What is the meaning of "va'Yman"?
Rashi: It is summonsing.
Radak: He made it sprout at the time.
From what evil will he be saved?
Rashi: From the heat of the sun.
Why did Hashem make a Kikayon and a great heat?
Radak: Hashem made a sign for him to understand Hashem's decree, and that "v'Rachamav Al Kol Ma'asav" (Tehilim 145:9). He stood there until the 40 days were finished.
What is "Kikayon"?
Rashi: It is vegetation that grows high with branches and makes shade.
Radak: It is vegetation that its branches grow very long and high. It makes shade. Shemen Kik of the Mishnah is from seeds of the Kikayon. It is like the plant that yields castor oil. It grows in swamps. Storekeepers hang it over the openings of their shops for shade and a good smell. In Eretz Yisrael, all sick people rest in the shade of its branches (Shabbos 21a).
Radak citing R. Shmuel bar Chafni: It is a barren tree. They make oil from its seeds. Anyone who is very cold, he drinks from the oil.
Why did he have a great Simchah over the Kikayon?
Malbim: He inferred that Hashem wanted him to dwell there, to the east of the city, for something will happen - "Shilum Resha'im Er'eh" (Tehilim 73:2 I will see them punished).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes that the Kikayon saved him from the heat of the sun. He already had a Sukah!
Radak: The wood of his Sukah dried.
Malbim: The Sukah did not protect much. "Va'Yeshev Tachteha ba'Tzel" - the shade was not in the entire Sukah. The walls covered him only on the side of the sun. He needed to sit under the east wall in the morning, and at midday there was no shade at all 1 . The Kikayon was shade above his head.
Even though the sun is never directly overhead in Eretz Yisrael, and all the more so in Ninveh, which is further north, it is almost directly overhead in Tamuz. If the Sukah was not much higher than his head, most of his head would be in the sun. (PF)
