Chapter 2 of Megillat Eicha is an uninterrupted description of the attribute of strict justice sweeping over Jerusalem. In this lesson we will focus primarily on verse 5 - "The Lord was like an enemy" - one of the most difficult verses in the Megillah. Through it, we will examine the progression of the calamities, the contrast between the exile of the Ten Tribes and the destruction of Judah, and the profound principle that even when He appears to us, as it were, like an enemy - it says "like an enemy," not an actual enemy.
הָיָה אֲדֹנָי כְּאוֹיֵב בִּלַּע יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּלַּע כׇּל־אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ שִׁחֵת מִבְצָרָיו וַיֶּרֶב בְּבַת־יְהוּדָה תַּאֲנִיָּה וַאֲנִיָּה׃ - The Lord was like an enemy; He swallowed up Israel, He swallowed up all her palaces, He destroyed his strongholds, and He multiplied mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah.
The book Elon Bachut notes: We know that the Merciful One does not strike human lives first. This is how we find it regarding tzara'at: first the affliction strikes the home; if he is unmoved, it spreads to his garments; if he is still unmoved, it strikes his body; and if he still does not repent, he departs entirely to the world of truth. This is the gradual nature of heavenly chastisements. Here, however, we see the exact opposite. An enemy does not proceed gradually; an enemy strikes directly at the person himself, not at his house or his clothes. Therefore it says, "The Lord was like an enemy" - and immediately, "He swallowed up Israel," striking people first, and only afterward "He swallowed up all her palaces, He destroyed his strongholds." He struck the houses last, not first.
Another difference: many years before the fall of Judah, the Ten Tribes, represented by Samaria, had already gone into exile. There, the Holy One, blessed be He, did not raze the fortresses to the ground, but merely "destroyed his strongholds" - breached them, leaving them exposed to the enemy. But with the daughter of Judah - "He swallowed up all her palaces," "Raze it, raze it to its very foundation," a total and absolute swallowing up. This is precise in the wording of the verse: in the first half, it speaks of "Israel," the Ten Tribes, where He only "destroyed his strongholds," making breaches in them. But at the end of the verse, it turns to Judah - "and He multiplied mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah." There the Lord acted like an enemy, swallowing up her palaces as well, leaving nothing behind, and striking life before property. All this magnifies "mourning and moaning," terms denoting weeping and bereavement - the anguish and grief of Judah.
גָּדַע בׇּחֳרִי־אַף כֹּל קֶרֶן יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵשִׁיב אָחוֹר יְמִינוֹ מִפְּנֵי אוֹיֵב וַיִּבְעַר בְּיַעֲקֹב כְּאֵשׁ לֶהָבָה אָכְלָה סָבִיב׃ - He cut off in fierce anger every horn of Israel; He withdrew His right hand from before the enemy, and burned against Jacob like a flaming fire devouring all around.
The holy Alshich explains: "He cut off in fierce anger every horn of Israel" refers to the exile of the Ten Tribes, where the Holy One, blessed be He, dealt with us gradually. Hashem tempered justice with mercy and did not wish to uproot Israel and Judah all at once, but initially swallowed up Israel alone. "He withdrew His right hand from before the enemy, and burned against Jacob like a flaming fire" - the destruction in Jacob, in Jerusalem, was initially only a flaming fire all around, not consuming everything. But we failed to understand the hint.
דָּרַךְ קַשְׁתּוֹ כְּאוֹיֵב נִצָּב יְמִינוֹ כְּצָר וַיַּהֲרֹג כֹּל מַחֲמַדֵּי־עָיִן בְּאֹהֶל בַּת־צִיּוֹן שָׁפַךְ כָּאֵשׁ חֲמָתוֹ׃ - He bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand stood poised like an adversary, and slew all who were pleasing to the eye; in the tent of the daughter of Zion He poured out His fury like fire.
At first, the Holy One, blessed be He, merely withdrew His right hand - as if to say: I am no longer aiding you against your enemies, awaken! And He sent prophets. When that too failed, there was no choice but that "He bent His bow like an enemy." If until now His hand was held back passively, it now became active against us: "His right hand stood poised like an adversary" - the right hand that had been pulled back now turned into our adversary, "and slew all who were pleasing to the eye; in the tent of the daughter of Zion He poured out His fury like fire." Yet even this did not suffice, and therefore "He multiplied mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah" - it became necessary to swallow up her palaces and destroy the Beit HaMikdash, bringing about immense mourning and moaning.
Another explanation of "The Lord has become like an enemy": When a person claims a debt from his fellow and comes to take collateral - what will he prefer to take? If he loves him and wants his friend to be able to continue paying off his debt, he will not seize his work tools; rather, he leaves him his tools so he can continue making a livelihood, and takes other things, luxury items. But if he is his enemy and hates him - he deliberately seeks to take his work tools, so that nothing remains for him and he does not even have what to eat; after all, he seeks his harm.
And this is what took place here. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not treat us like a merciful creditor who leaves behind the work tools, but like a foe and an enemy who takes the very tools of livelihood. And how is this seen? "He swallowed up all her palaces" - these are our vessels of glory: the prophets, the Sanhedrin, Jerusalem that was full of justice and righteousness; "He destroyed his strongholds" - this is the Beit HaMikdash, the source of abundance. It was precisely these places that should, as it were, have been left to us, so that we would still have abundance and a source of livelihood - yet nonetheless, "the Lord has become like an enemy" and swallowed them up, in the manner of an enemy who takes the best and most vital possessions and shows no mercy. Thus Yirmiyahu laments: this is how Hashem acted toward us.
Our Sages note precisely: "like an enemy" - but not an actual enemy. Just as we expounded, "She has become like a widow" and not a true widow, so too here. Why? Because in truth, everything the Holy One, blessed be He, does is done with great mercy. And even if it appears that He took the Beit HaMikdash, which was our tool of livelihood, leaving us with nothing - know that it was for your benefit: for the Holy One, blessed be He, exhausted His wrath upon wood and stone, and through this a remnant and survivor remained for us. As it says, "Until I entered the sanctuaries of God, then I understood their end" - when we arrive Above after one hundred and twenty, we will have answers to all our questions, and we will comprehend the ultimate outcome, what the master plan was, and how deeply everything the Holy One, blessed be He, did with us was guided by vast and abundant mercy.
A parable of a king who had two sons. In time, one of them sinned and rebelled against the king, so the king banished him to a remote place and distanced him from his presence. Eventually, the second son sinned as well. The king said: What shall I do? Shall I banish him too? "Why should I be bereaved of both of you?" - nothing will remain for me! What did he do? He demolished his palace, and then banished him for a fixed period of time. The son had no home, for the king had demolished his palace, but his exile was for a limited time, unlike the first son, who was banished indefinitely.
The nimshal: At first, the Holy One, blessed be He, grew angry with the Ten Tribes. And what became of them? We do not know - somewhere beyond the Mountains of Darkness, somewhere in Afghanistan and various other places; their fate remains unknown. And when Judah sinned, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Shall I banish the second son in this manner as well? Nothing would remain, so "why should I be bereaved of both of them?" What did He do? He said: I will destroy his palace. He poured out His wrath upon the wood and the stone, and He also set a defined end to his exile - for during the destruction of the First Temple, only seventy years of Jerusalem's ruins were decreed. Thus, it was only "like an enemy": He appeared as an enemy, but in truth He acted toward us with immense mercy and lovingkindness, for had He truly wished to banish us completely, woe unto us and woe unto our souls.
The Alshich further explains: Regarding the Ten Tribes, He was "like an enemy" and not truly an enemy, for we see "He destroyed his strongholds," yet not razed to the foundation - the destruction was not absolute. But concerning the daughter of Judah, about whom it is said, "mourning and lamentation," here it was no longer merely "like an enemy," but utter ruin. As long as the daughter of Judah existed, there was still some comfort: the Beit HaMikdash still stood, and we had not all been exiled. But when the daughter of Judah fell as well - "and He multiplied mourning and lamentation" - this was already a vast and dreadful sorrow, like the grief when Gedaliah ben Achikam was slain, when the surviving remnant was eradicated, they too were exiled, and nothing remained.
According to this, the author of Elon Bachut explains that the order of the verse corresponds to the sequence of calamities that befell Israel. On Asarah B'Tevet (the Tenth of Tevet), the king of Babylon drew near to Jerusalem and placed the city under siege - and this is "The Lord has become like an enemy, He has swallowed up Israel": still only "like an enemy," not truly an enemy, just a siege. Afterward, the city was breached - "He swallowed up all her palaces"; palaces were typically built at the corners of the city, and part of the city wall formed part of the palace wall, so when the palaces were consumed, it signified that they succeeded in breaching the city. On Tisha B'Av, the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed - "He destroyed his strongholds," the stronghold of the Jewish people, a further deterioration. Yet the surviving remnant still remained, and Gedaliah ben Achikam was still present. But once Gedaliah ben Achikam was murdered - "and He multiplied mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah" - lamentation and mourning intensified, for we were shattered with disaster upon disaster: it was not enough that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, but even the surviving remnant was exiled. The taking of the righteous leader brought about terrible grief, far greater than all that had come before.
Our Sages also expound: "He has swallowed up Israel" - the Holy One, blessed be He, did a kindness with us by scattering us among the nations, in the sense of being dispersed and embedded. Thus He foretold in prophecy, "And you I will scatter among the nations." Superficially, this sounds like a curse, that we should be scattered among the nations, but in truth it is a blessing. For had Israel been concentrated in one place, our enemies could long ago have overcome us. Today, however, anyone who seeks to destroy the Jewish people will never be able to. Even had Hitler, may his name and memory be blotted out, succeeded in his wicked scheme - where would he have succeeded? In all of Europe, in Russia; unimaginable, and Hashem did not deliver it into his hands, but even if we were to imagine it - what about all the Arab lands? There was no chance. Thus we find that the very dispersion of the Jewish people is a shield and buckler for us against our enemies.
Incidentally, an interesting point: the Zionist entity arose to provide a safe haven for the Jewish people; that was the foundation and the motto upon which the entire enterprise was based - a safe place for the Jewish people. Yet notice that it failed specifically in its primary goal: the most dangerous place for a Jew to live is the Land of Israel. Even though across all these dangers the Holy One, blessed be He, delivers us from their hand, it remains the most dangerous place. Had they succeeded in bringing the entirety of the Jewish people here, it would be even more dangerous, for one or two atomic bombs, may Hashem spare us, and who could describe what would happen. But the majority of the Jewish people is still in the diaspora and we here are a minority: the Jewish people numbers around fifteen million, with about six million here and seven million abroad. And this is without even assuming that all of us were observant of the mitzvot, in which case Mashiach would have already arrived and we would be completely protected; rather, the very notion of saying, "We will take our fate into our own hands and protect the Jewish people" - one sees that the plan itself failed, for people have been concentrated here in a place where they are far more exposed.
Another explanation of "and has increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation": at first, when Hashem swallowed up Israel alone, Judah still remained, and the disaster was not as severe - part of the Jewish people still remained here. But afterward, when "He has swallowed up all her palaces, destroyed his strongholds," and she was breached from every side - ruin upon ruin, fall after fall - mourning and lamentation increased, particularly after Gedaliah ben Achikam was assassinated, at which point the exile, to our sorrow, became complete.
Our Sages expound on the verse, "Her gates shall lament and mourn": "Lament" (anu) denotes aninut - distress and grief felt on the inside, whereas "and mourn" (avlu) refers to outward mourning, at the entrance. And what are "her gates"? The First Destruction and the Second Destruction, as brought in the Petichta of Eichah Rabbah.
The Meshech Chochmah explains: during the First Temple period their iniquity was exposed - they sinned through idolatry, forbidden relations, and bloodshed, and their sins are openly recorded and publicized throughout Scripture: "Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves, everyone loves a bribe and runs after rewards"; Menashe filled Jerusalem with blood from end to end and placed an idol in the Sanctuary; Achav set up idolatry on every furrow. The sins were visible to all. In the Second Temple era, however, they were people of Torah, and their sins were not visible but internal, for baseless hatred (sinat chinam) is something concealed in the heart, invisible on the surface. Therefore, with the first generation there was outward mourning - an open and public mourning, corresponding to their external sins; while with the second generation there was internal grief (aninut), hidden and concealed. For "the heart knows its own bitterness" - each person knows his own shortcomings, what he must rectify, and the baseless hatred harbored within him. And when the sin is hidden, the grief is likewise hidden and does not manifest outward.
The Dubno Maggid explains: when a person lends money to his fellow and the borrower fails to pay, the lender goes and takes collateral. And what collateral does he take? It depends on whether he is his friend or his enemy. If he is his friend, and the borrower is a gardener, he will not seize his gardening tools, for he wants him to continue earning a living and be able to repay the debt. If he is a taxi driver, he will not seize the taxi, so that he can continue earning and repay him. But if he is his enemy, who indeed wants his debt repaid but bears ill will and wants him to suffer, he will seize the taxi specifically. And if the borrower says to him, "How will I make a living to repay you?" he replies, "That is your problem; next time think twice before you borrow. I care less about the debt than about making you suffer. Since I hate you, I am not looking for ways to make things easier for you."
And this is what is written here, says the Dubno Maggid: "The Lord has become like an enemy" - Heaven forbid to say an actual enemy, but "like an enemy," like one who seizes collateral as a foe. And how is this expressed? Our path to repent and repay our debts is through the Sages, the Sanhedrin, and the leaders of the generation who guide us; and through the Beit HaMikdash, where one sees Kohanim at their service, Levi'im on their platform in song and music, and Israel ascending, offering sacrifices, and gaining atonement for their sins. Yet it was precisely these that the Holy One, blessed be He, took from us - the very tools through which we could repay the debt: the Torah leaders of Israel and the Beit HaMikdash. This is "The Lord has become like an enemy" - like an enemy who seizes specifically the means by which you could repay.
To what may this be compared? To a person who was seized and thrown into prison, and he cries out from the jail cell to the judge: "My lord, please understand, from here I have no chance of repaying the debt. If you release me, I can find work and pay you back, but from inside the prison it is certainly impossible!" And this is what the Jewish people are saying: Without a Sanhedrin, without your judges and your great leaders, without the Beit HaMikdash - how can we repay the debt? How can we fulfill the mitzvot? How can we be redeemed? And not only that, but "and He increased mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah" - He brought upon us even more troubles and disasters, pressing one after another.
The Dubno Maggid offers another parable: A man decreed upon his servant that he must not taste anything that day. In those days, before the Ministry of Labor and social welfare and labor unions and morning coffee breaks, a master could tell his servant whatever he wished, and the servant had no choice but to comply. Now, it is possible that he forbade him from eating for one of two reasons. One reason is that the servant suffered from a severe stomach ailment and was writhing in pain, where eating would only aggravate his condition; yet he was unable to control himself and still wanted to eat, so the master had no choice but to completely prevent him from eating so that he might heal. The second reason is that it was a punishment, not for his own good, but because he disobeyed him, and so he imposed a fast upon him.
And how do we know for which reason this was done? The Dubno Maggid explains: If you see the king telling his household to eat discreetly, where the servant cannot see, so as not to tantalize him or make things harder for him - we know he did it for his benefit. But if we see the king holding lavish feasts on that very day, "you will only look on with your eyes, but you may not approach" - it is a sign that his intention is to torment him, to distress and afflict him. The more exquisite and prestigious the delicacies he sees without being allowed to touch them, the harder it will be for him. In this way, we know that he did so to torture him and crush his spirit.
Come and see, says the Dubno Maggid: The Holy One, blessed be He, destroyed the Beit HaMikdash. Those were harsh and bitter days, times when the Jewish people fell from their spiritual stature, days of immense suffering and sorrow - and that was precisely when they needed the Beit HaMikdash more than ever. Yet specifically at that time, He took it away from us. The very thing that could have helped us now was removed, as if to add suffering upon suffering: after all the troubles, we do not even have a Beit HaMikdash through which we could be redeemed and repent! This resembles both torment and "holding lavish feasts," so to speak - showing us that you have no access, there is no Beit HaMikdash, you have no way to repair. How painful this is - "The Lord has become like an enemy."
However, one must know that everything the Holy One, blessed be He, does is truly for the good of Israel, and therefore it says "like an enemy": it only seemed like an enemy. A young child whose parents take him to the dentist to extract a tooth also thinks in his heart, "My father has become like an enemy," and the dentist himself appears to him like Amalek incarnate; the more painful the extraction, the harsher the curses he heaps upon him. Yet we all know that this is child's thinking; the adult certainly intends to benefit him and help him, for otherwise he would suffer for years from dental problems, and what is being done to him now is for his own good. So too here: "The Lord has become like an enemy" - know that everything Hashem does is for the good, and it only seems like an enemy to us due to our shortsightedness.
This is what King David says in Tehillim: "Until I came to the sanctuaries of God, and understood their end" - when one arrives at the sanctuary, the realm of holiness on High after one hundred and twenty years, only then does one comprehend the end of matters. What seemed terrible and horrific at the time - once you see the ultimate end and the outcome, you understand. Therefore it is said: "Then our mouth will be filled with laughter, and our tongue with songs of joy" - "then," and not today, because then it will become clear to us how all the troubles we endured were ultimately for the good.
Therefore our Sages said that in the Future to Come, people will recite the blessing of Hatov VeHaMeitiv ("He Who is good and does good") over past troubles, whereas today we recite Dayan HaEmet ("the True Judge"). One might wonder: will there be troubles in the Future to Come? After all, it is written, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain," and "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb," and we know that in the Future there will be no suffering at all! Rather, the masters of Chasidut explain: in the Future to Come, they will recite Hatov VeHaMeitiv over the troubles that occurred in our day, for then it will become evident that everything that appeared so terrible was truly for one's benefit. "It was for my good that my cow's leg broke"; a person realizes that when a thorn pierced his foot and caused him to miss the ship, as Chazal recount, it was solely to save him from drowning, and so on. But today our vision is limited, and so today we say, "The Lord has become like an enemy." In the Future to Come, "until I came to the sanctuaries of God, and understood their end," then our mouth will be filled with laughter and our tongue with song, when we understand that everything the Merciful One does, He does for the good.
Verse 5 depicts the attribute of strict justice in all its intensity: the Holy One, blessed be He, dealt with us not through the gradual path of mercy, but like an enemy who strikes first at human lives and removes the very tools of work - the Sanhedrin, the prophets, and the Beit HaMikdash, which were the instruments through which we could have repaid our debt. The verse is also structured according to the chronological order of the calamities: from the siege on the Tenth of Tevet, through the breach of the city walls and the destruction of the Temple on the Ninth of Av, to the assassination of Gedaliah ben Achikam, when mourning and moaning multiplied. Nevertheless, Chazal noted with precision: "like an enemy," but not an actual enemy. He spent His wrath upon wood and stone, leaving us a remnant and survivors; He set a time limit for exile; and even "He swallowed up Israel" - assimilation among the nations - serves as a shield and buckler for us. All this is only obscured by our limited perspective, and in the Future to Come, "until I came to the sanctuaries of God, and understood their end," we will recite over everything Hatov VeHaMeitiv, knowing that all the Merciful One does, He does for the good.