CHAPTER 12

Rising [qimah] is an equivocal term. One of its meanings is to get up, which is the opposite of sitting. Thus: He did not rise nor move for him.¹ It also has a meaning denoting the stability and validity of a matter. Thus: The Lord will let His promise rise;² The field of Ephron arose;³ The house that is in the [walled] city shall arise;⁴ And the kingdom of Israel shall arise in thy hand.5 All mention of rising applied to God, may He be exalted, has this meaning. Thus: Now will I rise, saith the Lord.⁶ What He intends to say by this is: Now will I carry out My decree, My promise, and My menace. Thus also: Thou wilt arise and have compassion upon Zion;⁷ that is, Thou wilt carry out what Thou hast promised as to having mercy upon her. As one who decides to do something marks his impulse to do it [21b] by rising, so whoever has revolted over some matter is said to rise up. Thus: That my son hath made my servant rise up against me.8 And the word taken in this sense is used figuratively to denote the execution of God’s decree against a people who have deserved punishment entailing their destruction. Thus: And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam;⁹ But he will rise against the house of the evil-doers.¹⁰ His words, Now will I rise, may likewise have this meaning; and similarly the words: [Thou] wilt arise and have compassion upon Zion;¹¹ he means: Thou wilt arise against her enemies. Many biblical texts conform to this meaning,¹² for there is not to be found in them a rising-up and a sitting-down of God, may He be exalted. Accordingly [the Sages], peace be on them, have said: In the upper world there is neither sitting nor standing;¹³ for standing sometimes occurs in the sense of rising.