Introduction
We are in the second part of Chapter 10 of Yirmiyahu, continuing the great rebuke against idolatry. The prophet set two realities side by side: on the one hand, Hashem, the true God, the living God and King of the universe; and on the other hand, the idol - a block of wood coated with gold that has no substance. In the verses before us, the prophet continues and demonstrates that at one specific point, all the wise men and all the idolaters break down alike: the descent of rain. From there, he moves on to describe the approaching destruction, the prophet's cry over the ruin of his people, and the prayer that concludes the chapter.
"Every Man Is Senseless, Without Knowledge" - The Failure of the Wise Concerning the Mystery of Rain
נִבְעַר כָּל אָדָם מִדַּעַת הֹבִישׁ כָּל צוֹרֵף מִפָּסֶל כִּי שֶׁקֶר נִסְכּוֹ וְלֹא רוּחַ בָּם׃ - Every man is senseless, without knowledge; every metalsmith is put to shame by his idol, for his molten image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.
"Every man is senseless, without knowledge" - in the sense of "a boorish man does not know, nor does a fool understand this." Every person is too senseless to fathom His wisdom, His understanding, and the works of Hashem. "Every metalsmith is put to shame by his idol" - every smith will be ashamed of the idol he made, crafting a statue and calling it a god when it possesses no power whatsoever. Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can bring rain? Which gentile is capable, through his gods, of making it rain? The silversmith who sat and refined the idol for long hours and days will be ashamed, for it will become clear to him that "his molten image is a lie, and there is no breath in them."
Radak, as well as Rashi, explain "nisko" (his molten/covered image) from the term masechah, which refers to an overlay or covering over the surface. As we saw earlier, they would take a large wooden idol (since an idol made entirely of gold was far too expensive) and overlay it with gold. This created a twofold impression: first, that the idol was solid gold, and second, that it inspired awe and excitement in those beholding a giant, gilded monument. Regarding this, the prophet says: it will become clear to him that he covered his idol in gold based on a falsehood, and there is no breath in it - you did this to no purpose and with no benefit.
The Malbim explains: all natural scientists are senseless and incapable of knowing how Hashem established these laws so that they would operate continually and with precise calibration, whereby rain would always fall in its due season according to the land's need, in exact measure and weight. His words are fascinating, for to this very day, nothing has changed. Researchers have no reliable metric by which they can determine how much rain will fall, what kind of rain, in what quantity, or when. Their seasonal forecasts disappoint year after year, yet this does not stop them from issuing annual predictions again, even though they possess no real gateway to determine such things, and each time they are surprised anew.
One can recall the year of the Gulf War, which followed two years of drought. Forecasters predicted another dry year: after two parched years, global warming, and the like, there would likely be no rain. In reality, rains fell in such torrents that lakes formed and roads were impassable across the entire country, leaving all the experts speechless, without any explanation. One realizes that there are things they simply cannot know. When it will rain, how it will rain, and how much will fall - these matters remain solely under His divine providence. Other phenomena can be anticipated and estimated, but regarding rain, they have no true understanding at all.
How Idolatry Was Born: Attributing the Unexplained to Higher Powers
The Malbim continues: when ancient thinkers studied the workings of nature, they sought to assign a natural cause to everything, especially to fixed and recurring phenomena - sunrise and sunset, the months and years, solar and lunar eclipses. These are cyclical events that can be calculated to occur at set intervals, and by observing the positions of the sun and moon, one can explain how the phenomenon takes place. Scientists have always tried to fit all worldly forces into a purely natural framework: pressure here, pressure there, the rotation of the Earth, barometric pressure, and all sorts of sophisticated jargon - "bring paper and I will explain how it happens; there is no miracle here and nothing supernatural."
Yet when it comes to rain, they get stuck. After all, nothing has changed: the sea is the same sea, the sun the same sun, the wind the same wind. Why, then, is there rain one year and none the next? What change in nature took place? If you take a pencil and paper and calculate, you will find no logical explanation. And whatever they could not account for through natural laws, they attributed to mysterious forces and higher powers - and from there, they devolved into worshiping those very forces. Where does rain come from? If there is no natural explanation, it must be a higher power; therefore, one must worship the image responsible for these heavenly realms. Whatever could not be explained was attributed to spirits, higher powers, and celestial bodies.
A well-known story is told that when Columbus arrived in America, the natives captured him and imprisoned him. Columbus was a skilled astronomer and knew that a solar eclipse was imminent. He told them: "If you do not release me, tomorrow I will take away your sun." The next day a solar eclipse occurred, and they brought him out with great honor and treated him as a god. He knew through his calculations when the eclipse would happen and threatened them accordingly, but from their perspective, this man possessed divine powers. And so it was with every phenomenon: whenever people encountered something that exceeded the natural framework and logical explanation, they immediately ascribed divine powers to it, which led them to engage in idolatry and worship sculpted images.
The Malbim explains: But now the prophet tells them that when you see the wisdom of Hashem and how the Holy One, blessed be He, is the One Who forms the rain, you will see that this matter is beyond human grasp - man cannot comprehend it and cannot find a natural explanation for it, nor can the purveyors of vanity attribute it to their graven images. Even the men of futility, who attribute everything to idols, will find no explanation here. "Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image" - if he prays to it for rain, he will know that his molten image is a falsehood.
The Malbim explains that he will see three deficiencies in it: First, he has no reason to expect his prayer to be fulfilled, for what the worshippers of Baal promise is a lie - after all, it is a piece of wood; you carved it and overlaid it with gold, so how could it have knowledge, and how could it speak anything to you in its own name? This is "his molten image is a falsehood." Second, "and there is no breath in them" - there is no breath of life in it, so how could the idol know anything, and how could it provide rain or anything else for you?
And the third deficiency: there are phenomena in nature that were considered to have an occult property (segulah), meaning something whose power is wondrous and for which we have no natural explanation. Today there is an explanation for many of them, and a prime example is the magnet. In their time, this was a wonder. We find that one of the ways people were enticed to follow the sin of Yarov'am was that the calves were suspended by magnetic force, standing between heaven and earth. People who saw this said: Look, there is a spiritual force here, look how the calf hovers in the air - and no one knew that a magnetic force was acting upon them and holding them in midair. Alternatively, they tied strings below to the ground and placed a strong magnet above, so the idol was drawn upward and appeared tethered by strings, floating like a balloon - from where did this power come? Or they set up two magnets, one below and one above, and it remained suspended exactly in the middle. Either way, there were phenomena perceived in their time as occult properties: How does it work? I do not know, it is its hidden property, the property of the magnet. Regarding this, the prophet says: Come and see, even this they do not possess.
"They are vanity" - Four Corresponding to Four
הֶבֶל הֵמָּה מַעֲשֵׂה תַּעְתֻּעִים בְּעֵת פְּקֻדָּתָם יֹאבֵדוּ׃ - They are vanity, a work of delusion; at the time of their visitation they shall perish.
"They are vanity" - all their deeds are works of delusion, and they possess no special hidden power whatsoever. "At the time of their visitation they shall perish" - when Hashem visits retribution upon them, they will perish.
The Malbim notes carefully: Notice that these descriptions correspond exactly to what was said earlier regarding the Holy One, blessed be He. It was said, "Hashem, God, is truth" - and corresponding to this regarding the idol: "his molten image is a falsehood." It was said, "He is the living God" - and corresponding to this: "and there is no breath in them," there is no vitality in it. It was said, "and eternal King" - and corresponding to this: "they are vanity," for they do not even rule over themselves, let alone rule over the world. It was said, "at His wrath the earth quakes" - and corresponding to this: not only does no one tremble before them, but they themselves will perish, "at the time of their visitation they shall perish."
The Radak explains, in line with what was seen earlier regarding "they shall perish from the earth": "their visitation" means when Hashem visits retribution upon Babylon. For Babylon was destroyed by Media and Persia, and then came the reckoning of the idols: "Bel bows down, Nebo stoops." Bel was the god of Babylon in whom they believed, and regarding them it is said, "their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle" - their god was dismantled into pieces and loaded onto animals in order to melt it down and use its metal and gold for their own needs.
And such was the common practice: when a nation conquered another nation, it immediately destroyed its gods. And what did this prove? That our god is strong and their god is nothing. Therefore, they would immediately take the god of the other nation, break it, smash it, crush it, and use all its gold for their own purposes. This is what the verse means: "They are vanity, a work of delusion" - when I bring retribution upon Babylon, there will also be a reckoning for their idols, "at the time of their visitation they shall perish."
The Kuzari's Interpretation: Inspect and Search - And You Will Find the Trick
The Radak cites another explanation in the name of the author of the Kuzari regarding "at the time of their visitation they shall perish": the word pekidah (visitation) is an expression of searching and inspecting. If you inspect them and search into them, they will turn out to be nothing, like a counterfeit object where upon examination the trickery is uncovered. But the Divine realm - the more you search into it, the more you will find it to be pure gold. This matter was discussed at length in the study of Sefer HaKuzari, and here it will be explained briefly.
When it comes to trickery and clever manipulation, take an illusionist as an example. Everything a magician does is a kind of sleight of hand, and no one actually thinks he is a sorcerer or wizard. When the magician finally reveals what the trick is, you say: Well, that is an obvious and simple trick - once you know. But beforehand, you do not know from where he pulls out doves, how he hovers in the air, or how he cuts boxes with people inside, and everything seems utterly wondrous. So it is with the idol: they attempt to create an impression that it exerts influence and produces results, but "at the time of their visitation" - when you examine it and inspect it, you will find the trick, the deception, the counterfeit, and the scheme by which they operate. By contrast, the Divine realm - the more you scrutinize it, the more you discover that it is genuine gold: no facades, no tricks, and no techniques, but Hashem, God, is truth, Who bestows His bounty upon all His creations, Hashem of Hosts is His Name.
"Not like these is the Portion of Yaakov"
לֹא כְאֵלֶּה חֵלֶק יַעֲקֹב כִּי יוֹצֵר הַכֹּל הוּא וְיִשְׂרָאֵל שֵׁבֶט נַחֲלָתוֹ יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁמוֹ׃ - Not like these is the Portion of Yaakov, for He is the Former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; Hashem Tzevaot is His Name.
The portion of Yaakov is not like those idols that are the portion of the nations. The Radak explains: Hashem is the Former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance, and we do not serve anyone else, only the Holy One, blessed be He. They are the tribe of His inheritance, because the Holy One, blessed be He, chose them as an inheritance, and they are His portion and His estate. And even though we have been exiled from our land, we have not abandoned our God - we still believe in Him with complete faith, recognizing and acknowledging that "Hashem Tzevaot is His Name," the Master of the legions above and below, and that everything is solely from Him.
The Radak notes an important point: the prophet Yirmiyahu sent all these words to the elders of Israel who were exiled in the Babylonian exile, in the first exile with Yehoyachin. It all began with "Thus shall you say to them" (Kidna teimrun lehom) - this is what you shall say to the gentiles who try to persuade you toward idolatry. Up to this point, this is the message he conveys to the elders of Israel to tell the nations: that their god has no substance, that we do not believe in it or accept it, and that there is only one great God in heaven Who is the Portion of Yaakov, the Former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance, Hashem Tzevaot is His Name. Tell all of this to the gentiles who try to entice you to worship idols.
The Malbim explains that here the prophet returns to the beginning of the topic, where he said, "Do not learn the way of the nations." And why? Because the portion of Yaakov is not among these. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave us spiritual powers, and He Himself is the Creator. The people of Israel do not believe in the powers in which the nations believe, for even according to the idolaters' own approach, they themselves do not believe the idol is the creator - perhaps it channels celestial influences, but not that it is the creator. Furthermore, says the Malbim, even in the view of their worshipers, each one is appointed over only one specific domain. As we discussed previously, they believed in multiple deities, with each god responsible for a different realm: a god of the sea and a god of the dry land, a god of war and a god of love, a god of hatred and a god of peace, and so forth - each one responsible specifically for his own department. Hashem, however, is the Former of all things.
"And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance" - do not fear lest Hashem has handed us over to their authority and governance. The people of Israel are not subject to the astrological system (ma'arechet), but solely under the tribe of the inheritance of Hashem, may He be blessed. And His Name is "Hashem Tzevaot," meaning that He rules over all the celestial legions to do with them as He wills.
The Malbim notes a precision: why does the verse mention both "the Portion of Yaakov" and "Israel"? As explained previously on several occasions, "Israel" denotes mastery and nobility (serarah), while "Yaakov" connotes the heel (akev), representing the lower stratum. Thus, either it refers to the righteous leaders versus those of lesser stature, or it refers to the tribe of Yehudah versus the Ten Tribes who had already been exiled and were dispersed among the nations, in contrast to whom they are called "Yaakov." "Not like these is the Portion of Yaakov," while Israel - referring to the tribe of Yehudah - is truly the tribe of His inheritance, for they are far more bound and attached to Him; therefore, they are His inheritance in a unique sense and are subject to Divine providence (hashgachah pratit).
"Gather your merchandise from the land"
אִסְפִּי מֵאֶרֶץ כִּנְעָתֵךְ יֹשֶׁבֶת בַּמָּצוֹר׃ - Gather your merchandise from the land, you who dwell in the siege.
Rashi explains: "Hide, gather your merchandise from the land." Kin'atech derives from Canaan, and Canaan is an idiom for merchants - "As for the merchant (Kena'an), in his hand are deceitful balances," "No merchant (Kena'ani) shall dwell in it." According to this: "Gather your merchandise from the land" - hide your goods from the enemy. Rashi also brings a second explanation: that kin'atech comes from the root of submission and lowliness (hachna'ah). You, Jerusalem, who now sit under siege, will be humbled and lowered beneath the dust of the earth, bent low and humiliated - so great will be your humbling.
The Radak explains that this does not refer to Israel at all; rather, it is an address directed at Babylon. You, Babylon, act haughtily today over Israel, since you are the rulers and Israel is trampled under your feet, and because of this you tell them to serve idols and force them into idolatry. Therefore Hashem says: Gather from the land your subjugation - the power of subjugation with which you subjugated the nations, withdraw it; you will no longer have the strength to subjugate them. The expression "gather" (ispi) is like "withdraw your hand" (esof yadecha), meaning withdraw your hand, just as we find when Shaul sought to inquire of the Urim VeTumim and saw there was no more time, telling the Kohen: Withdraw your hand and let us go, we will not wait. So too here: Babylon, who subjugates Israel, withdraw your hands from them.
And according to the Radak, "you who dwell in the siege" (yoshevet bamatzor) also refers to Babylon: matzor from the term for a fortified place (mivtzar), secure in the strength of their cities, metropolises, and towers. You dwell in a fortress and feel that you are in an impenetrable stronghold where no one can harm you - know that ultimately the cup of retribution will pass over you as well: "O daughter of Babylon, who are destined to be devastated... Happy is he who shall seize and dash your little ones against the rock." Your time will come too, just as we know Babylon's end arrived at the hands of Persia and Media.
The Malbim explains that the address is to the daughter of Judah: Why do you surrender to other nations? Why do you submit to the host of heaven? This continues what was stated earlier, that the Holy One, blessed be He, rules over everything and there is no power whatsoever in idols. "Gather your subjection from the earth" - do not bow down to those imagined forces and idols. "You who dwell in the siege" - for they were indeed under siege and in distress - withdraw your subservience to those powers; on the contrary, to whom must one submit? Only to the Master of the World.
"Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land"
כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהֹוָה הִנְנִי קוֹלֵעַ אֶת יוֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ בַּפַּעַם הַזֹּאת וַהֲצֵרֹתִי לָהֶם לְמַעַן יִמְצָאוּ׃ - For thus said Hashem: Behold, at this time I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land, and I will cause them distress, so that they may find.
"Slinging" (kole'a) - from the expression of hurling a stone with a sling, like a slingshot. In this way, every single nation will be cast out of its place, not only the people of Israel. According to the Radak, who explains this as addressed to Babylon, the meaning is: Do not boast over the people of Israel, for you too are destined to be slung from your place and exiled; why then do you feel so superior to the people of Israel? Yirmiyahu prophesied similarly concerning Edom and Moab, and all of them were stricken through Nevuchadnezzar. Afterward, Nevuchadnezzar himself was stricken, and Babylon fell at the beginning of his grandson's reign. Nevuchadnezzar's son was Evil-Merodach, and his grandson was Belshazzar, and as is known, "In that night was Belshazzar slain" - we thus learn that Babylon's rest and quiet were merely temporary.
"And I will cause them distress, so that they may find" - the Radak explains in the name of his father: So that they may encounter (find) many afflictions, until each and every one of them says, "Woe is me" that Israel is stricken. That is, they will realize that our plight also affects them, and that our suffering brings suffering upon them as well, and therefore they will say, "Woe is me for my fracture, my wound is grievous."
Ibn Ezra explains differently: Hashem will bring slingers upon them, and these slingers will besiege and crowd them. The people will go and hide in a certain place to flee and escape from the slingers, and because so many hide in that same place, the space becomes cramped. This is "and I will cause them distress [or narrow them in]" - through the slingers hunting them, they will hide in a confined place. "So that they may be found" - and specifically this crowding will cause the slingers to find them; with everyone concentrated in one location, it will be easy for the slingers to kill them all. They fled and concealed themselves so that they would not be found, but the Holy One, blessed be He, says: On the contrary, this will be "so that they may be found."
The Malbim explains differently, that the address is to the people of Israel and not to Babylon: Know that all the calamity coming upon you is not from celestial alignments, nor is it from statues and idols as you believed, but solely from Hashem. "Behold, I am slinging" - I am hurling you as with a sling outside your borders, and there I will bring distress upon them. And why? "So that they may find" - so that they will find Me when they seek Me. Here, in the Land, they do not seek Me and do not find Me; but when I exile them, they will seek Hashem, as it is written, "And Hashem will scatter you among the nations... and from there you will seek Hashem your God, and you will find Him."
And as is cited, Yirmiyahu the prophet told them regarding the verse, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and also wept": By my life, had you wept even a single weeping before the exile, you would not have been exiled. Thus, it was specifically there, by the rivers of Babylon, that they began to weep to Hashem. It was precisely the expulsion and the sling that hurled them among the nations that brought them to seek Hashem.
"Woe is me for my fracture" - An External Fracture and an Internal Blow
אוֹי לִי עַל שִׁבְרִי נַחְלָה מַכָּתִי וַאֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי אַךְ זֶה חֳלִי וְאֶשָּׂאֶנּוּ׃ - Woe is me for my fracture, my wound is grievous; and I said, truly this is a sickness, and I will bear it.
Here the prophet speaks of the catastrophe befalling the inhabitants of the land, and even the other nations, saying, "Woe is me for my fracture." If the catastrophe is upon the other nations, why does he cry out? The answer: While it is true that there is catastrophe upon the other nations, who is stricken first? The people of Israel. They are the first to be struck. "My wound is grievous" (nachlah makati) - this is a blow that makes you sick (choleh). I thought it was a tolerable sickness - "and I said, truly this is a sickness, and I will bear it" - but now I see that it is a sickness that cannot be borne, as he goes on to say, "My tent is plundered."
The Malbim explains that the prophet cries over the fracture of his people, saying: See that this fracture is a providential one, from Him, blessed be He, through Divine providence; they turned away from Hashem, and therefore "Woe is me for my fracture." And this fracture has two flaws: one, an external break; and the second, "my wound is grievous" - an internal, deeply painful blow. For sometimes a person takes an external blow, and well, it is easy to heal from it; but if the blow is internal, if it is an internal illness, it is far more dangerous. "And I said, truly this is a sickness" - I thought I had only this illness, a specific ailment, "and I will bear it," I will be able to endure it, as Targum Yonatan translates, "and I will bear it." But I see that I have many severe and persistent illnesses that are far harder, which cannot be borne.
אׇהֳלִי שֻׁדָּד וְכׇל מֵיתָרַי נִתָּקוּ בָּנַי יְצָאֻנִי וְאֵינָם אֵין נֹטֶה עוֹד אׇהֳלִי וּמֵקִים יְרִיעוֹתָי׃ - My tent is plundered, and all my cords are broken; my children have departed from me, and they are no more; there is no one left to pitch my tent or to set up my curtains.
"My tent is plundered" - it was taken and robbed from me. And even if I wanted to pitch another tent, "all my cords are broken" - the cords that tie down the tent are already severed. And even if I were to find cords to tie it anew, "my children have departed from me, and they are no more" - they have left me and are gone, and if so, "there is no one left to pitch my tent," for there is no longer any reason to pitch the tent. This verse explains how severe the external ruin was, and later he will explain "my wound is grievous" - the internal ruin, the inner blow that leaves me in a state of sickness.
"For the Shepherds Have Become Brutish"
כִּי נִבְעֲרוּ הָרֹעִים וְאֶת יְהֹוָה לֹא דָרָשׁוּ עַל כֵּן לֹא הִשְׂכִּילוּ וְכׇל מַרְעִיתָם נָפוֹצָה׃ - For the shepherds have become brutish and have not sought the Lord; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
All this - that the tent is plundered, the cords are broken, the children have departed and are no more, and there is no one left to pitch the tent - why did it happen? Because the shepherds became brutish (niv'aru, related to boorishness and folly), and therefore there is no longer anyone to pitch the tent. And who are the shepherds? Yehoyachin and Tzidkiyahu, who were the kings, as kings are called shepherds. Targum Yonatan translates this accordingly: "The kings acted foolishly." "They have not prospered" (lo hiskilu) means they did not succeed, as in the verse, "And David was successful (maskil) in all his ways." Since Yehoyachin and Tzidkiyahu did not seek Hashem, they did not succeed in their monarchy - in contrast to Yoshiyahu, who did seek Hashem and succeeded. "And all their flock is scattered" - the people, the sheep they shepherded, were scattered into exile.
The Malbim explains: The fact that they did not act wisely in their deeds to safeguard the tent and the flock is the very reason why their flock was scattered. In other words, had their actions been upright, the tent and the flock would have been preserved, and their flock would not have been scattered - meaning there would have been no exile.
"Hark, a Rumor, Behold It Comes"
קוֹל שְׁמוּעָה הִנֵּה בָאָה וְרַעַשׁ גָּדוֹל מֵאֶרֶץ צָפוֹן לָשׂוּם אֶת עָרֵי יְהוּדָה שְׁמָמָה מְעוֹן תַּנִּים׃ - Hark, a rumor, behold it comes, and a great commotion from the north country, to make the cities of Yehudah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.
The Radak explains: The sound that we hear is a great commotion of alarming reports, like a clamor coming from the north country. And what is that commotion? In Yechezkel (21:24ff.) it is explained that Nevuchadnetzar set out from his land and stood at the crossroads to perform divination, that is, to cast lots: Where should I go now, against the Ammonites or against Yerushalayim? And the divination fell upon Yerushalayim. As we have seen, they would conduct such omens using arrows shot to the four winds, and the arrow pointed toward Yerushalayim, and other similar methods. It was their practice to divine omens and see in them a sign indicating which direction to march and what course of action to take.
"Hark, a rumor, behold it comes" - the report that Nevuchadnetzar has set out from his place. And following it is "a great commotion," for he is advancing with all his armies, which creates a tremendous uproar. And what is his objective? "To make the cities of Yehudah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals" - the lot has already fallen upon Yerushalayim, and he has set his sights upon it. "A dwelling place of jackals" - a place where jackals dwell, for jackals inhabit desolate areas devoid of human life and habitation; there the jackals come to live.
"A Man's Way Is Not in Himself"
יָדַעְתִּי יְהֹוָה כִּי לֹא לָאָדָם דַּרְכּוֹ לֹא לְאִישׁ הֹלֵךְ וְהָכִין אֶת צַעֲדוֹ׃ - I know, Lord, that a man's way is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
There are two approaches to understanding this statement. The Radak, in the name of his father, explains that this statement refers to Nebuchadnezzar: Master of the Universe, Nebuchadnezzar's plans are to come here, destroy Jerusalem, and turn it into a desolation, a lair of jackals; and indeed, he was in doubt as to where to march, until divination directed him toward Jerusalem. But "I know, Hashem, that man's way is not his own" - "man" refers to that specific, notorious man, Nebuchadnezzar. I know, Master of the Universe, that this does not come from him; he is not the one who determines the destination, nor is he the one who decides where to go. The matter is not within his power, and it is in Your hands to change his will. "Nor is it in man who walks to direct his steps" - likewise, for any person walking on a road, it is not his doing to establish his steps; he does not know what his next step will be, he does not know what the day will bring, and he does not know how things will unfold moving forward. He knows what he intends when setting out, but a moment later it is no longer under his control, for "a man's steps are established by Hashem," and everything is from Him, blessed be He; wherever his feet are directed by Hashem, that is where he will arrive.
If so, this is a prayer that the prophet offers before the Holy One, blessed be He: Please, Master of the Universe, stop Nebuchadnezzar; do not bring him here. Since this does not originate from him but from You, it is in Your hand and within Your power to halt him before he arrives here.
This is also implied by Rashi, who cites two explanations. The first explanation: "A man's way is not his own" - the evil inclination that You created within him leads him astray from the path. The second explanation: No man possesses the power to make his way succeed unless it is by Your decree; if so, an enemy has no power to destroy Your House. According to this second explanation, it aligns with the Radak: Nebuchadnezzar has no independent power to destroy Your House, for the power lies solely in Your hands. Therefore, Master of the Universe, please stop him just moments before.
In contrast, the Metzudat David - and this is also implied by Rashi's first explanation - explains that this is a plea and an argument made on behalf of the people of Judah: You, Master of the Universe, know that man's way is not his own; that is, there is no one here who truly directed his way to walk in the path of Hashem. "Nor is it in man who walks" - there is not a man to be found among us who walked and directed his steps along the upright path in accordance with Hashem's command; rather, they walked haphazardly and randomly, guided by chance and circumstance, and did not walk in the path of Hashem. This fits Rashi's first interpretation, that the evil inclination You created within him turns him from the path - they were drawn after the desires of their hearts and lacked the self-control to walk in the path of Hashem.
The Malbim explains: "For man's way is not his own" - the very choice of which path to take does not ultimately belong to man, but to Hashem; and even once he has chosen a path, "nor is it in man who walks to direct his steps" - the actual walking and each individual step are also from Hashem. There are two aspects here: the overarching goal and destination, where one seeks to arrive - and this is "man's way is not his own," meaning the very choice comes with assistance from Hashem; and the second stage, the walking in practice - "in man who walks to direct his steps," meaning that the execution of each step is likewise from Hashem. According to this, the Malbim explains in line with the Radak: If so, Master of the Universe, You can hold him back; even though his plan is to come to Jerusalem, redirect him to Rabbah of the Ammonites, the other destination about which he was undecided - it is in Your power to send him there.
The Malbim notes a precise distinction between adam ("man") and ish ("individual"): Adam designates the human being by virtue of his intellect, by virtue of his being a discerning and rational agent - a person of stature. Regarding this, it is said, "man's way is not his own": even though he imagines that he chose with deliberate thought and premeditation, know that this is directed by Hashem. Ish, by contrast, is related to the word yeish ("existence"), for any living creature can be called an ish by virtue of its very existence, and the term can even apply to animals. According to this, "nor is it in an ish who walks to direct his steps" applies to animals as well: no living entity in creation directs its own steps; rather, its steps are determined by Hashem.
"Chastise Me, Hashem, but with Justice"
יַסְּרֵנִי יְהֹוָה אַךְ בְּמִשְׁפָּט אַל בְּאַפְּךָ פֶּן תַּמְעִטֵנִי׃ - Chastise me, Hashem, but with justice, not in Your anger, lest You diminish me.
The Radak cites Rabbenu Yonah's explanation that the prophet speaks here, as it were, on behalf of the Jewish people. Seeing Nebuchadnezzar coming to the land of Judah to lay everything waste, he says: Master of the Universe, I know that this is discipline for us, and that it is meant to chastise us. If so, I plead: chastise me "with justice" - that is, according to strict uprightness, and not as would be warranted in a time of fierce wrath. For when there is fierce wrath, the attribute of justice can, Heaven forbid, consume everything. "Not in Your anger, lest You diminish me" - do not do so with anger and wrath, for then You will diminish me from remaining a nation and a people.
The Malbim explains: I ask that the afflictions be calibrated according to justice and proportional to the sin, for anger does not distinguish between good and bad, and when there is wrath, it does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. But when it is done with justice, whoever deserves punishment receives it, and whoever does not deserve it does not receive it.
"Pour Out Your Wrath upon the Nations"
שְׁפֹךְ חֲמָתְךָ עַל הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדָעוּךָ וְעַל מִשְׁפָּחוֹת אֲשֶׁר בְּשִׁמְךָ לֹא קָרָאוּ כִּי אָכְלוּ אֶת יַעֲקֹב וַאֲכָלֻהוּ וַיְכַלֻּהוּ וְאֶת נָוֵהוּ הֵשַׁמּוּ׃ - Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know You, and upon the families that do not call upon Your Name; for they have devoured Jacob, they have devoured him and consumed him, and laid waste his dwelling place.
The continuation of the plea: Master of the Universe, instead of sending Nebuchadnezzar against us, send him to Rabbah of the children of Ammon. Deal with us in justice, and if there is wrath, indignation, and anger - pour out Your fury upon the nations that do not know You, and upon the families of the kingdoms that do not call upon Your Name.
Radak explains: Even though Israel sinned, they have not completely departed from Your domain; they have not assimilated into another nation, they remain distinct from all idolaters, they still keep most of the mitzvos, call upon Your Name, and pray before You. And even though they still need teshuvah and we know they corrupted their ways, at any rate hope is not lost for them and there are still pious people among them. If so, if it is already Your will to unleash anger and wrath - pour out Your fury upon the nations that do not know You. And what is meant by "families"? Nations, for an entire nation is called a family, as it is written, "And if the family of Egypt will not go up."
"For they have consumed Jacob" - and even though the nations are the rod of the Holy One, blessed be He's wrath, as is said of Assyria, "the rod of My anger," meaning the staff of His wrath, and no one can harm us unless we justly deserve it from Hashem - even so, Master of the Universe, You were angry a little, but they helped for evil. These nations aggravated the rod of Your anger. And this is the indictment against the nations, which we find with Pharaoh and in other places as well: seemingly, if Assyria is the rod of His anger, he carried out Hashem's will and should even receive a reward, since he is merely in Hashem's hand - so why is he punished for executing it? The answer is that they exceeded the measure, adding evil on their own initiative beyond what had been decreed.
The Malbim notes precisely: "That do not know You" - among them are those who knew Hashem, yet "they did not call upon Your Name," for even though they knew, they did not call in Hashem's Name but in the name of the Baal. He also notes: pay attention to how devouring is mentioned repeatedly - "they have devoured Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him." First it ate, then devoured him, and then consumed him entirely. After devouring him for its own pleasure, it annihilated him completely; this total destruction shows that there was pure malice here for the sake of annihilation. For when a person eats, one can say it is for sustenance; but when he utterly consumes, it is out of pure malice. Therefore it says "and consumed him" completely, "and laid waste his dwelling place."
The Malbim explains that this can be understood as referring to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, who were the oppressors of Judah. The Gemara refers to the Ammonites and Moabites as "evil neighbors," for they were the ones who advised the nations when to come and conquer the Jewish people. Another possibility is that the verse refers to Nebuchadnezzar, who marched against Jerusalem three times, as Chazal said: they were exiled in the seventh year, in the eighth year, and in the eighteenth year. For there were several exiles: first the two and a half tribes on the other side of the Jordan were exiled, then Samaria, which comprised the ten tribes, was exiled, and finally Judah was exiled. And even within the exile of Judah there were stages, and they did not all go into exile at once: first the exile of the craftsmen and the smiths (Charash and Masger), then the exile of the poorest of the land, and finally nothing remained after Gedaliah ben Achikam. Thus, "they have devoured Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him" corresponds to the three waves of exile under Nebuchadnezzar.
"Pour Out Your Wrath" - An Answer to the Bleeding Hearts
There are bleeding hearts who are uncomfortable with this verse. And where do they know it from? From the Pesach Haggadah. One is not even speaking here of those who produced alternative Haggadahs in kibbutzim and similar places, but of those who ostensibly retain the original texts and yet question: "Pour out Your wrath upon the nations" - why on earth? After all, we now live in a small global village, the State of Israel is an accepted member of the family of nations, so why pour out wrath upon them and destroy them?
First of all, this is pure hypocrisy, because at the first opportunity they get to destroy us, that is precisely what they do. Even if you hear them speaking in "politically correct" terms, anyone who truly knows what is in their hearts and what they do when given the chance can see: that is Europe in a nutshell. Europe speaks politically correct language, but seventy years ago it showed us what it is capable of when it takes off the gloves and acts out what is truly brewing inside. Today they try to act against us through the UN, through boycotts, and through all sorts of ways to restrict our steps, but if they could, they would reopen the crematoria. We all know how much the Poles, the Hungarians, and the Ukrainians - seemingly private citizens - aided the Nazi machine, may their names be blotted out, to annihilate the Jews, and how devotedly they did so without any personal gain, informing on Jews, handing them over, and murdering them. Do not be naive.
Fundamentally, however, there is no question here at all. Anyone who reads what is written here sees that immediately after "Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know You, and upon the families that do not call upon Your Name," it says, "for they have devoured Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and laid waste his dwelling place." Which nations are being spoken of? Those that devoured Jacob, those that sought to annihilate us. If there is someone living peacefully in Rwanda with whom we have no connection - why should we care about him, and why would Hashem pour His wrath upon him? We have no interest in that; on the contrary, it is written that "they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," and that the world will be perfected under the sovereignty of the Almighty. Rabbeinu Yerucham of Mir notes that the world will not be complete and perfected until the most distant and coarse gentile recognizes Hashem. Certainly, we have no desire to destroy nations; that is not our goal. Our goal is that they do not hinder us from serving Hashem. When we ask, "Pour out Your wrath upon the nations," it refers specifically to those nations that devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation - those who afflict us, torment us, and persecute us. And when the Holy One, blessed be He, punishes them: "וְהִתְגַּדִּלְתִּי וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתִּי לְעֵינֵי גּוֹיִם רַבִּים - And I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself in the eyes of many nations." When will this be? When on the great and awesome Day of Judgment, fire will consume and destroy all those who oppress, tear down, and ravage the vineyard of the House of Jacob. Then, His blessed Name will truly be magnified and sanctified throughout the world - and that, in essence, is our prayer.
In Summary:
In this section of the chapter, the prophet sets forth the vast chasm between Hashem and the idols: all the sages of nature are too foolish to understand the secret of the rain, and every metalsmith is put to shame by his idol, which is nothing but a deceptive overlay, devoid of spirit and devoid of power, and at the time of its visitation it shall perish - in stark contrast to Hashem, who is truth, life, King of the universe, and Creator of all. "Not like these is the portion of Jacob," and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance, who are not subject to the astrological constellations, but rather to His direct providence alone. From here, the prophet turns to the impending destruction: gather up your bundle; behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land so that they may find Me in exile. He laments both the external ruin and the internal wound caused because the shepherds became foolish and did not seek Hashem. He concludes with the realization that "man's way is not his own" - even Nebuchadnezzar's steps are in the hands of Heaven. Therefore, he prays: correct me, but with justice and not in anger, and pour out Your wrath upon those who devoured Jacob, consumed him, and laid waste his dwelling place.