Introduction: The Context of the Chapter
Chapter 45 is a short chapter of five verses containing a special prophecy that Jeremiah receives from Hashem - not concerning the people of Israel, nor concerning the kings, but concerning his disciple: Baruch ben Neriah. In order to understand this chapter, we must recall what preceded it. In the previous chapters, we saw how the remnant remaining in the Land came to Jeremiah and asked him to inquire of Hashem and tell them what to do: whether to stay in the Land or descend to Egypt. After ten days, the word of Hashem came to him, and Jeremiah conveyed it to them: stay here and do not go to Egypt. If you stay, you will endure; if you go down to Egypt, you will only suffer. They did not listen. In chapter 43, they descended to Egypt, and they even took Jeremiah along by force - just as they had forcibly cast him into the courtyard of the guard (which was a prison), so too they forced him to descend to Egypt.
And in Egypt itself, they continued to serve and burn incense to idolatry and the gods of Egypt - a profound disgrace, for we had gone out of Egypt and departed from its idolatry. As the saying goes: the greatness is not merely leaving Egypt, but taking Egypt out of ourselves. They left Egypt, yet all the corrupt practices of Egypt remained within them. Jeremiah rebukes them and tells them: have you forgotten the calamities you endured? Yet they refuse to listen to him. He rebukes the women, and they answer him: did we act on our own? It was by the direction of our husbands! What is more, they add that ever since they ceased burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, they lacked everything and perished by the sword and famine. A terrible and appalling claim: when we served idols, things were good for us; when we ceased, things went badly for us. This is sheer heresy and total blindness, for all their suffering came precisely as a consequence of that very idolatry.
Therefore he told them: Hear the word of Hashem, all of Judah dwelling in the land of Egypt: Behold, I watch over them for evil and not for good, and every man of Judah will perish, and only a few survivors will return. And who were those survivors? Baruch ben Neriah and a handful of other individuals who indeed returned. And he gave them a sign and a token that these words would be fulfilled: "Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life" - and once this sign is fulfilled, you will know that everything I have spoken concerning you will come to pass.
Verse 1: Why the Prophecy is Given to Baruch ben Neriah
הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יִרְמְיָהוּ הַנָּבִיא אֶל־בָּרוּךְ בֶּן־נֵרִיָּה בְּכָתְבוֹ אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה עַל־סֵפֶר מִפִּי יִרְמְיָהוּ בַּשָּׁנָה הָרְבִעִית לִיהוֹיָקִים בֶּן־יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה לֵאמֹר׃ - The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book from the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying:
Baruch ben Neriah is not Hanamel, Jeremiah's cousin, but one of the disciples of Jeremiah the prophet. He would record the prophecies from his mouth and train in prophecy, and it is written of him that he complained - for he longed intensely to merit prophecy. Here we should recall what we saw earlier: when Jeremiah conveyed Hashem's instruction to the people to remain in the Land, it did not please them, and what did they say? That Baruch ben Neriah was the one inciting him to tell them this. And why would Baruch incite him? They claimed: Baruch ben Neriah is training for prophecy and has sought to achieve it for years; he knows that prophecy is initially granted only in the Holy Land - therefore he does not want us to go down to Egypt, and he is inciting his master Jeremiah to remain here.
Therefore, this prophecy comes to tell them: know that this has nothing to do with Baruch ben Neriah at all, for I have a special prophecy that was delivered to Baruch himself - that he will not merit prophecy. And why that is so, we will see further in the chapter.
Verses 2-3: The Grievance of Baruch
כֹּה־אָמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עָלֶיךָ בָּרוּךְ׃ - So says Hashem, the God of Israel, concerning you, Baruch:
אָמַרְתָּ אוֹי־נָא לִי כִּי־יָסַף יְהוָה יָגוֹן עַל־מַכְאֹבִי יָגַעְתִּי בְּאַנְחָתִי וּמְנוּחָה לֹא מָצָאתִי׃ - You said, "Woe is me now! For Hashem has added grief to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest."
Baruch ben Neriah felt aggrieved that he had not attained prophecy. He would say: How am I different from all other disciples of the prophets? Joshua served Moses and attained prophecy, and Hashem spoke with him; Elisha served Elijah and attained prophecy, and the holy spirit rested upon him; why then am I different? This is the meaning of "Woe is me now! For Hashem has added grief to my pain" - not only must I bear all these national calamities, but I yearn so deeply to attain this Divine connection, yet I do not merit it.
This is also the meaning of "I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest", for prophecy is termed "rest" (menuchah). Thus Chazal say: "Rest" refers to nothing other than prophecy, as it is stated, "and the spirit rested upon them" - regarding Eldad and Meidad; and it says, "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding"; and it says, "The spirit of Eliyahu rests on Elisha." That is to say: not only are all these troubles unbearable, but I have not even attained rest - prophecy; if only I had attained prophecy, I would have achieved some Divine connection.
Some explain that his request concerned an entirely different matter: he saw the manifold tribulations befalling the Jewish people and pleaded with Hashem to forgive them and avert the calamities. According to this interpretation, these verses do not refer to prophecy at all, but to his plea for forgiveness on Israel's behalf and for their return to their land. "Woe is me now! for the Lord has added grief to my sorrow; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest" - over what? Over the plight of the Jewish people in exile. And the Holy One, blessed be He, answered him, as it were: it is futile to pray for this, for it is an irreversible decree, and until they repent, I do not intend to restore them.
Verse 4: It Does Not Depend on You, but on the Times
כֹּה תֹּאמַר אֵלָיו כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה הִנֵּה אֲשֶׁר־בָּנִיתִי אֲנִי הֹרֵס וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר־נָטַעְתִּי אֲנִי נֹתֵשׁ וְאֶת־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ הִיא׃ - Thus shall you say to him: Thus says the Lord: Behold, that which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: This is not a time suited for prophecy. You believe that you yourself are unworthy of prophecy, and therefore you grieve and sigh - but it does not depend on you at all; it depends on the times. The current era is not fitting for prophecy on account of the wicked people of the generation. And as is known from Chazal, the entire merit of a great individual to receive prophecy is by virtue of the generation; when the generation lacks merits, there is no merit for prophecy.
This explains "that which I have built I will break down": when there is construction, there is purpose in building up prophets as well; but when I break down and uproot and send them into exile, what purpose is there for prophets now? After all, the prophet's entire distinction is for the sake of the Jewish people. We find this similarly with Moshe Rabbeinu: when Israel sinned with the Golden Calf, Hashem said to him, "Go, get down, for your people have corrupted themselves," which Chazal interpreted as: descend from your greatness, for whatever greatness I bestowed upon you was only for their sake. All the prophecies that prophets receive are in the merit of Israel. Until now, the Jewish people still had merits, but now, in total exile, those merits have ceased.
In essence, He is saying to him: Know that prophecy is not given merely to perfect the prophet's soul and elevate him, but is granted for the sake of the community. In truth, the Rambam does not say this entirely - he distinguishes several types of prophecy. How many prophets did the Jewish people have? One million and two hundred thousand prophets. Yet only the prophecies of forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses were recorded for posterity, because they were relevant for future generations; and there were many prophets who received prophecy for the perfection of their own souls, as the Rambam writes. But here, Hashem intended to convey to Baruch: you desire prophecy - know that it does not depend on you, but on the nation, and since the nation is unworthy, you will not receive it. As the Midrash states: If there is no vineyard, why is a fence needed? If there are no sheep, why is a shepherd needed? Prophecy for you is therefore superfluous at this time.
We find something similar in the Gemara, where a heavenly voice (bas kol) emerged in the study hall and proclaimed: There is a man here who is worthy of having the Shechinah rest upon him, but his generation is not worthy of it. This was said of Hillel the Elder, and likewise of Shmuel HaKatan - he is worthy of prophecy, but the generation is not worthy. This is precisely what was said here to Baruch ben Neriyah.
Verse 5: "And do you seek great things for yourself?"
וְאַתָּה תְּבַקֶּשׁ־לְךָ גְדֹלוֹת אַל־תְּבַקֵּשׁ כִּי הִנְנִי מֵבִיא רָעָה עַל־כָּל־בָּשָׂר נְאֻם־יְהוָה וְנָתַתִּי לְךָ אֶת־נַפְשְׁךָ לְשָׁלָל עַל כָּל־הַמְּקֹמוֹת אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֶךְ־שָׁם׃ - And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not; for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says the Lord; but your life will I give to you for a prey in all places wherever you go.
"Great things" refers to prophecy, as in the verse, "Tell me, please, all the great things that Elisha has done," referring to what he accomplished through the power of prophecy. Hashem says to him: Do not seek them, for behold, I am bringing evil upon all flesh. And if you ask: what will become of me in any case? - "I will give you your life as spoil in all places wherever you go." Be grateful that your life is spared and given to you as spoil, and that alone is enough; yet you still seek great things for yourself and desire prophecy? It is not that you are unworthy, but rather that the generation is unworthy, and therefore you will not attain prophecy at this time.
Why We Skip to the Final Chapter
From chapter 46 onward come prophecies concerning the nations, and our practice here has been primarily to study the narrative portions: the unfolding sequence of events that Jeremiah underwent - his being cast into the court of the guard, what he spoke with the kings, and what prophecies he delivered to them. The prophecies concerning the nations are written in difficult language and expressions unfamiliar to us in spoken Hebrew, and we saw no need to delve into them. Whoever wants to take a matriculation exam in Tanach may study them; we prefer to move ahead, as there are other Prophets ahead of us, as well as the Book of Daniel which we want to study. Therefore, we turn to the final chapter of the book, chapter 52, which deals with the destruction and parallels what we studied at the end of the Book of Kings. And even though we have already studied it, we will review it - first, because things stated there briefly are elaborated upon here; and second, because we are close to the Seventeenth of Tammuz, and these matters are fitting for this time.
Zedekiah: "Twenty-One Years Old When He Became King"
"Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Chamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah" - not from Anatot, but from Libnah, so this is not Jeremiah the prophet. And why does Scripture mention that he was twenty-one? In order to find merit for him, for the Gemara says that Zedekiah was a righteous man while his generation was wicked, and the wonder is why he did not bring his generation back in repentance. Therefore, Scripture opens by telling you: Zedekiah was young when he began to reign, and he did not have much power. A twenty-one-year-old youth who begins to reign, facing sixty-year-old men who are already leading the people by the nose into idolatry and all those vanities - it is very difficult to start making changes.
And why does Scripture mention the mother's name? Because the primary upbringing a son receives at home is from the mother. The mother is with him, while the father - being the king - is occupied with the needs of the people and has no time to attend to him. (And on a related note: among the Yemenites, they make a "Mi Sheberach" for a man with his father's name and for a woman with her mother's name, and so it is proper for Sephardim as well, and likewise in Hashcavot.) And this is what Solomon says: "A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother": when the son is wise, the father takes him everywhere with him, and people tell him what a wise and brilliant son you have - and all the praise goes to the father; the mother only knows if the father comes and tells her. But when the son is foolish, where does the father shove him? To the mother: take him, I don't need him, he shouldn't come with me and embarrass me, let him stay with you - and who suffers from him? The mother. "A foolish son is the grief of his mother" - the sorrow and grief belong to the mother. And with whom do we find that his mother rebuked him and thereby corrected him? With King Solomon, whose mother struck him with her slipper, as it is written: "with which his mother rebuked him."
"And He Did What Was Evil in the Eyes of Hashem" - And How This Reconciles
"And he did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, according to all that Jehoiakim had done." One must know that this does not refer to evil that he committed himself, but rather to two things: first, that he did not protest against the people; and second, that he did not listen to the voice of the prophet, for when the prophet told him not to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar because he had been crowned by Hashem, he did not listen to him. And as for what is written, "For through the anger of Hashem it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until He cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon" - this means that because Hashem was angry with them, He caused them, as it were, to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar so that they would be punished, bringing them to this point.
The Tenth of Tevet: The Beginning of the Siege
"And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, and built a siege wall around it." The tenth month is Tevet, and on the tenth day of the month is the Tenth of Tevet. Here we have an explicit verse stating that the siege began on the Tenth of Tevet. "And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah" - from the ninth year until the eleventh year, three and a half years of siege.
And Chazal say an astounding thing: for three and a half years Nebuzaradan encircled Jerusalem every day and was unable to conquer it, and since he could not, he sought to turn back. The Holy One, blessed be He, put it into his heart, and he began measuring the wall. And the Midrash relates a wondrous thing: those troops surrounding the wall would drive a nail into the wall and hang their cloaks on it. One day, one of them said: look at this strange thing - two weeks ago I hung it here and the cloak hung in the air, and now the cloak touches the ground, yet the nail hasn't moved! Rather, the wall was sinking. And it sank every day by two and a half tefachim, until it sank entirely, and once it sank entirely, the enemies entered Jerusalem. And regarding that hour it was said: "The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem."
And there is a further allusion in this: just as the wall gradually sank, so too the Jewish people sank and deteriorated morally. And so we find as well regarding the destruction of the Second Temple, that when they reached the Beit HaMikdash, the doors opened on their own - alluding to the moral deterioration, as if we ourselves had opened the doors for them to enter and destroy the Beit HaMikdash.
The Breach of the City and Zedekiah's Flight
"In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land." The fourth month is Tammuz - Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz. And it is written here that the city was breached on the ninth of the month, whereas Chazal say it was breached on the Seventeenth of Tammuz, and because of this they established the fast. And the Yerushalmi resolves this: there was a disruption of calculations there - from the multitude of troubles and confusion, they did not keep the reckoning accurately. In truth, both dates are correct, and each date is significant in a different way; we discussed this at length in its place, and whoever wishes can look at Me'am Lo'ez, which elaborates on this.
Thus we find the chronological order of events: on the tenth of Tevet of the ninth year the siege began; after three and a half years, on the seventeenth of Tammuz, they succeeded in breaching the city; and on Tishah B'Av of that year the Beit HaMikdash was burned.
"The city was breached, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden, while the Chaldeans were all around the city, and they went by way of the Arabah." And how did they escape? Through a tunnel - a cave that Tzidkiyahu had leading out from the palace. The Palestinians did not invent tunnels; he had an escape route. "And the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Tzidkiyahu in the plains of Jericho, and his entire army was scattered from him" - he was left all alone, as it says, "All her pursuers overtook her between the straits." And how did they manage to capture him? Chazal tell us that the Holy One, blessed be He, summoned a deer, and Nevuzaradan's men pursued the deer, when suddenly Tzidkiyahu and his entire army appeared right before their eyes. His army fled, and the Babylonians dropped everything and chased after him, because he was the primary and most important prize - the one who had rebelled against the king.
The Trial of Tzidkiyahu in Rivlah
"They seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Rivlah in the land of Chamat, and he passed judgment upon him." Rivlah is Antioch, in the region of Lebanon, in the Lebanon mountains, and that was where Nevuchadnezzar was stationed. Nevuchadnezzar did not enter the Land of Israel at all, because he was afraid, and instead sent Nevuzaradan, the captain of the guard - which is why we find Nevuzaradan in the verses rather than Nevuchadnezzar. And "he passed judgment upon him" means that he spoke harsh words to him: how did he dare to reign and rebel against him?
And the punishment he inflicted upon him was horrific: "The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes" - right before his very eyes - "and he also slaughtered all the princes of Judah at Rivlah." And he did not stop there, but rather, "He blinded the eyes of Tzidkiyahu, bound him in copper chains, and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death." "Beit ha-pekudot" - a place where people were kept in custody, meaning a prison. And "until the day of his death" - until the day of Nevuchadnezzar's death, for as we will see later, his son Evil-merodach released him from prison, restored him, treated him kindly, and provided for his sustenance.
Tishah B'Av: The Burning of the Temple
"In the fifth month, on the tenth of the month - which was the nineteenth year of King Nevuchadrezzar, king of Babylon - Nevuzaradan, captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem." The fifth month is Av, and that is when Nevuzaradan arrives and stands in Jerusalem. "He burned the House of Hashem and the king's palace and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burned with fire" - this is the source for what happened on Tishah B'Av.
And if it says "on the tenth of the month," how do we say it occurred on the ninth? Chazal explain: the fire began on the ninth, while the primary burning of the House of our God took place on the tenth. However, the onset of calamity is the most grievous part, and therefore we follow the beginning and establish the fast on the ninth. Even so, on the tenth we customarily refrain from eating meat until midday - because the primary burning of the House of our God occurred on the tenth.
"And every great house he burned with fire" - but has it not already been stated that he burned the House of Hashem? What then is "the great house"? Chazal explain: the centers of Torah and prayer, the study halls and synagogues, wherever Torah and prayer are magnified - everything he burned with fire. "And all the walls around Jerusalem were broken down by the entire army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard" - so that no hope would remain for them, they went and demolished all the walls that remained standing above ground, lest they think they might somehow rally and prevail in the future.
Who Was Exiled and Who Remained
"Nevuzaradan, captain of the guard, exiled some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people remaining in the city, the defectors who had fallen away to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude." "The defectors" were those who had gone over to the king of Babylon to surrender and make peace with him, and even them he exiled; and "the rest of the multitude" refers to the remainder of the population. "But Nevuzaradan, captain of the guard, left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen" - only the impoverished of the land, concerning whom there was no fear that they would rebel, were left to work the vineyards and fields so the land would not become desolate; but all the rest he exiled.
The Vessels of the Temple Taken to Babylon
"And the copper pillars that were in the House of Hashem, and the bases, and the copper sea that was in the House of Hashem, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all their copper to Babylon." The two copper pillars were Yachin and Boaz; the bases were the stands for the lavers, as we learned; and the copper sea - a gigantic copper basin where they would wash their hands and feet. Because it was so massive and could not be transported intact, they broke it apart and took the pieces, since copper was a precious metal, and brought it to Babylon. And over these pillars, Yirmiyahu lamented: "The foe spread his hand over all her precious things, for she saw nations enter her Sanctuary."
"And the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the copper vessels with which they served, they took away. And the cups, the firepans, the basins, the pots, the menorahs, the spoons, and the cleansing tubes - that which was of gold as gold, and that which was of silver as silver - the captain of the guard took away." *Sippim* (cups) - some say musical instruments, some say vessels used to collect blood, and others say it refers to jars; *machtot* (firepans) - with which they scooped and lifted burning coals from atop the altar; *menorot* (candelabras) - for Shlomo made five more menorot, and all of them were taken; *menakiyot* (cleansing tubes) - golden reed-like tubes upon which the Showbread was placed so air could circulate and prevent it from molding, for the bread itself remained warm all the time. Everything was taken, whether of gold or of silver - "that which was of gold as gold, and that which was of silver as silver" - and they left nothing behind.
"The pillars were two, the sea one, and the twelve copper oxen that were under the bases, which King Shlomo had made for the House of Hashem; the copper of all these vessels was beyond weight." "The oxen" - twelve copper oxen upon which the sea rested. And their copper was beyond weight, for it was impossible to weigh such an immense quantity. "And as for the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a cord of twelve cubits encircled it, and its thickness was four fingers, hollow. And a capital of copper was upon it, and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with netting and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all of copper; and the second pillar had the same, and pomegranates. And there were ninety-six pomegranates to the wind; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the netting all around" - "ninety-six to the wind," on each exposed side, and in total a hundred on the netting all around. In other words, the verse relates how beautiful and how magnificent it was - and all of this they took, dismantled, and carried off.
The Execution of the High Priests and Leaders of the People
"And the captain of the guard took Serayah the chief priest, and Tzefanyah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door" - the Kohen Gadol, and the Segan (deputy high priest) appointed under him in case an impurity befell the Kohen Gadol preventing him from serving, as we read in the Yom Kippur prayers; he took all of them. "And from the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war, and seven men of those who saw the king's face who were found in the city" - prominent men, advisors of the king; "and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the midst of the city. And Nevuzaradan, captain of the guard, took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Rivlah. And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Rivlah in the land of Chamat. So Yehudah was carried away captive out of his land."
Here it is written, "*Vayechel Yehudah*" (and Yehudah was exiled) in the masculine form, whereas in Megillat Eichah, Yirmiyahu says, "*Galtah Yehudah mei'oni*" (Yehudah went into exile because of affliction) in the feminine. Why? Chazal explain: Once they went into exile, their strength was depleted like that of a female, and therefore the exile there was expressed in the feminine form.
Plato and Yirmiyahu on the Destruction
It is related that Plato, the Greek philosopher, came to Jerusalem with Nevuchadnezzar after the Churban. He entered the site of the ruined Temple, saw the fires and the charred timbers, and saw Yirmiyahu the prophet weeping and raising a voice of wailing and lamentation over the destruction. He asked him two questions. First: You are the wisest man in Israel - why are you weeping over wood and stones? A house was lost - build a new house, it is only a building! And second: The Temple is already destroyed, so is it fitting for a person to cry over the past? What happened happened; it is over.
Yirmiyahu replied: Surely you have many perplexing doubts that remain unresolved. Plato said: Indeed that is so, and I believe no one in the world can resolve my doubts - and notice how humble he was! Yirmiyahu said to him: Tell me those questions. He presented all of them, and Yirmiyahu resolved them effortlessly, right off the cuff. Plato was astounded and wondered: Is this one born of a woman, or an angel? What tremendous Divine wisdom! Yirmiyahu said to him: All of my wisdom - I drew it from these stones, from this House, from the Shechinah that dwelled here! Now do you understand that I do not weep over wood and stones, but over the immense spiritual loss and void we suffered following the destruction of the Temple? This is not weeping over a physical loss, but over the spiritual deficit we now endure. And this is what must be remembered on Tisha B'Av: the grief is over the spiritual deficit, and over the iron wall that has stood between us and our Father in Heaven ever since the destruction - that is what the grief is truly about.
The Number of Exiles
"This is the people whom Nevuchadretzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews; in the eighteenth year of Nevuchadretzar, from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two souls; in the three and twentieth year of Nevuchadretzar, Nevuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five souls: all the souls were four thousand and six hundred" - this shows that he came a third time. Here the text begins to recount, from the exile of Yechanyah until the final exile, how many were exiled in each generation.
Evil-Merodach Elevates Yehoyachin
"And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison." In the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's exile, Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, ascended the throne. What did he do first? He commanded that his father's bones be exhumed from his grave and dragged through the streets - to verify that he was truly dead and not merely absent. Why? Because on the previous occasion, when Nebuchadnezzar was sentenced to live like the fowls of the heavens and the beasts of the earth and was exiled to the forest, Evil-merodach stepped up to reign - whereupon his father returned and threw him into prison: Why did you presume to reign? I am still in charge here. Therefore, the second time he was terrified, saying: I want to take him out of the pit and see for myself that he is completely dead and will not rise again.
"And he spoke kindly to him" - he granted him amnesty, released him from prison, and spoke gracious words to him; some say he spoke words of wisdom with him and saw that his wisdom was immense. "And set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon" - akin to a viceroy, elevated above the seats of all the other kings. "And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him continually all the days of his life" - "and he changed his prison garments": some explain that he gave him different clothing, which is the plain meaning of the verse; while others say he kept his striped prisoner garments on him and placed royal vestments over them - in order to continually remember the destruction of Jerusalem.
"And he ate bread before him continually" - our Sages say: "before him", but not with him, so that he would not defile himself with the royal delicacies by eating forbidden food; rather, they would cook in Jehoiachin's quarters and bring it to the king's palace. "And his allowance was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day its portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life" - and he was not content with providing him only one meal a day; rather, morning and evening he provided him with a continual ration. And from him, from Jehoiachin, descended the Exilarchs and the princes of the community, the Geonim of Sura and Pumbedita - all traced their lineage to his root.
An Incident Involving Rabbi Avraham HaLevi
There was an incident involving Rabbi Avraham HaLevi, who saw the prophet Yirmiyahu in a dream holding a pitcher of water and asking him to pour water over his hands. Rabbi Avraham was gripped with fear, and meanwhile the figure of Yirmiyahu disappeared from his dream. He came and recounted the matter to the holy Ari, asking for the meaning of the dream. The Ari said to him: What a tragedy to lose such a precious opportunity! Yirmiyahu is a kohen, and for that reason he asked you to wash his hands, for you are a levi, and the levi pours water onto the hands of the kohen. Had you done so, the redemption would have arrived immediately. Consider the magnitude of such a missed opportunity.
Supplement: Midrash Pesikta Rabbati on the Destruction
Sefer Yirmiyahu concludes here, and it is fitting to present a Midrash that serves as a completion to what we have learned, from Pesikta Rabbati, Piska 26, on the verse "And famine was severe in the city": The daughters of Zion would meet in the marketplaces and see one another. One would say to her companion: Why have you come out to the market, when you never ventured into the market in your life? Do you not have messengers and servants - why have you come out? And she would say to her: What do I have to hide from you? The blow of famine is harsh and I cannot endure it. And they would grasp onto one another and go about searching within the city, finding nothing; they would embrace the pillars and die upon them at the head of every corner. And their nursing infants would crawl on their hands and feet, each one recognizing his mother, and would climb up, take her breast, and place it in his mouth hoping to draw milk, but he could draw none, and his soul was distraught, and he would die upon his mother's bosom - to fulfill what is stated, "When their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom."
At that moment, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Yirmiyahu: Arise, go to Anatot and purchase the field from Chanamel, your uncle. Yirmiyahu thought in his heart: Perhaps the Omnipresent will grant that people buy and sell within it, since He commands me to purchase a field? Perhaps the Holy One, blessed be He, is having mercy upon us, saying to me: Go and acquire property in the land, for the redemption is right at hand! Once Yirmiyahu left Jerusalem, an angel descended from heaven, set his feet upon the wall of Jerusalem, and breached it. He called out and said: Let the enemies come and enter a house whose Master is not within it, and let them plunder it and destroy it; let them enter a vineyard and sever its vines, for the watchman has abandoned it and gone away! And why did the angel summon them? So that you would not boast and say that you conquered it - you have conquered a conquered city, you have slain a slain people.
The enemies arrived and established their platform on the Temple Mount, ascending to the middle platform, the place where King Solomon used to sit and take counsel from the elders, a sacred place from which the Beit HaMikdash was brought to perfection - and there the enemies sat and took counsel on how to burn the Beit HaMikdash and from where it was best to begin. While they were deliberating among themselves, they lifted their eyes, and behold, four angels descended with four torches of fire in their hands, set them to the four corners of the Sanctuary, and burned it - to show them that it was not they who had accomplished this, but the sins of Israel, so that they would not be prideful.
When the Kohen Gadol saw that the Beit HaMikdash was burning, he took the keys and threw them toward heaven, opened his mouth, and said: Here are the keys to Your House; I was a false guardian within it - meaning, a guardian must be trustworthy, and I did not perform my duty faithfully, which is why it was burned. He turned to leave, but the enemies seized him and slaughtered him beside the altar, the place where he would offer the daily Tamid sacrifice. His daughter ran out, crying and shrieking, "Woe is me, father, delight of my eyes!" They seized her, slaughtered her, and mingled her blood with her father's blood. When the kohanim and levi'im saw that the Beit HaMikdash was burning, they took their harps and trumpets, cast themselves into the fire, and were consumed. And when the maidens who wove the Parochet (the curtain) - for that was their craft - saw that the Beit HaMikdash was burning, they cast themselves into the fire and were consumed, so that the enemies would not violate them.
When Zedekiah saw this, he fled through the subterranean passage that led toward Jericho; and at the place where the aqueduct flowed, he was exhausted, with his sons walking ahead of him. Suddenly Nebuzaradan saw him, captured him and his ten sons, and sent them to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar said to him: Say to Zedekiah, what did you see that caused you to rebel against me? By which law should I judge you? If by the law of your God, you are liable to death, for you swore falsely (as we have already learned that he swore to him not to rebel); and if by the laws of kingship, you are liable to death, for whoever violates an oath to a king is liable to death. Zedekiah answered him: Slay me first, so that I do not witness the blood of my sons. And his sons pleaded: Slay us first, so that we do not see our father's blood spilled upon the ground. And so he did to them - he slaughtered them before his eyes, and afterward he gouged out his eyes and cast them into a furnace, Heaven have mercy, and led him away to Babylon.
And Zedekiah would cry out and say: Come and see, all people, how Yirmiyahu prophesied concerning me, saying to me, "To Babylon you shall go, and in Babylon you shall die, yet your eyes shall not see Babylon," and I would not heed his words! And who could have imagined that this would come to pass? I would die in Babylon, they would take me to Babylon, yet I would not see Babylon - it seemed like an impossible paradox! And now, here I am in Babylon and my eyes do not see it, word for word, point by point, precisely as the prophet said.
And Yirmiyahu the prophet, who had gone to purchase the field, is now returning. He set out from Anatot toward Yerushalayim, lifted his eyes, and saw smoke rising from the Beit HaMikdash. He thought to himself - see how naive he still was - perhaps the people of Israel repented and are offering sacrifices, and this is the smoke of the incense rising? He arrived and stood upon the wall, and saw the Beit HaMikdash reduced to heaps and heaps of stones - pile after pile - and the wall of Yerushalayim breached. He began crying out and saying: "Hashem, You enticed me, and I was enticed; You overpowered me, and You prevailed." The Midrash teaches that, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to perform an act and did not want Yirmiyahu to see it, lest he attempt to annul the decree; therefore He enticed him to leave, and once He had accomplished what He did - now Yirmiyahu could arrive.
He went on his way, crying out and saying: Along which path did the sinners go? Along which path did the lost ones go? Let me go and be lost with them. As he walked, he saw the path soaked with blood, and the land drenched with the blood of its slain on either side, from all those whom Nevuzaradan had exiled. He set his gaze toward the ground and saw the footprints of infants and sucklings who were marched into captivity, and he bent down to the earth and kissed them, for they were already dead. When he reached the exiles, he embraced and kissed them, weeping before them while they wept before him. He addressed them and said: My brothers and my people, all this has befallen you because you would not listen to the words of my prophecy - why did you not listen back then?
Once they reached the Euphrates River, Nevuzaradan said to him: If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come; and if not, remain here (remember, he had received a kind of visa from Nevuchadnezzar). Yirmiyahu thought to himself: If I accompany them to Babylon, who will comfort those remaining in the Land? So he departed from them. The exiles lifted their eyes and saw that Yirmiyahu had parted from them - just moments ago he was with us, and suddenly he is leaving! - and they all burst into loud weeping, crying out: "Our father Yirmiyahu, are you abandoning us?" Concerning this it is said, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept" - when Yirmiyahu departed from them. Yirmiyahu answered and said to them: "I call heaven and earth to witness, had you wept but once while you were still in Tziyon, you would not have been exiled." And Yirmiyahu went on his way, weeping and saying: "Alas for you, most precious of provinces!" Thus he walked, weeping over the plight and the downfall of the Jewish people. A single weeping could have changed everything.
In summary:
Chapter 45 teaches us that the prophetic stature is not a private attainment: Baruch ben Neriyah, who longed so deeply for prophecy and sighed over not meriting it, was answered from Heaven that the matter did not depend on him at all, but rather on the generation - "that which I have built I am breaking down," and when the vineyard is uprooted there is no need for a fence, and when there is no flock there is no need for a shepherd, and it was enough for him that his life was spared as spoil. From there we turned to chapter 52, to the chronicle of the destruction itself: from Asarah B'Tevet when the siege wall was erected, through Shiva Asar B'Tammuz when the city was breached, until Tishah B'Av when they burned the House of Hashem and "every great house" - the batei midrash and the synagogues. The wall that sank two and a half tefachim each day reflects our own moral sinking, and Yirmiyahu's reply to Plato teaches that our weeping is not over wood and stone, but over the Divine wisdom and the Shechinah that were lost to us, and over the iron barrier erected between us and our Father in Heaven. And the conclusion of the Midrash provides the profound lesson: "Had you wept but once while you were still in Tziyon, you would not have been exiled." May the Holy One, blessed be He, grant that during these days we are approaching, the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt even beforehand, and if we are not yet worthy - may we shed tears during these days, and through this merit that the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt speedily, Amen and Amen.