Sefer Yirmiyahu, chapter 11. "The word that came to Yirmiyahu from Hashem, saying. Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Yehudah and to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim." "The word that came to Yirmiyahu from Hashem, saying": this is a mission that Hashem sent Yirmiyahu to convey to the men of Yehudah. And what does He send them to say? "The word that you shall say to the children of Yehudah, hear the words of this covenant."
First of all, notice that it is written here "hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Yehudah." Why does He address them in the plural? After all, this is a command to Yirmiyahu. The Radak says that it is very possible that there were additional prophets there. And indeed there was Tzefanyah, who prophesied in the days of Yoshiyahu, and perhaps there were others as well, says the Radak. So He commands all of them to speak these words of the covenant, as we shall soon see.
What is "hear the words of this covenant"? The Radak says: the words of the covenant are written in the Torah of Moshe. What is the covenant? "That you should enter into the covenant of Hashem and into His oath." Blessings and curses. If you listen, then it will be well with you, "and your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time," and so on. And if you do not listen, then, Heaven forbid, the sword of the enemy. At the conclusion of the whole matter it is written, "These are the words of the covenant which Hashem commanded Moshe to make with the children of Yisrael in the land of Moav, besides the covenant which He made with them in Chorev."
About this Hashem made a covenant with them. At Chorev it is written, "And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people, and they said: all that Hashem has spoken we will do." And it says there, "And Moshe took the blood and sprinkled it on the people." This was how He brought them into the covenant of Hashem, when? At the standing at Har Sinai. And afterward "they said: all that Hashem has spoken we will do and we will hear." And then it is written, "And he said: behold the blood of the covenant which Hashem has made with you concerning all these things." The Radak says: it emerges, then, that the covenant is an agreement. It is a contract between us and Hashem.
This is always the concept of making a covenant. So you shall say to them, "hear the words of this covenant." Listen to the voice of Hashem and do His mitzvot as it is written in the Torah, which are the words of the covenant. The Radak says: why did He remind them of the covenant? Because a covenant is a binding thing even between one person and another. If people make some agreement, set up certain conditions, then they make a covenant. What is called in our times, they write a contract. So He says to them, remember the contract you signed with the Master of the world. After all, even with your friend, if you write a contract, it is binding.
All the more so when it is between you and the Master of the world; you have a covenant, and it is fitting that you fulfill this contract. And here is the contract that you agreed upon with Hashem, the words of the covenant written in the Torah. So "hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Yehudah and about the inhabitants of Yerushalayim." "About the inhabitants of Yerushalayim": the Radak says the meaning is "to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim." This is an expression that appears often in Scripture, such as "and Elkanah went home to Ramah about his house," which means to his house.
"And she prayed about Hashem" means to Hashem. So here too, "and speak to the men of Yehudah and to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim." The word "about" here is like "to." The Malbim explains: the words of the covenant are all the words of the Torah over which He made a covenant, as it is written, "that you should enter into the covenant of Hashem your God and into His oath." And notice, says the Malbim, that He says "hear" and afterward "and speak." What is the difference between "hear" and "speak"? He says: you shall say to them "hear the words of this covenant." You shall tell them to listen; "to listen" means willingly, out of love, to accept with a full heart.
And if that does not help, "and you shall speak": I command you, the prophet, you shall speak to them the words of the covenant. What is the essence of speaking? Speaking is always harsh language. "One leader for a generation, and not two leaders for a generation." "Speaking" is a term of leadership, "strike upon their heads." "Speaking" is in the manner of command. "I spoke to him and said to him": always when I want to express something of absolute command, that is "speaking."
In contrast, if I want to say something that I requested of him, I can say "I said to him." "Saying" is generally not an absolute command. "Speaking" is to lead; "speaking" leads. So then, at first address them kindly, "hear the words of this covenant." That does not work? "And you shall speak to the men of Yehudah." Speak to them with words hard as sinews. What are harsh words? It is simply to frighten them. Since what is about to come is trouble and disaster, and if you do not change your ways, then there will be destruction and afterward weeping for generations.
So here one must confront them with the magnitude of the trouble that is coming upon them, for if you do not present the matters to them plainly, without cosmetics, then woe, what could happen is that the trouble will come and they will not have prepared beforehand and will say, "why did they not warn us, why did they not tell us." "And you shall say to them: thus says Hashem the God of Yisrael, cursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant."
Tell them a further matter: that this thing is under a curse, "cursed." The Malbim says, meaning here He is speaking about the second part, "and you shall speak to the men of Yehudah." What is the "speaking"? The speaking is with threats, the speaking is with curses. Know: "cursed is the man." What is "cursed is the man"? It does not say "may Hashem curse the man." It does not say "may Hashem curse," but rather "cursed." The Malbim says: he is cursed of himself. Since the Torah is the blessing, and one who is engaged in Torah and fulfills its mitzvot, blessing automatically rests upon him.
And one who has distanced himself from the blessing, that is, has distanced himself from Torah and mitzvot, the curse automatically rests upon him. There is no need to bring something new upon him. In the very abandonment of Torah and mitzvot there is a curse. Therefore "cursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant": he is cursed of himself. For the moment you abandon the words of the covenant, Hashem automatically also abandons him. "Which I commanded your fathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace."
"Saying: listen to My voice and do them according to all that I command you, and you shall be a people to Me and I will be a God to you." "Which I commanded your fathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt." When I brought them out of the land of Egypt, we are speaking here of Har Sinai, then after fifty days I made a covenant with them. And then it was, I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace. What is the iron furnace? The iron furnace is a place where they refine silver and gold in a furnace. This is called the iron furnace.
Why is it called the iron furnace? Even though the place itself may have been made of clay, and sometimes it was even in the depths of the earth in order to retain heat. Despite all this, it is called the iron furnace because it was a thing strong as iron. Whoever wishes may look in the Mishnat HaGilgulim, where we have a whole discourse called "The Secret of the Exile of Egypt and the Sin of Adam HaRishon." And there we deal at length with the matter of the rectification of Egypt: what was the rectification during their being in Egypt.
And there we also detail this matter of the iron furnace. I will just explain briefly: the role of a furnace is to bring about refinement. Therefore Egypt was a place of refinement. And following the exodus from Egypt, only those most worthy of redemption came out from among all of them, those refined, those who had passed through the entire process of refinement. Therefore when Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to remove one of the building blocks in the structure, it was Michah.
So the Holy One, blessed be He, said "leave him be." The Holy One, blessed be He, said: know that whoever remains here must stay here. Moshe insisted and brought him out, and afterward they suffered from him, since he brought out the image of, the, some say "Ali Shor," but through him they ultimately came to this matter of idolatry. So in effect, those who remained in Egypt are those upon whom it was so decreed, and they are part of the refinement process. So just as gold is refined in a furnace, so too Egypt was the iron furnace, the place of refining of the Jewish people, from which came out only those more worthy of redemption and more refined.
Consider that eighty percent died during the plague of darkness. That is to say, of all those who were in Egypt, only twenty percent. This is one refinement after another that is being spoken of here, that only those who out of all of them were worthy came out to receive the Torah. So without any doubt the expression "iron furnace" is the fitting expression here. The Malbim explains that there are here four reasons for the obligation to keep the covenant of which He spoke here. The keeping of the covenant, which is the keeping of the fulfillment of the mitzvot that Hashem made with us at Chorev.
First He says to them, "which I commanded your fathers." Behold, come, you are obligated to keep what your fathers received. The mitzvot that the fathers accepted upon themselves, the sons must keep, because the fathers accepted them upon themselves and upon their offspring after them. Second, "on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt." For when I brought them out of the house of bondage, "you are My servants" so that you shall be servants to Me and not servants to servants. It emerges, then, that the entire exodus from Egypt was on condition that you accept My lordship over you, that you be servants to Me.
So behold, I brought you out of the land of Egypt, for the land of Egypt, as we said, was a house of bondage. Third, all of this was conditional. It was conditional, "saying: listen to My voice." All this on condition that you would truly be willing to listen to My voice, "and you shall be a people to Me." And then through your listening to My voice you will be a people to Me; it emerges, then, that when you break My covenant, you are not My people and I am not your God. When are you considered a people to Me and I am a God to you? When you listen to My covenant, to My mitzvot.
"In order to fulfill the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. And I answered and said: Amen, Hashem." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: this will be in order to fulfill the oath. This is the fourth matter the Malbim explains, "to give them a land flowing with milk and honey." For the entire giving of the land is only on condition that you fulfill the mitzvot of Hashem, that you keep the words of the covenant. So here there is a fourth necessity that you must keep the words of the covenant.
For if not, then you are not worthy of the land. And then it emerges that in such a state you deserve exile. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "in order to fulfill the oath which I swore to your fathers," this is only on condition that you keep the covenant, fulfill the mitzvot. Yirmiyahu comes and says, "And I answered and said: Amen, Hashem." What is "Amen"? About what does he say Amen? "Amen" means from the language of truth, "may the words be confirmed," the matter is true. About what does he say Amen?
The Radak explains: "Amen," true will this be, that cursed shall be one who does not listen to the words of the covenant. About what is the "Amen"? About what the Holy One, blessed be He, said earlier. "Thus you shall say, cursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant." Yirmiyahu says, "Amen." Under a curse shall be one who does not hear the words of the covenant. In contrast, the Malbim explains: "Amen" is like accepting upon oneself to fulfill the words of the covenant. The meaning is: the Holy One, blessed be He, is saying here, I have a covenant with all of Yisrael. And the Holy One, blessed be He, says: they have strayed from the path.
Yirmiyahu says: Master of the world, even if they have strayed, I accept the covenant upon myself. I accept the agreement between us. So "Amen," true, I uphold that very covenant. And if so it emerges that the oath to be our God has not been nullified. For as long as there is found one of the descendants of our ancient fathers who accepts the covenant upon himself, then the covenant has continuity. So, Master of the world, even if they all broke the covenant that our fathers agreed upon, as long as I am here and I uphold the covenant, then, as it were, the contract has not yet been broken.
So consequently, Master of the world, You are obligated to continue to be with us and to guard us and to sustain us, for after all I still exist and I say Amen and true to the words of the covenant. This is what is written here, "And I answered and said: Amen, Hashem," concerning the oath and concerning the covenant. I am indeed willing to uphold it and I do continue in that path of our fathers. "And Hashem said to me: proclaim all these words in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim, saying: hear the words of this covenant and do them."
Hashem says to him, go and proclaim all these words. All that I told you about the matter of the covenant, the entire matter of the punishment for one who does not keep all the words of the covenant. Proclaim to them all these words and warn them in the language of "cursed," as we said, which is harsh language. And through this they will not be able to say "they did not tell us, they did not warn us." Behold, see that there is here an explicit and open warning. "For I earnestly warned your fathers on the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and until this day, rising early and warning, saying: listen to My voice."
For even your fathers whom I brought up out of the land of Egypt, even then I warned them. "And until this day, rising early and warning," I send them prophets to warn them every single morning; every single day I warn them. That is to say, there is here some advance notice and continuous notice. And it does not help. "And they did not listen and did not incline their ear, but each walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. And I brought upon them all the words of this covenant which I commanded to do, and they did not do."
"And they did not listen": behold, there are threats, there are curses, and they did not listen. "And which I commanded to do," and they did not do. I commanded them to fulfill, and they did not fulfill. The Malbim says: "and they did not listen" means they did not accept the matters. "And they did not incline their ear": to incline their ear means, there is a situation where I hear but do not fulfill. And there is a situation where I do not even want to incline an ear. Not wanting to incline an ear is worse; I am not even interested in listening.
So He says, look, they did not listen and did not incline their ear. They were not even willing to incline an ear. "And I brought upon them all the words of this covenant." He says, come see the difference between the rebellion of the earlier generations and the rebellion of this generation, the revolt of this generation. And then you will also distinguish in the change of the punishments. The generation before it, says the Malbim, they rebelled but through refraining and not doing. The meaning is, they did not fulfill the mitzvot of Hashem, but in what is called a passive manner. Abstaining.
In contrast, He says, come see this generation. Behold, not through refraining and not doing, but through arising and doing. The sin of the generation of Yirmiyahu is worse than the previous generation. Behold see, the previous generation, their punishment was that "I commanded to do, and they did not do." This is the language of the verse. What is this? This is refraining and not doing. In contrast, this generation, the generation of Yirmiyahu, "and Hashem said to me: a conspiracy is found among the men of Yehudah and among the inhabitants of Yerushalayim." "A conspiracy is found" means there is here something more severe than non-doing, where you are passive.
Rather, here there is a conspiracy, which is much worse. The Radak says: "a conspiracy is found," for this prophecy, he says, it seems it was stated in the days of Yehoyakim. And the meaning is: a conspiracy is found, that they rebelled against Me after Yoshiyahu had already carried out some process of repentance, for Yoshiyahu was a tzaddik and was already worthy of being Mashiach even. Only his generation was not fitting. Afterward "a conspiracy is found among the men of Yehudah and among the inhabitants of Yerushalayim." "They have returned to the iniquities of their earliest fathers who refused to hear My words."
"And they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Yisrael and the house of Yehudah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers." They have returned to their earliest iniquities, that they refused to hear My words. And they add to them. For the earlier ones, as we said, says the Malbim, sinned only through refraining and not doing. And these went after other gods to serve them, which is already through arising and doing. And besides that they did not celebrate the festivals of Hashem and did not give tithes, as they used to practice at the time when they had deteriorated spiritually.
They would even hold festivals for idolatry. And they would give donations and tithes to the priests of idolatry, to the priests of the idol. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: it emerges, then, that they broke My covenant. It is not enough that they merely did not fulfill; they even broke it and nullified it entirely. "They choose new gods." One went and chose himself another god. In simple words, it is not comparable, let us give an example, to a man who is married but goes beyond the bounds of the holiness of the family.
Compared to a person who has already gone and taken for himself and married another woman and lives with her in another place. That is to say, the first is still connected to the home, but he does deeds that ought not to be done. The second, in contrast, has already completely abandoned and chosen himself someone else. So too is the difference between the earlier and later generations. The earlier generations did not perform their obligations, but they are still the household. In contrast, the later generation has already chosen an idol as a god.
So that is to say, the donations, the tithes, everything that, everything he gives to idolatry. So if so it emerges that here there is already a conspiracy. As it were, they made a conspiracy against Hashem. There is here something far more severe than what was in the earlier generations, who as it were merely did not fulfill their obligations. Therefore "thus says Hashem: behold, I am bringing upon them an evil which they cannot escape. And they will cry out to Me, and I will not listen to them." Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: behold, I am bringing upon them an evil which they cannot escape.
The Malbim says: Hashem always prepares the remedy before the affliction. And what is the reason that Hashem prepares the remedy before the affliction? So the Malbim says this too, and in fact Rav Dessler also has a lengthy discussion; whoever wishes may listen on our disc on Michtav MeEliyahu. Let us consider, preparing the remedy before the affliction is really a marginal matter. What difference does it make whether I prepared the remedy before the affliction or delayed the remedy? In the end I bring it to you at the exact moment it is needed. A person suffered a blow; there is one who brings him the medicine within a second and a half.
There is a person who prepared the medicine beforehand and within a second and a half brought it to him. What difference does it make? What matters in practice is that within a second and a half the medicine arrived. For the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no difference between whether He brings me the medicine after the affliction or brings me the medicine before the affliction. There is no difference. So if so, what is the importance of preparing a remedy before the affliction? Listen to something wonderful. Two people, Heaven protect us, are struck with a knife in the belly. One even pays money for it, and the other afterward seeks from whom to receive compensation.
What is the difference? The first, some attacker stabbed him. A knife in the belly. The second, in contrast, is a person who needed a complex operation, and he brought some special surgeon from abroad and paid him a lot of money to perform the operation. And in practice he too got a knife in the belly. What is the difference between them? How here can I know the distinction? Notice, the distinction is in the remedies. The first was stabbed by an attacker and they gave him treatment quickly. Even if you say the treatment was within a second and a half, still the treatment was after the attack.
In contrast, with the surgeon, on the table all the anesthetics are ready, all the means of stitching, all the means of healing. This is the essence of preparing the remedy before the affliction. Preparing the remedy before the affliction means that you see that the intent is not to strike, it is to make you recover, to heal you. Preparing the remedy before the affliction is not so that it will be faster. No, it will be at the same speed. Rather, preparing the remedy before the affliction is this: behold, you see that here all the remedies are here at the side, so that as soon as we finish we begin the suturing and healing.
For the one who was cut in the belly they also did the same thing, but there they did not prepare the remedy before the affliction. That is to say, there it was a matter of damage that afterward they seek how to repair. In contrast, here, from the outset, even before I open the belly, I already place all the tools intended for healing. This proves that the entire intent is completely different. The intent is healing; the intent is not the illness; it is not for the sake of striking them but for the sake of returning them in repentance. The Malbim says: this is only for one who sins out of desire.
That is to say, one who sins out of desire, then, I say, the Holy One, blessed be He, prepares the remedy before the affliction. Since his desire overcame him, then the Holy One, blessed be He, brings an affliction and immediately prepares the remedy in order to heal him. But the Malbim says: one who makes a conspiracy against Hashem, one who chose himself new gods, this is not out of desire. This is a transgression that is deliberate. This is a transgression that is premeditated. This is not a transgression from his inclination momentarily overcoming him. He decided to go and serve idolatry, he decided to go and serve other gods.
The Malbim says: in such a situation, if I bring afflictions upon them, notice what will happen. It will produce the opposite effect. For he will say, do you know why the afflictions? Because yesterday I was stingy toward the idol, I did not bring it a sufficient offering. That is why now there are afflictions. Today I will bring something amazing, I will tell you, see how the idol will give me only blessings from now on. That is to say, the moment it is someone who has already chosen himself new gods, in such a situation, if I afflict him, he is certain that it comes from his god, for his god apparently is particular that he did not serve it well enough.
Is this not what happened to the king of the Kuzari? That every dream "your intent is desired, your deeds are not desired," he would rise and cling more to his idolatry. He would cling more to his idols. He says, if so, in such a situation there is no point in coming and afflicting them. Therefore Hashem says, "behold, I am bringing upon them an evil which they cannot escape, and they will cry out to Me and I will not listen to them." Since if I bring them out of the trouble, then they will say, ah, this is because we prayed to the idol strongly, so behold you see that in the end it brought us out of the trouble. Hashem says, no, here there is not this intent of giving a blow only to heal and to prepare the remedy beforehand. No, here He says there is no longer anything to expect from them, and therefore here it is an evil from which there is no escape.
"And the cities of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will surely not save them in the time of their trouble." "And the cities of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim will go": every single city in Yehudah will go to cry out to its god, to its idol. And in Yerushalayim we shall see further on that each neighborhood had a god of its own. And each of them will go to cry out to its idol. And then they will see that those to whom you offer incense, they will surely not save them in the time of their trouble.
"For according to the number of your cities were your gods, Yehudah. And according to the number of the streets of Yerushalayim you have set up altars to the shameful thing, altars to offer incense to the Baal." "For according to the number of your cities were your gods, Yehudah": the meaning is that as the number of cities, so was the number of their idols. Here He explains, says the Malbim, why all the cities of Yehudah will go. Because indeed each city has a different god. And why will the inhabitants of Yerushalayim go to cry out to their gods? And the reason is that for the inhabitants of Yerushalayim each neighborhood had a different god.
And they had altars to the shameful thing and altars to the Baal. What is the difference between the shameful thing and the Baal? The Malbim says that the shameful thing was in the form of a female and the Baal was in the form of a male. And the shameful thing was an image that was made in immodesty, and such was the type of their idolatry. And since they served such abominable idolatries and served idols, so go and cry out to your idol and you will see that it will not answer you. Behold, they cry out to them and they do not answer. The Metzudat David explains why it is called the shameful thing: since they expected salvation from it and would not receive it, so it is a shame to them. They cry out and are not answered; as it were, the one you relied on did not deliver the goods, so it is a shame to those people. Therefore it is called "the shameful thing."
"And you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up for them a cry or a prayer, for I will not listen at the time they call to Me concerning their trouble." "And you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up for them a cry or a prayer." Here the Holy One, blessed be He, turns to Yirmiyahu and says to him, do not pray for them. For even if they themselves were to call and pray to Me, says Hashem, I would not listen to them. And the reason is that this is without regret, that this is without repentance. They pray only in order to remove the evil, but not because they regret the evil deeds. And all the more so when they themselves do not pray.
That is to say, they have trouble and they do not pray, and you want to pray for them? So how shall I listen to you when you pray for a people that itself sees no need to pray? The Malbim explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Yirmiyahu, their prayer I do not accept. And you, whose prayer I do accept, I ask that you not pray. That is to say, regarding their prayer there is no need even to ask that they not pray; let them pray, it is impenetrable, it does not pass through, it does not come before Me. But your prayer does come before Me. And since it is so, if you pray it could have an effect. Therefore I ask of you, "and you, do not pray for this people." Do not pray for the generation. "And do not lift up for them": the Malbim explains that "lift up for them" means like a person who prays and lifts up a cry and prayer with the congregation, that he says it and the congregation answers after him, that this is the meaning of "lift up for them." The Holy One, blessed be He, says: since I do not listen at the time they call to Me, I do not want you to be the intercessor between us. I do not want you, the seer, to speak and pray for them, for their prayer I have no interest in hearing. And if I have no interest in hearing, then I also have no interest in it coming through you.