Text of the Haftorah of Shoftim – Yeshayahu 51:12 – 52:12

Seeing Eye to Eye

As the fourth of the series of Seven Haftorahs of Consolation, the haftorah of Shoftim talks about the return of prophecy. It uses a relatively unusual term for prophets: צופים, “lookouts.”

קוֹל צֹפַיִךְ נָשְׂאוּ קוֹל יַחְדָּו יְרַנֵּנוּ כִּי עַיִן בְּעַיִן יִרְאוּ בְּשׁוּב ה’ צִיּוֹן  —

Your lookouts will raise their voices, together they will sing, for every eye will clearly see as Hashem returns to Tzion. (Yeshayahu 52:8)

The Medrash states that this level of prophecy will be even greater than that of Moshe Rabbeinu:

אמר הקב”ה בעה”ז על שהיו רואין את כבודי היו כלין שנאמר (שמות לג) כי לא יראני האדם וחי – אבל לעתיד לבוא כשאחזיר שכינתי לציון אני נגלה בכבודי על כל ישראל והן רואין אותי וחיים לעולם שנאמר (ישעיה נב) כי עין בעין יראו בשוב ה’ ציון —

God said: In this world, if people see My Glory, they can’t survive it, as it says (Shemos 33), “For no man can see Me and live,” but in the future, when I will bring My Presence back to Tzion, I will appear in My Glory to all of Yisrael, and they will see Me and live forever, as it says (Yeshayahu 52), “For every eye will clearly see as Hashem returns to Tzion.” (Medrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 17)

This Medrash refers to the time that Moshe Rabbeinu asked God to show him His Glory, and He refused, saying,

וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא תוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת פָּנָי כִּי לֹא יִרְאַנִי הָאָדָם וָחָי —

He said, “You will not be able to see My ‘face,’ for no man can see Me and still live.” (Shemos 33:20)

The Medrash says that while Moshe Rabbeinu could not see God, in the future, at the time of the Redemption, the Jewish People will have no problem perceiving God’s full Glory and His full Presence. The proof that the Medrash brings is the verse from our haftorah, “every eye will see clearly.” Literally, the phrase is עַיִן בְּעַיִן, “they will see eye to eye.”

What was it that Moshe couldn’t see, that we will be able to see when Redemption comes? This term, “eye to eye,” appears in Tanach only three times. In two of those times, the haftorah and one other, it refers to prophecy.

The third time appears in Parashas Shoftim:

וְדָרְשׁוּ הַשֹּׁפְטִים הֵיטֵב וְהִנֵּה עֵד שֶׁקֶר הָעֵד שֶׁקֶר עָנָה בְאָחִיו: וְלֹא תָחוֹס עֵינֶךָ נֶפֶשׁ בְּנֶפֶשׁ עַיִן בְּעַיִן שֵׁן בְּשֵׁן יָד בְּיָד רֶגֶל בְּרָגֶל  —

And the judges will analyze it carefully, and find that it is false witness; he witnessed falsely against his brother. Do not spare him: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, arm for arm, leg for leg. (Devarim 19:18–19)

These verses are talking about the case when people lie to the court to get someone punished for crimes that they did not commit. The law is that whatever they had planned for their victim must be done to them.

We know, based on a similar phrase of “eye for an eye” elsewhere in the Torah, that “for” refers to monetary compensation, the way one buys merchandise “for” money. However, the fact that the Torah says this so starkly also tells us something. In the ideal world, in the world of pure Truth, what this person deserves is literally an “eye for an eye.” If we were to look at life through the eyes of a prophet, we would see that someone who attempts to use the justice system to harm another person deserves to have that identical harm boomerang back to him in every respect. Unfortunately, in the real world, this cannot be done with the perfect precision that is necessary for it to be just; “boomerang justice” is more likely to cause injustice than otherwise. Instead, the offender pays money, a representation, the closest approximation of justice and truth.

Moshe Rabbeinu asked if He could see God’s “face,” that is, to truly see the justice in how He runs the world. God answered him that in the “real world,” or more precisely, the world that we currently know as real, this is not possible. The disconnect between the prophetic eye and the physical eye is too great. They cannot be aligned.

The haftorah tells us that the future world will be different. God’s Presence will be so strong and His relationship with the Jewish People will be so pure and unobstructed, that the physical eye and the prophetic eye will align perfectly. There will be no disconnect between them, no warping in the lens of pure truth and justice.

When we shall see the Return to Tzion “eye to eye,” we will also be able to see, “eye to eye,” God’s justice in His world.