83. " and (remember) when we made a covenant with the children of
israel (instructing): ` you shall not worship any but allah;
and (you shall do) good to (your) parents, and to the near of kin and
to the orphans, and the needy, and speak kind words to people,
keep up the prayer, and pay the poor-rates (zakat) '.
then you turned away, except a few of you,
and you backslide (even now)."
84. " and (remember) when we made a covenant with you:
` you shall not shed your blood, nor expel one another from your
dwellings ', then you confirmed it while you bore witness."
85. " yet you kill one another and expel a group of your people from
their dwellings, helping others against them in sin and enmity,
and if they come to you as captives,
you ransom them yet their very expulsion was forbidden for you.
do you then believe in part of the book,
and disbelieve in (another) part ?
what shall be the recompense of those of you who do that,
but disgrace, in the life of this world, and on the day of resurrection
to be consigned to the most terrible punishment ?
and allah is not heedless of what you do."
86. " those are they who have bought the life of this world
at the price of the hereafter,
for them the punishment shall not be lightened,
nor shall they be helped."  

commentary :

the breachers of the covenant !

in a few of the verses mentioned before, the covenant of the
children of israel was hinted at, but no details were given about it.
through the verses under discussion, allah reminds them of some of
the items of this covenant. most of these items or all of them
should be counted as the fundamental principles and permanent laws of
the divine religions, because this same covenant and these instructions,
in some form or other, are comprehensively found in every religion.

in these verses, the qur'an severely scorns and blames the jews
because they broke their covenant, and threatens them with disgrace in
the life of this world and the most grievous punishment in the
hereafter.

this covenant, that the children of israel were witnesses of and
confessed to, contains the following items:

1. monotheism and worshipping allah, as the verse says:

" and (remember) when we made a covenant with the children of israel
(instructing): ` you shall not worship any but allah; ..."

2. "... and (you shall do) good to (your) parents, ..."

3. "... and to the near of kin and to the orphans, and the needy, ..."

4. "... and speak kind words to people,..."

5. "... keep up the prayer,..."

6. "... and pay the poor-rates (zakat).'..."
"... then you turned away, except a few of you, and you
backslide (even now)." 

 
7. " and (remember) when we made a covenant with you:
` you shall not shed your blood,..."

8. "... nor expel one another from your dwellings', ..."

9. "... then you confirmed it while you bore witness."

(this item of the covenant is perceived from the sentence :
" do you then believe in part of the book, and disbelieve in (another) part?")  

but you disregarded many of these aspects of your covenant with allah.

" yet you kill one another and expel a group of your people from their
dwellings, ..."
"... helping others against them in sin and enmity, ..."

all of these deeds you did are a breach of the covenant you had
taken with allah.

"... and if they come to you as captives, you ransom them ..."
"... yet their very expulsion was forbidden for you. ..."

it is surprising that you, in paying ransom, and setting your
captives free, comply with the ordinances of the turah and the divine
covenant:

"... do you then believe in part of the book,
and disbelieve in (another) part ?..."
"... what shall be the recompense of those of you who do that,
but disgrace, in the life of this world, ..."
"... and on the day of resurrection to be consigned to the most terrible
punishment ?..."
"... and allah is not heedless of what you do."

then, he, the just, will take all of them into account and will
judge upon you according to your deeds in the divine court of justice. 

the last of the verses under discussion, in fact, states their main
motive for doing these contradictory actions. it says :

" those are they who have bought the life of this world at the price
of the hereafter, ..."
for this reason : "... for them the punishment shall not be lightened,
nor shall they be helped." 

explanation
the best strategy for the survival of nations

these verses have been revealed about the children of israel, but
they contain a series of universal laws for the whole human race
throughout the world. these laws consist of some advice for those
nations who wish to survive and to exist successfully, as well as the
secrets of failure and destruction.

from the view point of the qur'an, nations will be happy and able
to continue living when the individuals of that nation, avoiding sins,
attach themselves to the greatest power and rely on that everlasting
source for help in all conditions. it is obvious that this origin can be
none but allah, the exalted. therefore, they should obey allah and
bow only to him, i.e. being sincere unto him alone in obedience. if
nations follow this law, they will be afraid of none. genuine sincerity
and perfect intentions of a believer in the way of allah, do not
tolerate the yielding of himself, in any regard, to anything or anybody
else other than the one and only true god, allah. for it will mean
the individual's surrender to his self which is nothing more than
surrender to satan which is the equivalent of worshipping him.

as it was already pointed out, the means of salvation, i.e. for a
nation to survive and endure successfully, is firm adherence of its
members to the divine covenant and their faithful and loyal
attachment to the divinely commissioned guides. it is obvious that
misdeeds or sins weaken faith, adherence, and the love of goodness,
and the excess of it may result in the total severance of the holy
connection, and in the individuals becoming totally lost in the darkness
of infidelity, hence eternal punishment and no salvation in either this
world or the coming world will be the result for such a nation.

these verses of the holy qur'an, if studied properly and judged
dispassionately almost suffice to illustrate what is meant by the religion
islam and what kind of life islam invites its believers, or all nations to
live. and if the members of nations act upon these commandments,
how peaceful, pleasant, and enjoyable will be the life here on earth.

these are on one side, but on the other side, the secret of the
failure and defeat of nations, which finally leads to their destruction and
abolishment, lies in the existence of hate and enmity between them and
between the members inside each nation, i.e. being heedless to the
above mentioned commandments. such a nation will soon perish
because of disregarding allah's covenant by not relying on him, by not
respecting and helping their parents, family members, kindreds,
neighbours, and all fellow men, by shedding blood and by not observing
the rights of others by expelling them out of their houses or lands in
order to occupy their properties :

"... you shall not shed your blood, nor expel one another
from your dwellings, ..."

and, finally, one of the factors of the destruction of nations is
unjust discrimination in the execution of laws, i.e. when they observe
those laws which protect their personal profits but neglect what is
beneficial for the society.

"... do you then believe in part of the book, and disbelieve
in (another) part? ..."

and these are some of the causes of either the development or
failure of nations from the view point of the qur'an.