your speech of the Sabbath will not be as the speaking of a regular day, since that word of a regular day that is spoken on Sabbath rises and evokes a regular word above, and the Sabbath is blemished. One who invites a guest should trouble himself with him and not with another.

73) That word, which comes out of one’s mouth, rises and evokes an awakening above, for better or for worse. And one who sits in delight of the Sabbath must not evoke an ordinary day’s word, since he blemishes the holy day. One who sits in the joy of the King, it is improper of him to leave the King and engage with another.

74) Each day, one must show a deed and evoke awakening below, from what he should evoke. However, on Sabbath, one should awaken only in the words of the Creator and the holiness of the day, and not on anything else, since on Sabbath, there is no need for an awakening from below.

75) When Pharaoh drew near, to make war with Israel, at that time the Creator did not want Israel to evoke an awakening from below at all, since there was an awakening from above because the fathers evoked that awakening from above first, and their merit stood before Him.

Thus, the Creator did not want Israel to awaken below at all, as it is written, “The Lord will fight for you, and you will keep silent.” “Keep silent” indeed, and do not evoke what you should not. Here the holy Name is included in the inscribed letters HaVaYaH, which is mercy, as it is written, “The Lord will fight for you,” even though HaVaYaH is mercy and war is judgment.

76) HaVaYaH is mercy everywhere. Even though He makes wars and executes judgment, that judgment is in mercy. And here it is written, “The Lord will fight for you,” and no mercy appear to be in that judgment at all, for it is written, “And not one of them will remain.”

77) Even here, the judgment was in mercy, since the sea covered them and they died, and afterwards the sea emitted them. The Creator wished for their honor and they were buried in the land. But the land did not wish to receive them until the Creator reached His right hand to her and she received them, as it is written, “You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them.” For this reason, that judgment was in mercy.

78) For this reason, the Creator did not want Israel to evoke something in the world below. Had Israel evoked something below, the mercy would not have awakened there and the judgment in mercy would not have been done, as it is written, “The Lord will fight for you, and you will keep silent,” meaning do not stir up anything because the name of mercy must awaken on them so that the judgment will be done with mercy. Hence, you must not cause any flaw or evoke another thing, meaning judgment without mercy, since an awakening below would only activate the judgment.

79) It is written, “And the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations.” Was this judgment with mercy? Indeed, the judgment was with mercy, since their death was not as the death of the rest of the people in the world. Instead, the Creator had mercy on them that they will not be as the death of the rest of the people in the world, who were killed with ease, without sorrow. It is written, “Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet.” Thus, the judgment was in mercy.

80) Everywhere, this name is judgment in mercy, except for one place, where it writes, “The Lord will go forth like a warrior.” Is the Creator like a warrior and not a real warrior? He will change His garments and will wear other garments. In other words, He will change His quality of mercy and wear the clothes of judgment, as a man of war He will change his weapons from mercy to judgment. Thus, in this place, the mercy has been changed into judgment.

81) Yet, there is more judgment here than mercy. And yet there is mercy in Him, as it is written, “The Lord will go forth like a warrior; He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.” “Like a man of war,” and not a real warrior, who is all judgment. “Like a man of war,” and not a real man of war, who is all judgment. Indeed, although He executes judgment, He has mercy over His creations, hence “The Lord will fight for you,” indeed, “And you will keep silent,” so you will not arouse only judgment. Happy are Israel, whom the Creator has chosen as His lot and His inheritance, as it is written, “For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.”