Yirmiyahu chapter 37. "And Tzidkiyahu son of Yoshiyahu reigned in place of Konyahu son of Yehoyakim, whom Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel had made king in the land of Yehudah." Here we are already jumping two generations ahead, for Konyahu son of Yehoyakim reigned after Yehoyakim, and after him reigned Tzidkiyahu son of Yoshiyahu. "But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of Hashem which He spoke through the hand of Yirmiyahu the prophet." That is, in Yehoyakim's generation the people used to listen to the word of Hashem, only the king was wicked as we explained: his generation was fitting and the king was wicked. But in Tzidkiyahu's generation it was the reverse. Therefore it says that neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of Hashem. That is to say, the people did not listen and the king was drawn after the people. But in himself Tzidkiyahu was a righteous king. We will see further on that Tzidkiyahu did things not according to the prophet, but in his conduct he was righteous, he did not serve idolatry and the like.
"And King Tzidkiyahu sent Yehuchal son of Shelemyahu and Tzefanyahu son of Maaseiyah the priest to Yirmiyahu the prophet, saying: Pray now on our behalf to Hashem our God." The prophet here in fact tells us that at that time there were three main reasons why Israel's situation deserved to change for the better. One, the king sends to the prophet to pray on their behalf. The very fact that the king seeks salvation from Hashem is itself a reason to annul the evil decrees, as we saw that Achav submitted and Hashem says to Eliyahu, "Have you seen how Achav has humbled himself before Me?" This is a reason to annul the evil decree. "And Yirmiyahu came and went out among the people, and they had not put him in the prison." Another reason: Yirmiyahu had been imprisoned in the time of Yehoyakim, and now they had taken him out of prison. Yet another reason that Hashem should have mercy on them, for by this they show "we accept your prophecies, we are ready to listen to what you say in the name of Hashem." "And Pharaoh's army had come out of Egypt, and the Kasdim who were besieging Yerushalayim heard the report of them and withdrew from Yerushalayim." Pharaoh's army comes out of Egypt in order to help Tzidkiyahu, and the Kasdim heard. The Kasdim who were besieging Yerushalayim heard this thing and withdrew from Yerushalayim. That is, they did not return to Bavel but left off the siege, because they feared that the Egyptians would come upon them from outside, and then the war would be against them front and back. Egypt from behind, Israel from within Yerushalayim, and then they would essentially be in a pincer movement, surrounded and encircled. Therefore they went up to march toward Pharaoh's army in order to make war with it. This is the third reason why their situation then deserved to change for the better, for behold, some turnabout is beginning here: the Egyptians are coming to aid us.
"And the word of Hashem came to Yirmiyahu the prophet, saying: Thus says Hashem the God of Israel, thus shall you say to the king of Yehudah who is sending you to Me to inquire of Me," meaning to Tzidkiyahu, "Behold, Pharaoh's army that came out to help you is returning to its land, Egypt." You are relying on Pharaoh's army? You are building on the idea that this is a reason why the evil will now not come? He tells him: sir, Pharaoh's army will not fight with Nevuchadnetzar. Pharaoh's army will return to Egypt. And He tells him, and do not think that perhaps the Kasdim will return to their land since they no longer besiege us, saying, well, let us go home. "And the Kasdim will return and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire." He tells him: know this, they will now, immediately, the moment Pharaoh's army returns to its land, the Kasdim will accordingly return to the siege. They come here to continue the siege; take into account that this is not a respite, this is not a situation in which the danger has ended, but rather it repeats itself as it was before, and I also inform you what will happen: they will fight against the city, they will capture it and burn it with fire.
"Thus says Hashem: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, the Kasdim will surely go away from us, for they will not go." That is, do not convince yourselves and calm yourselves saying, the Kasdim will surely go away from us. The Kasdim will go away from us. He tells them: know that they will not go. The Kasdim will remain here and you have no counsel and no might against them. I inform you of this so that you do not hang some false hope, that the siege is over. "For even if you had struck the entire army of Kasdim who fight against you, and there remained among them only wounded men, each man in his tent would rise up and burn this city with fire." See what a harsh thing He tells them. He says to them: even if you had struck them so that all of them were dead, and of the Kasdim there remained only wounded pierced men, men with lead balls in their chest, these men would rise up, even if each were in his tent, even if they were not near Yerushalayim but far from Yerushalayim, they would burn the city with fire. That is, as it were, even the dead corpses of the Kasdim would in the end fulfill the mission of Hashem, for it is Hashem's decree that the city be burned. It is Hashem's decree that the people go out into exile. Therefore do not calm yourselves, do not say perhaps we will fight them. There is nothing; bombard them all, and dead they will come and burn the city. This is, as it were, for the sake of rhetorical exaggeration, as it were by way of hyperbole, He comes and tells you there is no chance and no counsel, for this is the decree of Hashem.
"And it came to pass, when the army of the Kasdim went up from Yerushalayim because of Pharaoh's army, that Yirmiyahu went out of Yerushalayim to go to the land of Binyamin, to slip away from there among the people." Yirmiyahu wanted to separate himself from the people of Yerushalayim and be in the land of Binyamin, and then he went out among the people so that he would not be noticed. "And when he was at the gate of Binyamin, an officer was there whose name was Yiriyah son of Shelemyah son of Chananyah, and he seized Yirmiyahu the prophet, saying: You are defecting to the Kasdim!" The Kasdim were still in the land of Yehudah. And suddenly an officer seized him there, meaning an official, a holder of office, whose name was Yiriyah son of Shelemyah son of Chananyah, and he now accuses Yirmiyahu: you are defecting to the Kasdim. What does it mean, "you are defecting to the Kasdim"? You, Yirmiyahu, are all the time only informing us that Yerushalayim is destined to fall and be conquered, and now it becomes clear to me why you do this all the time. Because you are a fifth column among us, and you are now going to the Kasdim in order to pass messages to them about how to conquer the city and what to do: you are defecting to the Kasdim. "And Yirmiyahu said: It is a lie, I am not defecting to the Kasdim. But he did not listen to him, and Yiriyah seized Yirmiyahu and brought him to the officials. And the officials were angry with Yirmiyahu and struck him, and they put him in the prison house, the house of Yehonatan the scribe, for they had made it into the prison." They put him in a temporary prison that they made in the house of Yehonatan the scribe. Apparently they placed bars around it and made it into a prison.
"For Yirmiyahu had come into the pit house and into the cells, and Yirmiyahu remained there many days." This means in that area, in the same place where they imprisoned him, there were cells and the pit house. "And King Tzidkiyahu sent and took him, and the king questioned him in his house in secret, and said: Is there any word from Hashem? And Yirmiyahu said: There is. And he said: You will be given into the hand of the king of Bavel." See what this is, it is astonishing. He imprisons him, he punishes him, he does not want him to convey his prophecies, but he goes to him in secret. Tell me, what does Hashem say? Do you understand? On the one hand he places complete faith in his prophecies, and on the other hand he does not want him to spread this prophecy. Why? It harms my kingship. It weakens the heart of the people. He asks him, is there a word of Hashem? Meaning, is there anything new. That the city will be burned and that the place will be conquered, this we have already heard. He tells him: there is something new. What is the new thing? The prophecy that you will be given into the hand of the king of Bavel. Not only will the city be handed over and burned, but you will be handed over into the hand of the Bavlim. This is before the prophecy above in chapter 34 and chapter 32, where we saw that he already delivered this prophecy. Here is the place where the prophecy was delivered. It is not in order; Yirmiyahu is not composed in order. And this at this time was a new thing.
Who is Yiriyah son of Shelemyah son of Chananyah? Who is this person who seizes him and tells him, you are going to the Kasdim? Chazal say: Chananyah, from where is the name Chananyah familiar to us? A false prophet, of course. Chananyah son of Azur. And if we recall, when the prophet was sent to prophesy to Yaravam son of Nevat and to tell him about the altar upon which you sacrifice, know that here human bones will be burned, the priests who sacrifice and your own bones, all of them will be burned here on this altar. Behold, a king will arise whose name will be Yoshiyahu, and he will destroy the idolatry and take out of the graves all the priests who sacrifice upon the altars and burn them. So it is brought in Chazal, so he told him. And there it is brought that Chananyah son of Azur was there a false prophet, and he called the prophet to his home, gave him to eat, gave him to drink. The prophet was forbidden to do this because Hashem had forbidden it to him. This was Iddo the prophet. Hashem forbade it to him and nonetheless he went. And then he receives a prophecy from Hashem, the prophecy was given to the false prophet, to Chananyah son of Azur, and this prophet comes and tells him: know that thus said Hashem, since you ate in the city where I told you not to eat and returned by way of a place where you were forbidden to return, therefore in your going from here you will be torn apart. And so it was, he was torn apart by a lion. Afterward we find that Tzidkiyah son of Kenaanah, we find that he made himself horns of iron. And there it is brought that with these horns he said, "with these you shall gore Aram." And what did Yirmiyahu say to him? And what does he say: "and the vessels will return to the house of Hashem." The vessels of the Beit Hamikdash that the king of Bavel took, in another two years they will return. What did Yirmiyahu say? Amen, so may Hashem do. Chazal say he was forbidden to say this. Why? Because he is in fact flattering the false prophet, as if telling him, if only, may it be Hashem's will that it be so. So we see that he did not act properly. Chazal say that because of this he fell into the hand of Yiriyah son of Shelemyah son of Chananyah. For Chananyah son of Azur passed a message to his sons who came after him: whatever you can do to nullify the words of Yirmiyah and those who come after him, do. Whatever you can do to attack the prophets, do. Therefore he here found an opportunity to come and fight against Yirmiyahu. What? And he pinned an accusation upon him: you are defecting to the Kasdim.
Why did he want to go out? There is an opinion in Chazal that he wanted to go buy the field. If we recall, above Hashem told him to go buy the field of Chanamel son of Shalum. For this he needed to go and take part in the inheritance, he needed to go outside the city. And what in fact was the plan? Chazal say that Hashem, as it were, did not want Yirmiyahu to be inside the city and thereby argue merit for the people or thereby prevent the evil. What did Hashem do? He enticed him, as it were, to go outside the city on account of the matter of the field or to take part in the inheritance, and then when he was outside the city the city was conquered. And then Yirmiyahu says, I was foolish to agree to go out; had I remained in the city perhaps Hashem would have had mercy on the city. But Hashem, as it were, caused some reason to arise so that he would want to go out of the city. But simply, simply, this was in another episode, for in this episode we see that they brought him back to the city and put him in prison. "And Yirmiyahu said to King Tzidkiyahu: What have I sinned against you and against your servants and against this people, that you have put me in the prison?" What iniquity have I committed? What, what have I done improperly? "And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying: The king of Bavel will not come against you and against this land?" You do not accept what I say? You believe the words of your prophets? Where are these prophets? They said the king of Bavel will not come; I said he would come. Whose words were fulfilled? Mine. "And now hear, please, my lord the king: let my supplication fall before you, and do not return me to the house of Yehonatan the scribe, lest I die there." Do not return me back to the prison, lest I die there. Therefore I come and request and plead before you, let my supplication fall before you. "And King Tzidkiyahu commanded, and they placed Yirmiyahu in the court of the guard, and gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers' street until all the bread in the city was gone, and Yirmiyahu remained in the court of the guard." He gave him a loaf of bread from the bakers, meaning apart from what they baked for the people, he gave specially to him himself, until all the bread in the city was gone. Until it ran out and there was a state of famine when there was no more bread. And he was imprisoned there in the court of the guard. That place called the court of the guard, there he remained imprisoned. That is, apparently this place was better than the place in which he had been imprisoned earlier, the house of Yehonatan the scribe.