HA'TZLATZAL.' In the opinion of Rashi this is one of the species of the locust. But if so, it would have been proper for him [Moses] to connect it with the verses where he speaks of the locust¹ and the worm!² It appears more likely that the word tz'latzal is a term for "a hostile army.⁠" He is thus stating, Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be thine³ to work for you and be a nourisher of thine old age,⁠⁴ for they shall go into captivity⁵ before the enemy. And he states, All thy trees and the fruit of thy soil⁶ which will not bear fruits for you, as he mentioned⁷ — the enemy coming upon you will take possession, for in the year during which the enemy will come upon you, [the trees and fields] will yield them their produce and they will eat it. Now, an army is called tz'latzal [from the term tzeltzal — "cymbal"] because of the noise of war in the camp⁸ which they cause and the voice of the horn,⁠⁹ the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.⁠¹⁰ [The word tz'latzal is thus] from the word 'tziltzelei shama' (loud-sounding cymbals) and 'tziltzelei t'ruah' (clanging cymbals);⁠¹¹ and with rattles¹² 'uv'tzeltzelim' (and with cymbals).⁠¹³ Similarly, the expression, Ah, land of 'tziltzal' of wings¹⁴ means a land [i.e., a people] that causes "the sound of its wings" be heard as it goes to far off places as the vulture swoopeth down.⁠¹⁵ And in the Gemara we find:⁠¹⁶ "[The Mishnah states: 'If a man took illegal possession of a field] and masikin took it from him.' The scholar that reads the word as masikin is not in error, for it is written yeyaresh ha'tzlatzal¹⁷ which we translate [in Onkelos' rendition] 'yachs'nine saka'ah' (the 'locust' will take possession). And the scholar that reads the word as matzikin is also not in error, for it is written in the siege 'uvmatzok' (and in the straitness),⁠"¹⁸ for the word [saka'ah which is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew tz'latzal] was to the Sages the term for those who bring people in the siege and in the straitness¹⁹ [and is thus also an expression for a hostile army, and not as Rashi says that it is a species of the locust].
Know that the admonitions concerning scantiness, discomfiture, rebuke,⁠²⁰ pestilence,⁠²¹ trees, and the fruit of the soil²² and all the other admonitions will all endure until He will cause you to vanish from the Land whither thou goest in to possess it.⁠²³ But after the exile [will have taken place] he does not imprecate them except by saying, and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.⁠²⁴ At times, however, he reverts to reprove them while still in the Land, as he said, The Eternal will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers; and there thou shalt serve other gods,⁠²⁵ this being a reference to the exile in which we were expatriated to Rome because of the journey there of King Agrippa²⁶ [the last king during the period of the Second Temple who made a covenant with Rome].⁠²⁷ Afterwards he [Moses] reverts and says, Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field etc.⁠²⁸ Now, these admonitions [apply] while they are in the Land, for so he states afterwards, and ye shall be plucked from off the Land²⁹ which is a reference to the exile. In my opinion this, too, is part of Moses' intimations. He states, The Eternal will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that thou hast not known³⁰ which alludes to King Agrippa's journey to Rome. It is also possible that he alludes to another king, preceding Agrippa, namely Aristobulus³¹ whom the Roman general [Pompey] captured and brought there [to Rome] in fetters of brass. They [the captives] became a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples³² who were so amazed at their historic strength [and nevertheless such a calamity befell them that the viewers said], How are the mighty fallen, and their weapons of war perished!³³ Afterwards³⁴ Agrippa [II] came once again with the emissary of the king of Rome into the Land and captured very large cities in the land of Judea. Then was fulfilled what he [Moses] said, And thou shalt serve thine enemy whom the Eternal shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst etc.⁠³⁵ It further states, The Eternal will bring a nation against thee from afar,⁠³⁶ for, Vespasian and his son Titus came with a very large Roman army into the Land and captured all the fortified cities of Judea, and oppressed them greatly, as is known from the [history] books that they also captured the walls of Jerusalem and there remained only the Sanctuary and the wall of the Court. They [the besieged] ate the flesh of their sons and their daughters.⁠³⁷ And when the Sanctuary was also captured, then was fulfilled and ye shall be plucked from off the Land.⁠³⁸ Then the Romans returned to their country taking with them the exile of Jerusalem, as did the many [foreign] peoples, too, who were with them [i.e., the Romans] — from Greece, Egypt, Syria and many other peoples [who had joined the Romans in the destruction of Jerusalem and who took Israelite captives with them]. Then was fulfilled the verse, And the Eternal shall scatter thee among all peoples etc.⁠³⁹ The verses after that, all refer to their punishment in exile. So also, And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee⁴⁰ applies to our fear in exile under peoples who constantly promulgate decrees against us. The correct interpretation is that this verse alludes to those generations that existed at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, for the Romans were then scheming to destroy the Jews completely. Therefore he says afterwards, And the Eternal shall bring thee back into Egypt in ships,⁠⁴¹ which happened when [the Romans] finished removing them from the Land. And our Rabbis have said:⁠⁴² "Why [was it decreed that they be brought back into] Egypt? Because it is offensive and evil for a servant when he returns to his first master.⁠" If so, he mentioned Egypt as a reproof. However, once we have been exiled to the countries of our enemies, the work of our hands has not been accursed. Neither have our oxen and the breeds of our flock, our vineyards and our olive orchards and that which we have sown in the field [been adversely affected]. Rather in the countries [of our exile] we are like the rest of the peoples who inhabit whatever country, or even better than them,⁠⁴³ for His mercies are upon us, because our habitations in exile are by [virtue of] the promise He made to us, And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them; for I am the Eternal their G-d.⁠⁴⁴ I have already explained in Seder Im Bechukothai⁴⁵ the secret of this covenant [mentioned here], and that it refers to the present time of our exile at the hand of the "fourth beast,⁠"⁴⁶ and afterwards He assured us of being [completely] redeemed therefrom.
Now, we have examined the punishments for idolatry which are mentioned in the Torah in many places, among them what is stated at the beginning [of this book]: When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have been long in the Land, and shall deal corruptly, and make a graven image etc.,⁠⁴⁷ this being a warning to Israel lest they worship idols after being in the Land for many years and having grown old in it. The punishment for that is, I call heaven and earth to witness etc.⁠⁴⁸ until And the Eternal shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number.⁠⁴⁹ And there it is stated, And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands,⁠⁵⁰ and he promised, But from thence ye will seek the Eternal thy G-d, and thou shalt find Him etc.⁠⁵¹ This has been fulfilled with them [in the Babylonian exile] as I have already mentioned and explained.⁠⁵² And in another chapter he said, And it shall be, when the Eternal thy G-d shall bring thee into the Land which He swore unto thy fathers etc.;⁠⁵³ Ye shall not go after other gods of the peoples that are round about you.⁠⁵⁴ And the punishment is, for a jealous G-d, even the Eternal thy G-d, is in the midst of thee; lest the anger of the Eternal thy G-d be kindled against thee, and He destroy thee from off the face of the earth.⁠⁵⁵ This is a warning to those who enter the Land lest they immediately become attached to idolatry and forget the G-d Who brought them forth from Egypt and walk after the idols. This Israel never did, nor did this punishment ever take place. The language of the verse implies this — that it is a warning, not a suggestion of something destined to be, as he said, lest the anger of the Eternal thy G-d be kindled against thee,⁠⁵⁶ that is to say, you should be fearful of this. In a third chapter he stated Beware lest thou forget the Eternal thy G-d, in not keeping His commandments, and His ordinances, and His statutes etc.,⁠⁵⁷ and he said, and thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Eternal thy G-d, Who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt etc.; Who led thee through the great and dreadful wilderness etc.,⁠⁵⁸ and so throughout the section. And thou say in thy heart: 'My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.' But thou shalt remember the Eternal thy G-d, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth.⁠⁵⁹ And here [i.e., in this third chapter] he said, And it shall be, if thou shalt forget the Eternal thy G-d, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I forewarn you this day etc.⁠⁶⁰ This is also a warning to those entering the Land lest they forget the Glorious Name⁶¹ and deny that it was He Who brought them forth from the land of Egypt and [lest they claim that] He did nothing for them, but that they did everything by their own power because they were strong and therefore they will worship the idols as they please. The punishment for this would be complete destruction: As the nations that the Eternal causeth to perish before you, so shall ye perish.⁠⁶² The language of the verse indicates that he is warning them lest they do so when they enter the Land before they grow old in it, before they destroy all the peoples of the Land. Therefore he said, As the nations that the Eternal causeth to perish before you, so shall ye perish,⁠⁶³ which applied to the time when the peoples [of the Land] were destroyed, and he warned them that G-d would turn His hand from the destruction of these peoples and He would destroy Israel like them. This, too, Israel never did, and nothing like it came upon them. The fourth time he warned and explained, saying, And it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Eternal thy G-d, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes etc. that all these curses shall come upon thee etc.⁠⁶⁴ and all the words of the covenant [which follow], and in the end there is the great promise: And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee etc., and thou shalt bethink thyself etc., and shalt return unto the Eternal thy G-d etc., that then the Eternal thy G-d will restore thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee,⁠⁶⁵ and so on to the conclusion of the section. Now, this is the warning and allusion to this our [present] exile and to the perfect redemption by which we will be redeemed therefrom. And the fifth chapter is a warning by way of a prophecy to be fulfilled: And the Eternal said unto Moses: 'Behold, thou art about to sleep with thy fathers, and this people will rise up …⁶⁶ [Now therefore write ye this Song for you …] that this Song shall testify before them as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed etc.'⁶⁷ This warning has been wholly fulfilled in its literal sense and wider meaning.