מה לידידי בביתי עשותה המזימתה הרבים ובשר קודש יעברו מעלייך כי רעתכי אז תעלוזי. What place has My beloved in My house? The connection of this verse is not entirely clear. Who here is the "beloved" that is in My house? What is meant by "performing her scheme"? Which scheme are we talking about? What does "the many" mentioned here refer to? "And sacred flesh shall pass from upon you" - what is this sacred flesh that passed from upon them? And what is the connection to the end of the verse, "for your evil, then you rejoice"? What is the connection between the evil and the rejoicing? Let us explain.
What place has My beloved in My house? Rashi explains that this refers to the people of Israel. Israel are called the beloved of Hashem, "He shall dwell in safety beside Him." The beloved of Hashem, what place has My treasured people to come into My house? Do they come into My house "performing her scheme," in order to carry out her sins, her schemes, her matters of lewdness? "The many" - yes, this means the many, according to Rashi it means the great ones among them. "And sacred flesh shall pass from upon you" - they also abolished the commandment of circumcision. That is "and sacred flesh shall pass from upon you." The circumcision of the flesh through which they were considered holy, this too they abolished.
"For your evil, then you rejoice." The meaning is, in what do they rejoice? They rejoice in the evils that they do. That is what makes them happy. "For your evil" - when they commit a transgression, "then you rejoice," then they have joy. The Radak explains, the Radak says that "My beloved" refers to the Holy One, blessed be He. And essentially the prophet says, what place has My beloved in My house? As if to say, what more is there for the Holy One, blessed be He, to do in the house, in the Beit HaMikdash? What reason is there anymore for Hashem to rest His Presence there? For Hashem is called the beloved of Israel, we are called beloved to Hashem, blessed be He. So Hashem is called our beloved. Therefore the prophet says, after all the evil deeds that Israel did, what place has My beloved, what reason is there for the Holy One, blessed be He, to still rest His Presence in the Beit HaMikdash?
For "performing her scheme, the many." The meaning is, they carried out the scheme which is idolatry, with many, as we saw that "according to the number of your cities were your gods." So "the many," according to Rashi refers to the great people. And according to how the Radak explains it, it refers to many idolatries. They worshipped many idolatries, "according to the number of your cities were your gods." And if so, since this is the case, what more is there for Hashem to seek, as it were, in His Beit HaMikdash?
"And sacred flesh shall pass from upon you." Here he returns to Knesset Yisrael and says, instead of offering sacred flesh to the Beit HaMikdash, offering sacrifices before Hashem, blessed be He, instead of this they offer sacrifices to the many, to the many idolatries they have. And as it were "it shall pass from upon you" - the sacred flesh that you are obligated to offer in the Beit HaMikdash, it is as if it does not concern you, it passes over you. As if you are not obligated in it, this is how they feel in any case. So if so, what place has My beloved in My house? What reason is there for the Holy One, blessed be He, to come and do here in the Beit HaMikdash when you do not fulfill what is incumbent upon you?
Now let us note, says the Radak, He calls the Holy One, blessed be He, "My beloved." He does not call Him "the beloved of Israel." For it is as if Israel has already taken for themselves, chosen for themselves new gods. So Hashem, as it were, has no friendship with them. So with whom does friendship remain for Him? Only with the prophet. And He says "in My house," since the Beit HaMikdash, as it were, remained My own house. Since you have long ceased to see it as your house. The Beit HaMikdash has long not belonged to you, but rather you are found in the temples of idolatry, which you worship. So if so, what place has My beloved - the Holy One, blessed be He, remains My beloved, and the house remains My own house, for you have no connection to anything that happens there in the Beit HaMikdash.
The Radak offers another explanation. He brings that "sacred flesh shall pass from upon you" means "and men of holiness," as it is written "all flesh shall come to bow down." Flesh refers to people, all people shall come to bow down. So "sacred flesh" means men of holiness. Its meaning, says the Radak, that is, the pious ones, the men of holiness, have passed from upon you. They are no longer found with you. With you there are no longer pious ones, as it were, among the people of Israel. Therefore you do all the troubles and evils, since there are no pious and righteous ones with you to instill in you the straight path. "For your evil, then you rejoice" - the meaning is, in what do they rejoice? They rejoice in the evils that they do. That is what makes them happy. "For your evil" - when they commit a transgression, "then you rejoice," then they have joy.
The scheme which is idolatry with many, as we saw that "according to the number of your cities were your gods." So "the many," according to Rashi refers to the great people. And according to how the Radak explains it, it refers to many idolatries. They worshipped many idolatries, "according to the number of your cities were your gods." And if so, since this is the case, what more is there for Hashem to seek, as it were, in His Beit HaMikdash?
"And sacred flesh shall pass from upon you." Here he returns to Knesset Yisrael and says, instead of offering sacred flesh to the Beit HaMikdash, offering sacrifices before Hashem, blessed be He, instead of this they offer sacrifices to the many, to the many idolatries they have. And as it were "it shall pass from upon you" - the sacred flesh that you are obligated to offer in the Beit HaMikdash, it is as if it does not concern you, it passes over you. As if you are not obligated in it, this is how they feel in any case. So if so, what place has My beloved in My house? What reason is there for the Holy One, blessed be He, to come and do here in the Beit HaMikdash when you do not fulfill what is incumbent upon you?
Now let us note, says the Radak, He calls the Holy One, blessed be He, "My beloved." He does not call Him "the beloved of Israel." For it is as if Israel has already taken for themselves, chosen for themselves new gods. So Hashem, as it were, has no friendship with them. So with whom does friendship remain for Him? Only with the prophet. And He says "in My house," since the Beit HaMikdash, as it were, remained My own house. Since you have long ceased to see it as your house. The Beit HaMikdash has long not belonged to you, but rather you are found in the temples of idolatry, which you worship. So if so, what place has My beloved - the Holy One, blessed be He, remains My beloved, and the house remains My own house, for you have no connection to anything that happens there in the Beit HaMikdash.
The Radak offers another explanation. He brings that "sacred flesh shall pass from upon you" means "and men of holiness," as it is written "all flesh shall come to bow down." Flesh refers to people, all people shall come to bow down. So "sacred flesh" means men of holiness. Its meaning, says the Radak, that is, the pious ones, the men of holiness, have passed from upon you. They are no longer found with you. With you there are no longer pious ones, as it were, among the people of Israel. Therefore you do all the troubles and evils, since there are no pious and righteous ones with you to instill in you the straight path. "For your evil, then you rejoice" - the meaning is, in what do they rejoice? They rejoice in the evils that they do. That is what makes them happy. "For your evil" - when they commit a transgression, "then you rejoice," then they have joy.
When you do evil, then you have joy. One might have thought that at least they feel some pang in their heart, that at least when they do something evil they still feel pangs of conscience. He says no, the opposite is true. There is, as it were, no chance of repentance from them, since when they do evils, they even rejoice. They are even satisfied with the evils they do, "for your evil, then you rejoice." So with whom is there to speak? What more do I have to say and rebuke to this people? "Ra'atchi" is like the forms that appear as "ne'urayich," "tachlu'ayich," and so on, which have an extra yud, so it is here as well.
The Radak brings a midrash, a midrash that many are familiar with. At the time the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, found Avraham standing in the Beit HaMikdash. And He said to him, what place has My beloved in My house? Avraham, what are you doing here? He said to Him, I have come concerning the matter of My children. I heard there are problems with the children. I came concerning the matter of My children. He said to him, your children sinned and were exiled. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him, your children sinned, I exiled them. He said to Him, perhaps they sinned inadvertently? Perhaps their sin was unintentional? He said to him, "performing her scheme." That is, they had a scheme, and a scheme is something planned, it is not accidental and unwitting. He said to Him, perhaps only a minority sinned? He said to him, "the many," as it is written in the verse. He said to Him, You should have remembered circumcision. Master of the Universe, remember for them the covenant of the fathers, remember for them that they are circumcised. He said to him, "and sacred flesh shall pass from upon you." He says to him, they were also not circumcised, they removed from themselves the commandment of circumcision. He said to Him, perhaps if You had waited for them they would have repented? Perhaps it would have been worthwhile to wait and then they would have returned in repentance? He said to him, "for your evil, then you rejoice." He said to him, behold, when they do evil, they are joyful. So is there any chance that they would repent? He said to Him, perhaps, Heaven forbid, there is no remedy for them? So if that is the case, then it is over, there is no hope, the people of Israel are finished.
This is the next verse, "A leafy olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form, Hashem called your name" and so on, for the people of Israel have eternal and perpetual existence, as we shall see in the next verse.
The Malbim explains, what place has My beloved in My house? Says the Malbim, Hashem says this to Yirmiyahu. In one interpretation we saw that this is an address to the people of Israel. A second interpretation is that the prophet says it to the Holy One, blessed be He. The Malbim's interpretation is that Hashem says to Yirmiyahu, do not pray on behalf of this people. What place has My beloved in My house? Why did you suddenly come into My house to pray on behalf of the people? This is "what place has My beloved in My house," which is also the connection to the previous verse. For after all I told you not to pray on their behalf and not to raise on their behalf a cry or prayer, and suddenly the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, sees him here in the Beit HaMikdash. He says to him, what is My beloved doing in My house? Why did you come to pray on their behalf, to offer sacrifices on their behalf? For Yirmiyahu was a Kohen, Yirmiyahu served in the Beit HaMikdash. "Performing her scheme, the many, and sacred flesh shall pass from upon you." He says to them, behold, Knesset Yisrael performed the greatest schemes and abominations, and how do you pray on their behalf? And then He says to the people of Israel themselves, will sacred flesh pass from upon you? What does this mean? Do you think that by bringing sacred flesh, that is, sacrifices, that through this all the schemes and transgressions and all the crimes that you do will pass from upon you? "Sacred flesh shall pass from upon you," this is the meaning. Does sacred flesh have the power to remove from you all the severe transgressions that you do? "Sacred flesh shall pass from upon you," will this remove them from upon you, if through this you will be cleansed of the scheme? For you do not repent when you bring the sacred flesh. "For your evil, then you rejoice." You do not rejoice when you bring a sacrifice. In what do you rejoice? You rejoice in the evil that you do. And if so, then the sacrifice did not help, because after you finish with the sacrifice, you return to your evil. And again, "for your evil, then you rejoice." So can such sacred flesh that you offer before Hashem, through it will all the sins and transgressions that you did pass from upon you?
"A leafy olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form, Hashem called your name; at the sound of a great tumult He kindled fire upon it, and its branches were broken." The Radak says, He compared it to an olive tree, since the leaves of the olive tree are green all year round. All year its leaves are green, its leaves are perpetually green, and so it has perpetual freshness. "Beautiful in fruit and form." What is "beautiful in fruit and form"? The Radak explains that it is like "beautiful in fruit and beautiful in form." The word "beautiful" applies to both. It is like "who did not make our portion like theirs and our lot like all their multitude." The word "who did not" applies to both, "who did not make our portion like theirs" and "who did not make our portion and our lot like all their multitude." So too here, "a leafy olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form," means beautiful in fruit and beautiful in form.
And behold He says, look, at first Hashem called the people of Israel a leafy olive tree. When was this said? This seemingly does not connect with what we are describing here. We are describing here a people that commits transgressions, the most severe things, so how does He call them a leafy olive tree? He says no, this speaks of the time when Hashem took us. At that time, the time when Hashem chose us, we were like a leafy olive tree. Success was with us perpetually. We performed good deeds, similar to the fruit of the olive tree from which both God and people benefit. And now, "at the sound of a great tumult" - behold, the Creator, for your corrupt deeds now, "at the sound of a great tumult." What is a great tumult? Tumult means noise. For through your deeds you caused a great tumult to come. When the army arrives, it arrives with the sound of great noise. So when the enemy comes now to strike them, it comes with the sound of a great tumult, with a great noise. And from what root is "hamullah"? The Malbim explains that "hamullah" is from the root "millah" (word), like "there is no word on my tongue." "The sound of tumult like the sound of a camp." The meaning is, there is a sound of words, there is a sound of noise and speech, and much noise. Who brought this about? It is your sins, Knesset Yisrael, they caused this. "At the sound of a great tumult He kindled fire upon it" - this brought fire upon it.
And do not be surprised that once He speaks of it in the second person and once in the third person. We have already spoken several times, and the Radak mentions it again, that this is the way of the verses, that sometimes it shifts from the second person to speaking in the third person, and we have brought several proofs of this in the past. "And its branches were broken." And you, the nations, they break the branches of the olive tree. The branches of the olive tree means the high branches, which are as if lifted, they are elevated in the olive tree from above. The nation that comes will kindle fire upon it and break, and "ra'u" is from the root of shattering, "You shall break them with a rod of iron," and it shall break the great branches of that olive tree. So that olive tree which was leafy and wonderful, come and see to what trouble and what corruption it came. He brings another explanation, "my father, my teacher" - he says, my father of blessed memory explained, says the Radak, that what is written "and He kindled fire upon it," "upon it" is not from the language of "upon it," but rather from the language of its leaves. "Aleha" written here is like "He kindled fire in its leaves." So even though its leaves are leafy, and by nature they do not catch fire, nevertheless He will kindle fire in them.
The Radak dwells on another grammatical point, the masculine form and the feminine form. And why does He once speak of it in the masculine? "A leafy olive tree, beautiful" - He does not say "yafah" (feminine). And after that He says "He kindled fire upon it," speaking in the feminine. And he says that in fact we once brought an answer in the name of the Ibn Ezra that resolves all these difficulties. The Ibn Ezra says, anything that does not have a living spirit, you can refer to it as masculine or feminine. And the olive tree does not have a living spirit, so consequently one can express it in the masculine, one can express it in the feminine. The Radak explains that since He compared here Knesset Yisrael, which is in the feminine, so the olive tree here comes and is compared to them, therefore He also spoke of them in the feminine. And after that He returned to speaking in the masculine, He said "its branches," according to its nature.
The Malbim explains, a leafy olive tree, when Hashem planted you, He called your name a leafy olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form. Says the Malbim, there are three virtues here. The first virtue is the olive tree, whose leaf is leafy and moist perpetually in summer and winter. This is the olive tree. The second thing, beautiful in form. It has beauty in its purity. The third thing, beautiful in fruit. What is "beautiful in fruit" and what is "beautiful in form"? Says the Malbim, the meaning of the leafy olive tree that has leaves which protect the fruit, this comes to symbolize wealth, success, always leafy, full of Hashem's blessing. All the time its fruits are protected by the power of the leaves. And "beautiful in form" is a metaphor for the might of the people. The people are numerous, the people are strong, beautiful in form. "Beautiful in fruit" is a metaphor for deeds. Their fruits, one eats their fruits in this world, in the world to come. "Beautiful in fruit" is a metaphor for their good deeds and their Torah, which is essentially the desirable fruit of a person's deeds. What is the special fruit, the good fruit that is in a person's deeds? It is the "beautiful in fruit," the good deeds, their Torah. And then at the sound of a great tumult. According to the Malbim, the great tumult is not the army of the nation that comes now to punish us. Rather, the great tumult is that a great sound of noise was heard, that they decreed upon you a verdict "by the decree of the watchers is the matter." This is the great tumult. And after a great sound of noise, this is a great tumult, as it were, of the judgment in heaven, that judgment was decreed in heaven against that leafy olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form. And then that great tumult in heaven caused fire to be kindled in its leaves. The leaves of the olive tree, fire was kindled in them. The leaves, as we said, come to symbolize wealth and success. This comes to symbolize that they were now stripped of their wealth, their treasures. This is the kindling of fire in the leaves.
"And they broke and shattered its branches," which are the high branches. Of them He said "beautiful in form." That is to say, they broke the people and led them into exile. So in fact both the might of the people and their good deeds did not avail them, and they were led into exile. So that in fact, come and see how something that began as such a magnificent thing, an olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form, a leafy olive tree, behold, come and see that even its branches, those elevated and high branches, in the end were all broken and went into exile. "And Hashem of hosts, who planted you, spoke evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Yehudah which they did to themselves, to provoke Me by offering incense to Baal." And Hashem of hosts who planted you spoke evil against you. And this evil, this is what we mentioned earlier according to how the Malbim explained, "at the sound of a great tumult," meaning the ministers on high, meaning the angels, the fiery seraphim on high, through whom, as it were, that decree was decreed - Hashem spoke evil against you to kindle fire in you.
Says the Malbim, and this is not because the thought, as it were, of the Holy One, blessed be He, changed regarding us from the time He planted us. There is no change of plans with Hashem. There is no change of thought with Hashem, as it were. For what He spoke evil against you, this is because He planted you. The meaning is, the purpose of the planting is fruit of praise. The purpose of the planting is so that sacred fruits should grow here, that the people of Israel should be a light to the nations. But we see that the people of Israel did not fulfill their role. There is no such thing here as fruit of praise, but rather, on the contrary, there is here fruit of death, deadly fruit. And this is what He says, He spoke evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel. That is to say, it is like a person who planted a garden, and the garden - "He hoped it would produce grapes, but it produced wild grapes." And he now uprooted the garden. So would you say he changed his plans? He did not change his plans. The plan was to plant a garden that produces good fruit. If it did not produce good fruit, then the original plan remained. Such a garden he did not want from the start. And what He concludes here, "which they did to themselves, to provoke Me by offering incense to Baal," He says at the beginning they "did to themselves." At the second stage it was "to provoke Me." After that they did "to offer incense to Baal," they clung to it with complete faith and believed in it. And this is always the way of deterioration. The way of deterioration, because he thinks that some benefit will come from it. "No, I am not really doing it for that, I do not really believe in it." He thinks that some benefit will come to him from it. At the second stage he begins to connect and already does it to provoke. And after that he already has complete and naive faith in it, he believes in this matter with all his heart.
"And Hashem informed me and I knew; then You showed me their deeds." And Hashem informed me and I knew. What did Hashem inform me? What is actually written here? There is an interpretation of the Radak here, and we shall see also the interpretation of the Malbim. The Radak explains that this verse is connected to the next verse. In the next verse it is written, "And I was like a docile lamb led to the slaughter, and I did not know." And essentially the next verse will describe before us a situation in which they tried to assassinate the prophet. And this we shall see in the next verse, how and what and in what manner. But about this He says here, "And Hashem informed me." What did Hashem inform me? Hashem revealed to me and informed me that they want to assassinate me. Hashem informed me, and I knew them. I would not have known this. "You showed me their deeds." It would not have entered my mind that they would want to do such a thing to me, when I seek their welfare. On the contrary, I seek their welfare, I rebuke them in order to save them from evil. So would it enter my mind that they would want to kill me? Over the fact that I seek to save them? So "then You showed me their deeds." You showed me the evil deeds, that if they wanted to do such a thing to me, when I seek their welfare, all the more so, who knows what deeds and evil acts they would do against others whom they truly sought to harm.
The Malbim explains, "And Hashem informed me," that is, we said earlier "and Hashem spoke evil against you." With this we saw the matter of the previous verse. He says to the people of Israel, know that Hashem spoke evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Yehudah. And "He spoke evil against you" we saw means to kindle fire in Zion. He says to them now, know, Hashem informed me. That is to say, when Hashem spoke evil against you, He did not keep it to Himself. He also revealed to me the evil. He also informed me of the evil that He is about to do to you. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, said regarding Avraham Avinu, "Shall I hide from Avraham what I am doing?" The Holy One, blessed be He, reveals to the righteous what is destined to be. So what I inform you about future evil, know that Hashem revealed it to me and showed me this evil. And then, take note, on that same occasion when Hashem showed me the evil that He is about to do to you, He also said to me, know that they too wanted to harm you.
And then, about this is the next verse. "And I was like a docile lamb led to the slaughter, and I did not know that they plotted schemes against me. Let us destroy the tree with its bread, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more." "And I was like a docile lamb led to the slaughter." What is "a docile lamb"? What kind of "aluf"? In what way is it docile? So Rashi brings Dunash and Yehudah ben Koreish, and so too the Radak explained, like a lamb and a bull led to slaughter. And "aluf" is like an ox, as in "the offspring of your cattle," and like "our cattle laden." This is in the sense of like a lamb and flock and cattle. So "a docile lamb" means like the lamb and ox led to slaughter. In contrast, he brings an additional interpretation, Menachem ben Saruk, that "a docile lamb" means a great lamb. Yes, and this is also implied from Targum Yonatan, for he said "like a choice lamb." "Choice" means select, great, praiseworthy.
And what actually was their plan? Perhaps before that, the Malbim explains that "a docile lamb" - he says this is from the language of "teach me understanding." To teach, as we say today "trained." "A docile lamb" means like the lamb trained to follow its owner. Wherever its owner goes, it goes together with him. It has complete trust in its owner. And then what happens? That one day its owner goes where? To the slaughterer, to the slaughterhouse. And the lamb is accustomed to following its owner, so it goes, trained, after him, even to the slaughterhouse. That is to say, it is not at all aware that they are about to take it to be slaughtered. It is not at all aware that the place to which you are now going is in order to kill you. So he says, so too I was like a docile lamb led to the slaughter. That is, they took me to be slaughtered, and I did not know that they plotted schemes against me. And I did not know their plans, that they planned to kill me in such a way, take note, that it would not be known at all that they killed me. Essentially there was here a plan for a perfect murder. A murder that cannot be uncovered. How? In what manner? What was the plan?
They said, "Let us destroy the tree with its bread." What is "let us destroy the tree with its bread"? They said, we will put in his bread destructive wood. Destructive wood means poisonous wood. The meaning is, we will put deadly poison in his bread. Why? Because a prophet who is killed by the sword, says the Malbim, his name is remembered in every generation, that he was killed for the sanctification of Hashem's name. This prophet, they killed him because he rebuked the people. Like Zecharyah the prophet. But in contrast here, no one would know. Everyone would be certain that he died on his own. And not only that, since there is deadly poison that does not act immediately, there is deadly poison that acts after several days. So everyone would say, apparently he ate something bad, he had food poisoning, a stroke, a heart attack. No one would imagine that there was someone here who assassinated the prophet, and as a result the prophet died. So if so, this matter, says the prophet, "like a docile lamb led to the slaughter, and I did not know that they plotted schemes against me." I did not imagine that they had such plans against me, "let us destroy the tree with its bread."
"And let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more." And this is very wonderful according to how the Malbim explained. "That his name be remembered no more," for if they had assassinated him, then we all remember that drunkard who was here a prime minister who was assassinated. And everyone since then remembers him, suddenly he acquired a legacy. A legacy, seven, seven, seven. This is his legacy. Suddenly he acquired a legacy. Who is he? What is he? Who ever heard of him? They were almost about to bring him down in the upcoming elections. What remained of him? He only brought us war here, only caused troubles. Yet he has a legacy. What happened? Because he was assassinated. He says, this is exactly what is written here. Says the Malbim, the prophet, if he is killed by the sword, then he would be remembered for generations. Zecharyah, for how long was his blood seething? He would be remembered. But they want to kill me in such a way that no one would ever remember me at all. "And let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more." We will kill him here, cut him off from the land of the living, and his name would no longer be remembered in the future, since everyone would say he apparently died because of something internal, some internal illness. No one would imagine that someone assassinated him.
"And Hashem of hosts, the righteous Judge, who tests the kidneys and the heart, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You have I revealed my cause." Hashem of hosts, the righteous Judge, who tests the kidneys and the heart. Hashem, You are a tester of righteousness and a judge of righteousness, so You, Master of the Universe, judge me against them. The meaning is, judge me against them and save me from those malicious thoughts they have toward me. You, Hashem, test the kidneys and the heart, and You have examined their heart, their kidneys, so inform me of their thoughts, of their future plans. "And let me see Your vengeance upon them." The meaning is, that I should not leave this world before I see how You take Your vengeance upon them. The meaning is, punish them for the evil deeds they did. "For to You have I revealed my cause." For to You have I revealed my cause, the meaning is, I have, as it were, no one to turn to and reveal my quarrel with them except to You. That is to say, I have no other helper and supporter. All those whom I come to rebuke, they all oppose me. And if so, to whom do I have to turn? "To You have I revealed my cause." I have to turn only to the Holy One, blessed be He. You will take my judgment from them, since, as it were, my cause is known and revealed only before You.
The Malbim explains, Hashem of hosts, You are a righteous Judge and one who tests the kidneys and the heart. So it is impossible that You would pervert judgment. It is impossible that You would do something that has in it a deviation from justice. And it is also impossible that there is - sometimes the judge does not want to pervert judgment, but the facts are not entirely clear to him. And he judges according to what is revealed to him, according to the facts. "A judge has only what his eyes see." But in contrast, regarding the Holy One, blessed be He, one cannot say this. Says the prophet, with You it is impossible that You would not know the truth of the matter. Since You, Hashem, test the kidneys and the heart. So You also know what is in their hearts. Even though outwardly they do not display it, You, Hashem, know also what is in their thoughts. And therefore what I ask of You, Master of the Universe, let me see Your vengeance upon them. I do not ask for my vengeance, I ask for Your vengeance. For to You have I revealed my cause. The meaning is, after all, why do I have a quarrel with them? Did I go to quarrel with them over some private matter? Did I go to quarrel with them over some financial matter? Over a dispute between me and them? After all, my entire quarrel with them is for You. I quarrel with them so that they keep Your commandments, that they repent, that they draw near to Your service. After all, to You have I revealed my cause. And if so, that they wanted to kill me over my quarrel, this is because I prophesied in Your name. So if so, who is fitting to fight my battle? You, Master of the Universe, You will punish them. For after all, I, as a result of my battle on Your behalf, they pursue me. So You, Master of the Universe, fight my battle and You will save me from them.
"Therefore thus said Hashem concerning the men of Anatot who seek your life, saying: Do not prophesy in the name of Hashem, that you not die by our hand." Therefore thus said Hashem concerning the men of Anatot. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, there is here a prophecy concerning the men of Anatot who seek your life. The meaning is, why do they seek your life? Not because they have any personal dispute with you. Rather, their entire matter is only because they say, do not prophesy in the name of Hashem. This is their quarrel with you. What bothers them? That you are an emissary of the supreme Providence. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, since this is so, then they will be punished, as we shall see in the next verse. Only the Radak here dwells on a difficulty. How does He say "and Hashem informed me," as we saw above, "and I was like a docile lamb led to the slaughter, and I did not know." Hashem informed me and I knew. The one who revealed this to me was only the Holy One, blessed be He. And here you see that they explicitly said to him, do not prophesy in the name of Hashem, that you not die by our hand. Beware, if you continue to prophesy, we will murder you. You see explicitly, there were threats on his life. Complaints were filed with the police. So if so, why does the man say "I did not know that they were threatening me"? That Hashem only revealed to me that they wanted to kill me? You yourself say, the men of Anatot who seek your life, saying, they would say, if you prophesy in the name of Hashem we will kill you. So you see that you did indeed know that you were in mortal danger from them.
Rather, he explains that in truth, just like today exactly. A person says to someone "I will murder you," so he thinks these are threats. He thinks these are empty threats. How many such stories do we know? Suddenly this one was murdered and that one was murdered. There were, yes, there were threats, complaints were filed with the police. What did the police not do? The police were on top of everyone who had threats against him, would assign him a policeman, they would run out of policemen. Everyone who says "I will murder you," the person speaks and utters threats from his mouth and they have no substance. So if so, it turns out that Yirmiyahu never feared that there was something real here. When they said to him "we will eliminate you," he did not think they were actually going to carry out their plans. Because he thought it was a way of frightening and exaggeration. They wanted to frighten him and were exaggerating. Threatening him with an empty gun. For it is impossible that they would kill him openly. Because after all, if they killed him openly, then it was still in a place where there was a king and in a place where there was rule. And after all, "were it not for the fear of the government, a man would swallow his fellow alive." So someone who would come and murder him openly, they did not have the audacity to come and do this. And therefore he did not fear this. But that they would kill him in secret by means of poison, this is something that could indeed be. And this, this is what is called, he did not imagine. He did not think that they had such plans, to kill him in secret by means of poison, without the matter becoming known. And says the Radak, as we said earlier, there is no necessity that the matter would become known. Because they can put poison in his food, poison that does not act immediately. That acts only after ten days, after a month. They would put radioactive material on him. Ask Putin, he knows the methods. They would put it on him, yes, and then suddenly after a period he would die, no one would know from what he died, how he died, what happened to him. So that is to say, there is a possibility that they would kill him without the matter becoming known. This, this he did not fear. This is the meaning of "he did not imagine." About this he says, Hashem informed me.
"Therefore thus said Hashem of hosts: Behold, I will punish them; the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine." Says the Holy One, blessed be He, therefore thus said Hashem of hosts, I will punish them so that the young men shall die by the sword. What is "the young men"? Why specifically the young men? Because the young men trust in their strength, and they go out to fight. And since they trust in their strength and go to fight, their death will be by the sword, since they go out to fight, then it will be by the sword of battle. "Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine." They will die by famine in the city. Says the Radak, take note, He mentioned their sons and did not mention the fathers. Why does He mention that their sons will die? Why does He not say that the fathers will die? Says the Radak, because if the fathers obtain some food, they will eat it themselves, for their own lives take precedence. Do you hear? And not only that, but they even ate the flesh of their sons and daughters because of the famine. That is to say, you understand that when there was a doubt whether I would live or my son would live, then he certainly would choose his own life first. So therefore who was supposed to die first? It is the sons who were supposed to die first. Since their parents, even if it were necessary, would slaughter them in order to eat of their flesh.
Therefore Hashem says, behold, I will punish them, the young men shall die by the sword. Says the Malbim, therefore Hashem says, behold, I will punish them. Take note, it is written here "behold I." This is connected to what we mentioned earlier. Yirmiyahu says to the Holy One, blessed be He, Master of the Universe, I am not fighting my battle, but rather Your battle. Says the Holy One, blessed be He, you are right. And therefore I take responsibility for what they do, and I, they have a battle with Me. Behold, I will punish them. This will not be with you, this is not against you, this is against Me. I am the one who will punish them. And the young men and the sons, they will die by the sword and in the siege. "And no remnant shall be left to them, for I will bring evil upon the men of Anatot, the year of their punishment." And no remnant shall be left to them, the meaning is, no remnant shall be left to the men of Anatot. We know that the men of Anatot greatly distressed Yirmiyahu. Yirmiyahu was after all a Kohen from among the Kohanim who were in Anatot. And they distressed him, they distressed him greatly. And he prayed concerning them that the Holy One, blessed be He, should cause them to fail with unworthy poor people, and he prayed concerning them that the Holy One, blessed be He, should punish them. And here too we see that they also wanted to murder him. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him, no remnant shall be left to them. After all, they should have strengthened his hands. After all, Yirmiyahu is a relative of theirs, he is from their family. They are the people of his city. And in a place where at least in his city they should have strengthened his hands, there the people even go and seek how to assassinate him. For I will bring evil upon the men of Anatot, the year of their punishment. "The year of their punishment" means in the year of the destruction, explains the Radak. This was the nineteenth year of Nevuchadnetzar, when Hashem punished their iniquity and the land was after all destroyed. In that year, he says, the men of Anatot too would be punished and no remnant would be left to them. Says the Radak, even though a very harsh decree was decreed upon them, that no remnant would be left to them, we see later that when they returned from the Babylonian exile, it is written "the men of Anatot, one hundred and twenty-eight." That is to say, they did indeed have a remnant. Says the Radak, what is the explanation for this? So the Radak himself explains that what is written "no remnant shall be left to them," the meaning is if they do not repent. And he says that even though such a decree was decreed upon them, when the enemies captured the city, they repented. And since this is so, the decree was changed and they had a remnant. The Malbim explains that "no remnant shall be left to them" is said about the elders. I will bring upon them a special evil at the time of the destruction, and no remnant will be left of their elders. So that in fact this does not speak of future generations, but rather He first said "behold I will punish them," this is the young men who shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters who shall die by famine. Where are the elders? "And no remnant shall be left to them," this speaks of the elders. So that essentially we are not speaking here about the future, about after they return from the exile, this was not discussed here. So that from the outset there is no difficulty.