ישעיהו, פרק י״ז, פסוק י״ג

A massive, threatening military force can seem like an unstoppable force of nature, yet it takes only a single moment of divine intervention to shatter its power and send its survivors running in terror. The advancing camp of the Assyrian king is compared to the deafening roar of crashing waters [אבן עזרא, מלבי״ם]. But against this overwhelming noise, God steps in from above and issues a sharp rebuke against the threatening army [רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This divine rebuke takes the physical form of an angel of God striking down the enemy camp [מצודת דוד]. Just as God once rebuked the waters of the Red Sea and caused them to flee, He rebukes the Assyrian forces, instantly turning their proud advance into a desperate retreat [רד״ק].

Following this devastating blow, the king and the surviving remnants of his army are forced to run. Commentators offer different perspectives on the nature of this escape. Some explain that the enemy simply fled to a distant location, retreating all the way back to their own land [שד״ל, אבן עזרא]. Others suggest that the panic was so deeply ingrained that even after the king had fled far from Jerusalem, he continued to run in terror, never feeling truly safe [רד״ק]. This retreat is not merely a withdrawal; the enemy is actively chased by an angel of God [רד״ק], and ultimately finds himself hunted even from within his own nation [מלבי״ם].

To illustrate the utter helplessness of the defeated army, the imagery shifts from roaring water to dry, weightless desolation. First, the fleeing soldiers are compared to mountain chaff, the light agricultural waste that blows away during threshing [שד״ל, מצודת ציון]. Setting this scene in the mountains highlights the intensity of the chase, as mountain winds blow much harder than those in the plains [רד״ק, שד״ל, מצודת דוד], and mountain chaff is uniquely dry and light [רש״י]. The imagery then escalates to an even harsher picture of defeat, comparing the fleeing army to a dried thistle tumbling before a storm. This thorny plant dries out at the end of summer, detaches from the soil, and rolls wildly through the air [רש״י, מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. There is a clear progression in the severity of their collapse: while the chaff is merely carried off by a regular wind, the dried thistle rolls uncontrollably on its own, violently pushed forward by a severe storm [מלבי״ם].