angel classes

מַכֵּה אִישׁ וָמֵת (Shemos 21:12), one who strikes a man so that he dies, and אַשְׁרֵי־ אִישׁ יָרֵא אֶת־י"י (Tehillim 112:1), happy is the man who fears Hashem. איש takes in male and female alike; in איש ואשה, man and woman, it is said of the male alone, since אשה, woman, is named beside it, and so too without אשה where the sense of the pasuk shows it. The plural is אֲלֵיכֶם אִישִׁים אֶקְרָא (Mishlei 8:4), to you, O men, I call. The shin of אשה is doubled for the quiescent yud lost from איש, and in the construct it is lightened to אֵשֶׁת; sometimes אשת stands on its own, as כְּמוֹ אֵשֶׁת לֵדָֽה (Yirmiyahu 13:21), like a woman in labour. The plural of אשה is אִשֹּׁת הַזִּמָּֽה (Yechezkel 23:44), the women of lewdness, but נשים, women, belongs to the root אנש and is written there.

Every thing is called איש and אשה, man and woman, though it is not human: of the keruvim, וּפְנֵיהֶם אִישׁ אֶל־אָחִיו (Shemos 25:20), and their faces, each man toward his brother; of the curtains, אִשָּׁה אֶל־אֲחֹתָהּ (Shemos 26:3), each woman to her sister; of the stars, אִישׁ לֹא נֶעְדָּֽר (Yeshayahu 40:26), not a man of them is missing; and of the beasts, אִישׁ וְאִשְׁתּוֹ (Bereishis 7:2), a man and his wife, the male and its mate.

גִּדְעוֹן בֶּן־יוֹאָשׁ אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל (Shoftim 7:14), Gidon ben Yoash, a man of Israel, means the great one of Israel and its head; הֲלֽוֹא־ אִישׁ אַתָּה (Shmuel I 26:15) is, are you not a great man; י"י אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה (Shemos 15:3), Hashem is a man of war, is, He is great and the master of war; אִם־תִּמְצְאוּ אִישׁ (Yirmiyahu 5:3 in his edition), if you find a man, is a great man, a master of good deeds, and its explanation stands beside it, אִם־יֵשׁ עֹשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט, if there is one who does justice. In גַּם־בְּנֵי אָדָם גַּם־בְּנֵי־ אִישׁ (Tehillim 49:3), both the sons of adam and the sons of ish, בני אדם is said of the multitude and בני איש of the great. וְאִישָׁהּ זָקֵֽן (Melachim II 4:14), and her man is old, is her husband. וְאִם־ אִישׁ שְׂפָתַיִם יִצְדָּֽק (Iyov 11:2), and if a man of lips be in the right, is the master of lips, the master of the tongue, who dresses his arguments in his best words.

איש also comes without its yud, and some say the alef there stands in place of a yud, so that the word is יש, there is: אִם־ אִשׁ לְהֵמִין וּלְהַשְׂמִיל (Shmuel II 14:19), if there is any turning right or left, and עוֹד הַאִשׁ בֵּית רָשָׁע (Michah 6:10), is there still, in the house of the wicked; and so Yonasan rendered the first אִם אִית לְמִסְטֵי לְיַמִינָא, if there is turning to the right, and the second עוֹד הַאִית בֵּית רְשִׁיעָא, is there still in the house of the wicked. On this reading the heh of הַאִשׁ has a patach because it asks, as in היש, is there. Radak's father read אִשׁ as fire, as in אִשׁ אלהים, the fire of Elokim, and עוֹד as in עוֹד יְֽהַלְלוּךָ סֶּֽלָה (Tehillim 84:5), they will ever praise You, selah: that is, all the days there will be fire in the house of the wicked, on account of the treasures of wickedness, אִשׁ taking a chirik where אֵשׁ takes a tzeirei, as חִין stands beside חֵן and בִּין beside בֵן. Radak says his father explained it well, but for the patach under the heh, which makes it look like the heh of a question. Both can also be read as they sound, of a man, as the Chacham Rabbi Avraham explained it; on that reading, the honoured man of the city holds to his wickedness still after hearing the voice of the call, there being treasures of wickedness in his house. That reading too Radak calls good, save that it also pays no heed to the patach of the heh.

וַיַּכּוּ אִישׁ אִישׁוֹ (Melachim I 20:20), and they struck each man his man, means that each of them killed the one who came against him; אִישׁוֹ there is איש with its suffix.

כְּאִישׁוֹן עֵינֽוֹ (Devarim 32:10), as the pupil of his eye, is בת עינו, the pupil, called so because the form of a man is seen in it; that is why the pasuk joins אִישׁוֹן to בת and says שָׁמְרֵנִי כְּאִישׁוֹן בַּת־עָיִן (Tehillim 17:8), guard me as the pupil of the eye. His father wrote that אִישׁוֹן is said to make small, since the form appears small in the eye, and that it is the way of the Hebrews to add letters to make a thing small, as in שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן (Vayikra 16:31), where שבת is said of the day itself from evening to evening and שבתון of the time added to it from the weekday to the holy, and הַֽאֲמִינוֹן אָחִיךְ (Shmuel II 13:20), has Aminon your brother been with you, where a letter is added to make the name small; the vernacular too, he wrote, adds letters to make a thing small. Another reason his father gave is that it is called so because it is black, as בְּאִישׁוֹן לַיְלָה וַֽאֲפֵלָֽה (Mishlei 7:9), in the blackness of night and gloom, which means in the blackness of the night; and in another measure, with the middle root letter fallen, בֶּאֱישׁוּן [ בֶּאֱשׁוּן ] חֹֽשֶׁךְ (Mishlei 20:20), in the blackness of darkness.

וַיָּסַר אֵת אֹפַן מַרְכְּבֹתָיו (Shemos 14:25), he removed the wheel of his chariots; כַּֽאֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה הָֽאוֹפַן (Yechezkel 10:10), as the ofan would be; לָאֽוֹפַנִּים לָהֶם (Yechezkel 10:13), as for the ofanim, to them. The sense of them all is a wheel.

דָּבָר דָּבֻר עַל־ אָפְנָֽיו (Mishlei 25:11), a word spoken on its wheels, על גלגליו, is another vowel pattern and is said as a figure: that is, a word settled in its place. Its pattern is that of חָפְנָיו, his two handfuls, one of the duals whose single is חֹפֶן, a handful; so the single here is אֹפֶן, and it is dual because it holds the hidden and the revealed.

Rabbi Yonah explained it as על פניו, upon its face, the alef being an addition. He wrote that נָשָׂאתִי אֵמֶיךָ אָפֽוּנָה (Tehillim 88:16), I have borne your terrors a long time, is of this root as well, and said that time is called in Arabic אִפַּא"ן, with a chirik under the alef and a dagesh in the peh. Radak has also written אָפֽוּנָה under the root פון, in the pattern of אָקוּמָה, I shall arise, as Rabbi Yehudah mentioned it.

הֵן אֶרְאֶלָּם צָֽעֲקוּ חֻצָה (Yeshayahu 33:7), behold their erelam cried outside, is their angel; arel is a name of greatness, as Radak explained at the word אריאל. He is close to saying that it is all one root, even though the yud has dropped out in אֶרְאֶלָּם.

Chazal also named the holy angels with this term for their great standing (Kesubos 104a): אראלים ומצוקים אחזו בארון הקדש, the arelim and the metzukim seized the holy ark, and נצחו אראלים את המצוקים, the arelim prevailed over the metzukim. Arelim is said of the angels for their greatness, metzukim of men of weight and standing, as in מְצֻקֵי אֶרֶץ וַיָּשֶׁת עֲלֵיהֶם תֵּבֵֽל (Shmuel I 2:8), the pillars of the earth, and He set the world upon them, which Chazal expounded (Yoma 38b) of the pious and the great, upon whom the world stands.

Rabbi Adonim read אֶרְאֶלָּם as a word compounded of אֶרְאֶה לָהֶם, I will show them, as בִּשְּׁלָם הַבָּשָׂר (Melachim I 19:21), he cooked the meat for them, stands for בשל להם, he cooked for them. Radak's father wrote the same and explained it so: the navi says, I will show Yisrael troubles, so that they cry outside, and the messengers of peace who used to come with words of peace מר יבכיון נשמו מסילות, weep bitterly, the highways lie desolate.

Ibn Ezra took it as Yerushalayim, which is called הוֹי אֲרִיאֵל אֲרִיאֵל (Yeshayahu 29:1), woe, Ariel, Ariel. On his reading the sense is that when they see their arel torn down, they cry outside.

וְחָיְתָה נַפְשִׁי בִּגְלָלֵךְ (Bereishis 12:13), that my soul may live on your account. Likewise the name חַוָּה, for הִוא הָיְתָה אֵם כָּל חָי (Bereishis 3:20), she was the mother of all living, the yud turned to a vav so that it should not be confused with זֹאת הַחַיָּה אֲשֶׁר תֹּאכְלוּ, the chayah that you shall eat. It is also health: עַד חֲיוֹתָם (Yehoshua 5:8), until they were well, and וְיִמְרְחוּ עַל הַשְּׁחִין וְיֶחִי (Yeshayahu 38:21), let them rub it on the boil, and he will be well. Where the verb takes an object it is to keep alive or to let live, as מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹא תְחַיֶּה (Shemos 22:17), you shall not let a sorceress live. בְּקֶרֶב שָׁנִים חַיֵּיהוּ (Chavakuk 3:2), in the midst of years keep it alive, he explains: Yisrael, which is Your work, keep it alive in the midst of the years of troubles. חַיַּת יָדֵךְ מָצָאת (Yeshayahu 57:10), you found the life of your hand, he explains: it was as pleasant to you as food is to a man, and so you did not grow sick.

וְיוֹאָב יְחַיֶּה אֶת־שְׁאָר הָעִיר (Divrei HaYamim I 11:8), and Yoav revived the rest of the city, means that Yoav closed in the rest of the city: the city was built from the Millo round about, and Yoav built the wall of the rest of it. The pasuk speaks in terms of life because a ruined city is as though dead. So too הַיְחַיּוּ אֶת־הָאֲבָנִים מֵעֲרֵמוֹת הֶעָפָר וְהֵמָּה שְׂרוּפוֹת (Nechemiah 3:34), will they revive the stones out of the heaps of dust, burnt as they are? Elsewhere the same is said in terms of healing: כִּי־עָלְתָה אֲרוּכָה לְחֹמוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַם (Nechemiah 4:1), that healing had come up to the walls of Yerushalayim, and וַיְרַפֵּא אֶת־מִזְבַּח (Melachim I 18:30), and he healed the mizbeach, the mizbeach of Hashem that had been torn down.

On זֹאת הַחַיָּה אֲשֶׁר תֹּאכְלוּ (Vayikra 11:2), this is the chayah that you shall eat, he says the behemah is taken in under chayah. But אֲשֶׁר יָצוּד צֵיד חַיָּה אוֹ עוֹף (Vayikra 17:13), who hunts a chayah or a bird, is of the chayah alone and not the behemah, since the behemah has no covering of its blood.

The neshamah is called חַיָּה, he says, because it lives for ever and is not as the body is; and the animal soul is called חַיָּה too, as וְזִהֲמַתּוּ חַיָּתוֹ לָחֶם (Iyov 33:20), his soul makes him loathe bread. וְחַיָּתָם לַדֶּבֶר הִסְגִּיר (Tehillim 78:50), and He gave their חַיָּה over to the pestilence, may be read in this sense too, of their souls. Some explain it as their cattle, and take the pasuk to speak of the pestilence among the livestock.

Of meat חַי is raw: וְלֹא יִקַּח מִמְּךָ בָּשָׂר מְבֻשָּׁל כִּי אִם חָי (Shmuel I 2:15), he will not take cooked meat from you, only raw. כָּעֵת חַיָּה (Bereishis 18:14) he reads as this same time in the coming year, when it will be living. So too כֹּה לֶחָי (Shmuel I 25:6), thus for the living: for the living time, that is, the coming year, when you will be alive; life is ascribed to the time because life continues in it. Some explain כֹּה לֶחָי as to the rich man, since a poor man is counted as dead, and so נֶגֶד הַחַיִּים (Koheles 6:8), before the living, as before the rich; Radak says there is no need to take it out of its plain sense. Yonasan renders כֹּה לֶחָי as כְּדֵין לְחַיָךְ, so for your life, which Radak explains: so may it be all your days. Chazal call a midwife a חַיָּה (Kiddushin 74a), where they say three are believed about a firstborn, his father, his mother and the midwife; on their usage, Radak says, כִּי חָיוֹת הֵנָּה (Shemos 1:19) may be read as midwives: they need no other midwives, being midwives themselves. Chazal also call a woman giving birth a חַיָּה (Yoma 73b), from which, Radak says, it is good to read כָּעֵת חַיָּה as meaning that at this time she will be bearing a child.

On אֲשֶׁר נָתְנוּ חִתִּיתָם בְּאֶרֶץ חַיִּים (Yechezkel 32:24), who set their terror in the land of the living, וְנָתַתִּי צְבִי בְּאֶרֶץ חַיִּים (Yechezkel 26:20), and I will set desire in the land of the living, and בְּאַרְצוֹת הַחַיִּים (Tehillim 116:9), in the lands of the living, Chazal explain (Avos d'Rabbi Nosson 34) that Eretz Yisrael is called the land of the living, as it is called ארץ צבי, the land of desire; and Chazal say likewise (Kesubos 111a), ארץ שמתיה חיים, a land whose dead live. All of them can also be read in their plain sense.

חַיָּתְךָ יָשְׁבוּ בָהּ (Tehillim 68:11), Your company dwelt in it, and וְחַיַּת פְּלִשְׁתִּים (Shmuel II 23:13), the company of the Pelishtim, are a company of men, and חַיַּת קָנֶה he explains as the company that carries reeds, meaning spears. אַל־תִּתֵּן לְחַיַּת נֶפֶשׁ תּוֹרֶךָ (Tehillim 74:19), do not give to the company the soul of Your turtledove, has a word missing after the construct: do not give the soul of Your turtledove to the company of the enemies, the turtledove being Knesses Yisrael, likened to a turtledove as Scripture likens her to a dove. Some take לְחַיַּת as a noun from יְחִיתַן (Chavakuk 2:17), will break them, which is a sense of breaking. A cluster of houses standing together, unwalled, which could not be built up as a city, is called a חַיָּה as well, as וַיֵּאָסְפוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים לַחַיָּה (Shmuel II 23:11), the Pelishtim gathered at the cluster; and with a vav for the yud, חַוֹּת יָאִיר (Bamidbar 32:41), the clusters of Yair. Rabbi Yonah explains it so, and says the Arabs call such a cluster by the same word.

כְּעֵין הַֽחַשְׁמַל (Yechezkel 1:4), like the look of the chashmal, is an angel so called, and it was the like of his hue that the navi saw out of the fire.

So Chazal said (Chagigah 13a) of the child who was expounding the workings of the merkavah and understood the chashmal, and fire came out of the chashmal and consumed him.

They further said (Chagigah 13b) that the word is a compound: what is chashmal? חש מל, silent, speaking. Rabbi Yehudah said חיות אש ממללות, creatures of fire that speak. A braisa taught עתים חשות עתים ממללות, at times they are silent and at times they speak: silent when the word goes out from the mouth of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, speaking when it does not. That speaking, Radak says, is praising and lauding Hashem.

Radak says chashmal may be the name of the hue itself, one close to the hue of fire, since the pasuk says כְּעֵין הַֽחַשְׁמַל מִתּוֹךְ הָאֵשׁ, like the look of the chashmal out of the midst of the fire; and כְּעֵין חַשְׁמַל כְּמַרְאֵה־אֵשׁ בֵּֽית־לָהּ סָבִיב (Yechezkel 1:27), like the look of chashmal, like the appearance of fire with a housing round about it; and in the second vision כְּמַרְאֵה־זֹהַר כְּעֵין הַחַשְׁמַֽלָה (Yechezkel 8:2), like the appearance of brightness, like the look of the chashmalah.

כְּרוּב אֶחָד מִקָּצָה מִזֶּה (Shemos 25:19), one keruv at this end, and וְהָיוּ הַכְּרֻבִים פֹּֽרְשֵׂי כְנָפַיִם (Shemos 25:20), the keruvim shall spread their wings.

Ibn Ezra explains that keruv takes in every figure: the keruvim of the Torah were explained as a human form, while the face of the keruv in Yechezkel's visions seems to be the ox's, since in one pasuk it says וּפְנֵי־שׁוֹר מֵֽהַשְּׂמֹאול לְאַרְבַּעְתָּן (Yechezkel 1:10), and the face of an ox on the left for all four, and in another פְּנֵי הָֽאֶחָד פְּנֵי הַכְּרוּב (Yechezkel 10:14), the face of the one the face of the keruv, in the place where the first said the face of an ox.

Chazal took the kaf as the prefix "like" (Chagigah 13b), keruv being כרביא, like a youth, for they were in the likeness of youths. They asked from these pesukim in Yechezkel, and answered that Yechezkel begged mercy over the ox's face and it was turned into a keruv, for he said, Master of the world, אין קטיגור נעשה סניגור, an accuser is not made a defender. They asked further from פְּנֵי הָֽאֶחָד פְּנֵי הַכְּרוּב וּפְנֵי הַשֵּׁנִי פְּנֵי אָדָם, the face of the one the face of the keruv and the face of the second the face of a man, since a man and a keruv are then two different things, and answered אפי רברבי ואפי זוטרי, large faces and small faces.

יַֽעֲשֶׂה אֹתָהּ כְּרֻבִֽים (Shemos 26:31), he shall make it keruvim: that is, the paroches is to be made embroidered with the figures of keruvim.

The king is called a keruv by way of borrowed speech, for greatness: אַתְּ־ כְּרוּב מִמְשַׁח הַסּוֹכֵךְ (Yechezkel 28:14), you are the anointed covering keruv.

וּמַלְאָךְ בָּא אֶל־אִיּוֹב (Iyov 1:14), a messenger came to Iyov; וַיָּשׁוּבוּ הַמַּלְאָכִים (Bereishis 32:7), the messengers returned; מַלְאֲכֵי אֱלֹהִים (Bereishis 28:12), messengers of Elokim. The mem of מלאך is one of the added letters. Radak wrote all these words under this root because Rabbi Yonah wrote them so, his view being that the mem is added; but it may also be said that the mem is of the root and the words have four letters.

וְלֹֽא־יִשָּׁמַע עוֹד קוֹל מַלְאָכֵֽכֵה (Nachum 2:14), and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more. He takes it as מלאכיךָ, your messengers, a tzere standing under the kaf of the suffix in place of a kamatz, and the heh like the heh of אֲשֶׁר־צִוִּיתִי אֹתָכָה (Shemos 29:35), that I commanded you. Rabbi Yonah wrote that the heh stands in place of a yud, as though מלאככִי, your messengers, like שׁוּבִי נַפְשִׁי לִמְנוּחָיְכִי (Tehillim 116:7), return, my soul, to your rest. Rabbi Yehudah ben Balaam wrote that קול מלאככה is the sound of the teeth eating the prey, as the pasuk says וְהִכְרַתִּי מֵאֶרֶץ טַרְפֵּךְ (Nachum 2:14), I will cut off your prey from the earth; and in the Persian tongue the millstones are called מלאככה, being the grinders, and the teeth are called grinders.

The noun is בְּמַלְֽאֲכוּת י"י (Chaggai 1:13), in the mission of Hashem. The sense of them all is known: being sent, whether by men or by the Creator. The navi is called a מלאך because he is Hashem's messenger: וַיִּשְׁלַח מַלְאָךְ וַיֹּֽצִאֵנוּ מִמִּצְרָיִם (Bamidbar 20:16), He sent a messenger and brought us out of Mitzrayim, is Moshe Rabbeinu; likewise וַיֹּאמֶר חַגַּי מַלְאַךְ י"י (Chaggai 1:13), Chaggai the messenger of Hashem said, and וַיִּֽהְיוּ מַלְעִיבִים בְּמַלְֽאֲכֵי הָֽאֱלֹהִים (Divrei HaYamim II 36:16), they were mocking the messengers of Elokim. So too is the explanation of וַיַּעַל מַלְאַךְ ־י"י מִן־הַגִּלְגָּל (Shoftim 2:1), the messenger of Hashem went up from the Gilgal, and וַיְהִי כְּדַבֵּר מַלְאַךְ י"י אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה (Shoftim 2:4), and it was, when the messenger of Hashem spoke these words; it is said (Vayikra Rabbah 1) that this messenger was Pinchas.

Another sense in this root: מִכָּל־ מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָֽׂה (Bereishis 2:2), from all His work which He had made. It falls on a man's doing, his money and his affairs. וְהַמְּלָאכָה הָֽיְתָה דַיָּם (Shemos 36:7), the work was enough for them, means the silver and the gold they brought and the rest of the things; לְרֶגֶל הַמְּלָאכָה (Bereishis 33:14), at the pace of the work, means the cattle; and likewise וְכָל־ הַמְּלָאכָה נְמִבְזָה וְנָמֵס (Shmuel I 15:9), and all the goods that were despised and worthless.

In the construct: לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם (Yirmiyahu 7:18), filed here as to the work of the heavens, with the aleph missing, and אִם־לֹא שָׁלַח יָדוֹ בִּמְלֶאכֶת רֵעֵהוּ (Shemos 22:7), if he has not put his hand to his fellow's goods; and likewise where it is definite, וְהַֽלְוִיִּם בַּמְלָֽאכֶת (Divrei HaYamim II 13:10), and the Leviim at the work. The plural is מְלָאכוֹת, and in the construct the aleph is sounded: כֹּל מַלְֽאֲכוֹת הַתַּבְנִֽית (Divrei HaYamim I 28:19), all the works of the pattern, and לְסַפֵּר כָּל־ מַלְֽאֲכוֹתֶֽיךָ (Tehillim 73:28), to tell all Your works. Some read לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם with the mem as a root letter, a word of kingship, that is, the great star in the heavens; and Yonasan renders it לְכוֹכְבַת שְׁמַיָא, the star of the heavens.

וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר־ בָּעִיר (Bereishis 34:28), and what was in the city. The plural hides the yud in וַיִּתֶּן־אֹכֶל בֶּֽעָרִים (Bereishis 41:48), he put food in the cities, and עָרִים לָשָׁבֶת (Bamidbar 35:2), cities to dwell in; and shows it in וּשְׁלֹשִׁים עֲיָרִים לָהֶם (Shoftim 10:4), and they had thirty cities.

וְלֹא אָבוֹא בְּעִֽיר (Hoshea 11:9), and I will not come into a city, he reads as a phrase whose sense is left unsaid: I will not come into another city, but into Yerushalayim. Rabbi Yonah wrote in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak ben Rabbi Shaul that its sense is ואם לא אבא בעיר, and if I do not come into a city. That is, Radak explains, no place can contain Me; and the need for this is that the pasuk says בְּקִרְבֵּךְ קְדוֹשׁ (Hoshea 11:9), the Holy One is in your midst.

וְעָרֶיהָ עָלָה (Yirmiyahu 48:15) comes in the masculine, and he explains it as each and every one of her cities being cut off. It may also be that the masculine is said of the people in the city.

עָר מוֹאָב (Bamidbar 21:28), Ar of Moav, can be read like עִיר, a city, or it is the name of the city. וּמָֽלְאוּ פְנֵֽי־תֵבֵל עָרִֽים (Yeshayahu 14:21), and they fill the face of the world with עָרִים, and וְהִשְׁמַדְתִּי עָרֶֽיךָ (Michah 5:13), and I will destroy your עָרִים, he has already explained, in two ways, under the root עור.

וְעַיִר פֶּרֶא אָדָם יִוָּלֵֽד (Iyov 11:12) he reads as וכעיר פרא: and like the colt of a wild ass a man is born. וְעַל־ עַיִר בֶּן־אֲתֹנֽוֹת (Zecharyah 9:9), and on a colt, the foal of she-asses; רֹֽכְבִים עַל־שְׁלֹשִׁים עֲיָרִים (Shoftim 10:4), riding on thirty colts; and with the middle root letter hidden, אֹֽסְרִי לַגֶּפֶן עִירֹה [ עִירוֹ ] (Bereishis 49:11), binding his colt to the vine. Its sense is the donkey while it is still small. The word fell on the פרא, the wild ass, as well, because the wild ass is like the donkey; but the wild ass is of the kind called chayah and the donkey of the kind called behemah, as Chazal said (Berachos 9b), כדי שיכיר בין חמור לערוד, that he may tell a donkey from an ערוד. The ערוד is the פרא.

וְשָׂרַף אֶת־הַפָּרָה (Bamidbar 19:5), and he shall burn the cow. וַיִּשְׂרֹף בָּאֵשׁ (Shemos 32:20), and he burned it in the fire, means that he melted the calf in the fire to undo its form, and afterwards ground it with a file, for gold does not burn but melts. וְאֶת־הָעִיר הַזֹּאת תִּשְׂרֹף בָּאֵֽשׁ (Yirmiyahu 38:23), and you shall burn this city with fire, means that you will be the cause of the city's burning if you do not go out to the Kasdim, and it is as though you burned it.

וּֽבְמִשְׂרְפוֹת אֲבוֹתֶיךָ (Yirmiyahu 34:5), and as with the burnings of your fathers, is the burning for kings of their bed and the vessels they used. So Chazal say (Sanhedrin 52b) that one burns for kings and it is not of the ways of the Emori, and that what is burnt for them is their bed and the vessels they used. Some explain the burning as a burning of incense, made for the dead so that the flesh should not stink, as it is written, וַיַּשְׁכִּיבֻהוּ בַּמִּשְׁכָּב אֲשֶׁר מִלֵּא בְּשָׂמִים (Divrei HaYamim II 16:14), and they laid him on the bed which he had filled with spices, and then וַיִּשְׂרְפוּ ־לוֹ שְׂרֵפָה גְּדוֹלָה, and they burned for him a great burning; and so וַיִּשְׂרְפוּ אֹתָם שָֽׁם (Shmuel I 31:12), and they burned them there. That last, Radak writes, can also be read of burning the flesh: since days had passed, the flesh had perhaps bred worms, and they would not bury them so, with the worms, but burned the flesh and afterwards buried the bones, as it is written, וַיִּקְחוּ אֶת־עַצְמֹתֵיהֶם וַיִּקְבְּרוּ (Shmuel I 31:13), and they took their bones and buried them.

Some explain וּנְשָׂאוֹ דּוֹדוֹ וּמְסָֽרְפוֹ (Amos 6:10) as of this sense, and his uncle and the one who burns him shall carry him, although it is written with a samech. Radak has already written of it under the samech.

מִשְׂרְפוֹת מַיִם (Yehoshua 11:8), Misrefos Mayim, is a place so called because its waters sprang up hot, like the hot springs of Teveria and others. Targum Yonasan renders it חַרְצֵי יַמָא, trenches of the sea; these, Radak explains, are trenches dug and filled with water drawn from the sea, which the sun burns until it turns to salt.

עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שָׂרָף (Bamidbar 21:8), make yourself a burning serpent, and הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים (Bamidbar 21:6), the burning serpents, are named so because they burn with the breath of their mouth. שָׂרָף מְעוֹפֵֽף (Yeshayahu 14:29), a flying serpent: it is said that serpents are found in the land of Kush that have wings and fly with them; or מְעוֹפֵֽף means leaping far off, as though it were a bird.

שְׂרָפִים עֹֽמְדִים (Yeshayahu 6:2), serafim standing, are מלאכי אש, angels of fire.