Chapter 24 of Melachim B is the chapter of the march toward the destruction. We have already seen the two and a half tribes of the eastern side of the Jordan exiled, and after them the ten tribes, the kingdom of Shomron. Now we arrive at the kingdom of Yehudah itself: Nevuchadnetzar rises, Yehoyakim rebels and is punished, Yehoyachin is exiled to Bavel together with the finest and choicest of Yerushalayim, and Tzidkiyahu is made king in his place, only for him too to rebel so that the decree be sealed. Throughout the chapter we will accompany the pesukim of the prophet with the commentary of the Malbim, the words of Rashi and the Radak, and the Midrashim of Chazal that describe the figure of Yehoyakim and what befell Yechonyah his son in Bavel.
בְּיָמָיו עָלָה נְבֻכַדְנֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל וַיְהִי־לוֹ יְהוֹיָקִים עֶבֶד שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים וַיָּשָׁב וַיִּמְרָד־בּוֹ׃ - In his days Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel came up, and Yehoyakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.
In the days of Yehoyakim son of Yoshiyahu, Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel came up, and Yehoyakim was his servant for three years: meaning that he paid him tribute and was subject to him. Afterward he turned and rebelled against him.
וַיְשַׁלַּח יְהֹוָה בּוֹ אֶת־גְּדוּדֵי כַשְׂדִּים וְאֶת־גְּדוּדֵי אֲרָם וְאֵת גְּדוּדֵי מוֹאָב וְאֵת גְּדוּדֵי בְנֵי־עַמּוֹן וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם בִּיהוּדָה לְהַאֲבִידוֹ כִּדְבַר יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר בְּיַד עֲבָדָיו הַנְּבִיאִים׃ - And Hashem sent against him the bands of the Kasdim, and the bands of Aram, and the bands of Moav, and the bands of Bnei Ammon, and He sent them against Yehudah to destroy it, according to the word of Hashem which He spoke through His servants the prophets.
Note the wording: "And Hashem sent against him." At the end of the previous chapter we saw that Yehoyakim was a wicked king and did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, and therefore from Heaven the bands of the Kasdim, Aram, Moav, and Ammon are sent against him. The Radak explains that they all came as emissaries of the wicked Nevuchadnetzar. And all this was "according to the word of Hashem which He spoke through His servants the prophets," as we saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, said that even though Menasheh repented, the exile would nonetheless come.
אַךְ עַל־פִּי יְהֹוָה הָיְתָה בִּיהוּדָה לְהָסִיר מֵעַל פָּנָיו בְּחַטֹּאת מְנַשֶּׁה כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה׃ וְגַם דַּם־הַנָּקִי אֲשֶׁר שָׁפָךְ וַיְמַלֵּא אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלִַם דָּם נָקִי וְלֹא־אָבָה יְהֹוָה לִסְלֹחַ׃ - Surely at the command of Hashem this came upon Yehudah, to remove it from His presence, because of the sins of Menasheh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Yerushalayim with innocent blood, and Hashem would not pardon.
All the evil that came upon Yehudah was at the command of Hashem, and the decree had already been made beforehand, from the days of Menasheh. And what is the essence of the sin? "And also for the innocent blood that he shed." We saw that Menasheh treated murder lightly and shed much blood, and Chazal expound whom he killed: his own grandfather, the prophet Yeshayahu. For this there was no forgiveness, "and Hashem would not pardon."
We already raised the question, and we will repeat it briefly: Menasheh repented, he was in repentance for thirty three years, so why does the prophet still mention his sins? We saw two explanations. The Malbim explains that he repented from idolatry but did not repent from the murders, and therefore the emphasis here is specifically "and he filled Yerushalayim with innocent blood": the idolatry he genuinely removed, but the bloodshed he continued. Another explanation: although he repented, he did not bring the people back to repentance, and as a result the murderers multiplied, and it was he himself who caused that "he filled Yerushalayim with innocent blood." According to this explanation, it is possible that he himself had already stopped murdering, but since he had legitimized the killings, a situation arose in which people murdered one another without restraint, because they knew that in that place there was no concern whatsoever for matters of bloodshed.
וְיֶתֶר דִּבְרֵי יְהוֹיָקִים וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה הֲלֹא־הֵם כְּתוּבִים עַל־סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה׃ - And the rest of the acts of Yehoyakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah?
The rest of the acts of Yehoyakim and all the wickedness he did are written in the book of the chronicles, which was a book in which the kings would record for themselves the events of their days. But the Malbim adds here and refers us to Sefer Yirmiyahu, where his abominations are told in the passage of "Woe to him who builds his house." And since the Malbim mentions this, we will turn to Sefer Yirmiyahu chapter 22, to the passage that describes the prophecy of Hashem to Yehoyakim and the reason for the exile.
הוֹי בֹּנֶה בֵיתוֹ בְּלֹא־צֶדֶק וַעֲלִיּוֹתָיו בְּלֹא מִשְׁפָּט, בְּרֵעֵהוּ יַעֲבֹד חִנָּם וּפֹעֲלוֹ לֹא יִתֶּן־לוֹ׃ (ירמיהו כב, יג) - Woe to him who builds his house with unrighteousness and his upper chambers with injustice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing and does not give him his wages. (Yirmeyahu 22:13)
The Malbim explains: this prophecy was spoken about Yehoyakim, who built himself a royal palace and did not pay the workers their wages. When are wages for hired labor paid? "A hired worker's wages are not due until the end," when the worker has finished his job. It follows that while he was building the house he was not yet obligated by law to pay, but on the level of going beyond the letter of the law it would have been fitting to give them something during the building itself, to act charitably toward them so they would have what to eat. Regarding this it says, "Woe to him who builds his house with unrighteousness." "And his upper chambers with injustice" - when the house is finished one reaches the upper story, and here payment is already owed to the workers by law, yet he built the upper story not in accordance with justice and robbed them of their wages. Furthermore: "who makes his neighbor work for nothing" refers to the hired wage that was agreed upon between them, and "does not give him his wages" refers to the sum owed to him according to what he actually labored and produced, even without their having settled on a price. That is to say, do not claim that the workers demanded an exorbitant wage and that is why he did not pay; rather, even the minimum owed to them on its own merit he did not give them.
הָאֹמֵר אֶבְנֶה־לִּי בֵּית מִדּוֹת וַעֲלִיּוֹת מְרֻוָּחִים, וְקָרַע לוֹ חַלּוֹנָי וְסָפוּן בָּאָרֶז וּמָשׁוֹחַ בַּשָּׁשַׁר׃ - Who says, I will build myself a spacious house with roomy upper chambers, and cuts out windows for it, paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.
Lest you say that he had no house to live in and was therefore forced to invest and build: a spacious house, a wide and roomy building, roomy upper chambers, large windows, paneled on the inside with cedar wood, which is the most expensive, and painted with vermilion, which are kinds of pigments. A house of the highest standard. He had a place to live; he was simply seeking himself a palace.
הֲתִמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז, אָבִיךָ הֲלוֹא אָכַל וְשָׁתָה וְעָשָׂה מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה אָז טוֹב לוֹ׃ - Will you reign because you compete in cedar? Your father, did he not eat and drink and do justice and righteousness, and then it was well with him?
Do you think you will reign by competing in cedar? Does kingship depend on a large house and on ostentation? Your father Yoshiyahu, in what way was it well with him? Not in eating and drinking, for "did he not eat and drink" and by that alone it was not yet well with him, but rather "and did justice and righteousness, and then it was well with him." He did not seek royal feasts nor indulge in luxuries, but occupied himself with justice and righteousness. Through outward trappings, through the desire to be tall as a cedar, one does not acquire kingship.
דָּן דִּין־עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן אָז טוֹב, הֲלוֹא־הִיא הַדַּעַת אֹתִי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה׃ - He judged the cause of the poor and needy, and then it was well; is not this to know Me, says Hashem?
And do not think that he interrupted his meal only to adjudicate great cases involving millions. Two paupers who quarreled over fifteen shekels, even for them he would interrupt his meal and judge the cause of the poor and needy. Such was the piety and righteousness that he possessed. And what is the true good? "Is not this to know Me, says Hashem": to know Hashem, and not to be occupied with material matters.
כִּי אֵין עֵינֶיךָ וְלִבְּךָ כִּי אִם־עַל־בִּצְעֶךָ, וְעַל דַּם־הַנָּקִי לִשְׁפּוֹךְ, וְעַל־הָעֹשֶׁק וְעַל־הַמְּרוּצָה לַעֲשׂוֹת׃ - For your eyes and your heart are set on nothing but your unjust gain, and on shedding innocent blood, and on practicing oppression and violence.
The eyes and the heart are the agents of sin, and with you your eyes and your heart are set on nothing but your unjust gain: the good of the public does not interest you, only what I will gain and what will come out of it for me. "And on shedding innocent blood" - a king is meant to ensure that innocent blood is not shed and to punish the criminals, yet not only do you fail to do this, but you yourself shed innocent blood and watch over it to have it shed. "And on practicing oppression and violence" - from the expression of crushing the poor; not only do you fail to restrain the oppression and the crushing, but you supervise it and increase it. Is this fitting for a king, for one who is meant to lead the people?
לָכֵן כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֶל־יְהוֹיָקִים בֶּן־יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה, לֹא־יִסְפְּדוּ לוֹ הוֹי אָחִי וְהוֹי אָחוֹת, לֹא־יִסְפְּדוּ לוֹ הוֹי אָדוֹן וְהוֹי הֹדֹה׃ קְבוּרַת חֲמוֹר יִקָּבֵר, סָחוֹב וְהַשְׁלֵךְ מֵהָלְאָה לְשַׁעֲרֵי יְרוּשָׁלִָם׃ - Therefore thus says Hashem concerning Yehoyakim son of Yoshiyahu king of Yehudah: They shall not lament for him, Woe my brother, or Woe sister; they shall not lament for him, Woe lord, or Woe his majesty. He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Yerushalayim.
A decree upon Yehoyakim: his brothers will not lament for him, his sisters will not lament for him, his servants will not lament for him "Woe lord and Woe his majesty," his glory and his splendor. In plain words, no one will grieve when he passes and no one will eulogize him. And not only that, but "he shall be buried with the burial of a donkey": just as a donkey that dies on the road is left there and no one troubles to dig it a grave, so too he will not be buried at all but will be dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Yerushalayim. Later we will see what our Sages expound regarding the matter of his burial.
עֲלִי הַלְּבָנוֹן וּצְעָקִי וּבַבָּשָׁן תְּנִי קוֹלֵךְ וְצַעֲקִי מֵעֲבָרִים כִּי נִשְׁבְּרוּ כָּל־מְאַהֲבָיִךְ׃ דִּבַּרְתִּי אֵלַיִךְ בְּשַׁלְוֺתַיִךְ אָמַרְתְּ לֹא אֶשְׁמָע, זֶה דַרְכֵּךְ מִנְּעוּרַיִךְ כִּי לֹא־שָׁמַעַתְּ בְּקוֹלִי׃ - Go up to the Lebanon and cry out, and in the Bashan raise your voice, and cry from the crossings, for all your lovers are broken. I spoke to you in your times of tranquility; you said, I will not listen. This has been your way from your youth, that you did not obey My voice.
The prophet says: already in the time of tranquility I spoke to you and informed you of what your end would be, and you did not understand and did not sense that the downfall was near. After all, you saw what happened to the two and a half tribes, you saw what happened to the ten tribes, "all your lovers are broken" - all those who were your lovers and acted as you did, our brethren of Israel and Shomron, and you saw what became of them. At such a stage a person already ought to wake up; when you see that the one who sinned and led others to sin before you has already paid the price, it is a sign that you are next in line, and all this so that you would take a lesson to heart. But "you said, I will not listen," I will not accept the reproof, "this has been your way from your youth" - already from the generation of the wilderness you did not obey My voice.
כָּל־רֹעַיִךְ תִּרְעֶה־רוּחַ וּמְאַהֲבַיִךְ בַּשְּׁבִי יֵלֵכוּ, כִּי אָז תֵּבֹשִׁי וְנִכְלַמְתְּ מִכֹּל רָעָתֵךְ׃ - The wind shall shepherd away all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity, for then you shall be ashamed and disgraced by all your wickedness.
Only after you see the end of the matter, that all your shepherds and kings were exiled by Nevuchadnetzar, as we will see that he will exile Yehoyachin and the craftsmen and the smiths and Yehoyakim, then you will be ashamed of all your wickedness. When you see that the evil has come to its end for you, that the kings have already been exiled and the choicest and finest of the Land of Israel has been exiled, then you will be ashamed - but by then it will already be too late.
יֹשַׁבְתְּ בַּלְּבָנוֹן מְקֻנַּנְתְּ בָּאֲרָזִים, מַה־נֵּחַנְתְּ בְּבֹא־לָךְ חֲבָלִים חִיל כַּיֹּלֵדָה׃ חַי־אָנִי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה כִּי אִם־יִהְיֶה כָּנְיָהוּ בֶן־יְהוֹיָקִים מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה חוֹתָם עַל־יַד יְמִינִי כִּי מִשָּׁם אֶתְּקֶנְךָּ׃ - You who dwell in the Lebanon, who nest in the cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you, anguish like a woman in labor. As I live, says Hashem, though Konyahu son of Yehoyakim king of Yehudah were a signet on My right hand, from there I would pluck you off.
"You who dwell in the Lebanon, who nest in the cedars" - the Lebanon and the cedars are high and important places, meaning you had great eminence. "How you will be pitied when pangs come upon you" - you will not be shown grace when pangs and anguish like a woman in labor come upon you; when the troubles come no one will show you grace or have mercy on you, when you are in a difficult birth no one will spare you. And Konyahu is Yehoyachin, and he has three names: Konyahu, Yechonyah and Yehoyachin. The Holy One, blessed be He, swears here, and the decree was sealed with an oath: even though Konyahu son of Yehoyakim was destined to be "a signet on My right hand," as in the language of the prophecy in Chaggai, "on that day I will take you, Zerubavel, and set you as a signet." The King Mashiach is destined to be a signet on Hashem's right hand, for just as through the signet and the ring one knows who the owner is, so through the Mashiach the Name of Hashem will be publicized and the wonders of the Creator will be known in the world. Nevertheless, "from there I would pluck you off" from the root meaning to detach: I now detach the signet from the right hand, there is now no redemption through you but exile. Yet the language is a double one, and in the end from there too there will be a repair, "I will pluck you off" also from the root meaning I will repair you, for from him the King Mashiach will emerge from the dynasty of Yehudah.
וּנְתַתִּיךָ בְּיַד מְבַקְשֵׁי נַפְשֶׁךָ וּבְיַד אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּה יָגוֹר מִפְּנֵיהֶם וּבְיַד נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל וּבְיַד הַכַּשְׂדִּים׃ וְהֵטַלְתִּי אֹתְךָ וְאֶת־אִמְּךָ אֲשֶׁר יְלָדַתְךָ עַל הָאָרֶץ אַחֶרֶת אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יֻלַּדְתֶּם שָׁם וְשָׁם תָּמוּתוּ׃ וְעַל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הֵם מְנַשְּׂאִים אֶת־נַפְשָׁם לָשׁוּב שָׁם שָׁמָּה לֹא יָשׁוּבוּ׃ - And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those from whom you dread, and into the hand of Nevuchadretzar king of Bavel, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. And I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another land where you were not born, and there you shall die. And to the land to which they long to return, there they shall not return.
After Yechonyah, Tzidkiyahu reigned, and there were those who desired the kingship of Tzidkiyahu, and Nevuchadnetzar fulfilled their wish: he made Tzidkiyahu king and took Yechonyah. Yechonyah, who had gone into exile, hoped that perhaps he would yet return to reign, and about this it was said to him: "And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those from whom you dread" - those whom you fear will rebel against you and transfer the kingship to Tzidkiyahu, into their hand you will be delivered and they will succeed in their deeds, and it is the king of Bavel who will remove you and install Tzidkiyahu in your place. "And I will hurl you and your mother into another land" - this is Bavel, and there you shall die, and you will not merit to return to the kingship. And even after Tzidkiyahu rebelled, and Yechonyah thought that now Nevuchadnetzar would depose him and bring him back, this too did not help him: "there they shall not return."
הַעֶצֶב נִבְזֶה נָפוּץ הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה כָּנְיָהוּ אִם־כְּלִי אֵין חֵפֶץ בּוֹ, מַדּוּעַ הוּטֲלוּ הוּא וְזַרְעוֹ וְהֻשְׁלְכוּ עַל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדָעוּ׃ אֶרֶץ אֶרֶץ אָרֶץ שִׁמְעִי דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה׃ כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה כִּתְבוּ אֶת־הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה עֲרִירִי גֶּבֶר לֹא־יִצְלַח בְּיָמָיו, כִּי לֹא יִצְלַח מִזַּרְעוֹ אִישׁ יֹשֵׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא דָוִד וּמֹשֵׁל עוֹד בִּיהוּדָה׃ - Is this man Konyahu a despised, shattered vessel, a vessel in which there is no delight? Why were he and his offspring hurled and cast out to a land they did not know? O land, land, land, hear the word of Hashem. Thus says Hashem: Write this man down as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days, for none of his offspring shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Yehudah.
The prophet asks: why has he been made like a despised and shattered idol, like a broken vessel unfit for kingship, is he then a vessel in which there is no delight? And he answers: "O land, land, land, hear the word of Hashem," for the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were decreed upon the land of Bavel, and in its laws this man shall be written down as childless. "A man who will not prosper in his days" - all his days he will not succeed in receiving the kingship, and as long as Yechonyah lives none of his offspring will inherit the kingship and he will not merit that a ruler in Yehudah emerge from him.
The Gemara in Tractate Sanhedrin 103b characterizes for us the reality of that generation. Achaz nullified the service in the Beit HaMikdash and sealed the Torah, meaning he closed synagogues and study halls, as it says "bind up the testimony, seal the Torah among My disciples." Menashe scraped out the mentions of the divine Name: every place where the Name of Heaven was written in a Torah scroll, such as "In the beginning God created," he would cut out and erase the Name, and some say that in their place he set idolatry, pasting the name of the Baal in its stead, and he demolished the altar. Amon burned the Torah and brought up a lizard upon the altar in order to defile it. Achaz permitted forbidden relations, Menashe lay with his sister, and Amon lay with his mother, as it says "for he, Amon, increased guilt": Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Elazar, one said that he burned the Torah and one said that he lay with his mother. His mother said to him: do you have any pleasure from the place from which you came out? He said to her: do I do this for anything but to provoke My Creator? As if it were all for the sake of Heaven, only to provoke the anger of the Holy One, blessed be He.
And when Yehoyakim came he said: my predecessors did not know how to provoke properly, I am an innovator, I have new ways of angering the Creator of the world. "Do we need anything from Him except His light? We have gold of Parvayim that we use, let Him take His light." That is to say: what do we need from Him at all, all in all He turns on a floodlight for us in the morning, we do not need it; we have special gold that shines, put it in the house and it lights up like a strong lamp, let Him take His light. See how much folly and lack of sense. They said to him: but the silver and gold are His, as it says "Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold, says Hashem of hosts," and if so what have you gained? Whose is the gold with which you give light? The Holy One blessed be He's, and what is the difference between using His light and using His gold, it is all His. He said to them: they have already been given to us, no regrets, as it says "The heavens are the heavens of Hashem, but the earth He has given to mankind."
Rava said to Rabbah bar Mari: why did they not count Yehoyakim among those who have no share in the World to Come? For it is written "And the rest of the acts of Yehoyakim and his abominations which he did, and that which was found upon him." And what is "that which was found upon him"? Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Elazar, one said that he engraved the name of an idol on his membrum, and one said that he engraved the name of Heaven on his membrum, on the place of the covenant. A dreadful and terrible thing.
And why nonetheless did they not count him? Because of Rabbi Chiya bar Avuya, who said: there was written on the skull of Yehoyakim "this and one more," that is to say his punishment was not a single punishment but an ongoing punishment. And thus the Gemara describes: the grandfather of Rabbi Preida found a skull thrown at the gates of Yerushalayim and written on it "this and one more." He buried it but it would not stay buried, again and again the ground would cast it out and refuse to accept it. He said: it is the skull of Yehoyakim, of whom it is written "With the burial of a donkey shall he be buried, dragged and cast out." And he said: he is a king, and it is not fitting to treat him with contempt, for even regarding Pharaoh Moshe and Aharon were warned to show honor to royalty. He wrapped it in silks, in an expensive garment, and set it in a chest in his house, so that it would not be cast about. His wife saw a skull in the chest, she thought it was a first wife he had had whom he could not forget and therefore kept her skull as a keepsake, she heated the oven and burned it. And this is "this and one more": not only a punishment in his life but also an additional punishment after his death, and therefore they did not count him.
The Yalkut Shimoni on our verse "And the rest of the acts of Yehoyakim and all that he did" relates: when Nevuchadnetzar went up to destroy Yerushalayim, he went up and settled at the outskirts of Antioch. The Sanhedrin went down toward him and said: has the time come for the House of Hashem to be destroyed? He said to them: no, but Yehoyakim rebelled against me, give him to me and I will go. They went and said to Yehoyakim: Nevuchadnetzar wants you. He said to them: is this how it is done, one soul is pushed aside for another soul? My soul is pushed aside and your soul is preserved? Is it not written "You shall not hand over a slave to his master"? They said to him: your ancestress did the same to Sheva ben Bichri, for when Yoav came to conquer the city and demanded the head of Sheva ben Bichri, Serach bat Asher said to him: for this you would kill the whole city? Behold his head is cast to you over the wall. And there the matter was permitted because he was liable to death by the kingdom, but in an ordinary case, if a gentile king comes and says give me Reuven or I will kill you all, let them all be killed and let them not hand over a single soul, as the words of the Rambam, unless he is liable to death like Sheva ben Bichri.
Since he did not listen to them, they arose and took him and lowered him from the wall. Rabbi Elazar says: they lowered him alive, as it says "And they put him in a cage with hooks." Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani says: they lowered him dead, as it says "So that his voice should no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel." Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said a compromise, and I uphold the words of both: they lowered him alive, but since he was pampered he died in their hands, and while being lowered through the wall he expired.
And what did Nevuchadnetzar do to him? Rabbi Yehuda says: he took him and paraded him through all the cities of Israel in a wagon and killed him, and he took a donkey and split it open and put him inside it, as it says "With the burial of a donkey shall he be buried, dragged and cast out" - he tied him to a donkey, dragged him through all the cities of Israel, and what remained of him he placed inside the carcass of the donkey. Rabbi Nechemya says: he took him and paraded him through all the cities of Israel and killed him, and he would cut his flesh into olive sized pieces, small pieces, and throw them to the dogs, as it says "With the burial of a donkey shall he be buried" - and where is the burial of a donkey? In the bowels of dogs. And this is what the prophet reproaches him with: "And the rest of the acts of Yehoyakim and his abominations and that which was found upon him."
And regarding "that which was found upon him" they differed: one says that he wore shaatnez, for when they came to bury him they saw that his garment was shaatnez, that in this too he wished to provoke; and one says that he drew back his foreskin, making himself as if uncircumcised; and one says he had a tattoo on his flesh. Rabbi Yochanan said that he came upon his daughter in law and his mother and his father's wife, and Rabbi Yochanan said: the curse of the matter, through the very opening from which he came out he entered. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that he settled quarrelsome women, for he would kill their husbands and torment their wives and bring their property into the treasury, he plundered all their possessions after murdering their husbands. And this is what is said "And he knew his widows and laid waste their cities, and the land and its fullness were desolate at the sound of his roaring."
Since Yehoyakim was killed, Nevuchadnetzar crowned Yechonya his son in his place and went down to Bavel. The people of his city came out and praised him: what have you done? He said to them: Yehoyakim king of Yehuda rebelled against me, I killed him and crowned Yechonya his son in his place. They said to him: there is a proverb in people's mouths, "Do not raise a good cub from a bad dog" - even a good cub that came from a bad dog do not raise, and all the more so a bad cub from a bad dog. Whom did you exchange, a cow for a donkey? You crowned Yechonya in place of Yehoyakim. Immediately he listened to them and settled at the outskirts of Antioch. The Great Sanhedrin went down toward him and said: has the time come for the Beit HaMikdash to be destroyed? He said to them: no, give me Yehoyachin king of Yehuda and I will go. They went and said to Yechonya: Nevuchadnetzar wants you. What did he do? He gathered all the keys of the Beit HaMikdash and said: Master of the world, since we did not merit to be treasurers before You, here are Your keys before You. Two Amoraim: one said that a kind of palm of fire came out and took them from his hand, and one said that from the moment he threw them they never came down again. And what did the young men of Israel do? They went up to the tops of their roofs and threw themselves down and died, as it says "The burden of the valley of vision, what ails you now that you have all gone up to the rooftops."
What did Nevuchadnetzar do? He took him and imprisoned him in the prison house, and whoever was imprisoned there never came out, as it says "His prisoners he did not release homeward." The Great Sanhedrin went up with him and said: in our days shall the kingdom of the house of David cease? Was it not said of him "His throne shall be like the sun before Me"? What shall we do? Let us go and appease the Gedalat, that is the nurse, and she will appease the queen, and the queen the king. And what was the name of Nevuchadnetzar's wife? Rabbi Chanina said her name was Shemira, Rabbi Avin said her name was Shemiramot, and the Rabbis said her name was Shemiram. When Nevuchadnetzar came to be with her, she said to him: you are a king and Yechonya is not a king? You seek your function and Yechonya does not seek his function? That is to say, give Yechonya his wife too.
Immediately he decreed and they gave him his wife. How? Rabbi Shabtai said: they opened the ceiling and lowered her to him into the pit that was in the prison house. When he came to be with her she said to him: I saw like a red rose, that is to say she had become a niddah, and he separated from her. Immediately she went and counted and became pure and immersed. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: in Yerushalayim you did not fulfill the mitzvot of ziva and now you fulfill them? Then you did not keep the mitzvot and now you are careful? Why did you need so many blows before you began to keep the Torah? "You too, by the blood of your covenant, I have released your prisoners from the pit in which there is no water" - that same blood mentioned at Sinai, for its sake I released your prisoners. Rabbi Shabtai said: he did not move from there until the Holy One blessed be He forgave him for all his sins, and by what merit? By the merit that he separated from the blood of niddah. And a miracle was performed for him and his wife conceived while standing, something that is against nature, and about that moment it is said in Vayikra Rabbah "You are wholly beautiful, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you." And he fathered Shealtiel, as it says "And the sons of Yechonya: Assir, Shealtiel his son," and a woman never conceives while standing. "Assir" - that the Holy One blessed be He bound Himself by an oath to him that royalty would come from him; "Shealtiel" - that he petitioned the Heavenly court and they released him from his vow, for He had sworn "Write this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days," and in the end the Holy One blessed be He released him from the oath and he merited and was granted offspring.
וַיִּשְׁכַּב יְהוֹיָקִים עִם־אֲבֹתָיו וַיִּמְלֹךְ יְהוֹיָכִין בְּנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And Yehoyakim slept with his fathers, and Yehoyachin his son reigned in his place.
Rashi comments on the word "vayishkav" (he lay down): but not on his bed, meaning he did not die a natural death, for Nevuchadnetzar bound him in fetters to lead him to Bavel, and Chazal say that they dragged him along and he died at their hands. In him was fulfilled "the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and cast away." He indeed died, but he was not buried with his fathers, and according to the Radak, he was not buried at all.
וְלֹא־הֹסִיף עוֹד מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם לָצֵאת מֵאַרְצוֹ, כִּי־לָקַח מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל מִנַּחַל מִצְרַיִם עַד־נְהַר־פְּרָת כֹּל אֲשֶׁר הָיְתָה לְמֶלֶךְ מִצְרָיִם׃ - And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Bavel had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the brook of Egypt to the river Perat.
According to Rashi, the meaning is that he did not come out again to help Yehoyakim, because the king of Bavel defeated him in battle in the fourth year of Yehoyakim at Karkemish on the river Perat, as recounted in Yirmiyahu chapter 46. The Radak explains that he did not come out again only during that time, until the reign of Tzidkiyahu, and then he did indeed come out, as it says, "And Pharaoh's army came out of Egypt, and the Kasdim who were besieging Yerushalayim heard the report of them and withdrew from Yerushalayim"; so "did not come out again" refers to that particular time. And the Ralbag says that the verse comes to teach us that the Holy One, blessed be He, exacted from Egypt vengeance for Yoshiyahu: Yoshiyahu was killed by the king of Egypt when the latter wanted to shorten his route through the land of Israel, and Yoshiyahu went out against him saying, "and a sword shall not pass through your land," but he erred in thinking that his generation were righteous like him, which was not the case, and he fell by the hand of the king of Egypt. Now Hashem exacted retribution from the king of Egypt, and the king of Bavel took all that was his, from the brook of Egypt to the river Perat.
בֶּן־שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה יְהוֹיָכִין בְּמָלְכוֹ וּשְׁלֹשָׁה חֳדָשִׁים מָלַךְ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ נְחֻשְׁתָּא בַת־אֶלְנָתָן מִירוּשָׁלִָם׃ וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה אָבִיו׃ - Yehoyachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Yerushalayim, and his mother's name was Nechushta the daughter of Elnatan of Yerushalayim. And he did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, according to all that his father had done.
He was only eighteen years old when he became king, and his reign was extremely short: three months. There are indeed other sources in Divrei HaYamim, and many of the commentators occupy themselves with these calculations, but our way in studying Tanach is not to enter into these calculations but to view the account of the matters as they are.
בָּעֵת הַהִיא עָלוּ עַבְדֵי נְבֻכַדְנֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל יְרוּשָׁלִָם וַתָּבֹא הָעִיר בַּמָּצוֹר׃ וַיָּבֹא נְבֻכַדְנֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל עַל־הָעִיר וַעֲבָדָיו צָרִים עָלֶיהָ׃ - At that time the servants of Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel came up to Yerushalayim, and the city came under siege. And Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel came against the city while his servants were besieging it.
Here already begins the siege that Nevuchadnetzar laid in order to conquer Yerushalayim, when they built ramparts around it. The servants besiege the city, and the king himself arrives at the place where his servants are.
וַיֵּצֵא יְהוֹיָכִין מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה עַל־מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל הוּא וְאִמּוֹ וַעֲבָדָיו וְשָׂרָיו וְסָרִיסָיו וַיִּקַּח אֹתוֹ מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל בִּשְׁנַת שְׁמֹנֶה לְמָלְכוֹ׃ - And Yehoyachin king of Yehudah went out to the king of Bavel, he and his mother and his servants and his officers and his eunuchs, and the king of Bavel took him in the eighth year of his reign.
Yehoyachin sees and understands that the calamity has reached him, that from such a siege one cannot come out alive, and he prefers to go into captivity rather than lose his life, so he goes out to the king of Bavel to do with him as he wishes. And why did the king of Bavel come to exact retribution from him at all, for it does not say that Yehoyachin rebelled against him? Rather, as we saw in the Midrash, they said to him: What have you done? From a bad dog no good pup comes forth, and all the more so here, where it is known that the pup himself is bad. Therefore the king of Bavel came back to take Yehoyachin, out of concern that he too, like his father, would rebel against him.
וַיּוֹצֵא מִשָּׁם אֶת־כָּל־אוֹצְרוֹת בֵּית יְהֹוָה וְאוֹצְרוֹת בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ וַיְקַצֵּץ אֶת־כָּל־כְּלֵי הַזָּהָב אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה שְׁלֹמֹה מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהֵיכַל יְהֹוָה כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהֹוָה׃ - And he carried out from there all the treasures of the House of Hashem and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Shlomo king of Yisrael had made in the Sanctuary of Hashem, as Hashem had spoken.
He removes from Yerushalayim all the treasures of the House of Hashem and the treasures of the king's house, and he cuts up the gold vessels, meaning he peels off the gold from the vessels. There were doors of gold there, and the walls of Shlomo's Temple were overlaid with gold, and he stripped away the most precious gold from the Sanctuary of the House of Hashem. "As Hashem had spoken" - as He had warned that when Yisrael would stray from the path the nations would come upon them and bring them down into exile.
וְהִגְלָה אֶת־כָּל־יְרוּשָׁלִַם וְאֶת־כָּל־הַשָּׂרִים וְאֵת כָּל־גִּבּוֹרֵי הַחַיִל עֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים גּוֹלֶה וְכָל־הֶחָרָשׁ וְהַמַּסְגֵּר, לֹא נִשְׁאַר זוּלַת דַּלַּת עַם־הָאָרֶץ׃ - And he exiled all of Yerushalayim, and all the officers, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand into exile, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained except the poorest of the people of the land.
He exiles all of Yerushalayim: the officers, who are the important ones, and the mighty men of valor. Our Sages ask: what mighty men of valor were there in Yerushalayim, and which mighty men are being spoken of? And they answer: these mighty men of valor are the mighty in the battle of Torah.
וַיֶּגֶל אֶת־יְהוֹיָכִין בָּבֶלָה וְאֶת־אֵם הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאֶת־נְשֵׁי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאֶת־סָרִיסָיו וְאֵת אֵילֵי הָאָרֶץ הוֹלִיךְ גּוֹלָה מִירוּשָׁלִַם בָּבֶלָה׃ - And he exiled Yehoyachin to Bavel, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officials, and the mighty of the land he led into exile from Yerushalayim to Bavel.
"The mighty of the land" (eilei ha'aretz) are the important ones, from the term denoting strength, the strong of the land in a spiritual sense. Rashi brings the words of our Sages that these were the nobles of Yehuda and Binyamin who were righteous, and about them it is said in Yirmiyahu 24, "Like these good figs, so will I regard the exile of Yehuda." He led them all into exile from Yerushalayim to Bavel.
וְאֵת כָּל־אַנְשֵׁי הַחַיִל שִׁבְעַת אֲלָפִים וְהֶחָרָשׁ וְהַמַּסְגֵּר אֶלֶף, הַכֹּל גִּבּוֹרִים עֹשֵׂי מִלְחָמָה, וַיְבִיאֵם מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל גּוֹלָה בָּבֶלָה׃ - And all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all of them mighty men doing battle; and the king of Bavel brought them into exile to Bavel.
Here it is worth dwelling on what we said. It is written in Seder Olam: what mighty deeds do people perform who are bound in fetters and placed in iron chains and go into exile? What might is there here? Rather, they are mighty in the might of Torah, as it is written, "Mighty in strength, who fulfill His word." And indeed this is the definition of might: it does not say that the mighty one is the one who knows how to strike a blow at a person and finish him off. You are mighty forever, Hashem, and what follows? "Who revives the dead." This is might: to revive the dead, to revive the spirit of the crushed and the lowly, and not to kill the living. Who is mighty? A person who is able to overcome his desires and his cravings, this is the truly mighty one. Therefore "mighty men doing battle" means the battle of Torah, and likewise "the book of the wars of Hashem" does not mean wars in their literal sense but the war against the evil inclination.
And what is "the craftsman and the smith"? According to the plain meaning of the text, and as Targum Yonatan renders it, "artisans and locksmiths," craftsmen, as the words mean in our language today. But our Sages expound, in keeping with the approach we have seen, that these too were mighty in the might of Torah. And why were they called thus? "Charash" (the craftsman, related to charishah, silence) - because when he would open his mouth to speak, all would fall silent; he asks a question and everyone is quiet and no one knows what to answer. "Masger" (the smith, from the word to close) - because when he would close a matter, no one could open it, and when he would open it, no one could close it. When he would explain the sugya thoroughly, it was no longer possible to raise a difficulty on it, and when he raised a difficulty, everyone was left with a great tzarich iyun and no one knew how to resolve it, like the questions of Rabbi Akiva Eiger, tremendous questions as hard as iron.
וַיַּמְלֵךְ מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל אֶת־מַתַּנְיָה דֹדוֹ תַּחְתָּיו וַיַּסֵּב אֶת־שְׁמוֹ צִדְקִיָּהוּ׃ - And the king of Bavel made Matanya, his uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Tzidkiyahu.
In place of Yehoyachin the king of Bavel appoints Matanya his uncle as king. We have already explained that the practice was that when a king appointed someone on his behalf or granted him an office, he would change his name in order to show absolute subordination: even your name, which is the most private and personal thing a person has, even that I change; you are subordinate to me one hundred percent. And why did he choose for him such a righteous name, Tzidkiyahu? He said to him: Yah will vindicate the judgment against you (yatzdik) if you rebel against me. And apparently a spark of prophecy was cast into him and he knew that he would eventually rebel, and indeed it seems that he will rebel and Hashem will vindicate the judgment against him and exact retribution from him.
בֶּן־עֶשְׂרִים וְאַחַת שָׁנָה צִדְקִיָּהוּ בְמָלְכוֹ וְאַחַת עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה מָלַךְ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ חֲמוּטַל בַּת־יִרְמְיָהוּ מִלִּבְנָה׃ וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה יְהוֹיָקִים׃ - Tzidkiyahu was twenty one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Yerushalayim, and his mother's name was Chamutal daughter of Yirmeyahu from Livnah. And he did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, just as Yehoyakim had done.
He was twenty one years old when he became king, and relatively speaking he lasted a long time on his throne: eleven years, as opposed to his predecessor who reigned only three months. Now a question arises: was Tzidkiyahu righteous or wicked? Our Sages say: Tzidkiyahu was righteous but his generation was wicked. And in Divrei HaYamim it is spelled out explicitly: "And he did what was evil... he did not humble himself before Yirmeyahu the prophet who spoke from the mouth of Hashem, and he also rebelled against King Nevuchadnetzar who had made him swear by God... also all the chief priests and the people committed great treachery, following all the abominations of the nations." The prophet details what "he did what was evil" means: that he did not humble himself before Yirmeyahu the prophet, who told him to submit to Nevuchadnetzar and he did not listen but rebelled against him, and that he violated the oath that had been imposed upon him by God. Later we will see what the oath was and how he violated it. These are the two things attributed to him personally, but chiefly it was his generation that was held to blame, for the verse says "also all the chief priests and the people," all the important ones, "committed great treachery, following all the abominations of the nations." We see from here that the wickedness of the entire people was charged to the king's account, even though he himself was righteous.
כִּי עַל־אַף יְהֹוָה הָיְתָה בִירוּשָׁלִַם וּבִיהוּדָה עַד־הִשְׁלִכוֹ אֹתָם מֵעַל פָּנָיו, וַיִּמְרֹד צִדְקִיָּהוּ בְּמֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל׃ - For because of the anger of Hashem it came about in Yerushalayim and in Yehudah, until He cast them out from before His presence, and Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel.
And here there is a difficulty: if he was righteous, why in any case was exile decreed upon them? The answer is in the verse: "For because of the anger of Hashem it came about in Yerushalayim and in Yehudah" - the burning wrath was already present from earlier, from the time of Menashe, and since that burning wrath had accompanied them from then until now, a fixed and sealed decree was issued that could not be annulled, and therefore there was no choice, "until He cast them out from before His presence," the obligation of exile would fall upon them. And this is why the verse continues: "and Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel" - the rebellion itself stems from the burning anger of Hashem. For had Tzidkiyahu remained a good boy and done nothing, there would have been no natural cause for exile. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He placed in his heart to rebel, and thereby there was now a cause: Tzidkiyahu rebels, the king of Bavel comes to exact retribution from him, and the will of Hashem is fulfilled. It turns out that the entire matter of Tzidkiyahu's rebellion against Nevuchadnetzar was from Hashem, in order to bring about the decree upon him, the decree of exile.
The chapter leads us step by step toward the destruction. Yehoyakim, over whom the prophet Yirmeyahu lamented for withholding the wages of his laborers, for the mansion he built for himself, and for his eyes and heart that were set only on his greed and on innocent blood, died a strange death and was buried like a donkey, and no one was found to eulogize him. Yehoyachin his son went out to the king of Bavel and was taken to Bavel along with the treasures of the Temple, along with the officials, the mighty men of the land, and the craftsmen and smiths, who are the mighty warriors of Torah, and no one remained in Yerushalayim except the poorest of the land. Even in the depths of the pit Yechonyah managed to rise: because he had separated from the niddah his sins were forgiven, and the Holy One, blessed be He, released him from his oath, and Shealtiel was born to him, from whom the dynasty of the kingdom continues. And finally Tzidkiyahu was made king, who was righteous while his generation was wicked, and his very rebellion against the king of Bavel was from Hashem, to complete the decree that had been sealed already through the sin of Menashe and through the innocent blood that filled Yerushalayim.