Introduction: A Rebuke Containing a Parable from the Sea
In this part of Chapter 5, Yirmiyahu turns to a new rebuke, which includes a profound parable: the parable of the sand of the sea. The prophet calls upon his listeners to publicize these words far and wide, and from this foundation he constructs a comprehensive clarification - how a person is meant to attain recognition of the Creator, wherein Israel failed, what the destructive power of a chet (sin) and an avon (iniquity) is, and who the wicked were that ruined society. Let us proceed through the pesukim in order.
"Declare" and "Proclaim" - Two Types of Audiences
הַגִּידוּ זֹאת בְּבֵית יַעֲקֹב וְהַשְׁמִיעוּהָ בִיהוּדָה לֵאמֹר׃ - Declare this in the house of Yaakov, and proclaim it in Yehudah, saying.
The prophet says: Publicize this rebuke, and the message regarding the sand that borders the sea. The Malbim explains: "The house of Yaakov" refers to the masses of the ten tribes, while "Yehudah" refers to the two tribes present here. We have already seen the distinction between the term haggadah (telling) and hashma'ah (proclaiming): haggadah refers to relaying something unfamiliar - it must be told to you; hashma'ah refers to something already known that merely needs to be sounded out and publicized. The ten tribes are not here and do not know - they must be told (hagidu); Yehudah and Binyamin are present here, the prophet stands before them and they already know - it only needs to be sounded out and proclaimed to them (hashmi'uha).
And why does "the house of Yaakov" specifically allude to the ten tribes? First, because "Yehudah" certainly refers to those who are present here; consequently, corresponding to them stand those who are not here - the ten tribes. Beyond that, the Jewish people are called by two names, Yisrael and Yaakov. When they are in an elevated state, they are called Yisrael, associated with serarah (mastery and nobility); when they are in a lowly state, they are called Yaakov, associated with akev (heel) - the lowest part of the body, an expression of a fallen state. And who was in the lowest state? The ten tribes. Therefore: "Declare this in the house of Yaakov."
Heart, Eyes, and Ears - Three Paths of Perception
שִׁמְעוּ נָא זֹאת עַם סָכָל וְאֵין לֵב עֵינַיִם לָהֶם וְלֹא יִרְאוּ אׇזְנַיִם לָהֶם וְלֹא יִשְׁמָעוּ׃ - Hear this now, O foolish people without understanding, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not.
Three descriptions are stated here: "A foolish people without understanding (heart)," "who have eyes and see not," and "who have ears and hear not." The Malbim has already established the principle that a prophet never repeats poetic expressions in different words unless each phrasing adds a distinct meaning. Indeed, the Malbim explains that a person perceives the Holy One, blessed be He, through three paths.
The first path is through the proofs of intellect and reason - deep contemplation, reflection, and rigorous thought. This is the path of the heart, and about it the verse says, "A foolish people without heart": if there is no heart, with what will you grasp Hashem? The second path is sensory observation - where a person observes reality and sees Divinity in the workings of creation; about this it says, "Who have eyes and see not," for the eye is the faculty of sensory sight. The third path is through tradition (kabbalah) - not in the mystical sense of the Zohar, but transmission: receiving from generation to generation, that which I heard from my father, and my father from his father, all the way back to Moshe Rabbeinu and the Revelation at Mount Sinai. Tradition is transmitted through the ear, not the eye, for no one can show me the Revelation at Sinai; just as with "Why do we eat this matzah?" - a father cannot physically show the Exodus, he can only tell the story. Therefore, tradition is embodied in the ears, and about this it is said, "Who have ears and hear not."
It turns out that they lack the intellect to delve deeply and contemplate on their own, they lack open eyes to witness empirically the reality of the Creator, and they lack the received tradition from prior generations. And "they hear not" means that they are unwilling to make the effort to listen, to hear the proofs and evidence that there is a Creator of the universe Who metes out reward and punishment - that whoever violates His will is stricken, and whoever fulfills His will is rewarded. All the faculties that were supposed to guide them toward the proper conclusions are absent.
These expressions recur throughout the Scriptures: "Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart" - once again, the three elements: eyes, ears, and heart. Likewise: "Yet Hashem has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear." Here we find the intellectual realm of the heart, the sensory realm of the eye, and the traditional transmission of the ear. As we will see in the next verse, the prophet challenges them precisely on the basis of these domains.
Sand as a Boundary for the Sea - The Undeniable Witness
הַאוֹתִי לֹא־תִירָאוּ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה אִם מִפָּנַי לֹא תָחִילוּ אֲשֶׁר־שַׂמְתִּי חוֹל גְּבוּל לַיָּם חׇק־עוֹלָם וְלֹא יַעַבְרֶנְהוּ וַיִּתְגָּעֲשׁוּ וְלֹא יוּכָלוּ וְהָמוּ גַלָּיו וְלֹא יַעַבְרֻנְהוּ׃ - Will you not fear Me? says Hashem. Will you not tremble before Me? Who placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree that it cannot transgress; its waves toss, but cannot prevail; they roar, yet cannot pass over it.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says: There are two witnesses that you cannot deny - one is a witness in the natural world, and the second is within yourselves. The witness in the natural world is the sea. When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, "and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters," water covered the entire earth. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Let the waters be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear," and the waters gathered into the place called today the sea. Naturally, the waters would want to burst forth, but they stand like a wall, because the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed upon them not to leave their place. And what did He place around them? "Here you may come, but no further" - sand. Not a towering wall, but mere sand.
And the Radak adds: The waves of the sea constantly roar and threaten to breach this sand; a wave reaches the shore and retreats, and another, even larger wave arrives and retreats. And if the Holy One, blessed be He, decides just once not to hold it back - there are three hundred thousand dead, may God have mercy, a massive tsunami that sweeps away cities and villages with none able to stand before it. Thus, one can observe nature and see how the Holy One, blessed be He, directs His world and prevents the waters from breaching their boundary. Through this, you can recognize that there is divine providence (hashgachah pratit) from Hashem, and that He does in His world as He wills. If so, how can you not fear Me? How can you not tremble before Me, and not realize that I can do as I will if you violate My commandments? If I can set a boundary for the sea - can I not act against you?
Why Not from the Creation of the World? The Power of Personal Experience
One may ask: Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, not begin the Ten Commandments with "I am Hashem your God Who created you and created the entire world in six days"? After all, that is far more awe-inspiring than "Who took you out of the land of Egypt." True, the Exodus from Egypt is small in comparison to the creation of the world - but it is something small that I actually saw. The Exodus I experienced, the splitting of the Red Sea I experienced; the creation of the world I believe in, but did not personally experience. And it is far easier to convince a person through experiences he underwent himself than through matters that require him to activate the power of faith.
And this is also the answer in our case, says the Radak. When seeking to convince a people of skeptics, if you tell them stories from history, they will say: Who says? It is not necessarily true, these are folklore and legends that developed over the years, alongside all kinds of skeptical arguments. They have their own theory, and you cannot confuse them with facts - they simply do not want to hear. But the fact that the sand serves as a boundary for the sea, an impassable decree - this is something anyone can observe at any time. This they cannot deny; they see it with their own eyes and hear it with their own ears, and there is nothing to argue against it. Therefore, it is specifically from this that the prophet draws his proof.
A Wayward and Rebellious Heart - The Waves That Wash Over the Shore
וְלָעָם הַזֶּה הָיָה לֵב סוֹרֵר וּמוֹרֶה סָרוּ וַיֵּלֵכוּ׃ - But this people has a wayward and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone.
It says here "heart." The Malbim explains: The heart represents the stirring force within man, the power from which character traits, dispositions, and desires emerge. Everything in the soul emanates from the heart - "You have given him his heart's desire." When a person desires something or aspires to it, everything begins in the heart. The heart is the ruler of the body, and not without reason is it also the pump that drives everything, for it is the leadership that directs the entire person.
And behold, the proofs exist - and they are rational proofs, as we saw at the outset - yet the heart refuses to accept them. The heart is wayward: driven by desires and emotional traits that act like waves sweeping in to conquer the shore. Man's desires seek to conquer what is solid and steadfast, the rational and intellectual proofs, the evidence for the existence of the Creator, and the logical proofs that can be demonstrated from history and in a thousand and one ways - that there is a Creator to the world and that man has a purpose. But the heart is a raging sea of passions and desires, causing man to be "wayward" - turning away from the path, unwilling to accept the proofs, and refusing to agree with what the intellect takes for granted.
It would be fitting for the intellect to prevail: the heart's arousal represents the waves coming to wash over, and the intellect is the shore that ought to stop them. But here, that is not the case - "a wayward and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone." There is a shore, but the waves wash over it. In short, this heart is a tsunami heart: instead of the waves stopping upon reaching the shore, the rebellious heart sweeps away the shore itself, and through this "they have turned aside and gone" - straying completely from the path and falling into the category of a wayward and rebellious heart. At that point there is no longer anyone to talk to, for they cross the boundary that Hashem set - the boundary of reason - and act according to desire against the intellect.
"Let Us Now Fear" - Fear of Punishment in Rain and Harvest
וְלוֹא־אָמְרוּ בִלְבָבָם נִירָא נָא אֶת־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ הַנֹּתֵן גֶּשֶׁם יוֹרֶה וּמַלְקוֹשׁ בְּעִתּוֹ שְׁבֻעֹת חֻקּוֹת קָצִיר יִשְׁמׇר־לָנוּ׃ - And they did not say in their heart, "Let us now fear Hashem our God, Who gives rain, the early and the late rain in its season; Who preserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest."
Earlier, it said, "Will you not fear Me?" - meaning that one ought to fear Hashem with awe of His exaltedness (yirat haromemut), to stand in awe of the majesty of His grandeur, which is a lofty level of awe. Now he says, "Will you not tremble before Me?" - even if you lack awe of His exaltedness, do you have no fear of punishment? For a person who lacks awe of exaltedness still understands punishment: putting one's hand into fire burns, and nobody does that. Yet when it comes to doing something that defies the word of Hashem, which requires awe of His exaltedness, we see that people are not so concerned. Therefore: if you will not fear with the awe of His exaltedness, you should at least have been afraid with the fear of punishment.
And what is this fear of punishment? The matter of the rain, the early rain and the late rain. We know that there is a special Divine providence over Eretz Yisrael, for "the eyes of Hashem your God are always upon it," and it is not like the land of Egypt, "where you water it with your foot like a vegetable garden." Seemingly, Egypt has an advantage, since the Nile is always there, whereas here we are cast upon the Creator's mercy - but that is precisely the point. As Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says: To the rebellious son, the father gave his allowance all at once and sent him away; but to the righteous son, the father said, "I wish for you to come every day to receive your bread, rather than coming just once a year." The very fact that "the eyes of Hashem your God are upon it from the beginning of the year until the end of the year" demonstrates your virtue and greatness. On the other hand, it is a double-edged sword: when providence is so close, doing good immediately brings goodness, but doing evil brings an immediate blow.
And from this itself you should have seen: "Let us now fear Hashem our God, Who gives rain, the early and the late rain in its season." It is from Hashem Himself that we receive our needs and rain in its proper season. For there is no meteorologist who can predict what will happen this year - they are mistaken; or even what will happen this week: they tell you it will be a rainy week, yet apparently the rain in the heavens did not hear the forecast. Notice an interesting thing: rain is a natural phenomenon, and a natural phenomenon ought to be predictable with great accuracy, since all the natural data is present, there is a synoptic map - so determine clearly when it will rain, how, and how much! Yet nevertheless, it is impossible to do so. It turns out that the rain serves as proof that there is Divine providence, and it is providence that determines when it will fall and how it will fall.
And sometimes all the data is accurate - the wind data, the clouds, the precipitation levels - except the wind carried it another three kilometers, and the rain fell in Jordan. It was expected here, but it did not fall in Jerusalem; instead, it fell in Jordan. You can have all the data in hand, yet you still understand that there is Divine providence here deciding whether you deserve it or not, whether it will fall or not, and if it falls - where it will fall. And it could be that rain falls, but it turns into a flash flood in the Judean Desert. From the start of the season, immense amounts of precipitation fell, yet they say it did not affect the Kinneret at all, because all the precipitation fell in the south causing flash floods, while very little fell in the Kinneret basin. "One field would receive rain, and another field upon which it did not rain would wither" - the Holy One, Blessed is He, is the One Who determines exactly how and what, providing the rain at the crucial moment according to your current standing. Is this not a reason to fear Hashem?
And it is fitting that the heart as well, which is the seat of desires and appetites, should understand this: from the perspective of desires and wants, you want things to go well for you, you want livelihood and abundance. If so, how can you oppose the reality of Hashem, failing to realize that this harms you directly? After all, you want goodness, you want pleasure - yet this harms you, leaving you without rain.
Beyond this, explains the Malbim, there are needs that we receive through the laws of nature established by the Holy One, Blessed is He, since the six days of Creation - "the appointed weeks of the harvest." The Holy One, Blessed is He, decreed heat and sun during the harvest days, a time when no rain falls. In this too, we depend on Hashem not to alter this nature, but to leave it as it is. "The appointed weeks of the harvest" - the seven weeks from Pesach until Atzeret (Shavuot) - "He preserves for us," meaning that the Holy One, Blessed is He, guards this time so that it does not change. For in their days, had rain fallen during the harvest, the entire yield would have been ruined: the grain would have rotted and spoiled, unable to dry or be winnowed from the chaff, and all their labor would have gone to waste.
Thus, if the Holy One, Blessed is He, wishes to punish, He can punish by withholding the rain - which is governed by moment-by-moment providence; and He can also punish by altering the cycles of summer and winter: in winter, when you anticipate rain, no rain will fall and all the crop will rot in the soil or dry out; and in summer, when you expect sunshine to dry the grain, He will send a little rain, turning everything you managed to harvest into rot and loss. In simple terms: How can you follow the impulse of desire in pursuit of pleasure, without fearing Hashem, Who can bring harm and grief precisely through the bodily pleasures you seek?
Iniquity and Sin - Bringing Harm or Withholding Good
עֲוֺנוֹתֵיכֶם הִטּוּ־אֵלֶּה וְחַטֹּאותֵיכֶם מָנְעוּ הַטּוֹב מִכֶּם׃ - Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
The Malbim explains: Avon (iniquity) is a transgression committed out of heresy and willful defiance; chet (sin) is generally an act committed unintentionally, or out of lust. An iniquity is greater than a sin, for a sin still has some justification - his desire overwhelmed him, or he acted inadvertently; but for iniquity, which is a distortion of the intellect and premeditated heresy, what excuse can there be?
Therefore, the punishment differs. For an avon (iniquity), the Holy One, blessed be He, punishes actively, as it were: He overturns nature and alters it to our detriment. This is the meaning of "your iniquities have turned away these things" - through intentional iniquities we cause the appointed laws of harvest to turn aside. Even though this is a natural law, the Holy One, blessed be He, changes nature on our account, so to speak, because this is an avon, and an avon is extremely severe. In contrast, "and your sins have withheld good from you": a chet (sin), committed inadvertently or out of lust, is lighter. It does not have the power to bring an active evil upon us, but it does have the power to withhold good - not to inflict evil, but to withhold goodness. Sins are in the category of a passive omission: if rain is due to you, sin stops the rain; whereas iniquities have the power to bring evil upon you, to alter the cycles of harvest, and even to bring down a rain of curse. Such is the power of an avon. Thus, these are the very things that brought all the troubles and disasters upon you, and you have no one to blame but yourselves.
Wicked Men Among the People - A Snare for Human Beings
כִּי־נִמְצְאוּ בְעַמִּי רְשָׁעִים יָשׁוּר כְּשַׁךְ יְקוּשִׁים הִצִּיבוּ מַשְׁחִית אֲנָשִׁים יִלְכֹּדוּ׃ - For among My people wicked men are found; he peers like fowlers lying in wait, they set a trap, they catch men.
Yashur ("he peers") derives from the concept of lying in ambush and watching, as in "because of my watchful foes (shoreri)" and "I see him (ashurenu), but not now"; he watches, observes, and lies in wait. A yakush is a snare, a trap placed to hunt deer in the forest: two semicircles with teeth along their edges; when the trap is open, it forms a full circle, and when the deer steps into its place, the spring snaps shut, semicircle against semicircle, as if biting, and the teeth seize the deer's leg. It is anchored by a chain, so the deer cannot escape. This is the meaning of keshach yekushim - like the snapping bite of snares on the leg of the prey. And thus "they set a trap, they catch men": the wicked would set ambushes in the mountains and on the roads, and in their snares they caught not deer, but human beings.
The Malbim explains that here the prophet clarifies the specific sins for which the Holy One, blessed be He, said He would hold back the heavens and alter the laws of the harvest: these iniquities are robbery and murder. The Malbim already noted in Parashat Bereishit that when iniquities run contrary to the laws of nature and the sustained existence of the world, nature itself exacts retribution from the sinner. That is to say: a transgression between man and God, such as one who fails to put on tefillin, cannot be termed a transgression against natural law and the world's existence. But when a person commits murder, that opposes the laws of nature and the very existence of the world, for the world cannot endure when filled with murderers. When a person steals, the world cannot endure when filled with thieves. Indeed, all nations are commanded concerning the Seven Noahide Laws, as they contain the social safeguards without which the world cannot exist: prohibitions against murder, adultery, theft, idolatry, eating a limb from a living animal, and the establishment of a justice system - all these are essential for the world's preservation, and therefore even a gentile is commanded regarding them.
This is what the Malbim is saying: when there are transgressions against the existence of the world, the world exacts retribution from them. This is not an external punishment, but nature itself exacting retribution from the sinners, as it is written: "The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground" - the earth will not yield its produce when there is the voice of bloodshed crying from within it. Nature itself, as it were, punishes the one who commits sins that make it impossible for the world to function according to the laws of nature.
"Keshach Yekushim" - A Hunter's Technique
The Malbim notes the exact phrasing of "he peers like fowlers lying in wait (yashur keshach yekushim)": the verse compares the trapping of people to the snaring of birds. When a bird falls into the net and is trapped, the hunter stands at a distance and "peers" (yashur) - observing. Not only does he observe, but he waits "until the snares subside" (keshach yekushim) - until the bird calms down inside the trap and ceases its fluttering, and only then does he set a new trap. The reason is simple: as long as the bird thrashes inside, it scares away the others, and no other birds will come to be caught. Therefore, the hunter waits until it has calmed down (shach, related to "when the sea subsided [keshoch] from its waves"), when everything is quiet and still, and only then sets another trap; for had the trapped birds still been thrashing in the net, incoming birds would notice their movement.
And the prophet says: Make no mistake, "they catch men" - using this very technique, they ensnared human beings. When a person fell into their net, they would wait until they killed him and until the incident no longer made waves and people stopped talking about it, and only then would they return to seize another victim and kill another. They did not strike in immediate succession, for doing so would create too much uproar, attract public attention, and cause them trouble. Therefore, they waited "until the snares subsided", until the storm died down, and only then proceeded to capture and murder another person.
Like a Cage Full of Birds - Houses Full of Deceit
כִּכְלוּב מָלֵא עוֹף כֵּן בָּתֵּיהֶם מְלֵאִים מִרְמָה עַל־כֵּן גָּדְלוּ וַיַּעֲשִׁירוּ׃ - Like a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore they have grown great and rich.
A keluv (cage) is a place where birds are fattened. Radak explains: a vessel made of wooden slats in which birds are raised and fattened. Today we also know a cage simply as a place to keep birds, not necessarily for fattening, but it may well be one and the same, as they would keep the bird there and feed it until it grew fat. And just as a cage is filled with birds to maximum capacity, supplied with food and drink, so too the houses of the wicked are filled with deceit - wealth amassed through trickery. They retreat into their houses, into their cage, and indulge in that wealth, just like birds delighting in the food and drink brought to them in their coop.
The Malbim explains that this is a direct continuation of the preceding parable: they set a snare for people just as one sets a net for birds, and now the prophet continues the parable - after the hunter finishes his work, he places the birds he caught into a cage, and the cage is full of birds from the abundance of the catch. So too, once they finish their deeds, they fill their houses with deceit, with stolen wealth, and with the extortion they inflicted upon those people. Therefore, "for this reason they grew great and wealthy" - make no mistake, their wealth does not come from the labor of their hands, nor from an honest livelihood they sought to earn, but from the murder we described and from the theft of wealth we mentioned.
"They Grew Fat, They Grew Sleek" - Why They Do Not Fear Justice
שָׁמְנוּ עָשְׁתוּ גַּם עָבְרוּ דִבְרֵי־רָע דִּין לֹא־דָנוּ דִּין יָתוֹם וְיַצְלִיחוּ וּמִשְׁפַּט אֶבְיוֹנִים לֹא שָׁפָטוּ׃ - They grew fat, they grew sleek; they even surpassed deeds of evil; they did not judge the plea, the plea of the orphan, yet they prosper, and the judgment of the needy they did not judge.
Naturally, people who commit such wicked acts in an orderly and properly functioning country, where there is good governance and courts of law, would be sued and brought to trial, and they would fear the judges. Come and see what happens here.
"They grew fat, they grew sleek" - the Radak explains that this is metaphorical, like "and Yeshurun grew fat and kicked": they amassed great wealth. There is also a poetic imagery here: the rich, from being so fat and well-fed, "ashtu" - like "eshet shen" (polished ivory), for when a person's flesh grows fat, it glints and shines, and "ashet" refers to something lustrous and polished. "They even surpassed deeds of evil" - their wealth was not enough for them; rather, they multiplied their robbery and extortion until they surpassed all the deeds of an evil person: they did things beyond what wicked people usually do; the deeds you know as the acts of evil men - they exceeded them. Targum Yonatan renders: "They transgressed the words of the Torah, and did evil" - they transgressed what the Torah says, and they did evil; thus there are two facets here.
And the Malbim explains: "They grew fat, they grew sleek" from all the good things they stole, and not only do they not fear punishment, but they also "surpassed words of evil" - meaning that no one speaks ill of them at all. They commit their wicked acts without any concern over what people will say or talk about them. And why? "They did not judge the case" - since no legal judgment is brought against them, there is no plaintiff. You stole, you murdered, you took - and there is no one who will come forward to prosecute.
And why is that indeed? The verse continues: "the plea of the orphan, yet they prosper." Who should have taken them to court? The orphan - for they murdered his father; and who else? The needy person, who was robbed, and his friends and relatives. But they do not adjudicate the orphan's case, for the orphan - who will heed his cry? He has neither power nor leverage. And likewise, "the judgment of the needy they did not judge," for the same reason. Had you arrived as the manager of a factory or a company, or as an influential figure, they would pay attention to what you say; but when you are an orphan and destitute, automatically "the words of the poor man are despised." In such a reality, they feel they can freely continue their wicked deeds, continue robbing orphans and the destitute, and murdering - for truly, who will prosecute them? The orphan's case is never heard anyway, and the cause of the needy is never judged. Therefore, they allow themselves to go above and beyond evil deeds, and no one speaks ill of them; it slips right past in plain sight without a word, as the media has no interest in making noise when it does not involve their own people. Consequently, these individuals allow themselves to do whatever they please.
The Malbim offers an additional explanation for "ashtu": besides the interpretation connecting it to "eshet shen," which denotes something pure, clear, and gleaming, it can also be interpreted as related to "eshtonot," thoughts. According to this: "they grew fat, they contemplated" - they plotted evil; "they even surpassed deeds of evil" - they also put those plans into action. Thus, "ashtu" refers to what existed in potential, in thought and theory, and afterwards "they even surpassed deeds of evil" - they arose and actually carried it out in practice. "Yet they prosper" - why? Because the cause of the needy was not judged, and no one took them to court for their corrupt deeds.
The Three Cardinal Sins in the Chapter
הַעַל־אֵלֶּה לֹא־אֶפְקֹד נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה אִם בְּגוֹי אֲשֶׁר־כָּזֶה לֹא תִתְנַקֵּם נַפְשִׁי׃ - Shall I not punish for these? says the Lord; shall My soul not be avenged on a nation such as this?
Notice, the Malbim observes, that in our chapter the prophet enumerates the three cardinal sins - idolatry, illicit relations, and bloodshed. First he mentioned illicit relations: "each neighed after his neighbor's wife," and immediately following that, "Shall I not punish for these? says the Lord" - meaning, is it conceivable that they committed such a grave sin and the Holy One, blessed be He, will not hold them to account? Afterwards he mentioned idolatry, "for they have forsaken the Lord," and regarding that he said, "Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar." And here he mentions bloodshed, concerning which he repeats: "Shall I not punish for these? says the Lord."
An Appalling and Shocking Thing
שַׁמָּה וְשַׁעֲרוּרָה נִהְיְתָה בָּאָרֶץ׃ - An astounding and horrible thing has occurred in the land.
Rashi explains that shammah denotes astonishment, while sha'arurah is something universally disgraceful. Radak explains that shammah comes from wonderment, as in "Many were astonished (shamemu) at you" and "He will be astonished and whistle (yishom ve-yishrok)" - amazed and astounded. That is to say, something is destined to happen in the land that will cause people to be astonished and shocked by the calamity that has struck. And sha'arurah signifies filth and corruption, as in "the bad figs (hate'enim hasho'arim)," indicating that something vile will take place here. Radak also brings another interpretation, noting that some manuscripts of the Targum render it with an expression of temah related to tammu, finished and ended. According to this, "shammah ve-sha'arurah" means that total destruction is about to strike here, leaving nothing behind.
The Malbim explains this dual expression: through bloodshed and robbery, a shammah is created - from the root of desolation (shemamah), leaving no viability; while through adultery and idolatry, a sha'arurah, an abomination and disgust, is formed. And there is no hope that they will repent through the rebuke of the prophets - and why? This is explained by the following verse.
The Prophets Prophesied Falsely - and the People Loved It
הַנְּבִאִים נִבְּאוּ בַשֶּׁקֶר וְהַכֹּהֲנִים יִרְדּוּ עַל־יְדֵיהֶם וְעַמִּי אָהֲבוּ כֵן וּמַה־תַּעֲשׂוּ לְאַחֲרִיתָהּ׃ - The prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests ruled by their hands, and My people loved it so; but what will you do in the end of it?
Rashi explains that their false prophets would tell them, "Go ahead and rob and extort" - this was the prophet's recommendation: do this, steal, murder, extort. "And the priests ruled by their hands" - the priests served as their judges and taskmasters, and they subjugated the people "by the hands" of the prophets, meaning following the prophets, as in "and all the people passed by his side (al yado)," which means following him. That is, not only do the prophets instruct falsely, but the priests follow in their footsteps and enforce what the prophets say: the prophets teach falsehood, and the priests carry it out.
Radak explains that this verse clarifies what the "astounding and horrible thing" in the land actually was: the prophets prophesied falsely to the people, telling them, "You will have peace." This makes more sense than the interpretation that the prophets explicitly said "rob and extort," because according to this, the prophets did not explicitly command evil deeds; rather, they simply told everyone that Hashem loves them and that all will be peaceful. They were very pleasant, personable people, and the people loved them dearly, because they always prophesied favorable things: everything will be fine, we have a wonderful nation, our youth are extraordinary, all is well and will remain well, do not invent scary stories and do not frighten the public with apocalyptic forecasts and Gog and Magog - everything is great.
And what happened in reality? The true prophet would arrive and declare: Gentlemen, your deeds are corrupt, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will punish you; there will be exile, an enemy will come and destroy everyone. Immediately, the false prophets would counter: No, you have nothing to worry about, everything will be fine, you are wonderful, and you have no idea how much Hashem loves His nation Yisrael; would that a person love a completely righteous person the way the Holy One, blessed be He, loves the greatest sinner! And one can always quote endlessly to explain how beloved we are before Hashem, continuing: keep doing what you are doing, Hashem loves you no matter what, a father always loves his children and a mother loves hers, you have nothing to worry about. That was the false prophecy.
On the words "and the priests ruled by their hands (yirdu al yedeihem)," Radak offers an intriguing explanation: yirdu is like "and scraped it (vayeradehu) into his hands," an expression of extracting honey, taking. The priests would take bribes to pervert justice, and "by their hands" means that when someone has sweet honey, he eats it with his hands and licks his fingers. In other words, they would extract the "honey" - the bribe money - from the people, licking their hands as if it were a sweet treat, illustrating their boundless appetite for it. Radak also brings another explanation along the lines of dominion and rule, as in "You shall not rule over him ruthlessly (lo tirdeh vo befarech)" and "For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza (hu rodeh)": the priests ruled over the people to make them act according to the false prophet's words, and "by their hands" means through the prophets - whatever the prophet instructed, the priests issued the directives and enforced it just as the prophet directed them.
"And My People Loved It So" - An Illusion that Bursts
"And My people loved it so" - and really, why not? It is very pleasant to hear words of encouragement, hearing how good, wonderful, and decent we are; far more pleasant than listening to Yirmiyahu constantly telling us how flawed and corrupt we are. So the people said: this is a prophet I enjoy listening to; he has a media show, he holds a positive outlook on the nation, he is not one of those who constantly obsess over Gog and Magog and curses - he is very charming. To this the prophet responds: "And what will you do in the end of it?" - when this whole enterprise blows up in your face, what will you do?
And this is precisely what happened during the Oslo period. All the false prophets declared: behold, peace upon Israel; a century of conflict is coming to an end; how wonderful, even Arafat is about to shave; there will be a New Middle East, we just need to develop them economically, they want to live here in peace, and we will soon be able to eat hummus in Damascus. Go explain to them that in twenty years Damascus will be in ruins - what hummus are you talking about? But the false prophets wanted this falsehood to take hold so desperately that they sold the people illusions, and the people bought them.
One can recall the days of Rabbi Azran. Back then, there was immense excitement surrounding the Oslo Accords - peace was imminent, a historic handshake and it was done, the path of war had been abandoned. Yet there were those who warned: an Arab remains an Arab, and an enemy of Israel remains an enemy of Israel, and nothing will change it; listen to what he says to his own people, there is no need for us to interpret him - hear it for yourselves. And indeed, he told them that this was merely the Quraysh treaty, an agreement that outwardly appears to be a treaty but is intended solely to entrap the enemy; he told them: this is only on the surface, we will yet drive them out and expel them. People urged the public: just listen to what they are saying! But such was the euphoria. A broadcaster interviewed Rabbi Azran at the time and asked him: 'Tell me, Rabbi Azran, you see that most of the nation supports the Oslo Accords, so why do you oppose them?' Rabbi Azran, who was a very sharp man, replied: 'True, you are right - but give me the media for two weeks, and then let us see what the majority of the nation thinks.'
This is "the prophets prophesied falsely": they sell the people illusions, and the people, already stifled and weary, are desperate for someone to tell them that something good is about to happen here. Therefore, "and My people loved it so" - the words fall on receptive ears, because the people truly yearn for good things, they already want peace, they are tired of the conflict and are searching for an end to it. The prophet says: true, but one cannot live on illusions; the illusion eventually bursts at some point. And therefore, "and what will you do at the end of it?" - what will you do when all of this blows up, when the magnitude of the mistake becomes clear to everyone, and they already have weapons, autonomy, and the ability to fire missiles across the entire country? Everything that was said back then - do not give them rifles, they will slaughter us, they will draw closer and shoot missiles at us - was met with the claim that you only like to make bleak predictions, and that one must offer hope and give peace a chance. And in reality, we saw what the consequences were. And this has happened before in ancient times: back then too, at the time of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, the false prophets peddled illusions to them. The prophet says: but at the end of it, what will you do? An illusion cannot be sustained indefinitely, and in the end, it blows up in everyone's face.
And the Malbim notes with precision: "The prophets prophesied falsely" - and not by force, because they did not need force, since they had the kohanim. The prophets delivered false prophecies, and the executive arm was the kohanim, who ruled with force. However, instead of punishing wrongdoers, "they ruled by their hands" - according to the directives of the prophets; thus, instead of guiding the people by force toward the service of Hashem, they coerced them toward the worship of the Baal, toward falsehood and all the illusions peddled to them. And perhaps there was still hope that the people would independently perceive the lie and resolve to repent? To this he says: that cannot be, because "My people loved it so" - the matter pleased the people, and they had no reason to rebel against what seemed good to them. If so, "and what will you do at the end of it?" - when all this comes upon them because of the evil of their deeds, what will they do then?
In summary:
In this section, the prophet calls to declare and proclaim the rebuke to the House of Yaakov and Yehudah, rebuking a people that possesses neither an understanding heart, nor seeing eyes, nor hearing ears - and consequently, all three avenues of recognizing the Creator have been blocked before them. In contrast, the Holy One, blessed be He, sets forth the undeniable witness: sand as a boundary for the sea, a manifest providence that every person witnesses at all times. Yet the heart of the people is a rebellious heart, a sea of lusts that overflows even the shore of intellect; and instead of awe of His exaltedness and fear of punishment, which should have arisen from the very providence over the rain and the laws of harvest, came iniquities that disrupt nature and sins that withhold good. The root of the corruption: theft and murder, wicked men who trap people like fowlers and fill their houses with deceit, and judges who do not judge the case of the orphan or the plea of the needy. And above all - false prophets who sell illusions to the people, kohanim who rule at their behest, and a nation that loves it so. On this note, the prophet concludes with an inescapable question: "And what will you do at the end of it?"