Sefer Yirmiyahu, chapter 23. "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture, says Hashem." Here there is a prophecy against the kings of Yehuda, for the kings of Yehuda are in fact the shepherds. "Shepherds" means leaders. We have seen time and again that the prophet compares Israel to a flock and the leaders to shepherds. So he says: you are shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture, says Hashem. That is, as long as I was shepherding them, meaning the people listened to My voice, the flock remained gathered together. But look, you are leading them, you are leading them in an evil way, and you see that by this you are scattering them in exile. So behold, you are scattering the sheep of My pasture, says Hashem. The Malbim explains that this is a continuation of what we saw earlier, what happened with Yehoyakim and with Yehoyachin. Now he laments over them: these are the very shepherds whose punishments we saw. Come and see how they caused damage, how through war they destroy, and afterward in exile they scatter the flock.
"Therefore thus says Hashem, God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My flock and driven them away and did not attend to them; behold, I will bring upon you the evil of your deeds, says Hashem." You have scattered My flock and did not attend to them. He says to them: through you, in fact, Israel went out into exile, scattered one from another. "And driven them away" - you drove them from their place, they go into exile. "And did not attend to them" (velo fekadetem) has the sense of "not a man of us was missing," the sense of "lacking": you did not attend to them to see that none would be lost to wild beasts. And not only that, but through you they were divided into groups: some went out into exile, some were killed in wars. Therefore Hashem says, "behold, I will bring upon you," I will punish you through the evil of your deeds. The evil you did, that is what you will now receive, that is what you will now be punished for. The Malbim says there is a difference between "you have scattered" (hafitzotem) and "and driven them away" (vatadichum). Scattering (niputz) is dispersal; hafitzotem means you dispersed. Vatadichum means one is thrust from his place. That is, something can be scattered yet still in place. When he says one is thrust away (nidach), this is after he was scattered; here he is further driven away, removed, distanced from his place. So you were not careful to guard them; behold, now I attend to you for the evil of your deeds, says Hashem.
"And I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply." Hashem says: you scattered them, I will gather them. You drove them away, distanced them, and I will bring them back to their fold. "And they shall be fruitful and multiply": you did not attend to them, and we said that through this they were diminished; Hashem says I will see to it that they are fruitful and multiply, they will not be diminished but rather increase further.
"And I will set up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says Hashem." And I will set up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. I will gather the remnant of My flock, and for them I will appoint shepherds. The Radak says that the verses here can be understood as referring to two periods. We are speaking here in the exile of the First Temple. So when he speaks of the ingathering of Israel, I could understand that he speaks of the near ingathering, after 70 years, meaning the Second Temple. Or I could understand that he speaks of the future ingathering, the complete redemption for which we await. The Radak says the verses here may be explained both ways. One possibility: he speaks of the Babylonian exile after the destruction of the First Temple, and then he says I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands, meaning this is to happen soon, in another 70 years, which is the time of the end of the exile. Or, the Radak says, it may well be that we are speaking here of the future, of the ingathering of the final exile, which is also what is implied from the continuation, for in the continuation we will see that he speaks of the Mashiach. That is, he speaks of the ingathering of the final exile. The Radak says it is more reasonable that this too is what he is speaking of here. "And I will set up shepherds over them" speaks of the era of the coming of the Mashiach and not of the near period.
The Malbim explains that "and I will set up shepherds over them" speaks of the Second Temple, not of the coming of the Mashiach. Later he will explain about the coming of the Mashiach, that is the continuation. But here he speaks of the Second Temple. "And I will set up shepherds over them" will be in the Second Temple, for in the Second Temple there truly would be no kings. In the Second Temple there were no kings, there were shepherds, not like in the First Temple. Therefore he says "they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall any be missing" at that time. They will have no fear, they will not be broken, none will be missing or lacking. The Malbim says: dismay (chatat) has the sense of "do not fear and do not be dismayed." What is the difference between fearing and being dismayed? Dismay, the Malbim says, is the emotional lowering. When I feel emotionally low compared to someone else, then I have dread of him, I am broken before him, I am wary of him. This is lesser than fear, for fear means that dread actually falls upon me. In contrast, when you speak of being dismayed (chatat), it means that emotionally I find no strength and might to rise against him. Therefore "do not fear," which is the dread of fright, "and do not be dismayed," that you should not feel low in your soul as if you had no strength to rise against those who rise against you. Therefore the prophet's expression always goes and adds: that you should have neither great dread nor even the smaller dread of dismay, which means a lesser fear that is emotional lowliness, when I feel low before him, that this too you should not have. About this he says "they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says Hashem." The word "be dismayed" (yechatu), according to the Malbim, has the sense of "lowly" (nachut). Some explain that it means "broken," from the phrase "the bows of the mighty are broken (chatim)," and several other places where the expression appears such as "who is dismayed (nichat) before My name," and several other verses like this. The Malbim explains that it has the sense of "lowly," that is, a person who displays emotional inferiority compared to someone else, this is called "do not be dismayed."
"Behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and execute justice and righteousness in the land." The Malbim says: since we saw that he here spoke of promises that would be fulfilled in the Second Temple, as we saw in the previous verse, meaning that the people would return to their land and that the shepherds would return - we said not a king but a shepherd - so as against the shepherds he now says: know that the prophecy will yet be fulfilled in its entirety, and there will not be shepherds merely as a shepherd, but Hashem says "behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign." Know that at the time of the coming of the Mashiach they will have, in the Malbim's words, the ultimate happiness and success. They will reach completeness, not like now when I promise you about the Second Temple that they will have shepherds. Days are coming when he will not be called by the name shepherd, but "I will raise up for David a righteous Branch" (tzemach), that a shoot will sprout from his root, as it is written "and a shoot shall come forth from the stock of Yishai." This is what is written "Branch": it will be according to his righteousness, as it is written "and righteousness shall be the belt of his loins," and therefore he says "righteous Branch." "And a king shall reign": he will not be a shepherd as we said, but with the standing of a king. "And execute justice and righteousness in the land": "execute" (hiskil / prosper), as it is written "behold, My servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up and very high," so it is written about the Mashiach the king. "And execute justice and righteousness" in all the land, as it is written "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore," for the Mashiach will not only bring peace here in the land, but will make peace in the entire world. As it is written "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." I once recall it was shown how, following the halt of the arms buildup of the Cold War between Russia and America, there were still advanced missiles, and part of the agreement was that they had to be dismantled, dismantling the weaponry. And since it involved precious metal, titanium and more, what they made from it, at that time, they marketed as pens. That is, they took this metal and made pens from it. And then someone said that the verse's statement was fulfilled in us: "and they shall beat their swords into plowshares." There indeed it is written "and they shall beat their swords into plowshares," using the sword as a pen, not to murder someone. But here "they shall beat their swords into pens" was fulfilled. In any case we see that here we speak of a period in which the Mashiach will bring peace to the whole world, and execute justice and righteousness in all the land, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
The Malbim explains what is meant by what is written here, "and a king shall reign and prosper." The Malbim says "and a king shall reign" (umelech melech) strengthens the matter, to tell you that here it speaks of a king in truth. That is, if you say merely "king," you could call "king" someone who seized the kingship. You could call "king" one who was perhaps chosen in democratic elections, but is not truly worthy of being called king. Who is worthy of being called king? A king is one who holds the kingship in the dynastic line, like the dynasty of the House of David. That is "a king shall reign"; therefore he tells you this is not merely a king, but a king who is a true king. The Radak says that the Mashiach is called "Branch," because his emergence in the world will be like the sprouting of a field's growth that multiplied, "I made you as numerous as the growth of the field." So too when the Mashiach comes, being righteous, there will be with him many righteous ones, that is, together with the Mashiach the king, the righteous will flourish in his days. "And he shall reprove many peoples." So it follows that when the Mashiach the king comes he will not be a lone righteous one; on the contrary, he will sweep everyone along with him, and then "I made you as numerous as the growth of the field" and the righteous will flourish in his days. Not like in other times when the righteous were oppressed and persecuted.
"In his days Yehuda shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely; and this is his name by which he shall be called: Hashem is our righteousness." "In his days Yehuda shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely." This is regarding the people. Earlier we saw that he spoke of the shepherds, saying that in the Second Temple there would only be shepherds; know that at the time of the Mashiach the king there will be a king. Earlier we saw that Israel would return to their land; he tells you: know that in the days of the Mashiach the king Yehuda shall be saved. In the days of the Second Temple there was no complete salvation, we were still under the kings of Persia, Greece, Rome. The salvation was not absolute. But know: when will the complete salvation arrive? At the time of the coming of the Mashiach. "In his days Yehuda shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely." Whenever Yehuda and Israel are mentioned, "Yehuda" is Yehuda and Binyamin, the kingdom of Yehuda, and "Israel" is the Ten Tribes. He tells you that they too will return, that the Ten Tribes too will dwell securely, for in the Second Temple the Ten Tribes did not return. But in the days of the Mashiach the king, Israel too will dwell securely. "And Israel shall dwell securely, and this is his name by which he shall be called: Hashem is our righteousness." "And this is his name by which he shall be called" refers to Israel: they shall then be called "Hashem is our righteousness." Israel's name will then be "our righteousness." It means that "our righteousness" is the name, "Hashem, the God of my righteousness," my righteousness is from Hashem. That is, Israel will call or be called "the God of our righteousness," meaning that in their entire essence the righteousness of Hashem with us will be evident. And just as Hashem exists, so too Israel will have the standing of one righteous and saved by Hashem. The Radak explains that Israel will call the Mashiach "Hashem is our righteousness." In the days of the Mashiach the king, Yehuda shall be saved and Israel shall dwell securely, and "this is his name" - the Malbim explained this is the name of Israel. But the Radak explains "this is his name" as the name of the one about whom we said that in his days Yehuda shall be saved, the name of the Mashiach the king, by which he shall be called - who will call him? Israel will call the Mashiach "Hashem is our righteousness." Since in his days there will be the righteousness of Hashem for us, meaning a constant sustaining from Hashem, therefore they will call him "Hashem is our righteousness." And do not be surprised at this, for so we found with Moshe Rabbeinu who called the altar "Hashem is my banner." Yaakov called the altar "God, the God of Israel." So in fact we see that it is indeed proper to call a physical object by the name of Hashem. So they will call the Mashiach "Hashem is our righteousness."
The Malbim explains that this prophecy is in fact repeated in chapter 33, verse 15. And there are differences between chapter 23 and chapter 33. The Malbim explains and dwells upon these differences; we will address this briefly. The Malbim says: "I will cause to sprout for David a Branch of righteousness (tzemach tzedaka)," so it is written there. But it does not write "and a king shall reign and prosper." There it is written "in those days Yehuda shall be saved and Yerushalayim shall dwell securely, and this is what she shall be called: Hashem is our righteousness." The Malbim says there are two modes of redemption. There is the mode of the redemption of "if they merit, I will hasten it," and there is the mode of "if they do not merit, then in its time," the redemption will come in its time and season. Another difference: "if they merit," it is written "and behold, one like a son of man came with the clouds of heaven." For if they merit, the Mashiach the king will come on the clouds of glory, on the clouds of heaven. And if they do not merit, "a poor man riding on a donkey." The Mashiach will come as a poor man riding on a donkey. We explained in the past what the standing of a poor man is and what "riding on a donkey" means; we will not enter into the definition of these matters. In any case it is clear that this speaks of a lower level, a more coarse and material standing, for a donkey (chamor) expresses matter (chomer). Here the Malbim says he speaks of the aspect of merit. In contrast, in chapter 33 he speaks of the aspect of not meriting. Here he speaks of the aspect of "I will hasten it"; chapter 33 speaks of the aspect of "in its time." The redemption, when will it come? Only this: if we have merits, then Hashem will hasten it; if not, it will come in its time. So here he says "I will raise up for David a righteous Branch," that he will be righteous, that is, on the basis of merit we will attain the redemption. There he speaks of the aspect of not meriting, and therefore there he says "in those days and at that time I will cause to sprout for David a Branch of righteousness." "Righteousness" (tzedaka) means Hashem does righteousness (charity) with us even though it is not deserved. Here it is "a righteous Branch," who is righteous in his own right. But there the Holy One does righteousness, the Malbim says, because the supernal righteousness does not look upon merits or debts. No, the supernal righteousness does charity in the kindness of Hashem even without seeing whether we have enough merits or not. This is from an arousal from above. Therefore it did not say "I will raise up for David," only "I will cause to sprout for David." For "to sprout" means a new growth. Whereas on the aspect of merit, here it is written "I will raise up," since the Branch already has merits in its own right, what is needed? Only to raise it up, to strengthen it, to establish it. Therefore the Malbim says there it is written "in those days and at that time." Why this expression? Because if they do not merit, one must wait for the appointed time. This is not from the aspect of "I will hasten it"; rather one must wait for the time, so "at that time," when the time arrives the redemption will come, since it does not come through merit and not through hastening. Whereas here he did not say "at that time," since this has no fixed time. If they merit, "I will hasten it," swiftly, the redemption will also come before its time. So here he did not mention "at that time." And therefore there he did not mention "and a king shall reign and prosper." There he did not mention this matter, for if they do not merit, then the king will not reign immediately. At first he will come as a poor man riding on a donkey, so one cannot come and say "and a king shall reign." There will not immediately be kingship; at first he will be a poor man riding on a donkey, and it will take time until his kingship is accepted by the people. And therefore there too he did not say "and Israel shall dwell securely," since if they do not merit then the tribes will not be gathered immediately, but at first only the tribe of Yehuda alone, and Yerushalayim will be saved, and the ingathering will be delayed until Yerushalayim is first built. This is our reality today. Because in our reality today those who have gathered here are Yehuda, Yehuda and Binyamin. We are all from Yehuda and Binyamin. We have a tradition that the Sephardic communities are more from the tribe of Yehuda, and the Ashkenazim more from the tribe of Binyamin; there are several sources for this. But in any case, beyond this, the Ten Tribes are lost to us. We hope or await their return; there is a dispute among Chazal whether they will return, but presumably the more accepted view is that they will return. To this day it is not known where they are, beyond the mountains of darkness, somewhere far off, and in all sorts of places where each time some Afghans or the like are found who bear Jewish signs. So in the situation of not meriting, in this situation, first Yehuda will be saved. First the salvation will be for Yehuda and Yerushalayim, and only afterward, at the next stage, will the Ten Tribes come. Therefore there he does not mention "Israel shall dwell securely," for he speaks of a reality of "in its time," not of a reality of "I will hasten it." And therefore there, regarding Yerushalayim, he does not say "and this is her name." Why does he not mention "and this is her name"? Because Yerushalayim will not have had a name beforehand, since they did not merit; rather Yerushalayim will only be called so from then on. But here, where he speaks from the aspect of merit, he says "and this is his name, by which he shall be called: Hashem is our righteousness," meaning that already from before, this merit and this name are, as it were, engraved upon us. So in fact the difference between these two passages, according to the Malbim's explanation, is very wondrous and is proven from the verses: that the passage in chapter 33 speaks of a situation of not meriting, and here it speaks of a situation of meriting.
"Therefore behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when they shall no longer say, 'As Hashem lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but rather, 'As Hashem lives who brought up and brought back the seed of the House of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them,' and they shall dwell on their own land." In fact these very verses already appeared earlier in chapter 16, verse 14, and there we explained them and will not repeat the explanation now; the commentators here too do not repeat the explanation of these verses and refer to look there. What this comes to say is that the miracles of the final redemption will be greater than the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt. Therefore when they wish to recall the redemption, they will not say "As Hashem lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt," for when they wish to glorify and exalt Hashem, the redemption from Egypt will be dwarfed. And when they wish to say something that contains praise of Hashem, they will say "As Hashem lives who brought up and brought back the House of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them," and they shall dwell on their own land.
"Concerning the prophets, my heart is broken within me, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of Hashem and because of His holy words." "Concerning the prophets," the Malbim says, here there is a prophecy that Yirmiyahu prophesies about the false prophets. After he prophesies about the shepherds and the evil that will come upon them because they did not shepherd Israel properly, he now prophesies about the prophets, because in practice two parties misled the flock: both the shepherds and the false prophets. About this he says "my heart is broken within me" because of the calamity that I see Hashem is destined to bring upon them. Incidentally, we have here a message, a moral message. When something happens to the nations of the world or to the enemies of Israel, or to those who are covenant-breakers, there is malicious joy. The prophets always speak against this matter. "When your enemy falls do not rejoice, and when he stumbles let your heart not be glad." That is, one should be pained that he did not repent. But to rejoice in his downfall - there is certainly no place for us to do so. Therefore, look: when he prophesies about the false prophets, even though they in fact brought all the troubles upon Israel, yet when he stands and sees their evil, "my heart is broken within me" because of the calamity that I see. So it is also written regarding the prophecies about Moav, about Ammon, and the rest of the nations that we see in the prophets, that it is written there "woe," or it is written "my heart moans," and all sorts of expressions like this, from which the masters of mussar conclude: look, even though Hashem brings calamity upon the gentiles, we should not rejoice in this, but should have hoped that they would repent in advance and fulfill their purpose in the world. But we have no interest in rejoicing in the downfall of someone else.
They once tell of one, I believe it was Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, though I recall I saw it about someone else, that one of the great heretics of the generation died at the time. He spread heresy and poison in some newspaper that he wrote, and this newspaper was very widespread and was renowned as a war against the observant, the God-fearing, and was truly at the spearhead, and it felled many casualties. And this man, one Friday, finally dropped dead. And there was great joy in the Jewish world that they were rid of this terrible trouble. And they tell that Rabbi Yisrael Salanter - I say it was him, though I recall reading it about someone else, but it doesn't matter about whom exactly it was - they tell that on that Shabbat they saw that this great man's face was dim, not radiating light as it usually did on Shabbat. They asked him: is the Rabbi mourning the death of that wicked man? He said to them: I am not mourning his death, but I cannot help but feel the pain of the soul now, as it arrives above and it is suddenly revealed to it that its entire life it dedicated to what? To adding for itself more wood for Gehinnom. He says: I cannot free myself from the feeling, what is he going through now? What a shock! There is this soul that arrives above and it sees that its entire life it dedicated for what? It caused no harm at all to the Creator of the world, you cannot harm Him at all. What can it do here? It can only intensify the fire of its own Gehinnom. And all its life it labored so very hard so that the fire in its Gehinnom would be stronger and last more years. What immense pain this soul has. So he says: I think of what this soul is going through when it suddenly arrives at the recognition of the truth in one moment; he says: I cannot free myself from this pain. And they once tell of the Chazon Ish, that there was some flood in China and hundreds of thousands died. Some dam that burst. So he said: there are those who perhaps think that this is only gentiles who will die. He said: know that this stems from bad character traits. Because even regarding a gentile, after all the Torah says that even regarding an animal you are commanded to have mercy. We are commanded to have mercy even on an animal. So is a gentile lower than an animal? Then you should not rejoice in their downfall; you should feel some sense of "poor souls." Admittedly, there it is written about those who oppressed us, the name of the Creator is magnified and sanctified when He exacts retribution from them. As it is written "O daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who seizes and dashes your infants against the rock," for when a nation oppresses us then we see in this the honor of Heaven when that nation is struck. But regarding ordinary nations with whom we have no such matter, then what interest is it of mine whether they die or live? And we have no interest, for the Holy One created them, and the Holy One says that if you walk in the street and see a cockroach do not step on it. For how is it bothering you? If it is in the house, for the sake of household peace, fine. But elsewhere, what does it bother you that a cockroach walks about? It is the handiwork of the Holy One. Leaves, the Arizal says, one does not pluck leaves from a tree for no reason. The Holy One created this tree; there is some rectification in this tree; do not pluck leaves for no reason. When you have a need, then it is permitted also to kill animals, permitted to slaughter, permitted to eat, everything is permitted. When you have a need. But if you have no need, to do so for no reason? So if this is said about an animal, then certainly about a gentile, for the gentiles have a role in the world. That they do not fulfill it is another matter. But you understand that they have existence and they have a soul, admittedly an animal soul, but a soul that does have existence after death. Therefore relating to a gentile in such a manner of "let them die," we have no interest that they die. Our interest is that they fulfill their purpose. And their purpose is "and strangers shall stand and shepherd your flocks." Their purpose is to be a help and support to Israel in serving the Holy One. That is the purpose of the gentile. And if they had fulfilled this, then on the contrary, they completed their purpose and will receive Gan Eden according to the measure of a gentile, according to what a gentile deserves based on the deeds he performed. And if he fulfills his purpose now with the seven Noahide laws, he too will receive Gan Eden according to what he was commanded. For it is written in Tanna DeVei Eliyahu: I call heaven and earth to witness for me, whether man or woman, whether slave or maidservant, whether gentile or Jew, the Divine spirit rests upon them all according to the deed that they perform. That is, even a gentile can attain lofty perception according to the deed that they perform. So to come and relate in a manner far from the Jewish conception, or all sorts of conceptions that people absorb from all kinds of Kahanist movements and the like, one must know that this is not the way of Torah, this is not the outlook of the Torah.
So this is what he says here concerning the prophets, the false prophets: my heart is broken within me because of the calamity that I see. And also my bones have come apart, "all my bones shake," meaning they have come apart from their connections, they are as if floating, they are not connected to one another. "I am like a drunken man": when I receive the prophecy I am like a person who drank wine, I am like a drunken man. That is, wine - the Malbim defines it as the wine of wrath, the wine of anger, I am like a drunkard from all that wine I drank, meaning from those terrible things I see will come upon them. And after the prophecy "I was like a man overcome by wine." What is "overcome by wine"? After the wine has already passed through him. He is still confused, still not settled in his mind. And he explains too that "I was like a drunkard because of Hashem," meaning when I see and hear the word of prophecy from Hashem. "And I was like a man overcome by wine because of His holy words," because of the speech I already heard in plain words; even after I heard the prophecy I still was not calmed. The matters still seethe within me; this is "like a man overcome by wine," meaning the matters still have an effect on me.
"For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns, the pastures of the wilderness have dried up; their course is evil, and their might is not right." "For the land is full of adulterers." How can I beautify their deeds? That is, praise their deeds, the Radak says, when the land is full of adulterers. He says a further thing: "for because of a curse the land mourns." It means there was an additional sin among them, namely false oaths, as in "and he hears the voice of a curse (of an oath)." And because of this evil too the land was ruined, so here there is adultery and here there is false oath-taking. And this, these sins, are among most of the people of the land. So how could the false prophets deceive them that no evil would come upon them? How do you false prophets beautify their future for them, telling them it will only be good, that the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash will return? For always, as we have discussed several times in the past, the false prophets would beautify reality. How can you beautify reality when the facts, the facts slap you in the face? The land is full of adulterers, because of a curse the land mourns - these are things that everyone recognizes and knows, they are not things done in secret. So then why do you come and sell the people illusions when the land mourns, the pastures of the wilderness have dried up, you see places that were pasture for animals have already dried up. "Their course is evil," their haste is always toward evil. They do not run toward a mitzvah, but "their course," all their haste is always toward negative things. "And their might is not right." Their might - even their might, they do not perform acts of might for the sake of truth. The Radak explains that "right" (ken) is like "true." As in "the daughters of Tzelofchad speak rightly (ken)," where "ken" means truthfully. "Ken" apparently is also related to what we define as "kenut" (sincerity), meaning truthfulness. So "ken" means: their might, their might is not for the sake of the truth, but all the acts of might they perform, they perform for the sake of falsehood. What does this mean? That is, therefore they have might. You should have invested that might in nullifying the words of the false prophets. There are false prophets here selling illusions; the people have might; you should have used your might against them. Instead, what do they do? Their might they use against the true prophets. They would overpower the true prophets, silence them, throw them into prison, torment them. "Their might" - you have might, at least use it for what it is needed, to nullify the words of the false prophets. If your might, you go and nullify the words of the true prophets? And this is what they said to Yirmiyahu, "do not prophesy in the name of Hashem, that you not die by our hand," as we saw earlier that they would threaten him not to speak the word of Hashem. Targum Yonatan explains that what is written "their course" (merutzatam) is not from the sense of running, but Targum Yonatan explains that it is from the sense of will (ratzon). "They walk in the will of their soul toward evil," meaning they go by the will of their soul toward evil. And then he says - or excuse me, let us divide the verse correctly - "they walk in the will of their soul" is one clause; "evil shall come upon them and their mighty ones shall not succeed." That is, evil will come upon them and their mighty ones will not succeed. The Malbim explains: I saw in the prophecy, first, "for the land is full of adulterers," first I saw their sin, that the land is full of adulterers. And a further thing I saw in the prophecy: the destruction of the land, "for because of a curse the land mourns," I saw their calamity. "And it shall be," and what will become of them now? Just as they run to do evil, so too "their might is not right," they will not be able to prevail against the enemy. Since you used your might for evil, your might will not be able to serve you for good, to prevail against the enemy.
"For both prophet and priest are godless; even in My house I have found their evil, says Hashem." There is no one to teach them the good way, neither the prophet by prophecy, nor the priest by the Torah. And why? "For both prophet and priest are godless." And it is not that they themselves fear the House of Hashem where they are, in the Beit HaMikdash, for look: "even in My house I have found their evil, says Hashem." Even within the Beit HaMikdash they do evil, even there they burn offerings and sacrifice to Baal and to images. It emerges according to the Malbim that here he speaks even of the ostensibly proper people, those who ought to be proper: he speaks of the kohanim, a priest who is a priest according to the Torah, and the prophet who is according to prophecy. The Metzudat David, in contrast, explains that the prophet and priest written here refer to falsehood. "Both prophet" - the prophet of Baal, that is, the false prophet. "And priest" - this is the priest of Baal. They too are godless, they do not tell people the truth. "And even in My house," in the Beit HaMikdash, those priests of the high places and prophets of Baal and the high places would sacrifice and burn offerings within the Beit HaMikdash. In fact it is not exactly Baal, for we will see in the continuation that Baal was not in Yehuda. The worship of Baal was not in Yehuda. The worship of Baal was only in Shomron. We will mention this in the continuation. So here he speaks of the false priests, the so-called priests of idolatry, but not specifically the worship of Baal, for the worship of Baal, as I said, was not accepted in Yehuda but only in Israel, as we saw with Achav and Izevel who brought the prophets of Baal to Shomron.
"Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness; they shall be thrust down and fall in it, for I will bring evil upon them, the year of their reckoning, says Hashem." Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness. A person who walks on a slippery path is in danger of slipping. Yet with all this, if he walks by day, then he, so to speak, pays attention, opens his eyes, is careful; even if I am walking on ice, I still look exactly where to place each foot so as not to slip. But if a person walks on slippery paths in the darkness, that is a certain slip. That is what is called certain death, there is no chance of being saved. Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, where, as I said, the fall is certain. That is, if the prophet and priest had shown them the straight way, they would still have had a chance to be safeguarded. But there is no light, there is no prophet and priest to light up the way for them, they have none, so they are in darkness. So consequently their fall here is certain. And since so, "and they shall be thrust down in it," they shall be thrust down and fall in it; since so, they will be thrust away and falling, "for I will bring evil upon them, the year of their reckoning, says Hashem." It means at the time, in the year that I will visit their sin upon them, then they will fall.