"How shall I forgive you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and they swore by that which is no god. I fed them to the full, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the harlot's house." Rashi explains that this is stated as a question: "How shall I forgive you for this?" That is, is anything of all that I have just listed deserving of forgiveness? Should I forgive you for this? The Radak brings a further explanation: "How shall I forgive you for this," meaning, what good is there in you that I could say for this I will forgive you? According to this it is as if divided: "ai" means "where" (as in "where is the good for which you would say for this I will forgive you"). According to Rashi, "How shall I forgive you for this" means: for the sins I listed earlier, shall I forgive you? According to the Radak's explanation here it means: what good is there in you that you could say to Me, for this - behold, you see, I did a good deed, and it will serve as an advocate for you - "for this I will forgive you"? Where is the good and positive thing about which you could say, for this I will forgive you? For which good will I forgive you? For all that I find in you is only evil, only corruption, only rebellion. This is essentially a call directed at Jerusalem. "I fed them to the full, yet they committed adultery." "I fed them to the full" follows the verse "Yeshurun grew fat and kicked." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I gave them plenty, meaning I bestowed upon them every good thing, "I fed them to the full," and as a result of this "Yeshurun grew fat and kicked." The Malbim explains that He is essentially saying: for these things you deserve punishment. And here He returns to God's words. The Holy One, blessed be He, had said, "Roam the streets of Jerusalem." The Holy One, blessed be He, said: search whether there are worthy people in Jerusalem, and if you find there one who seeks faith, if there is one who does justice, I will forgive her. And then God says "ai" for this - "ai" is like "where and let me go" - what merit do you have? If justice and faith be found among you for which I might forgive you? "Ai" - for this I will forgive you? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: for what do you want Me to forgive her? For what merit have you found in them that I should forgive her? And this is the continuation: "Roam the streets of Jerusalem," find what merit there is, whether they have any merit whatsoever for which they deserve pardon. And come and see, on the contrary, that they swear by idolatry, which is no god. And not only that, but they even commit the most severe transgressions. "I fed them to the full, yet they committed adultery." He says, come and see: I fed them, I gave them every good thing, and they commit adultery. "And thronged to the harlot's house." Why does He repeat the matter with "and thronged to the harlot's house"? Because there is a reality in which individuals transgress. And it has always been throughout the ages that such a reality existed, that there were individual transgressors. And when these are individual transgressors, for the most part this has no effect on the community. Especially when the community could not protest because the matter was done in private. But when "they thronged to the harlot's house" - "thronged" means in troops, meaning in public - behold, come and see that in such a state they do not deserve pardon, because this matter is known to all, because this matter is publicized, because the transgression is done publicly. How can such a thing be forgiven and pardoned? So the Holy One, blessed be He, says here: you will see that not only is there no one seeking faith when you roam the streets of Jerusalem, but they even commit their transgressions and their corruptions in public.
"They were like well-fed lusty horses, each neighing after his neighbor's wife." "Well-fed horses" - I will explain according to the Radak, and afterward we will see according to the Malbim. First of all, it is written here "muzanim" and the reading is "meyuzanim." These are the interchangeable letters alef, hei, vav, yud, as the Radak explains. It is like "mezonim," from the word "mazon" (food). And the metaphor here likens them to horses. Horses are not the metaphor here by chance, for when the Sages wish to express adultery they speak of horses: "Ten measures of adultery came down to the world, and horses took nine," "like a horse that follows pleasant talk." So horses come to express lewdness: "whose flesh is as the flesh of horses." Horses express lewdness. So He says: behold, come and see, "well-fed horses" means horses that received their food, received much food at night, and are sated, they are not driven by lust. Despite all this, in the morning they go out and neigh and raise their voices in joy. What does He really mean to say? That at night they would go, each with his neighbor's wife, and in the morning they would go and boast about it. They would go and take pride in it. They would go and tell, as it were, of the deeds they had done. At least if he were ashamed of the act - well, one who commits a transgression and is ashamed of it, that is already something. But here, not only did they commit the severe transgression of each being with his neighbor's wife, but they even neighed. They even go and neigh and tell with pride that he was with so-and-so's wife and with such-and-such's wife. And this really shows how far they had sunk into a terrible decline, that the barrier of shame no longer constitutes any restraint that would prevent them from committing the transgression. For he commits a transgression and afterward even takes pride in it, and goes and tells what he did.
There is a difficulty in the verse, because according to the Radak, "each to his neighbor's wife" was in the evening. And "in the morning" - they rise early in the morning and tell it to their fellows with pride. But this does not fit the language of the verse. For the language of the verse is "well-fed horses, rising early they were," "mashkim" with a kaf, meaning "rising early they were, each to his neighbor's wife." This implies that each to his neighbor's wife they would go early in the morning. But the Radak explains: no, they would rise early to tell that last night they were each with his neighbor's wife. Thus the Radak explains. And what is "well-fed horses"? It means they already had food at night, namely what they did each with his neighbor's wife, and afterward in the morning they go and tell about it. But this does not fit so well with the order of the verses. More reasonable here is the Malbim's explanation. The Malbim says that after they committed adultery at night, and in the morning they were like well-fed horses - what is "well-fed"? It means they were sated with their lust because they had already committed adultery at night. Despite all this, come and see that in the morning they continued in their corrupt way. "Rising early they were, each to his neighbor's wife." After you committed such severe transgressions at night, then perhaps during the day you would already be sated with transgression. And then, when he rises early in the morning, he would already have no lust. He says: no, come and see that "rising early they were," they would rise early in the morning, each to his neighbor's wife, they neighed. So He says: for such a thing do they deserve pardon? And note again, there is an expression here that a person who sins out of lust - well, you can say that his lust overcame him. But this verse comes to express the reality that they had sated themselves with lust, because last night he already committed the transgression. Why then did you rise in the morning again to commit a transgression? Were you not sated? For it shows "well-fed horses," meaning they already had food from yesterday, so why does he rise in the morning again to commit a transgression?
The Malbim brings here a further explanation of what "well-fed" means. One explanation we said, that it is from the word "mazon" (food), that they were already sated with their lust, as it were. A further explanation he offers is that "meyuzanim" is like "mezuyanim" (armed), like "they went out with weapons." The meaning is that they were, as it were, in a state of arousal. This is the meaning of "meyuzanim," like a man who goes out to war with his sword; so too they were with their weapons.
According to this, he explains what "rising early they were" means: "each to his neighbor's wife, rising early" is like "mashkim" (from "eshech"), as in "maroach ashech," meaning from the word for testicles. "Well-fed" refers to the reproductive organs that increase lust. The meaning is to say that they would rise in the morning with great lust to commit a transgression, which itself, as we said, teaches of their lowliness, that after committing a transgression at night they were not sated with it and even rise in the morning rejoicing toward battle.
"Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? Shall My soul not be avenged on a nation such as this?" Is it possible that for these great evils I would not punish them? "Shall My soul not be avenged on a nation such as this?" According to the Radak, this is a repetition of the matter in different words: a nation such as this, which does such deeds - shall I not avenge Myself on them? But we already know, and it is well established for us, that the Malbim always holds that there is no repetition of a matter in different words. The prophet never repeats his words, nor does any book among the books of the Prophets and the Writings, and all the more so the Torah, repeat a matter in different words. And if there is a repetition, the repetition is not mere repetition but comes to express an additional meaning.
On this the Malbim explains here: "Shall I not punish for these things" - is it not fitting that I punish you, both from the standpoint of the deeds themselves? He says "Shall I not punish for these things," and from the standpoint of the character of the people, namely the corruption of the traits that was in them, which in our terms concerns the sinner himself, the person himself. "Shall My soul not be avenged on a nation such as this?" Upon such a people shall My soul not be avenged? That is to say, "for these things" refers to the transgressions, and "a nation such as this" refers to these people. So there is no mere repetition here. The repetition here comes to express both the severity of the sin and the lowliness of the sinner. On account of both of these things, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, it is fitting that I punish them.
"Go up upon her walls and destroy, but do not make a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord's." "Go up upon her walls" - here the commentators struggle over what these "sharoteha" are. Rashi brings two explanations and refutes them. The first explanation Rashi offers is that "her walls" means a level plain, as if the prophet were telling the nations to come into her level places. He brings a further explanation in the name of Menachem, that "sharoteha" is from the language of "I leap over a wall" ("eshdaleg shur"), "daughters marched upon the wall" ("banot tza'ada alei shur"), which is a wall. And we also explained that it is from the language of seeing, "I behold it (ashurenu) but not now, I see it but not near," for they would go up on the wall to see far off. So again it is from the language of a wall. So "go up upon her walls" is either from the language of a plain or from the language of a wall. Rashi says it is impossible to explain thus. These two explanations cannot fit with the continuation of the verse: "strip away her branches." What is the connection? "Her branches," says Rashi, refers to the roots of the vineyard. What is the connection of the roots of a vineyard with walls or with a plain? What does it have to do with it? One does not make walls for a vineyard; one makes walls for a city. And it is not understood: "go up upon her walls and strip away her branches"? Go up upon the walls and uproot the roots of the vineyard? How do walls or a plain connect with a vineyard?
Therefore Rashi says that the explanation we must adopt is that "sharoteha" is from the language of "shuroteha" (her rows). "Shuroteha" is a row, and what are the rows? They would plant the vineyard in rows. So He says to them, go up in her rows, meaning the enemy will come into her rows, into the rows of the vineyard. But "do not make a full end." This means the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I still do not allow for the possibility of complete destruction. And we will see this again and again going forward, that the Holy One, blessed be He, repeatedly announces that even though the enemy will come, "yet even so, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them nor abhor them to destroy them." The Holy One, blessed be He, has a covenant with us, and this covenant assures that there will never be complete destruction. Therefore, even when the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to destroy the people, He says to Moshe, "Let Me be, and I will destroy them, and I will make of you a great nation." There must be a continuation for Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov; it will be from you. But total destruction will never occur in any way.
In any case, Rashi brings a further explanation, which is the explanation of Targum Yonatan, that "sharoteha" he explains as "bekarvoha" - what is "bekarvoha"? It is her cities. And "her branches" is "birnayateha," which is her palaces. So "go up upon her cities and destroy, but do not make a full end; strip away her palaces, for they are not the Lord's." Thus the verse is explained according to Targum Yonatan.
The Radak, by contrast, explains that "sharoteha" is from the language of a wall. And then He is essentially commanding the enemies here to go up and destroy the walls. "Strip away her branches" - Rashi raised the difficulty of how the vineyard suddenly connects with walls. The Radak says: no, "her branches" does not speak of the vineyard; "her branches" speaks of the stones protruding from the wall. For we know that a wall has stones, and they are protruding stones. Of this He speaks and says: remove the protruding stones from the wall, this is "strip away her branches." "For they are not the Lord's." What does "they are not the Lord's" mean? Until now they were the Lord's, as it is written, the Holy One, blessed be He, promised "I will defend this city to save it," they were the Lord's. But now He says they are not the Lord's, her walls are not the Lord's. As if the Holy One, blessed be He, says: this is not My city; if this is not My city, I am not obligated in its defense. For you forsook God, so the Holy One, blessed be He, forsook the city, forsook the wall.
The Radak offers a further explanation, that what is written "strip away her branches" is like "and the sprigs he lopped off," meaning the boughs of the trees that spread out. The boughs of the trees means the spreading branches of the trees. "But do not make a full end" - He does not say this about the wall, since the wall was completely torn down, completely demolished, as it is written, "and the walls of Jerusalem all around they broke down." Rather, "do not make a full end" refers to the people. The meaning is that even though the wall was completely demolished, leave the people to survive.
The Malbim too explains, like Rashi, that "sharoteha" means the rows of the vineyard. "But do not make a full end" means only strip away the branches, namely the branches that spread outward - strip these away. Why? Because the branches that spread outward in the vineyard - you know, one of the things that every vineyard owner is careful to do, for if not the vineyard is ruined, is to prune the vineyard. Pruning the vineyard develops it. If you do not prune the vineyard, what happens is that the strength that should reach the fruit, the grapes, goes out to the branches. Instead of all that strength developing finer grapes, it lengthens its shoots, its branches, the extensions and outgrowths of the vineyard, and this weakens its strength. Therefore He says: what must be removed here? Note - "her branches." Do you hear how the Malbim explains it? The Malbim says: there are long branches here that ruin the vine. Who are the long branches that ruin the vine? These are the wicked. For this vineyard in itself is the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts. The people of Israel in themselves are God's people. And if you see there is corruption, we see there are great flaws, God says: these are her branches. These are the great branches that distance themselves, as it were, and abandon the vine itself. They are the ones causing the weakening of the vine, they are the ones causing the corruption. And it is possible to explain, it now occurs to me, according to this explanation, why they are called "her branches" ("netishoteha"). In its plain sense, because it abandoned ("natash") the vineyard, the vine, it distances itself. But also in the analogy - about whom are we speaking here? We are speaking of the wicked. What are the wicked, if not those who abandon the way of God, who abandon the Torah of God? Therefore He defines them as "her branches." Who are her branches? Meaning those who distanced themselves, those who are no longer part of the vineyard of the house of Israel; these, says the Holy One, blessed be He, must be destroyed, these must be removed, "for they are not the Lord's" - note who? "They." "They," the branches, those who distance themselves, are not the Lord's. But by contrast, the entire people of Israel - about this it is written "but do not make a full end," that there shall not be a state of complete destruction.
"For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have utterly betrayed Me, says the Lord." The Radak says: why should they be avenged upon? Because they betrayed Me. Why "they are not the Lord's," the Malbim explains? Because they betrayed with several betrayals. And now he will explain to us how these betrayals encompass, says the Malbim, all the fundamentals of the faith. It is known that we count thirteen principles of faith. But this is not written in the Torah, and it is also not written in the Gemara. These are principles that the Rambam gathered together. And there were other Rishonim who placed emphasis on other principles - not others, but rather one could say on fewer. The author of the Ikkarim placed emphasis on three principles. Rabbi Albo placed emphasis on three principles: the existence of God, Torah from Heaven, and reward and punishment. The existence of God does not yet mean that there is Torah from Heaven. So it is not enough to say I believe in God. One must say I also believe that He gave Torah from Heaven. Torah from Heaven is still not enough to observe, for it is true God gave Torah from Heaven and He said that it is really most recommended to live this way. And if not? Then live as you please, however you like. No, one must know that there is also reward and punishment. If you have these three principles, a person has no argument for why not to begin serving. That is it, begin serving. Begin observing the commandments, doing God's will. These are the three necessary principles. First, to know that there is a Creator of the world. Second, to know that the Creator of the world gave a Torah. Third, that the Torah is binding, and if you do not fulfill the Torah then, God forbid, there is punishment. So he says: against these three things, come and see that the people of Israel rebelled and became corrupt.
"They have denied the Lord and said, 'It is not He; no evil shall come upon us, and we shall not see sword or famine.'" After all the rebukes with which the prophet reproves them: "they have denied the Lord and said, 'It is not He.'" The Radak says: it is not He who watches over us and sees our deeds, and if we do as we please no evil will come upon us. This is against the matter of reward and punishment, says the Malbim. They denied reward and punishment. Since the One who punishes does not exist in reality, the evil that the prophets foretold in His name will not come. That is to say, they denied the existence of the Creator. And they said "it is not He," the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were does not exist. "And no evil shall come upon us, and we shall not see sword or famine" - that is to say, all that the prophets threaten us with regarding future troubles, regarding the punishments we will receive if we continue and stray from the way, even though they frighten us with harsh things, they speak falsely. Since no prophecy came to them from God, they fabricate all this from their hearts. And since this is so, there will be no sword or famine.
"And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them; thus shall it be done to them." This verse has two possibilities of explanation, two possibilities that are actually opposite. According to the Malbim's explanation here, this is a continuation, a continuation of the claim of the deniers. The deniers who denied the Lord say "it is not He, no evil shall come upon us, we shall not see sword or famine." The deniers continue and claim: after it becomes clear that the punishment the prophets promise us will not come, then what will become clear? That the prophets who promise all those punishments will become wind. It will become clear that all these prophets do not have the spirit of God in their mouths, but rather their words are wind, an invention of theirs. And after this becomes clear, then "thus shall it be done to them." This means: what they promise us, God will bring upon them. "Thus shall it be done to them." That is to say, since they are false prophets and since all their promises are untrue, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring upon them all that they supposedly foresee for our harm. According to this, this is the claim of the deniers.
But according to the Radak, the claim here is the opposite. Here the claim is against them. The prophets written of here, the Radak explains, are the prophets who mislead them, they are the false prophets. These prophets - not the true prophets of whom the deniers speak, no. Now the speech here, according to the Radak, is about the false prophets. The prophet, as it were, says: the prophets, the false prophets, shall become wind. "And the word is not in them" - the meaning is that there is no divine word in them, there is no divine inspiration in them, but rather they rely on their dreams, on their sorceries, on all those vanities in which they engage in order to speak prophecies. And these things, as we said at the time, were very, very tempting, because when you tell the people a good prophecy you are very popular. When you tell a harsh prophecy, no one enjoys hearing prophecies that describe destruction and describe sword and famine and captivity. Since this is so, the prophet says to them: know that these prophets who try to find favor in your eyes are false prophets. "And the prophets shall become wind." It will become clear to you that they are wind and their words have no substance. All their prophecies are prophecies that they drew from their sorceries and their vanities. "Thus shall it be done to them." What is "thus shall it be done to them"? What will be done to them? On the contrary, they say good things. So what is "thus shall it be done to them"? It is like an exaggeration that is not spelled out. In many places we see this expression, "thus may God do to me and thus may He add" and so on. "If the head of Elisha ben Shafat shall stand on him today, thus may the Lord do to me and thus may He add." What is this? He means to say woe will befall me, but he does not want to say evil about himself, so that there be no, God forbid, an opening of the mouth for evil, so he says "thus may He do to me," God will bring woe upon me if I do not do such and such. In order not to bring forth a word from his mouth, he does not want to say what. So too here, "thus shall it be done to them," God will bring woe upon them. He does not want to say at all what that act will be. So it turns out, then, that according to the Radak and according to the Malbim there are two entirely different explanations. According to the Malbim, "and the prophets shall become wind" means the deniers say about the true prophets that their words are false and they shall become wind and the word is not in them. According to the Radak, "the prophets shall become wind" is the true prophet saying about the false prophets that the false prophets shall become wind and the word is not in them; thus shall it be done to them.
"Therefore thus says the Lord, God of Hosts: because you have spoken this word, behold I make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them." "Therefore thus says the Lord" - here now is the response of the true prophet who answers them. Yirmiyahu now answers them in the name of God: since you deny the existence of God, since you deny the matter of reward and punishment, then "thus says the Lord, God of Hosts: because you have spoken this word" - since you spoke the things we have just seen, which are words of utter denial, "behold I make My words in your mouth fire." The words of the Holy One, blessed be He, will be in the mouth of the prophet like fire. And the people will be like wood. What does this metaphor really come to say? Until now one could not define the words of the prophet in his mouth as fire and the people as wood, for if fire came out of the prophet's mouth and the people are wood, then the people would long ago have been burned. Essentially, what was the prophet? The prophet was only threats of fire. Why? So that the people would repent and would not need to be burned. But the Holy One, blessed be He, says: if there is such a state that the prophet speaks and speaks and it does not help, then there is no point in sending him to arouse them. So if this is so, let him speak and it will immediately take effect - perhaps then the people will understand. Let him speak and then it will immediately burn, and then perhaps the people will grasp that his words are true words, that the punishment will come at once, just as fire ignites the wood. Since they deny and do not believe, I cannot give them a punishment whose fulfillment they must anticipate. They do not believe, they deny, they say this will not be fulfilled, this will not happen. They say about God's prophets that they are false prophets, they do not believe in the existence of God, evil will not come. Ah, so this is what you say? Then every time the prophet says something now, on the spot the evil will occur. Perhaps when it actually happens, in this you will indeed believe.
"Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord; it is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor understand what it says." Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel." What is "a nation from afar"? The Malbim says: a nation that is located near the land it conquers does not destroy it. It would be a shame for it to destroy it. Consider - if, for example, Assad were to conquer part of the land of Israel tomorrow, why would he destroy it? On the contrary, he would annex it. The fact that he has a border near us causes that if he conquers us he wants to preserve us, since he has infrastructure here and he has a region of land here and he has everything here. By contrast, if a nation comes from a distant land and conquers us here, then it has nothing to do here with the place, it cannot annex it to its land. And to hold two places is usually often not worthwhile for it, for it has no purpose. And then it would destroy the place and take what it can take, take the money, the gold, the people, everything that can be taken, the human and economic capital, and leave. And then it would destroy the land, since if I do not benefit, let no one benefit from it, or so that the remaining people would not stay in it and would be forced into exile. This is what He says to them: "Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel." And since the nation comes from afar, it consequently destroys everything, it lays waste to everything.
And do not say, "Ah, it will come, we will contend against it." God says: "it is an enduring nation." "An enduring nation" means a strong nation. And do not say, well, perhaps it will pass for a short period and we will be redeemed soon. God says to them: "it is an ancient nation." "It is an ancient nation" means it persists in its rule from of old, for many days. That is to say, this is not someone who runs short distances. It runs long distances, it has already ruled and reigned for many years and it has many conquests behind it, and when it comes it comes to stay. So it is an ancient nation, and it will persist in its rule for many days, so if it conquers you it will not be for a short period, half a year or a year and then leave.
What will you say? Well, perhaps we will try to find favor in its eyes. He says to you: you will not even have a way to do this, because this nation will be a nation "whose language you do not know, nor understand what it says." This is a nation whose language you do not know, nor understand what it says. What does "whose language you do not know, nor understand what it says" mean? "You do not know its language" - it speaks in another tongue. "Nor understand what it says" - even if you know its other language, you will not fully understand it because it speaks with a strange accent. Its accent is so odd that even one who knows the language does not understand what it says. Let me give perhaps an example: a person can arrive, a person learned English, and he arrives in America, he hears people speaking and he does not understand what they are saying. Why? But you learned English. Yes, but in the English he learned he learned "this is a table, this is a..." - do you understand? Now, understand how to say... they speak about this and such... it is like a news anchor, he does not understand what he is saying at all. He does not manage to... he does not manage to break down the words, he does not manage to create separation, he has a strange accent so that the person listening, even if he understands the language, does not manage to decipher what comes out of his mouth. That is to say, there are two disadvantages here. This is what He says: "you do not know its language," and even if you knew its language, you are not familiar with its strange dialect, its odd accent, its speech so strange that even one who knows the language does not understand its words. So "you do not understand what it says." So even to find favor in its eyes you will not be able. So then this is going to be a terrible trouble.
Let us add and intensify the matter, and He says: "Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all mighty men." "Their quiver" is the place of the sheath of the arrows; this is called a quiver. The arrow kills from afar, as is known, and the sword kills up close. He, this nation that will come, is a bowman, he is an expert in shooting the bow. He hits the mark to a hair's breadth, so that when the quiver of his arrows is opened - what today is called a magazine - then it is like an open grave. As if we say: this is a grave, from here it is only a bed. This arrow arrives only at a bed. He does not miss. He does not return empty. So their quiver - the moment he opened his quiver, he opened a grave. So that is it, you know that from there it only brings corpses to the grave. And also when one approaches them, they will all be mighty men when they fight up close - this is "they are all mighty men." Because to shoot with an arrow you do not need to be a mighty man. But to fight face to face you need to be a mighty man, for then you fight sword against sword, and then according to the might and swiftness of the warrior so too are the chances of victory. And here He says to you there are two advantages. One advantage: their quiver is like an open grave, and from afar he already shoots arrows of death that lead only to the grave. And also in battle face to face, up close, they are all mighty men.
And now He describes what else it is destined to do. "And it shall devour your harvest and your bread; they shall devour your sons and your daughters; it shall devour your flocks and your herds; it shall devour your vines and your fig trees; it shall impoverish your fortified cities in which you trust, by the sword." You claimed "we shall not see sword or famine." The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: now you will see that both of these things will befall you. This enemy will first devour your harvest and your bread. What is "your harvest and your bread which your sons and daughters shall devour"? This seemingly is not understood. You tell me "and it shall devour your harvest and your bread; your sons and daughters shall devour"? Rather, the meaning is: at first it will devour your harvest and your bread - which harvest and bread? That which was destined to be food for your sons and daughters. As if it were written "which." "And it shall devour your harvest and your bread which your sons and daughters shall devour." That is to say, not from the granaries, not from the surplus. From the bread of your sons and daughters, from there it will take, this it will devour. "And it shall devour your harvest and your bread; they shall devour your sons and daughters. It shall devour your flocks and your herds." Your flocks and your herds too it will devour. And afterward "it shall devour your vines and your fig trees." Not only will it destroy the fruit of the vine itself, but it will destroy everything, even the vine itself, not only the fruit. That is to say, as we said earlier, that this will be a nation from afar, and since this is so, it does not care about destroying everything. For in any case nothing remains for me of the resources here in the land, so what I take I take, and what I do not, I have no problem destroying. And your fortified cities in which you trust - these it will impoverish by the sword.
"Yet even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: even though there is here a very harsh, very sharp prophecy, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I have a promise that I will not make a full end of you. I promise that the people of Israel will never be destroyed. Note, says the Malbim, this promise recurs here three times. At first, when He mentioned the destruction of the land in chapter 4, verse 26, He said, "desolate shall be all the land, yet I will not make a full end." Then, when He mentions the slaughter that they will do among God's people, which is in our chapter, chapter 5, verse 10, it is written, "go up upon her walls and destroy, but do not make a full end." Again we saw a promise that there will be no complete destruction. And here in verse 18, where He mentions the plunder of money and property, He says this will be after the exile, that they will hold them as slaves with all their possessions; nevertheless, know that they will not make a full end of them. There will be no complete destruction of them, for the enemy will actually benefit from them. So a sheep whose wool you enjoy you do not slaughter. For you continue to raise it so that it will grow more wool. That is to say, since here it will receive from them silver and gold and benefit, the nation will not make a full end of you.
"And it shall be, when you say, 'For what reason has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' then you shall say to them, 'Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land not your own.'" When you are already in exile and then you open your eyes and believe in God, believe in His punishments, you will ask: how is this punishment measure for measure? To what sin does this punishment correspond? Against what? What did we transgress that we receive such a punishment? And this is what is written: "and it shall be, when you say, for what reason has the Lord our God done all these things to us." The Malbim says: everywhere it is written "tachat" (for/under), which is a synonym for the word "ya'an" (because), it means measure for measure. Like "an eye for an eye," "this shall be to them for their pride," "because (tachat) you did not serve the Lord your God with joy." The expression "tachat" comes to express this against that, that is to say, measure for measure. And if you ask, what measure for measure is there here? "For what reason has the Lord our God done all these things to us?" Then you shall say to them: just as you forsook Me. Just as you forsook Me in your land, which was under God's providence, you forsook the Holy One, blessed be He, you took upon yourselves servitude of foreign gods, so too the Holy One, blessed be He, says to them, measure for measure, in a land not your own you shall serve strangers. You love serving strangers? Then you will serve strangers in a land not your own. In your own land, under your vine and your fig tree, the Holy One, blessed be He, is the master of the house and He is the ruler, and you say I loved serving strangers. You loved serving strangers? Then you will be exiled to their land and there you will serve strangers. Thus there is measure for measure here: so you shall serve strangers in a land not your own.