Sefer Yirmiyahu, chapter 33. "And the word of Hashem came to Yirmiyahu a second time, while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, saying." The courtyard of the guard is a prison. Yirmiyahu was still confined in prison, and there Hashem prophesied to him. What is the purpose of the prophecy here? The holy Alshich says that because he was confined and imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, he was sad and depressed, so now Hashem tells him a good prophecy to comfort him from his sorrow, to gladden him with the good promises destined to come. That is why it stresses that he was still confined in the courtyard of the guard: because he was imprisoned, Hashem wanted to gladden him in that very situation. This prophecy is essentially a continuation of the previous chapter.
"Thus says Hashem the Maker of it, Hashem who forms it to establish it, Hashem is His name." The previous chapter spoke of Yerushalayim, and this chapter does not mention the word Yerushalayim, because it is a continuation of the previous chapter. So when it says "the Maker of it," this refers to what we discussed earlier. What is "the Maker"? "The Maker" refers to Yerushalayim. And what does "maker" mean? The meaning is that He magnified it and made its glory, meaning that Hashem magnified it above all the lands, as it is written that Hashem "made" Moshe and Aharon, meaning He magnified Moshe and Aharon. "Hashem who forms it to establish it, Hashem is His name." "Forms it to establish it," the Radak explains, means He renews it, to prepare it for the world, like "Behold, I form evil against you," lehavdil. Every act of forming means to bring the thing into actuality.
The Malbim elaborates further. The Malbim says: notice, there is here "maker," "forms it," "establishes it." What are these three expressions? The Malbim says that "making" is the completion, the finish, the finished product. "Forming" is bringing forth the shape of the thing before the making. I form, and in the end the thing is made. The "preparation" is what was there at the outset. From the beginning I prepared the thing toward the good purpose. So there is preparation, forming, making. These are the three things. But by Hashem, notice, "Thus says Hashem the Maker." He opened straight away with the conclusion. Why "the Maker"? Start with "establishes," "forms it." The Malbim says that since by Hashem everything is already done and completed, already from the outset, already in the very thought it is finished. We need plans, then we need to form, then we need to finish. But by Hashem, in the very plan He said "and it came to be." There is no need for this whole process. So "Thus says Hashem the Maker": Hashem immediately, in an instant, is the Maker. By Him the thing is already done and completed as if it were actually carried out.
And by us, the lower beings, here, the thing that Hashem does must come about through cause and effect. By Hashem there is no need for cause and effect. In a single moment He said "and it came to be." But by us, in the natural way, everything happens because so-and-so wanted it and another agreed and this led to that; this is called cause and effect. That is the continuation of the pasuk. It says "Hashem who forms it." "Forms" here means for the lower beings: it must come about through cause and effect, so Hashem formed and brought all the circumstances that cause this thing to come into actuality in the lowly world when the time of the end arrives. About this it says "Hashem is His name." What is "Hashem is His name"? Hashem does this from the aspect that He is the Master of mercy and brings everything into being. The name Y-H-V-H is a name of mercy, and therefore it is the Creator's will to bestow good; "Hashem is His name."
"Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know." Hashem says, if you call to Me, the Radak explains, "I will answer you" means I will answer and act according to your will. This is the opposite of what He said, "Do not lift up cry or prayer for them." Here, on the contrary, He says call to Me, pray on their behalf and I will answer you. "And I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know." I will tell you great and strong consolations that you did not know. "Mighty" from the language of strength, like a fortress (mivtzar). By contrast, notice, Rashi reads "unetzurot," hidden and kept in My heart to do them. This is based on the Targum, since the Targum too translated "raverevan uneturan." "Neturan" means kept, guarded. It turns out then that both Rashi's version and the version of Targum Yonatan read "great and hidden" and not "great and mighty."
The Malbim explains: in fact we saw in chapter 15 that Yirmiyahu could not prophesy whenever he wished, because since he prophesied prophecies of calamity, and a prophet must be in a state of joy when he prophesies, and if he is now in a prophecy of calamity he cannot rejoice in order to deliver his prophecy. When could he prophesy? Only when Hashem prepared him toward the matter, and Hashem would, as it were, call to him and thereby prepare him toward the prophecy. Now He tells him: I am informing you of good tidings, you can call to Me. Ordinarily you cannot call to Me because you prophesy evil prophecies, and someone in a state of sadness cannot prophesy. So I am always the one who calls to you. But now, you call to Me and I will answer you, because now I am speaking of a good prophecy, and to a good prophecy you can arouse yourself on your own because there is joy in it, and if you are in joy you can receive prophecy. And I wish to tell you things that are "great," since this is beyond nature, and "mighty," meaning strong things that will never change, and "which you do not know," meaning things you have not known until now. Yirmiyahu the prophet of destruction, Yirmiyahu the prophet of prophecies of wrath, so naturally until now you have not known such prophecies. I want to tell you now a prophecy that differs from the prophecies you are used to, which are harsh prophecies; I want to tell you a good prophecy.
"For thus says Hashem, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Yehudah which are broken down before the siege mounds and before the sword. They come to fight the Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of men whom I have struck in My anger and in My wrath, and for whom I have hidden My face from this city because of all their evil." "Thus says Hashem, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Yehudah which are broken down, and before the siege mounds and before the sword." Here there is a prophecy about the houses of Yerushalayim, about the houses of the kings of Yehudah which are broken down, before the siege mounds and before the sword. What is "before the siege mounds and before the sword"? The Malbim explains, the Malbim reads it as: like the siege mounds and the sword they come to fight. That is, the houses of the city are broken down by the siege mounds and the sword, which come with the Chaldeans to fight against the city and to fill the city with corpses of men, dead corpses. Notice, what are the "soleilot" (siege mounds) and the "sword"? First, what is written "before the siege mounds," as the Radak explains and the Malbim too, means by means of the siege mounds, right? That is the meaning of "before the siege mounds." The houses of the kings of Yehudah broken down by the siege mounds. What are the siege mounds? Rashi says mounds heaped up high, meaning a mound, a high place, which the people of the city build to ascend to the siege mounds. This is apparently a scribal error, since one cannot say that they are mounds, that siege mounds are mounds, that one ascends with them to the siege mounds. So what are siege mounds? One cannot explain that siege mounds are mounds one ascends to reach the siege mounds, because you still have not explained what it is. Therefore it is a scribal error, and it apparently should read: siege mounds, mounds heaped up high which the people of the city build to ascend to the wall, not to ascend to the siege mounds. And so I found it explicitly in Targum Yonatan; the Targum says it is a mound, excuse me, in the Radak who brings from Targum Yonatan, that in Yirmiyahu chapter 32 verse 24, it is a mound of earth that they heap around the wall to ascend from there onto the wall. In order to ascend the wall they would make a ramp, that is, they would bring quantities of earth and place it against the wall, and then a kind of incline would be formed, and the soldiers could in this way climb up the wall. This is called the siege mounds. So He says here, "Thus says Hashem, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Yehudah which are broken down by the siege mounds and before the sword." What is the sword? The sword is the battering ram with which they would demolish the buildings. Like "your towers he will tear down with his swords." They had a kind of iron ram with which they would batter the wall and bring them down. So this is the sword we are speaking of here, not a stabbing sword to kill a person.
Hashem says, they come with the Chaldeans in order to fight against the city, to fill the houses with corpses of men, that is the goal. "Whom I have struck," Hashem says: what they were punished with came from Hashem, since this was a punishment by Divine providence. When Hashem gave us a punishment, it was for our bad deeds. Hashem says "whom I have struck in My anger and in My wrath," those whom I struck because they angered Me. Hashem says, and if this matter was also due to the hiding of the face, and about this He adds "and for whom I have hidden My face," due to that hiding of the face the enemies came and struck them. So the striking and the hiding of the face, the Malbim says, were not because I rejected them, but rather "because of all their evil." That is, like a person who lets blood to draw out the bad blood in order to heal. Hashem says, so too the striking and the hiding of the face were in order to heal them, to do good for them. And now the Chaldeans come to fight and to fill the place with corpses of men, meaning they want to break down the houses and fill the place with corpses of men, those who will die there in those houses.
"Behold, I will bring it healing and cure, and I will heal them, and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth." Here Hashem speaks a good prophecy, about this place, the houses of this city that were broken down, destroyed by the Chaldeans, I will bring them healing. "Arukhah" (healing) means they will have a cure. What then is "and cure"? The Malbim says: "arukhah" refers to the wound that comes from outside. "Cure" refers to the inner illness. And as is known, Israel always had both problems from outside and problems from within. From outside through the enemies who go out against us, and from within through the fifth column and the mixed multitude who were always acting against us here. Hashem says it will have healing and cure, healing from the enemies outside and cure from the enemies who were within. "And I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth." I will reveal to them how peace and truth will be granted to them, "yeʿatar" meaning like it will be granted to them, peace and truth, they will be granted to them so that they will have peace and truth with them permanently. The Radak, by contrast, explains that "ateret" is from the language of abundance, it is "ateret" with a tav, right? Like "eter" that Chazal use, like "to entreat (le-haʿtir) in prayer," which means to increase in prayer, so I will make for them an abundance of peace and truth, a multitude of peace and truth.
"And I will bring back the captivity of Yehudah and the captivity of Israel, and I will rebuild them as at the first." Hashem says, "and I will bring back the captivity of Yehudah," this is the exile. "And I will rebuild them," I will build the building of the kingdom, the building of the city, and the building of the Mikdash. "And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they sinned against Me, and I will forgive all their iniquities by which they sinned against Me and by which they transgressed against Me." "And I will cleanse them," regarding the past I will cleanse them from the impurity of their iniquity. And iniquity, the Malbim says, defiles the soul. Iniquity is always a distortion of the soul. The Malbim always says: what is the difference between a sin (chet) and an iniquity (avon)? A sin is inadvertent or something that stems from desire; an iniquity is intentional and something that stems from a distortion of the intellect, that is, one already builds an ideology around the sin, it is not merely because he felt like it, but rather this is how it should be. Therefore He says "I will cleanse them from all their iniquity," regarding the past I will cleanse them from the impurity of their iniquity, for iniquity defiles the soul and denounces them before Hashem, so against the impurity He says I will cleanse. And against the denunciation that exists, He says about this "and I will forgive." "And I will forgive all their iniquities by which they sinned against Me and by which they transgressed against Me." "And I will forgive" refers back to the denunciation that iniquity creates in heaven.
"And it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them, and they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and because of all the peace that I do for it." "And it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and a glory," Yerushalayim shall be a name, a joy, a praise, a glory before all the nations of the earth. All will see the uniqueness of this city. Who shall hear of all the good that Hashem does for Israel here. "And they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and because of all the peace that I do for it." Who shall fear and tremble? The Malbim explains that the nations shall fear because of all the peace; thereby they shall be afraid to fight, they will see there is peace here, one does not enter into war with a nation that has peace from Hashem. And "tremble" refers back to the good: Hashem will do us good, so this will anger the nations, because when things are good for Israel there is always anger among the nations. It turns out then that according to the Malbim "fear and tremble" refers back to the nations. The Metzudat David, by contrast, says it refers back to Israel. "And they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and because of all the peace that I do for it," who? The inhabitants of this city. Why? They will fear lest they sin and then this good will be lost. And then all this abundance will cease. And therefore, because of this, they will not do evil.
"Thus says Hashem, again there shall be heard in this place, of which you say it is desolate, without man and without beast, in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Hashem of Hosts for Hashem is good, for His kindness endures forever, as they bring a thanksgiving offering to the house of Hashem; for I will bring back the captivity of the land as at the first, says Hashem." Here is another example of people who know pesukim from songs, and sometimes when they read the pasuk in its source they are suddenly surprised. Everyone knows "again there shall be heard in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim the voice of joy and the voice of gladness." When you look for such a pasuk, there is no such pasuk. The original pasuk is what we have here, there is no other pasuk elsewhere. "Thus says Hashem, again there shall be heard," that's it, they took the words "again there shall be heard." "In this place, of which you say it is desolate, without man and without beast, in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim." That's it, that is the continuation. They took and cut this too. "In the streets of Yerushalayim that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast," and now they continued with the next pasuk, "the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride." Now, it is not that singers made this up, since this is the wording of the blessings in the seven blessings, right? This is the wording of the blessings, only that the wording of the blessing, notice, is cut from the text. And not only that, the continuation too is not the wording of the text. What is the continuation? "The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say Give thanks," this is the continuation of the pasuk. But in the blessing what do they say? "The voice of the exultation of grooms from their canopy and of youths from their feasts of song," there is no such pasuk anywhere. Right? So this is in fact an addition of the blessing, this is the wording of the blessing, but it is not the wording of the pasuk.
Good, now let us explain. "Thus says Hashem, again there shall be heard in this place of which you say it is desolate," this is a ruin, and what is a ruin, the Malbim says? A ruin (charavah) pertains to buildings. "It is desolate, without man and without beast, in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim that are desolate," "neshamot" (desolate) is from the language of desolation (shemamah), desolation pertains to the whole land, and desolation is usually more than a ruin. In this place, that is, in the city of Yerushalayim, that everyone would say is desolate, its buildings already destroyed, and this place also desolate, and in the streets of Yerushalayim, the Malbim always explains that "streets" refers to the backs of the houses, they were desolate, meaning a place even more desolate than a ruin. There shall be heard in them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride. The voice of joy through the matches that will be made, so there will be builders of homes in Israel here. "The voice of the groom and the voice of the bride," I will tell you a famous vort about betrothal and the seven blessings, what is "the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride"? Do they have another voice? What is "the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride"? Well, indeed when the couple is betrothed, everyone speaks quietly, speaks gently, and "What do you say? What do you think? Perhaps we should do this? And what do you say? No, you decide." Oh, how lovely, what an idyll. The voice of the groom and the voice of the bride. That is during the engagement. But afterward, after the wedding, may Hashem have mercy, as someone said, that after the wedding he began to believe in flying saucers. Right? That is, after the wedding the changes already begin. But we say we want that there always be heard the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the way the groom speaks to his bride, the way the bride speaks to her groom, so may it be heard always. And then He says there will be matches and the voice of those who say Give thanks for the miracles that Hashem will do for them. And against what they said, that the place is desolate without man, He says that in this place will be heard the voice of joy. And against what He said, that it is desolate without beast, He says this place will be a dwelling for shepherds.
This place will be, for Hashem is good, "Thus says Hashem of Hosts," this is the next pasuk. "Again there shall be in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all its cities, a dwelling for shepherds who make their flocks lie down." So this place that was desolate without man will have in it the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, these are people. And this place that was desolate without beast will be a dwelling for shepherds, behold, there will be animals here too, making their flocks lie down. "Making their flocks lie down" means that the flocks lie down. "Lie down" means there is no fear. This place will be a safe place where they can settle the flocks, letting them lie down there without fearing the enemies.
The Radak says: notice, what is written here? That they will bring offerings. But which? "Bringing a thanksgiving offering to the house of Hashem." The Radak says: it did not say a sin offering nor did it say a guilt offering. Because at that time there will not be among them wicked people and sinners, for all will know Hashem. Therefore our Rabbis of blessed memory said, all the offerings will be nullified in the future to come, except for the thanksgiving offering, for the thanksgiving offering comes for thanksgiving. By contrast, the other offerings come for sin, and for sin there will be no need to bring an offering because there will no longer be sins.
"Thus says Hashem of Hosts, again there shall be in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all its cities, a dwelling for shepherds who make their flocks lie down. In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the Negev, and in the land of Binyamin, and in the environs of Yerushalayim, and in the cities of Yehudah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of one who counts them, says Hashem." In all these places that He mentions, they will pasture the flocks under the hands of one who counts, says Hashem. What is "they will pasture the flocks"? Rashi says Israel will go out and come in under a leader who walks at their head. And this indeed fits better with our reality today, for who today pastures a flock? So what is He speaking of? "They will pasture the flocks" means there will be a leader who leads the flock, for "you are My flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men." So Israel is compared to a flock, so they will have a leader, we will have a leader who leads us. What is "under the hands of one who counts"? The Radak says, Israel is compared to a flock, the shepherd is essentially the king. And it is the way of the shepherd to count his flock, whether any is missing. One can say that He wishes to emphasize "under the hands of one who counts," since when does the shepherd count his flock? When he cares about them. But when he does not care about them, then even if one strayed, even if one disappeared, even if one was devoured, it does not interest him. He tells you there will be leaders of another kind. There will be leaders, one can find in this an allusion, there will be leaders who count the people. Today you have a leader who does not count us. Today we will have leaders who count us. This is "under the hands of one who counts." Do you hear? There will be a leader who counts you, and numbers you. Today there is a leader who "counts" us, right? Who distresses us, because all their concerns are how to benefit themselves. But there will be a leader "under the hands of one who counts," one who counts the flock, and in our own language, one who will count us too. This is the King Mashiach whose redemption and salvation we await.
Or an additional explanation the Radak says, that this matter comes not in a positive way, but rather to eliminate the transgressors of Israel. That when they come out of the exile, those who were transgressors will be eliminated. As it is written in Yechezkel, "and I will make you pass under the rod," for the rod was indeed meant to mark those who pass, those who will not remain. So He says, so too here, "the flocks shall pass under the hands of one who counts," and only the worthy will be in the redemption, and those who are not, then chas veshalom the opposite.
"Behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when I will fulfill the good word which I spoke concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Yehudah." This prophecy was already written above in chapter 23, and there the Malbim explained everything at length. Let us just say in a word that it is nevertheless repeated, since there is here an expression of the redemption. And the redemption, we can know, can come in two tracks, in the manner of "in its time" and in the manner of "I will hasten it." And the Malbim there explained that here, our pesukim in chapter 33, speak of "in its time," and the pesukim of chapter 23 there speak of "I will hasten it." Therefore do not be surprised that the pesukim are repeated. "In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous sprout to grow for David, and he shall do justice and righteousness in the land." "A righteous sprout" is the King Mashiach, "the sprout of David Your servant may You speedily cause to flourish."
"In those days Yehudah shall be saved and Yerushalayim shall dwell in security, and this is what it shall be called, Hashem is our righteousness." At that time there will be salvation for Yehudah, Yerushalayim shall dwell in security as we saw earlier. "And this is what it shall be called, Hashem is our righteousness." What does this speak of? The Radak explains, Hashem will call Yerushalayim "Hashem is our righteousness." The meaning is that the inhabitants of Yerushalayim will say "Hashem is our righteousness." The people dwelling in Yerushalayim will say Hashem is our righteousness. Today they have all sorts of foreign worship and all sorts of idols, but a time will come when its inhabitants will say "Hashem is our righteousness." Targum Yonatan: "and this is the name they shall call it: merits shall be done for us, merits from before Hashem within it." This is the name they will call it, He will make for us merits from Hashem who dwells within it. Above the Radak said, regarding the King Mashiach, "and this is his name by which he shall be called, Hashem is our righteousness." The Radak says both amount to one matter, that both Yerushalayim will be the city of righteousness and the Mashiach is our righteousness. The Radak brings an additional explanation in the name of his father, who says "and this is what it shall call it" means Hashem, who is "Hashem our righteousness." Do you hear? "And this is what it shall call it," not that they will call the place "Hashem is our righteousness." "And this is what will call it," who? Hashem, that Hashem is "Hashem our righteousness."
"For thus says Hashem, David shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel." "David shall not lack a man," like today when we had David king of Israel and his dynasty continued and was interrupted. Hashem says that in the future to come David shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, it shall not be cut off in an eternal cutting off, but rather this thing shall be permanent, from the days of the Mashiach onward. "And to the priests, the Levites, there shall not lack a man before Me to offer a burnt offering and to burn a meal offering and to make a sacrifice all the days." "And to the priests, the Levites," whenever it is written "the priests the Levites" the meaning is the priests, the sons of Levi, for the priests too are from the tribe of Levi. So "and to the priests, the sons of Levi, there shall not lack a man before Me to offer a burnt offering and to burn a meal offering." They will have a man to offer a burnt offering, to burn a meal offering, and to make a sacrifice all the days. That is, all the days they will not be cut off, but rather forever the service will remain with the priests. What this means is that even if in the end there will be a reality in which the firstborn return to the service, that is, there is an opinion in Chazal that the service will return to the firstborn. Even if this happens, do not think that the priests will be cut off. So He tells you there shall not lack a man before Me, that in any case the priests will still remain serving and offering before Hashem. According to Rashi the meaning is that they will always have offspring fit to offer a burnt offering and to burn a meal offering.
"And the word of Hashem came to Yirmiyahu, saying. Thus says Hashem, if you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night so that there be no day and night in their time, then also My covenant with David My servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son reigning on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers." "And the word of Hashem came to Yirmiyahu, saying. Thus says Hashem, if you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night." Rashi explains, if you can break My covenant which I made with the day and with the night. That is, there is a covenant with them that the sun will always rise and the night will always be in its time. What Hashem established for Noach and his sons, and said to them "day and night shall not cease," for I have a covenant with them that they will be constant. If you can break this covenant that I made with Noach, "as long as the earth endures, day and night shall not cease," just as this will not be broken and will not cease, the Radak says, so too the covenant I made with David that his kingdom will be everlasting will not be broken. And so too the covenant I made with Aharon that his sons will minister before Me all the days will not be broken, as He said earlier, to the priests the Levites there shall not lack a man before Me. So this covenant will remain and be eternal. The Malbim explains that the covenant of kingship and priesthood is essentially a necessary reality for the existence of all of reality, like the laws of nature are necessary. That is, just as you understand that the world cannot exist without the sun, without day and without night, so you must understand that it is impossible for the kingship and priesthood to be nullified. Just as these are needed for the world, so too these are needed for the world. Not that He will nullify them completely, just as He will not break the covenant of day and night, and not that the redemption will fail to come at the appointed time, meaning that the redemption will not arrive on time, just as it is impossible for the day and night not to come in their time. So there must be a state where by day the day arrives, the sun rises, and by night it sets. So there is also the matter of "in its time." He says so too, know that the redemption will arrive in its time. Like the day and the night that have a time and season, the redemption too has a time and season. "Then also My covenant with David My servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son reigning on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers." The meaning is: if the covenant of day and night can be broken, then also My covenant with David can be broken. And just as it is impossible for the day and night to be broken, so too My covenant with David will not be broken. This is the flow of the pesukim. And this covenant, that David will have a son reigning on his throne, and also the covenant with the priests will not be broken, that they will continue and minister to Me forever. "As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me." "As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured," like, as if a kaf is missing here, "as the host of heaven cannot be counted," so says the Radak. As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me, they will multiply, right? Both the priests and the seed of David My servant. The Radak explains, the term "measured" applies to the sand of the sea, not to the host of heaven. Because the sand of the sea is measured. How is it measured? One places it in a vessel and measures how much it is. By contrast, the stars of heaven are not measured, right? Not the host of heaven. "Counting" applies to both this and that. That is, the term "counted" can be said of both the sand and the host of heaven. By contrast, "measured" can be said only of the sand of the sea. The Malbim says that this thing comes to express that the ministers of Hashem in the land will multiply like His ministers in heaven. Until then the two arrays, both the upper array and the lower, will parallel one another. That the lower array will have an existing and eternal nature like the upper array. So just as the upper array, when we speak of the heavenly bodies, we speak of the angels of Hashem who do His word, they are eternal, so too the array on earth, meaning all of Israel, will parallel them and they too will be eternal. This is what He says, "as the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me," that they will be in a manner paralleling the host of heaven and will be eternal.
"And the word of Hashem came to Yirmiyahu, saying. Have you not seen what this people have spoken, saying, the two families which Hashem chose, He has rejected them? And they despise My people, so that they are no longer a nation before them." Hashem says to Yirmiyahu, have you not seen what this people have spoken, saying, do you hear what this people say? The two families which Hashem chose, He has rejected them. The two families are the family of David, the family of kingship, and the family of Aharon, the family of priesthood. The people say, those whom Hashem chose to be the leaders of the people, the people revile and say that He has rejected them, Hashem rejected them. "And they despise My people," since they see that God, as it were, rejected them, they consequently despise their children, Israel. Behold, you see, what do you expect? What redemption are you speaking of? Moshe, Aharon, David, Hashem rejected them. Hashem, as it were, cast them off. So just as they, as it were, have no continued existence, since we have no kingdom of the house of David and we have no service of the priests, so too the people of Israel have no continued existence. So My people are despised. "And they despise My people, so that they are no longer a nation before them."
The Radak brings an explanation in the name of his father, who says "and they despise My people" means like "and My people despise." Since My people see that Hashem rejected them, they too despise them. As it were, My people despise and do not follow the mitzvot of Hashem. They do not want to be a nation before Him all the days, to do the mitzvot of Hashem and His will. The Malbim says that the two families we are speaking of here, the family of David and the family of Aharon, Hashem gave them elevated levels. To David He gave kingship, to Aharon He gave priesthood. And with all these great levels, He rejected them. So then a fortiori, all the more so the people of Israel as a whole, who did not merit these levels of priesthood and kingship, but rather the whole people of Israel, what are called the ordinary, simple tribes, all the more so they will not be important in His eyes. If He rejected those important in His eyes, the righteous and worthy for Him He rejected, then surely He will reject those who were never as important to Him as they, which is the whole people of Israel. And through this "they despise My people," they scorn them, that it is impossible for them still to be a nation before them, meaning before the two families. It is impossible for them to be higher in level than the two families. If the two families were rejected, how will you be before them? Will you be at a greater level than they? Do you precede them? So if they were rejected, it is impossible for you to be a nation before them, that you would be, as it were, at a greater and loftier and more exalted level than they.
"Thus says Hashem, if My covenant of day and night does not stand, if I have not set the ordinances of heaven and earth." "Thus says Hashem, if My covenant of day and night does not stand," it is impossible for the covenant I made with the day and the night not to be fulfilled, to be in their time as we saw above. And it is impossible for the ordinances of heaven and earth to be nullified as if I had not set them. So too Hashem says, "then also the seed of Yaakov and David My servant will I reject, so as not to take from his seed rulers over the seed of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov; for I will bring back their captivity and have compassion on them." Just as "if I have not set the ordinances of heaven and earth, if My covenant of day and night does not stand," so too understand that it is impossible for Me to reject the seed of Yaakov and David My servant. If I reject the covenant of day and night, I would reject the seed of Yaakov. So just as it is impossible for Me to reject the day and the night, as we saw above that they remain in existence forever, so too the seed of Yaakov and David will never be rejected. So the whole expression that this people utter, saying, the two families which Hashem chose He has rejected them, their mouth spoke vanity. Hashem did not reject them, for just as the heaven and the earth and their ordinances will never be rejected from being before Hashem, so too these families will not be rejected.
Rashi adds, and our Rabbis expounded it regarding the covenant of the Torah. To learn from here that for the sake of the Torah heaven and earth were created; indeed the Midrash fits with the order of the verses. I have told you on several occasions that there are many pesukim where whoever you ask about the explanation of the pasuk will give you an explanation for the pasuk, while it is a derashah on the pasuk that is fit to be expounded as a derashah, but it is not the plain meaning of the text. And we once brought many examples of this. Here is another example. "If My covenant of day and night does not stand, if I have not set the ordinances of heaven and earth." What is "if My covenant of day and night"? If it were not for My covenant, the study of Torah day and night, the covenant that Hashem made with us is the holy Torah, if it were not for it day and night, I would not have set the ordinances of heaven and earth. What then is the continuation, "then also the seed of Yaakov and David My servant will I reject"? Perforce this is not the plain meaning of the text. Therefore Rashi says this does not fit with the order of the verses, this is not the plain meaning of the text. "My covenant of day and night" means the covenant that the day and the night will exist. Sunrise and sunset, this is what He speaks of, this is the covenant. Hashem says "if I have not set the ordinances of heaven and earth," that is, if this reality does not exist, then "the seed of Yaakov and David My servant will I reject." This is the plain meaning of the text. So the plain meaning of the text does not speak of the Torah, though one should not understand incorrectly, we do not come to negate this interpretation as an explanation, but again, it is not an explanation of the plain meaning of the text, but rather it is a derashah of Chazal on the text.