122. " o' children of israel ! call to mind my favour which i bestowed on
you and that i made you excel all the nations (of that time)."
123. " and guard yourselves against a day when no one in the least shall
avail another, neither shall any ransom be accepted from
any one, nor shall intercession profit any one,
nor shall they be helped (from outside)." 
 

commentary:

once again, in these verses, allah addresses the children of
israel and reminds them of his favours bestowed on them; particularly
that he preferred them to all other nations of their time.

" o' children of israel ! call to mind my favour which i bestowed on
you and that i made you excel all the nations (of that time)."  

but, since every blessing is followed by a corresponding
responsibility, and, therefore, allah gives man a duty or a
responsibility to undertake for each bounty which is given him, in the
next verse he threatens him by saying:

" and guard yourselves against a day when no one in the least shall
avail another, ..."
"... neither shall any ransom be accepted from any one, ..."
"... nor shall intercession profit any one, ..."

and, if you think that anyone can help others that day, save
allah, you are mistaken, because he says:

"...nor shall they be helped (from outside)."

therefore, none of the means of rescue that they would grope for
in this world to save themselves, will be available there. there will be
only one way open to them which is the path of faith, good action,
repentance of sins, and self-improvement.

these two verses are quite similar to verses 47 and 48 of the
current sura, where we explained the idea of intercession in detail.
here, it is referred to, again, reminding that the warning, i.e. that
`intercession shall not be of any avail ', does not at all mean that the
intercession by the holy prophet (p.b.u.h.) or any other of his divine
allies will also be ineffective on the day of judgement. it is a warning
against the disbelievers who, as a figment of their own fanciful
imaginations, think that their guardian deities, gods or goddesses will
come to their aid,or to those of the jews and christians who stubbornly
claim the intercession of moses (a.s.), or that christ's (a.s.) blood has
been paid as a ransom for the sins of his followers. this verse clearly
denies any such ransom for sins or intercession for the sinners who do
not believe in the divinely promised last apostle of allah,muhammad
mustafa (p.b.u.h.), and reject faith in the truth which he preached. but,
as it was mentioned before, the intercession of the holy prophet
(p.b.u.h.) or the other holy ones (a.s.) will be accepted by the leave of
allah (s.w.t.).