Welcome to the Daily Bitachon. We continue with the Rabbenu Yonah on Mishleh , citing different pesukim to prove the point that we need to rely solely on Hashem and not focus at all on human beings. Today's pasuk is from Yeshayah 10:15 הֲיִתְפָּאֵר֙ הַגַּרְזֶ֔ן עַ֖ל הַחֹצֵ֣ב בּ֑וֹ אִם־יִתְגַּדֵּ֤ל הַמַּשּׂוֹר֙ עַל־מְנִיפ֔וֹ כְּהָנִ֥יף שֵׁ֙בֶט֙ וְאֶת־מְרִימָ֔יו כְּהָרִ֥ים מַטֶּ֖ה לֹא־עֵֽץ׃ {פ} Can a hatchet glory over the one who chops with it? Can a saw be greater than the one who wields it? As if a rod could shake those who lift it. As if a stick could lift one who is not wood. The Navi is providing four different metaphors to make the same point, each one with a slightly different nuance. The commentators explain that the reason it's superfluous is to drive the point home. Let's study them one by one: 1-Can a hatchet glory over the one who chops with it? Let's say a wood chopper is using the hatchet (or ax) to chop down a tree. Can the ax look back at the man holding it and say, " Wow, look what I'm doing?" Excuse me, Mr. Ax, you're not doing anything, says the woodchopper. That is mashal number one, that God says to people who glorify themselves with what they're doing. In this case, specifically referring to King Sanheriv who considered himself a world conqueror. World conqueror? Excuse me, you are nothing more than an ax. I am chopping with you. How can you glorify yourself over the One who chops with you? That's the way we're supposed to look at powerful people, rulers and world rulers, and other beings that boast of their accomplishments. We'll leave to everyone's imagination whom we're talking about. 2-Can a saw be greater than the one who wields it? The saw, which is another device used to cut down a tree, can't be greater or more powerful than the one that's holding the saw. 3-As if a rod could shake those who lift it. If I'm lifting the rod, obviously I'm more powerful than the rod I'm lifting. Can you, who's being lifted by God, shake God? Who do you think you are? You're like in the stories of the Dor Hapelaga or the like, going out to fight against God, to throw God off…. God is lifting you. The rod is being lifted. It's like you're swinging a golf club and suddenly the golf club throws you off of him. It doesn't work that way. The rod can't shake those who lift it. 4- As if a stick could lift one who is not wood. כהרים מטה לא עץ which could be understood as Rashi says that, לא העץ הוא המרים./ It's not the tree that lifts, it's the person who's lifting the tree. But the Radak offers a slightly different explanation: Why is the term stick used? He says a stick is not like a tree. A tree can continue to grow after one of its branches have been severed, but the severed branch can no longer grow. So too, human beings are like a tree. They're rooted, and they're growing because they're connected. But when somebody boasts, as in this case, Sanheriv, that boasting will prevent him from growing. Moreover, it will cause your destruction, because when you boast, you're disconnecting yourself from the source of life. The Gaah becomes disconnected. All of the arrogance is actually disconnecting and rather than showing strength and bringing growth, it will actually cause the destruction. In the words of the Radak, וּמֵעַתָּה And now, בהתפארו, in his arrogance/his glorification, יסוף ויכלה, he will cease and will be destroyed. That is our lesson from this pasuk in Yeshaya, beautifully describing how the person is not doing anything. He is nothing , as all of the above metaphors illustrate.