Rabbi Roodyn

ה’ מָלָךְ תָּגֵל הָאָרֶץ יִשְׂמְחוּ אִיִּים רַבִּים:

Hashem has reigned, the earth will exult; many islands will rejoice.

Rav Hirsch explains that this chapter picks up where the previous one left off. When Hashem’s rule will have begun, the earth will blossom forth joyously.

ישמחו איים רבים, the multitudes of Islands will rejoice. The word איה means ‘where’, so an אי denotes a location that is distant and isolated from other places, especially an island. In accounts of the eventual return of mankind to the state when he will recognise and know Hashem, it is quite frequently stressed in Tanach (and in our Rosh Hashana tefillos) that this acknowledgement of the truth will extend to these far flung islands.

Rav Hirsch claims that this most likely denotes such localities that had hitherto been detached from the rest of civilisation. Because of their isolation they were less prone to corruption and thus, in their case, the true recognition of G-d would simply be simply another phase of their steady and constant progress upon the right path, rather than a ‘return’ from the wrong way.

Thus Rav Hirsch explains the posuk as follows. When the reign of G-d will begin on earth, as the world comes to acknowledge and recognise G-d’s supremacy, an era of serene bliss will begin even in the most far off places.