silence

שָֽׁכְנָה דוּמָה נַפְשִֽׁי (Tehillim 94:17), my soul dwelt in silence, and כְּדֻמָה בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּֽם (Yechezkel 27:32), like one silenced in the midst of the sea: both mean silenced or cut off. The noun stands in שְׁבִי דוּמָם (Yeshayahu 47:5), sit silent, on the pattern of יוֹמָם, by day, save that the one has a shuruk and the other a cholam; and it may come from the root דָּמַם, as may לְאֶבֶן דּוּמָם (Chavakuk 2:19), to a silent stone.

גַּם־מַדְמֵן תִּדֹּמִּי (Yirmiyahu 48:2), you too, Madmen, shall be silent, is the reflexive compounded with the four letter root; according to Rabbi Yehudah its proper form is תִּתְדּוֹֽמְמִי, you shall still yourself, and Radak explains it as תשתקי, you shall be silent. The four letter root on its own gives אִם־לֹא שִׁוִּיתִי וְדֽוֹמַמְתִּ י (Tehillim 131:2), if I have not stilled and quieted myself.

Rabbi Yonah reads these words as loss and darkness, and so reads מַשָּׂא דּוּמָה אֵלַי קֹרֵא מִשֵּׂעִיר (Yeshayahu 21:11), the burden of Dumah, one calls to me from Seir, of the perishing nation, which is מלכות הרשעה, the wicked kingdom, taking מִשֵּׂעִיר as לשעיר, that is, on account of Seir. Radak answers that there is no need for all this forcing: Dumah is the nation of that name among Yishmael's sons, וּמִשְׁמָע וְדוּמָה וּמַשָּֽׂא (Bereishis 25:14), Mishma and Dumah and Massa; and מִשֵּׂעִיר means that from Seir the destroyer will come upon them, and out of fear of Seir they set watchmen on their towers, and in their great fear they rise at night and ask the watchmen מה מלילה, what of the night. Yonasan holds the same, that Dumah is a nation's name, since he left the word untranslated.

כְּלִי חֶרֶשׂ (Vayikra 6:21), an earthen vessel, and יָבֵשׁ כַּחֶרֶשׂ כֹּחִי (Tehillim 22:16), my strength is dried up like a potsherd. עַד־הִשְׁאִיר אֲבָנֶיהָ בַּקִּיר חֲרָשֶׂת (Melachim II 3:25), until only its stones were left in the wall, broken like sherds: that is, he explains, they broke the stones of the wall like an earthen vessel. In תַּחְתָּיו חַדּוּדֵי חָרֶשׂ (Iyov 41:22), beneath him, the last two words are pearls shining like the sun, the word from הָאֹמֵר לַחֶרֶס וְלֹא יִזְרָח (Iyov 9:7), who says to the sun and it does not shine.

וַיִּקַּח לוֹ חֶרֶשׂ לְהִתְגָּרֵד בּוֹ (Iyov 2:8), and he took himself a sherd to scratch himself with, he reads plainly: the Satan had struck him with a dry boil, so he needed a potsherd to scratch himself with. Some read חֶרֶשׂ there as the illness of dry scab, as in וּבַגָּרָב וּבֶחָרֶס (Devarim 28:27), with the scab and with the חֶרֶס: Iyov chose this illness called חֶרֶשׂ for himself out of all illnesses, because scratching gives some relief in it, the Satan having told him beforehand that he might choose whichever illness of suffering he wished. Radak calls that reading far-fetched. The illness may be called so, he says, because it is dry like a sherd, or because one needs a sherd to scratch with.

The words for keeping silent are all from the sense of חֶרֶשׁ, deafness, since one who keeps silent is as though he does not hear what others say, and makes himself like a deaf man. בַּדֶּיךָ מְתִים יַֽחֲרִישׁו (Iyov 11:3) is at your lies men keep silent, making themselves as deaf when they hear your falsehoods; it may also be read as taking an object, your lies silence men. The noun is חֶרֶשׁ לֵאמֹר (Yehoshua 2:1), in silence, saying: they went quietly, making themselves as deaf so that none would notice them.

יַחֲֽרִישׁ בְּאַהֲבָתוֹ (Tzefaniah 3:17), He will be silent in His love: He will keep silent over the transgressions you have already done, in His love for you. רוּחַ קָדִים חֲרִישִׁית (Yonah 4:8), an east wind, חרישית, may be read from this sense: a wind so strong that people became as though deaf while it blew; and so Targum Yonasan renders it, שְׁתִיקָא, silent.

A second sense: עַל־גַּבִּי חָרְשׁוּ חֹרְשִׁים (Tehillim 129:3), plowmen plowed upon my back; לֹא־תַֽחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר־וּבַֽחֲמֹר יַחְדָּֽו, you shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together; לוּלֵא חֲרַשְׁתֶּם בְּעֶגְלָתִי (Shoftim 14:18), had you not plowed with my heifer; and אִם־יַֽחֲרוֹשׁ בַּבְּקָרִים (Amos 6:12), does one plow with oxen. The words על דרך משל, by way of a figure, stand between these last two and may belong to either. The noun is בֶּֽחָרִישׁ וּבַקָּצִיר (Shemos 34:21), in plowing and in harvest; the tool one plows with is מַֽחֲרַשְׁתּוֹ (Shmuel I 13:20), his plowing tool; and the passive is צִיּוֹן שָׂדֶה תֵֽחָרֵשׁ (Yirmiyahu 26:18), Tzion shall be plowed as a field.

Rabbi Yonah explained רוּחַ קָדִים חֲרִישִׁית (Yonah 4:8), an east wind, חרישית, from this sense, plowing; on that reading it is the wind of the plowing season, which is cold and dry.

חֲרוּשָׁה עַל־לוּחַ לִבָּם (Yirmiyahu 17:1), חרושה on the tablet of their heart, is חרותה, engraved.

A third sense is the craftsman: וְאָבִיו אִֽישׁ־צֹרִי חֹרֵשׁ נְחֹשֶׁת (Melachim I 7:14), and his father was a man of Tzor, a worker in copper; וְחָרָשׁ לֹא יִמָּצֵא בְּכֹל אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל (Shmuel I 13:19), and no craftsman was to be found in all Eretz Yisrael; הַפֶּסֶל נָסַךְ חָרָשׁ (Yeshayahu 40:19), a craftsman cast the image; and חָֽרָשֵׁי מַשְׁחִֽית (Yechezkel 21:36), craftsmen of destruction. In construct it is חָרַשׁ, with patach under the resh: חָרַשׁ בַּרְזֶל מַֽעֲצָד (Yeshayahu 44:12), the ironworker with the axe; חָרַשׁ עֵצִים נָטָה קָו (Yeshayahu 44:13), the woodworker stretched a line; and מַֽעֲשֵׂה חָרַשׁ אֶבֶן (Shemos 28:11), the work of a stoneworker. In לֹטֵשׁ כָּל־חֹרֵשׁ נְחשֶׁת וּבַרְזֶל (Bereishis 4:22) the word may be a noun: sharpening every tool of the crafts of copper and iron.

A fourth sense is thought: אַל־תַּֽחֲרֹשׁ עַל־רֵֽעֲךָ (Mishlei 3:29), do not think against your fellow; חֹרְשֵׁי אָוֶן (Iyov 4:8), those who think out iniquity; and וְיוֹעֵץ וַֽחֲכַם חֲרָשִׁים (Yeshayahu 3:3), the counsellor and the one wise in thoughts. The sense of all of them is thought. From this sense too, in the heavy form, עָלָיו שָׁאוּל מַֽחֲרִישׁ הָֽרָעָה (Shmuel I 23:9), that Shaul was thinking out the evil against him.

וְהֶֽחָרָשׁ וְהַמַּסְגֵּר (Melachim II 24:16) may be from this sense: the wise men of standing, masters of wisdom and counsel. Or it may be from the first sense: the great ones before whom the people kept silent and made themselves as deaf when they spoke. Targum Yonasan renders it אוּמָנַיָא וְתַרְעַיָא, craftsmen and gatekeepers.

A last sense: וְחֹרֶשׁ מֵצַל (Yechezkel 31:3), whose sense is a bough, called מֵצַל, shading, because its shade is broad. So too כַּֽעֲזוּבַת הַחֹרֶשׁ וְהָאָמִיר (Yeshayahu 17:9), like the forsaken bough and treetop; וְהוּא יוֹשֵׁב בַּֽחֲרֹשֶׁת הַגּוֹיִֽם (Shoftim 4:2), and he dwelt among the boughs of the nations; וַיֵּשֶׁב דָּוִד בַּחֹרְשָׁה (Shmuel I 23:18), and David stayed among the boughs; and וּבֶֽחֳרָשִׁים בָּנָה בִּֽירָנִיּוֹת וּמִגְדָּלִֽים (Divrei HaYamim II 27:4), and among the boughs he built fortresses and towers. The Targum renders בַיַּעַר (Devarim 19:5), in the forest, as בְּחֻרְשָׁא.

לְמַעַן צִיּוֹן לֹא אֶחֱשֶׁה (Yeshayahu 62:1), for the sake of Tzion I will not be silent; פֶּן־ תֶּֽחֱשֶׁה מִמֶּנִּי (Tehillim 28:1), lest You be silent toward me; וַיֶּחֱשׁוּ גַּלֵּיהֶֽם (Tehillim 107:29), and their waves fell silent; עֵת לַֽחֲשׁוֹת (Koheles 3:7), a time to be silent. In the heavy form: הֶחֱשֵׁיתִי מֵֽעוֹלָם אַֽחֲרִישׁ (Yeshayahu 42:14), I have long kept silent, I will hold my peace; וְאַתֶּם מַחְשִׁים אַל־תֵּעָצְלוּ, and you are silent, do not be idle; הֲלֹא אֲנִי מַחְשֶׁה (Yeshayahu 57:11), am I not silent?

גַּם־אֲנִי יָדַעְתִּי הֶֽחֱשֽׁוּ (Melachim II 2:3), I too know; they fell silent. Some say the last word is a command, be silent, and on that reading it should have been pointed with a patach. The right view is that it is past, as its form requires: when he said to them that he too knew, they fell silent and spoke to him no more.

Transitive, of making others silent: וְהַֽלְוִיִּם מַחְשִׁים לְכָל־הָעָם (Nechemiah 8:11), and the Levi'im silencing all the people. All of them, he says, are the sense of silence.

יִשְׁתֹּק מָדֽוֹן (Mishlei 26:20), strife falls quiet; וְיִשְׁתֹּק הַיָּם מֵֽעָלֵינוּ (Yonah 1:11), that the sea may be still from upon us; וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ כִֽי־ יִשְׁתֹּקוּ (Tehillim 107:30), and they rejoiced when they grew quiet. He says the sense of silence is well known, and adds nothing further.