The Imrei Noam explains this pasuk by citing the verse in Tehillim (57:5-6): “Their teeth are like spears and arrows, and their tongue is like a sharp sword. Be exalted above the Heavens, Hashem.” Chazal state (Medrash Tehillim 7) that Dovid Hamelech said to Hashem, “Since they have amongst them those people who cause strife and who speak lashon hara, remove Your Shechinah from amongst them.” We see from this that discord and lashon hara cause the Shechinah to leave the nation, while unity causes the Shechinah to dwell amongst us. When the Shechinah is amongst us, we are called “Knesses Yisroel” (the assemblage of Yisroel) because Hashem is only with us when we are a unified assembly.
The verse in Yeshaya (63:9) states: “In all their trouble, He is not troubled with them, and the angel of His presence saved them. With His love and with His pity He redeemed them.” The way this verse is written is different than the way in which it is read. It is written “lo tzar”, with an “aleph”, He is not troubled with them, but it is read “lo tzar”, with a vav, meaning that Hashem is troubled with them. Thus, the verse seems to be saying both that Hashem is not troubled together with a person when he is in pain and that Hashem is troubled with the person in pain.
The early commentators explain with a parable of a mother whose only son committed a crime and was sentenced by the king to receive many lashes. The mother came to the king and complained, “It is true that my son committed a crime and deserves a punishment. However, I did nothing wrong. Why do I deserve to be punished? If you whip my son, it will hurt me even more than it hurts him. Therefore, it is not fair to do this to him!”
Her words were accepted by the king and he pardoned the son from the punishment that he really deserved.
So too, the pasuk is saying that Hashem feels the pain of Klal Yisroel. Therefore, He makes them have “no pain”, as the Shechinah does not deserve to suffer because of their transgressions.
This is only true at times when Klal Yisroel is united. At such times, the Shechinah is with us and any pain we feel is felt by the Shechinah. In times of division and strife, however, the Shechinah is not with us and it does not feel our pain, which puts us in danger of being severely punished for our sins.
This explains why Yaakov told his sons to gather. He was telling them to be united and, if they do so, he would be able to tell them all that would occur until “the end of days”, which is a reference to the eternal Shechinah. He was thus saying that if they would have achdus between them, the Shechinah would always be with them and would remove all pain and suffering from amongst them.
