mask

מָסַךְ בְּקִרְבָּהּ רוּחַ עִוְעִים (Yeshayahu 19:14), has mixed within her a spirit of perversity: the sense is תערובות ובלבול, mixture and confusion. So too of tempering, which is the mixing of water with wine: מָסְכָה יֵינָהּ (Mishlei 9:2), she has mixed her wine, and וּשְׁתוּ בְּיַיִן מָסָכְתִּי (Mishlei 9:5), and drink of the wine I have mixed.

מָלֵא מֶסֶךְ (Tehillim 75:9), full of mixture, pointed with six dots; and on another pattern, לַחְקוֹר מִמְסָךְ (Mishlei 23:30), to search out the mixture, and לַמְנִי מִמְסָךְ (Yeshayahu 65:11), a mixture for Meni.

Rabbi Yonah put כָּל־אֶבֶן יְקָרָה מְסֻכָתֶךָ (Yechezkel 28:13) under this root in one of its senses, and Radak spells out what that comes to: every precious stone mixed in with you. The right account, Radak says, is that it is from the root שֹוךְ, of the sense of הָסֵר מְשׂוּכָּתוֹ (Yeshayahu 5:5), remove its hedge; and though the one is written with a samech and the other with a shin they are one, the sense being that your hedge is of precious stones.

כִּי נָסַךְ עֲלֵיכֶם, for Hashem has spread over you, רוּחַ תַּרְדֵּמָה, a spirit of deep sleep (Yeshayahu 29:10); וְהַמַּסֵּכָה הַנְּסוּכָה (Yeshayahu 25:7), the covering that is spread over; and וְהַמַּסֵּכָה צָרָה כְּהִתְכַּנֵּֽס (Yeshayahu 28:20), and the covering is too narrow to gather oneself in. All of these, he says, are hiding and covering. הַמַּסֵּכָה and הַמַּסָּכֶת (Shoftim 16:14) he takes as the name of the cloth spread over a bed. The pasuk says אֶת־הַיְתַד הָאֶרֶג וְאֶת־ הַמַּסָּֽכֶת, the pin of the weaving and the cloth, he explains, because the pin was still with the cloth at the place where they were weaving it, and the whole of it was pulled away.

הַפֶּסֶל נָסַךְ חָרָשׁ (Yeshayahu 40:19), the craftsman overlaid the image, and כִּי שֶׁקֶר נִסְכּוֹ (Yirmiyahu 10:14), his overlaid idol is a falsehood, may be read from the covering sense, he says, because they made the image of wood and overlaid it with gold and silver. Under pouring and casting, נִסְכּוֹ is a molten image, as in מִֽי־יָצַר אֵל וּפֶסֶל נָסָךְ (Yeshayahu 44:10), who fashioned a god or cast an image, and פֶּסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה (Nachum 1:14), a carved image and a molten one.

וְאֵת קְשׂוֹת הַנָּסֶךְ (Bamidbar 4:7) he explains as the tubes with which it is covered: they were like hollow half reeds set over each loaf so that air should pass between them and the bread not go mouldy, and so the tubes were a cover over the bread.

וְנֵסֶךְ לֹא תִסְּכוּ עָלָיו (Shemos 30:9), you shall pour no libation upon it, and וְהִסִּכוּ נְסָכִים (Yirmiyahu 32:29), and they poured libations. All of these, he says, are pouring and melting.

וַאֲנִי נָסַכְתִּי מַלְכִּי (Tehillim 2:6), I have installed My king; in the passive, נִסַּכְתִּי מֵרֹאשׁ (Mishlei 8:23), I was installed from the beginning; and נְסִיכֵי סִיחוֹן (Yehoshua 13:21), the princes of Sichon, with which he files וְגַם אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶם עִם־ נְסִֽכֵיהֶם עִם־כְּלֵי חֶמְדָּתָם (Daniel 11:8), their gods too, with their princes, with their precious vessels. All of these, he says, are greatness, rule and princedom. He allows that וְלִנְסֹךְ מַסֵּכָה וְלֹא רוּחִי (Yeshayahu 30:1) may be read in this sense too, to install rulers, and not by My spirit: they set rulers over themselves without His leave, seeking help from Pharaoh. It may also be read in the first sense, to spread a covering, as a figure for taking counsel.

וַיִּתֵּן עַל־פָּנָיו מַסְוֶֽה (Shemos 34:33), and he put a veil on his face: the מַסְוֶֽה is הצעיף, the veil, called וויל"ו in the vernacular.