"Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning Yehoyakim son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah: they shall not lament for him, saying Ah my brother, or Ah sister; they shall not lament for him, Ah lord, or Ah his majesty." Thus says the Lord concerning Yehoyakim son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, they shall not lament for him "Ah." First of all, their custom in eulogizing was to say "Ah," that is, expressions of grief, expressions of pain. What is "Ah my brother and Ah sister"? Why would they eulogize him "Ah sister"? After all, Yehoyakim is male. So Rashi explains that the "Ah sister" refers back to Yehoyakim's wife. Even though she is not actually mentioned here, the moment Yehoyakim is punished, his wife is, as it were, together with him. And then when they eulogize, they will eulogize "Ah my brother" over him and "Ah sister" over her. But here He says: over you they will not eulogize, nor over her. They will not eulogize "Ah my brother and Ah sister," that is, neither over you nor over your wife. The Malbim explains: his brothers will not lament "Ah my brother," and his sisters "Ah for the sister." That is, like "woe." That is, woe is me his sister, that I saw this. Woe is me, I am his brother, that I was exposed to his terrible state, to his deathbed, to the harm that befell him. So the "Ah" refers back to the mourner himself. The brother and sister refer back to the mourner himself. Not as Rashi explained, that it refers to Yehoyakim, for you would say: Yehoyakim, what has "sister" to do with it? So he tells you: no, his wife. But according to the Malbim's explanation, these are the mourners, they say "Ah my brother, Ah sister," woe is me that I am the brother of this man who suffered so. Woe is me that I am the sister of this man who suffered so, that is "Ah my brother and Ah sister." As the Metzudat David explains in greater detail, he says: his female relatives shall not lament saying "Ah," for I was to him a sister, woe is me that I was a sister to such a man.
What is "Ah lord and Ah his majesty"? So the Malbim explains: his servants will not lament for him "Ah lord," they will not lament for him over the fact that he was lord to them. And his people will not lament for him over his glory and splendor, over his magnificence. Now I somewhat notice that the Malbim's explanation seems a bit difficult. That is, there is an advantage to Rashi's explanation in the continuation of the verse. For the Malbim too explains that "Ah lord" refers back to the king. It does not refer to the mourner. So why, according to the Malbim, does "Ah my brother and Ah sister" refer to the mourner? Woe is me that I was his sister, woe is me that I was his brother. And seemingly from the continuation "Ah lord" it is implied that the entire eulogy is about him himself, not about me, I am not mentioning myself here. And therefore it may well be that this is what forced Rashi to explain that the "sister" here is not really a sister, but refers to his wife, hinting at him.
"He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Yerushalayim." More blessings He adds for him. "He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey," the Radak and the Metzudat David explain: just as a donkey is not buried, so he shall not be buried. That is the meaning of "buried with the burial of a donkey." Meaning, like the way they bury a donkey. How do they bury a donkey? They throw it out on the roadside, they do not bury the donkey. So too "buried with the burial of a donkey," the meaning is that he will be cast out on the road and not buried. So too was the matter of Yehoyakim, as the Radak says, for they led him into exile and he died on the way. And he had no burial, just as we said, like a donkey. Just as a donkey has none, so he had no burial. "Dragged and cast out," dragged and thrown beyond the gates of Yerushalayim, outside the gates of Yerushalayim. That is the meaning of "dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Yerushalayim," far from the gates of Yerushalayim, they will not bury him at all, that is the "dragged and cast out."
Some say that "burial of a donkey" means that they would bury a donkey standing upright. There is such an expression, "burial of a donkey." Some say that "burial of a donkey," as there is a definition in halachah, that it is forbidden to bury a Jew with the burial of a donkey, means standing upright. There was once an incident, we told it about Rav Moshe Feinstein, who was still a rabbi in Luban. There was there a certain informer, a great wicked man, who caused endless troubles to the Jews who lived in that area. And before his death, before he expired, he called the Chevra Kadisha and told them that he knew he had indeed caused much trouble, but he wanted to do teshuvah on this matter, and therefore he wanted, for his rectification, to be buried with the burial of a donkey. That is, standing upright. Well, he said his piece and that was it, he passed on. In short, they came to do this, Rav Moshe Feinstein heard about it, he was the rabbi there, and he said absolutely not. One does not bury a Jew with the burial of a donkey. This is a halachah in the Shulchan Aruch and this thing is forbidden. And he says: he requested it, and the honor of the dead, and atonement, and... nothing, he did not agree. They buried him normally. Two days later they come to the rabbi and to the community members, to the community leaders there, to the Chevra Kadisha, they come from the OGPU and such, this is the earlier incarnation of the KGB. They come and say to them: we want you to open the grave. What? Disgracing the dead, what? No, we want you to open the grave. Well, in Russia you cannot argue much, you do not have much right to speak. Well, if you talk too much they will send you to Kolyma, in Siberia, and there, you know, how you go in, you do not know how you come out. In short, they opened the grave. They look, they check, and, well, they say you can cover it up, you can go. They say: tell us, what did you want? They told them: look, this man was very connected to us, after all, he was an informer, so he was connected to them. He told them: look, the Jews will take revenge on me at the end of my days, and you will see what they do to me, they will bury me standing upright. And among the Jews this is a disgraceful burial, they will bury me this way to take revenge on me. After my death go and verify, see if they did this to me, and if they did this to me, exact vengeance from them as is fitting, give it to them good and hard, and afterward bury me properly, bury me lying down. Do you understand this man? From Gehinnom he still wants to continue harassing his Jewish brothers. And what luck it was that Rav Moshe Feinstein, by the kindness of God, was asked for a Torah ruling, and Rav Moshe Feinstein told them that under no circumstances should such a thing be done. This came to mind following the "burial of a donkey he shall be buried."
"Go up to the Levanon and cry out, and in the Bashan raise your voice, and cry from Avarim, for all your lovers are broken." "Go up to the Levanon and cry out." What is the Levanon? What is "in the Bashan raise your voice"? What is "cry from Avarim"? What are all these places here? So Rashi brings, according to the Targum, that here he is speaking about the Beit HaMikdash. And the Levanon is the Beit HaMikdash. The Targum says "go up to the Beit HaMikdash and cry out." "Seki" means go up, to the Beit HaMikdash and cry out. The Radak says: Levanon is the Beit HaMikdash, as it is written "this good mountain and the Levanon." The Targum there says Beit HaMikdash. And why is the Beit HaMikdash called Levanon? Because it whitened the sins of Israel. Therefore it is called Levanon, from the word "lavan," white. And another, more straightforward explanation, is that the Beit HaMikdash is called Levanon because it was built from the cedars of the Levanon. For they built the Beit HaMikdash from the cedars of the Levanon, and therefore it is called Levanon, this is more according to the plain meaning. And regarding "in the Bashan raise your voice," what is the weeping here about? Over the Bashan that will be destroyed. The Targum Onkelos, the Targum Yonatan explains what this Bashan is. He explains that it means the Temple Mount, "tur beita." And in fact Rashi says: I do not know how to explain how the word Bashan fits with the gates of the Temple Mount. What has "in the Bashan raise your voice" to do with the Temple Mount? How does Bashan connect to the Temple Mount? If not, Rashi brings a conjecture: because of the doors that they make from the oaks of the Bashan. The doors of the Beit HaMikdash were made from the oaks of the Bashan, these are precious oaks, and then it turns out that the Temple Mount, whose doors are from the oaks of the Bashan, is entirely called Bashan. Another explanation Rashi gives: why is the Temple Mount called Bashan? Rashi says because Bashan is a place of a wide valley. So too the area around the Temple Mount was like a valley, spacious, an open area for the Beit HaMikdash. A third explanation, or a third conjecture, that the Radak brings, is that perhaps he called the Temple Mount Bashan because the Bashan was a grazing place for animals. And in the Beit HaMikdash too there were many animals that were brought there for sacrifice. And therefore, on account of the matter of the many animals here and there, he called this place Bashan. "And cry from Avarim," the Targum explains "and cry from Megzeta." Megzeta means it is the name of a place, that this place was called Avarim.
The Radak explains that the Levanon and the Bashan and Avarim, all these places, are not as Rashi said, referring to the Beit HaMikdash, but rather refer to those nations. The Radak says: the prophet says to the people of Israel, you think you will have help from all who love you, go and cry out to them. Ask them to help you. After all, you turned to Ashur, you turned to Egypt, on them you rely, in them you trust. You removed your trust, Knesset Yisrael, from Me, says the Holy One blessed be He, and you relied on Egypt, that broken reed, and on Ashur. Indeed about this we say "Ashur will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer say to the work of our hands... our strength." That is, we see that there was some corruption here in that we relied on the nations rather than on the Holy One blessed be He. So therefore He says: go, cry out to them. When your ruin comes, when the trouble arrives, go cry out to them, see if they can save you. And then you will realize that they too are broken like you. The king of Ashur was broken; Egypt too was broken by Nevuchadnetzar in the days of Yehoyakim. As it is written "and the king of Egypt did not again go out of his land, for the king of Bavel had taken all that belonged to Egypt from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates river." So Egypt too was broken. The Radak says: and although afterward in the days of Tzidkiyahu it is written "and Pharaoh's army came out of Egypt," you see that afterward we did see Egypt active and powerful, the Radak says: in the end, ultimately, Nevuchadnetzar prevailed and destroyed Egypt. So in the days of Tzidkiyahu we did indeed see that they had power, but afterward Nevuchadnetzar overpowered them, so that Egypt too has no power. And therefore He says to them "go up to the Levanon." What is "go up to the Levanon"? He does not mean to say a place name, take note, but rather he means, that is, the Lebanese nation, no, rather he means to say: go up to the high places and cry out to all the nations on whom you rely to come to your aid. The Levanon is a high place, so go up to Mount Levanon. "In the Bashan raise your voice," this is Mount Bashan, go up there, cry out to the nations, to Ashur, to Egypt, go up, cry out that they save you. "From Avarim," "cry from Avarim," the meaning is from every side and every direction, cry out to those nations on whom you relied, "for all your lovers are broken." Behold, you will see, all your lovers are broken after most of Israel was exiled, since your strength has weakened, then you should worry that the cup will pass over you too, that trouble will come upon you too. So why do you see all that happened to them and you are not troubled? According to this it emerges that "your lovers" is Israel, this is the Ten Tribes, these are our brothers. So perhaps they could have helped us, but you see, says the Holy One blessed be He to Knesset Yisrael, that they too have already been exiled. But you said "I will not listen," and why? This is your way from your youth, not to listen to the voice of the Lord, and you did not want to return in teshuvah.
"The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; for then you shall be ashamed and confounded because of all your wickedness." The Radak, who explained above "go up to the Levanon and cry out" as referring to Ashur, to Egypt, that they should save you, on this he continues and says "all your shepherds": who are your shepherds? Your leaders, those on whom you rely, these are the kings of Ashur and Egypt, they are like our leaders, our shepherds, they will care for us. He says to her: the wind will shepherd them all, the wind will consume them all, they will be broken quickly as if the wind scattered them. That is, so to speak, they will not even have the strength to fight, but rather just as the wind easily blows away straw and leaves, so too the wind will shepherd them all. As the Targum Yonatan says, "they will be scattered to every wind." And then, He says about this: "then you shall be ashamed and confounded because of all your wickedness." Then you shall be ashamed, for behold you will see, on them I relied, in them I trusted, and it will turn out that a light wind gathered them up. So then, on whom do I still have to rely?
The Malbim follows his approach, that he explained that we should have learned from the exile of the Ten Tribes and did not learn. So he says: behold, you will see the end of the matter, that the wind shall shepherd all your shepherds and your kings. You will see that Nevuchadnetzar, just as he exiled the Ten Tribes, you will see that he will exile also Yehoyachin and the craftsmen and the smith, and afterward Yehoyakim. All this is meant to give us moral instruction, that what happened to our brothers there in Shomron is already beginning to happen to us. So this is no longer just a threat concerning us. First, it already happened in Shomron; second, the axe is already rising against us. Behold, you will see Nevuchadnetzar come and exile Yehoyachin and the craftsmen and the smith, so those who remain here, how much moral instruction they should take, how careful they need to be in their deeds and not continue to corrupt. The Holy One blessed be He says: "for then you shall be ashamed and confounded because of all your wickedness." After the sword touched the soul, as the Malbim says, that is, you already see that it truly threatens your life, you should have been ashamed of all your wickedness.
What is "you shall be ashamed and confounded"? So the Malbim has an approach that he consistently follows, that the difference between "you shall be ashamed" (tevoshi) and "confounded" (nichlamt) is that with "tevoshi" a person is always ashamed of himself. In contrast, "kelimah" (humiliation) is from others. Humiliation is from what others disgrace me with, as in "my face I did not hide from humiliation and spittle." "They humiliated me," meaning others shamed me. In contrast, a person can say "I was ashamed of myself," since shame is the internal feeling of a person who is ashamed of himself without another force shaming him. Humiliation is when someone else shames him. "You who dwell in the Levanon, who nest in the cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you, pain like a woman in labor." "You who dwell in the Levanon," you who dwell in the Levanon and who nest in the cedars, Rashi explains: you set your nest in the turrets of cedar houses, you built for yourself mansions, great palaces. "How you will be pitied when pangs come upon you"? Rashi explains "how you will be pitied" as: what grace did you find, on account of the height of your towers, in the eyes of your plunderers, when the pangs of labor come upon you. So one can explain "how you will be pitied" to mean: what, do you think that with this you will find favor in his eyes? Or one can explain it the opposite way: how you will be pitied, as if, oh, how much favor did you find in his eyes when you built for yourself such towers that he can now come and take. As if precisely because of this you found favor in his eyes. What favor did you find, on account of the height of your towers, in the eyes of your plunderers, when the pangs of labor come upon you? The meaning is when they come to plunder all that you have. Rashi brings an additional explanation, this explanation is that of Dunash, Dunash ben Labrat, who explains "nechant" as from the word "chen," grace, you found favor. In contrast, Menachem interprets "nechant" as from the language of "chaniyah," resting. "How you will be pitied" means: what resting place did you find for yourself when pangs come upon you, pain like a woman in labor? What resting place? "Chaniyah" is a place from the word "menuchah," rest, to rest, to camp in a place, like "Kiryat Chanah David," a place where he camped and rested, yes? It is from the word "menuchah," rest. What rest did you find for yourself when pangs came, pain like a woman in labor? "Chavalim" means from the word "chevlei leidah," birth pangs.
The Malbim explains "you who dwell in the Levanon." The Malbim says: mammals that nurse, the way it is, is that when the offspring is only just born, they attend to it at the time of its birth. Meaning, since nursing animals give birth, in contrast to animals that lay eggs, which do not give birth, a chick has no difficulty coming out of the egg. In contrast, to draw out a calf from its mother's womb is one of the difficult tasks. And farmers do much work to deliver the animal. And if there are problems, sometimes they even need a tractor to drag it in order to succeed in freeing it from its mother's womb. It turns out then that the calf, or the animal, after birth, the newborn calf needs to get up. It needs afterward to be attended to in order to, so to speak, restore it to a proper state. So this is what he says, for the animals come out being attended to. What is "come out being attended to"? At the time it tears open to give birth, they place two rings of oil for it. Which is not the case, says the Malbim, with birds that lay eggs, they are not attended to. According to this he says: come and see that he compares Yerushalayim to a bird, "who nest in the cedars," from the word "ken," nest.
A bird that nests in the cedars. And the conquest of the city he compares to birth and the pangs of a woman in labor. A bird has no birth pangs and no labor pangs, as we said. As it is written "for I heard a voice like one in labor, the voice of the daughter of Tzion gasping." And he says that no pity was shown to this woman in labor when she came to the point of breaking. You see that Yerushalayim, when she was broken, is like a woman in labor whose doors of the womb were broken and she brought out the child. So too Yerushalayim was under siege until it was opened before the enemies. So it was a kind of birth, only that this birth was a very difficult birth. So when you dwell in the Levanon and nest in the cedars like a bird that places its nest on high, and "how you will be pitied" means what pity was shown to you when those birth pangs came upon you.
The Malbim explains that the meaning of these things is about the exile of Yehoyachin. When Nevuchadnetzar came against the city, it is written that Yehoyachin, he and his mother and his servants, all went out to meet him. They thought this would earn them credit. We did not fight, we came out to meet you, we all went out, I and my mother and my servants, so perhaps, perhaps he will leave him for this. He says: it did not help him. It did not help him, since in the end he exiled Yehoyachin, and he exiled Yehoyachin to Bavel, and the king's mother and the king's wives and all the men of valor. And after he speaks about the conquest of Yehoyakim, when he speaks, the Malbim says, about Yehoyachin, this was the birth. For the conquest of the city is like bringing out the child, as we said. And this was like a bird that lays an egg in an instant. When they want to tell a woman that she will have an easy birth, they say to her: like a hen's egg. So the bird lays an egg in a short while. So here Yerushalayim, so to speak, laid the egg of Yehoyachin who came out. He came out easily, there was no struggle here, no midwife needed to break open Yerushalayim, so to speak, like raising a white flag, like laying the egg.
But what did you think, that this would help him? He says to him: come and see that Nevuchadnetzar did not show him pity, just as no pity is shown to a bird at the time of its birth. What did we say? The bird, the chick, comes out easily, it does not need anyone to show it pity, it does not need anyone to attend to it afterward and rehabilitate it. It comes out easily. So he is like a bird whose birth was easy, and Nevuchadnetzar did not show him pity. So even though it would have been fitting for him to show him pity, since he came out of himself, he spared him the battle, I did not now need to spill blood, to shed blood in order to fight over Yerushalayim, nevertheless pangs came like a woman in labor, and what pity was shown to you? They gave you nothing in this, that is, the submission with which you submitted granted you nothing.
"As I live, says the Lord, though Konyahu son of Yehoyakim, king of Yehudah, were a signet on My right hand, yet from there I would tear you off." Rashi explains "as I live, says the Lord, though Konyahu son of Yehoyakim, king of Yehudah, were a signet on My right hand." "A signet on My right hand" means engraved and sealed within the flesh of the arm. As is known, they would place a seal, they would engrave within the flesh. The Lord says: though Konyahu son of Yehoyakim, king of Yehudah, were a signet on My right hand, yet from there I would tear you off. What is the meaning of these things? So Rashi explains that this is like "antekcha," I would tear you off. As if there is a missing nun here between the aleph and the tav. So although it is written "atkencha," one should read it as "antkencha" and so on. Yes, and he brings examples for this, like "prepare (hatiknum) them like sheep for slaughter," "until they had drawn (hatiknu) them away from the city," as it is written there regarding Yehoshua, that the meaning is from the word to tear it away.
And indeed the Midrash expounds both possibilities. Both from the word "tikkun," rectification, and from the word "nituk," tearing away. The Midrash says: in the place where he was torn away, he was rectified. What does this mean? That he did teshuvah in Bavel. And the Holy One blessed be He was asked to be released from His oath. "Write this man as childless." The Holy One blessed be He swore "write this man as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days." And we will see later that Zerubavel was born to him in Bavel. How is he childless? There is an oath of the Lord. The Holy One blessed be He tells you: He was asked to be released from His oath. Yes, He annulled His oath. There was an oath here and He was asked to be released from it. And behold you see Zerubavel was born to him in Bavel. We will see later other explanations, for this is truly a difficulty from the side of the verses. It is written that he will be childless all his days, and on the other hand you see that he has children. What is the explanation for this? We will see more explanations. One explanation of the Sages: the Lord swore and He released Himself from His oath.
Corresponding to what He said to his father, "if he were like a signet on My right hand, I would tear him off," the Holy One blessed be He says to him: now to Zerubavel son of She'altiel, you indeed will be like a signet. In simple terms, here it is written "though Konyahu son of Yehoyakim, king of Yehudah, were a signet on My right hand, from there I would tear you off." If you were to be like a signet on My right hand, which means a high status on the right hand of the Holy One blessed be He, we as a signet, He says: even if you were there, I would tear you off from there. Nevertheless, the Holy One blessed be He says to his sons, this is Zerubavel: he will be a signet on My right hand, and I will make you like a signet. "I will take you, Zerubavel son of She'altiel, and make you like a signet." How does this reconcile? For You said he would be childless, You said there would be no signet on Your right hand. The Lord released Himself from His oath, and therefore "atkencha" is both from the word "tikkun," rectification, and from the word "nituk," tearing away.
The Radak explains that he actually has a difficulty here: how did we suddenly move from speaking about Yehoyakim to speaking about Yehoyachin? The Radak says: since he spoke about Yehoyakim, he continued further to speak about his son, about Yehoyachin. And as a sign of his lowliness he called him Konyahu. Yes, instead of Yehoyachin, Konyahu. Apparently in Yehoyachin the letters yod, hei, vav are at the beginning, and in Konyahu they are at the end. So this is apparently for the sake of lowliness.
And then He says to him "though Konyahu son of Yehoyakim, king of Yehudah, were a signet on My right hand." The Radak says the meaning is like a signet with which one seals documents. This is called a signet. "Set me as a seal upon your heart," "your signet and your cord." And this ring, the Radak says, is something that does not leave a person's hand, neither by day nor by night. So "a signet on My right hand" means, not as Rashi explained, engraved and sealed within the flesh of My arm, but rather a signet in its plain sense, found on the finger of His right hand. This means a signet ring, but in their times they would use a ring as a signet. And then he says that this ring does not leave, neither by day nor by night. He says: even if Konyahu were like the signet on the right hand that never leaves, I would remove it. This is the meaning of the words.
And he also explains that "atkencha" he explains as from the word "nituk," tearing away. And the dagesh in the tav indicates the absence of the nun. And the final nun is an extra nun. So it is as if it is written "antkecha," and the final nun is as if it is not read. And the Radak explains further that in prison he did teshuvah and the Holy One blessed be He accepted him. The teaching of the Sages that we mentioned earlier, the Radak elaborates on it, for Rashi did not explicitly mention that he did teshuvah. But the Radak says this explicitly, that in prison he did teshuvah and the Holy One blessed be He accepted him, and a son was born to him in prison. And his grandson Zerubavel son of She'altiel ruled in Yehudah and sat on the throne of David. About him it is said "and I will make you like a signet." Corresponding to what was said to your father, that even if he were a signet I would tear him off, you will merit, you the grandson will indeed merit to be a signet.
The Malbim explains "as I live, says the Lord," that is, what we saw above where He said "you who dwell in the Levanon, who nest in the cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you, pain like a woman in labor," that is, He said: behold you will see, you did not merit any pity, you Yehoyachin went out to Nevuchadnetzar, and instead of receiving you with honor, he even exiled you. He says: why? Because a decree was decreed upon him by an oath. That is, according to the Malbim, on the contrary, since this decree was decreed by an oath, this is the reason why the Lord did not retract it. And since an oath is something that endures forever, therefore, although Yehoyachin performed here an act of appeasement before Nevuchadnetzar, the decree had already been decreed by an oath. Let us explain these things further, for there is truly a difficulty here. And the difficulty is: on the contrary, the fact that Yehoyachin went out to meet Nevuchadnetzar is the only good deed he did. Since this is always what the prophet demanded. What did the prophet always tell them? Do not rebel. Do not rebel against Nevuchadnetzar. He always told them this, and he rebuked Tzidkiyahu and rebuked all the kings. Only their national pride did not allow them. He told them: the same Holy One blessed be He made him king, and if you listen to him you will be able to remain here in the land for many more years. But they did not listen to him and they rebelled, and he told them do not go to Egypt and they went to Egypt. And Tzidkiyahu went and broke the oath and revealed that Nevuchadnetzar ate a live rabbit and so on. And they rebelled against him, against Tzidkiyahu. So that in fact if they had listened to the prophet, if they had agreed to accept the kingdom of Nevuchadnetzar, there would have been rule and government here for many years. So if so, it is not understood what they want from Yehoyachin who went out to meet him. So in fact the move was correct. This is always what the prophet cried out. And even more difficult: so why, when he went out to meet him, did Nevuchadnetzar capture him? On the contrary, according to the prophet's plan, if you go out to meet Nevuchadnetzar, Nevuchadnetzar will receive you. That is, he will leave you here. And here you see, behold he went out to meet Nevuchadnetzar and he still exiled him. There is a difficulty here.
And therefore the Malbim explains that this difficulty is immediately resolved in our verse. Do you know why it did not help him that he went out to Nevuchadnetzar? Because it was too late. Because you refused from the outset and did not agree for a moment, only when you felt the noose of the choking already tightening and there was no chance, then you went out to meet him. It turns out then that you did not go out because the Lord commanded. And when the Lord commanded and you did not go out, "as I live, says the Lord," the Lord already swore that you would receive the punishment. Ah, now you ask why I went out and behold they took me into exile? After the oath, so perhaps you should have awakened before the oath. But after the Lord swore, now it is already too late. This is how the Malbim explains. He says: he explains that this was because a decree was decreed upon him by an oath. What was the oath? "Though Konyahu were," who is the son of Yehoyakim, and therefore the decree was decreed upon him, and therefore Nevuchadnetzar exiles him, this is on account of his father's sin, as the Malbim says.
"Though he were a signet on My right hand." The Malbim explains: it is written in the prophecy of Chaggai in chapter 2 verse 23 "on that day I will take you, Zerubavel, and make you like a signet." That the King Mashiach is destined to be like a signet on the right hand of the Lord. Just as a signet there is engraved upon the signet, engravings of a seal, they engrave upon it the name of the master. And through the fact that they impress this upon the servant, they know to whom this servant belongs. So the signet makes known who the master is. So too, through the deed of Mashiach, through this all will know who the master is. And the master will come, the Lord God of Israel. That is, then they will know Me from their greatest to their smallest. And then the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord like the waters cover the sea. So this is the King Mashiach. The King Mashiach will be like a signet on the right hand of the Lord; just as the signet makes known who the master is, the King Mashiach will make known who is the Master of the earth. And this is what is written, that the King Mashiach will come in order to gather the dispersed of Israel and in order to publicize the name of the Lord in the world and to reveal His kingship, like the signet of the servant that reveals who the master is. About this he says: although in the future Konyahu will be a signet on My right hand, what is the meaning? We are not speaking about him personally but rather about his descendants, from whom Mashiach will come. Nevertheless, now "from there I would tear you off." The meaning is: I will tear off the signet from the right hand. For now there is a tearing away here. For now you are not in the category of a signet. And the Malbim does not ignore the fact that this word also comes to hint at a matter of rectification, not only at a matter of tearing away. And he says that the rectification will be like a signet, from where will this come? From the exile of Bavel. Since there in the exile of Bavel they will be refined in Bavel in exile through suffering that they will have there, until from this a shoot will sprout from the seed of Konyahu, and he will be like a signet, an engraving on the right hand of the Lord.
"Like an engraved signet" is a phrase from a verse. I actually racked my brain to understand what "like an engraved signet on the right hand of the Lord" means. What plan (tochnit) is being spoken of here? The plan of the signet, a plan, I know the Disengagement Plan, but what plan is being spoken of here? So "like an engraved signet" (chotam tochnit) is a phrase from a verse that appears in the book of Yechezkel. So about this phrase the Malbim writes here "like an engraved signet on the right hand of the Lord." At first I thought perhaps this is a mistake, perhaps it is "chotam tavnit," like a signet that has a certain form. But no, as I said, it is the language of the verse. So in order to understand the Malbim we also need to be somewhat familiar with the verses, for the Malbim's language is the language of the verses, and he surely relies on us that we surely know everything. But you see, we need to dig and search a bit in order to understand his poetic expressions.
"And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those you dread, and into the hand of Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel, and into the hand of the Kasdim." The Holy One blessed be He says to him: "and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life." The Radak explains the meaning is that they will not have compassion on you. Those whom you dread, you will not have the strength to stand against them. "And into the hand of Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel," who is a fierce and harsh king, as it is written about him "a lion has come up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out from his place." That is, a lion that all feared. It is written that when the Holy One blessed be He brought Nevuchadnetzar down to Gehinnom, this is an astonishing Midrash, when the Holy One blessed be He brought Nevuchadnetzar down to Gehinnom, the inhabitants of Gehinnom began to tremble in fear. Do you understand, that is, Gehinnom is Gan Eden next to Nevuchadnetzar. Do you understand? When Nevuchadnetzar arrives here, they entered into fear: oh, Nevuchadnetzar is here, woe unto you, who knows what will become of us. Do you understand? So he says: see that I gave you into the hand of Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel, this means a great trouble, a great disaster. "And into the hand of the Kasdim," who are a fierce and harsh nation who will show no favor, about whom it is written "the bitter and impetuous nation." He says to him: all these wicked ones, I will hand you over into their hand.
The Malbim explains "and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life." The Malbim explains that there was a faction in Yehudah who wanted Tzidkiyahu. Actually the Malbim does not explain what "wanted Tzidkiyahu" means, and his language here is a bit unclear. But it sounds as if they wanted him as king. From the continuation we will understand differently. "Wanted Tzidkiyahu" means simply that they wanted to kill him. And through this Nevuchadnetzar exiled him in order to fulfill the request of this faction. Why? They wanted to kill him, so he exiled him to them so that they could destroy him. They are those who seek his life, so he brings the prey to them. And he dreaded them. This is what he says "and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life." I will now exile you, Konyahu, to Bavel, and there are those there who are, so to speak, already waiting for you with polished swords. And I will hand you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those you dread. Those whom you feared, so when they were exiled you were calm. He says to you: no, no, now Nevuchadnetzar will take you and hand you over into their hand. "And into the hand of Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel, and into the hand of the Kasdim."
"And I will cast you and your mother who bore you into another land where you were not born, and there you shall die." The Radak explains "and I will cast you and your mother" is like "and I will hurl." As it is written "and they hurled the vessels." "And your mother who bore you." What is "your mother who bore you"? And why? So first of all, some explain "your mother who bore you" as: and not your mother who nursed you. So the Malbim explains. For the nursemaid who raises him is also called his mother. And therefore He says to him here "your mother who bore you," I am speaking about your mother, so to speak, the biological mother. One explanation. The additional explanation: the Radak explains that "who bore you" comes to say: whom you resemble. She bore you, so to speak, she replicated herself. Just as she is wicked, so too you were born wicked. And therefore it would say about him "and the name of his mother" in Melachim. To tell you that she had a reputation and he continued her way. The son resembled the mother in his corrupt conduct. And then I cast you and your mother who bore you into another land. The meaning is into another land, and in a moment we will understand what this strange phrase "the another land" is. Into another land. Where you were not born, and there you shall die. That is, you were not born there, in the place where you were born you have more relatives, they will have mercy on you, they will help you when you are in distress. But here you were not born there. You were not born there, so family from there to help you, you will not find. And there you shall die. And this too is a curse in itself, for as we already saw above, the very fact that a person dies in an impure land is itself a curse, and there you shall die.
The Malbim explains "into another land." The Malbim says the hei is not according to the rule. Like "you shall offer the one lamb in the morning." If you are going to say, say "the one lamb." What is "the lamb, one"? And therefore he says that when it is written in this form, then we interpret it this way: He will cast you into the land, and also another land. That is, as if after "the land" there is a comma. And then I read "and I will cast you and your mother who bore you into the land," and this too will be "other." There will also be another land. What does he mean to say? Why, actually, are there two things here? The Malbim explains: after all, we saw above that he compared him to a bird that nests in the cedars. So he says to him: your downfall will be double. The first downfall, you will be cast, like the bird, from the high place where you nested in the cedar, where you built your nest, to the ground. This is already one fall. And not enough with this, from the ground you will still be cast to another land. That is, there will be here fall after fall. And therefore "and I will cast" this is the land first, from above to the ground, after this "another." After this there will also be another land to which you will be cast.
"But to the land to which they lift up their souls to return there, there they shall not return." The meaning is: they comfort themselves, as Rashi explains. Their soul lifts itself up to comfort itself and say: we will yet return to our land. He says to you: there they shall not return. This place they will not merit to return to, meaning to the holy land, to Eretz Yisrael. The Radak explains that "who lift up their souls" refers to the false prophets. For we know that the false prophets always prophesied to them good and pleasant prophecies. About how the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash would return. And at first these were prophecies that the Beit HaMikdash would not be destroyed. And afterward prophecies that the officers over Yehudah would go and return to their land and nothing would be done to us. They always had good promises, they always only calmed the people, as we explained and told several times. So he says to you: about the land to which they lift up their souls, that those false prophets promise them that all the exiles will return quickly and the vessels of the House of the Lord will be brought back from Bavel now quickly. So the land to which they lift up their souls, he says to you: a prophecy of truth now hear, there they shall not return. "They shall not return" is the true prophecy, and all that they lift up their souls, they trust in a lie. They anticipate a vain salvation; this thing will not be.
The Malbim explains that this thought arose in Konyahu when? After Tzidkiyahu rebelled. And then he said: ah, Tzidkiyahu rebelled, so now whom does the king of Bavel, Nevuchadnetzar, have to take? He has me to take. After all, whoever knows this knows that the bug of being prime minister never leaves a person. You can see this all the time. You can see this, it does not matter, without names, in short, you can see this in politics. So you understand that a person who has this bug, it does not leave him. So therefore he was sure: Tzidkiyahu rebelled, now they will take me. Whom does he now have as a replacement for prime minister here? A replacement for the king here? So surely he will take me. About this it was necessary to say to him "to the land to which they lift up their souls to return, there they shall not return." There is no chance, you will not return.
"Is this man Konyahu a despised, shattered idol, a vessel in which there is no delight? Why were he and his seed hurled and cast into a land they did not know?" The Malbim says: he asks why He really did this to him. Is he like a despised and broken idol who is not fit for kingship in himself? The Radak explains that "etzev" is from the word "atzabim," idols. "Atzabim" means images. The Sages say: why are the images called "atzabim"? Since they cause grief (matzivim) to their worshippers. No, not in the sense of "atzabim" as in nerves, but in the sense of causing grief. They cause grief to their worshippers; one cries and cries and cries, no response. So this is in the category of "etzev," grief. So he says: is he a despised and broken idol? The meaning is: is he a broken, shattered image? "Nafutz" means from the word "niputz," shattering, that they shattered it, like "and it shatters the east." Since when you throw something, it breaks. So "is this man Konyahu a despised, shattered idol, a vessel in which there is no delight?" For you throw him like a thing that has no use, you break it. Is he like a vessel in which there is no delight? The Malbim says: what is the addition here? That even if it is whole, there is no delight in it. Sometimes there is an earthenware vessel that breaks, they do not use it. And there is a vessel that even if it is whole is considered cheap and simple and is considered a vessel in which there is no delight, despite its wholeness. And in the analogy, the question really is: did he rebel against Nevuchadnetzar to the extent that Nevuchadnetzar has no delight in him? As the Malbim said above, after all, he went out to meet him, he and his wife and his mother and all his servants. So why then were he and his seed hurled and cast into a land they did not know? Why then were they cast into another land they did not know? What is the difference for the Malbim between "hurled" (hutalu) and "cast" (hushlechu)? "Hurled" is from above downward. Like "and they hurled me into the sea," "for it shall fall and not be hurled," this is a throwing from above downward. In contrast, "casting" is to a distant place. He cast them into another land as at this day. So therefore this fits very well with what we saw above, that there were two stages here. There was a stage of "the land," that he was cast to the land, and afterward "another." That besides this he was also cast to a land that is "other."
"Land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord." And here the commentators go out to seek rest for themselves: land, land, land, one is not enough for us. What are these three lands written here, "hear the word of the Lord"? So Rashi explains a first interpretation: from his land he was exiled to another land, and to the land of Israel: hear the word of the Lord. Three lands: first, the land from which he was exiled; the second thing, the land to which he was exiled. He was exiled from the land of Israel, to where? To Bavel. Now I turn to the land that should hear the word of the Lord. Another interpretation, Rashi says: a land that is the land of lands. Land, land, land, the most praised of the praised. The most praised of all. As someone once said, that when they wanted to say about something that it is excellent, they would say "aleph, aleph." Today when they want to say about something that it is excellent, they say "aleph, aleph, aleph." What is the difference? "Aleph, aleph" is "anshei emunah," men of faith. Truly today when they tell you it is "aleph, aleph," men of faith are lost. "Aleph, aleph, aleph" is: immediately, no China, and hope that it will not fall apart on you before you get home. Yes, in any case, so this is what he says: land, land, land, the most praised, the most excellent of all the lands. A third explanation, Rashi says, is that this is the land of Israel, in which there were three lands. Yehudah, and Trans-Galilee and Trans-Jordan, and the Galilee. As we learned in the Mishnayot in Zeraim, where it is written three lands for shemittah. That is, it is divided into three regions, so this is "land, land, land." The Radak explains that the repetition comes to strengthen the matter. For here the way of the language is sometimes with two words and sometimes with three words. And he brings us examples. With two words: "whoever draws near, draws near to the Mishkan of the Lord." Or "comfort, comfort My people." You see that sometimes they want to strengthen a matter, so they double it. And sometimes with three words: "land, land, land"; "the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these"; "ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it." There are several places where we see that he strengthens the matter with a double and triple call. And here when he writes "land," the Radak says the meaning is to the people of the land; after all, he is not speaking with clods of earth, he is speaking to the people of the land. Yes, as it is written "and all the land came to Egypt," did we think it means the land itself? The meaning is: and all the people of the land came to Egypt.
The Malbim explains that here there is an answer. And the answer is to the question we asked earlier: "is this man Konyahu a despised, shattered idol, a vessel in which there is no delight?" What happened that Nevuchadnetzar treats him this way? After all, he went out to meet him, he raised a white flag. What happened, then, that he treats him in such a negative way, taking him and exiling him? The answer is, says the Malbim, "land, land, land." The Malbim says: this is the decree of the Lord, that the Lord commanded the land of Bavel and said this to it. And the decree is: thus says the Lord, "write this man as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days, for none of his seed shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David and ruling any more in Yehudah."
"Thus says the Lord, write this man as childless." Do you want to know why it was so? Since there was an oath here, as we explained. And the Lord already said in advance, write this man as childless. What is "write"? The Malbim explains that the meaning is that they should write in the laws of the country. That this man, take note, will be considered as if he is childless and has no sons. What difference does it make, how does he become as if he is childless? The Malbim says that the sons will not be able to claim the claim of inheritance regarding the kingship. This is the meaning of "write this man as childless." That is, you cannot come and say we are sons of the king. No, this king is like childless, as if he has no continuation. And take note, this is an additional answer to the question that we already saw earlier. How is it written "this man as childless" and afterward children are born to him? She'altiel, Zerubavel, after all You said childless. So one explanation we said, the Lord was asked to be released from His oath. A second explanation, the Malbim says, "childless" is not in the sense that he has no sons, but in the sense that his sons do not inherit his kingship, so he is like childless with regard to the kingship, that they did not inherit it from their fathers. Why? Because "he is a man who shall not prosper in his days," that all his days he will not succeed in the kingship. What does this mean? He says "he shall not prosper in his days" that from his seed there will be a man sitting on the throne of David. This is how it will be written in the laws of the land of Bavel as a statute. This is "write this man as childless": as it were, they will pass in the laws of Bavel that there shall not be a king reigning from the seed of Konyahu. And his sons lost the right to the kingship as long as he was alive. So this gives an explanation of how it is that afterward they reigned. Since the law was as long as he was alive. But after he died we saw that indeed Zerubavel was an officer and ruler, for this whole law was only in the days of Yehoyachin.
The Radak explains that what is written "childless" means that if he had sons they would die in his lifetime. And if he did not have any, then he would have no sons. This is how the Radak explains. And actually there are those who resolve this question in another way, and some want to say that the meaning is: he will have no sons at that time. But afterward he will indeed have sons born to him. And then this indeed explains "write this man as childless," excuse me, the opposite. That is, "write this man as childless" is from here onward. But before that he did have sons. So from here onward he will not father sons, this is the meaning of "write this man as childless." And if you see She'altiel and Zerubavel, this was already born to him earlier; She'altiel was born to him first, who afterward fathered Zerubavel, and through this the difficulty here is resolved.