Yechezkel chapter 9. "And He called in my ears with a great voice, saying: Draw near, you officers of the city, each man with his weapon of destruction in his hand." And then the prophet says, I hear a great voice calling in my ears and commanding: Draw near, you officers of the city. What are these officers of the city? Rashi says they are the men appointed to destroy the city. He hears a great voice calling them and summoning them to come and do their work. This comes after what we saw earlier regarding the great abominations they committed. Now, as it were, a certain command is issued to come and summon those officers of the city, those appointed over the destruction of the city. Now their time has come to destroy the city of Yerushalayim and the Beit HaMikdash.
Everything we will see here in this chapter is really a vision, a prophetic sight that Yechezkel beholds, and this sight expresses the destruction that is destined to come. He actually sees the entire destruction in this vision even before it happened. When this destruction comes to express before us the reasons and causes for the physical destruction, it is really telling you that everything actually began from a spiritual destruction, for we know that every battle that takes place here in this world is really a battle that takes place in the upper worlds, between the positive spiritual forces of Am Yisrael and the forces of the nations of the world, and according to the decision there, so too will the decision be here. Therefore he actually sees the battle, or the decision, as it takes place in the reality of the upper worlds.
And behold, he says, I see the destroyers drawing near to come and to cut and shatter the city, yes, to strike the city. What does he see? "And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each man with his weapon of shattering in his hand," hand grenades, each man with his weapon of shattering in his hand. "And one man among them was clothed in linen, with a scribe's inkhorn at his loins; and they came and stood beside the bronze altar."
The Radak says, these are the men whom he sees, six, says the Radak, these were six men and a seventh among them who was the king's scribe. They are the seven officers who came to the city when the city was breached. This comes to symbolize them; they were called Nergal, Samgar, Nevu, Sar Sechim, Rav Saris, Nergal Sar Etzer, and Rav Mag. He says, and even though, excuse me, even though there were eight, the first one was the officer over the seven, and this is what He shows him in the prophetic vision, He shows him this beforehand. Rashi explains that in fact they are showing him the upper spiritual forces that come and do this. Who are those spiritual forces? Wrath, anger, fury, destroyer, breaker, and consumer. These are the forces of darkness, the forces of evil that come to destroy the city, which are really the spiritual forces that clothe themselves in the physical forces that in the end destroyed the city. All these angels are angels of destruction; they are demolition contractors.
And with them I see the angel who is clothed in linen with the scribe's inkhorn at his loins. What is that angel clothed in linen with the scribe's inkhorn at his loins? The Radak says on this that he was the leader of all those angels. This is the angel with the scribe's inkhorn whom he sees, he is like the leader. "Scribe's inkhorn" means he has a ledger and an inkhorn with which he was, and ink with which he would write upon the ledger. Chazal say, who is that one clothed in linen? Chazal say, this is Gavriel. Gavriel was an angel of fire. Why? Because he is really the one who cast the fire upon the city. So too we saw that Daniel in a vision saw one clothed in linen, "and his appearance was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes like torches of fire." This is the angel Gavriel, who is the angel appointed over fire.
What is that scribe's inkhorn? We will see later that the angel will be asked to mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men, and therefore he emphasizes to us already now that he has a scribe's inkhorn with him, so that with the scribe's inkhorn he will mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men. We will see later what the sign is and for what purpose it was marked on their foreheads. Where does he see them? "And they came and stood beside the bronze altar." You might say to me, was there a bronze altar in Shlomo's Beit HaMikdash? It was stone. There was the golden altar, which was the inner altar, and corresponding to it, this is also called the incense altar, correct? And corresponding to it there was a large stone altar outside. How long was it? How many meters, does anyone know? Well, an estimate? Say how many amot, let us say how many meters. Ah, the altar was 32 amot by 32 amot. That means 16 meters in length by 16 meters in width. That was the length and width of the altar. And upon the altar they would ascend by way of the ramp and offer upon it, they would go up onto it and offer the sacrifices upon it. Upon the top of the altar, yes. In any case, there certainly was no bronze altar. So why is the bronze altar mentioned here? Chazal say, "bronze altar" means the altar that stood in the place of the bronze altar. For in the Mishkan the bronze altar was the altar designated for offering the sacrifices. In contrast, upon the golden altar they would not offer sacrifices; they would only offer the incense, or sprinkle, but they would not offer sacrifices. What was the replacement for the portable, movable bronze altar of the time of the Mishkan? It was a stone altar. And he continues to call it the bronze altar because it was really the replacement for the bronze altar.
The Malbim explains against whom he is speaking here when he mentions those six men. The Malbim says, this is really, as we said, evil angels who as it were came to destroy the city. The Malbim explains that this is a parable for those who actually destroyed the city. Who are those six angels of destruction in the form of human beings who actually destroyed the city? The Malbim says, these were the six officers of the city who beheld the king's face. This means the six ministers of the city, or the officials of the city, or the members of the city council, however you wish to define it. They destroyed the city, they killed many people at the end of the days of the siege, and as it were he shows you that within those six flesh and blood men were clothed six destroying angels, and those six destroying angels as it were, through them, through those six men, act to kill and destroy the city. And he also wishes to tell you, through their deeds, the evil of their doings, in the end the city was destroyed. So he tells you, indeed these are six angels, but they have six counterparts here in the city, who are those six men through whom the city was destroyed spiritually, so corresponding to them came six destroying angels who clothed themselves in them and killed the people of the city.
The Malbim explains who that one clothed in linen is. According to the Malbim, he says this is Yirmeyahu. Yirmeyahu was a kohen, correct? Where did he come from? From Anatot, which was a city of kohanim. So he was a kohen clothed in linen garments to serve in the holy place. And the scribe's inkhorn at his loins, why did Yirmeyahu need the scribe's inkhorn? To write his prophecies. All the prophecies, Yirmeyahu wrote his book. He needed to write his prophecies. Just as Hashem told him to write, he also wrote Eichah, correct? There it is written that Baruch ben Neriah would write from his mouth. But he was the scribe. And he as it were tried to quiet the confusion and the turmoil that was in the city, tried to quiet the people, to advise them to return in repentance. According to the Malbim's view, he is speaking about him, he is the one clothed in linen. The one clothed in linen is the one who as it were comes to prevent those men, those destroying angels, from destroying the city.
Not six scribes, we said, these are six angels who came to destroy the city. The figure is against six ministers of the city who were from Yisrael, who committed great slaughter, and by their command within the city there was bloodshed by the command of those six ministers who were... yes, they killed Jews too. For what was Yerushalayim destroyed? For what was the First Temple destroyed? There was bloodshed, correct? Menashe filled Yerushalayim with blood from end to end. There was bloodshed, there was murderousness. We spoke about this, that the Malbim says, they would go about as at the end of the Second Temple, people would go and stab one another, short knives, and stab one another in the marketplace, suddenly a man collapses dead, no one knows what happened to him. It was not even possible to take him to Abu Kabir to perform an autopsy. Suddenly they would see a dead man.
"And the glory of the God of Yisrael went up from the keruv upon which it had been, to the threshold of the House. And He called to the man clothed in linen, who had the scribe's inkhorn at his loins. And Hashem said to him: Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Yerushalayim, and mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are done within it." "And the glory of the God of Yisrael went up from the keruv upon which it had been." What is the place of the resting of the Shechinah in the Beit HaMikdash? Between the keruvim. We say, I pray toward Yerushalayim the holy city. If you are abroad then you say toward Eretz Yisrael. And in Eretz Yisrael they say, you direct toward Yerushalayim the holy city, toward the Beit HaMikdash and toward the Holy of Holies, where the gate of heaven is and the Shechinah between the two keruvim. Thus one must direct his intention before every prayer when a person stands for the Shemoneh Esrei, thus one must intend. And one must know that this intention is indispensable. The Rambam writes that if a person did not intend that he stands before a King, it is as if he did not pray. Ah, you stood, you perhaps read Tehillim, you did not pray the Shemoneh Esrei. Thus says the Rambam. Some say it is enough to have this intention once in the prayer. The opinion of the Rav of Brisk is that one must have this intention throughout the entire prayer, to think, I am now standing before a King. If not, he has not fulfilled his obligation. The Chazon Ish says, one need not have it throughout the entire prayer, initially certainly, but he says even if he thought of it once, that is enough. In any case, the place of the resting of the Shechinah is between the keruvim.
So here it is mentioned that the glory of the God of Yisrael went up from the keruv. Chazal say that the Shechinah traveled in ten journeys. From keruv to keruv, and from keruv to threshold, and so on. Ten journeys, say Chazal, the Shechinah traveled. And whoever knows, whoever remembers, this also appears in the kinot that we mention, for in the kinot that are mentioned on Tishah B'Av, there they mention the Shechinah wandering from place to place, and from there to the sanctuary, and from the sanctuary it went up onto the roof, and so on, and it saw that there too they were making sun idols and worshipping sun idols and so on, until it said that the Shechinah says, I will leave them until they say, I will return to Hashem, until... yes, until they seek Hashem. Until they seek Hashem. There is a certain special kinah, very moving, there on this matter of the wandering of the Shechinah. So here in this pasuk this matter is expressed, that the Shechinah has already departed from the keruv. To where? To the threshold of the House. This means that as it were the Shechinah is about to depart from the House. It is already upon the threshold; we are in a state of the Shechinah's withdrawal.
And then the Holy One, Blessed be He, the Shechinah actually calls to the man clothed in linen who had the scribe's inkhorn at his loins. Hashem actually calls to him, to the one who advocates merit, as we explained the Malbim says that here we are speaking of Yirmeyahu, and Hashem gives him a command: Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Yerushalayim, and mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are done within it. Pass through the midst of the city and mark a sign. What does "sign" mean? A sign is a mark. Make some kind of mark in ink upon those men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are done within it. Those men who feel pain, those men who are distressed because of the abominations that are done within it. That is to say, there are several levels. There are people who did the abominations, as it is written for example regarding the calf, there are people who worshipped it. There are people who danced before it, even more so. There are those who only worshipped it. There are those who saw and rejoiced in their hearts. There are those who only watched, neutral. There are those who were distressed. Levels upon levels. So too He says here, I am not seeking those who are neutral. I want you to mark a sign, a sign that will really be, according to what we will see later, some sort of sign of salvation, specifically upon those who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are done within it.
From here we learn that a person must feel distress when he sees an evil deed. And if he does not feel distress, then this really says: it is not so bad, I do not care, it is not that terrible. Like when he sees a Shabbat desecrator. A person must feel distress. And if he does not feel distress, he must feel distress over the fact that he does not feel distress. This itself should arouse distress within him: why does it not distress me to see someone angering the Creator? And we see from here specifically upon whom? Upon those who sigh and groan. "Groaning" is from the language of crying out, when one lets out a sound from his mouth as a sign of distress. Now, what is that sign that He tells him to mark? What is the idea of that sign? You know what, let us look a bit further, let us read a few more pesukim and afterward we will see how Chazal expound. What is this sign and what change actually occurred as a result of marking the sign.
"And to these He said in my ears: Pass through the city after him and strike; let not your eye spare, and do not have pity." "And to these He said in my ears" - the man clothed in linen now recounts, to these, who are these "these"? Those six destroyers, those six destroying angels whom we mentioned, to them Hashem said: Strike in the city, let not your eye spare, do not have pity. This means that there is here a prophecy that the city is about to be destroyed. "Old man, young man and maiden, little children and women, you shall slay to destruction; but do not approach any man upon whom is the sign, and begin from My sanctuary. And they began with the elder men who were before the House." He tells them, have no mercy on anyone. Old man, young man and maiden, little children and women, all of them to destruction, all of them to be destroyed, to be killed in destruction. "In destruction" means from an evil force, yes. "But do not approach any man upon whom is the sign." For the sign symbolizes that he is not part of this destruction, for he was among the righteous who sigh and groan within it. "And begin from My sanctuary." He tells them, from where should you begin? You must begin from My sanctuary. What does "from My sanctuary" mean? It means from the Beit HaMikdash. "And they began with the elder men who were before the House." Why specifically from those men who are in the Beit HaMikdash? So the Malbim says, actually these men who were in the Beit HaMikdash are those who were in the holiest place and did the worst deeds. Therefore He says, begin specifically from these men. Specifically from these men who do the worst deeds and who, as the guardians of the Beit HaMikdash and the officials of the Beit HaMikdash, should have served Hashem, specifically from them you must begin. The Malbim says, the counterpart is that the ministers of the people, who are the appointed men as I mentioned earlier, for they are the counterpart of the six destroying angels, through whom and following whom did all this destruction begin, all this damage? Through the officials, for the officials betrayed their duty. So Hashem commands that he pass through the midst of the city and mark a sign. What does "mark a sign" mean? It means, go, Yirmeyahu, try to bring them back in repentance. And whoever returns in repentance, his life will be his as spoils. This is the meaning of marking a sign. "Mark a sign" means save them. Go, try still to bring them back in repentance, and everyone whom you bring back in repentance will be judged on his own as innocent. That means he will be saved. Go, bring them back in repentance. And this is Yirmeyahu, who is the man clothed in linen, who is the one sent in order to save them, so that they do not come to the judgment of those destroying men. And then He says, whoever truly has such a sign upon him will be saved. "Begin from My sanctuary," why specifically in the Beit HaMikdash? The Malbim says, because the rebellion and the killing began in the Beit HaMikdash at the time when the people gathered there. And there they began to strike the elders who were before the House. That is to say, in practice, where did the destruction begin? From the Beit HaMikdash. In practice, where did the angels begin to wreak destruction when Nevuchadnetzar and his men entered? From the Beit HaMikdash. Since this is so, He also tells you in the parable, begin from My sanctuary. Everything we have now explained is according to the plain meaning. Everything we have now explained is according to the plain meaning. But let us see how Chazal expound.
I want to read to you a Gemara in Masechet Shabbat on page 55. The Gemara says, Rabbi Zeira said to Rabbi Simon, I will translate right away. He said to him, rebuke the people of the Exilarch for their deeds. Rabbi Simon says to him, they will not accept it from me, they will not accept rebuke. He said to him, even though they will not accept it, rebuke them. For Rabbi Acha the son of Rabbi Chanina said, never did a good measure issue from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and He retracted it for the worse, except for this one thing. One must know that if the Holy One, Blessed be He, promises a good promise, perhaps let us begin the other way around, if He promises an evil promise, there is a chance that the promise will not come. There is a chance that the matter will not be fulfilled. Nineveh is to be overturned, and in the end it was not overturned. Indeed, there they explain that it was overturned, to return in repentance, yes? It underwent a spiritual overturning. But in any case, there there was supposed to be death and there was not. Ah, is the Holy One, Blessed be He, not a man that He should repent? How did Hashem repent? Hashem repented of the evil. Evil can change to good if the people changed. And this is not a change in His will, may He be blessed. For truly His will, may He be blessed, is to bring evil when we do evil deeds. If we do not do evil deeds, then it is no longer His will to bring evil. All this is when speaking of evil. But if Hashem promised or said to bring good, the matter will never change to evil. Even if we changed our deeds and we are not worthy, the decree for good will always remain. The Gemara says, Hashem never changed His decree from good to evil, except one time. And this time we are now studying today. The Gemara says, except for this one thing. As it is written in Yechezkel chapter 9 in our chapter, "And Hashem said to him: Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Yerushalayim, and mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are done within it." The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Gavriel: Go and inscribe upon the foreheads of the righteous a sign of ink, so that the destroying angels shall not have power over them; and upon the foreheads of the wicked a sign of blood, so that the destroying angels shall have power over them. The Attribute of Justice said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, how are these different from those? Why upon the wicked a sign of blood so that they die, and upon the righteous a sign of ink so that they live? What is the difference between them? He said to it: These are completely righteous and those are completely wicked. What do you mean, what is the difference? An enormous difference. The Attribute of Justice said before Him: Master of the Universe, these righteous are not truly righteous. It was in their power to protest and they did not protest. Whoever has it in his power to protest and does not protest is held liable for their sin. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to it: It is revealed and known before Me that if they had protested to them, they would not have accepted from them. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says, it was not in their power to protest. I know that even if they protest, they will not accept from them. The Attribute of Justice said before Him: Master of the Universe, if it is revealed before You, is it revealed to them? You know that if they had protested they would not have accepted, but they do not know this. And if they do not know this, what obligation is upon them? To rebuke, to protest. And this is what is written, "Old man, young man and maiden, little children and women, you shall slay to destruction; but do not approach any man upon whom is the sign, and begin from My sanctuary." And it is written, "And they began with the elder men who were before the House." Pay attention now to how the Gemara expounds. Rav Yosef taught: Do not read "My sanctuary" (mikdashi) but "My sanctified ones" (mekudashai). These are the people who fulfilled the entire Torah from aleph to tav. Do you hear? From where to begin? From those about whom at the beginning He said mark a sign so that they would be saved, Hashem said, from them begin the killing. That they should die first. And why a "sign" (tav)? Why did they place a tav upon them? To tell you, they fulfilled the Torah from aleph to tav. The tav is the letter tav that they placed. He drew for them the letter tav upon the forehead. Yes, they fulfilled the Torah from aleph to tav. Also, not to understand it entirely literally, that he took ink and drew upon their forehead, yes? Rather it is more in a symbolic manner, it is a parable.
And immediately, "And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each man with his weapon of shattering in his hand, and one man among them clothed in linen with the scribe's inkhorn at his loins; and they came and stood beside the bronze altar." The Gemara asks, the bronze altar, what was it? Was there a bronze altar in that period? As we asked, there was a stone altar. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: Begin from the place where they recite song before Me. It says, that is, from where? From beside the altar, which is a stone altar. Who are those six men? Rav Chisda said, these are six forces of destruction: wrath, anger and fury, and destroyer and breaker and consumer. The Gemara asks, and why specifically a tav? Why did they write specifically the letter tav upon their forehead? They could have written aleph, bet, gimmel. Why specifically tav? Rav said, tav for "you shall live" (tichyeh), tav for "you shall die" (tamut). That is to say, upon the wicked they wrote the letter tav in blood, upon the righteous they wrote the letter tav in ink. The tav upon the righteous comes to hint at "you shall live." The tav upon the wicked comes to hint at "you shall die." And Shmuel said, why tav? "The merit of the fathers has ended" (tamah zechut avot). There is no more merit of the fathers. Whoever has merits from his own account comes by the power of their deeds. If you have the power of their deeds, you come. If you do not come by the power of your deeds, the merit of the fathers has ended. The Gemara says, and Rabbi Yochanan said, "the merit of the fathers shall show favor" (tachon zechut avot). "The merit of the fathers shall show favor" means from the language of grace, may the merit of the fathers grant grace to them, to the righteous. And Reish Lakish said, tav is the end of the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He. He needed to set a seal upon their forehead. What is the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He? Truth (emet). Correct? Why specifically truth? Why is the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He, not each of the other attributes? Why not say holy? Why not say, I do not know what, ah, there are endless things one can say about the Holy One, Blessed be He, that this is His seal, eternity, why glory, many things one can say are His seal. Why specifically truth? So it is true, there is a hint that it is from aleph, mem, tav, this hints... that truth is stable. Not... eh? Truth is one. What does that mean? Truth is one, falsehood is many. So the Holy One, Blessed be He, is also one. Truth is... it may be that this always aligns with it, let me explain. There is this answer with falsehood which is in gematria... no, no, no, we will not enter into that. We will not enter into gematria, nine and eight and that, I will not enter into it. The explanation is like this, that anything, any attribute one can do in imitation. One can say for example about kindness, but it is a performance of kindness, it is an imitation of kindness, it is not true kindness. And so on with every single attribute. In contrast, truth cannot be done in imitation. If you did it in imitation, it is not truth. Truth is only truth. Kindness in imitation is kindness, you imitated kindness. It is kindness, but in imitation. Truth one cannot say is truth in imitation. There is no such thing, truth is truth. If it is in imitation it is already not truth, it is falsehood. Do you understand? Therefore the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is truth, because it is a seal that cannot be forged. The Gemara says, tav is the end of the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He. So therefore specifically the letter tav. For Rabbi Chanina said, the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is truth. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said, these are people who fulfilled the entire Torah from aleph to tav. And therefore he marked a tav. To say, from aleph to tav they fulfilled the entire Torah. And nevertheless, we see what a terrible claim this is, since they did not protest, the Holy One, Blessed be He, here changed His way and retracted for the worse from the good decree that had been to save the righteous, and decreed death also upon the righteous.
"And He said to them: Defile the House and fill the courts with the slain; go forth. And they went forth and struck in the city." He tells them, defile the House. That is to say, He told them to begin from the Beit HaMikdash. So it is very possible that they would be concerned, the Beit HaMikdash is a holy place, may a dead body be brought into this place? And how much more so to kill there, to murder people there? Therefore He comes and says, defile the House, do not be concerned. And why not be concerned? The Radak says, because they defiled it first with their idols. Do you think this House still has holiness in it? After what they did and defiled it with their idols, do not be concerned, the holiness is no longer in the House, as we saw that the Shechinah already went out to the threshold. This means, there is no more holiness in the House, do it without concern.
"And it came to pass, as they were striking, that I was left alone, and I fell upon my face and cried out, and said: Alas, Lord God, will You destroy all the remnant of Yisrael in Your pouring out of Your fury upon Yerushalayim?" And I was left, only I. "And I was left" (venishar) is a word composed of two words. And I was left, only I. It is written venishar, beneath the... after the nun there is an aleph. It is actually composed of two words. From one word it is nishar (was left), from another word it is eshaer (I will be left). It wishes to say, and I will be left, only I, and it wishes to say, was left, only I, so together, and I was left, only I. Yes. There is another example of such a word composed of two words. Like mishtachavitem. Like mishtachavim (bowing) and hishtachavitem (you bowed), together it is mishtachavitem. A word composed of two words. And I was left, only I, and I fell upon my face and cried out. He says, what does this mean? The people were actually exiled or struck to death. Whoever remained there was only I alone. For even the righteous who were in the courts of the House of Hashem, they too were struck. And then I cried out to Hashem and said, Master of the Universe, do You wish to destroy all of Yisrael in Your pouring out of Your fury upon Yerushalayim, so that nothing will remain of them? Yerushalayim was the surviving remnant, everyone had been exiled. Who remained? Only those who were within the siege in Yerushalayim. Besides them no one remained in any place. So do You, Hashem, wish to destroy all of Yisrael, that even those who remained here should also die? The Malbim explains that what is written here, "in Your pouring out of Your fury upon Yerushalayim," he says, I see that You wish to pour out Your fury upon Yerushalayim, meaning upon the wood and the stones, to burn the city with fire. He tells Him, with this it is enough, that You not destroy Yisrael. This is as it were what he says to Him, will You destroy all the remnant of Yisrael in Your pouring out of Your fury upon Yerushalayim? That is, destroy the city and suffice with that, and do not destroy all of Yisrael. This is the meaning of "in Your pouring out of Your fury upon Yerushalayim," that He should destroy the wood and the stones and Am Yisrael should remain in existence.
"And He said to me: The iniquity of the House of Yisrael and Yehudah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city is full of injustice; for they said, Hashem has forsaken the land, and Hashem does not see." And He comes to him and says to him, the iniquity of the House of Yisrael and Yehudah is exceedingly great. And the land is full of blood, what is blood? Murders. And the city is full of injustice. "Injustice" (mutteh) means that they pervert judgment and justice. A crooked judgment, they distort the law. There is no justice. And the moment there is no justice, when there is no justice below, then Heaven forbid, this arouses judgments above. Therefore there is no choice but to come and destroy them. And why is the land full of injustice? Because they said, Hashem has forsaken the land and does not see. They pervert judgment because they say, do not worry, we will not be punished for this. Ah, there is judgment and there is... ah, Hashem has forsaken the land, He does not see. The Holy One, Blessed be He, is no longer here, He forsook the land, no one is watching what we do. They denied the providence of Hashem. Pay attention to what punishment comes as a result of the denial. "And I too, My eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity; I have brought their way upon their heads." Just as they do not spare and do not have mercy upon the poor and the needy but pervert their judgment, so too I, My eye shall not spare, measure for measure. And just as they see that I do not see, Hashem has forsaken the land and does not see, ah, does not see, says Hashem, then do not cry out to Me that I should see. I do not see. That is to say, if you come and say Hashem does not watch over us, Hashem says, do not be surprised if all the troubles come upon you, and do not ask and do not say, Hashem has seen my affliction. You said that I do not see, so therefore I do not want to see. I will not spare and have mercy upon you. This is what He says, I have brought their way upon their heads. "I have brought their way upon their heads" means measure for measure.
"And behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn at his loins, returned word, saying: I have done according to all that You commanded me." The man clothed in linen says to the Holy One, Blessed be He, I have done according to all that You commanded me. According to the plain meaning it means, I have marked a sign upon the foreheads of the righteous men. The Malbim says that "I have done according to all that You commanded me" refers to the angel who advocates merit coming to assist me, and he says to me, I have done according to all that You commanded me, meaning that he truly found righteous men who are worthy of being saved. This is the parable. What is actually the counterpart? That Yirmeyahu came and rebuked the people, and truly among them there were men who were indeed on Yirmeyahu's side. As we saw that when they threw Yirmeyahu into the pit, they came to save him, Eved Melech the Kushite and others. Thirty men truly came in order to save him. And we saw that the ministers who heard the harsh prophecy about what was destined to happen, they were concerned, how shall we go and tell this to the king, and they were concerned about harm coming to Yirmeyahu. We saw that there truly was a group that did accept Yirmeyahu's words and believe in them. If so, you say the Malbim, this is what is written here, I have done according to all that You commanded me, I went and rebuked whoever needed to be rebuked. And behold, in the end, truly those men are the ones who believed his words, but in the end they too were punished. Why were they punished? Because they did not protest. It was in their power to protest against others who were doing wrong, and they did not protest. So who is it that truly only protested? Only Yirmeyahu himself. He was the only one who protested, "I gave my back to the smiters, my cheeks to those who plucked, I did not hide my face from insults and spitting." He received terrible humiliations and did not want to go and prophesy and refused to go with the word of Hashem, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it were compelled him to go and deliver the prophecy in order to save Am Yisrael.