יחזקאל, פרק ז׳, פסוק י״ד

As an enemy threat approaches, a community scrambles to prepare, yet their physical readiness collides with a paralyzing force of Divine wrath. The piercing sound of an alarm blares through the air, blown from a horn or trumpet, signaling the immediate need for action.

What exactly this alarm calls for is understood in different ways. The primary approach among commentators is that the people fully equipped themselves, preparing their weapons and supplies to march out and confront the enemy. Conversely, another perspective [רד"ק] suggests the horn served as a desperate warning to those out in the open. In this view, the preparation involved frantically gathering crops and property from the vulnerable fields and bringing them inside the fortified city walls for protection.

Despite all these intense preparations, the outcome is an absolute standstill. Not a single person steps onto the battlefield. Instead, the people remain hidden in their homes or huddled within the city. The commentators agree that the root of this profound helplessness is the intense anger of God directed at the entire population. His wrath does not merely loom in the background; it strikes the people directly, filling them with overwhelming terror, despair, and cowardice. Consumed by fear, they are entirely incapable of fighting. The Divine anger renders every physical preparation useless, ensuring that their weapons achieve nothing and their defeat is sealed before a single blow is struck.